Happy New Year!

New Year's Day can be the laziest day of the year - I mean there's nothing you absolutely have to get done. Unless you're heading to the Rose Parade, or a football game, or an Open House, what plans do you have? Unless of course you have a long list of resolutions and goals and this is the first day of the new year and you can't wait to get started!

I had fun today - I lounged some, and then worked like mad on all the new stuff I want to do this year. Ended up being a very productive day! And then at Sunset I did a little shooting around the neighborhood...



This is the view from my front door, looking West. That's the historic First Christian Church I've blogged about before, from a different angle. A few months ago the trees had so many leaves, I could barely see the church in between, but now I have a pretty good view.



Such an amazing sky just before sunset. It was bright blue with some white fluffy clouds, but then these dark grey clouds started to blow in, and it made some interesting patterns in the sky.



I love the way the branches on these palm trees dangle and dance so gracefully. And the sky looks like an ocean between them.



You can see the sky is getting pink behind these leaves. I am in LOVE with this tree. So pretty!



Find some flowers, add a little movement, and Voilà! I think camera movement is a tricky thing to do well - but this shot works for me. It gives the plant a magical quality, in my opinion.



And finally, my nemesis... I'm including this shot because it's New Year's Day and the one sort-of-resolution I have this year is to give up Diet Coke. I am not expecting to give it up totally, forever, so it is a resolution I'll break eventually, but the longer I go before breaking it, the better! It's bad for me, I'm totally addicted, and I love it. But it's time to break the habit. I do love the tag line along the top of the can, Give, Live, Love. Sounds great to me! But I can do without what's in the can - at least for a little while!