Community Question is a new category here at PW Homeschooling. Inspired by readers bold enough to email us with very challenging questions we could not adequately answer, we felt confident this would be a perfect venue for these type of questions. Thank you in advance for graciously sharing your knowledge and personal experiences.

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The following question is from a reader who wishes to remain anonymous.

“I recently had a discussion with a friend via email about the possibility of homeschooling my boys when the time comes. Her response was something I could not answer. Since this is unfamiliar territory to me, I was left without a response.

What would you say to this??

This is what she said:

‘As far as homeschooling, I’m not a fan. I think it’s important for kids to have their social lives with friends they go to school with, to create bonds and learn how to deal with confrontation on their own when they are with their friends on a regular basis. I’m not saying they can’t “be socialized” with home schooling I just think its not a “true” socialization (my opinion).

In addition, I feel that unless I went to school to become a teacher and even a Phd I can’t give them the true academic experience and support they need. Just like the saying goes that it takes a village to raise a child, well it takes one to educate them as well. To be taught by one person, is to be taught with one view and one method not allowing them the chance to adapt to different learning atmospheres or to hear their peers views.’ ”

The socialization argument is one homeschoolers are all too familiar with, but for someone who has never homeschooled, it can be a bit difficult to answer in a gracious, non-defensive way. How would you respond to a friend with the same question?

Here’s Group 3 of your “Beauty” shots.

Gorgeous ones in this group.

 
By CarolynsHope. Glorious.

 
 
 
By LaRochelle.95. Love this.

 
 
 
By montshon. This makes me smile and cry. I love it.

 
 
 
By Sara. Nel. This is wonderful. Love the tones!

 
 
 
By SuperL. What a beautiful point-and-shot photo!

 
 
 
By catlady1957. Oh, there’s nothing better than a Bluebird. I see one about once a year here on the ranch.

 
 
 
By Greg Hadel. Aspens…breathtaking! Love the perspective and clarity.

 
 
 
By eric_leahkelso. Life is beautiful. No two ways about it. Love this photo.

 
 
 
By Sherri P eh. Courage is beautiful.

 
 
 
By tumbleweed.in.eden. I love everything about this.

 
 
 
By bncampbell. The eyes. Oh my. The eyes.

 
 
 
By Paige Elaine. This is splendid.

 
 
 
By lolarox. Incredible shot.

 
 
 
By pretty life photography. This photo is so beautiful, I can hardly stand it. The processing is gorgeous, and the subject matter makes me smile.

 
 
 
By Gentrie. Father-daughter photos make me cry.

 
 
 
By jdobie5943. Stunning peacock!

 
 
 
By joyo1278. Pregnancy is beautiful, and I love the colorful treatment of this photo.

 
 
 
By ashbstarr. I can feel the love. So sweet.

 
 
 
By Paper_Butterfly. Very emotional and lovely.

Group 4 will be posted Wednesday!

By Kristen Chase.

At the beginning of the school year, I spent plenty of time and money getting organized. There were accordian folders and lesson plan books, plus various files neatly labeled and stacked in our homeschool room shelves.

It sounds dreamy, right?

Oh, I had such good intentions when I started. I dutifully outlined our lessons in my pretty lesson plan book, marking field trips in red because that’s what organized people do. They color code!

I stored all my daughter’s drawings in the folders marked by subject for easy reference.

I even photo copied our county attendance report so that I wouldn’t have scramble at the beginning each month to fill it out and send it in.

But then I had baby #4 and took my soon out of preschool. Suddenly I was teaching two kids (well, I use “teaching” loosely in regards to my 4-year-old). My lesson plan book became a scribble pad for my toddler and my neatly labeled files are covered with marker.

And just last month, I was late with my attendance report, only realizing it when I got a letter from the county gently reminding me that I had missed sending it in.

Here where I live in Atlanta, Georgia, the homeschooling requirements are fairly minimal. To quickly summarize, I’m required to submit monthly attendance records as well as a year end report to my county’s homeschool liasion, and then starting in third grade, kids must undergo standardized testing every three years. So since I have a first grader, it’s really only the attendance reports and a summary, which, compared to everything that I’m doing, is really small potatoes.

And yet, I still forgot.

That’s when I realized that I needed to step back and revamp my organizational system, which I realized wasn’t actually a system at all. More like “disorganizational” system.

