I Shutter to Think

5th picture from the end

2009-02-08T19:24:00.002-05:00

I found this at Boys Rule My Life and thought it was cute. There's one of two things to do. Either pick the 5th picture from the end of your March 2008 folder, or if you don't have one, then your 10th folder. THIS is my 5th picture from the end of my 10th folder (which was taken on April 17, 2005)

It's a bad picture taken of me on a swing! :-)

Wordless Wednesday - Brothers

2008-08-27T09:08:00.001-04:00

I'm back! (I hope)

2008-07-18T13:52:00.003-04:00

Hopefully this time I'll continue to blog. It's been a crazy couple of months. I moved in with my boyfriend of 3 years, moved out of my parent's house and bought a new camera. It's a pretty Nikon D60, and I'm very happy with it so far.

It's not the best picture of me, but oh well.

Cool new site I found

2008-06-02T14:46:00.002-04:00

"There are 150 years of photo technology programmed into your camera. Use it." ~Ken Rockwell

Bad, bad Kimmy!

2008-05-31T12:25:00.002-04:00

I've been a bad blogger! :-) I'm still around, and hopefully will be moving soon. Vill and I are moving in together and all will be cool! :-)

Hmm? shoes? Oh, yeah, I have more.....

Some recent Photoshopped pictures - exeriments

2008-04-23T07:28:00.002-04:00

These are of my Cousin's daughter (and husband).

Spring - Theme Thursday

2008-04-17T08:33:00.000-04:00

It's felt like spring a couple of days this past month. Yesterday was one of them. In honor of the coming months, look what I went out and bought:
They're called "shorts". I also got the blue shirt that's on top of the shorts, and it's a kind of shirt called "sleeve-less".

It's crazy, I know. What I like about where I live, is that it takes a while for it to heat up, but once it does, it stays until end September-ish, and then it goes right back into winter. :-)

Like my ridiculously pink and blue bathroom? Sorry for the non-glamor shot, but I'm not like that!

Here's one of my favorite smells of spring:Wood chips! Hooray!

More "Spring" at

Did you hear..

2008-04-16T20:49:00.002-04:00

Did you hear? Did you hear? Did you hear?

The season finale of LOST is going to be 3 HOURS LONG??

But it's not going to be three consecutive hours, they're splitting it up (one hour one week, then two hours the next)...so in actuality, I'm considering it only 2 hours long.

Why 14?

2008-04-16T07:28:00.002-04:00

Following the crowd

2008-04-14T07:18:00.005-04:00

I realize there's a slew of spring pictures around these days, and as much as I was refusing to post one, I just love tree buds....

So I'm one of the crowd again. :-) I really don't try to be and I never was a "cool" kid in school. Yet somehow, I seem to do what everyone else is doing. Well, maybe I do or maybe I don't. I'm rambling this morning, don't mind me....

Perfection - Theme Thursday

2008-04-10T08:40:00.005-04:00

This theme can be taken in a number of ways. Here's my interpretation.

My old cat's name was Pishoes. (Pronounced Pea-shoes). He was a white Persian. I never knew that cats could have favorite things, but Pishoes' favorite time of year was Christmas. When we put the tree up, he would immediately spend all day and night sleeping under it. He never touched any ornaments. Sometimes he would get shocked by the 20 year old tinsel hanging off it (my mom recycled it, for at LEAST 20 years). He felt he was safe. Our tree is set up in the corner of the living room, and when he was under it, nobody could sneak up on him from behind or the sides. If someone was coming, it would be from the front.

He would live in bliss until a few days before Christmas, and then the presents would start appearing. We would always leave his spot and a path to get there open. Then we would be forced to cover the path, because there would be too many presents (we go WAY out for Christmas)! :-) Regardless, he would always find a way, and find a spot to lay in, under the tree.

This picture represents Pishoes' perfect place. His bliss. This was after all the presents were gone, when he was able to stretch out and have his tree back.

Find more Perfection at:

Glass

2008-04-05T09:12:00.007-04:00

I took this picture a couple of years ago, while I still working at Hallmark. My friend had a friend, who's birthday was sometime in April. She wanted to surprise him with his car all decorated with balloons and stuff . So on this birthday, she had him come to the store, and they went out for coffee. It was then up to me, to go into his car, (she had given me his extra key, which he had given her) filled the car with balloons and streamers, and even did the outside, with a huge banner that she had made.

I took pictures of him discovering the car (which he was pissed at, originally "you gave Kim my key??")) :-) Anyway, one of the pictures came out really cool. I was trying to take a picture of the inside of his car, but it caught the reflection of the open door and my co-conspirator.

Skipper Found in Closet

2008-04-04T07:13:00.005-04:00

April 4, 2008
Northshore, MA

At approximately 1:32 this morning, there was a disturbance in the boxes of Cellarton. Upon investigation, it was found that a domestic occurrence resulted in a decapitation.

The boyfriend of the victim, Kevin, was unavailable for comment.

