Day Two Hundred and Twelve: County Fair

One of Pete's brothers lives in Hawaii, but was here to visit over the weekend. When they come to the mainland, one of the things they love to do is attend demolition derbies. Neither Pete nor I had ever been to one before, so we decided to head to the Bloomer (Wisconsin) County Fair with the Hawaii Haacks.

We paid the $8 to get in and waited for the excitement to begin. Sans the man sitting next to me blowing cigarette smoke directly into my face (although in hindsight, it probably made it more authentic of an experience), it was WAY FUN. For those of you who have never been, demolition derbies are like real life bumper cars; local businesses sponsor local kids (or "big kids") to fix up cars and then run them into each other until there is just one car still running.

When the refs wave that flag, it's on. Mud flies, bumpers bend, and rubber burns. Nearly anything goes, except running into the driver's side door.



But even though I enjoyed my time at the demolition derby, I could only take so much. So Pete and I wandered out of the grandstand and into the barns and into the carnival area.

A try of fried cheese curds and winning one stuffed snake later, we left the Bloomer County Fair happy and with all aggression and stress gone. :)

Day Two Hundred and Eleven: Sunset Boulevard

Pete and I made our way up to Wisconsin tonight (through a stop in Iowa) and caught some amazing sunset pictures along the interstate. Okay, so it wasn't really a boulevard, but when a title just works like that, you just have to go with it. These pictures were taken just south of the small town of Truro, Iowa. I particularly love how you can see the rays of sunlight in the photos below. (Click on any of the pics to get a bigger look.) And I have to give credit where credit is due; Pete really sought out the picture above....this just happened to be the one shot I took. :)

Regardless, I hope you enjoy the beautiful sights from my home state!

Day Two Hundred and Ten: A row of lilies

Tonight I went over to Pete's, but before we were able to go inside, Lucy had to "use the facilities". While waiting for her to do her duty, I noticed a beautiful line of lilies along the side of his house. As he came out to greet me, I commented on them and Pete mentioned how they are the subject his picture of the day. "Shoot!", I exclaimed, because I had that very same idea. But as there are a million different ways to shoot the same object, with Pete's permission to use the same item, I went to capture the lilies for my photo of the day. The end result is this; (needless to say), I'm quite happy.

We've never attempted to take a picture of the same object before and both use it for our photo of the day. But doing so today revealed our different perspectives on things, and it was fun to see our idea come together. Pete also helped me touch up this picture, and the same thing happened-- different methods and ideas to conquer the same issue. But based on the way we worked together, I think married life is going to be pretty darn great. :)

P.S. February 6 is the big day! Woo hoo!

Day Two Hundred and Nine: Chicka chicka train

Today, I join the world of posting train photos. Pete lives VERY near the Amtrak station in Lawrence which provides (nearly) endless opportunities for train pictures. Tonight, these engines were lined up one after another and practically screamed at me to take a picture (after Pete pointed it out. Thanks, babe!) Although I would have liked to have incorporated the engine that was stationed parallel to this line, the angles didn't quite work out. Oh well! I'm still pretty happy with what I got! Here's to another day of Project 365 complete!

Day Two Hundred and Eight: Thunderhead

Any Midwesternern knows that an ominous cloud like this usually means a copious amount of rain, accompanied by bouts of thunder and lightening, is about to wreak havoc on the area. While this cloud (or his brother) did just that while I was leaving work in Topeka tonight, he had a change of heart by the time he reached Lawrence and spared us his wrath. But before he dissipated, I was able to snap this picture and capture one of the true signs of summer in Kansas.

Day Two Hundred and Seven: TP

Every once in a while I receive requests for pictures ideas from other people. Tonight was one of those evenings, as my roommate Jennifer requested a fun picture with toilet paper that could potentially grace the walls of our bathroom. Since I didn't yet have my photo of the day, I spent some time in the bathroom playing with the toilet paper. After about 15 minutes, I finally came up with this TP configuration that turned out to be pretty darn cool. Enjoy!

