January 12 of 12

I'm playing along this year with one of my best pals, Amy Gretchen, in her 12 of 12 project. I haven't done it for a few years, but it's really a fun way to collect the everyday memories, and I'm excited to document this year in this way.  

1. Riley's outfit of the day. She picks all her own clothes and she can come up with some unique combinations. And I let her because it is not a battle I'm willing to fight.
2. Drop-off at the Girl's school.
3. Working, working, working.  It's what I do.
4. My current favorite mid-morning snack.  Mint tea with hot lemonade (try it before you diss it) and a green apple with salt.
5. Unexpected lunch date with this dude.   He's dreamy.
6. Driving to a meeting. Try not to envy the joy you see on my face.
7. Didn't feel great, and I haven't for a while, so it was time to see my doc.
8. Because I left the clinic earlier than normal, I was able to pick up the Girl earlier than normal, as well. The sunshine was a very welcome addition to the afternoon.
9. I poured myself into the bathtub as soon as I got home. Best self-care for me.
10. Results of aforementioned doc appointment.
11. I watched Obama's last State of the Union address. I think he's been an outstanding president the past 7 years and I'm excited to see how his 8th year in office goes.
12. Wound the night down with the read for February's book club meeting.It's really good!

November 12of12

I wanted to get this up a few days ago, but oh well.  Better late than never.  And I decided to skip the grid this month again, because, well...I'm lazy like that.

I blame the cold medicine. 

This month's 12of12 was fun to capture because my brother, his wife and their three little girls were staying with us for the weekend.  K&J did some christmas shopping on Saturday and left the girls with me for a while- such a fun way to spend the day. 

the morning started off with cereal and coloring.

Slurpees seemed like a good idea at the time.

I forgot how sweet it is to have a sleeping baby around.

We made cookies because, you know, why not?

My hallway became an art studio.

Oh, my Hallee.  Sweetest girl on earth. I adore her. 

For some reason, i decided to can some homemade pizza sauce in the middle of everything.  I blame the cold medicine. 

One of several pillow fights that erupted throughout the day. 

Chilling after a hard day of shopping. 

The girls made personal pizzas for dinner.

Then wound the day up by doing a little bit of yoga.

Jamie and I wound the day up with Alkaseltzer cold medicine.  Disgusting, but surprisingly effective. 

October 12of12 - the lazy edition

Ok, lazy might not be fair... time-crunched, perhaps?  I have totally spaced the 12fo12 the last 2 months, so I wanted to get todays done and up before we leave town for a little getaway.   So, with no time to put these into a grid, here are today's 12of12. 

My cutie little girl, ready for school.

bare feet, ragged jeans, and painted toe nails.  She's my kid. 

checking her makeup on the way to school. Yes, I make her wipe it off before we get there. 

driving Miss Riley.

checking herself in at the door.

Riley and Kasja.  She looooves Kasja.

My one job for the trip - buy SeaWorld tickets.  Done!

I worked on a paper all morning.

I met my friend  for lunch.  Indian food -yummmo!

Self portrait in my 'keep calm' poster.

Packing for our trip.

It wouldn't be a 12of12 without a SP of the girl and me.  She surprised me by laying one on me.  This one cracks me up.

The (incomplete, improvised) July 12of12

I knew that Tuesday was the 12th, and I also knew it was a hectic, crazy day. I left the house packing 4 bags for myself, so I purposely chose to leave my big camera home and use my iPhone to capture my 12of12. Then...the day got more and more hectic, and i forgot to capture the events as they happened. So...I will share the few pictures I have for July's 12of12 and we'll hope for better luck next month.

Grouchy Riley watched TV on the couch until her mood improved enough to get dressed.

I worked my way through two very large, very complex documents in the morning
(about 265 pages total. oye.)

One of my favorite parts of working downtown is taking a lunchtime walk through the Temple Square Grounds. It's so lovely and so peaceful. The perfect way to refresh.

The flowers are always gorgeous. Today was no exception.

This monument is called "Joyous Moments". It's my favorite.

**imagine photos of a grocery store trip, a stop at the bookstore, and a quick run at the gym**

Madi watched Riley for an hour while I attended a class in the evening.
Oh, how Riley adores Madi.

Then Riley and Grandma Beckie played with all the fun new apps on
Beckie's iPad before the Girl headed to bed.

**Finally, picture a few loads of laundry and a quick bathroom scrubdown before bed**

Ok, so not my best 12of12 ever, but days like this are part of life, too. I'm glad I had a few photos to keep to document this month. And, like I said...I'll do better in August.

June 12of12

01. Riley was up the night before with a fever and body aches, so she spent the majority of the morning in bed with my iPad. No church for us today.
02. I put the finishing touches on all the new paint in my condo.
03. It was a lazy day for Harley, too.
04. I can tell it's summer when the Santa Cruz peach lemonade hits the shelves. I love this stuff.
05. Caught up on laundry - took me all day.
06. Riley took her baby doll on a walk - with Harley's leash and collar.
07. I met with my realtor to sign the final paperwork to list my condo.
08. My daughter is a goofball.
09. Riley felt well enough to have a dance party, for which she wore her snow boots.
10. All the bags I pack in the evening to be ready for the next day - my gym bag, riley's swim bag, my lunch bag, and my laptop bag.
11. silly self-portraits
12. you can't tell very well in this photo, but I went to bed at 8:55. Unheard of around here, but very nice.

May 12 of 12 - iPhone Edition

On mornings that I don't have Riley and am working in my downtown office, I often walk to work. I was almost ready to walk into my building when my iPhone reminded me that it was the 12th. It was too late to walk back home and get my camera, so I decided to just capture the day with my iPhone instead.

The view from my downtown desk. I love being able to watch the city and see the Capitol Building when I'm working. It's especially fun on a bright, sunny day.

