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This whole thing fell to luck, really. I happened to check my email in Orlando when we were on the Florida Trail and see an email from a woman who said she was with Woman’s Day magazine. Apparently she’d found a photo of a tomato of mine from a few years ago and wanted permission to use it in a special issue called Woman’s Day Garden and Outdoor Living. I was a bit suspicious so I did some Googling and found out that she was completely legit. I figured she might need a full res photo or something so I emailed her back and gave her my number since I didn’t know the due date and the specs for it all.

Thankfully she called me that night in the hotel because the due date was the next day! Luckily she didn’t need a full res image and could pull it from the internet.

I’d kinda forgotten about it until we got back and we thought it was due to be out earlier in the month but I found out it was supposed to be late March instead. Yesterday we got a call from Chris’ mom that she saw it but wasn’t sure which photo was mine. Chris and I tracked the magazine down at Walmart and I found it! Not how I figured it would be used, but I’m going to be paid for it so I don’t really mind! Here’s the original photo in my Etsy shop. I wish I could tell you I had some seeds to sell to you now but they are still in storage.

I will definitely be doing more ‘tomato portraits’ in the future and hey, now I’m published! heh!

Thanks Woman’s Day, you can call me any time to use more photos!

Don’t forget to schedule a portrait session with me in March or April for portfolio building rates!

Our contest winner is Christine who I figured might be the first person to guess. Honestly, I thought this would be trickier than it ended up being! Next time I will crop it differently to make it more difficult!

The other morning I was doing some QC on some trash lines in the forest when I looked down over a smashed pine log and saw the skink just sitting there. It’d been a chilly morning but I wasn’t going to take my chances so I took my initial “I saw it” photo and then decided to try to get closer. It worked!

These little guys/gals are quick and are incredibly difficult to photograph so I was very glad it decided to try to warm up in the sun for the day!

Congratulations Christine and your speedy abilities to id reptiles! Prem, you were close behind in second! The website is going through a proofing stage this weekend and will debut officially on Monday—hopefully! We’ve got it up and going but we want to catch any errors and last minute tweaks before letting the masses loose. I am also going to make a banner you can put on your blog and we will be doing a Facebook page, too. If you for some reason figure out the link, please keep it quiet until Monday.

Thanks for participating!

My friends Marc and Eliana work for The Cat Network in Miami and work their butts off spaying and neutering cats all over the county. They are in the running for $50,000 with Pepsi Refresh Contest and need your help! You can vote for them multiple times a day so please bookmark the page and pass it along on your Facebook page.

The spay and neuter Dude and Dudette.

My cousin Elizabeth recently re-did her webpage and coincidentally I got the urge to work on mine Saturday. I sat down last night and came up with the banner. Initially there was white space where the butterflies were but I couldn’t think of an appropriate photo to stick in there and then I found the little wingdings and the butterflies just ‘became’. Voila! The biggest pain was going through every page I have to fix it all. The photography link above does not work currently because it will eventually link to our photo website. We have a potential name, to be announced later, so once we finally decide on the name we’ll let you know! I’m hoping we’ll have a big head start on a site by the end of October.

My granddad could also use some prayers. After breaking his hip a few weeks ago he has been in a rehabilitative center but he’s gone back and forth between doing well and not doing well. Now he has pneumonia and has been swelling a lot so he is now back in the hospital. I would hope that he can get over all of this and back to his senior living apartment.

Today we spent all day running around changing our cars over to Texas registrations and the last thing we had to tackle was getting our licenses. We waited in line nearly an hour to find out we needed either our passports or birth certificates. I had gone to their website to find out what we needed so I’d brought our social security cards thinking I was on the right track but we were turned away after standing in line to stand in line. I don’t understand why this isn’t listed on the door when you go in? It would save so much time for everyone! I then went back to their website and yes, tucked away in link after link does it state that. Again, can’t they be better and list it on ONE page? I just don’t get it.

I need a job, too.

Ok, so normally I hate doing these kind of posts, but I really want a chance to win a Canon 5D camera.

I actually started reading Maile’s blog long before she became part of the Shutter Sisters. She had great blog entries and amazing photos and I’d comment occasionally.

Then she came out with a camera bag line that was to die for. I have a big backpack camera bag that is waterproof on the bottom and is great for hiking but I really wish I had something better for just taking my camera around town. And then Maile came out with Epiphanie bags. And they are beautiful! They aren’t in my budget at the moment but I’m thinking they would make an excellent Christmas present.

Anyway, this whole blog post is because Epiphanie is having a giveaway, a Canon 5d camera or $2500 on Southwest Airlines.

And a Canon 5D is right up my alley.