New Year 2009: Mac & Mariah

Mariah and I started out 2009 together, although she was snoring soundly when midnight fireworks went off to signify the new year. At five, she's still a lightweight.

After our traditional breakfast of french toast with syrup and bacon, she settled in for a day of playing with her new Christmas toys, given to her the night before. We don't hold to normal rules about holidays, so getting your Christmas gifts on New Year's Eve isn't unusual. She can't read the calendar yet anyway.

We watched a favorite movie this morning, and then we took off for Red Rocks, a favorite place of hers. She had the wrong footwear on today, and soon there were tears over sore feet.

Red Rocks was really hopping today; all sizes and shapes of people were working the stairs, accompanied by someone's stereo that blared oldies music and while most used feet to conquer the steps, some used BOTH feet and hands. One highly dedicated group made their way down the stairs on hands and feet, straddling ungraciously with their toned rears high in the sky. Gloved hands are the only thing keeping noggins from meeting pavement, and Mariah commented to one of the groups that "passed" by us,

"You guys are gonna kill yourselves doing that!"

Sometimes children point out the obvious. I'm not sure I want a toned rear end badly enough to try this new workout method.

We ended up coming back home and she played happily with her paints and ponies. We watched some videos on YouTube, and her favorites are the "Sneezing Panda" and "Funny Cats 3." My phone alarm went off at 4:30p.m., the appointed time in which a few of us have agreed to make a picture every day during 2009. We are documenting where we took the image, the who, the what, and anything else of note. What we do with this project is still up for grabs, but since Gabe thought of it, he can come up with a creative way to put it all together. I personally think it's just an excuse to get together often and look at work, eat Italian food, laugh and do impressions of Kenn asking us,

"What focal length was that shot at?"

"What was your shutter speed?"

"What was your ISO?"

We may joke, but in reality, we like how we sound when we remember these details.

Mariah and Mac are the inaugural image for this project.