March 31 - Biggest Loser

The Biggest Loser is more than a TV show to me. The show, the trainers and the contestants on the show have inspired me to change my life. I began my own weight loss journey in October 2007...following the Biggest Loser "12 week" plan laid out in the book, "Biggest Loser: The Weight Loss Program to Transform Your Body, Health, and Life". I have had many 12 week cycles in a year and a half and I have lost 45 pounds to date. I thought I would have been further along by now, but I am living a better/healthier life today and I owe my lifestyle changes to this show.

Shutter Speed: 1/60 second
Aperture: f/4.6
ISO: 640

March 30 - Kay

My list of favorite things would not be complete without a picture of my Sis, Kay. Not only is she my sister, but she is also my best friend. Although life has sometimes led us in completely different directions, I know without a doubt that my sister would do anything for me and I hope she knows that I would do the same for her.

Kay has this ecstatic energy. You can feel it the minute she walks into a room, you get the feeling that NOW, the fun is about to start. I love that about her. I also love that she has a heart of gold and that I am lucky enough to be the recipient of that love.

Shutter Speed: 1/40 second

Aperture: f/3.7

ISO: 1o0

March 29 - Dad

This photo was not taken today, but I did spend some time with my dad today. I also spent my day transferring home video from the camcorder to DVD. And on those home videos, there was a lot of my dad playing his guitar and singing with his bands over the past few years.

It is hard to describe how I feel when I hear my dad play. For as long as I can remember, my dad has always played the guitar. I grew up in a Rock n' Roll house and it was never quiet. I loved it and I still do!!! Hearing my dad play his guitar and sing is moving in a way that no other musician has ever touched my soul.

Shutter Speed: 1.6 seconds
Aperture: f/16
ISO: 8o0

This is my dad...

This man is my hero. Not only is he an incredible dad, but he is also a musician, an artist, a published author and handyman extraordinaire...in my eyes, there is nothing that this man cannot do. I love you, dad.

March 28 - Butterflies

The weather was absolutely beautiful today. In an effort to not waste the day and to have some fun, Kaitlyn and I made it out to the "Butterfly Place" in Westford today.

Probably one of my most favorite things in the world...having fun with my little girl and not taking one single moment or smile for granted.

Shutter Speed: 1/200 seconds
Aperture: f/7.10
ISO: 4o0

March 27 - Nature

Today, Kaitlyn and I made it outside to feed the geese in the backyard and 50 or so seagulls showed up to the party. Not that I am a big fan of seagulls, but it was quite the bird show...we had a blast watching all the birds fight for bread.

This was one of those "unexpected moments" when you find yourself having fun right in the middle of an ordinary day...it was nice.

This was one of the better shots I got.

Shutter Speed: 1/500 seconds
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 2o0

March 26 - B-Bear

OK, this is NOT a pretty picture and it is even a bit embarrassing, but B-Bear is one of my favorite things and the list wouldn't be complete without him.

Not many people know that I still have my comfort "stuff-dy" from my childhood, but here he is...B-Bear...

He is in REALLY bad shape and he now sits in my scrapbooking room because I am afraid that if I touch him that he will turn to dust. But make no mistake, on those really bad days when the tears are flowing, B-Bear still catches them all.

Shutter Speed: 1/5 seconds
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 4o0

March 25 - Lake Ripple

I live on Lake Ripple in Grafton and I LOVE "my lake". Right now, I am glad to see that all the ice is gone and the geese are starting to return...bring on the spring!!!

Shutter Speed: 1/200 seconds

Aperture: f/4.5

ISO: 1o0

March 24 - Cancuns

It wouldn't be a list of my favorite things without Cancuns, my favorite Mexican restaurant located right here in Grafton. If you haven't been here, I HIGHLY recommend it :-)

Shutter Speed: 1/33 seconds
Aperture: f/2.9
ISO: 1o0

Interior decor...

March 23 - Scrapbooking Supplies

In case you have missed it, scrapbooking is definitely one of my favorite things...in fact, it is toward the top of the list :-)

Preserving my stories through scrapbooking has become more than a hobby to me, it is truly my passion…some may say obsession. I love telling the stories of my life with pictures and paper and words (and I’ll be honest: I love collecting supplies). My scrapbooks are my legacy, proof that I have lived and loved here on this Earth.

Here are just SOME of my main supplies...

Shutter Speed: 1/60 seconds
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 4o0

March 22 - Mt. Sunapee

Ah, the sunsetting on Mt. Sunapee...and the close of another great scrapbooking weekend. Until we meet again...keep the mountain in your thoughts and the laughter in your hearts...

