The challenge for You Capture Thursday this week is mornings…and I have to admit that our mornings are full of activity. So I had plenty to photograph…in fact you got to see a few of them already yesterday.

Before I get started, I just want to remind you that you can join in the fun at any time or just whenever the mood strikes you. Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundry is kind enough to give us a theme every week and all you need to do is grab your camera and start shooting. It can be any kind of camera and you don’t have to go all crazy in Photoshop like I do. But I think half the fun is editing the photos so I tend to get carried away.

So here we go…

Pretty much every morning when I go in to get Mackenzie she’s already been awake and playing for a little while…and she’s all smiles and happiness. This is her in her big girl pajamas — aren’t they cute?!

Mack on the changing table…which she really barely fits on anymore.

Every morning we walk with Ayla and Mack loves to walk part of it herself. At least she’s finally walking with me now instead of in the opposite direction.

And she loves pushing her stroller although she can’t see so well where she’s going…Getting better every day though!

As you might notice, it’s chilly here these days. Fall is quickly sneaking up on us. But it’s thankfully still in the 70′s during the day!

What will next week’s topic be??? Let’s wait and see!!

Hello furry friends & the human world!

Welcome to September! Can you believe 2010 is going to be over in just a few months? And then I’ll once again be hiding under mom’s legs as another new year is rung in. Seems like just yesterday when I was all cowered underneath her. Maybe that was because of a thunderstorm, though.

At any rate, it definitely feels like fall here in Germany already. It’s just crazy. One day it was so hot I could barely stop panting. And the next it was gray, windy and chilly again. I’m so excited! I mean I love sunshine, but fall also means lots of fresh apples to eat right from the tree on my daily walks. And I can always go romping in the fields because there’s nothing growing in them anymore. It’s just awesome!

I am making sure to eat plenty of green grass while it’s still available too. In fact, not far from this lovely grassy patch, I also found someone’s garbage. Old pieces of toast, some unidentifiable fruit and other goodies. Like little pieces of edible heaven dropped right there in the field for me to find. Mom was not amused. I don’t know why she refuses to let me have such yummy treats. She totally even yelled at me and chased me out of the field. Luckily we go by this field twice a day, though, and I’ve always managed to snag at least a little something while mom was distracted by Mackenzie. It did earn me the right to be on my leash for the last half of the walk…but it was totally worth it. And I didn’t even throw up from the stuff or anything!

Is it still summer where you are? The humans seem to think we could have handled a few more days of summer. I really don’t see the attraction. But they also don’t walk around in thick fur coats like me all year. Speaking of which, I’m sure it’s going to be any day now when my summer coat starts to fall out and my winter coat come in. I dread the the hours of brushing that lay ahead…

Oh, and if you’re wondering…yes I am still taking applications for my new boyfriend. But I am “holla”-ing at them less now and not nearly as whiny. Everyone in the house seems pleased about that. I’ve even returned to eating dog food again — although I have to admit I considered pretending that I still hate it so mom would keep digging up awesome stuff to feed me instead!

Hope you’re having a barkalicious week!

Sloppy Newfie kisses,

Ayla

This weekend, we decided to take a little family outing. The weather is quickly progressing towards fall here and it was a bit chilly out, plus it’s been raining off and on for about a week now. But thankfully we managed to make it through the entire Frankfurt Zoo without any real storms.

Mackenzie was pretty certain that this bear was a dog…or at least a close relative of Ayla. Personally, I think she might be right.

We were looking forward to seeing the wild cats in the cat house…but apparently they are not morning cats. Only the lions were out and about…and that’s because their cage was being cleaned so they had no other choice. Out of maybe 20 wild cats they have at the zoo, we only saw the lions. Not sure where all the others were hiding but the adults were definitely disappointed.

The camels were pretty amusing, if not a little bit gross. All the females had their backs turned to the visitors and only the male camel was facing guests. I suppose it’s some sort of arrangement they had. I never noticed that they sit on their knees before…with their hind legs stretching behind them. Very strange. And apparently they don’t mind being surrounded by their own feces at all either.

