Here I go again...

sinking my feet into the great unknown. Just because I've made some decisions that are giving me a peaceful easy feeling in the pit of my stomach doesn't necessarily mean I have to live without the drama. BTW, I won't be the least bit surprised when I cook up the next hair-brain scheme to replace the one I just left behind.

It's OK, go ahead...call me a drama queen. Kinda has a nice ring to it.

Sky Lights

When our cat, Ed, slinks under the bed we know we're in for a storm. Sure enough, 10 minutes later the wind started blowing and the rain came down so hard we could hardly see out our windows. And, just as quickly as the storm came upon us, it was headed east towards Clintonville.

Out of the corner of my eye and through the patio doors, I spied these beautiful lights in the sky and realized it was a really large rainbow, too big, in fact, to capture in its entirety. Below are a few shots that I've "enhanced" with some of my favorite Photoshop filters. The colors have not been tampered with, just some fun effects applied to each image.

Pretty in Pink

A pretty sunset doesn't usually come to mind in the dead of an Ohio winter but after a brilliant day of sunshine, I was treated to a "pretty in pink" sky across the way from my house. A truly welcome sight in the midst of so much ice-blue and gray.

Super nice AND super photogenic!

My 17-year-old friend (whom I've known since he was 11 - what, that can't be right, can it?) needed a head shot because he recently was nominated for a special achievement award. All the selected kids will receive some scholarship money and their photos published in a yearbook of sorts. One of his high school teachers thought enough of him and his grade point average to recommend this kid and I couldn't agree more. This young man's not only super nice but he's super photogenic. Way to go, my Friend!

A year to remember

My new year celebration was more like a well-worn excuse to be a couch potato, armed with DVD's and a bowl of Orville Redenbacher's Movie Theater Butter popcorn. But stay up 'til midnight? Ha! I love to sleep way more than I like to be on the road with other inebriated revelers. In fact, as soon as the last kernel of corn was chugged, my thoughts turned towards the next 12 months and I began to feel eternally hopeful to "get it right" this time around. Usually by oh, mid-May, I figure out old habits are too hard to break and the circle repeats itself. The circle of life...

No, I'm not going to start singing the song from The Lion King but I am going to start working on making 2009 a year to remember instead of a year to forget.

PS The image above is by my father, Jim Byers, who, before his death in 2001, loved to "draw" on the computer...kind of explains the whole DNA thing.