Day Two Hundred and Six: Oil and Vinegar

Okay, there really isn't any vinegar involved in this picture, but the title flowed nicely. My family was in town today for a basketball tournament. While my mom, sister, and I actually did wedding stuff most of the day, we met up with my dad and brothers for dinner at Carbbas. While waiting for the incredibly delicious dinner, I snapped this picture of the oil carafe with the sun sparkling in the background. Not a whole lot else to say, except that I think a print of this picture would perfectly spruce up a kitchen. :)

Day Two Hundred and Five: Wedding Bells

Because we play at mass every weekend, Pete often gets approached by parishioners who are getting married asking him to do the music for their big day. One such wedding occurred tonight: Sandra and Ken. Pete asked me to sing with him, and after the ceremony was over, I quick hopped out of the church to capture some of the action. I got this adorable picture of Ken's daughter and Sandra pulling away from the church in the vintage car.

Day Two Hundred and Four: Love Sparks

As it often goes, the hours of the day were dwindling this evening and I had yet to find something photo worthy for my picture of the day. While moseying around Pete's pad, I found a box of snaps we purchased around 4th of July that we hadn't used yet. Since the snaps make a little spark when they are thrown on the ground, one of us (I can't remember who) came up with the idea to try and capture that snap on "film". Using a 1.3 second shutter, a high ISO, and a the biggest f-stop I could, I pressed the shutter button, threw down the snaps, and ended up with this shot. I particularly like the snap on the upper 1/3 of the screen right in the middle that seems to be only half way through its snapping. I'm not sure that this shot is worth hanging on your wall, but it was fun to play with the camera settings and figure out just how to make this happen.

Day Two Hundred and Three: Platter 'o grease

A new establishment has popped up in downtown Topeka (shocker, I know). The Seabrook Bar and Grill, however, is actually not new to the town; it just moved from its previous location to this new one. As the summer is almost over, our interns are wrapping up their tenure at the AG's office, and the unit went out to "celebrate" the work of our intern, Ashley. While we often make trips to Taco Tico, we recently visited there and two trip to Taco Tico within a short period of time is just not good for anyone. So, we decided to go to Seabrook, in part because of its specialty: the three pound burger.

And three pound burger it was. Complete with a homemade bun and a mountain of fries or chips or onion rings (or some combination of the three), the burger was served on a round pizza pan. The novelty and size of the burger, combined with the "platter o' grease" served as the "side", necessitated them being today's picture of the day.

The $25 monster burger satisfied all six of us -- both in taste and quelling our hunger-- with room to spare. It's definitely a fun place to traverse as a group. But, in case you aren't able to go with a group, they do serve individual sandwiches, too. :)

(Since today's pictures weren't exactly high brow, I took these pictures on the walk to Seabrook that are slightly more artistic. Enjoy!)

Day Two Hundred and Two: A penny saved...

As a kid, I suspect that most of us had piggy banks. We save whatever coinage fell into our hands, and the dollar or two that we were given for allowance each week. Eventually, you might have enough dough to buy that item you've had your eye on for a while. Although I currently use this plastic container, my "piggy bank" as a kid was actually a purple tin box (with teddy bears on it, I think) that I kept in the top drawer of my dresser.

According to Wiki, in Middle English, "pygg" referred to a type of clay used for making various household objects such as jars. People often saved money in kitchen pots and jars made of pygg, called "pygg jars". By the 18th century, the spelling of "pygg" had changed and the term "pygg jar" had evolved to "pig bank", and what we have now.

Wikipedia also tells me piggy banks are most often, but not exclusively, used by children. I'm not quite sure what that says about me.

P.S. As you can tell, it's only about 1/3 full with coins, and a couple dollar bills, which is probably less than I had as a child. Definitely not worth sneaking into my house to steal it away from me. The gas to get there will probably cost you more than what you'd find in the bank. :)

Day Two Hundred and One: MVEMJSUNP

During my semester in London in the Fall of 2007, my gal pal Val and I took a weekend trip to island country of Malta (just off the coast of Italy). The smallest country in the EU, Malta is a unique place with a rich and very diverse heritage. It is the country where St. Paul shipwrecked around 60 A.D. It has been ruled by the Romans, Arabs, and most recently the British. Malta gained it's independence around 1970 and has become one of the most flourishing countries in the EU.

