Yes, it is really hot outside. The egg-frying part is debatable.
No, these photos were not taken recently. But they do seem fitting for a hot summer afternoon.
Yes, it is really hard to avoid looking at Facebook.
Yes, I might blog a lot more until I get Facebook out of my system.
Yes, I do miss reading about the minutiae of everyone’s lives.
No, I am not giving in already.
Yes, I am loving Summer 2011, hot weather and all.

Question #1: Do you like hot weather or cold better?
Question #2: How often do you check your email or Facebook or Yahoo News each day? Are you as obsessive as I am? Is this a problem for you, too, or is your level of online activity totally fine for you? Just curious.

I was once accused of being a social butterfly. Seriously, my friend said it in a mean voice—Oh, you’re always the social butterfly, aren’t you—so I knew she didn’t consider it a good thing in that moment. But it’s true, I really like people and I like knowing lots of people and I want to know those lots of people really well. Clearly, this is an impossibility. But I think Facebook was made for people like me.

While I luxuriate in knowing facts about my friends and my acquaintances and my old high school classmates and the wives of my husband’s old high school classmates (see how ridiculous this is?), it’s just too much. Too much knowing. Too much potential for gossip and slander and idiocy and hurt feelings and jealousy. Too much life crammed into this online social platform. Too much time given to the brainchild of whiz kid Mark Zuckerberg.

It’s not only Facebook that sucks my time and energies. Email is just as bad for me. I’m obsessive about checking both web pages to see if anyone is communicating with me. What is it with the constant connection? Why do I crave it? Why is it hard to let it go? There is definitely an element of addiction here that I want to be free from for a time. I want to use my computer to edit photos, write worthwhile blog posts and articles, and keep contact with beloved friends and family. And then I want to close the lid of my laptop and put it away. I want to live fully and richly, away from all things world wide web when I’m in the real wide world.

Facebook is a great resource. I’m sure I’ll be back on it in due time. I love making stronger connections via Facebook and I consider it a huge blessing when it comes to marketing myself as a photographer.

But for now, goodbye. Adios to short statuses that crush my creative spirit. Au revoir to images of gatherings that I’m not invited to which make me envious of other friends. I’m off to enjoy my summer.

I went up to Mayo last week for surgery on my right elbow. I am currently pleasantly relaxed in front of Netflix, my dog curled up at my feet, a Diet Mountain Dew on the table before me. Blogging while drugged isn’t very wise, but I’m doing it nonetheless. Getting around without full use of one’s arm takes a certain getting used to. I’m so grateful for Jeremy’s selflessness in caring for me—and Livia’s big seven year old attitude goes a long way in making do for the time being. Mercy meals from church friends are keeping us afloat, while my mom’s nursing expertise eases my mind and cares for the details that come up during recovery.

While I get back to normal, I think y’all should leave me links to interesting, thoughtful, funny, etc articles to read online. Either that or bring me something good to read for realz. Thanks!

We were standing in the long and winding line to the restroom, that post-flight line where the ladies’ room is always full of folks from your own flight, when an older woman began complimenting my daughter.

You see, our flight from Omaha, Nebraska, had almost reached Milwaukee when we experienced a lot of turbulence. A lot. As in, Dear Jesus, my husband won’t survive if Livia and I both go down with this flight kind of turbulence. A giant storm system was sweeping the midwest that morning and our little plane was attempting to land among 50 mph winds in an area that had been hit by tornados a few hours before. The plane jumped and shimmied as it decreased in elevation during this, my first flight alone with my daughter. I tried to be cool and totally failed, my fingers gripping Livia’s hand on one side and the armrest on the other. What did Liv think of it all? She laughed. And whooped with joy. And laughed again at the giant swooping dips the airplane was making. The rest of the passengers, adults mostly, felt like throwing up and/or making last confessions while my daughter enjoyed the ride.

So, in the line for the bathroom, the older woman told my daughter how she had enjoyed Livia’s laughter on the plane. It made her smile and laugh, too, and made the landing not so scary. In that moment, I saw Livia Raine for the amazing little person God has made her to be. While I see, on a regular basis, the struggles and challenges related to her exuberant personality, I could also see how her joy for life is infectious and how it can elevate the mood in a room. I suspect her jubilant, story-telling personality was also the reason airport workers gave her extra chocolate chip cookies on most every leg of our trip.

