1-2-3 Hockey: 2 of 39
Deer in the backyard is a very common occurance around here, and as such isn’t usually a camera-worthy event. But no matter how boring regular deer are, deer with antlers are always exciting! Since today was my first day of vacation, I figured I could take the time to stop and snap some shots of this dude. I figure he’s an omen that means vacation is going to rock! (And that I should get cracking on my Deer Valley quilt.) — Pookie
So on Saturday we finished off our Project 365 (the first chapter. Obviously we’ve started up right away on Project 365: II), and posted our choices of our best and worst pictures from the year. Today we wanted to take a little space on IPB to look at our favorite photos from the year, the five favorites we share, and our personal picks.
Our Mutual Favorites:
September 13, 22/365
We met up with Kristin to take a photo excursion around NYC. Or rather, we planned a photo excursion so that we’d all have an excuse to have cheese samplers at Artisanal. Cheese samplers turned into hours and hours of cheese, wine, sandwiches, beer, more cheese, and desserts. In short, it was heaven. It simply does not get better than that.
November 10, 80/365
Pookie had a comp day one random Monday, so we met at our favorite pizza place for lunch, as is our tradition on days when she’s not working but Schnookie is. We were sitting at our usual table by the window overlooking the parking lot (which the pizzeria shares with our grocery store, among other things, so we spend a lot of time there) when we suddenly noticed that while it seemed early, it was, in fact, The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year. The olde-school tinsel Christmas decorations were up on the lightposts! EEEE! It was so exciting and so wonderful and just so perfectly “Our Town During The Holidays” that we chose this as our picture for the day instead of one of the many totally kick-ass pictures Pookie took later that afternoon when she took the camera out on the nature trails behind our house.
December 4, 104/365
Back to normal, on a wintry weeknight. Hockey on TV, a mug of hot cocoa, stitching, and full dark outside. Perfection.
January 6, 137/365
This one pretty much speaks for itself. (This gem was re-gifted to us from Boomer’s blind friend. There was much laughter after it was unwrapped.)
June 5, 287/365
More from the neighborhood pizza place. It’s a very inspirational space. We’ve had many a genius discussion about hockey there, only to get home later in the evening and totally forget all of it, which is why you never read any genius discussion of hockey here at IPB.
Schnookie’s Favorites
November 5th, 75/365
One of my favorite types of “everyday” pictures is the “taking pictures of lights through a rain-covered car window while driving home from work” oeuvre. There’s just something delightfully cozy and end-of-day about them, but since my own commute is so short, almost all of the ones in our 365 collection are from Pookie’s drive home. I love her pictures, of course, but this one is the empty parking lot at my office on a cold, rainy November nighty.
November 23rd, 93/365
The bread for Thanksgiving stuffing, being processed (namely, cubed and then left out to get stale). There’s something about this picture that makes me feel like I’m in middle school, walking out to the car at noon after the school-wide holiday concert ended, heading home for the long weekend. Needless to say, that’s a good feeling.
December 14th, 114/365
Ahhh, the early days of my love affair with quilting.
January 13, 144/365
Our friend Elizabeth (our inspiration to do 365 in the first place) is a devotee of our favorite chili recipe, so we challenged her to a chili photo-off. This was our favorite picture we took of our chili dinner (and the prep thereof) — the giant jar of homemade chili powder. Not only was this a really fun way to find a subject to photograph, but we ended up with a picture that just smacks of Newer, Better Life to me.
January 15th, 146/365
The day we started our Project 365, while on vacation in Arizona, I had a vivid dream about a winter wonderland type of snowstorm that left me obsessed with the idea of taking pictures of snowflakes. It can be pretty hit-or-miss in our part of central Jersey whether we’ll have snow in any given winter, but I pinned all my hopes and dreams on having significant snowfall during our 365, just so I could photograph it. So imagine my dismay when we had a morning with huge, fluffy, perfectly photogenic snowflakes, and I was running late for work. Instead of getting to use our nice DSLR and macro lenses I was stuck snapping a couple of shots with my point-and-shoot of my lunchbag on the roof of my car. When I got home and uploaded them, I was so delighted to find this one worked out. I love the light, I love the snowflakes, I love the colors, and like the rainy car windows picture from November 5, I love that it feels to me like a quiet, empty parking lot at work. There’s something very peaceful and isolated about that.
Pookie’s Favorites
October 13, 52/365
Fall is by far my favorite season, and this picture couldn’t possibly be more fall! These puppies were set up in my office for days, and they were just killing me. Thanks to making a habit of always having my point-and-shoot with me, I can look back and pretend my life is always filled with rows and rows of baby pumpkins.
November 13, 83/365
When Schnookie and I were planning our move from Arizona back to New Jersey we made a list of “Reasons of the Day to Move Back East”. One of my favorite reasons was “those whirlygig things on trees”. You just don’t get those in Scottsdale. So not only is this picture the perfect gray November day, it’s also highlighting one of the many, many reasons I’m happy to be living in New Jersey, now and forever.
December 7, 107/365
The hanging of the wreaths on the garden fence is an annual tradition at stately IPB Manor. I love this picture because whenever I look at it, I remember how we were too lazy to hang the wreaths on the nice balmy warm Saturday, so we were stuck hanging them on Sunday when it was -1,000 below and windy as all get out. I’m getting frost bite just thinking about it!
January 7, 138/365
I took this shot out the windshield after arriving at work on a gloomy, rainy day. I love the sound of raindrops on the car roof, and often times think I should be allowed to just hang out in the car until the rain passes, instead of having to go to work. (The best part of this being one of my favorite shots is that the original caption from the day I uploaded it was “Not much to say about today. It rained.” Another joy of Project 365 is documenting days that I didn’t even remember at the time!)
February 4, 166/365
166 pictures into Project 365 I’d learned that you’ll miss a lot of great shots if you aren’t opportunistic. This goes against my very, very lazy nature. So it was totally notable that on this day I woke up, saw the bright blue sky and all the thick white snow and said, “Quick, Pookie! Get your ass and the camera outside! Stat!” Mere moments after I got back inside, a giant gust of wind came by and blew all of the snow off the trees.