Shutter Speed: 1/20 seconds
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 1o0

March 21 - Crazy Croppers

This is a photo of my group of scrapbooking friends. We go away together twice a year to the lodge you see in the background. These women and the retreat definitely make the top of my list of "favorite things".

Thank you all for another AWESOME weekend!!!

Shutter Speed: 1/640 seconds
Aperture: f/5
ISO: 1o0

March 20 - NH

As noted, I went away on a scrapbooking retreat this past weekend. Our retreat is held at a lodge in Newport, NH. My friend, Lori & I came across this horse on our walk. Gotta love NH!!! I don't think many people know that NH is actually my favorite state...now everyone will know!

Shutter Speed: 1/500 seconds
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 2o0

Interruption in Posting

If all goes well in the hospital tonight, I will be leaving tomorrow for a scrapbooking weekend. I will be taking pictures for my Project 365 each day, but they will not be posted until Sunday...here's hoping that all goes well tonight with Katie.

March 19 - Bunny

This is Bunny, he is Kaitlyn's comfort item. Why is Bunny one of my favorite things? Because through all of the adversities that Kaitlyn faces, he is there to help us comfort her. This is a picture I took of him today after Dr. Kaitlyn fixed his "broken arm". Too cute.

Shutter Speed: 1/60 seconds

Aperture: f/4.5

ISO: 400

March 18 - Grandmothers

One of my favorite things is how hard Katie's grandmother's work to make her happy. This picture is a prime example...Meme (left) is feeding her pepperoni while Grammie (right) is offering her a piece of pizza. They are both truly amazing women and I admire them both.

Shutter Speed: 1/60 seconds

Aperture: f/4

ISO: 400

March 17 - Wii

We do not have a Wii at home, so this was a real treat for Mike to be able to play with one while Kaitlyn is admitted to the hospital. The childlife group here at the hospital is outstanding at providing entertainment. Although I am not a big fan of the fact that my daughter is in the hospital again, we are blessed by the extraordinary staff.

Shutter Speed: 1/60 seconds
Aperture: f/5
ISO: 400

Mike & Katie playing baseball :-)

Interruption in Posting

My daughter has been admitted back into the hospital and the daily photo will be spotty until we can get home. But I will still try to get a photo posted as much as possible while we are in the hospital.

March 16 - Signs of Spring!

I love that there are buds on my lilac bush!!!



Shutter Speed: 1/500 seconds
Aperture: f/5
ISO: 250

March 15 - A Day at the Park

Today, the weather was so nice, we were able to get out to the park. This picture was taken at Dean Park in Shrewsbury.

Shutter Speed: 1/250 seconds

Aperture: f/10

ISO: 400

March 14 - Body Bugg

I am borrowing a toy from my trainer at the gym. This is called a Body Bugg and it calculates how many calories you burn in a day. I picked it up today and I will have it for a few weeks. I am very interested to see the daily trend.

Photographically speaking, you would not believe how hard it was to get this picture. I have been snapping pictures for an hour...the lighting in my house STINKS!!! lol


Shutter Speed: 1/30 seconds
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 400

This is how the bugg is worn...

March 13 - What am I reading these days?

I love reading and these are some of the books currently on my bookshelf. Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors.

Shutter Speed: 1/30 seconds
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 400

As a side note, the book that turned me on to reading forever...

(No, I did not take this picture)

I can remember reading it as a young girl, maybe fourth grade, in my bedroom and I couldn't put it down. I just kept reading and reading. And I have been that way ever since. I love getting lost in a good book, it helps to silence my mind and relax me. Unless the book is so good that I am on the edge of my seat turning page after page...God, I love those books. Too bad they a few and far between.

March 12 - Like mommy, like daughter...

One of my absolute favorite things is seeing my daughter pick up a camera and start snapping her own pictures. This is her taking a picture of "Grammy". My mom, one of my most favorite people in the world and one of the biggest influences on my life, knew she was going to be on the blog no matter how hard she pleaded not to be...sorry mom, but your one of my favorite things :-P

This picture had great content, but bad white balance. I decided that I still wanted to use the photo and enhanced it using a new technique I just learned in Adobe Photoshop. I love the look of Sepia tone and I am so glad that I learned how to convert in Adobe!

Shutter Speed: 1/60 seconds

Aperture: f/4.0

ISO: 400

March 11 - Photography

An obvious passion of mine is photography. But to answer the question posed in the "What's the Difference" post from February 7, 2009...the difference is a new camera!!!

