Day 89 - Brolly

I did something today which I should really have done 18 months ago when I first moved to Sheffield...I bought myself a brolly! Last night when I was out with friends I realised that I couldn't go any longer without an umbrella. I've been in denial about Sheffield and rain and the reality hit last night when 3 of us were crammed under an umbrella that I really did need to buy one of my own! I popped into town this morning and bought a brolly, just in time for the rain to come pouring down. My only reservation is that we also get really high winds in Sheffield and I'm not sure how long the brolly with withstand the wind and the rain...only time will tell!

Day 88 - Fun Night Out...honest!

I went out with some friends I've got to know over the last few months tonight. It was birthday drinks for Rachel. We met at Porter Brook on Ecclesall Road and then went onto Porter Cottage (which I kept calling Porter Cabin!). It was a good night catching up with people and meeting a few new people. I realised that I hadn't taken any photos for today so got my camera out. I did get a few good shots but thought this was quite funny because it was a good evening but by the looks of their faces they wish they were somewhere else! It's either that or they've had too many beers..or they're fed of me and my camera! I think this photo may need a caption! The Usual Suspects has already been suggested!

Day 87 - Green Eyes

I popped in to see my friend Kim this morning to housesit for her whilst she took Rafi out to the park. He was getting cabin fever and she had to have someone in the house to wait for the plumber to arrive. Rafi was very gorgeous today and was really happy to give me lots of cuddles which was lovely. I couldn't resist taking a photo of him because he has the most gorgeous blue eyes. He was happily munching on a biscuit when I took this shot. His eyes actually look green here but they are a beautiful blue.

Day 86 - Droplets

Another early start for me today with my BNI meeting. It wipes me out for the rest of the day but I do enjoy it and I am getting work from the group so it's great for my business. After the meeting I had a day at home today sorting out some templates for an idea I have for a product I want to offer for children's portraits. I'm quite excited about it all but it takes a lot of time working through the ideas and then I need to do some market research with it all to make sure I'm charging the right price as well as offering the right product. By 4pm I'd had enough of sitting in front of the computer so I went up into Woodseats to do some shopping and run some errands. It was so grey outside that I was struggling to know what to photograph for the day's shot. I saw these as I was walking home and loved the freshness of the green leaves and the droplets in comparison to the colourlessness of everywhere else.

Day 85 - A new Serendipity Sign...or is it?

Through contacts of mine at BNI I ordered a magnetic sign to go on my car to advertise my business as I drive round Sheffield. I went to pick it up today and was really chuffed with it. I took a couple of photos and thought this would do as my photo for the day. However when I uploaded it onto my computer I noticed the error........they spelt Serendipity wrong!!!! Ironically as I was waiting for them to fit the sign I did ask them if they ever spelt something wrong and had to redo the sign! Rich said that Dean's spelling is really bad so he always double checked it...shame he didn't do it this time! I'll have to take it back to them tomorrow and ask if they can turn the "d" into a "p"!

Day 84 - Mini Wii

Today was Bank Holiday Monday so it was a very relaxed day. My friend Michelle had been over last night for a WWF night (wine, wii and food). The plan had been to go for a walk this morning but we soon realised that after playing on the wii until 2am and drinking wine, going for a walk wasn't the best option for the morning after! So I took it easy and then went to meet my friends Lucy, Kevin and their 2 daughters Amy (4) and Ella(18 months). We went for a wander round the animal farm at Graves Park and then had a play on the swings before coming back to "Cafe Katy" for a cuppa and a slice of banoffee pie. It was then time to introduce the Bolsters to the wii. We had fun making their own mini wiis and my goddaughter Amy was so proud of herself after she created hers. I had to get a photo of her showing off her own mini wii character. So we have one very pleased goddaughter and a very proud godmother!

Day 83 - Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone!