Style - Theme Thursday

2008-04-03T07:14:00.002-04:00

This week’s Theme Thursday is Style. I‘m not quite sure what my photographic style is.

I’ve worked at a Kiddie Kandids for 3 years now. While I love some of the posed looks, a lot of the time I’ll try to play with the kid(s) first and get a rapport with them. Then I’ll get some “traditional” shots

Caitlyn, 3 months

and some silly ones.

Caitlyn & Mommy, 3 months

The drawbacks of doing this are:

- it takes too much time, especially when we’re busy.

- we can only send over 6 pictures! That’s 6 individual poses. Not 8, 16 or 24 pictures, 6!

- I can only spend a total of 20 minutes per sitting. By the time you get to know the kid and what they’re like, the 20 minutes is done.

I think posed shot are good until the kid is 1. Caitlyn's 1 year picture

After that they don’t want to sit still, and once they are mature enough to sit still, the parents have drilled the “say cheese!” phrase into their mind. You’ll either get the horrible fake cheese smile,

I'm the freakishly tall one

or the silly/pouty

My cousin, J, being silly

Me not wanting my picture taken

“I’m not gonna smile for you” faces. Then of course the parents get frustrated with the kid, the kid senses it and starts crying and it just isn’t fun anymore.

I still love my job though! I love trying to get that wonderful shot of that real smile.

Michael LOVES his trains!

And make real memories (cue sappy music now).

On the other hand, I also am the self-proclaimed “Sneaky photographer”. I swear I didn't pose him! He honestly turned and smiled. That's why it's not in focus!

When I’m not at work, I don’t force people to look at the camera and “say cheese”. I try to get real smiles,

My brother, Timmy & Caitlyn (his niece and goddaughter)

natural expressions and feelings that capture the moment.

Vill's parent's cat as a kitty!

I think these are the ones I will eventually put on my wall. Along with the traditional sitting baby pose that I won’t let die!

I’m sure when I have kids (of course I’m thinking this NOW, who knows what I’ll think then) I will try to get some posed baby shots of them. I'll take way too many at home, get some good ones, go to Kiddie Kandids and get the traditional pictures and be happy.

I guess I do know what my style is. These are my pictures I would love to frame and hang on my wall. There are others too, but they're not scanned into the computer.

I'm sure you know this, but you can click on any picture to make it bigger

See more style at

Wordless Wednesday - Birthday Chicken

2008-04-02T06:41:00.002-04:00

High above

2008-03-29T07:44:00.004-04:00

My nephew, Michael was 6 pounds even when he was born. He was the smallest baby I'd ever seen, let alone held. This was his first trip to his Memere and Pepere's house when he was 11 days old. This was taken at standing level, so he looks even smaller! My brother and sister-in-law quickly found out about the cars seat headrests! :-)

Now I know my ABCs

2008-03-28T19:16:00.004-04:00

I placed an order for pick up at a local seafood placed called Land 'N' Sea. It was around 5:45 on a Friday afternoon, so naturally, the place was "a**hole to bellybutton" (as my father likes to say). II know it's going to be busy, so that's why I call ahead. The first couple of times I call, the line is busy. When it finally starts ringing, it takes a good 8 rings before someone picks up. I place my order, repeat myself a couple of times because it's ridiculously busy there and I'm talking on a cell phone headset (and we all know how reliable those are!) When she asks for my name, I say Kim. She repeats, Tim?

I'm used to this. I have a brother named Tim. Actually, his name is Timmy, and my name is Kimberly. Family wise, this is how we were always called. That is, until I started school, and people started calling me Kimmy. From then on, whenever friends would call for one of us, half the time the wrong person would get the phone. If it was a boy calling, my mother naturally assumed that it was for Timmy. Not always the case. Usually it would be Timmy realizing that he didn't know the kid on the other end and get me.

So for some reason, when the Land N Sea girl repeats Tim, I say, "Kim, K as in Kat."

I'm smart.

My Father's very first digital camera

2008-03-28T07:30:00.003-04:00

circa 2000

I was his willing...er...available subject

The cool thing is, you didn't have to develop the pictures...

You could just plug the camera into your computer and actually have them on there! No scanning necessary!

And just look at the quality! It's crazy I tell ya!

I think he was only able to take 5 or 6 pictures before needing to download them. :-)

Collection - Theme Thursday

2008-03-27T07:30:00.003-04:00

This week's theme is Collection. Stacy had shown us how to create a collage in Photoshop. I don't have Photoshop, and Bonnie showed me a free program called GIMP, which I downloaded but have no idea how to use it. I'm working on it! :-) So I decided to find random collections of things around my house. Here are some:

(Sorry for the yellow light in some...against flash)

Coats

Rags (no Riches though...'k, sorry, that was lame)

Boxes (Vill and I used these to make a cement slide sled!)

Books (nothing really interesting in that shot...they're kinda boring books, except for the Birthdays and Relationship ones)

Pens

My daily rotation of shoes (no, I don't line my shoes up in a row!)

Piano music (and a random street map book!)

