Taking A Break from Life with a Trip to My Happy Place About This Page:

[honeybee723]

Originally Posted by poohbr2015

Well, with the cake, I figured since it had the word Chocolate in it, I would give it a try! lol! Now I can't remember what it even tasted like but it wasn't anything odd. I am not real adventurous with food, so for me to eat it and think it was good, it had to be pretty basic! AND OF COURSE CHOCOLATE!!

That's a good enough reason for me.

[KHarrod]

Okay...so I typically lurk on trip reports, and I just started reading last night; however, I was pretty excited to read that you are from Maryland and work in Baltimore City! My husband and I grew up in Carroll County and moved to PA after we were married. We both work in Woodlawn now. I read about the comments on Rainforest Cafe in Towson and I remember eating there when I was in college.

I'm loving your trip report! I can completely understand your "battles" with your daughter as we have a four year daughter ourselves and man, that 'tude can come out of nowhere! One minute DD is as sweet and funny as can be and in the next she's trying to tell us what's up! We try to nip it in the bud as soon as her alter ego steps out, but I can totally relate. It'll be interesting to see how she behaves when we take our first trip to Disney as a family this September. I'm worried about her character interaction as well...

[honeybee723]

Originally Posted by KHarrod

Okay...so I typically lurk on trip reports, and I just started reading last night; however, I was pretty excited to read that you are from Maryland and work in Baltimore City! My husband and I grew up in Carroll County and moved to PA after we were married. We both work in Woodlawn now. I read about the comments on Rainforest Cafe in Towson and I remember eating there when I was in college.

I'm loving your trip report! I can completely understand your "battles" with your daughter as we have a four year daughter ourselves and man, that 'tude can come out of nowhere! One minute DD is as sweet and funny as can be and in the next she's trying to tell us what's up! We try to nip it in the bud as soon as her alter ego steps out, but I can totally relate. It'll be interesting to see how she behaves when we take our first trip to Disney as a family this September. I'm worried about her character interaction as well...

Well, I'm really glad you decided to stop lurking. I have a few good friends who live in PA now, and it's really not that far away from us. We're in Bel Air, and work right on Charles Street downtown. Just got back from the Ravens Victory parade actually. Anyway, you described my daughter to a T, so I'm glad to know that I'm not alone in this journey.

[honeybee723]

So I thought it would be a good time to take a little break from this TR just to do a short "life" update. Like I mentioned before, I started a 52-week photography project, and because this has become such a big part of my life right now, it's hard not being able to share some of it with you all of you.

This project has made me pick up the camera every week, whether I wanted to or not, plus it makes me use my brain to get creative, which will help me in the long run.

Week One: Self Portrait
Right away they threw this at us, and it was my least favorite week so far. I tried to get creative with my editing, but I wasn't totally happy with it.



Week Two: Laughter
This week wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. Trying to get her laughing, and then having her let me take a picture was really tough.



Week Three: Silhouette
I've never done one of these before, so it was a great learning experience for me.



Week Four: Winter
We didn't have any snow on the ground, so I was trying to be creative this week. Figures, right after I took this shot it snowed that night. This ended up being my favorite so far though.



Week Five: Childhood Memory
I had so many ideas floating around in my head for this one, and all of them had one thing in common...my old bed in my old bedroom. It's weird that this week's theme came when it did, because the week prior to this, my parents put their house on the market. Yup, that's right, my parents are officially ready to move, with the builders breaking ground on their new house next month.

I keep telling myself I'm ready for this, but deep down I know I'm not. And now, after being up there where my brother now lives, I'd be so selfish to make them stay where they are because it's so peaceful and quiet there, and it even has me wanting to move that way one day in the future. And it's not just the thought of them moving away that has me sad, it's also the thought of my childhood home belonging to someone else, and another family making new memories in it. It's just going to be really tough when moving day comes.

Anyway, back to the photo. I dug out my old stuffed animal that I used to sleep with every night, Grover from Sesame Street. He's seen better days, but I slept with him every night until the day I got married, so he's been around for a very long time. And once I took the photo, I made sure to edit it so it had a bit of a somber feel to it, because that's exactly how I was feeling when I was taking it.