This duck just came by for a visit. There’s plenty of wild animals that just drop in to the zoo from time to time. I guess they realize it’s a safe haven for them and they can even get a free meal at times. Sort of like a duck halfway house.

Mackenzie decided playing peek-a-boo with her feet would be fun. She was definitely having a good time and we were getting plenty of exercise trying to keep up with her!

The seals are one of my favorite parts of the zoo to visit. They are just so personable and always seem so happy. I can’t always say the same for many of the other animals in zoos. But the seals really, truly seem to be having a blast. We happened to walk up during their feeding time and they were going crazy. One of the male seals was clapping his hand-fin on the rocks and just going crazy. Some of them are even trained to do a few tricks. I never realized they could jump so high.

We also had an interesting glimpse of some young alpacas who appeared to be wrestling for their rank in the pack. They completely use their long necks to dominate each others, almost like boxers use their arms to hold the competitor in the ring. And the bite like crazy!

Mackenzie was rather fascinated by the peacock and thought she might give the green grass a try as well. The bird was certainly enjoying it and she’s seen lots of other animals that like it (including Ayla) so maybe she thought she was missing out.

Unfortunately, when she wanted to try the grass, she kinda spooked the peacock. She tried to lure him back by picking a bit of grass for him…but it didn’t work.

This next animal is one of the strangest I’ve ever seen and when we went to the Frankfurt Zoo 6 or so years ago (oye we’re old), we were just stunned by this animal. Never seen anything like it before or since. It’s called an Okapi and they’re from the Republic of Congo. They’re like zebra-aardvark-horse crosses. Totally prehistoric looking.

At least at this zoo you also see lots of young wildlife…which makes me think they must be doings something right. Things were certainly better maintained and happier feeling than in our last trip to the Opel Zoo. Of course you can’t feed anything at the Frankfurt Zoo, but in many ways, I think that’s probably better for the animals anyway. And at least they’re actually more themselves, not dancing around the doors of their areas waiting for more treats.

We were all exhausted after the excursion but still had lots of fun. Because we went on the last Saturday of the month we only had to pay €6 entry (kids under 6 years old are always free) instead of €8. Where will our next outing be? Probably the Palmengarten because Mackenzie is really crazy about flowers right now. She loves to stop and smell them. It might be hard to explain that she can’t take them all with her though…

As you may have noticed, I’m all about trying out new things lately. So when I heard there was a new book out about baking bread in 5 minutes a day, I was intrigued. Then I discovered that one of my favorite foodie bloggers, Big Black Dogs, was actually hosting a challenge to try out the recipes in the book over the next year. So naturally I had to jump at the chance.

I won’t be sharing any of the actual recipes with you because the book is still so new — but if you want to join in, grab yourself a copy of the book, Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes A Day at Amazon.com or Amazon.de and let’s get baking. Oh, and be sure to hop over to Big Black Dogs and contact Michelle who will give you the baking schedule and hopefully get you signed up to their support group. I’m sure it’s a magical place but for reasons no one knows, Google doesn’t want me to be in the group. Whatever.

Anywho, our baking challenge for September 1st is to try out the 100% Whole Wheat Bread, Plain and Simple (pages 79-80) and make a regular loaf of bread, 1 Zucchini Flatbread (pages 208-209) and 1 loaf of Msemmen (Algerian Flatbread) from pages 228-230.

I’ve never been very good at following instructions…and in fact I didn’t have the info about the baking challenge until I’d already tried something out of the book…which just happened to be made with this same whole wheat bread starter: Focaccia with Garlic Shards, Artichokes and Rosemary (pages 216-217). So I made two variations of that instead of the Msemmen.

Maybe I should preface this by saying that I have always been a bit handicapped when it comes to baking bread. I don’t know why but I often just don’t get the rise out of it that I should (literally)…especially when using whole wheat flour. Let me bake a cheesecake, a fruit bread, a huge Thanksgiving dinner; I’m fine. But an actual loaf of bread is just not my forte. I’m working on it, though.