Thankfully, the learning time has remained unchanged and quite successful since the fall. We’re still pretty structured with our school time, with the mornings devoted to completing the list of assignments, chores, and practice. But instead of a lesson plan book, I write them on my daughter’s chalkboard easel.

I’m thinking that we need to have a “work” journal instead; same lists but in something that allows me to track what she’s done, when she’s done it.

And she still draws pictures and writes stories, but those are now displayed on our family bulletin board in the kitchen and not in the pretty file folders.

I’ve decided to actually make use of the accordian folders, replacing last week’s creations with this week’s creations, and then storing what I take down in the folder marked by the week.

And as for the attendance reports, well, I’ve got it marked on my calendar, which pings me as an appointment in my email and on my phone.

At the rate I’m going, I’ll get the perfect system in place about two weeks before the end of the school year. But all that means is by next year, my plan will be perfect!

Well, at least for the first few weeks anyway.

Kristen Chase is a mom of 4, writer, and co-publisher of Cool Mom Picks and Cool Mom Tech, a popular shopping and trendspotting blog for moms. She’s a 2nd generation homeschooler, having been taught middle and high school by her own mother back when people were still using quills and ink wells, and is now a very well-adjusted and socialized homeschool mom herself.

Here’s Group 2 of your “Beauty” shots.

Loving your submissions, of course.

 
By Just Leesha. The light I love. I love the light.

 
 
 
By lenore locken. Scrumptious!

 
 
 
By Vika Aaltonen. Oh my goodness. Beautiful.

 
 
 
By midgetinvasion. Wow.

 
 
 
By adiederich. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

 
 
 
By CorinnaC. Love this shot…and the subject matter, of course.

 
 
 
By BlondeShot Creative. Oh my…this is really wonderful. I love the “Before and After” approach.

 
 
 
By Mommy Bean. Scrumptious.

 
 
 
By kathyski. Oh dear me.

 
 
 
By addenlinekatie. Glorious.

 
 
 
By MarianneLoMonaco. Ethereal and beautiful.

 
 
 
By Jillustrated. So, so pretty.

 
 
 
By KeriAlways. Just lovely.

 
 
 
By photo-gurl1. This is beautiful.

 
 
 
By Almota Roses Photography. Country churches like this make me very emotional. Can’t explain why.

 
 
 
By blazeyphotography. So sweet!

 
 
 
By Catherine Jeter Photography. Splendid, emotional, brimming with beauty.

 
 
 
By ktaksony. Stunning.

 
 
 
By tinaehb3. Serene and stark and peaceful.

Group 3 will be posted Tuesday!

Spotted some cute double-decker bus mugs on a fun UK design store called Our Shop.  Naturally it made us think of our Visit London save the dates and wedding invitations.

Fancy a cup, eh?

Be sure to have a peek at all our destination wedding invitations. More cities coming soon!

Did you know today is Pi Day?

Not Pie Day. Pi Day. A day set aside by founder Larry Shaw to commemorate…well, Pi.

Not Pie. Pi.

Since the (approximate) numeric representation of Pi is 3.14, March 14 (3/14) is the perfect fit! Many Pi Day celebrants embrace Pi Day by eating Pie, so today I’m sharing what is probably my favorite pie here on The Pioneer Woman Cooks. (Well, besides the French Silk Pie, which is eternally my one true pie love.) I call it Key Lime Pie even though I used regular lime juice, and it’s just so creamy and tangy and wonderful. But recently, a friend of mine sent me a box of key limes from his backyard in Florida and I used the juice in this pie. I died. I just died.

Whether you use regular limes or Key limes, you owe it to yourself to make this.

And Happy Pi Day, everyone!

Here’s the recipe:

 
Strict Key Lime Adherents: Please look away. I haven’t got time for the pain.

Everyone else: Let’s make Key Lime Pie! Using regular limes! Because that’s all I have available in my small town! And I don’t live in Florida! So I can’t grow my own! Key limes!

I’m still calling it Key Lime Pie, though—no one can stop me. Not even you Strict Key Lime Adherents.

But I love ya anyway.

Before I proceed, I would like to state that I am currently obsessed with refrigerator pies: pies that require refrigeration (to facilitate setting) before serving. These pies often have a graham cracker or other cookie crust, which I think is at the basis of my current obsession. They’re just making my skirt fly up right now. Can’t explain why.

