Boston Surfing, originally uploaded by Sarah Dear.

a boston terrier surfing in Imperial Beach at the largest surfing competition for dogs.

Mission Impossible - don't bite off more than you can chew, originally uploaded by juliealicea1947.

just a bit freaky...but a great shot either way. click the photo to find out who lives...

glad this wasn't in my backyard...

Easter bunny bao (steamed buns), originally uploaded by maki.

must try and make these... (recipie can be found at justhungry.com)
would it be wrong to fill them with bbq pork?

Flopsy Bunny :), originally uploaded by markfftang.

too freakin' cute. can't wait for the bunnies to start showing up in the yard...

was browsing through some blogs (thanks brooks!) during my lunch and came across this amazing documentary of one man's life. His name is Jamie Livingston and from March 31, 1979 -October 25, 1997 (the day he died), he took at least one photo a day...with a polaroid camera. what started out as a project in college, ended up being a visual documentary of his life. i wonder when he started, did he think he would document his own death also. i wonder if he knew that he'd have 18 years of his life in over 6,000 poloarids. it shows everything...from the best memories to the day of his death and everything in between. His friends wanted to honor him and pass on his unique and creative view of the world so they set up an exhibit at the Bertelsmann Campus Center at Bard College with all his photos and a website. i'd encourage anyone to check it out. it puts life in perspective. i will admit it is hard to look at the photos of him as he battles cancer. but it's real and some is going through the same thing right now. so book mark this remarkable site and take yourself through one man's life and appreciate everyday your are given.
*photo above is take by Jamie Livingston on March 30, 1991

Flickr turns 4, originally uploaded by Steve Rhodes.

and they posted the photo I submitted :) it is the third column over, third row down. click here to see the full size image. to date, it is one of my favorite photos that i've taken. not only because of the way it came out, but because the lovely couple are great friends. you can truly see how much they love each other and how much they are enjoying their day. Thank you Steve Rhodes for taking pictures of the exhibit...i really appreciate it. the party looked pretty darn cool....

the weather has turned here in Austin, Texas and i love to bake ginger cookies for the holidays. so i thought i would share the recipe i love to use.

Ginger Spice Cookies

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped crystallized ginger
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1/4 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses
Sugar for rolling

Preparations
Combine first 6 ingredients in medium bowl; whisk to blend. Mix in crystallized ginger. Using electric mixer, beat brown sugar, and butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add egg and molasses and beat until blended. Add flour mixture and mix just until blended. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter 2 baking sheets. Spoon sugar in thick layer onto small plate. Using wet hands, form dough into 1 inch balls; roll in sugar to coat completely. Place balls on prepared sheets, spacing 1.5 inches apart.

Bake cookies until cracked on top but still soft to touch, about 10 minutes. Cool on sheets 1 minute. Carefully transfer to racks and cool. (Can be made 5 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)

Makes about 40.
adapted from Epicurious.com recipie

the holidays also make me think of photographs. my family has this tradition where we all get dressed up and take photos in front of my parent's christmas tree. and when i say family, i don't mean just my grandma, mom and dad and my sister and her fam...no i mean all the aunts and uncles, cousins, their families and of course the four-legged members who are around. photos also somehow make the past real. i love photos because they capture that moment in time...with all it's emotions too. and with digital photography, things have gotten easier. we point and shot without a second thought...we can always delete!

So for the christmas, i wanted to photo books made for my family. I found this wonderful site that can help me do it for cheap! it it called viovio. (i will forewarn that the UI for the site isn't grand...it actually is just...eh. but hey, it does the job.) they offer a wide variety of sizes, hard or soft covers, matte or glossy print, book or sprial bound. the possiblities are endless! so if you are a digital scrapbooker, or just want to have a proofbook of all your digital photos...this is probably your cheapest bet! so to you shutter happy people out there and sentamentalist or the digital scrapbook junkie...this is for you :)

photos, images, vector art, flash design...i wish i was so talented to be able to create my own. but since my skills are not there yet, i've turned to stock photo or stock art. The only problem was that images were so expensive to purchase or have commissioned. Until I stubbled upon www.istockphoto.com. It is a royalty free stock photography community. Not only can you find images you need for as cheap as $1, you can upload and participate too. If you have the skills or just some great photos that people would like, you should check this out.

Out with the old...in with the new? you know the old saying that a camera adds 10 lbs...well no more! HP has a new feature that slims the subject in the center of the image. it is offered on their new R927 8 mega pixel camera. there are 3 different settings depending how fat you are feeling :) now, if they can only apply the technology to mirrors in store dressing rooms...

Amazon.com Camera & Photo: Film & digital cameras from Canon, Sony & other leading brands, binoculars, camcorders, photo printers & more