So anyway, don’t laugh too hard when you see my pictures. Everything did actually taste really awesome, even if it was extremely flat.

We invited our neighbors over for dinner a couple weeks ago as a thank you for watching Ayla and just being there for us in emergencies over the last few years. Stefan’s parents were also here and we made it a grill party. So I decided to make a couple focaccias for the occasion. Now normally I never try out new recipes on guests…but the book made it all sound so easy that I just went for it.

Many of the recipes in this book are made from simple bread starters. You mix up the dough one day, let it sit in your fridge for up to two weeks, and can bake a variety of things from just that one piece of dough (usually enough for about 4 pounds of bread). Awesome concept and good in theory. Unless you get really wet, runny dough like me…that no matter how much flour you add to it, it’s just the same goo day after day.

The sticky, wet dough was quite difficult to work with so I was extra thankful to have Stefan’s mom around who has a few more years of baking and cooking experience under her belt than I. She helped me roll out the dough by sprinkling flour on top and using a sheet of plastic wrap to cover it…works really well as long as you have enough flour on it! And she also gave me a trick for making the holes in the focaccia: dip the end of a wooden spoon in flour and dimple away!

Since our neighbors have two kids in their early teens, I also decided to make a plain focaccia. Wasn’t sure how well the rosemary, garlic and artichokes would go over…

So you may notice that they look lovely…and in fact they tasted fantastic! I just wish they had risen more like a focaccia. Something to strive towards anyway. Because a good focaccia with steaks and a salad is a very tasty treat!

After making those two breads, I still had half of my whole wheat dough mix in the fridge…and since I finally opened the HBin5 baking schedule, I saw I was right on track to bake a regular loaf of bread plus a zucchini flatbread. By some stroke of luck, I actually had everything for the flatbread in my fridge except pine nuts. So I skipped them.

My bread was a disaster as you can imagine. It’s like a naked pizza. Didn’t really rise for me at all on the counter and I didn’t bother to take a photo of it.

But the zucchini flatbread was really tasty…sort of like a zucchini pizza quiche.

All you have to do is cut a couple shallots, grate a large zucchini, sauté them in olive oil, add salt & pepper and let it cook until the liquid is gone from the zucchini (about 10 minutes). Then let it cool and once cooled, mix in 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. That’s the recipe from the book but the next time I make this (and there will be a next time) I’ll put some garlic in there and probably a bit of crushed red pepper for some bite. I also had to leave it in the oven longer to get it to a crunchy state on the bottom like pizza.

The zucchini flatbread tastes really good warm and Stefan even liked it cold. I was actually a bit scared to let him try it because he  can be a rather picky eater…but the fact that he actually liked it cold says something for it. And Mackenzie seems to think it’s some of the best pizza ever.

So there you have it — my first experiences with the Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes book. It’s going to take about a year to get through the whole book, trying out a few new recipes every two weeks. And actually…the group started this challenge back in January so I have some other recipes to explore in the meantime if/when I get the chance. I’m just hoping that at some point during this process I finally start getting the whole bread baking process right!

You Capture Thursday is here again and this week we got to head outdoors. Summer seems to be quickly winding down so I thought I would take this opportunity to share a few photos taken around our courtyard.

If you’d like to get to know your camera better and join in on the fun, head over to I Should Be Folding Laundry and get the skinny. It’s easy, it’s fun and it’s a great excuse to use your camera even when you have a million other things going on. Cause once it’s in your hands…you probably won’t want to put it down anymore!

Thees roses have been growing in our courtyard for who knows how long. They have the most beautiful buds…and this year, they actually smell fantastic too. Which is more than I can say for most roses that you get at the flower shop these days.