I chose Key Lime Pie for today’s pie recipe because I love the movie “Heartburn”. At the end of the movie, just after Meryl Streep’s character, a food writer named Rachel, discovers that Jack Nicholson’s character, a political columnist named Mark, has just spent their savings on a down payment for a new necklace for his mistress, a tall, leggy European named Thelma with whom he’d had an affair months earlier, Rachel bakes a Key Lime Pie with the sole intention of smashing it into Mark’s face at a dinner party later that night.

And she does it.

And frumpy, disheveled housewives everywhere CHEERED!

And then we got really dang depressed.

But that’s what pie is for: movie-induced depression.

By the way, are you aware the story of “Heartburn” is loosely based on the marriage between Norah Ephron and Carl Bernstein?

Anyway, that’s why I decided to make Key Lime Pie.

 
 
We’ve got to begin by making a good graham cracker crust. Put 18 graham crackers (that means the full rectangle) into a food processor.

 
 
Pulse until totally crumbled. You could also put the crackers into large Ziploc bags, hand them to your sons, and say “Have at ‘em, boys.” It’ll just take a minute or two.

 
 
Pour the crumbs into a bowl.

 
 
Then throw in a little sugar.

 
 
Or a lot, if that floats your boat.

It usually floats mine nicely.

 
 
Some butter. Regular, please. This concoction needs the salt.

 
 
Melt it in the microwave.

 
 
Then just drizzle the butter over the crumbs.

 
 
Stir the mixture with a fork.

 
 
It should be moist, but still very crumbly.

 
 
Pour the crumbs into a pie pan.

 
 
Using your fingers, press the crumbs gently so that they form a crust on the bottom and sides of the pan. Again, don’t expect the crumbs to stick together like glue; the crust should easily crumble if you mess with it too much.

Now just bake the crust in a 350-degree oven for about 5 minutes. This will toast it up a little bit and cause the crust to set.

 
 
Grab some limes. If you have Key Limes, yahoo! If you don’t, grab some of these regular peasants.

 
 
Now zest a couple of them. You’ll need a heaping tablespoon of zest.

And if you don’t have a microplane zester, please obtain one at your earliest convenience.

And when you do: run the zester over the lime—not the other way around.

 
 
Now halve and squeeze the puppies until you have 1/2 cup of juice.

 
 
Now dig around your fridge until you find two eggs. Heave a sigh of relief. Then scribble “eggs” on your grocery list.

 
 
Separate the eggs. You just need the yolks for this one.

 
 
Now, throw the lime juice and the lime zest into the bowl of your electric mixer.

 
 
Then add the egg yolks and beat immediately on high for one minute.

 
 
Turn off the mixer, then pour in 1 can of sweetened, condensed milk.

It’s good stuff. I promise you that.

 
 
Mix it on high until thick and smooth.

 
 
If the mixture looks like it needs more zest, add it right in!

 
 
When it’s all mixed, just pour it into the crust.

 
 
Oh, honey.

 
 
I love you so much.

Now bake it in the oven for about fifteen minutes, or until no longer jiggly.

Then remove it from the oven, allow it to cool for a little while, then stick it into the fridge to chill for at least an hour. A couple of hours is better. You just want it to be nice and chilled and firm and perfect.

 
 
Like this.

Oh, how I love Key Lime Pie Sorta.

Now, here’s my stance on Key Lime Pie Sorta: it needs sweetened whipped cream. It could be that I’m overly sensitive to tart flavors and I need the whipped cream to balance it out. Or it could be that I just look for justification for putting more cream into my diet.

Either way, whipped cream makes it better.

And here’s how you make it:

 
 
Pour about a cup of cold, heavy cream into the (clean) bowl of the mixer. Then add in a healthy tablespoon or two of sugar. You can also add a little vanilla, but we don’t really need it here.

 
 
Then just beat it on high speed…

 
 
Until it’s very stiff. Perfect!

 
 
Now comes the fun part.

 
 
Mmmm. You can see that the crust is rather thick in relation to the filling. This is by design; as much as I love the creamy filling, I do find it pretty rich. With the ample crust and whipped cream on top, it turns out to be a really balanced piece of pie…and that lime flavor still really bursts through.

 
 
A little extra zest on top totally seals the deal.

 
 
Oh, man. I’m so ready for the next five (okay, three) minutes to happen.