Ariel view of my desk, mid-project.

This was left on my desk when I stepped away for a few minutes. Still not sure who put it there, but it was a fun little surprise (I love swedish fish.)

The construction near my building. As they say, downtown SLC is rising.

I had lunch at Martine with some friends - yummy food and great company.

Since I had walked to work that morning, I walked home in the afternoon to get my car before I picked up Riley from school. I really enjoyed the warm weather, the dappled sunshine and the blossoms.
I am convinced I live in the most beautiful part of SLC.

Riley was being camera-shy at dinner. The part you can't see, because she ate them already,
is a large serving of peas. The Girl is eating her veggies! Yay!

Riley knocked herself in the eye with her doorknob, and ended up with a scrape.
It's turning black and blue today - her first black eye.
I'm sure there are more where that came from.

On an evening walk with the Girl and G. Riley is enthralled by the ants.

Lilacs are my favorite spring time flower - they remind me of my grandma.
Me and the bugness on our walk. Yeah - we look a bit alike. :)

Watching G watch the sunset. It was a beautiful evening.

April 12of12

Click the photo to enlarge

1. The cherry trees in front of my condo are blossoming. One of my favorite signs of spring!

2. I'm not trying to be vulgar, I'm showing you my broken finger. But no surgery required! Yay! I do have to go to 'Hand Therapy' though, although I'm not even sure what it is.
3. Current read - very good but a bit tough to take. The words, though....the words are beautiful.
4. How I look during a conference call. I do this often.
5. My friend and co-worker Tricia making her first cameo on my blog. She is hilarious and helps me with all my dumb questions. Couldn't ask for a cooler person to work with.
6. I filled up my gas tank today. Yeeeeeesh. Good thing we don't do much driving- a tank lasts a week or more.
7. The lovely Candace. My office is between hers and Tricia's. It's lovely. Location, location, location!
8. Afternoon herbal tea break.
9. I had a photo tutoring date with the beautiful and insanely talented Alisha. I learned more about light and exposure and using my camera in this one hour of instruction from her than I have ever by myself or reading books on the subject. She's a phenomenal teacher and her work is, well...nothing short of amazing. Check her out here.
10. I let Riley pick what we had for dinner and she picked Hires for fries, root beer and bacon, her favorite meal for a girl date. Weird kid.
11. Finished off the evening with a quick trip to Target. She loves the circle.
12. Cool door handles from my photo walk.

March 12of12

This month's 12of12 had us documenting what was a pretty typical Saturday around here. Longer workout for me, lots of errands to run. Still, it's fun to record this view of my life. Riley has caught on to the reason I carry my camera around on the 12th. She even 'directed' a few of these shots.

01. Hot chocolate for breakfast. Riley calls it her 'morning drink'.
02. Riley thought you all needed to see how long my ponytail was. So here you go.
03. Riley's special treat for the date. It was pink AND purple AND blue.
04. We got a little bit goofy for the self portrait portion of the day.
05. The Girl got to watch a movie on my IPad. She loves that thing WAY more than I do.
06. I snacked on blueberries and blackberries all day.
07. What 'Running Errands' looks like.
08. Grocery Haul.
09. Riley's pop beads. Santa should have re-thought these.
10. New toothbrush. This one has a Barbie on it AND it lights up. She had to have it.
11. Riley reading to the rabbit at the Library. We both *heart* the library and spent more than an hour there.
12. More goofiness for the self portraits. This one cracks me up.

My favorite pic of the day didn't even make it into my collage, but I'll share it anyway. More goofiness.

February 12of12

I can't believe it's the middle of February already. Time really does fly. This was a fun month because it captured a typical Saturday for me and my Girl. I don't think I've had one of these kinds of days in the 12of12 yet.
1. Self portrait immediately upon waking. I can't believe I am putting this up, but here it is.
2. My bags are packed to head to the gym. Really great run-swim-lift workout.
3. I promised Riley we would go out for lunch, and she picked her favorite -Red Robin.
4. Grandma Nita taught her to pat her head and rub her tummy. She was practicing.
5. The two of us at lunch.
6. The Girl was exhausted after a busy morning of playing at the gym, going to lunch and running a few errands.
7. Jenica mixing up my hair color.
8. Riley decided we needed to bring Jenica's girls cupcakes. With princess rings, of course.
9. It was a beautiful day - perfect trampoline weather.
10. R and G figured the best way to prevent us leaving was just to sit on my legs.
11. Trip to Target for valentine supplies and to buy a birthday gift for a party later this week.
12. Wound up the day by getting Riley's valentines ready- Barbie for the girls, Phineas and Ferb for the boys.

Another year of the 12of12 project.

This was my favorite project last year, so I'm excited to do it again this year. It's fun to look back on a year of random days, and see what happened during them.

1. self portrait as we were getting ready for the day.
2. harley checks out the snow pack (I could not get him to look at me.)
3. my day started with a visit from a plumber. pipe bursting = new kitchen floor for me.
4. the Rapunzel cupcake the Girl was saving for her after-school snack. she did test out the icing.
5. gearing up for a busy day in the office. I had 3 conference calls and 2 meetings on the schedule.
6. on the first of those calls. I only chew my lip when i'm thinking numbers. I must have been working on a project budget or something similar.
7. a to-do list for the day. those of you who know about my 'five-thing' rule will laugh at how out of sorts this one is for me.
8. the girl came home from school and went straight for her cupcake.
9. the stack of papers I sorted through. wow, they add up fast.
10. Riley had 'homework' to do: a snowman to color and a mitten to glue stuff to. I think she was working on the mitten here.
11. at some point, she got out with my heart shaped rocks (which are off-limits to her).
12. the day ended with some reading- finished one book, started another and read up on some swim drills.