Theme Update

Because I am trippin' as we speak...I will pull the obvious. Our Thursday's Theme this week will be TRIP.

Have fun with it.

Thursday's Theme (in more ways than one)

So the theme this week is FAIR and I'll admit that I was inspired by our annual trip to the OC Fair. It's always a summer highlight. This year my daughter won ribbons for her photography submissions. I am beyond proud of her. I'll have to post them soon to show off her handiwork. She's quite talented!

We went on fair rides, ate fair food, danced to fair music, saw fair animals and had an all around perfect day doing the whole fair thing. I took a gazillion photos with MY NEW Point & Shoot CAMERA (the latest HP model-R937, hot off the presses...OH BABY!) but my favorite was this one of me. My husband did the honors.

With me heading off to BlogHer today (I'm probably on a plane as you are reading this) and from there off to Florida for a terribly exciting work project (more on that soon, very soon) and topping it off with a little family vacation, I feel exactly how I look in this picture; riding the roller coaster of life!! I'm holding on but I am laughing (and screaming) all the way....

How have you all faired this week?

Gentle Reminder

Don't forget to pop over to Slurping Life's fund drive for Parker. She's done an amazing job with incentives to encourage you to give, if Parker's story doesn't move you enough. Which, it probably will...how could it not?

A Little Perspective Contest is On

Alrighty, today is the day. Our Kid's Photo Contest, A Little Perspective has officially begun!

Visit my post (or those at The Snapshot Chronicles or The Little Zygote That Could) for the low-down, if you don't already know it.

Our Flickr Pool, A Little Perspective is open and ready for your submissions! Yahoo!

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to post them under the group discussion thread at our Flickr group and Susan, Sheri or myself will gladly help in any way we can.

Have a great time gathering up your children's wonderful photos and showing them off! We can't wait to see what they come up with!

My Best Shot (Better Late than Never)

Sisters. Aaaaaah. Gotta love 'em.

I got to see my sisters this weekend and we had a lovely time together. And on that note, I'm going to give a shout out to one of them--Happy Birthday Rebecca. May every wish come true for you. Xoxoxox.

I apologize for being tardy with this post today everyone.

I hope you're still up for sharing your Best Shot Monday!

Let's Be Fair

Theme for Thursday....

FAIR.

Guess where we went this week? She asks, already stating the obvious.

Cooking up Kindness

Over at the Parent Bloggers Network there's something cookin'. They're hosting a blog blast for charity in conjunction with iBakeSale. Have you heard of it? It's a great fund-raising site. You sign up over there (for free) and list the charities you want to help support. Then, when you shop online, some of that money goes to the charity of your choice (whatever percentage you decide). Very cool. And what's really unique about it is that you can register ANY charity in need of some cash...even if it's your kid's school or soccer team. Not a bad way to raise much needed funds for your local group.

I've signed up supporting Heifer International. You know I love the organization. Wanna help me in my efforts? The great thing about iBakeSale is that you don't have to choose just one group to support. You can list as many organizations as you'd like to contribute too. A perfect way to share the wealth.

Anyway, this whole idea reminded me of the kindness Melody is cooking up over at Slurping Life. She's having her own personal fund-raiser for a family in need. Praying for Parker is a cause beyond worthy. Melody said,"Those of you who know Parker, Tammy and family, personally or via blog, will understand this need.  Those of you who are not familiar with Parker, please visit the blog to learn more about this adorable and medically fragile child.  Along with Down Syndrome, Parker lives with several medical problems. His family struggles due to inconsistency, reluctance, and refusal on the part of their insurance company to pay for necessary medical equipment, adequate supplies, medical services and ongoing therapies.  The family is unable to qualify Parker for Medicaid or any other government provided services...it's a system that often just does not work for those who need it."

The Love for Parker fund-raiser is starting on Monday so be sure to check in at Slurping Life then. There are prizes and everything. Melody, what else to say but you are awesome.

Between iBakeSale and Slurping Life, good things are heating up.

A Theme That's Just Ducky

rubber duckie
Originally uploaded by traceyclark

Once again, I had another one in mind but I found this shot from a while back and I couldn't resist.

How did you capture DRIP?

edited to add- this is how it looks when I post directly from Flickr. Hmm. Not quite what I had in mind but it sure was easy. Do you guys post directly from Flickr? Just wondering.

Picture a Kid's Photo Contest!!

Guess what time it is? It's time to announce a new photo contest for summer!!

I will be hosting the contest here at Picture This along with Sheri at The Little Zygote That Could and Susan of The Snapshot Chronicles. YAY! Now, this is not your ordinary contest. What's the twist? The clue is in the title, A Little Perspective. The photographs that will be entered into this contest will be taken by your kids. Yep, you heard me right. It's time to hand over the camera to the little guys and let them teach us a thing or two about capturing a window to their world. You all know how much I love sharing my camera(s) with my girls and how delighted I am to discover the way they see things, so now it's time for you to show off the photographic genius of your little ones. I know some of you already encourage your little shutterbuggies and I hope this will only get you more motivated.

Here's the scoop:

The contest will begin on Tuesday, July 24, 2007 and will end Friday, August 10, 2007. Winners will be announced Friday August 24, 2007.

Photo entries must be those taken by children under 13 years of age. We will be breaking it down into 3 different categories according to age group. The under 6 set, 6-8 year olds and 9-12. To avoid confusion, please try to submit recent shots as we are asking that you make a note of how old the child is when you submit their photo. Hopefully they will be the same age when you submit the photo as when they shot the photo (hence the word recent).

Although you will be submitting your children's photos, we are encouraging you to get them in on the action (if they are old enough to do so, that is). Let them help you choose which photos to submit for the contest. You can submit up to 3 photos per child so you don't have to pick just one. And try not to have them shoot for the contest. Not unlike grown-ups when they are trying to please someone or win a contest, let's say, the photographs often become notably more contrived and less creative.

What are we looking for in these photos? When I say we I mean the judges (myself, Sheri and Susan). Well...interesting images. Pictures that speak of what it's like to be a kid in 2007; whatever they find compelling enough to take a picture of.  Kid's have a way of snapping stuff we'd never dream photo worthy. And they tend do it in very creative ways. So, give us your best shots...your kid's best shots that is and see what happens...you/they might even win a prize.

OH YES, we've got prizes. How does a brand new groovy-cool pocket camera case sound? These babies are all the rage and thanks to the good people at PhotoJojo, we have 3 to give away for the 1st Place categories in each age bracket. Nice huh? And there are more prizes too. We'll reveal them soon but I can tell you one thing; some lucky kid is going to get a box a Fruity Cheerios (Oh yes they will!).

Back to the details. On Tuesday (one week from today) you can pop over to our Flickr Group -A Little Perspective and add your photos of choice to the group. It will become a public group once the contest starts. Be sure to add your age category to the memo of the photo (here's an example) so we know how old your child is. And, if you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the questions thread at the Flickr group so we can clarify for everyone.

This is going to be fun,isn't it? I just love contests! Don't you?

My Best Shot in the Water

I love it when my daughter wears a swim cap at swimming lessons. Can you blame me? She is adorable!

 

I shared this shot for the photo challenge at Maya's Mom too. I was inspired by the words In the Water.

What inspired you this week?