MrsPickle - #AtoZChallenge

Every once in awhile someone asks me where the name MrsPickle came from. Well that's easy enough... I married MrPickle.

Really, what did you think?

This is how my family sees me much of the time... "Smile!"

Anyways, MrsPickle started out as my gaming name - yes, I'm a gamer... TFC, TF2, WOW, D2 (if you don't know what those are, you don't play those games, so don't worry about it), among many others. In fact, I have been a gamer since I was about 7.

Also, as you may have noticed, I love taking pictures. I am sooooo grateful for digital cameras. I have taken over 14,000 photos in the past five years alone. If I had had to buy film and process all of those pictures we'd be living in a cardboard box somewhere.

Which reminds me, if you don't have a remote backup for your digital photos - GET ONE! See my Ode to Bulldog Backup for my recommendation.

Anyways, enough about me. Today's photo challenge was "how you feel today". I took these photos today...

A little moody, but with the sun shining through...

 Or 

Finding a brilliant end to an otherwise cloudy day...

Or

WOOHOO! (I bribed her with pickles to let me take her picture - really)

I'll let you guess :)

A Father's Plight - #PhotoaDayApril

The AtoZChallenge is on break today (we get Sundays off), but the PhotoaDayApril Challenge continues!

Today's photo challenge was "inside your wallet" which, after playing with effects on picmonkey.com's website, I dubbed

A Father's Plight

Celebration - #AtoZChallenge #PhotoadayApril

Today I celebrate my 41st birthday. Looking back on my 40th year...

There was an Exploding Couch

A graduation ceremony

A new family member - NomNom (her Facebook page is here)

Another year with my very sexy husband (and a Film Noir shoot)

A lot of wonderful days, and nights.

A visit from Aunt Pat

A whole lot of love. 

Some wonderful new friends.

And a lot of simple joy.

Yep, it's been a good year. Here's to another great year with my wonderful family and friends.

___________________________

Mail - cards, catalogs, celebrations and Cycle World. (and Bloomberg, but it doesn't start with a C)

Next up: D and a photo of "someone who makes you happy"

Beautiful - #AtoZChallenge #PhotoadayApril

One of the best parts about living in Arizona is the sunsets... they don't call it the Land of 1,000 sunsets for nothing. Talk about lots of colours!

Note: None of these have been touched up or modified :)

Next up: Something that starts with a C and mail.

#PhotoadayApril - Your Reflection

Effects by picmonkey.com - very cool site!

Next up: Colour

Why you should give your kid a camera

Angie has been fascinated by cameras since she was able to grab a hold of one. It's no wonder really, since I love to take pictures (you noticed that did you?) and I especially love to take pictures of her (I have literally THOUSANDS of pictures from just the last 4 1/2 years). So it's no wonder she'll steal my camera if given half a chance. So I bought her her own camera for Christmas when she was 3 1/2 - one of those "kid tough" versions. It's fun to see what interests her. Here are some shots I found on her camera a few months ago...

Aunt Stephanie

Mom

It's Shawn the Sheep, it's Shawn the Sheep... 

Dad! 

Mommy, Pink Baby, Anna, Aunt Pat and Blue Baby

Charlie!

Me!

Purple Toes!

Big Girl Room!

My Stuff.

My Lamp.

Daddy's Platypus.

My Toes (again)!

As you can see, she's actually pretty good at centering her subject and focusing. All in all, I'm impressed.

I totally recommend parents buy their kids an inexpensive digital camera that's "kid tough". I bought this one for about $25, and it has been worth every penny :)

Photography Challenge Day 14: Eyes

It's funny, since Angie was born various people have told Lenny and I that she looks just like us, yet Lenny and I don't look much alike. For this photo challenge I thought it might be fun to compare our eyes. So, whose eyes does Angie have? :)

Next up in the Photography Challenge: Silhouette

Time

As I mentioned, I'm doing two photo challenges at the moment. This week's challenge in the other contest was time. I tried several different ideas, but settled on this one.

Photo of our HUGE assortment of watches, with effects added.

The next two challenges in this photo challenge are Open Study, followed by Stop Motion.

Photography Challenge Day 13: Yourself with 13 things

This one took me forever. It's awfully hard to take a picture of yourself, let alone figure out 13 things to put in the picture with you.

Actually, some of the "13 things" are cut off at the bottom of this picture. Yes, I know, there are a lot more than 13 things in this picture, but the ones I specifically included were (from left to right):

1. Cathy - my baby doll from my youth.
2. Chauncy Bear - one of my favorite bears
3. Perry the Platypus - because he's just that cool
4. Secret deodorant - because I got a years supply free because I have "Klout"! LOL
5. The Ladybug pillow pet - because she's cute and reminds me of Angie
6. Bud Light with Lime - because it's yummy
7. My iPad - because it too is just that cool
8. Stephanie's Clown - she gave it to me when I left New Orleans. Her mother gave it to her and it means a lot
9. The Heart Aunt Pat sent me (barely visible on the clown's lap) - because she means a lot to me
10. Kermit the Frog - he was my first love
11. Pooh Bear - he's been with me since I was born
12. My iPod Touch - I use it almost daily. Best thing I have ever purchased, hands down.
13. My Kindle - my newest geeky gadget and I love it :)

Don't you just love my library, not to mention my Eeyore jammies? :)

FINALLY this photo challenge is behind me! Next up, Eyes.

The sky tonight

It was just gorgeous...

Film Noir

I'm doing another photo challenge, and this week's theme is Film Noir. What's that? ""Film Noir" is a genre of film between 1940 and 1960, originating in the United States, employing heavy shadows and patterns of darkness, in which the protagonist dies, meets defeat, or achieves meaningless victory in the end."

Not sure if these fit the bill, but it was fun. I have the best husband ever - it was still 104 degrees outside and he put on a dress shirt, dress pants, an overcoat and a fedora for me.

Photography Challenge Day 12: Sunset

They don't call Arizona the "Land of 1,000 Sunsets" for nothin' :)

Next up in the photo challenge: Yourself with 13 things.

Maybe I'll set up the tripod and take some pictures with the timer. Otherwise it's hard to take good photos of yourself.