Ridiculously old lounge chairs (Easily from the '70's)

Mommy? What are those big rectangles for? (Look! There's even a New Kids on the Block concert video in there!)

Board games (I like how I have two games of LIFE)

Really big CDs...I mean, records! I even have a record player that still works!

Part of my Barbie collection. I found these in the cellar, and posed them. I had more, but those are the ones that made the cut. My cousins, brother and I had some weird Barbie stories.

One of my Ken dolls was a transvestite named Betty (s/he's the one standing up wearing the white dress, waving)

The Barbie sitting on the couch has no left arm. She was called Aunt Mable and worked at the Barbie McDonalds restaurant.

We got bored one day and chopped some Barbie hair off. Danielle (my cousin) and I didn't like that all of them had ridiculously long hair.

So there are my collections! Please go to Stacy's to see some more!

Rainbow in the clouds

2008-03-26T09:02:00.002-04:00

Baby face

2008-03-24T22:21:00.003-04:00

I want to be snuggled!

That crazy Auntie Kim is still taking my picture!

Who would even think?

2008-03-23T21:57:00.003-04:00

To put hot ashes in a recycle bin?

Some random pictures

2008-03-22T08:11:00.003-04:00

Seaweed on rocks

Old train tracks

Ground train tracks!

Going to the Bruins game!

Car Friends

Extreme wind

Blurry full moon

Cactus close up

Bored at work

Very bored at work!

More self

2008-03-22T07:55:00.003-04:00

Before I start feeling guilty, here are the other self pictures I was going to post yesterday!

You can't really tell here, but my hair was in ponytails. I was trying to get them to show in the picture, but they didn't cooperate.

Back when my hair was highlighted

Alright, so I lied

2008-03-21T08:53:00.001-04:00

I never got around to posting more pictures. I took a bunch of pictures last night while waiting to pick up Villapardo. I downloaded them to my computer at home, and I'm here at work now, with nothing to play with or post. I'm bad at the whole planning thing.

Who else thinks LOST was extremely boring last night? The whole backstory of what happened when Michael got off the island was forced. It was one of the longest episodes ever! I am dissapointed and saddened though by what happened on island at the end (I'm being discreet about this, in case someone reading this hasn't seen it yet). Anyone know what I'm talking about! :-)

Self - Theme Thursday

2008-03-20T08:09:00.004-04:00

I didn't have time this morning to post anything, so I will be updating this later. However, this is a picture that I posted a while ago that was my first attempt at a self portrait. I know Vill is very sick of this picture! :-) More self pictures will be coming, probably tomorrow!

Also, Eyes (from March 16) and Green Shadows (March 14) are both self portraits as well! :-)

It's never too early

2008-03-18T07:33:00.005-04:00

This is Michael back in 2006 when he was 19 months old. He had no fewer than 3 piano teachers that day!

Grasp - Best Shot Monday

2008-03-17T07:31:00.004-04:00

I just love how gingerly Caitlyn is feeling her shoelace. Almost as if it would break.

One of my favorite pictures

2008-03-16T20:28:00.005-04:00

Is "Eyes" a suitable title, or is it too predictable? I don't have Photoshop, and that's why the eyes aren't as sparkling as all of the other photos I've seen. But this was taken in natural light, and that dot you see in our eyes? That's from something called the "sun". I'm not shunning Photoshop, as I do see a good need for it. I would love to have it to play with and see what I can come up with, but I also like to try to get those great pictures without any need to edit it. That's what I'm doing now, and once I get Photoshop, I'll probably feel differently.

Just a little difference

2008-03-15T22:12:00.002-04:00

Flash:

No flash

The light is one of my camera batteries charging. You can't even tell it's on in the first one. I really like using no flash, but I can never get my subjects in focus. I really want a DSLR, but currently do not have the funds. That would help me to get a nice fast lens that would allow as much light in as possible. Oh well, I'll get it eventually!

Green Shadows

2008-03-14T23:25:00.002-04:00

Eeeww! We're kissing! :-)

Theme Thursday - Change

2008-03-13T07:06:00.004-04:00

Well, this was an easy one this week. Easy and predictable, but that's how I flow. :-)

My niece turned 1 on Sunday.

One hour old

4 hours old

8,787 hours old!

One picture

2008-03-12T07:23:00.004-04:00

Three different camera settings:

"Snapshot"

"Dusk/Dawn"

"Sunset"

It was sunset at the time. I'm not sure which one I like better.

Olive Garden

2008-03-08T20:07:00.007-05:00

Villapardo and I love the Olive Garden. The breadsticks....ohh, the breadsticks...........hmm? What was that? Oh yeah, right sorry.

Leaving those deliciously warm, cheesy and salty breadsticks alone, dining there has always been an experience. Whether it be from a waitress who really didn't want to be there and stared at us for those extra two seconds too long, or the time we received frozen tiramisu for dessert. Regardless of the way we got the food, it was always incredibly delicious and warm (well, except for the tiramisu.....) and fast.