 
 
It’s…it’s…it’s happening.

 
 
It happened.

And now it can happen to you!

Recipe: Key Lime Pie

Prep Time: 15 Minutes  |  Cook Time: 1 Hour  |  Difficulty: Easy  |  Servings: 12

Print Recipe 3"x5" Cards 4"x6" Cards Full Page

Ingredients

• Crust
• 18 whole Graham Crackers (the 4-section Large Pieces)
• ⅓ cups Sugar
• ⅓ cups Butter, Melted
• _____
• Filling
• 1 Tablespoon (heaping) Lime Zest
• ½ cups Lime Juice
• 2 whole Egg Yolks
• 1 can (14 Oz) Sweetened Condensed Milk

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

For the crust:
Crush crackers in a food processor or Ziploc bag. Pour them into a bowl and stir in sugar and melted butter. Press into a pie pan and bake for 5 minutes or until golden and set. Remove from oven and set aside to cool slightly.

For the filling:
Mix lime zest, lime juice, and egg yolks in a mixing bowl. Add in condensed milk and mix on high until smooth and thick. Pour mixture into crust and bake for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven, allow to cool, then refrigerate for at least 1 hour—more if possible.

Serve with sweetened whipped cream and more grated lime zest.

Posted by Ree on June 21 2009

A slightly tardy post on how make the little flags that topped Mr. Jude’s Big Top Birthday Cake (thank you for your patience, dear readers, things have been a little busy here at H!L HQ!)   We thought these little banners were the perfect topper for a circusy cake!  That perfect stripey candle and equally genius napkins found at Shop Sweet Lulu…

Download the tutorial here (with printable flags!)

By Heather Sanders.

Last Tuesday evening I rode with my friend Wendy and her sister to attend a Homeschool Support meeting in a neighboring city. We are not members of this particular group, but the evening’s discussion topic, “homeschooling moms who are also working moms”, was of interest to us.

On more than one occasion Wendy and I have discussed the precarious balance between working and teaching. Though somewhat flexible, Wendy’s work takes her outside of the home. Already planning ahead for next year, she hopes to finagle a Monday/Tuesday work schedule, but wanted ideas about how to manage the rest of the week to get all her kids’ work completed.

Wendy’s sister attended the meeting to gather information. She does not currently homeschool; she is a nurse and works long hours. At this time, Wendy cares after her sister’s new baby while her sister and brother-in-law are at work. For a short while, Wendy homeschooled her sister’s oldest step-daughter. Like I said before, the face of homeschooling is as varied as the families who homeschool–in this case an aunt chose to homeschool her niece.

While the majority of my work is done from home, my goal was to gain encouragement from those who had already “been there and done that” before me. I try to take every opportunity to tuck away those golden nuggets of wisdom from other homeschoolers.

At the Support Meeting

There were a handful of working moms who spoke–some worked at home with companies like Pampered Chef, Melaleuca and Young Living Pure Essential Oils. Another mother and her husband manage a web hosting and design business. And still another mother talked about her real estate business with Century 21.

Though I believe this particular support group met its announced objective, “moms sharing the general idea of how they manage to work AND homeschool”, the majority of the meeting leaned more heavily on the business/product side of that equation.

**I’m the gray-haired woman in the rocking chair–obviously still using my fingers to count.**

While it wasn’t exactly what I anticipated, I am glad I went. I was encouraged to continue with the level of flexibility we’ve worked into our own homeschool day and enjoyed meeting new people and hearing of their own daily homeschool struggles and successes.

Work and Homeschool? – Planning a Support Meeting

In one of the recent Community Questions here at PW’s Homeschooling blog, Homeschooling When Both Parents Work, it became apparent that this topic is of growing concern for dual-income families who want to make the switch to homeschooling.

Hosting a support meeting of this nature would be a helpful way for local Homeschool Groups to support their members’ possible needs and at the same time, extend an invitation to the local community for anyone interested in homeschooling, struggling with the work issue, or just wanting more information.

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The following suggestions are intended as a “jump-off” point for anyone wanting to initiate their own meeting(s) to support and encourage home educators who work in or out of the home.
————————————————–

Suggestion #1: Consider Your Audience
When planning a support meeting to tackle the question of working from home and homeschooling, please remember that it isn’t just moms who homeschool their children. There are a growing number of dads who homeschool, as well as grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings and even friends.

