Monday

Monday
Originally uploaded by ~*Denise*~

Geeze I can't believe the year is almost up.

In about 2 weeks, it'll be my birthday and ya know... I'm cool with it, I'll be 39 on January 13th. I feel like I finally almost know who I am lol

Christmas is over...

Time to get back to work!
I received a wonderful email today from a lady, her fiance purchased one of my mugs as a Christmas gift for her. She emailed me the sweetest feedback and totally made my day:

Hi, Denise, Just wanted to get back to you about how much I'm enjoying the Blue Dragonfly Mug that my fiance bought for me. He was so concerned about the safety of my repeatedly microwaving my morning coffee in a plastic mug. I just love your beautiful blue & dragonfly design, the great easy-to-work caps, the shape of the mug itself, and especially the nice large handle. But as weird as it may seem, the raised dots on the handle make this my favorite mug ever....and I've collected quite a few mugs trying to the find just the perfect one! Now I've found it! Thank you so much for offering this and I'm so happy I found you on Etsy (where I have a shop, also).
Happy New Year, Denise, and keep making these.... Warm regards, Sheri

Me & Santa Claus

Me & Santa Claus
Originally uploaded by ~*Denise*~

My dad met this Santa at a gas station 1972. Santa had just finished a party and was headed home with a few of his friends. My dad begged him to come to our house, at first the Santa didn't want to go until one of his friends said it was cool, he knew my dad and kinda pushed Santa to go. So... he came, I loved him, dropped to my knees and gasped when I saw him. He refused to take the payment my dad promised him for his visit, he said the look on my face was payment enough.

So fast forward: I'm an adult with children of my own and working in animal control in my home town. The sheriffs department pages me to come rescue a dog that had been hit by a car. By the time I reached the location the dog had passed away. The officer waited for me to show up to the scene. Being that there was no rush at this point, we chatted a bit on the side of this country road we were on. When he found out my name and who my folks were he laughed and said "Ya know I played Santa Claus for your dad one year..." And he told me his story. I was completely blown away that there before me was the best Santa I ever met as a child and the man that is in some of my favorite childhood pictures. I finally got to meet him and thank him. My dad will still light up when he tells the story of how it all came about and my reaction.

Shine

Shine
Originally uploaded by ~*Denise*~

Playing with light. When I started my 365 project I played some with off camera flash. This is the first I've done in sometime.
I actually did this shot in my closet with a black curtain valance I found at a 2nd hand store for $2.00 and my flash unit was on the shelf pointing down at me. Camera mounted on my tripod and I used a wireless remote to trigger.

Gum is fun

Gum outtakes
Originally uploaded by ~*Denise*~

It's Snowing!!!!!!

It's Snowing!!!!!!
Originally uploaded by ~*Denise*~

230/365 woohoo! it snowed today! it didn't last long but we loved every bit of it while it was coming down. I guess it lasted maybe an hour.