31. Toothbrush

It's lonely today since Em's staying the week at camp.

30. Calm

It's amazing to me how different these halls will look in just 4 short weeks.

28. Cup and 29. Last Thing I Bought

This cup is courtesy of Kelly and Nathan's wedding!  Congratulations to you both!

Today on the way home we stopped at Walmart to grab a few things, namely my granola.  Can't be without that!

27. On the Road

I love the road on the way to the auction!  Twisty-turny, it's so interesting to drive.

25. Heart

This is one of my favorite decorative pieces.  One of my very best friends gave it to me as a bridesmaids gift.  There are actually two hearts here - one the she engraved with a message for me, and another on the dresses of the friends.  :)

24. Stranger

Even though I had multiple opportunities to take a photo of a stranger (gym, Walmart, and parade), I decided I couldn't be a creeper.  It's just too weird.

23. Mirror

This mirror is either my best friend or the bane of my existence.  It's funny, some days the mirror shows an attractive, comfortable woman, and other days the mirror seems to emphasize imperfections.  My biggest project for this year is learning to be happy in my own skin every day - regardless of what the mirror reflects.

21. 9 o'clock

Today at 9 o'clock pm I am writing drill for the first chart in our marching band show...  I really wish the last few sets would write themselves!

20. Eyes

Often (like today) these adorable eyes are the first thing I see in the morning.  <3

19. Animal / Insect / Pet

My camera was too slow to take a picture of the chipmunk that ran across the mini golf course...  I've taken a million pictures of my cat, and could have taken another...  But then I found out that our family cat of 18 years passed away last night.  Although it wasn't taken recently, this photo has more significance than any photo I could take today.  Rest in peace, dear friend.  Thanks for being my kitty, keeping me company through middle and high school.  You will be missed.

17. My Addiction

I am addicted to mindless Facebook games.  Terrible, I know, but there's nothing like coming home after a long day and doing something you know you can't fail too badly at, especially because in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter!

16. Sign

My "baby" sister is here to visit this week!  We didn't do much today, but one of the things we did do is stop at the Amish / Mennonite roadside produce stand.  Bought a half dozen corn for dinner, and Beth had her first genuine Amish whoopie pie!

15. Finger

It took me a long time to decide what I wanted to do with today's prompt.  At first, I thought it was quite lame.  Then I realized that I do have a finger that is of significance - my empty left ring finger.  As my friends approach their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th anniversaries, my finger is still bare.  Despite that, I am confident that it will not always remain this way.  I'm willing to wait.

12. Texture, 13. Open, and 14. Building

Fat Mum Slim thought this would be a tough one, but as soon as I saw today's challenge, I knew what I wanted to shoot.  This is one of the props for the Youth Camp musical - up close you can see that it's crumpled canvas painted gray, but what you can't see is that it is thrown over a wire frame and looks like a rock!  This is the "stone" from which "Arthur" could have pulled the "sword!"

Ahhhh.  Night and Day.  If there's one place in Mansfield I miss the most, this would be it.  And on the morning of Day 6 of Youth Camp, I definitely need coffee.  Large blended chocolate peanut butter mocha?  Yes, please!

This was home for 5 years, and every year I look forward to coming back each summer.  So today, I commemorate the end of SYMC 2012 with a picture of "home."  See you next year, MU.

10. Favorite Color and 11. Letter

My favorite color at the moment is purple.  This is the purple of the running clothes I should have worn today so I could continue with the Couch to 5K program.  Since I was running around after 11 9-13 year olds today from 6am to 10:30pm, running unfortunately didn't happen.

Today's task was actually perfect, considering 5 of my campers received letters from home today!  (Names and addresses, save for the MU Music Camp's, have been whited out for privacy.)

8. Lunch and 9. Big

Lunch on the 8th was rushed because it was the first day of Youth Music Camp!  We had commitments from 11am-3:30pm, basically, and this was a 5 minute snatch of time before the all-camp meeting started.  Thank goodness for leftovers!

My "big" thing of the day is the staircase to Butler, our music building.  Man, do those stairs feel never-ending.  You can tell by the kids in the picture just how far up you go!

7. Garden

Mom and Dad's garden is very representative of them.  Beautiful black-eyed susan's are one of Mom's favorites, and in the back right corner you can see iris, which are one of Dad's.  We're nice and perky after a much needed rainstorm - it's been in the 90's and dry all week.

6. Chair

Allie loves sitting on the back of recliners.  This one happens to be Dad's, and I wish I'd caught a picture while he was still sitting there with her.

5. On the Floor

I'm probably breaking the rules since I didn't take a picture of what was directly beneath me "on the floor," but this picture was too pretty not to share.  Dad, the bro, and I found a bunch of geocaches today (see www.geocaching.com if you're interested in learning about the activity) and walked some beautiful trails.  This one is the "rails to trails" in North Gates, but we also hiked the canal path in Greece.  In a few words, there was lots of gravel, leaves, and sticks "on the floor" today!

4. Fun

Dad marching in the Irondequoit 4th of July parade (center).  Although the rest of the parade was quite boring, I always enjoy seeing Dad play!



























My second favorite "fun" thing today was going to see Chili's fireworks - and man, do they have the best display.  We sat so close that you could see the guys walking around with red flares to light them.  It was a little too close for me, the brightness got to me a bit, but seeing them set off was pretty cool.

3. Best Part of My Day

It may not be the best part of every day (man, I wish I got to see her every day!) but it was definitely the best part of this particular day.  My best childhood friend turned 27 today and I was lucky enough to be in town to celebrate with her, from a trip to the mall to some board games to dinner at a swanky (for me, anyway) Italian restaurant.  Here's hoping she has many more years of happy days!

1. Self Portrait

Hello July!  Fat Mum Slim's July Photo a Day challenge looks to be equally as entertaining as June's!  If you want to start, you can view her post here.

It's weird, I've taken more self portraits in the last month than I ever have, but I guess seeing as the iPhone is my new camera of choice, it's a lot easier.  I tried and tried to take a photo of my reflection, like she recommended, but it was a fail.  I looked terrible.  Turned out much better when I gave up and just used the mirror camera feature.  I'm a little disappointed that the best picture of me has a distracting background, but what can you do.  Guess that's my cue to start figuring out how to use Photoshop!