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on birthdays {9/52}

posted by janice on February 26, 2012 · 39 Comments

When I was (a little bit) younger, used to be that I'd absolutely LOVE my birthday. I'd have a full on birthday week. All birthday, all the time. Party, party, party.

And then I got (a little bit) older, and birthdays started to take on a new meaning. It meant another year older, more wrinkles, more hair dye ... you get it, right? Birthdays - ugh.

But this year, well, things are different. I'm re-evaluating my stance on birthdays.

Since this time last year, I've

Quite a year, right?

On February 8th, I did my last session of chemotherapy. I had a CT scan last week and won't have the results of that until later in March, but by all accounts - dare I say it? - things look pretty damn good.

This year, I am quite grateful to see another birthday. I am beyond thankful to just be here.

Forty-three this year. You'll likely never hear me admit to that again.

I struggled with this self-portrait. Is it a true representation of me at this time? Nope. That's not my hair, my eyebrows are penciled in ... hell, those aren't even my eyelashes. The bags under my eyes? Yeah, those are mine.

The point is ... this is the me I present to the world on a daily basis. I get up, get ready for work, put on my makeup and hair and off I go. The saying "look good, feel good" just couldn't hold more truth and it's one of the things that has gotten me through this little battle I've been waging. Confidence is a mighty sword and on days when I've felt it would be all too easy to give up, hide in a corner and feel sorry for myself, this little ritual has got me up, got me going and kept me moving forward.

So again, is this a true representation of me at this time?

Yes.

It's the me that's kicked some pretty good ass all year and come out on the other side, still smiling.

Me, at 43.

Me, happy to say that yes, it's my birthday.

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Hosted at twoscoopz! You can visit or join the focus52 flickr group here. My own focus52 project can be found on flickr here or by clicking 'my f52' in the category list to the right.

good morning {8/52}

posted by janice on February 25, 2012 · 13 Comments

A surprise cinnamon bun from my Husband, morning light streaming through the back door ...
and suddenly I have my photo for this week.

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Hosted at twoscoopz! You can visit or join the focus52 flickr group here. My own focus52 project can be found on flickr here or by clicking 'my f52' in the category list to the right.

for the love of red {7/52}

posted by janice on February 18, 2012 · 5 Comments

I had a lot of fun with the prompt this week. Hearts, hearts and more hearts.

I'm posting and running though ... I'm SO behind in getting these up ...

Hope you all had a 'lovely' Valentine's Day!

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Hosted at twoscoopz! You can visit or join the focus52 flickr group here. My own focus52 project can be found on flickr here or by clicking 'my f52' in the category list to the right.

raspberries {6/52}

posted by janice on February 11, 2012 · 8 Comments

My quick contribution to this week's focus52 prompt, still life.

I love taking photos of fruit. And it seems I can't resist working them into some sort of art piece, adding textures and whatnot.

Two gorgeous textures here, one from the always fabulous Kim Klassen and another from my new-found friend, Eva Ricci. This year, Eva has started a twelve month creative project called Art of Texture. Each month she gives away one of her beautiful textures and provides four themes to choose from. If you're interested, you can check out her website here and her Art of Texture flickr group here. It seems I always end up taking on too many projects each year, but a once a month commitment I can definitely handle. Besides, her textures are fantastic.

There's also a photoshop brush used between these layers. The faint writing you see isn't from the textures, it's from a lovely set of brushes from French Kiss.

Do you play around with your photos at all? Are you a texture addict like I am? :)

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Hosted at twoscoopz! You can visit or join the focus52 flickr group here. My own focus52 project can be found on flickr here or by clicking 'my f52' in the category list to the right.

baby, it's cold outside {5/52}

posted by janice on February 4, 2012 · 23 Comments

ummm ... not really. This has got to be the mildest, strangest winter ever.

Last Sunday, we were hit with a freak snow storm. No, I didn't venture out with my camera. I figured I'd have all week to get some great photos for this week's prompt. I should have known better because by Monday night it was pretty much all gone. Seriously.

But there are still patches here and there. Nice shady areas where the snow is sticking around. All in all though, nothing photo-worthy or at all representative of the word 'cold'. So daughter headed out with me today to ~~have some fun,~~ ~~humor her mother,~~ help me out ... ;)

This next one was to be my shot for this week. I liked the way the birch trees in the background helped the overall feeling of it being cold outside. And as you can see, I couldn't decide on only one shot this week, anyway. She's my girl ... what can I say? ;)

Feels cold, right? It's totally not. Well, not for this time of year, anyway.

This last one, I love.

Snow! (on flickr here)

Nope. Smoke and mirrors, really. Run your mouse over the photo to see the before shot.

A quick google search for 'snowflake textures' turned up all kinds of options. I found this one on deviantART (thank you!) and it works perfectly for this. Be honest - if I had only posted this one photo, would you think it was snowing for reals? I think you would ;)

Faking snow. In February. IN CANADA.

Yep. Very strange winter.

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Hosted at twoscoopz! You can visit or join the focus52 flickr group here. My own focus52 project can be found on flickr here or by clicking 'my f52' in the category list to the right.