So we decided to risk it, and dine there today. It started off innocently enough. It was a very rainy Saturday afternoon, and what better to do on a day like that but got out to eat? A lot of people thought the same way we did and when we got there, I thought we were going to have to wait a while, since there were so many people. However, we were told ten or fifteen minutes. Awesome, not bad at all. So after around 15 minutes, our little buzzer thing starts buzzing. I heard it buzzing from Villapardo's jacket pocket. Now, I usually have horrible hearing, but I guess
A) I was really hungry,
B) I randomly hear vibrating objects (like cell phones, silly!)
C) Villapardo has a very thick jacket and can't feel buzzing.
We head into the building and give the she-male greeter our buzzer (seriously, we didn't know if it was a girl or a boy). S/he tells us to stand in the hall, someone will seat us shortly. We get into a heated conversation (about the people I work with) and realize that we've been standing there for 10 more minutes, and they've taken a good 5 other people in. Villa checks in at the desk and "oops", I thought you were seated already." No matter though, since we were taken in right after that.

We get to our table and our waiter comes over and asks us if we want something to drink. I order a water with lemon (my staple drink. Boring, I know) and Vill orders a Sam Adams White Ale. Waiter (Jose) doesn't know if they have it, but will check. He comes back a few minutes later and tells Vill that they have Sam Seasonal, but not sure what kind. Whatever. Jose comes back 10 minutes later with our drinks, mine, minus the lemon. I ask him if I could have a lemon (I'm usually not picky, and will NOT ask for something that has been forgotten, but I really wanted the lemon!) He comes back after a bit with our appetizer and a cup of limes. Vill and I share a look, Jose sees it and asks what's wrong. I said " I wanted lemons."

"What, the yellow ones?"

*Scratches head* Yes.

"OK, I'll be back"

............

Now, I don't know about you, but how do you NOT know what a lemon is? Has your lemonade been green?

Anyway. At this point, it's still not bad. It gets worse. Jose comes back with my lemons, and we ask if our meals come with a salad. He says "yes", we say, "great! Can we get it with no onions? "
"No onions?" he repeats?
"Right"

Vill and I always do this. Or rather, always want to do this, but always forget to ask for the no onions. So being very happy that we finally remember to ask for no onions, we forget about our waiter and lapse into conversation.

Jose comes back, waiting on us and another table. He puts the salad bowl onto the table, goes to his other table and walks away. We look and see. Oh. There are onions. Not wanting to create a fuss, we deal, pick out the onions and move on. Jose comes back, asks if we want more salad. Vill says "yes". (we really like food, no matter what kind. Except don't give me olives. or yogurt. or raisins in anything *shudders*). Apparently, the other table he was waiting on, we'll call this #2, also wanted more salad. So Jose again appears with two salad bowls. He puts down ours and specifically says,

"No onions, right?"

Way to go, Jose!

Jose leaves, Vill mixes the salad and realize that there's no dressing on it. Sigh.

Our meals and #2s meals come out at the same time. The server mixes up the tables, but it's quickly resolved.

Food is excellent! Jose comes and checks on us and Vill asks for a club soda, and he'll use the limes that are on the table.
10 minutes later Jose comes and checks on us again. Vill reminds him about the club soda.
Jose comes back 2 minutes later with the soda and a dish of lemons. Just in case, you know......

We finish dinner and of course, it's time for dessert. Yummy tiramisu time!! We order one tiramisu and two coffees.
We pray he gets the order right.
Jose comes back with two coffees and one tiramisu! Wahoo!
"Do you have any cream?"

"Oh, you want cream, too?"

Double sigh.

Cream arrives. Coffee is good (Vill thinks it's weak).
Check arrives.

It seems that young Jose got confused and started ringing #2's meals on our bill. We have two meals that are not ours added and then voided out on the check. We study it, everything adds up correctly. We pay.

We did call the manager up after we leave, just so she has a heads up on Jose. She basically told us that we should have said something before we left and she would have taken care of our tab. Nice to know.

Thank god the food is good!

(Sorry if the post is crazy and doesn't make sense. I kept having to stop and collect my thoughts about the experience, so this is basically a rough draft. Fresh out as I see it. :-) )

What am I? - Revealed!

2008-03-06T22:15:00.004-05:00

Well, I got two reactions/comments to my "What is it post" from yesterday. Here is the original:

Anymore guesses?

No?

Scroll down for the answer.....

Of course! A car cigarette lighter adapter!

Theme Thursday - Spirit

2008-03-06T06:58:00.005-05:00

This is my Godson and nephew, Michael. He's 3 1/2 and loves Thomas the Train.

And running through his house
He also loves it when anyone scores any points while playing air hockey
It doesn't matter if he loses
He loves twirling his hair when he's tired
But he really doesn't like to eat! :-)

What am I?

2008-03-05T18:19:00.001-05:00

Theme Thursday - Memories

2008-02-28T09:31:00.004-05:00

Yes, I've been a very bad blogger these past few weeks. I haven't really found much inspiration and I also haven't been feeling that well.

