The One With The Challenge: A Photo Of Me Recently

This one is harder than yesterday. As I have gotten older, and fatter, I have wanted to appear in pictures less and less. So finding pictures of me, let alone picture of me that doesn't show me smiling at the camera (plus when I can pose myself in such a way so I don't look so hideous and huge) is very difficult. However, there are a few times when I allow Charming to take the camera and snap away. And that is when I am attempting to feed some type of animal.

I love feeding animals. I get all excited at zoos and parks when they have the feed stations and you can give corn and grain to the animals wandering around. But my most favorite experience was in August of 2009 in Massachusetts at the animal sanctuary near my parents' house. The deer roamed around free and would come right up to you and eat out of your hand. I couldn't get enough of it and was putting quarters into feed machines every chance I got. I loved the feel of the soft deer lips on my palm. I was never afraid or timid and would often seek out the biggest bucks with huge racks of antlers because they were just so impressive.


Here I am feeding a young doe, still spotted with her youthful fawn markings. This was really the coolest experience and I hope to go back some day. I love the interaction with the animals.

Charming is always trying to get me to feed birds even though he knows I don't like them. He thinks it is good to face my fears and attempt to overcome them. I tell him I'll overcome him if a bird does anything bad to me again. But I try every once in awhile to indulge him as long as there are no swarming possibilities.


Here I am in Boston, October 2010, throwing crumbs to pigeons, and praying I don't get too close. What you don't see if right after this picture was taken birds swooped in behind me and I ran away screaming.

I just realized I could not have picked two more unflattering hair pictures if I tried. A sweaty tight bun and frizz central. Nice.

The One With The Challenge: A Photo Taken Over 10 Years Ago Of Me

These next two days are going to be a bit of a challenge since this is an anonymous blog and I don't show pictures of myself on here. However, I didn't want to take a picture and put a big smiley face over it or something because that would defeat the point.

So I combed through my volumes of photo books until I could find a picture of me, but one where you couldn't make out my face very well. It was a lot harder than it sounds because apparently, I am a camera whore. I like to smile right at the camera. And since I am usually the one taking the pictures or informing people when to take a picture of me there are not many shots when I'm not beaming at the lens.

More than 10 years puts me pre-Charming time. We met in June of 2000 so I looked before that. I focused on the years of 1997-1999, big years for me. I turned 20, then 21, graduated from college, started my adult life. Looking back was so nostalgic for me. It sucks I can't put a picture of my face on here because man, I was cute!

These pictures are from my 20th and 21st birthdays. One birthday I remember, the other...not so much.


This is October 29th, 1997, my 20th birthday. My best friends in college kidnapped me, blindfolded me and led me all around Cleveland, taking interesting pictures with me having no idea what was going on. Getting those pictures developed was a hoot because I really had no clue what they made me do. I kissed random guys, smiled with a cop and put my hands on statues in compromising positions. It was a lot of fun and it made my day special. I like this one the best because if I only knew I was surrounded by naked men I probably would be smiling a whole lot more.


This is October 29th, 1998, my 21st birthday. Apparently, no one likes to look at my face on my birthday. The night before, at the stroke of midnight my TV Production Class friends dragged me to the bar just off campus to have my first "official" drink. I have a lot of pictures of that night and I remember none of it. I was on the bar, behind the bar, kissing the bartender (Charming wouldn't let me put those on here) They had given me three double shots of Yaeger and 151 and after downing those things got very hazy. I slept until 3 PM on my birthday and then my Dad came to take me out for my first "official" drink. I was so hungover I think I drank one thing and that was it. We went to Dick's Last Resort where they humiliate you on purpose because it's fun. When it's your birthday they make you miserable. I got my very own birthday crown which was too big for my head. It was a great time.

I am going to have to go through the rest of my albums now because this was quite the trip down memory lane.

The One With The Challenge: A Photo That I Took

I take a lot of pictures. A lot! I love capturing the moment and having memories to look at over the years. I have been filling photo books since I was in middle school (which should make the 10 years ago photo interesting) that are stuffed with pictures of everything. People, animals, landscapes, monuments, candids, family photos, blurry images and times when I tried to be "artsy." I just love taking pictures. I am always the one with the camera in hand ready to capture the moment. And then I share them with others and may even send you copies if you were involved.

How would I ever pick one picture among all those thousands of images I have snapped over the years? So I decided to just focus on the last few months. And since this is a private blog, pictures that don't include people I know. I didn't want to do one of the girls because I take tons of pictures of them and could never pick just one that I thought was perfect. So that leaves my landscape photos.

I love taking pictures of trees and nature and sunsets. Surprisingly enough for someone who doesn't enjoy nature that much (well, I don't enjoy being in it all the time, nature doesn't like me an awful lot) I sure do take lots and lots of picture of nature things. Trees especially. Something about a good tree hits me in the soul. And the ocean. I have a connection with the ocean that I can't break. It's ingrained in my being. Someday I will live near it again.

So I couldn't pick just one...of course. I picked three.

This is a tree near my parents house in Massachusetts that was in full Autumn colors this past October when we went to visit. I adore the colors in the fall and couldn't resist snapping a picture of this beauty.
These are the redwoods in Sonoma County outside of San Francisco. I had never seen a redwood tree before and could not get over the majesty and beauty of these behemoths. And these aren't even the big ones! The picture looked so serene and special I blew it up and hung it in my bedroom. I took this on our trip to San Francisco last June.

The sunset up on Mount Charleston this past September. I have taken a lot of sunset pictures with brilliant reds and oranges streaming across the sky. But the cool blues and purples really caught my eye with this one.

The One With The Challenge: A Photo That Makes Me Happy

I thought this would be a difficult day. I love taking pictures and have several hundred to choose from for this challenge. Which one of the many images I have taken of my family, friends, pets and landscapes could be classified as making me the most happy? Surprisingly it turned out not to be a picture I took that makes me happy, although several of them probably qualify. The one that popped into my head was one I found long ago and had blown up and printed to hang in our bedroom so I can see it first thing when I wake up each morning and last before I turn out the light.


Of course, it would be a picture of kitties. They always make me happy.

I just love, not only the way the twined tails make a heart, but how the one kitty cuddles the other, a look of pure unadulterated love on its furry little face. Add the amazing natural light silhouetting the two lovers in a heavenly glow and this picture is exquisite. I even enjoy how it seems to two cats in the background appear to be sneaking up on an intimate private moment, giggling at their discovery.

This picture always makes me smile and remember how precious love in all its forms is. Which is why I had to have it on the wall of my most precious sanctuary to watch over me while I am at my most vulnerable. It is a warm and inviting picture that fills my heart with joy.

Plus, look at the adorable kitties!