Smacked by Inspiration

My blog used to be a pretty active place. Each day, a new picture. Maybe even a backstory to go with it. People liked it, but for some reason, it got away from me. I know what it was. Life. Life consumed my time. Kids activities, community activities, work activities. Sometimes there were no activities at all and I just wanted to be lazy. It's not the taking of pictures that stopped. Oh no, I kept clicking away. I just couldn't find the time to set myself down in front of my computer to edit a picture and post it at the end of my day. All I wanted to do was go to bed and sleep.

I also stopped reading some of my favorite blogs. In other words, I stopped opening myself to inspiration from others. Wow, have I missed that. I don't know why, but recently I visited one of my favorite blogs of all time, shuttersmack, and it all started to come back to me. That girl Leslie, she does it right. She's living life in a city she loves with the man she loves doing what she loves...and she's sharing that love with the world through her blog. Shuttersmack is probably the best photo blog I visit. The layout, the imagery, the stories...it's just spot on. It's like the Taj Mahal of photo blogs. (A close second is her friend Margaret's blog. A different style, but the images are just as rich and the links she shares are a riot!) I realized that it might be time to breathe life back into this blog again. It'll probably be uneven baby steps at first, then eventually I can hit full stride. I'm looking forward to it.

Horses in the Mist

Foggy morning. Snapped this on the way to work. Hard to resist fog photos. And yes...I said "horses". Look closely.

Going Batty

Tonight was the first game of the first tournament of the new baseball season. You can tell some of the kids got new bats this year because they're hanging up in the bat rack rather than lying on the ground.

Taking Flight

There were thousands of geese sitting on the ice by the Coleman plant. That's what caught my eye. Just to see them so thick and content sitting all together on the frozen pond. As I approached to take a picture through the chain link fence surrounding the campus, they took off. So, I captured what I could.

Cold Flame

Cooking salmon patties on the grill in the backyard. Trying to keep that fishy smell out of the house. It's 20º outside.

Duke

Watching my BIL's and SIL's dogs while they are camping in the Canadian boundary waters. This is Duke. He moves a lot. I'm glad he knows his name because I could never catch him.

Artistic Fall

One of my favorite parts of going to parent-teacher conferences is getting to see the artwork the kids have been making. I thought Amber captured the Fall season perfectly in this piece.

In the Bag

Spare me your safety stories this picture might trigger. It's no different than putting a plastic mask over your face on Halloween. Except, this made me laugh. I bring home gifts from our trip and this is what entertains her.

The First Church of Basketball

In our house, Sunday means church. So, why not one more picture from Late Night in the Phog?

Champions!

The weekend in Lawrence continues. If you're a K-State fan, you won't know what that glass-like trophy is above, but KU fans do! That was a great year! National champions! Speaking of champions...

...this is my champion right here. Future Jayhawk answering the question "What's Your Wingspan?". He's not quite to Cole Aldrich's span yet, but the boy is just in junior high. There's still time.

Beware of the Phog

Andrew and I made I first journey to Late Night in the Phog. It was everything we thought it'd be and more! We met up with my brother and his family. My mom was there, too. What a great night to watch the Kansas Jayhawk's basketball season get underway! I love this time of year!

Beginning of the Fall

Car Wash

The birds on the tower behind the TV station must not like my car. I walk out at lunch and my car looks like it has a bad case of acne that decide to all erupt at once. Ugh. The $5 car wash down the street does a great job of cleaning up messes like this and makes my tires look like new.

Killer Hamburgers

Snapped this outside one of my favorite burger joints in town. Makes you want to eat there, doesn't it?

Beginning of Basketball

Amber had a basketball clinic tonight. This is her third year in the program and she gets better every year. I like this gymnasium. It's older and has a little character to it. This place gets LOUD on game days!

Prairie Fire Marathon

Somewhere in this throng of people are many friends and my brother. They're getting ready to run a half-marathon. Me? I'm standing around drinking cappuccino and taking photos. I've been training for awhile now.

Connecting the Course

My brother is in town to run in the Prairie Fire Marathon tomorrow. He's actually running the half marathon. Tonight we drove the course so he'd be familiar with it during the run in the morning. Toward the end of the course, he'll be running by the Keeper of the Plains.

Heading Home

Nothing special going on today. So, I snapped a picture on the drive home.

Special Visitor

A co-worker and his wife just had their first baby recently and today, they brought him around for a visit. Cute kid.

Glee Package

I learned that a Twitter friend was a fan of Glee so I sent her a Glee cap. I wonder if she'll scream with Glee when it arrives?