I planted this sunflower seed and wasn’t actually sure I would get any results. I planted quite a few flower seeds this year but shortly after they were in the ground, it started getting cool here again…and then came another heat wave plus us in the hospital. So it was a tough year to get anything going…and then to also keep it alive. But next year I will hopefully be planting a lot more sunflowers and other flowers from seed. I just love the way the place looks when there are flowers everywhere.

I was pretty impressed at how long this bee stayed on the flower for me…especially since the wind was blowing pretty strongly and he’d get thrashed around form time to time. But with the lovely macro lenses Stefan gave me from his own collection, I was able to get really close to the bee and take some nice shots…or so I thought!

Is your summer already winding down? It completely feels like fall here already. Not that I necessarily mind because fall is often very beautiful here…until the rains start. I suppose I just need to find something more constructive to do during the rainy days so I don’t have to dislike them so much. We have a lot of them during the winter!

Dear Mackenzie,

You’re already twenty-one months old and we just keep wondering where the time has gone. Last month you wanted to disagree with everything we said…but now you actually answer with nods a lot of the time too. At least when you want something. You select what you want to snack on in the mornings and help me pick out your clothes (although you’d usually prefer to be naked) and have just become a master of the English and German languages it seems.

You’re trying to say more and more words every day which is totally cute. Some stuff you say in German (like “nein, nein, nein” – no, no, no) and a lot of other stuff in English … and some stuff just sounds like Chinese. Or maybe a bit like Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau, which is a riot. And, yes, you love hamburgers just as much as he does! In fact, if you ever see a picture of one somewhere, you scream out “bur-sher”, much like he does.

You’re picking up new signs all the time also and using them…like help, please (you actually said please a few days ago for the first time), music — it’s just so awesome to be able to communicate with you so much already.

You are just learning so many new things every day and you absolutely love looking through books and catalogs to find the things you’re familiar with. If you see something in there that you recognize, you yell out the name or start making the sign…it’s awesome. Balloons are still definitely one of your favorite things to check out in there…and balls!

Going back to music, you absolutely LOVE it. For a while we only had the music CD from your music group and we must have listened to those 10 songs 100 times over the course of a week. I couldn’t take it anymore. Thankfully we’ve added a few more songs to our repertoire already — and hopefully will be adding a bunch more in a few weeks. A lot of the songs are the same as when I was a kid but I honestly can’t remember most of what I used to listen to. So it’s taking me a while to compose a really good collection for you that we can all enjoy.

You still give the best monkey hugs…and it seems like your legs are closer to wrapping completely around my waist every day. You just cling to us for dear life every morning and I can’t think of a nicer way to start off the day.

Your daddy’s vacation finally ended at you miss him now that he’s back at work all day. But you seem to understand that someone has to go off to work for us to survive. And you still get to see him every evening, even if it means you’re totally exhausted by the time he gets here. And those evening times are crazy ones because you are totally wired and almost delirious with your sleepiness. We’re actually trying to move your bedtime back just a little bit now to 8pm because it will give you a little more time with daddy and maybe you won’t start melting down right when he walks in the door because you think it’s already time for bed.

You are officially moving in 24-month-sized clothing, although most of the pants are way too huge in the waist. While I’ll be sad to see some of the 18-month stuff go, it’s also a relief to finally be taking some things out of your very fully closet. I just hope you can wear a few more of the summer things next year still or that we have a few more summery days here so we can try a few more cute dresses on. Not that you are a fan of dresses anyway — you’re already a tomboy like your mama it seems. We’ve blown through the size 4 shoes and seem to be moving toward the 6′s now. Thankfully it’s only shoes that you’re going through so quickly.

You are an awesome helper around the house. You love cleaning stuff up and especially putting trash in its place. I was re-potting some plants the other day and when I emptied the bag of soil and set it aside, you grabbed the bag and took it right over to the trash can. It was too cute.