Day 82 - The hunt for snow and sunshine

Michael and Milla came to stay for a few days. Last time they came for a weekend it rained the whole time and so I was determined to show them that Sheffield can be a sunny, gorgeous place! The weather for this weekend wasn't meant to be that great so I wasn't holding out too much hope. Fortunately this morning was beautiful and I could see snow on the hills so we wrapped up warm and headed out in the hunt for blue skies, snow and sunshine. We went to Stanage Edge and found the sunshine and the snow. It was really windy at the top and we frooze pretty quickly but we managed to get a few photos before we headed back down and found a cafe for hot chocolate!

Day 81 - Good Friday

Hot Cross Buns for Good Friday. I think the real reason for Easter is often forgotten amidst the chocolate and Easter bunnies so I wanted to take a simple photo today to get back to the real reason as to why we celebrate Easter. Good Friday is the day when Jesus was crucified on the cross and one of the most important days in the Christian calendar.

Day 80 - Nearly Easter

I went shopping today to get things in for the Easter Weekend and bought a few Cadburys Cream Eggs. I am convinced that these smaller ones are better for you than the normal sized eggs. These will be great to put round the breakfast table on Easter morning.

Day 79 - Now that's what I call Naan Bread!

It was my friend Jackie's birthday today so we went to Akbars near Meadowhall for a curry. I've been here several times and love their curries but still can't get over the size of their family naan breads! We had 4 between 20 of us and there was some left over! Definitely worth a visit.

Day 78 - Circle of Colour

I felt very uninspired today for a photo. I hadn't done anything particularly different or exciting so didn't really fancy taking a photo of the paperwork I'd been doing or the photos I'd been processing for a job. I have some crayons I keep in my living room for when friends with children come round so I got those out and decided to play with the colours. This was as inspired as I got, not quite a rainbow but a circle of colours.

Day 77 - Irish?

Today is St Patrick's Day....people's excuse to go out and have a few beers regardless if you're Irish or not! I had a meeting this morning and whilst I was out I was asked by at least 2 people if I was Irish! I was wearing green but anyone who knows me knows that's not particularly unusual! It's probably also down to my colouring being a pale red-head but it's all about the Scottish roots..not Irish! Happy St Patrick's Day to all my Irish friends.

Day 76 - 6 hours and home

Nothing very exciting for today's photo. I was trying to work out what to photograph when the majority of your day is spent on trains travelling home.....so I decided to photograph my tickets! It was a long journey but worth it because it was a great weekend. I got home and collapsed before starting to sort through all the photos I took at the party (over 200!).

Day 75 - Aunty Dorothy..90 years young!

My great Aunty Dorothy celebrated her 90th birthday yesterday and had a party today with all her family and friends. It was so great to be there with her to help her celebrate and see her enjoying herself. Aunty Dorothy married my Uncle Kingsley who is my Granny's brother. She married Uncle King during the war and moved down from Manchester to live with the family in Ilfracombe whilst he was away. Ilfracombe has been home for over 60 years, she's seen her children grow up here and seen two husbands pass away but still has a great life and her social network of friends is really impressive.

We had a party on Saturday afternoon where we caught up with cousins we'd not seen in years. Family had come over from Vancouver as from all round the UK. When a mother, grandmother, aunt, step-mother and friend turns 90 you all make the effort to be there to share it with her! Aunty Dorothy has so much life in her, she's definitely got the sense of humour and zest for life which will hopefully see us all celebrating her 100th in 10 years time!

Day 74 - Strawberry Blonde Curls

I stayed with some old friends in Bristol on my way down to Devon. Phil & Mags have been friends of mine since uni in Sheffield and although it's been a good few years since I last saw them it was great to catch up with them and meet their two children, Skye (2 1/2) and Joseph (3 months). Skye was a perfect model for me when I got my camera out. She kept telling me that she had strawberry blonde curls so I had to capture a photo of another strawberry blonde girl...there aren't many of us! I also got some very cute photos of Joseph. Phil had warned me about his infectious smile and I wasn't left out from seeing it. He smiled constantly all morning whilst I was there! Gorgeous! Mags and Phil also live with friends Natalie and Neil and their little boy Matthew, yet more friends from the Sheffield Uni days.

