Wide-angle Wednesday

It's been a few weeks since I've done a WAW and I nearly missed today as well.  All is well here, ran a really nice 5 miler yesterday and other than that I'm up to my ears in kitten.  ;) 

I have been sorting through some of my Disney shots and realized that I love to take photos of little details at WDW.  I picked out a few shots and thought it would be fun if you could tell where each of them was taken!  Some are easier than others...

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Weekly wrap-up

What a busy week!  It's still busy, but I have a bit of time between my morning and mid-day sits to do my weekly update.  I ran Monday, Thursday, and Sunday this week, it made it feel like I didn't run as much but at least I got in 11 miles and for a busy week, that's not bad for me.  This morning's run was the best, I ran with Dallas (my son) and I ran slower since he has been running on the TM and hasn't been outside lately.  I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to fast for him and that ended up being SO NICE!  Sometimes I am so wound up about my pace that I forget to just slow it down a bit and enjoy the run.  

Working on speed is important to me because I love to challenge myself, but sometimes you just need to embrace the run and your surroundings and not worry about speed so much.  I really loved our run this morning, I even snapped a picture WHILE running, I was pretty impressed.  Usually my shots are blurry if I don't stop to get the shot.  It was a beautiful morning run!

In other news, Elsa is learning to drink out of a bowl instead of her bottle.  

It's SLOW going as you will see below...LOL

I hope everyone is enjoying Memorial Day Weekend! 

Frappy Hiday!

 Sorry for missing Wide-angle Wednesday, it seems to be a theme around here lately.  I should call this blog "LOST in a Glass Slipper." ;)  I have a good excuse though and I'll make up for it with photos, K? Work has been busy and will get even busier this weekend as everyone heads out of town.  Running has slowed down this week, I did get in a couple runs, one with my furry running companion yesterday.  

What has really taken up my time, however, is this little girl...

 I have a client that headed to Disney (of all places!) this week and called to let me know that a couple of the stray/feral cats that they feed on their porch had kittens.  This has happened a few times at this client but this time one of the kitties wasn't doing very well.  She was much smaller than the others and very weak.  I broke down and took her home.  I'm not sure what put me over the edge, I run into a LOT of animals that need rescuing and would have a house full of them if I did this all the time, but I couldn't leave her. 

She's tiny, just 9 ounces, although she is growing already after just 4 days of being fed well.  

We played around with calling her Frosty, she has this really cool frosty look about her coat...

 Savannah had an even better idea.  She's super vocal, lots of meowing and frosty colored, so Savannah said she was a perfect Elsa!  Loved it immediately, it suits her!

You don't get how small she is in photos until you see her during her bath... (sorry, it was night and dark lighting, but you get the idea)

We're totally smitten, she comes with us almost everywhere in a little carrier, since we have to feed her every couple hours.  Savannah takes care of her at night and keeps her in her room.  She's doing really well and seems a lot healthier already.  She had her first photo shoot yesterday cause that's how I roll in this house!  She did great, I think she's a natural.  LOL

 

 

 Why can't the other creatures in my house pose for the camera like this (I'm speaking of the humans, lol)  The vet thinks she's about 3-4 weeks old, we're unsure since the mama had them hidden and since she was clearly the runt and not as big as the others.  We have our hands full here, it's like having a baby again! 

I'm hoping to get another run in tomorrow or Sunday morning but  the holiday and the kitten seem to be sidetracking me a bit!  I hope everyone has a fabulous extra long weekend!!

Summer Run Scavenger Hunt and Other fun!

I know I've been absent from the blog, I'm just out here enjoying the amazing weather, life, and running.  There's not a ton to report! Rey is also home and when he's home I try to break away from the computer and social media to spend time with him.  We've spent a lot of time outside, grilling, and taking walks.  It's been fabulous! I don't know how it's possible that I ever I forget how lucky I am to have found my soulmate.  He fills my world with smiles and laughter in a way that no one else does.  

Some fun solar flare going on in that shot!  

Speaking of photos...because let's face it, I can't NOT speak of them...

Today I joined the Summer Run Scavenger Hunt that Fairytales and Fitness  put together!  For the next 2 weeks I'll be having fun looking for some of these items on my runs. #SummerRunHunt Here's the list:

1. A WILD animal (Alive)....(deer, rabbit, squirrel, moose, etc.)
2. A Fence
3. A Street sign named after a tree.....(Elm, Pine, Hemlock, etc...)
4. A Flag ( any kind)
5.  A pair of orange running shoes ( or shoes that have orange on them)
6. A purple flower
7. An animal crossing sign ( deer, duck, moose?,,,etc)
8. A discarded food item or container
9. A port o potty
10. A baby stroller
11. A Yellow Labrador or Golden Retriever 
12. A house #12  or mailbox #12
13. Road kill  ( please don't hurt animals for the sake of the picture...haha)
14.  A Red car  ( please don't run in the street for this one)
15. Another runner or walker
16. A Disney lawn ornament
17. An outside clock
18. A tree bearing fruit ( or berries).
19.  Find a word ( on a sign or store front, etc) that you can related to running.
20. A selfie

There's directions on how to join in on Meranda & Lacey's blog above if you want to play too! 

I had such a good time looking for items this morning on my 4 mile run.  It actually made my run go faster and I noticed things I don't normally notice.  I decided to just focus on a few I could remember and there were a few times I didn't stop for things.  I do get a little caught up with my pace and I didn't want to stop TOO many times (I can get carried away with photos, ya know) so I decided that 3 would be a good number for this morning.  

