No Internet!

Last night I sat down to finally write a post about Memorial Weekend when I couldn't get on the internet. My immediate thought was that the construction workers working outside our house to put in storm sewers cut the line. I asked our neighbors if they had service and they did. Shortly thereafter, a construction worker knocks on the door, "Do you have Comcast?"
Yep, that's exactly what they did...severed the line. They said they will splice it together and fix it but gave no time frame, therefore I am assuming that I'll be without internet this whole weekend, which is a big deal! It's like my TV. I'm hoping for the best when I get home from work but expecting the worst. As I type this from work, I hope to be back to blogging soon...from home. Aauugghh!

Flowers

Here are some pictures I took at my parent's house during a BBQ we had on late Sunday afternoon. I'll blog about the rest of my weekend soon.

Photo Hunt Thoughts and Reflections

I've been so busy with life that I haven't been able to sit down and write about my experience and results of the photo hunt as hosted by Kristi. For those that don't know or remember, the contest started on April 1st with Kristi releasing a list of items that we were to take pictures of during the month of April with voting on your favorite person's photos during the first week of May. At first, I was so excited to do the contest and had some ideas in my head before I went anywhere of what I planned on taking pictures of. Further into the contest, I had some frustration because I could not find a picture to take within that category or I didn't like what I took, etc. I wasn't sure I wanted to continue and I thought I wasn't going to do another one. After completing the contest and going through all the pictures and choosing what ones I thought were best and submitting them, I realized how much fun I had doing this contest and I was very excited to participate in another photo hunt. It was fun to travel somewhere for the sole purpose of taking pictures or stumbling upon a photo opportunity for one of the categories. I went out one day to take pictures and came across an interesting doorway. I was so excited to have found one. Then just an hour later, I found another doorway of what became my submission for an interesting doorway category. I debated back and forth between many different photos I took and that was also a fun aspect of the contest.

After submitting my photos, I've had some great feedback from others on how much they liked my pictures. Of course that makes me feel good and even wanting to pursue my interest further. I feel like I have the vision and now I need better tools, i.e., a digital SLR. I've done a fair amount of research on cameras and I feel like I know which one I want and now it's just coming up with the money for one.

Kristi had a great response with the photo hunt with 27 participants from around the world. Of them, I came in 4th place with the popular vote. We will never know if I had admirers of me or my actual photos, but nonetheless, it makes me feel happy. Kristi then put a lot of work into going through each category and picking her favorite photos from each category for people to vote for their favorite actual photo, not just your favorite person's group of photos submission. After her selection, I was lucky enough for her to have chosen 12 of my pictures to be part of her favorite finals, which people could vote on. In addition, 3 of my photos were voted as the majority favorite. (There is a tie for 1st place in one of the categories) How flattering! It was very fun to go through all of the finals and vote for the best. I think I only voted for myself for one of the categories, and that was for the interesting doorway, which my picture had 56% of the vote.

For those that are interested in taking a look at Kristi's favorite finals, click HERE for links to all cateogories of the photos. I also have heard some buzz from a couple of my friends that they are interested in participating in the next photo hunt. You're in luck. Kristi will be hosting another photo hunt starting June 1st so if you're interested, I will have information posted on my blog around that time otherwise stop by Kristi's blog for details.

Here are the pictures that made Kristi's final favorites with the first 3 photos coming in 1st place in that category.

Interesting Architecture: This one is tied for 1st place--Sculpture Gardens, Minneapolis

Interesting Doorway--Sculpture Gardens, Minneapolis

A Drink--A glass of Riesling on Jenni's deck

A Landscape--Minneapolis skyline from Franklin Ave. overpass on 35W

A Cemetery--Very old headstones that had no markings anymore--a Stillwater cemetery

A Pair of Shoes--My friend Brenna's shoes

A Body of Water--Nicollet Island, Minneapolis

A Church--Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Minneapolis

A Statue--Sculpture Gardens, Minneapolis

Lights at Night--Lava lamps in my living room

An Interesting Perspective--A bridge over Hennepin Avenue by Loring Park

A Flower- Sculpture Gardens, Minneapolis


Here are some pictures I took through April that didn't make my cut to be submitted:

Finally, here is one of my favorite photos that I took which I used for the reflection category. I didn't realize until after I put the pictures on the computer that you could see through the panel I took a picture of, allowing you to see the grass and branches through my body which were through the panel in front of me. I thought that was interesting. Again, this picture was taken at the Sculpture Gardens in Minneapolis. I love it there!

The cherry was missing from the spoon! It was being repainted in Hugo when I took a picture of it.

Here's what it normally looks like: (Courtesy of Picklepockets)

Biggest Loser: Week 7 Weigh In

Hmmm, where to start...ok, I gained weight.  .85% to be exact.   What happened you say?  I'm not sure.  I worked out 5 days and walked 6.5 miles since last weigh in.  I ate relatively the same with a sneak of dark chocolate and some chips and salsa.  Even so, it should have minimal impact.  I am lucky that many others in the contest also didn't do as well.  There were many that didn't lose any weight at all and those that did, it was minimal.  Here's a good example...On week 1, we lost 87 lbs collectively of the 33 of us.  This week, we lost 9.2 lbs collectively.  Not very good!  I don't know if we're all sick of the contest or we're hitting a plateau or what but we're all in a slump.  We found out there is a twist in the contest.  We will not be weighing in next week.  We will be accountable for staying on track ourselves and we will all do our final weigh in on Tuesday, June 2nd. So, the results are below.  Even though I did gain, my first week doing so in the contest, I only slipped 2 places and I am in 10th place.

Here are results:

Total 1st place female: -9.42%- New Leader
Total 1st place male: -9.33%- New Leader
Total Me: -2.78%
# of people who did worse than me this week: 1 female and 3 males

# of people who gained or lost no weight this week: 10 females and 8 males
Average weight loss for week 7: -.21% female, -.09% male
Where I rank with the females: 10 of 19 (last week 8 of 19)
Total lost in lbs: 105.8 lbs for female, 139 lbs for male= 244.8 lbs total

AIDS Walk

M and I completed our 4th and final walk of May today.  The AIDS Walk follows the same path as the MS Walk but in the opposite direction.  The weather was perfect for the 10K walk.  We finished in exactly 2 hours and then got on the motorcycle and drove around the cities and stopping to eat and quick say hi to my BIL and nephews.  We finished the night watching "Yes Man" and here I am writing this post.  Today was a great day!

This would be the only walk that Michael felt comfortable enough to wear my pink backpack for me

Some grafitti we saw on the river

 

At the end of the walk and our frisbee's on M's shoulders

Hunter and Keith on M's motorcycle

Fire! Fire!

M and I were bumming around on Saturday coming back from our friend Laura's plant sale and we saw a state trooper fly by us just minutes from our house.  We saw smoke what looked like just down the street from our house so we drove past the house to follow what was going on.  We live on a street where there are houses on one side of the street and apartment buildings on the other side. One of the apartment buildings was on fire.  From what somone said, it started on the 2nd floor and spread to both floors above and below the unit.  Being that I had my camera with me at the time, I decided to take some pictures. We drove back hours later and they were investigators there trying to find the cause of the fire.  It didn't appear that anyone got hurt and I hope that no animals were harmed either.

The balcony has just fallen to the ground in this picture