365/0

Thank you my "phriends" for sharing a year in your life with me.

As we turn the calendar page and enter into 2012 may God give you ...

12 Month of Happiness,

52 Weeks of Fun,

365 Days Success,

8760 Hours Good Health,

52600 Minutes Good Luck,

3153600 Seconds of Joy.

364/1

~ spreading a little bit of Irish luck, may you all have a Happy, Healthy New Year ~

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360/5

washed and hung to dry ~ ready for next year ~

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~ Merry Christmas ~

358/7

he see you when you're sleeping . . .

357/8

Celebrating this first full day of winter was made so much easier by the mere fact it was near 60 degrees today! Getting out of work early, B and I decided a walk along the boardwalk was in order. This is the place Bruce Springsteen mentions in his version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Today there was no “wind whippin’ down the boardwalk”.  ~ Christmas Greetings from Asbury Park.

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I've always liked Holly, especially at Christmas time ~ but oh so difficult to handle ~

355/10

only 10 Days to go! then what?

354/11

play a little Christmas jingle ~

353/12

You better watch out, You better not cry, Better not pout . . . 

352/13

a little Christmas shopping @ Bryant Park ~

351/14

I love how New York has large Christmas displays randomly placed about the City.

350/15

B and I, although puppyless (insert sad face here) still enjoy attending the monthly Puppy Raiser meetings. Last evening, we celebrated the Christmas holiday with the Ocean County Puppy club. The festivities began with humans being blindfolded and asked to perform varies tasks such as counting out 42 cents from a pile of coins, tying a pair of shoes, putting lids on different size jars and harness, collar and leash a dog. I can assure you, these seemingly-simple tasks are considerably more difficult without the benefit of sight.

The puppies started the party when their gifts were lined up and one by one, starting with the youngest, they were paraded past the line. They sniffed and pawed at the gifts until each one had chosen the perfect gift for his or her holiday enjoyment from the softest of squeezy toys to the wackiest of wubbas. This adorable little girl was the star of show! After curiously inspecting each perfectly wrapped mystery package, she made her decision by swiftly grabbing her choice and dragging it across the floor until the paper wrapping yielded to the thrashing it was receiving.

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B was a really good sport yesterday. First I dragged took him to Macy’s so I can get a sneak a peek at Santa and instead we are greeted by hoards of screaming excited children. I would have thought my choice of “fun” places to go would be over but to my surprise he remained at the ready to explore all the ins and outs of the city. We walked the 30 blocks from 34th street to Barney's on Madison Ave, stopping off at FAO Schwatz.

Barney's is uptown and is a “high falutin” store, surrounded by Tiffany’s, Sax 5th Ave, Trump towers and The Plaza hotel. It is the last place we would have expected to find the Lady Gaga Workshop.

Admittedly, I do like her music and find her antics have the same effect on me that headlights have on a deer. We just had to go and see this spectacle for ourselves.

348/17

I just had to take a photograph of this cutie taking a photo of me.

347/18

On our travels to New York today, I dragged B into Macy’s. I wanted to see the real Santa! I have a long list to give him and I need to make sure to get it to him in time! We took the express elevator to the 8th floor and walked down the long corridor to Santa Land. A hum of energy came from the line of excited young children who wrapped around the corners as far as one could see. They could barely stand still. We anticipated waiting for well over an hour opting, instead, for the “peek line” (a back door past the village). There sat Santa in his golden throne-like chair, surrounded by children. My heart raced at the site of him. After being filled with the Christmas spirit, we walked outside and around the building to see their legendary winter display windows.

346/19

He is back in town ~

345/20

winter @ the beach ~

344/21

While B and I were out and about this afternoon, I took this photo.
It was an awesome tree standing, by my best guesstimate 75 feet tall, covered in white lights.
I wasn't crazy about the way the shot came out, but thanks to photoshop I think it now looks artsy.

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one of the flickr group prompts this week was "FREE" ~

hugs are alway free and plentyful for both the man and the beast!

341/24

This is the extent of my Christmas decorating this year, well and the wreath on my front door. I made the decision to forego the tree and lights, the bells and whistles, the glitter and the sparkle. Don’t get me wrong; I am not being a Scrooge, and I am not in a ba-hum-bug mood. Actually, it is the exact opposite. In recent years, after going back to work full time, I found the stress of having to decorate, shop, wrap, and bake bring about less holiday enjoyment. By the time Christmas day arrived I would be frazzled to the point of simply wishing the day was over. This year, I made the decision to just enjoy the holiday season for what it is, a chance to dream of the day there may be peace on earth and begin by having peace in my heart and in my house.

340/25

The conversion went like this ~ “Hey B, could you climb into the attic and get the big mirror down?” This was met with a pensive look as I added, “yes the one that weights about 100 lbs.” After a quizzical glance that seemed to imply “is this going on the wall and if not where?“ No, its going on the beach” The blank stares turned to laugher as he saw my camera bag and knew what was coming. Without much thought I answered the remaining unspoken questions: yes, we're going to the beach, yes I know the fog is thick as pea soup, and yes, I realize we’re not going to be able to see much, but I need a reflection photo for that new flickr group” “oh and could you grab the garbage can and the snow shovel?" With a simple shake of the head, he quietly went about gathering up my odd group of items. Yup, he’s a keeper ♥

339/26

 the sweet sound of Christmas Carols fill the air ~

join in the Marco Monday fun over @ Lisa's Chaos

338/27

the last of summer hanging on ~

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Willy patiently waiting to go on our photo walk.



336/29

As of late, I have found I am losing inspiration and creativity. I was in a slump and needed to find something to give me a bit of a push to help me to continue. Frankly, I am quite surprised this hadn’t happened earlier in the year. Heck, there is only one month to go and I could just take a month of anything photographs just to finish, however I started the project with the intent and hope of improving and not just settling on any old shot.

Hopping around blogs and looking through flickr I came across a group of photographers who come up with a daily challenge. For the last two weeks I have been participating in the challenge. It has made me dig deep in my noncreative mind and into the bottom of my camera bag. A few days ago, I even pulled out my old friend, my 60mm marco. I had forgotten just how much fun we can have together.

One of the topics this week ~ fence.

335/30

Did you watch the tree lighting celebration in NYC?  I did, I do every most years. 
It, along with Santa's arrival during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, are signs the Christmas season is official here, ready or not! 
Last week B and I walked over to Rockefeller Center. 
The tree, under the cover of scaffolding, was in place and ready for it's Christmas dressing. 

One of my all time favorite Christmas commercials is one in which a Grandfather with his small grandson bury a pine cone at the site of the tree. 
A week later they return to see the 100 foot tree standing tall, a glitter in lights, in the exact spot the pine cone was buried.
I haven't seen it in years.

The first, a 20 foot tree, was erected and decorated by construction workers who were working at the center in 1931. 
It was decorated with tin cans and a string of paper garland.  Wow! It's come a long way.

Oh, and are we in the last month of 365?!  Holy soly, did that go fast.