Wednesday, January 4, 2012

beginning to look a lot like...

Well, you know the rest. Early December tends to be pretty nice for the 365 project, as I finally allow myself to take pictures of the Christmas decorations that I've been seeing around since, I don't know, Halloween. During my first project in 2009, I stayed with the Christmas theme from December 1st through the 25th so I could participate in the 24 Days of Christmas group on Flickr. I had lots of ornaments at home that I hadn't photographed before, and it made for a more cohesive mosaic at the end of the month. But of course, it was also a little limiting, when there were better non-Christmas pictures I might have used otherwise, e.g. my first macarons.

So on the third day of December, I decided to let the Christmas theme slide this time. We had made a dinner reservation at Local Mission Eatery after seeing some very tempting new dishes that they had posted on Twitter, and the pictures I took there ended up being my only ones from that day. We ended up really liking the place: fun decor, mismatched china, and interesting seasonal food. They even offer half-sized portions of most dishes—perfect for those of us who like to share things and try more. The only thing I didn't like as much? It was rather dark for pictures in there. I guess we'll just have to come back for lunch or after the daylight savings time shift and hope for a seat near the windows.

337/365 local mission eatery


We had to babysit Elsa on Sunday evening, and I left my picture of the day until then. Luckily, I had lots of time to work on it after giving Elsa her bath, feeding her, and putting her to bed. Dan and Carmen had warned us that we might have to listen to a whole lot of crying, since they had just started sleep training with Elsa the night before, but she was asleep before I even put her in her crib. After that, I took pictures of some of my ornaments on the Christmas tree, including this elf that belonged to my grandparents. It's like the ones people use for "Elf on the Shelf," but way better.

338/365 elf on the tree


Noe Valley seemed like a good place to go on Monday. I probably had to go to the bank or maybe Whole Foods that day, so I kept an eye out for photogenic store windows. Urban Nest won this time with its nesting babushka glasses.

339/365 babushka glasses


I think I was starting to run out of steam around this time of the month/year, because I spent Tuesday procrastinating and leaving my picture-taking until after dark again. Steve and I ended up having burgers at SouthEnd for dinner, passing this tree on the way to and from the restaurant.

340/365 lantern & lights


Wednesday was a little better, though not much. I hadn't taken a picture of my little snowman in a few years, so I built a shot around that on the bathroom window sill.

341/365 big snow, little snow


The next afternoon was spent baking with Carmen and Elsa. We made the sweet & salty brownies from Baked Explorations, which had been on my to-do list since last Christmas. It was my first time making caramel myself, and it turned out really well! Definitely a good addition to the brownies, although the brownies ended up being pretty intense. Unfortunately, by the time the brownies were finished and ready, the daylight was gone. I shot a few pictures of the pot of caramel on Carmen's stove, but I thought it was pretty uninteresting. Then, on the way out, I noticed Elsa's mobile and shot that. Good enough!

342/365 mobile command center


Friday was easier. Carmen and I did part one of her Christmas card photo shoot: just Elsa, in my homemade portrait studio. I've posted shots taken this way before, but I don't think I've mentioned how I set them up. I use the box window in my bedroom, open all the curtains, drape a white bed sheet from the side of the bed to the floor, and cover Dan & Carmen's oversized bean bag with another sheet. The bean bag has worked pretty well to hold up the baby, especially since she's still working on the whole sitting-up-on-her-own thing. The challenge by the end of this session was that she can now roll, so she doesn't necessarily stay in one place for very long.

Anyway, we did pictures using just the bean bag under her, covering her Bumbo chair with the sheet, balancing a Santa hat on her head, wearing Enzo's antlers, and with her clutching some of the fake snowballs I got from CB2 last year. We even tried to get Enzo in on it, but that proved to be rather more challenging. Nevertheless we got a few keepers, including this one.

343/365 elf-sa


Part two of the Christmas card shoot came the next day, but that's another post.

1 comment:

  1. I don't think I could ever commit to a 365 project ... even a month-long one is a little daunting! You are doing so well, though! These shots are all lovely :)

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