One of the other things Malta is known for (besides the things listed above, it's deep Roman Catholic heritage, highly educated peopl,e and stunning beaches) is its glass, and while traversing the island, I made sure to pick some up and bring it home. Today, you see the inside of my blown glass vase, one of my favorite souvenirs from my time abroad. This vase is actually pink glass, but I played with it in photoshop to create the image you see now.

As I'm writing this entry, I received word that a friend of mine prematurely had a baby, had the baby baptized, was able to spend a brief time with her child, and the child passed on to be with the good Lord in heaven. I ask you to take a moment or two and remember my friend, her husband and their baby.

Day Two Hundred: Bouncing in the Breeze

Adam and Ashley's dogs don't like Lucy much; they think she is going to eat them when she really just wants to play. To make our lives simpler-- and the weekend more enjoyable-- Lucy stayed at Pete's this weekend. When I was picking her up this evening, the Sunday sunset and a light breeze brought this balloon-- and it's shadow-- to my attention. I quick put Lucy in the car, grabbed my camera and snapped this picture. Enjoy!

Day One Hundred and Ninety-Nine: Red High Heels

I've referred to Ashley as my "dear friend" several times, and you can probably guess that I asked her to be a bridesmaid in my wedding. Since she lives 6 hours away, we decided to take part of today to check out possible wedding dresses for myself and bridesmaid dresses for those in the wedding party. Ashley and I, along with my friends Bekah and Andrea, made our way to David's Bridal this morning and had some fun discovering the infinite number of possibilities that exist in planning a wedding.

As you can guess, one of the most important things for the upcoming nuptial celebration (in my mind anyway) includes finding the right photographer, and this week I perused the websites of many potential "companies". Doing so told me two things: 1) I want to take pictures of weddings, and 2) encouraged me to take my camera to David's Bridal to see what kind of shorts I could get. Since I could put number two into action right away, I took my camera to the shop this weekend and ended up with this shot (which I love).

As for the dress shopping, I found several that I really liked, but have not ultimately decided on THE one. But Ash, Bekah, Andrea, and I had a good time nevertheless.

Day One Hundred and Ninety-Eight: Doggles

I mentioned before that my friends Ashley and Adam were coming to town this weekend (holla!). I don't think I mentioned, however, that they were also bringing their two adorable puppies. Amongst other things, Ashley and I share a love of our puppies. Ashley was the person who introduced me to doggles: goggles for dogs who like to stick their heads out of cars. The purpose is to protect their eyes from any rocks or sticks or random pieces of trash that may pop up while driving. Plus, they are just cool.

Lucy definitely qualifies as a dog who likes to stick her head out the window, and I've long wanted a pair of doggles for her (to protect her eyes, of course). But, I have always had other places to put my money, and someone thinks they are ridiculous and anything but necessary. (That same someone, however, bought a pair of human goggles and modified them to fit Lucy. She was wearing them when that someone came to pick me up from work for our Colorado trip. :) I think he likes me. :))

Milo, Ashley's pup seen here, also likes to stick his head out the window and she has invested in a pair of doggles for him. Tonight, he gave us a fashion show, and it was awesome. All my "discretionary" funding is now being pumped into a wedding, but should I find $20 lying around somewhere, I think I know where I'll spend it. :)

VIRTUAL HAPPY HOUR- TONIGHT!

This is a reminder that tonight, from 5- 8 p.m. is the VIRTUAL happy hour! No need to go anywhere but spend a few minutes on your computer to make a small donation (or e-mail me a pledge!) My goal is to raise $365 for St.. Jude in this three hour period! Every small donation helps. Just visit my St. Jude Marathon Fundraising page click the "donate now link" and that's all you've got to do!

Remember, I'm still offering a professional quality print of any of my photography work for anyone who makes a donation of $25 or more!

I appreciate your thoughts and prayers. As of this morning, I've logged over 200 miles in training! I'm well on my way to reaching my distance goal...please help me reach my monetary goal! Thanks for spending a night in to help find a cure for childhood cancer!

