What have I enjoyed today? / Pioneer Woman Mention...

Thanks for asking!

Reasons that I've enjoyed today:

Today has been beautiful.

Come to think of it, the weather over the last few weeks has been beautiful.
I love weather, though.

I don't know many people who absolutely LOVE rain. Granted, I don't like the bottoms of my jeans to be soaking wet, and I'd prefer not to have to walk to class it in, but a good Sunday or Saturday rain? You can't beat it. Rain at night is also an instant lullaby for me.

The snow was so innocent & white, too. I hate ruining it by the touch of the soles of my shoes, or by the marks of a four wheeler tire, but it is irresistible. I love the crisp air, and the site of the snow falling all around me. I love how the snow seems to bring out ones inner child, especially around these parts. When it snows, you're whatever age you want to be. I love how it confines us to one area, and even when most people feel trapped while being confined - I temporarily enjoy it. Cabin fever will set in eventually, but around the time it does - the snow melts anyway.

I also love days like today. The days that make you wish the sun was never made to go down, and the wind was never meant to cease its breeze. I love these days when you can't imagine bad weather: snow, sleet, ice, hail, ran, tornados, thunder, lightening - because it all seems impossible that blue skies could fill with such darkness. I love days like to today because they're encouraging enough to remind me that a new time is near. This is only a season in this year.

Music adds instruments to my life story.

Seriously, it seems like no mattter WHAT is going on in a second of my life, there is a song about it.
The main ones singing about my life right now are Mumford & Sons. I loved their popular song, but once I heard them on the Grammy's, I decided that I ultimately loved their actual voice, and their instrumental diversity compared to many other recording artists. Yes, they may seem like a typical Alternative band, and I guess in some ways they are, but they don't fall into the same category to me as some artists do (Ex: Goo Goo Dolls, The Fray). Granted, this is solely my opinion, but they stand out. Some may say it's because they're just plain weird, but me? I say it's because they're different in an amazing way. It may be their English accents, but I read in an article about them that they "are making music that matters without taking themselves too seriously." (SN: If you're curious about what song I am LOVING right now, it's called "White Blank Page", and I more than likely have/will add it to my music queue at the bottom of my blog, so search & play it.)

Valentines Day is 364 days away.

I despise V-Day, and so thinking that it's that far away from now is comforting to me for some reason, and that's good for today to be a GREAT day.


UPDATE:

for all of you who know about The Pioneer Woman (and for those who don't, check her out! Amazing photographer, cook, and woman in general!) I thought I would share with you...

She hosts Pioneer Woman Photography Assignments randomly throughout the course of the year, and she always has a different theme. I got interested in them about a year ago, and I started entering soon after that. This week's topic was on "Love", and I entered this photo:

taken at Tyson & Brandi Smith's wedding, October 2010.

It just so happened to be mentioned today, and I am awestruck, thankful, and shocked! She is phenomenal, and to have a photo of mine catch her eye means the WORLD to me. I am so grateful, and I [not so secretly] wish I could hug her neck for that! 

If you want to see the entire group (AND I encourage you to check out the rest) Here is the link. 

.."sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to click the shutter."

 For years now (i don't even know how many) I have been interested in photography. I love to see it, and I love to capture the moments myself. There's really no other way for me to remember things or understand having been there unless I have a photo of it. I can look back at a time in a photo and remember exactly how I felt the moment it was taken, and I can rehash those emotions over and over each time I look at it.
 Photo's, to me, tell stories. The wonderful thing about them is that they never tell the same story to any person. You can look a photo and see something totally different than the person next to you, and that is beautiful to me. There is no other way to capture something that you want to hold as a memory forever. Photos can't be erased. Photos take you into a place that maybe you've always wanted to be. Photos compare to being there yourself, although sometimes I will say that they can fall short.

 Just a few weeks ago, I was googling photo contests in Mississippi because I wanted to participate in some this summer just to get some of my still shots out there. I know they aren't world class photos (by any means), but I wanted to give it a shot, thinking, "what have I got to lose? (other than a ten dollar entry fee.... and postal fee..... and rejection..... oh well, putting that aside...)" So, putting that aside, I went for it. I entered seven photos into the Mississippi Wildlife Federation (MWF) State Photography Contest. I was allowed three in each group, and the groups were:

• Mississippi's Natural Landscapes
• Wildlife Birds (Native to MS)
• Wildlife Other (Native to MS)
• People
• Floral Macro
• Macro (Wildlife/Nature)

So, I entered three in landscapes and floral macro and one in wildlife (other).

I got a letter in the mail saying that two of the photos had been judged as winners in the landscape and floral macro categories! I was excited because one advantage of winning (in the Overall, which hasn't been judged yet), is being published in the MWF magazine. THAT is on my "to-do before I....run out of time" list.
 I truly am blessed because all of the honorable mention photos were stunning. They truly were. I would have hated to be a judge in a contest involving those photographs.
 I have a lot of ideas about how I want to use my photography in the future, and I'm really excited about a certain thing, but I haven't quite put it all together in my head yet. I'm hoping that it will hit me like a ton of bricks one day.
 Another thing i'm looking forward to is hopefully participating in these contests year-round. They [it is/are] fun, and it also gives me a little more drive to push myself into more unique photo-opportunities.

If you'd like to check out this year's results or see about entering next year, click here.

"While there is, perhaps, a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see."  ~Dorothea Lange