Anyway, I didn't really plan well for this theme, but I got an e-mail from my sister-in-law with some pictures of my nephews. Last Sunday there was a brunch for my grandmother who just turned 94. One of the pictrues is her with her newest great grandson, my nephew, Matt.

My grandmother was born February 26, 1914

Matthew was born June 22, 2007

She's only 93 1/2 years older than him, not much of a difference.

Theme Thursday - Pure

2008-02-13T20:45:00.008-05:00

This week's theme is "pure". For those of you who know me (Vill :-)), you know that I don't like altering pictures. At all. I've tried it a couple of times, but it doesn't seem real. The way I see it, is if I can take pictures that look like they are photoshopped, then my job is done. If I can't do that naturally, then I shouldn't cheat and make them good.

Anyway, here are some pictures of Caitlyn that I have taken at Kiddie Kandids throughout her not quite year of life. We have these poses called "Tender Moments" that are my most favorite ones to do. They represent the uniqueness of relationships and occasionally only show body parts, instead of faces. They are a great way to capture the true essence of a parent/child/sibling connection. Sometimes as well, they don't feature a group, but focus on one child. The uniqueness and purity of every kids' face is awesome to capture on "film" (computer) However, most parents don't want me to experiment with their kids, so I'm left to doing more "traditional" shots. These are Caitlyn's Tender Moments. My sister was impressed at Caitlyn's first sitting, in the fact that she saw a different side of me that she had never seen before. I was in control and knew what I was doing. She trusted me with her daughter. She saw how I truly love photography. And for that I am grateful.

Caitlyn ~ 3 weeks (the first one was her birth announcement photo)

Caitlyn ~ 3 months (fun with Mommy!)

Caitlyn ~ 6 months (big girl)
Caitlyn ~ 10 months (these are not Tender Moments, but had to post some recent ones!)

For more Pure pictures, head to

The book quiz

2008-02-07T13:33:00.000-05:00

You're The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe!

by C.S. Lewis

You were just looking for some decent clothes when everything changed
quite dramatically. For the better or for the worse, it is still hard to tell. Now it
seems like winter will never end and you feel cursed. Soon there will be an epic
struggle between two forces in your life and you are very concerned about a betrayal
that could turn the balance. If this makes it sound like you're re-enacting Christian
theological events, that may or may not be coincidence. When in doubt, put your trust
in zoo animals.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Theme Thursday - Glow

2008-02-07T07:15:00.000-05:00

This was an unsuccessful attempt at making an apple pumpkin bread...I think I put too much in the pan! :-)

For more glowing pictures, head to

* update: it tasted very yummy! :-)

I guess I'm a Ron Paul fan!

2008-02-06T18:14:00.000-05:00


	Ron Paul Score: 35	Agree Iraq Taxes Stem-Cell Research Abortion Marriage Death Penalty Education	Disagree Immigration Health Care Social Security Line-Item Veto Energy Gun Control Environment
-- Take the Quiz! --

Wordless Wednesday - Winner

2008-02-06T07:19:00.000-05:00

Kim needs...

2008-02-05T11:24:00.000-05:00

I found this on someone's blog (Frabjous Days) and thought it was really cute. What you do is basically type your name followed by "needs"into Google and see the results. I took the first 10 from mine:

1. Kim Needs to Take Off the Gloves
but my hands get really cold!

2. Kim needs some Guinea pigs
...true, I guess

3. Kim Needs to Talk
Well if THAT one isn't true!

4. Kim needs to shut up
I thought I needed to talk! I'm so confused!!

5. Kim Needs Some Hints
For life or The Phantom Hourglass?

6. Kim needs to focus on her kid
well, I would if I had one!

7. Kim needs a stylist
but I liked the poofed up bang look!

8. Kim needs to be thanked
For getting rid of the poofed up bang look?

9. Kim needs to get over it
:-(

10. Kim Needs Your Attention
I'm done! :-)

Twosday

2008-02-05T07:07:00.000-05:00

Nothing exciting. :-) Just salt & pepper shakers. And Dove chocolate.

Theme Thursday - Focus

2008-01-31T07:22:00.000-05:00

Today's theme is Focus! And yes, I took it to posting older photos. Not that I don't have any unfocused pictures of late, because I have plenty! I just really like these pictures, even though they are all slightly out of focus.

Self portrait

Taken by my Villapardo. I really like the shadows.
The aforementioned Villapardo (back when he was a bad boy and smoked!)
Villapardo's favorite picture. :-)

Due to a website issue, Stacy has moved her blog. I was able to change it in my template, but Internet Explorer won't allow me to post the link. (I'm S L O W L Y learning about HTML). For more Focused shots, head on over to http://thelandofka.com/

I'm Excellent?!

2008-01-30T20:50:00.000-05:00

So Brittany, from Mommeeandherboys gave me my first blog award! Yay!!!

I feel like I've been accepted into the blogging world! :-) Hehe! So now I shall play my part in naming 10 people I think deserve this lovely picture.

