Round Robin Challenge: Joy: What Makes Your Heart Happy

"Joy is the feeling of grinning inside."

-Melba Colgrove

RRC: Joy: What Makes Your Heart Happy?
Suggested by Wammy author of the blog, "The Ellis Family Cincinnati."

Joy, happiness, the heart. Those very subjects have been on my mind a lot recently. Partly because of the Go Red For Women movement, and yesterday was, Wear Red Day, but also Valentine's Day is just a week away, and the TV is absolutely saturated with sappy romantic movies, but also because one or two old loves have crossed my mind lately, one in a dream, the other was mentioned to me by a mutual acquaintance. Men! Sheesh. LOL.

But lets stay focused... shall we? What fills my heart with joy? Oh my, well, that's easy, because, you see, I love a variety of sights, sounds and experiences. My camera and I find adventure in photography. The camera can zoom in so close that I can see the tiny hairs on a bumble bee without disturbing it, or take me to the very top of the Golden Gate bridge, so I can see that funny little warning light that alerts the low flying aircraft, up close. It gives me little moments that last forever. Sounds great, right? It is, but sometimes I get a bit obsessive when I am on a roll with my photography, and sometimes I forget to step back into the real world.

The other day, someone mentioned that they hadn't seen me around for a while, and I realized it had been just about 2 years since I had visited my favorite book store. Can you believe it? I had been to book stores mind you, even bought a book or two, but it had been that long since I visited my favorite independent book seller. I hadn't even realized how long it had been, I was just moving on in life. You know? There is a strange disconnect in that I think. But you see, photography fills my heart, every single day, and sometimes there isn't much time for other activities. I am hoping to change that somewhat, by looking for more balance in life. Time for reading, time for photography, time for working out, time for playing with the new babies, and so on.

So, what has had me so busy the last couple years...

Egrets In Autumn...


Summer Days By The Pacific...

Sleeping Cats...


Public Art...
Butterflies Hitching A Ride On My Wrist...

Cold Stormy Days By The Golden Gate...

Night Photography At The Vista In Marin County...


Cats With Attitude...
Amazing Sunsets...

French Onion Soup On A Cold Night...

Homemade Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies...

Actually, Any Old Autumn Day Will Do...

All the things that fill my heart with joy!

:)

Any old autumn day can fill my heart with joy, but especially one that contains pumpkins! LOL. I actually still have 2 pumpkins in my living room right now, left over from last October. Still in good shape, still reminding me of how sensuous autumn is. Autumn makes fills my heart with joy, but so do lots of things, like old friends, and good books, my kittens and my husband. You know... photography has the ability to heal me like nothing else can!

;) How about you? What fills your heart with joy?

I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else came up for this challenge.

Come Blog Jog With Me...

Linking List

Wammy... The Ellis Family Cincinnati
Posted!

Karen... Outpost Mavarin
Posted!

Monica... Click Shots
Posted!

Gwenlyn... Greenchair
Posted!

Carly... Ellipsis
Posted!

Suzanne R... SuzyQ421's Photo Blog
Posted!

Kathy... Through The Viewfinder
Posted!

Gattina... Keyhole Pictures
Posted!

Yecap... Camera Obscura
Posted!

Sherrie... Sherrie's Stuff
Posted!

MavisMolly... Holly On The Run
**Welcome New Member** Posted!

Mojo... Why? What Have You Heard?
**Welcome New Member** Posted!

Marina... Milepebbles
Posted!

Valerie... Rosemary's Other Baby
Posted!

Dawn... Dawn's Drivel
Posted!

Jama... Sweet Memories


maryt/theteach... Work of the Poet
Posted!

Tj... Tj's Photo Expressions
Posted!

Teena... It's all about Me!
Posted!

Ourhomeschool... Through The Eye Of My Camera
Posted!

Saffron... CV Photographs... Do You See What I See?
Posted!

Be sure to visit the official Round Robin blog on Sunday, to learn the subject of our next challenge!

Oh, and about the main photo above. You may have read on my blog about how I am hopelessly addicted to Starbuck's, yes, it's true. My favorite drink is the Shaken Ice Tea Lemonade (passion tea) and my favorite snack is the Fruit & Cheese platter. YUM!


Thank you Wammy, this was an amazing challenge, and I learned a lot from it.

-Carly

It's National Wear Red Day

"He who has health, has hope. And he who has hope, has everything."

-Proverb

Today is National Wear Red Day to bring awareness to women's heart health. Heart disease is still the number one killer of women, so educating ourselves on nutrition and ways to take care of ourselves is more important than ever. There are all kinds of things that can be done to raise awareness to women's heart health and one of the easiest is to wear red today.

I have a picked out my red sweater, black skirt, and red handbag for the day, and I am going to go out into the world and show my support. I am thinking about the ladies in my family who struggled with heart disease, like my mother in law who suffered a heart attack late last year, after years of dealing with heart related conditions.


I'm wearing red for her.

How about you? Will you wear red tomorrow?

Go Red For Women Website

-Carly

Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #23: Winter Days

"May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night and a smooth road all the way to your door."

-Irish Blessing

NOW CLOSED!

EMPS #23: WINTER DAYS
It's winter, here in the northern hemisphere, but here in the San Francisco Bay Area, it was 80 degrees yesterday. What's a girl got to do to see some cold weather? Glad you asked. Your assignment for this week is to show me some WINTER DAYS in your neighborhood. Snow, rain, clear, yet icy conditions, bare trees, dead leaves, whatever accurately illustrates a WINTER DAY where you live.

Extra Credit: Show me the current temperature where you live. :)

Alternate Assignment...

EMPS #23A : WINTER DAYS/COLD THINGS
I know, I know... not all of you live in the northern hemisphere, and some of you who do, live in areas that don't necessarily see COLD weather even in winter, so for you folks I want you to find me anything Winter related. Ice. Frozen food. Ice Cream. An angry stare, a car first thing in the morning, a COLD salad or dessert. Anything WINTER/COLD.

Extra Credit: Show me something BLUE.

**Please Read**
You have until next Sunday, February 15th, 2009, at 9 PM ET to submit your EMPS assignment. Just post your entry to your blog or journal, then comeback here with the full link specific to this assignment. NO HYPERLINKS! The link you leave must be specific to this entry, not the general link to your blog or journal.

Linking List for EMPS#22: Rocks Or Stones 01/26/09

Now Closed!

1. Suzanne

2. Tammy

3. Gwenlyn

4. Judi

5. Karen

6. Greg

7. Terri

8. Jama

9. Wammy

10. Vicki

11. Mike

12. Connie

Well done everyone!

Now, send me some COLD thoughts this week... ok? Show me ! Or the alternate subject... BLUE. I will be looking forward to all your photos in the coming week! GO BE PHOTOGRAPHERS! See you next week with an all new EMPS assignment!

-Carly