This Canon 40D camera is a semi-professional grade SLR and I am so thankful to my hubby for this incredible birthday present.

Shutter Speed: 1/40 second

Aperture: f/4.0

ISO: 200

March 10 - Fur Babies

Today, you get two pictures...although I do like one of my dogs more than the other...{Babi...ahem...}...I will still post a picture of both of my fur babies :-)

First up, Babi...

What a princess!!!

Shutter Speed: 1/40 second
Aperture: f/3.8
ISO: 100

Next up, Scrappy...

Look at that goofy face!!!

Shutter Speed: 1/50 second

Aperture: f/4.4

ISO: 200

March 9 - ZUMBA!

OK, this was brave...lol. I took a camera into my Zumba class tonight and covertly took a few pictures.

ZUMBA! is my new favorite workout :-)

Shutter Speed: 1/12 second

Aperture: f/2.8

ISO: 100

And if you are wondering...

I was very tempted to photoshop some of my butt off, but I didn't, I am sweating it off instead!!!

March 8 - Technology

I love technology!!! And I love the two men in this picture, hubby & my dad, more than I could ever express with mere words...this is us playing with our web cams :-)

Shutter Speed: 1/40 seconds
Aperture: f/3.7
ISO: 100

March 7 - Spring Forward!

I love that the days are getting longer :-) Don't forget to set your clocks ahead!!!

To view details, click to enlarge.
Shutter Speed: 1/60 seconds
Aperture: f/4.8
ISO: 125

March 6 - Reflection

OK, I swore that I wasn't going to take pictures of the "usual suspects" (daughter, husband, family, etc.) for my photography blog, but how do I have a month that focuses on my favorite things WITHOUT taking pictures of these people.

So, in an effort to stay creative and take a picture of usual suspect #1 (my daughter)...here is a picture of her reflection in my rear view mirror. Don't worry, I wasn't driving while I took this picture.

Shutter Speed: 1/100 seconds
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 100

March 5 - My lifeline

What would I do without my computer? Entertainment, communication, scrapbooking, photography, music, journaling, blogging...etc. I would be lost without it. After all, I feel it is part of the family.


Shutter Speed: 1/40 seconds
Aperture: f/3.8
ISO: 250

March 4 - Cute Tootsies

OK, so I have realized that white balance is not very interesting. So, in an effort to make things a little more interesting, March's focus is also going to be an ode to my favorite things.

These little feet definitely make the top of that list.

Shutter Speed: 1/40 seconds
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 100

March 3 - Freshly fallen snow

As sick as I am of snow, I still think this picture is nice. I love the look of freshly fallen snow on the trees, it is very pretty, even if it is March :-)

Shutter Speed: 1/125 seconds
Aperture: f/4.5
ISO: 100

March 2 - Scrapbook Room

An ode to my scrapbook room...how I miss thee....

I am hoping to get down there this weekend to get some stuff organized for my scrapbooking weekend coming up in a few weeks!!!

Figure 1:
This is the photo I actually took, obviously the wrong white balance because it is WAY too yellow...

Figure 2:

This has had the white balance adjusted in Adobe Photoshop for a truer white.

Shutter Speed: 1 second
Aperture: f/22
ISO: 400

Over the next few weeks, I am hoping to learn how to get the white balance right with the camera instead of having to adjust it in Adobe.

March 1 - Hospital Room

I learned today that my camera has this cool feature called white balance bracketing. I snapped one picture and I got 9 frames with various white balance settings. I thought I would three of those shots as my "photo" of the day to show the differing white balance.

Figure 1: Correct white balance -
Figure 2: too pink -

Figure 3: too green -

Shutter Speed: 1/30 seconds

Aperture: f/3.5

ISO: 100

March Focus - White Balance

The reason we adjust white balance is to get the colors in your images as accurate as possible.
Why would you need to get the color right in your shots?

You might have noticed when examining shots after taking them that at times images can come out with an orange, blue, yellow etc look to them - despite the fact that to the naked eye the scene looked quite normal. The reason for this is that images different sources of light have a different ‘color’ (or temperature) to them. Fluorescent lighting adds a bluish cast to photos whereas tungsten (incandescent/bulbs) lights add a yellowish tinge to photos.

The range in different temperatures ranges from the very cool light of blue sky through to the very warm light of a candle.

We don’t generally notice this difference in temperature because our eyes adjust automatically for it. So unless the temperature of the light is very extreme a white sheet of paper will generally look white to us. However a digital camera doesn’t have the smarts to make these adjustments automatically and sometimes will need us to tell it how to treat different light.