Oh Snap...My Motto & My Passion

   

What started as a cute vinyl decal for my car window, has become my motto in life.  Every morning I find myself saying "Oh snap" trying to get the kids lunches packed, or when I finally get out the door and realize my coffee is still sitting on the kitchen counter, or yet again when I get to the YMCA to drop the older 2 kids off and they ask where my sons towel is. (sigh) (eye roll) "OH SNAP".  Mom life is just.... hard.  It's fun, its exciting, never a dull moment, please lets not have another day like this... but it's just hard.  "Oh snap" prevents loads of unnecessary and yet inappropriate words from rolling off my tongue.  
    And Oh snap is my passion.  I love photography.  I love snapping photos!  Of the cat, the dog, the kids, flowers, my messy house, strangers, water, food, my pretty husband... you name it!  Snap! Snap! Snap! Photography, a glass of wine or morning cup of joe is all I need to have a relaxing start or end to my day.  I get lost in my images.  I forget the stress of the day, the unruly child at the grocery store (yes mine I mean), the smart mouth that never stops (again my child), the husbands stressful job or long hours (usually both), or the bills that don't come with enough month to pay them.  
    This weekend, I just needed to have my camera in my hand.  So early Saturday morning, I started cleaning and decided that was now how I planned to spend my day, and loaded the kids in the car, while the hubs worked in the yard.  
    We started at a local botanical garden.  First, it was free.  Nature without a fee? I'll take it!  Now let me tell you it was no "Atlanta Botanical Garden", but it was nice, quaint and relaxing.  The creek was beautiful!!!

There were wildlife - turtles, fish, beautiful birds, hawks, squirrels... amazing.  

I was quite proud that I saw a hawk just chilling on some branches sticking out of a mucky creek bed.  There are 5 that live there and apparently its uncommon to see them up close.  

However, this beautiful guy let me snap away for about 20 minutes.  He was aware of my presence by the way.  

Then there were the flowers... ohhhh the flowers were beautiful!  Mostly Hydrangeas, but there were a variety of colors, and they were all so beautiful.  

We ended up at the Zoo.  Don't ask.  My kids were enjoying being outside, as was I, so it just seemed like a great idea! An hour away from home, but School's out, it's summer, dad's busy, and mom has her camera.  Snap Snap!

My oldest angels! (uh-um) They are beauties and this girl - sassy as she may be, never takes a bad photo.  Anyway - There were quite a bit of people at the zoo, so I didn't have 20 minutes to snap a moving beast to get a perfect shot.  But I got a beautiful photo of a giraffe. 

She turned at just the right moment, as I was initially putting my camera away because she was our last stop.  Them lashes tho! And I'm certain she was posing just for me!

These are my days- my weekend days - my not working days...  I pray and believe one day, I will only snap photos from sun up to sun down.