032 - accent piece

We received this charming vase from our friend Abby, whose mother got it in a box of random stuff at a yard sale. Many of our bathroom decorations are orange, so this fits right in!

031 - fallen leaves

It seems strange to take a photo of fallen leaves when we're so far past autumn, but that's what we've ended up with in our bedroom recently. We bought a ficus tree and brought it home to live with us, and about two weeks later, it started dropping leaves. We weren't concerned at first, but when Eric shook the tree a little bit and ended up ankle deep in leaves, I began to worry that the tree was about to bite the dust. Eric did some poking around online, though, and he found some info that suggests that a ficus tree will often drop its leaves after a change in environment. Hopefully that's the case!

030 - shadows on the snow

Well, we didn't get the snow that NYC got, which is disappointing, but we did get SOME snow, which made for a lovely scene in our backyard.

029 - family portrait

On the day after Christmas, we spent some time taking a family portrait. Yes, we got a nice, normal one, but really, what fun is that?

I love this photo.

028 - Christie on Christmas

My favorite thing about Christmas is that I get to see my awesome sister.

027 - Happie Birthday Babie Jesus

Two things:
1. Clearly there was a shortage on the "Y" supply.
2. We think it's KFC company policy to have this message on their signs at Christmas.

026 - Christmas lights

Christmas lights on Dan and Laura's tree.

025 - leg lamp

Our neighbor a couple houses down has a leg lamp prominently displayed in his front window. (And I'm not the only person who's slowed down the car to take a picture.)

024 - sickbed

Eric didn't feel well, so he stayed home in bed.

023 - snow

Last night I dreamed that my work was closed because of snow. Well, we don't have that much snow, but I did have the day off (had to use one of those personal days before it disappears at the end of the year)!

This snow is beautiful, but I'm still waiting on a big storm...

022 - Newark Valley sunset

Sometimes I get inspired by taking the camera out while riding in the car. The scenery is always changing, so it makes my mind wake up a little more.

021 - crane

This is one of the paper cranes that I've got hanging in the window in my room. (I love that we have a house that includes a room just for me. I also love that my room has proved to be the warmest in the house so far this winter.)

020 - lace and stars

I am in love with these photographers. Their work is so amazing and quirky and original and dreamy. They make me want to be both the photographer and the people in the photo at the same time.

They use a lot of different types of film and homemade lenses and pinhole cameras and things to create the effects that they get. I'm not ready to make the investment needed to play with film, but I do have one toy lens that I take out every once in a while, so after looking through some of One Love Photo's stuff, I was inspired to pull it out again.

019 - holy family

018 - not the only one

I was looking at some Beatles-inspired artwork online, so I broke out the magnetic poetry again.

017 - peek

When I was a kid, we had this book in our house called Find the Cat, which involved a cat hiding from a dog. In each of the detailed line drawings, the reader had to find the cat, and sometimes only half of the cat's face was showing. It's a great book.

Sometimes Natalie makes me think of the cat in that book--she'll peek out from her hiding place, hoping that somehow you won't spot her.

016 - keys

Two sets of keys hanging here means that Eric and I are both home. It's nice to be together on a chilly evening.

015 - cookies

Our friends Liz and Matthew came to visit us on Sunday, and we made dinner and cookies together and played our traditional round of Settlers of Catan. I'm not back in the mindset yet of taking a photo every day, so I forgot to take my camera out during their visit. But can you see the warm comfort in these cookies? That's what it's like to have a visit from old friends.

014 - wedding

Matt and I were photographers at a wedding on Saturday, and this is one of the many shots I took that day. There was just something about the foot peeking out into the aisle that caught my eye and struck me as lovely. (I have no idea whose foot it is.)

013 - sprig in a glass bottle

Eric trimmed this sprig off our orchid plant before he realized that it had a new branch with a bud on it. He put it in some water in the hope that we'll still get a flower.

012 - porch light

On a chilly night, coming home to a warmly lit house is just....fantastic.

011 - striped shadows

One of the things that I love about our house is the way that light comes in. I'm not sure why I'm so tickled by light and shadows lately...maybe it's because our last apartment was so dark. Whatever the reason, my eye was caught by the shadows falling on the leaves of our ficus tree.

010 - Natalie sleeping

009 - lights

This will be the seventh Christmas that Eric and I have spent together, but this is the first time we got a Christmas tree. We purchased a two-foot-tall potted Norfolk Island pine, so we'll have a built-in Christmas tree for many years to come! The fact that the tree is so small, however, means that some of the lights are left dangling onto the floor...

008 - warmth

We spent the evening making and eating dinner with some friends, both old and new. It was chilly and snowy outside, but inside we had good conversation, Christmas music, and yummy smells that warmed our hearts.

007 - warm cider

After spending much of the afternoon walking around downtown, a cup of warm cider was the perfect treat.

006 - fireworks

This evening was Lights on the River in Owego, which meant that the holiday decorations were officially lit, and everyone came downtown for shopping, eating, and FIREWORKS! It was so awesome to see so many people come out in the cold to enjoy the festivities and to support local businesses.

I love our town.

005 - silverware

I don't like to do the dishes, but it's nice to have clean silverware.

004 - spooky trees

My shot of our neighbors' windows with the Christmas candles in them weren't working how I wanted them to, so I pointed the camera up and did a long exposure. During the day these trees are friendly, but at night they look kind of ominous.