Here's what I came up with:  

#2. A fence

 

 #3. A street sign named after a tree (this one was a bit easy since I live in the "Forest City" and live on a tree-named street...NATURALLY.) 

 #19. Find a word ( on a sign or store front, etc) that you can related to running.

This one was the most fun to look for, I found a couple! 

I think this is my favorite though...deep. 

 This scavenger hunt is perfect for me right now, something fun to add to my runs and obviously photo related challenges are fun for me. It gives me a new perspective of areas that I have run multiple times and makes my runs interesting and fun! Geez, how many times can I say FUN??? Lol.

I'm off to enjoy the rest of my time with Rey before he has to leave out again.  I hope everyone is having a fantastic week and I'm sorry if I've neglected commenting on some of your blogs.  I've been trying to at least read them!  

  Have you ever done a scavenger hunt to *spice up* your running? 

Weekly Wrap-up With Far Too Many Photos.

Happy Mother's Day to you a day early!  It's been a nice week here.  Busy taking photos (as you will see below) working, running, and that's about it.  I ran 16 miles this week, which is the most I have run since before the Princess and that included a 5 mile run this morning.  I've been doing 4 consistently, but 5 is the longest I have run since the half marathon.   It felt nearly effortless, so I guess I'm finally officially back in the saddle! I registered for a 10K in June, but more on that another time.

 The big news in my world is that I had to get a new phone.  Two very important buttons on my Samsung Galaxy S3 decided to die and when clients started to call me and my phone was not registering that I was even getting calls, it was time to upgrade.  I'm glad we had one available.  When I went on the site to look for free upgrades, I came across the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom.  I had no clue that Samsung had a camera phone available and after looking into some reviews, I ordered it immediately.  

Right up my alley. 

 Those of you that follow me know that I have a love for all things photography related, so having a phone that takes decent pictures is important to me.  I can't always carry around my DSLR. In fact, I have less and less desire to lug it around but still want fabulous photos, which leaves me with a dilemma.  By the way, I wasn't asked to do a review or anything, I've just been having fun with the phone and thought I would share.    

The biggest complaint others had was that it was bulky because it has a lens on the back of the phone.  Well, if you have ever carried around a Nikon D90 dslr, you know what bulky is.  This is not bulky for me and I was aware going into it that it would be a little thicker because of the lens.  It's a necessary evil. You cannot get good photos with just a little tiny camera hole on a phone.  Believe me, I've tried!  I actually think the bump/lens make it easier for me to hold, there's no way it will slip out of my hand.  It also has a real shutter button. I could never quite get the hang of pushing a button on the phone screen to take a pic without moving the phone, which makes your shot blurry or not as sharp.  Hope I'm not boring you with all my photo talk, you can always skip down to the photos!

It was important that I have bokeh in my shots.  In the simplest terms, bokeh is the blurry background in shots.  Most camera phones and point and shoots cannot produce bokeh at all.  This baby can!  Now granted, it's not as "creamy" as the bokeh on my D90, but I'm still pretty pleased with it.  You kind of have to force the lens to give it to you though by getting VERY close to the subject that you are focusing on.

Here's a comparison from a shot I took a few years ago of the same flowers that bloom under the tree in my back yard. This will give you an idea of the differences. The first is from my new phone:

This is from a couple years ago with my dslr:

I'll admit, the camera phone takes really sharp pictures, but if you look at the dark areas on both the photos, you'll see what I mean about "creamy bokeh".  Both nice shots though and I'm happy that the phone can even produce this kind of shot.

Ok, enough comparing, I LOVE the camera on this phone and I'm really happy with it.  I'm not giving up my dslr anytime soon, but this really satisfies my need to have something easy to carry around that takes great photos. 
Here are a ton of shots I took this week with it!

My furry running partner twice a week, Normie-

 

  It has a really WIDE angle too, which is great for sunrises and a bunch of great presets for things like dawn, nighttime, fireworks, macro, etc.

The way the sun was coming up through the trees, it reminded me a bit of my tattoo!

My tattoo, in case you have no clue what I'm referring to.  

(any excuse to show it off!) LOL

 See the horsey in the background??

So I'm pretty pleased with my new toy!  I'm glad I have something to take some quality pics when I'm out and about.  

How about you?  Any new toys lately?  Do you carry around a dslr or point and shoot for photos or just rely on your phone? 

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Mother's Day weekend!!

Wide-angle Wednesday

Helloooooo!  It's been a week, I see.  Work and life picks up in the warmer months for me and I find myself busier.  It's all good though, I run more too!  I just feel like my blogging is in a bit of a lull lately.  I didn't do a weekly wrap-up because it seems a bit boring.  When I first started blogging about running I had all sorts of epiphanies and lessons I was learning.  Now I just get out there, do what I love, and I come here and sit staring at the screen for something epic to talk about...but nothing comes.  It's all good though, these things go in cycles, I'm sure I'll be blabbing about something or another soon enough!  

Let's get to WAW, shall we?  A departure from Disney again, these are oldies but goodies, taken in 2010.  Baby kitties that Savannah & I pet sat when they are only about 4 days old.

For those of you that blog, do you ever feel like you are at a loss for something "epic" to blog about? Do you worry that your readers will get bored?