Consider the varied nature of homeschool “teachers” and be sure not to alienate your actual “audience” when the invitation is put out for public consumption.

Suggestion #2: Market the Event
Whether you live in a large city with multiple homeschool groups or you live in a small town with just one homeschool group, you should still market the meeting as if it were a large event. Print off flyers and place them in your local library, bookstore, office supplies store, churches, community centers, and anywhere else you can think to place them.

Be thoughtful-always ask for permission before taping or pinning something up. Not only will this better ensure your flyer won’t be torn down right after you turn away and leave, but it treats the business owner/establishment with the respect they deserve.

Suggestion #3: Ask For Volunteers
There is a good chance that your community has a number of homeschoolers who are NOT part of your homeschool group and you haven’t met yet. While it is important to target a few homeschooling families you’ve seen successfully manage working/schooling schedules, it is also wise to request volunteers.

If you market the support meeting well, you may attract some atypical families with “outside of the box” ideas about how to manage school. Remember, you don’t have to agree with how someone chooses to school for it to be a valuable testimony to someone else.

Depending on the number of responses, you may need to weed-out some volunteers. If so, try to keep as varied a selection of people/families to better meet the varying situations of those who may be in attendance.

Suggestion #4: Balance the Information
To ensure the meeting doesn’t become a sales pitch, I would suggest a division of information. Offer each volunteer a booth they can “man” before and after the meeting. This is where their product, cards and business catalogs can be displayed. Those interested can approach them before or after the meeting.

During the meeting a time limit should be allotted for all volunteer speakers. While I think it unwise to be completely astringent, it is important for volunteers to utilize the meeting time to share how they manage to balance work and teaching, not to sell a product or service.

Suggestion #5: Hold All Questions Until the End
Let each volunteer speak and hold all questions until the end to encourage a timely delivery. If all questions are held until the end of the meeting those who need to leave can do so without feeling as though they’ve missed out on any particular speakers’ testimonial.

Suggestion #6: Encourage Family Involvement
When “soliciting” volunteers, strongly encourage family involvement. It is one thing to hear how one person manages to do “x,y, and z”, but to be able to ask their family questions is an additional perk and brings about the full picture.

Also, schedule the meeting for a time that allows families time to have dinner together before rushing out the door again.

Those are my 6 suggestions, but as any valuable resource, this should be a work in progress. What would you suggest to someone planning a support meeting of this nature? If you are not a homeschooling family, what would pique your interest?

OMSH/Heather L. Sanders is “Momma” to three kids, Emelie, Meredith and Kenny. When not homeschooling, Heather designs websites and writes about life in the piney woods of Texas at OMSH.com.

I was leaving the ranch for beautiful Tulsa, Oklahoma last Tuesday afternoon, my girls and Charlie in tow. The girls were in the two back seats; Charlie was between them on the floorboard, sitting up straight and looking extremely regal and proud.

Actually, he was just trying to see out the front.

He did not succeed.

Charlie was in the car with us because Marlboro Man, the boys, and I were slated to leave town the next day, and I’d made arrangements to board The Odd and Malodorous Short One at the vet because he’s been following a lot of scents lately. The thought of Josh calling me while I was gone to tell me Charlie had gone missing again was a terror I was trying my best to avoid.

The girls and I were excited. We were going to have an evening out together, after dropping off Charlie, of course. A nice long car ride to Tulsa. Lots of time to talk…to chat…to visit. The girls were all spiffed up and sharp looking, and my cowlick, while normally violent and unruly, was under control for the first time in weeks. I was feeling good. I was ready to conquer the world!

As I approached the end of our five mile road, I lightly applied the brakes so I could come slowly to a stop at the highway, which is often busy with pickups and semis. And the occasional compact sedan.

But unexpectedly and inexplicably, my anti-lock brake system engaged violently. Our road was violently muddy from twelve or so violent hours of violent (okay, it was pretty mild) rain, and once the anti-lock brake system kicked in…it really, really kicked in. As in, it wouldn’t stop. Being a calm, cool, and collected individual like myself, I let up on the brake pedal completely in hopes the anti-lock system would cease and desist. Next, I took the opposite approach, slamming down the brake pedal as hard as I could. The anti-lock brakes continued their violent protest, and it became clear to me that—whatever the reason—my vehicle was headed straight for the highway with no brakes. And with my two girls in the backseat.

