Week Three: Illuminate (gaining a new perspective)

This week's lesson is a little late because it has been raining so much!
But it was about gaining a new perspective. I had to walk 100 steps, stop and take a picture of wherever I ended up. I went downtown to take these pics.

Below are my pics and my journal entry "I am grateful for..."

Week Two: Illuminate (using light to create mood)

This week's lesson was about light. While taking my photos I was able to learn more about the camera because I'd take the picture and the lighting wouldn't be right. So I had to mess with the settings in order to get the shot I wanted. 

In conclusion, this was a great technical lesson for me this week. I'm hoping it helps me get better and better and taking photos. My journal entry is below...

Kitchen Light

Find Your Light

Darkness seems to bring on stronger feelings of grief. In darkness, I find that the uglier side of my grief seems to come easier. Strong feelings of guilt and anger take hold. I start to blame myself for everything that happened to my babies. 

I feel grief in the light too but it seems to be a different side of grief. Usually I’m seeing how beautiful the world is or how beautiful my love is for my babies… this makes me sad and alone. It makes me wish they were still here so they could see the beauty for themselves.

I guess the only times I see glimmers of the sun peeking through my grief is when I think about how happy I was to even be pregnant with my babies. I still cry but I swell with pride of ever having them at all. I’m still proud that I had Siobhán and Rónán even if they died in the end. I would never want to not have them just to escape the pain I’m feeling now.

Week One: Illuminate (telling your story through self-portraiture)

Below is my Week One assignment for the Illuminate photography class I started. I found the letter to my babies hard, but I made it through with some tears to spare.

The idea for the photos came easily... I basically had the maternity photo shoot I was never able to complete while pregnant. Instead of cradling my growing belly, I held my babies urn or their memory boxes. The dress I wore was the very dress I purchased to take my photos in... I bought it just a few weeks before I went in to the hospital for the first time and lost our daughter, Siobhán.

Below are my photos and the letter to my babies.

Follow Me!

Life Under Clover Pinterest Screen Shot

I'm on Pinterest all the time!

In fact, it's kind of an addiction. There is so much on there! And if it isn't on there, you can add it!

For those who aren't sure what the hell Pinterest is... I like to describe it as inspiration boards. Each photo links back to a website... sometimes there are instructions for making a recipe or creating an item or buying an item.

It's wonderful if you're a visual person and need to see things before deciding if you like them or not (an example is that when I search for stuff on Google... I usually look at the images that pop up first).

Anyhow, I love Pinterest and you should follow me because I'm always curating wonderful things to share!

If you haven't signed up yet... click here!

Bones: My Dog Niece is a Little Hyper

Hello from Nebraska!

This is Bones. Isn't she cute? She's still a puppy (just barely).

She & I are organizing the wedding decorations for the wedding Saturday!

 

Let's take a break. She looks like she needs some hugs & kisses!

 

"What? Hugs & kisses you say?!" She's getting excited.

 

Whoa! No chewing, girl! I said hugs & kisses!

 

Hey brat! I said hugs & kisses, dammit!

 

!!!!

"Here comes your kiss Aunt M!"

Ahhh! Puppy clobbering!! AHH!!!

... ... ... ... ... ... ?

Baked Potato Salad

Ah! The baked potato. It's an American staple! It's everywhere... restaurants, fast-food joints, your kitchen and your momma's kitchen.
And it's one of Hubby's favorite foods. He, like most, has a special way he likes a baked potato... cheddar, bacon, butter, sour cream, salt, pepper & chives.

A few years back, I found a baked potato salad at a grocery deli. It had all of those ingredients! But... it was awful. It was greasy (insert scared face here) and the potatoes were far from being cooked (still hard!).
It didn't take long for me to pull together my own recipe. After many test runs (with the hubby taste-testing and offering suggestions) we have the best potato salad ever! The Hubby asks for it often and requests I make it for any barbecue/pot luck function.

So, without further ado (and rambling) I present our perfect Baked Potato Salad. It takes a bit of time, so make it the day before an event.

Daisy

Gerbera Daisy in My Kitchen Window (Blooming Well, I Might Add!)