Villapardo - If you ever need to be informed about the various political and universal concerns plaguing our world, look no further! :-) Updated sporadically

Adventures in Babywearing - Has gone though so much and loves her kids so deeply. Very excited about her developing addition. :-)

Crunchy Domestic Goddess - I found her through someone's link to her green tips. Love to go there everyday

Hank & Willie - Great photographer, adorable kids and good commentor!

My Thoughtful Spot - This was one of the blogs that inspired me to re-start mine. I don't remember how I found her, must have been some odd Google search! :-)

Three Plus Two - There's something that caught me, and that was the whole making of maple syrup thing. Love it! :-)

The Land of K.A. - Awesome photography tips, great recepies and awesome creativity!

Woman with a Hatchet - She has this way of enticing you to read just by the first few words! :-)

Pondered in my Heart - I just started reading this the other day, but she has great pictures and stories and her kids are so creative!

Well, that's only 9...hmmmm. I don't really read many others. If I've missed anyothers, I apologize! You're excellent too!

Wordless Wednesday - What are you lookin' at?

2008-01-30T07:20:00.000-05:00

Tuesday Twos

2008-01-29T22:25:00.000-05:00

Villapardo suggested a couple new themes, so I'm trying one out: Tuesday Twos. It may not be two's all the time, could be threes or fours, but it will have a number in it. :-)

This is Michael and Matthew when Matt was a couple of days old. They've already changed so much!

I am SO trying this!

2008-01-28T20:59:00.000-05:00

A huge kudos goes out to Villapardo for finding this awesome video!

$1 Image Stabilizer For Any Camera - Lose The Tripod - video powered by Metacafe

Best Shot Monday

2008-01-28T07:03:00.000-05:00

It's the setting moon! I'm actually pretty impressed with how the picture came out, since I was using the digital zoom that makes everything ridiculously blurry.

For more BSM, head on over to

"White Trash" party

2008-01-25T07:18:00.001-05:00

Between my junior and senior year of college, I was one of ten interns at my college theater. Between May and August, we put on 4 awesome, shows, which included: Little Shop of Horrors, Spinning Into Butter, Deathtrap and Always, Patsy Cline.

It definitely was an interesting experience, one which included 18 hour days and not leaving work until the sun was coming up. Those were the nights that one show ended (Sunday) and we had to dismantle the set and put up the new one before the next day, so the cast could start rehearsing the next morning. The new show would open on Tuesday night and run for two weeks. So between Monday morning and Tuesday afternoon, everything, including the set, lighting, sound, music, setting, etc, would have to be in place and completely functioning. That's not to say that nothing went wrong, because believe me, they did. There was one show of Deathtrap, in which two bats had decided that the theater roof was a good place to beat the heat. It actually suited the mood of the play, as it was "a dark and stormy night" :-) We eventually shooed them out of the receiving dock.

Now, even though it may sound like all we did was work, put on shows and sleep, we made good use of our time off as well. Many parties were had, bars attended, and it's where I first encountered a Corona (I'm a REAL lightweight). :-) Often, these parties would have themes. One of those mentioned parties was White Trash" night. Since we had access to a warehouse of props and costumes, the townhouse in which the party was held was decorated accordingly. It had a car bumper on a wall, flamingos on the grass, a beer bottle chandelier and an old car chair adorned with a vibrating machine.

Let me tell you, it was nice! :-)

(I LOVED those glasses, by the way)

Theme Thursday - Books

2008-01-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

I hope this works! I tried to find old and recent book pics.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

For more Book pictures, go to

Wordless Wednesday

2008-01-23T19:29:00.000-05:00

My first contest

2008-01-21T12:53:00.000-05:00

I think this is what you're supposed to do. I entered a contest to win a tea book. It's basically a good book for weight loss and the psyche. I love tea, but I always forget that I like it so much! I think I'll go have some right now. :-)

SusieJ's./review

Best Shot Monday

2008-01-21T08:53:00.001-05:00

Well, this one goes along with last weeks, since it was taken the same day. I didn't have a chance this week to get to my camera (I don't know why). But this is a picture of Caitlyn and my Mom (her Memere) reading. Caitlyn's just as intense with the book as she was with "The Price is Right"!
For more Best Shots head on over to

Giant Tree

2008-01-18T07:22:00.001-05:00

Inspired by Villapardo's comment last night, I decided to post the pictures of my snow piled tree, back when there was no snow. I planted this tree when I was 11. They gave it to us at school as part of our Earth Day celebration. It was probably the size of a pencil when I planted it. I'm sure I have a picture of it somewhere a couple of years after it was planted, but I love how HUGE it has gotten!

Theme Thursday - Winter

2008-01-17T07:25:00.001-05:00

We had a snowstorm on Monday, allowing my "homework" :-) to become easy! I love all seasons, and while people were complaining about more snow, I was happy!