 
If I took a chance and continued on to the highway, one of three things would likely happen:

1. I would shoot straight across the highway and drive off the steep embankment on the other side
2. I would try to make the 90 degree turn onto the highway and probably turn over the car because I was going too fast to turn
3. We’d be plowed over by a semi. Or a pick-up. Or a compact sedan.

Of course, all of this consideration and reasoning was condensed into about a four-second window, and my split-second decision, ultimately, was to steer off our gravel road, down a ditch, and—it turned out—straight into an electric pole.

Oh, and there was some new fence in front of the electric pole.

New, shiny fence, too. The kind you don’t want to crash into.

 
 
No electric poles were injured as a result of this decision.

One fence, however, was seriously injured.

 
 
So was one vehicle.

Ouch.

Two things that were not injured, however:

 
 
1. My two girls. Thank God. Once the car came to a stop, they did sort of say something along the lines of, “Uhhh…what…just happened?”

And “Earth to Mom…”

And “NOT AGAIN!”

Just kidding. I think.

Anyway, not a hair of their heads were hurt.

 
 
2. Charlie. When the car hit the electric pole, it was quite a jolt (see: photo of vehicle) and he howled and jumped directly on my younger daughter’s lap and stuck his head under her armpit. But he was just fine.

I wasn’t injured either, but when the car hit the fence-slash-electric pole, my head hit the (soft, fortunately) visor. This immediately messed up my cowlick, which was suddenly violent again.

It’s been violent ever since.

Violent cowlick. Small price to pay.

I could take you through the next thirty minutes or so—my calling Marlboro Man to tell him I’d just had a wreck on our gravel road as a result of a solar flare or a wind shear, my attempting to drive my car back to our house only to overheat my engine, Marlboro Man coming to pick us up, my pride and credibility as they relate to driving on gravel roads suddenly evaporating in a large, audible *POOF*—but I’ll just skip forward to the part when I finally delivered Charlie to the vet. Normally, he’s not too keen on staying there since he doesn’t get to roam all over a cattle ranch and do whatever he wants to do during his stay. But after the trauma he’d experienced in my vehicle, he was none too glad to see the vet’s office. He ran straight through the door, directly into a pen, and told the veterinary assistant, “Scotch. Straight. And make it a double.”

I don’t think Charlie’s going to be hopping into any vehicles with me anytime soon.

(“Hopping” being a relative term, of course…)

Here’s Group 1 of your “Beauty” photos.

Lots of different categories of photos.

But just one word: Beautiful.

 
By amiseyal. Click on the photo to read the caption. Very touching, and I love the light in the photo.

 
 
 
By Jenny Modesitt. So lovely.

 
 
 
By CindyB1972. Love this.

 
 
 
By aroundtheisland. Gorgeous.

 
 
 
By mindystrauss. Oh my goodness.

 
 
 
By Picture this OK. This is a beautiful shot, and not just because I live in Oklahoma.

 
 
 
By caramelapplephotography. So sweet.

 
 
 
By brooke3879. What a gorgeous photo.

 
 
 
By zenmasterlauren. Love, love, love the colors.

 
 
 
By farmerswife1. Love this.

 
 
 
By BrancyCDA. I’ve never seen a sunset like this—gorgeous. And I’m sorry about Jeff.

 
 
 
By Lisa!!! Stunning. Just stunning.

 
 
 
By Cara S. Wow. What a shot.

 
 
 
By tara-happy in pink. Another wow.

 
 
 
By Rachel N.29. What a lovely portrait.

 
 
 
By Deborah Tynan. This is a really incredible shot.

 
 
 
By Kris Kendrick. This is truly beautiful. Love his expression.

 
 
 
By LAnderson08. So sweet.

 
 
 
By jelloabs. Wonderful!

 
 
 
By Jade M. Sheldon. I love this shot. (I’m a Jade Sheldon fan.)

 
 
 
By Unger Photography. I remember this shot from last year…so magical and gorgeous.

Thank you for sharing, everyone!

Group 2 will be posted Monday!

We’ll be having the “Brothers” photography assignment in the coming weeks (“Sisters” was the most recent one) but for now, let’s take a more abstract route.

What is “Beauty” to you? It can be present in so many different things: landscapes, a child’s face, a tender moment between man and dog…even a bowl of Cocoa Puffs, depending on how hungry you are. So let’s see the shots that say “Beauty” to you this week! I can’t wait to see your different interpretations.

