52 weeks of downtown lancaster:: week 7

Remember my post about the Zap & Co. fire and the injured owner, Steve Murray? (If you don't, go read it now so this post makes sense.)

Last Sunday, Mr. DU, some friends and I attended a benefit for Steve at The Bulls Head Pub (pictured above). It's not exactly in downtown Lancaster (it's a little town just north, called Lititz), but I thought this was a nice follow up to my previous post.

Read the news article here (I'm quoted!) and see the news video here (I'm in that, too (in the background)!).

By the way, the Bulls Head is a great little place- good atmosphere, awesome beer selection and yummy food. If you ever head up to Lititz, stop by and check it out.

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52 Weeks of Downtown Lancaster is my photo project for 2011. It's meant to keep me creative and posting about a consistent topic on a weekly basis. And I'm also pretty hellbent on to getting the word out that there's more to Lancaster, Pa. than Amish buggies, farms and outlet shopping. View the rest of my 52 Weeks of Downtown Lancaster pictures here.

All pictures taken by me, unless otherwise noted.

beagle mania monday!

Listen, I said I liked (er...loved) beagles, so really, it was only a matter of time before I launched a regular weekly(ish) post dedicated to beagles. And since Mondays generally suck, I thought that would be a good day for some beagle cuteness. (That and, "Beagle Mania Tuesday" just didn't have the same ring to it.)

Mostly Beagle Mania Monday will be pictures of my beagles, because it's my blog and my beagles rock.



PS- I know that big black thing in the bottom left image isn't really a beagle, but I don't want her to feel left out of the fun, so I made her an honorary beagle, okay? Okay.

a gigantic case of the mondays

Raise your hand if you ever felt like you needed a weekend to recover from your weekend so you can get the things done you were supposed to get done over said weekend had your weekend plans not been hijacked by the weekend plan stealing banshees?

This weekend, I intended to:

• Set up my photo studio and take What I Wore pictures
• Write this week's blog posts, or at least a few of them
• Make root vegetable pot pie for dinner on Sunday
• Relax and zone out mindlessly in front of the TV
• Run a few miles on the elliptical

Instead I:

• Ran around for most of the morning on Saturday, buying not-fun things for our new house (like mouse traps and plastic containers)
• Visited the Humane League (twice) and came home with another beagle (her name is Meadow, she is awesome and I'll introduce her to you soon)
• Went to the pet store to buy Meadow lots of presents
• Nearly set the kitchen on fire by using the oven for the first time (for that pot pie I wanted to bake), but apparently, the oven is broken

I see no resemblance between list one and list two here, do you? And that is why, you are stuck with this random post, and that pretty picture of orchids that I snapped while shopping at Lowes for mouse traps and containers.

Introducing 52 Weeks of Downtown Lancaster

I've been trying to think of something I could do on a weekly basis that didn't require a ton of thought or time. Not because I'm lazy, but because I want something I can do with some semblance of consistency despite my busy schedule. And because part of my mission with this blog is to spread the word that there's more going on in Lancaster than Amish buggies and outlet shopping. So, I came up with the idea to combine those two goals into this project.

This idea stems from the other creative ideas out there in blogging land. There's an e-book out there in the indie design/handmade blogging world called 52 Weeks of Blogging your Passion. It's a great book and a great project, but not one that I'm ready to take on. Not yet. Not this year.

But there are some other bloggers out there who are starting their own 52 Weeks type of projects and after reading them, I got inspired. Do you need inspiration, too? May I suggest starting here with Brandi and her 52 Colors project. It's a lovely idea and I love that she's combining color and photography (two of my favorite things!). When exposed to those two things in tandem, I turn into the likes of a 2-year-old on the loose in a candy shop - pretty colors, pretty pictures! Can I have some more, please?

So, back to my own project. Whether I take photos with my Canon DSLR, my little point and shoot or my favoritest (yes, favoritest) iPhone app ever, Hipstamatic, I'm ready to document the places, spaces and faces I encounter here in downtown Lancaster, Pa.

Ready? Let's go!

52 Weeks of Downtown Lancaster, Week 1
It's snowing here tonight and this is the view of the snowy rooftops from my 3rd floor studio space.