Week Six: Hands
This idea came to me right away, although it wasn't executed the way I originally wanted it to be. With our awesome Super Bowl win, I've been on cloud nine since Sunday night, and with our Ravens on my mind I knew I had to incorporate that into my picture. Hope just didn't understand how to hold her hands up to the camera, so instead of holding up a #1 sign with one finger and then showing the palm of her other hand, it ended up being the way that you see in the picture...crooked! :forheadslap: Plus I chopped the #5 on her jersey as well as one of her elbows...a big no-no, but there was no way I was getting another shot at taking this picture.



Then there's the subject of my hair. And only because I've had a few of you ask me to post a photo of the newest cut, I decided to add this in here.



I hate hate hate taking iphone photos of myself. I just can't ever do it right, but you seem to get the general idea. It's a lot shorter in the back than it is in the front, and I just love it.

So there you go, just a minor break from Disney to fill you in on my "real world". Next trip coming up is a mini-trip with Kelly (OhToodles!), Linny (linnynad) and Dawn (dsteiny23) to Atlantic City, and Kelly even started a little TR over in the globetrotting section if you all want to follow along with what will probably be a hilarious adventure together.

[KHarrod]

Originally Posted by honeybee723

Well, I'm really glad you decided to stop lurking. I have a few good friends who live in PA now, and it's really not that far away from us. We're in Bel Air, and work right on Charles Street downtown. Just got back from the Ravens Victory parade actually. Anyway, you described my daughter to a T, so I'm glad to know that I'm not alone in this journey.

Wow...small world...my boss lives in Bel Air and my brother and his wife are not too far away in Parkville. I hope you had a blast at the parade! I wanted to go so badly but unfortunately had some commitments here at work today. My boss and a coworker were able to go though!

You are absolutely not alone...I know sometimes I have to check myself too and remind myself that DD is not a miniature adult. She's still a child and still learning what her boundaries are so there is going to be some trial and error. We are actually in the phase now where we tell her to do something (or not to do something) and she proceeds to explain why she needs to do the opposite or she'll continue to plead/whine for the opposite. We're getting close to just having to give her "the look" and she'll stop, but it's still a learning process.

[dutchdisneyfamily]

I love the pics! I agree the one with Hope's holding the teddy bear is my favorite!!!

[lauriep]

Your photos are wonderful! The "laughter" one looks completely spontaneous and happy. Sounds like a very interesting class. Does someone critique your photos each week or do you just do the assignments?

I'm following the Atlantic City report and that will be a really fun trip!

[poohbr2015]

I was so excited that the Ravens won!!! Wish we could have made it to the parade or to see Flacco (from U of D!!!) in Disney!!

Love your hair, I actually just got mine cut the same way, its right above my shoulders and longer in the front and back to a reddish brown which is close to natural. You wouldn't be able to compare since I never post self pics! lol!

All of your pictures turned out so good, I really like the self portrait and really all of them, you are great with the camera!!

I will have to check out Kelly's PTR for the AC trip! Are ya'll staying in AC for the weekend? We have been talking about going over, maybe for dh's birthday in April, its been a while!

[chezp]

I love all the photos - they all look great and there's obviously a lot of thought gone into each one.

[KMB733]

I love the pictures, they are wonderful!! The one with Grover is my favorite, because I had that same Grover when I little. You're hair also looks great!!

[mommapants]

I love the photos. I would be totally lost. I'm not creative and would end up taking some dumb old thing.

I thought of you on Sunday - Go Ravens! I honestly don't really care about football but I figured "hey I know someone who likes the Ravens, I'll route for them" It wasn't until the game was over that I found ot the QB is a home town hero. Grew up about 20 minutes from my house.

Your AC trip sounds like it will be a lot of fun. Hopefully you will get some Spring like weather.

[MayraLR]

First of all, congrats to your Ravens! As I saw the game and eventual win I was thinking, "Melissa must be really happy." And my son AJ and I were rooting for your team.

Your pictures are amazing! My favorites are the first one (the one with you and Hope) and the silhouette one.

[cubfancolleen]

LOVE the pictures!! I really like the self-portrait one. Did you do that with a self timer?
And congrats on the Ravens! We were so excited - even though we aren't normally Ravens fans (GO BEARS!) - because we have some friends who are HUGE Ravens fans and we thought it was funny for Dan Snyder!

[Cam22]

I think all your photos are great! The new haircut is adorable, too.

[Colexis Mom]

Great pictures!!