Your Oma and Opa were here a few weeks ago and you convinced them right off the bat that you need to have your sand box set up. You really love sand…and so far you’ve played with it for at least a few minutes almost every day. Unless it’s raining and then I don’t usually let you. I know, I’m just so mean. You also had your first trial run away from us which meant you spent almost the whole morning with your Oma & Opa with absolutely no sign of me or your papa. You passed the test with flying colors and I think all the adults were more nervous about how you’d react than you actually were. And since things went so well, it means you’ll officially get to spend 1 1/2 days with them all to yourself in September because your dad and I are going to Hamburg for the weekend. I’m pretty sure you’ll once again have no problem with anything…but I imagine your dad and I will probably be a nervous wreck by the time we come back.

You are already very much a girl, even though you’re not such a big fan of actually putting on dresses. After we had a baby here in the house for a few days, you’ve become really obsessed with carrying your own baby dolls and other stuffed animals around with you all day. You even come over to the oven in the morning and steal my dish towels so you have a blanket to cover your babies with. You also like to make a huge pile of all the blankets and towels you can find and just sort of dive into it. I can understand the appeal.

Some of those babies MUST sleep with you every night in your crib…and the list of them is now so long that you’re not going to fit in there with them soon. And we’ve tried to let some of them sleep beside your crib or with the other toys on the floor…but no, that’s ust not good enough. You’ll usually start crying and we have to figure out exactly which of the babies is then missing. have certain dolls and toys that absolutely must be in your crib for you to be able to sleep…and stay awake for an hour or so playing

You’ve also started playing for a while in your crib before you go to sleep…I still haven’t figured out if you’re doing this because you’re not tired or because you’re overly tired. Or maybe you just miss having play time by yourself. Not that you don’t usually play on your own anyway while I work around the house or on my computer. Or maybe you’re just enjoying working on your night vision so you can become a spy kid. I really don’t even know how you manage to see what you’re doing in there most of the time.

And even though we told you a million times not to do it, you still love jumping on the couch. You did fall off once but didn’t hurt yourself too badly. I thought that would be the end of it but you still do it when you get really tired…it’s when your inner daredevil really comes out. But you are more reserved about the jumping wildness now and we all appreciate that.

You’ve also now become a huge fan of the television but aren’t yet obsessed with it. We watch maybe an hour a day for you (some days not at all) but you often lose interest in it after a little while. But even if you’re not actively watching it, you’re still apparently watching it — because turning it off is definitely not allowed.

Ayla is learning so much from you as well. The other day you were telling her about your two favorite yellow balls (one is actually a pellet from an air gun) and seemed to be lecturing her about something. I can only imagine that you were trying to explain to her that they were both your balls and she should therefore never try to touch either of them…nor should she sit near them where her tail might risk brushing against them. I have little doubt that the two of you are going to be getting into a whole lot of trouble soon.

I was reminded yesterday that there are many, many families around the world that are not able to have children…and my heart breaks for them just a little. For those that must struggle so hard to conceive when others make no effort at all…and sometimes don’t even want the outcome to ever be finalized. Although I was never sure I was ready to be a mom (and not even certain that I wanted to ever have kids), I am so thankful you blessed our lives.

I look forward to each and every day that we get to share together…and hope that we’ll soon be sharing even more of them with your papa too as the years progress.

All my love,

Mama

Now I have to admit that living over here in Germany puts me at a serious disadvantage regarding new cool products…but here’s one that I think I might finally be ahead of a lot of people with: Fracture.

What is a “Fracture” you’re wondering? It’s a super cool concept where your photos are printed directly on glass, meaning no more taping your images down to keep them in place and no more faded out photos on your wall either. You can learn much more about the product on www.fractureme.com — and in case you’re worried that they’re going to cost a fortune, an 8×10″ portrait will only cost $12 to print. So the most complicated problem will now be selecting the photos you want to have printed first!

Warning: I fear these might be habit forming!

I just heard about this product this morning…and I’m hopting that I get to be one of the first 100 moms who gets to review one of these frames. I would LOVE to tell you more about them — because let’s be honest: We take a lot of photos lately — but our home is seriously lacking when it comes to displaying it!!