Day 73 - Granny

I went down to Bristol today on my way to Ilfracombe for the weekend. I thought I'd break up my journey because the train tickets were cheaper and also it was a great opportunity to pop in to see my Granny and also stay with friends that I'd not seen in a long time. Granny rarely likes her photo being taken so when she asked me to take a few photos for her I jumped at the chance! She wanted some photos taken to be used for passport shots which is why these aren't very smiley but she had fun having them taken.

Day 72 - Smiles

I went along to St Marys Toddler group today to take some photos for them. Rafi goes along to this toddler group so Kim and Mark had got me the contact and I hope it'll be profitable. After my BNI meeting I went along to St Mary's and spent about 2 hours crawling round on the floor playing with the kids and taking photos. Some kids were easier to photograph than others but I guess that's the joys of photographing children! There was a lot of expectation from the parents to get the kids to smile for me but I prefer taking the shots when the kids are absorbed in what they're doing and being themselves.
I have yet to sort through all the photos but this one stood out and so I picked it for my photo of the day. Nathaniel had found a toy hammer and thought it was really amusing to hit me with it again and again and again! He was giggling so much, I was in a lot of pain, but had to get a shot of him laughing! Serendipity at it's best I think!

Day 71 - Shattered!

Today was a supply teaching day....I came home "cream crackered"!!! This was as inspired as I could be for a photo today because I was so tired!! I covered textiles, ICT and 3 RE lessons. When I looked for the set work for one of the RE lessons I found a note which read, "Katy, so glad you're covering this lesson...any chance you could teach my Y10s about Christian Marriage? Thank you so much, they're top set and gorgeous!" Nothing like forewarning!! Fortunately it went fine, good to see I can still pull a lesson out of a hat! The killer group was my period 5 , year 7s. I had been lulled into a false sense of security thinking that being year 7s they'd be easy...how wrong was I!? I think at one moment during the lesson I found myself with my head in my hands..why do they ask so many questions? Why do they all need the toilet at 2:15pm? Why do they think they can get away with being rude and cheeky? I was glad to sign out of school at 3:10 and make my way home to carry on with my photography work which was waiting for me. I wanted to get the processing of photos out of the way as I am taking photos at a toddler group tomorrow and then heading down to Devon for my Great Aunt's 90th and so will have a lot of photos to sort through from those. Work is definitely coming in...I just wish the money was!

Day 70 - Peek-a-boo!

I had a really busy today with two appointments in the morning and then I got home to sort through all the photos I took in London as well as the two portrait sessions I did when I was in Luton. If I had time I also knew that I had to sort through the photos from the walk yesterday so I could put them onto my website for everyone. I hadn't even thought of my photo for today, thinking that I'd have to resort to a photo of some random object in the house! Fortunately my friend Lucy came to the rescue when she popped round with Amy and Ella for a cuppa. There is nothing I like more than photographing kids and I was in my element with the girls running around in the Penthouse. My curtains are always a great place to hide and it didn't take Ella too long to start to play peek-a-boo...out came my camera! She was sat there for a while so I got a few cute shots. It was only later that we realised she'd be filling her nappy!! Still a cute photo though!

Day 69 - Ladybower

I got back to Sheffield yesterday so I could go out on a walk with my colleagues from the BNI Chapter. We'd arranged to go out for a walk round Ladybower and then have lunch in the Ladybower Inn. It was a gorgeous day and there were 12 adults, one child and a dog ready and raring to go at 10am on the Sunday morning. We all put our orders in for lunch and were off knowing that a carvery and a pint would be waiting for us when we got back! It was a great walk and we managed to miss the rain, although we did get a few hail showers. Towards the end of the walk a few of us took the path up onto the ridge and this is where I was able to get this shot from, the view was stunning. The path then took us straight back to the pub, our roast and the much needed pint! By the time we left the pub the rain had set in, we definitely got the best part of the day.