Our trip alone together was an adventure that contained many moments of fun and happiness and many moments I wish I could do over the right way. In short, it turned out to be like the rest of life. But that moment where a perfect stranger found delight in my daughter is a moment I want to remember for a long time. I praise God for my exuberant little girl.

**I am joining my friend Corrin in a project called January Reflections. Check out Corrin’s blog The Glorious Impossible to learn more.

Corrin is starting January Reflections, a writing project to encourage bloggers as they look ahead to 2011. My favorite part about January Reflections is its writing prompts. I don’t know about you, but it’s that time of year where I could use a little outside inspiration. Go check out the project!

While visiting Andrew in Chattanooga, I had the privilege of hanging out with several of my blog friends. These are all women I had either met in real life many years ago or at least passed in the halls of Covenant College countless times. So I can’t say it was all that daring of a blogger meet-up. But it was a huge delight to see them in the real world and to watch their children play with Livia. The biggest thing that struck me was how beautiful these gals were in 3-D. Words and images on a screen can only do so much. They were all sweet, kind and lovely–and fun mamas to boot.

From left to right: Jocelyn of BryantChatt, Me, Moriah and baby Arianna of Please Pass the Salt, and Alli and Tebow of Always, Alli.

Livia ran around and played with all the kiddos. I think she and Fuller especially hit it off. Check out Alli’s adorable pic here.

Under the headline “Why getting messy can be good for children,” The Macomb Daily newspaper printed my photo in their Sunday, July 18 newspaper.

It was pretty cool. Here’s the photo:

If you Google muddy child, (and if you ignore the horror show shot of one particular small child, eek!) then Livia’s image will immediately pop up and that shot will lead you to this blog post. I believe that’s how a journalist from the Macomb Daily found me. We conversed back and forth via email and I submitted several images for consideration. I also gave a small email interview and was then quoted in the article.

Like most other papers, the Macomb Daily doesn’t publish every last article online, but I wish I could link to this one so you all could read it! I think I come off sounding much smarter and more professional than I really am. [wink, wink]

“We’ve always known that kids and play are just a natural combo,” [Dr. Michele] Borba said. “But new research also shows that letting kids engage in self-directed play has immense value for their social, emotional, cognitive and physical growth.”

Rebecca Tredway, 32, would agree.

The former middle school teacher and freelance photographer—whose blog, View From the Prairie Box—provides readers with a daily dose of images and stories about life in America’s Heartland—said, as a mom, she tries to value childish fun and exploration over cleanliness and easy parenting.

The article goes on, with a little more quotage by yours truly, to detail the benefits of messy, independent play for young children. If you’d like to read it in its entirety, you’ll have to stop by for a cup of coffee sometime. I have exactly one hard copy in my possession.

You can see the rest of the mud photo series on my Flickr account. My favorite shot is this one.

Who: Moi.

What: A month-ish of photos sans words.

Where: On the blog, of course.

Why: I want to be a better housekeeper (seriously!) and I want to see if blogging less will equal more focus on organization and general cleanliness. I have some projects—you could call them “trouble areas”—that I’d like to get cleaned up soon. So I’m going to flex my photography muscles, let the writing ones atrophy a bit, and build my true biceps by throwing away lots of crap. Wish me luck!

I rarely link to blogs from folks I don’t know.

But this post is so good, I can’t help but share it here:

I don’t want my children to be happy from It’s Almost Naptime!!

[HT: my buddy Haley, pregnant and blogging and hopefully getting a good night’s rest tonight, from Missing Mississippi]

Bath time around here is an Event. (And when it can’t be an Event, it becomes a difficult task for everyone involved.) Sometimes there are bubbles and sometimes there is a new, special bath toy, but always there is one little girl, tons of mismatched and somewhat random toys to play with, soap and water.

And by the time the little girl gets out of the tub, she’s usually quite relaxed. She rolls up in a towel and takes a breather. All that fun in the hot water is hard work!

Challenge for the day: take your camera somewhere new. Let me know if you blog about it.