So wish me luck & hopefully I’ll be able to type fast enough to still make the cut. Speaking of pictures, I’ll be back later with my monthly letter to Mackenzie…who got up at 5:30 this morning thanks to our new resident mice. Joy.

Note: I wrote this blog post in response to a TwitterMoms RAMBO alert, making me eligible to get a Fracture picture frame for review. You can learn more about Fracture at http://www.fractureme.com.

I  was recently contacted by a reader who has had terrible problems with black mold (Stachybotrys chartarum). If you’ve never heard about this problem, let me tell you that it is BAD stuff. Not only does it smell gross, but it is actually toxic, and it will cause you, your family and even your pets to get exceptionally sick if you don’t deal with the problem.

Thankfully, there are a few ways that you can combat and kill black mold with regular essential oils. For starters, you can spray pure tea tree oil on any place that has mold and it will kill the mold and end any smelly issues you have. But since black mold easily spreads to other parts of your home and creeps into everything, you’ll want to take extra precautions.

Thieves oil (which you might remember I gave you a simple recipe for a while back) is actually fantastic for combating black mold in the air and throughout your home. But for this use, you would not mix in the carrier oil (jojoba, almond, etc) but just use the combined essential oils from the recipe.

Most of the time, black mold spreads so aggressively that people end up having to move. But if that is not an option or you only have a small development of mold so far, you can diffuse thieves oil in your home. Usually, you should start with a 24 hour shock treatment and then diffuse daily for 15-30 minutes or once a month for 8 hours.

And of course, you can also diffuse thieves oil in your home to fight off anything you might not have yet discovered and keep your home germ free. If you’re starting off without a large mold buildup, you can begin with an 8 hour diffusion and then follow with the 15-30 minute or 8 hour monthly treatments.

You’ll need to diffuse the oils on every floor of your home, and starting with a basement or bottom level (where mold often starts) and working your ways up usually works best.

Cold air diffusion is now said to be one of the most efficient ways to distribute the oils evenly in your home and also makes sure you don’t add any moisture to the room. You can find several examples of cold air diffusers on this website.  I have no affiliation with them and don’t know if there prices are fair. I just found them via a google search and they had a lot of good information about diffusers so I think it’s a good place to get started if you are looking to buy one of these.

Another cheaper alternative would be to put 4-8 drops of thieves oil onto a cotton ball and place it on the air vents in your home. You can also put them on your return air vent so it will filter into your air system as well. To clean your dryer, add 2 drops to a wet washcloth and run your dryer for several minutes. You can also put a few drops into your washing machine and just run a rinse cycle.

Thieves oil will actually kill the mold in your home over time but you have to continue using it. You won’t likely want to be in the room when you’re diffusing because of the cinnamon and clove oils. They have a very “hot” feeling to them and can irritate the skin and mucus membranes. Children and pets should also definitely not be in the room because these types of oils in such small bodies is bound to cause irritations.

For the same reason, if you put the oil on your skin or ingest it, you’ll want to do a small test area first. If you apply it to your body (rubbing a small amount on your chest for example), you’ll probably want to dilute it with something like almond, jojoba or olive oil. Use 1 part of the essential oil mix to 4 parts carrier oil and only apply it in small amounts, especially at first. A little bit will go a long way.

Or you can also apply it “neat” to your feet (just a couple drops) without mixing it with any other oils. I do the latter and don’t notice any burning when I put it on…but I don’t touch the oils with my fingers and have pretty tough skin on my feet.

You can also dilute it 1 part thieves oil to15 parts carrier oil for massages but the smell of it may be too hard to handle. It’s very intense.

If you want to drink it, just add a couple drops to a full glass of water. You can do this several times throughout the day. And if you happen to have a headache, add a drop of thieves oil to your tongue and press it to the roof of your mouth. I’ve even done the latter with migraines and it made my headaches almost unnoticeable.