I chose the photo above because, although it was early in my photography experience and I see things I could technically improve about the photo, I’ve always loved the sweet moment between Josh and our oldest child (he was giving her some sort of direction/instruction at the time). Josh isn’t a blood relative, but he’s as much an uncle (or older brother) as anyone in my kids’ lives.

And I think that’s beautiful.

TO ENTER

To enter this week’s photography assignment, upload your favorite “Beauty” photos to the PW Photography Assignments pool on Flickr. I’ll begin posting groups of submissions here tonight, and will continue to feature submissions throughout the week. Finalists will be posted next Sunday. Prizes will be shiny and fun.

Note: “Beauty” can come in many different forms, so feel free to use your imagination! Submitted photos don’t have to be serious or necessarily emotional (though I know many of them will be.) Just post whatever images say “beauty” to you.

Can’t wait to see your shots!

I was about to post a big re-cap of my embarrassing car wreck from a few days ago, and had started putting together some photos from the last couple of days of my adventures with Marlboro Man and our two male children…but there’s something about the news from Japan that makes it all seem a little unimportant today.

So I’ll post these two photos I noticed on my desktop this morning.

 
This was the first one I noticed. I’ve posted it here before. Because I’ve been away from her for 48 hours, I opened it as soon as I saw the thumbnail. “Awww,” I thought. “My little Petunia.” And I bit my lip because we’re a little symbiotic and I miss her.

And then the worst happened.

I saw this.

It was the final blow:

Then I died, picked up the phone and called her at her grandma’s house, and told her how much I loved and missed her and how cute her little legs are.

“Mama,” she said. “I’m trying to do my math.”

“But I miss your wittle wegs!” I cried.

Then she handed the phone to my mother-in-law and said, “Here. Maybe you’ll have better luck.”

Okay, so the symbiosis might just be one-directional these days.

Old photos…they’re dangerous for me.

Dangerous and painful…

And oh, so very, very wonderful.

Now onto the fourth edition of our weekly feature: Lucky Fridays! Each Friday, we’ll feature one of our letterpress cards. Then we’ll choose THREE LUCKY WINNERS to get a free card.  Post a comment by 12 p.m. PST the following Thursday, and we’ll announce the winners on the following Friday!

The three winners from last week are (drum roll, please):

Ana P, Amy Wingate and Words and Eggs!

Heather will contact you shortly to arrange sending your Support card.

Onto this week’s offering:

Design: Lionheart

Artist: Eunice Moyle

Inspiration:  We didn’t have to scratch too hard to find a wealth of one-lioners about big cats.

Who to send it to: Your pride and joy. Your favorite Leo. Your mane man.

Ideas we scrapped in favor of this one:  The lion’s share of ideas were good, but this one gave us a hearty laugh.

Our favorite detail: ROWR can be such an elegant understatement.

Why Letterpress? The crush of letterpress preserves the beauty of all the details and fine lions.

Don’t forget to post your comment and check next Friday to see if you’ve won!

Many of you do no need this level of explanation (and could likely teach me a thing or two) but for those of you who are new at this photography stuff, I’d like to direct you to my “What the Heck is an Aperture” series here on PW Photography. If you’re trying to ingest and comprehend the whole aperture/shutter speed/exposure ballgame (which took me months and months to understand), I hope this series will strip it down and help you grasp things a little better:

What the Heck is an Aperture?

(Be sure to start at Installment #1, then work your way up.)

Just a little basic photography talk for the weekend. New PW Photography assignment will be posted Sunday!

We are thrilled to be participating in A Soolip Wedding, a fabulous bridal event Sunday, March 20th at the Bently Reserve!  Soolip has been putting on gorgeous wedding events in Southern California for years (take a peek at the photos below from their recent LA soiree) and we’re so excited they’re making the move up to our neck of the woods.

The day promises to be a fun one filled with cake and champagne tastings, fashion shows, a raffle and tons of luxury vendors ready to chat about all aspects of that big day.  And here’s the best part – we’re giving away tickets to 2 lucky readers!  Just leave a comment telling us why you want to attend and winners will be selected by Monday, March 14th.  Additional tickets can be purchased by visiting A Soolip Wedding – enter discount code FRIEND for $5 off tickets purchased prior to the event!