I Wear Green Sweaters and a Crooked Smile

"I don't know what life and all its wonder hold for me,
But I do know that whatever it is,
I will go at it
With open arms,
And my crooked smile."
My Crooked Smile by Elizabeth Creekmuir

Take a peek at more colorful attire over at SPC.

What I Wear When I'm Home

These are my Ernie slippers. They are the first thing that I put on when I step through the door and the last thing that I take off before crawling into bed. The Ernies are super old. I have worn a hole where the ball of my foot sits on each one of them. I'm thinking about putting a few pieces of duct tape over the holes. I know that I will have to replace them someday, but I'm not ready to part with them yet.
See what other people are wearing over here.

Caturday!

This is Sarah and Greg's cat, Tiny. I love lol cats. Some of them are hilarious. They are good for lifting the spirits up on a ho hum day. I have so many random pictures of cats. I should probably do something with them. This is my first lol creation. Pop on over to I Can Has Cheezburger to see more.

This is Halloween!

Since this is kind of a transition week over at SPC between the new and the old themes, I have decided to post about my Halloween costume. I don't normally dress in the early 1900's Edwardian style, but I did wear this outfit to work today. I had planned on making an Andy Warhol Campbell's soup paper dress knockoff for my costume, but things went awry and there wasn't enough time. I was forced to move on to plan B. Oh, what to be, what to be. I did 1940's glamour last year, so that was out. I raked my brain and several "that's not happening" ideas later, I decided that I would try to dress up like some random character from an Edward Gorey story.

I found the cape, shirt, and dress all in one trip to the thrift store. I bought some fake flowers and a bird to decorate my old hat. The cat stole my black rose and I caught her trying to sneak attack the bird after I left the room to answer the phone. I stopped her just in time. No animals were harmed during the making of the hat. I was pleased with how it turned out. Other than a few people thinking that I was Mary Poppins, it was all good.

Tea, Me, and Sesame Street Makes Three

I had breakfast with Sarah and Greg the morning after the wedding. It was a good time, but I drank just a little too much wine at the after reception party. The tea is fixing me up.

Look at more people with food over at the self portrait challenge.

AKRONography

Five of my photos are in the latest show at Summit Artspace. The show is called AKRONography and and it is an all photography exhibition of images taken in and around the greater Akron area. I am very honored to be a part of this show. I have always wanted to add Summit Artspace to my resume. The list is slowly, but surely growing. A few of my old photography schoolmates and one of my former teachers, are also in the show. I had a chance to walk through the exhibit yesterday. There is some wonderful work in there. The opening reception is from 5-7 today. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend. It's a bummer, because I do so love to schmooze and meet people at art shows. My very good friend is getting married today, and since Sarah is more important to me than the schmoozing, I will skip out, just this once, for her. Man, the sacrifices I make for my friends. Just kidding Sarah, I love you!

Congratulations Sarah and Greg! Congratulations Janice, Arnie, Andrew, Frances, Chris, John, and all of the others who made it in! Congratulations to me! Today is a day of celebration!

Bathroom Dance Party

Friday was Janice's birthday and she invited me along for martini night at Bricco. So many yummy choices! Decisions, decisions. Two martinis and a shot later, we gathered ourselves up and headed on over to Thursday's for a little dancing and picture taking. Janice and I moved the dance party into the bathroom and...


even got a stranger to participate in this week's shoot.

View more bathroom fun here.

Rosie the Cleaner

I had these grand plans to go out to one of the bars down the street for last weeks bathroom challenge, but it didn't happen. I was sitting around on Sunday, watching TV and avoiding real life, when I got the idea for this one. PBS was showing clips of a new seven part series about WWII, aptly titled The War, that will start airing on September 23. Listening to the women talk got me thinking about Rosie the Riveter and my affinity for everything 1940's. I was bored and still in denial about my real world chores, and well, all of that somehow led to this. Why do I need to clean when I can just take pictures of myself pretending to clean? Seriously.

Check out more bathroom antics here.

Rainy Day

The rain came down hard and fast. It was the kind that is blinding. The kind that makes it difficult to drive in. It ended almost as quickly as it had started. I turned the corner and everything was illuminated by the eerie, but beautiful, golden glow of the sky. I didn't look through the viewfinder. It was just point and click. Sometimes, I get lucky.

Bathroom

is the self portrait challenge of the month. My bathroom is very small, so this really was a challenge. It has a sink, toilet, and a tub with just enough room for a body to stand in the middle of it. I guess that's all I really need. However, there is not not enough room for a body and a camera mounted tripod, so I pointed the camera towards the mirror and snapped my reflection behind the shower curtain. This is the result.

May 21, 1928 - September 4, 2001

Grams
Originally uploaded by Mona Syko

Here are a few of my favorite images of one of my favorite gals, Elsie Mae, my grandmother.

It was 6 years ago yesterday that my grams crossed over to the other side. Crazy, how time flies by. A few weeks ago she came to visit me in my dreams. I have only had a few dreams about her since she passed. This time it was different. We were sitting together talking about things and then something woke me up. I felt so happy. I fell asleep again and the dream continued on, but in a different place. I awoke sometime later with the same happy and loving feeling as before. It is rare when my dreams continue. This is only the second time that I have experienced a strong lingering sense of love and joy afterwards. It's quite amazing, really. This is how I know that it's real.

I love you Grams! I'll see ya soon.