For more Winter photos, check out the Land of K.A at

I knew it was special

2008-01-16T20:58:00.001-05:00

I remember driving to my old job, and marveling that right in the middle of this beautiful tree lined, suburban neighborhood, there was an office park. I realized that when my office closed, I probably wouldn't be treated to this natural beauty while a couple hundred yards away from work.
I miss being able to look out of the window in my office and see that. For those of you who don't know what it is, that's the Hood blimp. Hood is a major milk company here in the East Coast. I used to see that in the air during the summer. It's used to video tape Red Sox games and the Boston Fourth of July concert. My office park was situated right next to a municipal airport, and the Hood blimp would be there for a majority of the summer. Also during the day, local and national news helicopters would fly to the airport and fill up on gas and then whomp away again.

There was a good patch of grass and shrubbery ("you must bring me.....another shrubbery!") between my office parking lot and the airport. I'm one of those crazy people that park at the furthest possible spot, so I would park right next to the fence that separated the lot from the airport. There was so much wildlife in the area surrounding my car. Between birds and insects and squirrels to geese and cranes, it was unbelievable. I was coming out of work one day, and a family was in the parking lot, looking at the ground. Amazingly, they found newly hatched snap turtles crawling out of their holes!I am so glad I appreciated the environment around me while I was there. While I still have "trees" and grass at my new job, it's not the same atmosphere. It's all too sterile for my taste.

Best Shot Monday

2008-01-14T17:36:00.001-05:00

I had a snow day today! My sister and Caitlyn slept over the night before, so we were stuck inside all day. What else to do, but take pictures! This was one of my favorites. Caitlyn was mesmerized by "The Price is Right".

For more "best shots", head to Tracy's at

Old Picture Friday

2008-01-11T19:42:00.000-05:00

Since my birthday is January 7th, and my oldest brother's is January 18th, I thought it would be cute to show a picture from Danny's 15th birthday....23 years ago!

From left: me, Danny, Janelle, Timmy

I had just turned five! I especially love my purple pants and maroon sweater! :-) My sister was 12 and not really wanting to get her picture taken, and my other brother was 8. January 1985.

This is the only known recent picture of the four of us (plus Danny's son, Michael) November 2005.

From left: Janelle, Timmy, me, (Michael) and Danny.

Theme Thursday - Contrast

2008-01-10T07:11:00.000-05:00

So this didn't fit the bill in terms of playing around with photos in Photoshop (which I don't own), but I've always loved the striking contrast of the two colors in this photo.

For more Contrasting pictures, visit the land of K.A. at

Median walking

2008-01-09T19:26:00.000-05:00

I've recently noticed people walking down the road in the middle of the median strip. Do they just not want to finish walking across the street? Maybe it's just me, but I find that a bit odd.

On another note:

Food is yummy!

Caitlyn's 10 months old today!

Different kind of "meme"

2008-01-08T17:16:00.000-05:00

I just read this on a blog today and I thought it was fun.
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don’t search around and look for the “coolest” book you can find. Do what’s actually next to you.

Here's the one I found:
"Taping down the corners of your prints with drafting tape will keep them from moving while you are applying color."

From "How to Photograph Children"
What are yours?

Best Shot Monday

2008-01-07T09:56:00.001-05:00

After YEARS of Monopoly (at my siblings insistance), since it was my birthday, I chose the game to play last night. This was during an intermission while my sister was feeding Caitlyn. I didn't win any of the games, but we still had fun!

Head on over to see more "Best Shots"

Yeah, it was yummy

2008-01-06T21:06:00.001-05:00

2:09pm

2:17pm

Cornbread

2008-01-05T13:53:00.001-05:00

My experiment for today:It looks and smells yummy!

Old picture Friday

2008-01-04T21:37:00.000-05:00

I just thought of a new theme I'm going to be doing on Fridays: Old Picture Day! My first Christmas, 1980 (I loved that horsie!)
My Grandfather, having his "Board" meeting (he was a photographer and worked for himself...this was created back in the '40's)
My Dad and his brother, Armand (my dad's the one standing up)
My parents wedding

Theme Thursday - Color

2008-01-03T10:41:00.000-05:00

This was even taken with a flash. I'm usually against flash, but I like the richness of everything in the scene.

Christmas pictures

2008-01-02T20:36:00.000-05:00

I thought I had lost this post, but I found it in my "drafts" section. Here are some random pictures from Christmas

A cool napkin display, by Villapardo:

My Grandmother now (on the couch), and back in the 1930's (the picture hanging above her)

My first picture of Christmas morning! :-)

Before the presents were all open!

After the presents

I'm scared...

2008-01-02T20:30:00.000-05:00

No picture for this one, just a thought. A 21 year old I work with asked me how to mail a letter.

(I swear, I am not making this up!)

Kim: Drop it in the mail slot outside our office
Her: Don't you need to put it in the big blue thing?
Kim: .....uhh...you can put it in there, there's also a mail slot that says: US MAIL outside our office.
Her: Oh, well, you need a stamp too, right?

I'm very scared....

My new Auntie Diane quilt

2007-12-23T22:44:00.001-05:00

My Auntie Diane has been making us quilts for a good 6 or 7 years now for Christmas...this is my new one I got last night:

It's really cool, and there's a cool little sign on one of the houses on top that says "Auntie's Quilt Shop".

