More Fun with Food Coloring

I'm getting slightly obsessed with food coloring (maybe I'm channeling my niece, Sofia?), and am messing around with it in more ways.  This week, I decided to see what it would be like to add it to the laundry detergent Brian had an allergic reaction to - because if we can't wash clothes with it, what else are we gonna do with it?  The biggest thing I noticed with this was that the drops of coloring stuck more to the surface of the liquid, rather than immediately mixing in.  It was definitely fun to play with.

Sofia, Sofia

Ever since I got back to Calgary from the states after Christmas, I feel like I've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off - trying to catch up with life in another country while working close to 60 hours a week is a little hectic.  With only a few free hours during the week, a couple of which I'm trying to fill my SD Card with more and more photos, I have been sitting on a lot of pictures to process.  A handful of these pictures were of my niece, Sofia, which I took in my mom's office a couple days after Christmas.  The office has a lot of beautiful space in it, and I was excited to be able to take some pictures there while I was home (the first of many in that space, I hope).  I finally got around to processing these photos today, and I'm pretty happy with the shots I got!  It's always a humbling experience, trying to take pictures of a kid who really doesn't care if you're trying to get some awesome portraits...

And here is one more shot I took of Sofia while we were in Kansas together - I don't really see this so much as a portrait of her, though - rather, a portrait of Kansas' influence on the soul.

Sofia is such a creative, smart, compassionate, energetic person, and she's always been one of my favorite subjects.  I can't wait to see her again!

Mental Floss

It's a new year, and a new me.  I've learned to make clearly attainable resolutions, because the typical vague "working out more often and eating healthier" has never stuck in my mind for more than the first week of the year.  For 2013, I've set a goal to floss every day.  So far, thirteen days in, I haven't slipped once.  My gums have stopped bleeding, and for the very first time in my life, I can't wait for a dentist to ask me if I floss.  "Every day!"  And while I'm trying to remember to floss every day, I find myself thinking about the stuff throughout the day.  Naturally, I decided to whip it out for some photos this week.  

It was a fun experiment, and after a third photo shoot with food coloring, I'm still not sick of it.

My soul will always be...

Brian and I were fortunate enough to be able to travel back to the states for Christmas.  It was a whirlwind of activities and a lo-ot of travel (going from Chicago, to Kansas, and finally to Denver), and it all ended way too quickly.  I was able to spend half a day taking photos at home in Lincoln, though, and I am glad to have these files with me back in Calgary.  

Growing up in Kansas wasn't necessarily the easiest, or most exciting childhood, but I wouldn't give it up for the world.  Kansas has become a large part of who I am - being able to stand in the middle of the prairie, with no people and only a handful of trees around for miles, feeling no difference between 1900 and 2012 in a moment of time, hearing nothing but the wind through the tall grasses, and fully understanding what it is to live in the present - it's the way I was raised, and it's the way I hope to die someday.  I have a hundred thousand more photos to take before I can truly begin to capture the essence of Kansas, but the journey of a thousand miles has to begin with a footstep.