Day 68 - China Town

It was a grey day in London today so I was really glad I got out and took loads of photos yesterday. Fiona and I had a very lazy morning and then went into town to meet up with our cousin Michael and his girlfriend. We got crushed in the mayhem which is Saturday lunchtime tube journey into Leciester Sq. Milla is from Singapore and so loves China Town and she took us to this great little Japanese restaurant for lunch. It was a good thing she was with us because otherwise we'd not have had a clue what to order. We started off with a bit of sushi and it was a great meal.

After lunch we went to find a pub which was showing the rugby so that we could watch a bit of the match before I had to make my way to St Pancreas to catch the train back up to Sheffield. We found O'Neills which had so many people standing outside it that I thought there was a queue to get in! Then I realised they were all smoking!! As we walked into the bar we found out Wales had beaten Ireland in the match earlier in the day so it was time to see if England had it in them to beat Scotland...surely they would!! I had to leave part way through the match and was gutted to find out the game was not only a poor show but also England lost!!!

Day 67 - London Eye

Today was a belated birthday day for me from my sister and her boyfriend. My present from Fiona and Bill was a ticket to go and see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition in the Natural History Museam and then to be taken out for cocktails and a meal, in other words to be taken out and truly spoilt!

I arrived at my sister's last night. We had a meal and a few glasses of wine then had a trip down memory lane playing Operation!! Fiona took the day off work today so we could spend the day together in London, we had a relaxing breakfast then I went into town to get some "stock shots" of landmarks. I am trying to build up a portfolio of shots which I could sell either commercially or as framed/canvas prints. I had a good walk along the south bank and ended up at Westminster before I got the tube to South Kennsington to meet Fiona and Bill. We then went to the Wildlife Photographer Exhibition and met our friend Stephan there who is also a photographer so it was great going round the photos with him. The photographs were amazing and it was really difficult trying to pick a favourite, quite inspirational.

We spent 2 hrs in the exhibition and I think we could have stayed there longer if it wasn't for the fact they were closing the museam! Fiona then found a great little bar for us to go and have a few drinks before dinner. It was just round the corner in South Ken called "Janets" and did some killer cocktails...I was impressed we were able to walk to the restaurant for dinner! Bill had chosen Gauchos, an Argentinian Steak House because he went there with work for their Christmas meal. Funnily enough we all had steak and it was AMAZING!! They bring you round this platter with all the different cuts of meat on it so you can choose which part of steak you want. An expensive meal...but I wasn't paying...and it was so worth it!

Day 67 has been a great day.

I took loads of photos today so trying to choose one was quite hard! I've picked this one as it was one of the ones which stood out when Bill was looking through them on the back of my camera. He said it looked really tranquil and he'd even pay to have that on his wall....I'm going to hold him to that!

Day 66 - Jonah

One of my other reasons for being in Luton was to take some photos for my friend Ruth of her little boy Jonah. She's paid me to take 4 lots of photos of him over his first year of life, I took the first photo in October when he was about 6 weeks old and today was my second session, he's now 5 months old.

I stayed at my friend Leanne's last night so Ruth came and picked me up this morning to take me to hers to get some shots of Jonah. He wasn't too happy at first but like most boys was a lot happier after something to eat and drink! I then got some lovely shots of him lying on his back smiling at Ruth and then pushing himself up on his front. My favourite is this one of him sucking his thumb....so cute! Hopefully Ruth will be pleased with this one too.

Day 65 - Caroline & Bump

I am really blessed to have some amazing friends all round the country (and the world!). When I left Luton 18 months ago I wasn't sorry to leave the town but it was really hard leaving behind a lot of my friends when I moved back to Sheffield. One of my friends is Caroline, I've known her for about 7 years and have seen her go from being single, getting married, having her first child (Malo who is my gorgeous godson), having her second child, Nolan and now pregnant with her 3rd boy. She's a very special friend who is like family and I love catching up with her.

