Best Face 2012

So this month I Heart Faces' Photo Challenge is "Best Face of 2012" and I have to say, choosing only ONE face to represent a year of work seems almost impossible!

Serious and moody black and white faces, silly upside- down faces, sad faces, messy faces, sweet newborn faces, sleeping faces, laughing faces...how is a girl to choose?!

The task seemed almost impossible, so I went through my posts and chose the photo that got the most "likes" on my page...and it is easy to see why! 

Here it is, drum roll please...

Congrats to sweet little Miss C for being JJMP's "Best Face of 2012"

 (...although I'm thinking I need a follow-up post with all of my adorable runners-up!)

Head on over to check out some more amazing submissions!

365

Ok,  Project #2 of 2013 is underway!

With inspiration from Project Life 365 and the ever-amazing Mom*Tog I decided to commit myself to a 365 project this year. (Ok, so a 361 Project since I'm starting a few days late!)

I've decided that doing a 365 with my DSLR is just not for me right now. Why, you ask? Weeeeelp, let me tell you.... (can you tell I've really thought about this?)   I feel like the photos I take with my DSLR are photos I wind up spending lots of time with. (i.e. I download them, edit them, put them into photo books, print them and frame them for my house....ok, let's not get too carried away, I can't remember the last time I actually printed and framed one of my pictures...shame on me! I smell another 2013 resolution!!)

The point is- I feel like the photos I take on my camera get showcased/viewed more often, whereas the photos I take on my phone get lost in the massive black hole that is my iphone camera gallery. I snap a pic, sometimes get around to posting it on instagram, and then never really see/look at it again.

So, at the end of 2012, I went through my instagram account and thought- Wow, these are some GREAT memories! I wish I could display these somewhere so I could see them more often!! So I went ahead and ordered all of my instagram photos through the fabulous app "postalpix".  PostalPix is so great! You order right from your iphone and you can choose the size you get your images printed. I chose 5x5 squares, which are so cute and tiny- they look just like instagram pics...in the flesh! Anyways (I'm really getting off subject here...) here is a pic of what I did with my IG photos:
{excuse the awful, grainy pictures}

A few square metal boards from Target, a box of cute magnets and viola- an "Insta-Life" Board!!!  Now I can see these forgotten memories every day- right there on the side of my fridge next to my nana's cute apron and my shopping list! I loved the idea so much, I made my sister one for Christmas- using a cute vintage yellow frame, some chicken wire backing, and some teeny clips! 

Finally...my iphone pictures getting the credit and recognition they deserve! The idea of putting more focus on the candids I take daily with my iphone really struck a cord with me. So, I decided to take it to a new, more organized level.

Thus- my 365 Project- using iphone pics, via Instagram!

 I'm already excited about the book I plan on making at the end of the project (....getting ahead of myself, again...)  but, hopefully that will keep me motivated!

 Are you planning to do a 365 this year? It's not too late to start! 

Leave your info below- I'd love to check yours out!

 Feel free to follow along with me on instagram! My username is jjm7  (#jmphoto365).

Happy Shooting, friends!

Love Letter to Sea Bright

This Christmas I traveled home to NJ, as many of you know. It was the first time I had been home in 6 months. It was therefore, the first time I saw our beaches..."post Sandy". 

My sister brought me out to show me and of course, my camera came along.

We didn't drive up and down the coast of NJ, visiting towns we'd only been to once or twice. We didn't venture too far at all. We didn't have to.

In fact, we didn't drive but 10 minutes away from our childhood home, to the beach we grew up on.

These pictures are of one small beach town. They don't capture even half of the worst of the damage that was done to the Jersey Shore. They don't even capture the worst of this town. These pictures do show destruction, however. They show the destruction that remains two months "Post Sandy", after attempts at cleaning up, rebuilding, and reopening had already been made. 

I don't think I could have stomached seeing my beach any earlier than this.

I know Sea Bright and many other NJ towns will rebuild. I also know it will be a long, hard process; and even then, it will never be the same.  The seats at Steve's that I sat on during my high school summer mornings will not be worn-in the way they used to be. The markings on the walls at Donovan's are forever washed away and the ticket booth my friends and I once stood in, collecting parking tickets while singing songs from "Rent" at the top of our lungs, no longer exists.

But, I know, in time there will be "new" and with even more time, it will feel again like it used to.

This is my feeble attempt to show my respect to those that lost everything in the storm. 

Video Link Here:

 

The Griswolds

We had a rough start to the Holiday Season this year. 

I knew that being around family would be the pick-me-up cure I needed. So, Q and I took a little mommy & me adventure together- from TX to NJ (Daddy would soon join us at a later date.) We arrived the same day as my brother, who flew in from England for his holiday break. To say that we had a mini-family reunion at the airport would be an understatement. 

The "Miller" Family of 5 was together again...with the addition of little Q in the mix. 

Let me start by saying that a Christmas family tradition of ours has always been watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation together. And so, when my sister planned a little "surprise" field trip for us...it was, well...perfectly appropriate!

Off we trekked to a "cut your own" Christmas Tree Farm. It was a day fulled with laughs, funnel cakes, deer poop {use your imagination}, tractor rides, hot chocolate, and photo-ops galore! I think it's safe to safe that we put the Griswolds to shame out there in the fir tree fields.

It was a day much needed...by everyone. 

These are the days you remember forever...this is what family traditions and memories are made of. This is what family is all about. 

This is my family.

My heart.

 

 

 

 

Quinnie has enough of picture taking and made a run for it!

 

"This one...?"

 

Cutest lil' tree topper ever...

 

The Miller-Mac Girls...

 

Thank goodness for Aunties & Uncles...and iphones!

 

Most stylish lumber-jack I know!

 

A few tree stump shavings to save as ornaments! {Thanks for the great idea Auntie B!}

 {And as for our newly chopped tree? Well... "Looks great! Little full, lotta sap"} 

Winter Wonderland

 A Little Winter Wonderland {aka Christmas Card} shoot.

...don't be fooled...it took 3 different attempts, 3 different days to complete this gallery! ;)