* Many marathon fundraising programs ask their participants to raise significantly larger sums of money. In return, they cover some of their travel costs. St. Jude only asks for $1000, but does not cover any travel costs. As a result, $1000 of my $1500 goal will go directly to St. Jude. The other $500 will go to those travel costs. Any money raised over $500 will again go to St. Jude. If you are able to make your donation directly to me, this will aid in that particular part of the plan!

Day One Hundred and Ninety-Seven: Suds in the Bucket

My very dear friend Ashley, her husband Adam (who is also a dear friend), and their two dogs are coming to visit this weekend! In preparation for their visit, from the moment I finished working today, I frantically prepared my house so they don't think I live in a state of disarray all the time from the time (which we all know -- and they probably better than most people-- is actually true, but that's neither here nor there). The extensive cleaning schedule didn't leave much time for taking a picture, but God provided and directed my eye to the soap I used to clean my kitchen floor. Combine it with a few photo filters and adjustments, and I like to think the end result is a nice piece of modern art that no one would ever know started as a dirty kitchen floor.

Day One Hundred and Ninety-Six: Shadows of the Past

Tonight, I briefly attended the Dole Center's final educational program of the summer: Abraham Lincoln as presented by Fritz Klein. I didn't stay any longer than to take some pictures, but the portions I did hear were very intriguing. The setting sun put Klein's shadow on the backdrop and he moved in and out of position, at times bringing the shadow to rest directly over this chair. At that moment, I snapped the picture. I've obviously played with it a lot and used some techniques that Pete and I have recently been learning to manipulate photos. It's not perfect or worthy of an award, but I do like the way the filters modified the picture. I'll keep learning and reading in hopes of bringing you new and cool pictures each and every day!

Day One Hundred and Ninety-Five: Iron Clad

I have taken pictures of discussed the Jayhawk many times before. (When you can't go but 100 feet and see one of them everywhere around town, you have to expect that several photo opps would include them.) Tonight, I took a picture of the only Jayhawk I know of that is made of Iron. Standing proudly outside of Strong Hall, this oft photographed bird is a gift from the class of 1956. If anyone ever questions whether the Jayhawk character is too cutesey, this statue shows the other side of the fictitious avian, leaving one with the feeling that a Jayhawk is a stealthy fighter, proud and strong of what he is and the tasks he accomplishes. Hopefully our football and basketball teams will find that spirit (with a dash of humility sprinkled in there, too) this upcoming school year.

Day One Hundred and Ninety-Four: HIMC (Holes in my ceiling)

My sister Katie once named an egg for the Karpuk family easter egg contest "HIMK", short for "Holes in my Knees". I believe this referred to a pair of pants that was wearing away at, you guessed it, the knees. (How she developed this name, I'll leave up to your imagination). HIMK actually won the egg contest that year, and the name was forever memorialized on the Karpuk family easter egg contest trophy (and is most likely the reason I remember the name of that particular egg).

I'm not sure why I thought of that story today, but I borrowed the name of that egg for the title of today's picture: HIMC- "Holes in my Ceiling". We've been having some plumbing problems lately that resulted with both a hole in and water spots on our ceiling. It's actually not a pretty site, but apply a few photoshop filters, add some color, and accentuate the contrast and the result is an artsy picture (or so I like to think) that will hopefully appeal to many people. Enjoy!

Day One Hundred and Ninety-Three: Lines and Spaces

Just a fun and simple picture some some nice lines and spaces and colors to end a very happy weekend.

Day One Hundred and Ninety-Two: Burn, baby! Burn!

About a month ago, Pete and I were hanging out at our friend Jeff's pond. I took a series of pictures that showed the fire pit as it was being lit. Unfortunately, those pictures got erased. So with a trip out to Jeff's again our our schedule tonight, I knew exactly what I wanted my photo(s) of the day to be. The series isn't quite as cool as when it is viewed in a more "video" like manner, but it's still pretty sweet. It's also interesting how the growing fire changes the color of the grass and other objects around it. These pictures were taken in one push of the shutter (set to "series" picture mode), so there are no other variables that could really play into it. Anyway..... we, and the dogs, had a great time (like always) out at Jeff's. Hopefully these pictures are to his liking, too.