I caught the train down to Luton today to catch up with other friends but also to see Caroline and spend some quality time time with Malo which was very precious. Being told, "Katy, I don't want you to go because I love you" has to be one of those special moments between me and my godson that I will cherish for years to come! I wanted to get some photos of Caroline before she gives birth. She is 8 months pregnant but the other two boys were early so I didn't want to be too late! Caroline doesn't have any photos of her during pregnancy so it was lovely to take these shots for her and also get some of her boys. It was a very special day.

Day 64 - A cup of colour

I thought I'd play with the idea of colour today. Nothing exciting, just M&Ms in an espresso cup!

I'm off to London tomorrow for a few days so I'll have a few more different shots over the next few days.

Day 63 - Piano

I babysat for Lucy and Kevin this evening whilst they went out to do a Jellybean gig at Firth Hall this evening. They got home at about 8pm, Kevin wasn't feeling too well so he stayed at home with whilst I went down to the pub to join Lucy, Mark, Dave and Yo for a pint. I then ended up helping them to clear up their equipment and realised I hadn't taken my photo of the day so saw this wonderful grand piano and took it's photo! Not a particularly inspired photo but it's a classic!

Day 62 - Mother's Day

I wasn't able to be with mum today so gave her a call before I went out on a walk. Fiona was going over for lunch with Michael and Milla so I knew that she'd have family around for Mother's Day. We bought mum a book called "Keeping Mum" by Brian Thompson (spelt wrong but perfect!!). Mum found it very funny and apparently it's a good book too!

I went out on a walk with SWG today. We met at Hathersage station and went on a walk around Hathersage. The views into the Hope Valley are stunning so it was a great walk, although we were all convinced it was longer than the 8 miles that we were told at the start! Part of the walk was to cross a river over stepping stones. Normally this would have been fine but a fair few of the stones were under water and the water coming down the river wasn't stopping for anyone! We all got across and were pleased with our little bit of adventure for the day!

I took lots of photos (which can be seen on my flickr site) but I chose this one for today because these cute little lamb were running around after their mum so I thought it was perfect for Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day!

Day 61 - St David's Day

Today is St David's day, I'm not welsh but I think my Grandpa David has some welsh on his side of the family. I decided to go in search of daffodils, dragons or leeks for my photo today. I thought that a walk in the Botanical Gardens would be nicer than wandering around Tescos so decided to find some daffodils (I had no idea where to start with finding a dragon!). It was a gorgeous afternoon, really sunny but a little chilly. I was having such a great time taking photos that I didn't realise that they closed the Botanical Gardens at 4pm. I had heard a bell ringing but didn't realise that was telling us to get out! When one of the gardeners found me they had locked most of the gates! I'll know for next time!

Day 60 - February 29th..Leap Year

This day only happens once every 4 years, it's the day when women can propose to their men (if the man says no he has to buy them a purple dress!), if it's your birthday you can actually celebrate it today rather than on the 1st March. I wanted to take a photo with a difference today but ended up doing a day's supply so was struggling with inspiration. I did try "leaping" and need to apologise to the guys who live below me! I didn't have much success with that shot so decided to write the number 29 with a torch and play with it in photoshop. I think this looks more like a painting or a piece of art rather than a photo but it really is a photo!

Day 59 - Fruatration

I had lots planned today and had decided that today was going to be the day when I got lots done...that was not to be! I spent a lot of my time trying to sort out problems with my website which took the majority of the day and by the end of it I was ready to throw things at the computer!
I had a break whilst I went to Meadowhall for my weekly 1 to 1 session on my Mac which is really helpful and made me see computers in a softer light! By the end of the day everything was sorted but I hadn't done as much as I should have done.
I know this photos isn't the best ad for Macs so I just want to clear up the fact that my mac is great, it's computers in general that got me frustrated today.