I’m still participating in the March Photo a Day Challenge,but because my Instagram photos feed into the blog widget about 1/3 of the way down the page for your viewing convenience, I’ve decided to post a weekly recap of photos instead of trying to post them here every day. So here are days 2-8 for this year’s challenge, and then below those are the same days for my challenge last year that I never did share on Nikki by example or on NBE’s instagram.

For some reason, March feels like a great month for me to participate in a photo-a-day challenge. I’m sure it’s because it’s the official month of Spring, and the weather is starting to warm up and everything just feels so nice.

I participated in a challenge last year and documented it in my personal Instagram account but I’m very new to this sort of thing so I didn’t share it to my blog or my blog’s Instagram account, and I probably didn’t even do it right to begin with, but anyway.

I like having the prompts to help nudge my creativity. Sometimes, the prompt is very literal so it’s easy to snap a picture and post it, but other times the prompts are more abstract so it takes a lot of thought, cleverness, and imagination to get the right shot. You can end up with some really great photos that way! So, I’m going to participate in a photo challenge this month and post photos both here and on the blog’s Insta, and I’ll try my best to also post last year’s photos here for reference!

Here’s the challenge prompt I’ll be following this year:

Be sure to follow along here, on Instagram, and my Facebook page!

Photos by 2 & 3 Photography

It’s that time of year again! We had the most adorable photos ever taken for our holiday photos. You can’t tell it from the photos – which speaks to the talent of Thad and Sarah as photographers – but the weather was cold, windy, and rainy the day we took them. I wasn’t sure how they would turn out because of the weather, but as you can see, I had nothing to worry about.

Also, you’ll recognize this outfit from my newest obsession post.

Mia Sophia – she’s always so inquisitive.

Chico Antonio – he didn’t love the chill in the air, but he was a trooper and we got this gem.

Of course there were several more good ones, but we’re saving those for our holiday cards this year.

Happy Fall, everyone!

The new sign in our yard:

We’re the second family to have put it up on our street and it makes me happy to know that there is a lot of awesome going on along Butler. In case you haven’t heard, the amendment it refers to is Amendment One which will be showing up on the ballots in May to write discrimination, hate and bigotry into our state’s constitution. It says that “marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state.”  Many people automatically think of same-sex couples when they hear that definition and they’re definitely included. However, it’s already illegal in NC for same-sex couples to get married so why would they put this on the ballot? I’m glad you asked.

In addition to same-sex marriages, the Amendment would  prohibit civil unions, domestic partnership rights, and would strip domestic partner insurance benefits currently offered to employees by a number of local governments, meaning they could ban rights for unmarried couples—both same and opposite-gender. This would invalidate domestic violence protections for all unmarried partners; undercut existing child custody and visitation rights that are designed to protect the best interests of children; prevent the state from giving committed couples rights to allow them to order their relationships, including threatening their ability to determine the disposition of their deceased partner’s remains; to make medical decisions if their partner is incapacitated; and to allow second-parent adoptions in order to ensure that both partners have a legal tie to, and financial responsibilities for, the children they are raising; and invalidate trusts, wills, and end-of-life directives by one partner in favor of the other.

All of this and more is why we’re another family against the amendment!

For more information and to participate in a fun project, please visit http://voteagainst.org/

What I like most about this photo, which is of a plant in my kitchen, is that it reminds me of an old postcard.