One of the most important things to remember when dealing with toxic black mold is that it will grow in and on just about everything…and it is often very hard to get rid of. Glass, and wood metal surfaces can be cleaned with a solution of water and thieves oil (add a teaspoon to every gallon of water) or just tea tree oil. But skip the bleach, especially on wood, because it will not dry out quickly enough and the mold will start all over again. Anything with fabric (furniture, mattresses, clothing), paper or porous materials harbors mold spores so just diffusing could take a very long time to eliminate the problem. In fact, you’ll need to have these things professionally cleaned and/or dispose of them.

Mack and I got to have a fun excursion on Friday to a new park we’ve never been to. Actually we’d never even heard of it and it’s possibly one of the best kept secrets around.

We met up with friends Emmanuelle and Liam…who you might remember from previous posts…an took full advantage of what was an absolutely gorgeous morning. It actually might have been a bit warm had it not been for all the magnificent trees in this park…but under the trees it was nice and cool.

The first objection when we got there was to fully explore the sand box. Mackenzie is totally crazy about sand and I guess I can see the draw. It’s cool, it’s squishy, you can dump into a bucket, empty the bucket and start all over again. Good times.

Liam is also a big fan of sand…and the mommies determined that at this age, the greatest thing ever when it comes to building sand castles is tearing them down. I don’t know what it is, but Mack was totally pleased to be making all the towers “kaputt.”

I took a bunch of photos of someone else’s child for a change which was fun…especially since he can be really hard to photograph. If he knows you’re looking, he’ll just give you a blank stare. But somehow I managed to not get too many of those this time!

Here’s another difference between little boys and little girls: the slide. Liam LOVES the slide and must have gone down it 20 times in a row…until the point when Emmanuelle just didn’t want to climb the stairs anymore.

Mackenzie, on the other hand, was perfectly happy to just keep playing in the sand. She drove that little sand tractor all over the place and explored going up and down a hill. But no interest at all in the slide, swing or other otherwise “dangerous” activities. Maybe she’ll be more excited to try them out next time.

And remember, if you enjoyed these photos, please be sure to vote for my photo of Mackenzie in Sigma’s Momtographer contest! Only 21 more votes to get to 1st place. ACK!!

Click “Review under her photo, enter your email above the huge image that opens, click “Vote,” and go verify your vote in your email inbox. Thanks!!

Some of you may be aware of the fact that I love, love, LOVE my camera. My husband was generous enough to buy me a wonderful Canon EOS 1000D DSLR camera as my “congratulations for doing an awesome job carrying our daughter in your belly for the last 9 months” gift. Some girls get jewelry (I got some of that too) but I got something that just keeps on giving. Because as you’ve likely noticed…I use my camera A LOT! And you only get to see about half of what I shoot…because honestly, I just don’t have the time to share it all. And the beauty of digital is that you can take 100 shots to get those 2-3 perfect ones, without feeling guilty about wasting film. Now if only I could get myself to start having some of those photos printed to hang on our walls. Another project for another year I guess.

But I digress. I just discovered something I think might be fun over on I Should Be Folding Laundry that I’m looking forward to joining on Thursdays. You Capture is a reason for you to get out there and experiment with your camera, whatever kind you have, and look at things in a new way. Because I really don’t know much about my camera (but I’m looking forward to learning), I thought this would be something fantastic to try out.

This week’s challenge: In the kitchen.

The one appliance that I proudly display on my counter top, begging to be used…my KitchenAid.

The place I seek refuge in on a nearly daily basis as I turn ordinary ingredients into magical meals.

And just a little something I got recently that I find so unbelievably awesome that I refuse to put it away somewhere that I can’t smile at it every day.

I know I’ve mentioned this quite a few times now…but if I get the most votes in that category, I get a $500 gift certificate from Sigma Photography — and that could get me a really awesome start for some of their increidble equipment…which would mean more fabulous photos to share!

So if you haven’t voted already. visit this page, click the Review button below the photo of Mack, enter your email address at the top of the photo when it loads and click vote. Oh, and don’t forget to click the link they send you via email to confirm your vote! Could it be more steps?? By the way…You’re the best!!