Day One Hundred and Ninety-One: The end of a journey and the beginning of another

There are very few days that you can say change your life forever. Today was one of those. After leaving me at the dinner table to "go to the bathroom", Pete -- via a series of notes and small gifts-- lead me through downtown Lawrence and then up to St. Lawrence where he proposed. I said yes. :)

I obviously didn't take this picture, but I hope you'll understand...just this once. :)

Day One Hundred and Ninety: Loop de loop

I was going to venture out tonight and drive around until I saw something that caught my eye for my photo-of-the-day, but I'm hoping to go to bed "early", and realized driving around would probably put me out until later than I wanted.  So, my thought was to take a picture of something and play with some of the filters on photoshop and end up with some sort of "abstract art".  But my favorite pair of earrings (given to me by my favorite guy) were sitting nicely on the table and attracted my attention.  I took three or four shots, adjusted one of them a bit, and ended up with this picture that I really like.  I hope you do, too!

Day One Hundred and Eighty-Nine: World's Largest Community Workout

Well, I decided to post this picture anyway because despite Blogger's incompetence, it looks pretty cool.   Click on any of the pictures to enlarge.

"Red Dog" Gardner, seen in the pink shirt, has been offering a 5-day a week workout program 

for the people of Lawrence for the last 25 years.  People's lives have changed because of his devotion to physical fitness, people have met spouses at his workouts, and attending enough of the workouts to obtain a "Red Dog's Dog Days" (25) t-shirt has become a status symbol around town.

Tonight, both as a tribute to Red Dog's commitment to the program, and to encourage the Lawrence community to become the "most physically fit city in the country", Dog Days' organizers spread the

 word that they wanted to set the record for the "World's Largest Community Workout".  

Approximately 2,760 people joined in the workout.  We did jumping jacks, stretched, exercised our abs, and used our legs to sprint across the waterbottle laden field.  It was a hot day, the workout was hard, but it was fun to be part of something bigger than ourselves.

The record was not actually not hard to beat, as there was no previous record.  It's also not a Guinness book of world record's record simply because there is too much red tape to cut and too expensive to make happen. Regardless of whether a record was officially set or not, it was fun to see the community come out to support this local icon and do something to better themselves.

Day One Hundred and Eighty-Eight: Cherry Pickin' Good

Bing Cherries are one of my favorite fruits.  I first remember eating them -- and eating ridiculous amounts of them -- at my grandma's house.  (The only other "bing cherry" related memory I have is when my friend Kayla came to visit me a couple of years ago and she had never tried them.  I almost "defriended" her at that point, but changed my mind when we got and shared a bag of the tasty treats.)  

Cherries are usually pretty expensive ($3-4 a pound or more), so when I see them a good price, there is very little that can stop my from buying a bag.  I found some within aforementioned "good price" range this week and have been indulging ever since.  Yesterday, when I put them in this bowl, something said to me "that would be a nice picture."  And so it is. :)

I have to thank my friend Tim for vicariously inspiring this picture.  A while ago he sent me a link to a website of two friends that were doing a similar project, but taking all of their pictures before noon each day. (That would pose a challenge for me.)  Many of their pictures consisted of breakfast foods and fruit.  I'd like to believe that this picture would resonate with them and be good enough to be printed in their book.  What do you think, Tim?

If you are like Kayla and have (had) never tried a bing cherry, I encourage you to do so, no matter what the price. I highly doubt you'll be disappointed.

Day One Hundred and Eighty-Seven: A Candle in the Gentle Breeze of the Ceiling Fans

Not a whole heck of a lot to say here. Just some nice pretty candle glow in the evening. Unfortunately they weren't accompanied by a nice dinner and some wine, but you win some and you lose some. :)  But, dinner, and my dinner company was very nice nevertheless.

Day One Hundred and Eighty-Six: Party Dog

Since I didn't really get any Fourth of July festive type pictures because of the wedding, when I found this wig-ish thing tonight, I decided to dress Lucy up to "celebrate" (a day late).  The wedding was in Sioux City, Iowa, and Lucy was unable to come, so I'm not sure how she would have reacted to fireworks, but tonight, she was quite well behaved.  Next year, we'll move up to the real thing.