I love the face...

2007-12-22T22:38:00.000-05:00

Just not the straw!

I took this the other day

2007-12-22T00:33:00.000-05:00

I didn't like it at the time, but I really do now!

Christmas 2004

2007-12-22T00:23:00.000-05:00

I didn't take any pictures today, so here's an oldie from Christmas of 2004. My Christmas tree has always looked like this, although this year it has changed (if slightly)

I can't pick just one!

2007-12-20T21:43:00.001-05:00

I like all three of these, so I'll use them all!

Happy Winter! :-)

This is totally me....

2007-12-19T11:29:00.000-05:00

Two other cool pictures I took today

2007-12-18T22:12:00.001-05:00

Through the glass of wine

Setting sun

Boys will be Boys

2007-12-18T22:04:00.000-05:00

I went to the Valassis "holiday" Christmas party tonight. It was at a fondue restaurant called the Melting Pot. There were a good 40 people in the room, and with the steam of the boiling pots, condensation naturally fogged the windows. By the end of the night, all three windows in the room we were in were drawn on. I feel bad for the window washers...

Thank God for the sun

2007-12-17T21:22:00.000-05:00

One photo a day

2007-12-16T19:12:00.000-05:00

The new flower buds on my plant, Josephine (her name keeps changing, so it's Josephine today)

Cookies

2007-12-16T16:32:00.000-05:00

The other night I decided to try attempt #2. This time it was gingerbread. The cookie dough came out a lot smoother, but a LOT stickier. I'm not sure if I added the wrong kind of molasses, or I don't have the correct rolling pin:

(I love the fact, however, that it has "Rolling Pin" right on it, in case you weren't quite sure what it was) Anyway, the rolling pin is ceramic, so that might be why things are sticking to it (...I got it for free though, so I can't complain). But I digress. So I mixed all the ingredients together and poured it out onto saran wrap and put it in the freezer to chill. I tried rolling it out last night after it "chilling" for an hour 1/2 ish. Nope, still WAY too sticky. So I waited 'til the morning.

The fact that it was still sticky after being in the freezer for a good 12 hours, did not look that promising. But I let it sit out for a bit and tried it again. This time I was able to at least roll it out (sorry, don't have a picture of that, I was too excited about it actually working!) I tried cutting the cookies in the shape of a tin soldier (the only one that I could get the cookies out of) and put them in the oven....... Yeah, they kind of spread and I burnt them, but they tasted wonderful!

They don't really look like tin soldiers anymore. While they were cooking, I wrapped up the leftover dough and put it back in the freezer for attempt #2. While the remaining dough was chilling, I made fudge:
I had bought this cool icing in a tube (it looked like a glue bottle) that I could draw and write with. I decided to go furthur with the labeling :-) After I was done with the fudge I attempted to make angel cookes this time:

Again, they spread, but tasted good.

Experimentation

2007-12-16T16:23:00.000-05:00

My first attempt at making cookies. They were dry, but they held their shape. Clockwise from top left: reindeer, mitten, Santa's profile and a star.

I Shutter to Think

5th picture from the end

Wordless Wednesday - Brothers

I'm back! (I hope)

Cool new site I found

Bad, bad Kimmy!

Some recent Photoshopped pictures - exeriments

Spring - Theme Thursday

Did you hear..

Why 14?

Following the crowd

Perfection - Theme Thursday

Glass

Skipper Found in Closet

Style - Theme Thursday

Wordless Wednesday - Birthday Chicken

High above

Now I know my ABCs

My Father's very first digital camera

Collection - Theme Thursday

Rainbow in the clouds

Baby face

Who would even think?

Some random pictures

More self

Alright, so I lied

Self - Theme Thursday

It's never too early

Grasp - Best Shot Monday

One of my favorite pictures

Just a little difference

Green Shadows

Theme Thursday - Change

One picture

Olive Garden

What am I? - Revealed!

Theme Thursday - Spirit

What am I?

Theme Thursday - Memories

Theme Thursday - Pure

The book quiz

Theme Thursday - Glow

I guess I'm a Ron Paul fan!

-- Take the Quiz! --

Wordless Wednesday - Winner

Kim needs...

Twosday

Theme Thursday - Focus

I'm Excellent?!

Wordless Wednesday - What are you lookin' at?

Tuesday Twos

I am SO trying this!

Best Shot Monday

"White Trash" party

Theme Thursday - Books

Wordless Wednesday

My first contest

Best Shot Monday

Giant Tree

Theme Thursday - Winter

I knew it was special

Best Shot Monday

Old Picture Friday

Theme Thursday - Contrast

Median walking

Different kind of "meme"

Best Shot Monday

Yeah, it was yummy

Cornbread

Old picture Friday

Theme Thursday - Color

Christmas pictures

I'm scared...

My new Auntie Diane quilt

I love the face...

I took this the other day

Christmas 2004

I can't pick just one!

This is totally me....

Two other cool pictures I took today