'Against the Colors' by tropicaLiving

Against the Colors, originally uploaded by tropicaLiving.

For those of you who've just had a long bank holiday weekend I hope you had a great time. This photo has nothing to do with with the holidays - unless you went to a butterfly farm this weekend - I just thought it was time for another amazing butterfly image! This one is really fantastic! The green and pink are so bright it just makes the black and white of the butterfly look really bold. And to me the butterfly looks a bit like he's on two legs going for a walk down a hill with a couple of really heavy wings on his back! It funny what you can see in a photo if you look at it enough!

'Wanna be...' by | Krysia |

Wanna be..., originally uploaded by | Krysia |.

I love this photo! I love the soft colours, I love the composition and I think it's technically great. But what I love about it most of all is that I see my future in it. Or rather my 19 month old daughter's future. I am constantly being amazed at how grown up she's getting. Just like the girl in this photo she loves to wear my shoes. I'll be in the living room and I'll wonder where she is. The next thing I know she'll come wandering in wearing a pair of my shoes which she's found in the hallway. I know it won't be long before she's insisting on trying on the big heels like the girl in the photo!

She also made me so proud this weekend with her dancing skills. I already knew she was very good at doing the actions to 'Dingle Dangle Scarecrow', 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, 'If your happy and you know it' and other such songs but yesterday she really showed off! We were at a wedding and they had a fantastic band playing and she actually dragged ME to the dancefloor!!! It's usually me that tries to get people up to dance. Her usual bedtime came and went but she didn't run out of energy. She was strutting her stuff like she'd been clubbing for years!

I could go on and on about how fantastic I think she is but instead I'll sit back and let you appreciate this fabulous photo instead.

'Pink Dawn' by MazzaPix

Pink Dawn, originally uploaded by MazzaPix.

After yesterday's dramatic fire picture I thought I would calm things down a little with this amazingly tranquil photo. It really is stunning. I imagine that looking at this when you are stressed out would make you feel a just that little bit more peaceful inside. And just think what it would be like waking up to this view every morning. What a great start to the day - although perhaps I'd end up being so chilled out and wouldn't get anything done.

'BBQ' by Me

BBQ, originally uploaded by PhotoPuddle.

As we are now entering barbecue season I thought I'd show you something a little different tonight and see what you thought of it. The barbecue count for our back garden so far this year is currently three (as in we've had three not we own three!) which isn't bad going considering it's still May. I hope we have many more over the next few months. Anyway, I was sitting in my garden with my camera, as you do, and decided to point it at the barbecue which had just been lit. I was pretty amazed by the result! I think this has captured the heat and the energy of the fire really well.

'Sending Bouquets of Love' by Trisha Brink Design

Sending Bouquets of Love, originally uploaded by Trisha Brink Design.

When I saw this photo I almost squealed with delight. It's just so pretty and girly and well just lovely. Mail boxes like this are great. I reckon they'd make collecting the post into an exciting event. And extra cool if you were to find a bouquet of flowers in there! That said collecting the post is always a bit of an event in our house. Our little girl is the mail monitor and always rushes to the door to collect it for us. I don't know about you but I do get a little bit excited when the postman calls. It's usually junk mail or bills but every now and again it's something fun!

untitled image by toey™

, originally uploaded by toey™.

This is the most amazingly dreamy image I have seen in a long time. It's actually hard to find the words to describe it or what I like about it. I will therefore just say it's very magical and hope you like it too. I wonder if the photographer did manage to catch the sun in the end.

'Beach hut geometry' by ly wylde

Beach hut geometry, originally uploaded by ly wylde.

If I had a beach hut then today would definitely have been a beach hut day. But as I don't, it was a paddling pool in the garden day instead. That was lots of fun too.

This beach hut photo is great. I love the interesting angle it was taken from and I love colours - the blues are gorgeous. When I was looking at this picture I was wondering where it was taken as it looked so exotic. Amazingly it's in Southwold in the UK. I have seen lots of lovely Southwold photos now. I really must go there.... with my camera of course!

'Nesting Season' by georgianna lane

Nesting Season, originally uploaded by georgianna lane.

I wanted to feature one of Georgianna Lane's photos here as her work is fantastic. I love the way the colours in her photos manage to be both pastel and vibrant at the same time. You can see more of what I mean here.

But the photo of hers I wanted to share with you today was this one. It's just so cute. A perfect looking nest in a perfect location. If you wanted to sum up spring in one photo this would probably be it. In fact I think I may even be able to hear the beautiful bird song just by looking at it.

'My girl in the garden' by Me

My girl in the garden, originally uploaded by PhotoPuddle.

Feeling a bit more excited about my own photos today after a bit of a photoshoot with my little girl in the garden yesterday. I am sure she must groan to herself when she sees me coming with the camera. She just wants me to play not follow her around the garden hoping for her to do a really cute smile or something!

Here is one of my pictures from yesterday. I love it because I think it makes her look really grown up (she's only 19 months old). And it makes me curious about what she was looking at on the floor. Also I am very impressed she was keeping her sun hat on.

'104/365 [2010]' by Qasim Mirza

104/365 [2010], originally uploaded by Qasim Mirza.

I am posting this picture as a reminder to myself to paint my toe nails! Summer appears to be here so it's time for sandals and pretty feet! In my younger days I used to paint my finger nails all the time but the effort involved in that is far too much now! I always seem to chip my nail polish pretty much as soon as it's dried but no one notices what's going on with your toes so you can get away with imperfect polish for ages! Or maybe that's just me!

Of course as well as a reminder this is a great photo as well. I love the bright pink and seem to be featuring a lot of the colour at the moment. And a colour like this on a bright white background is always so striking. I just hope it was taken on something disposable and no nice piece of furniture or anything was painted in order to get the perfect shot!

'Call a spade a spade' by Me

Call a spade a spade, originally uploaded by PhotoPuddle.

I have realised I've not really posted much of my own photography so far this month. I guess I'm not being inspired so much by my own photos at the moment, especially as I keep finding so many amazing images by really talented photographers.

I was therefore finding it hard to pick one of my own to feature tonight (even harder trying to avoid more shots of beach huts and tulips!) so I thought I'd ask Flickr what to post. Here is, according to Flickr, my most "interesting" photo - whatever that means! I do like it luckily. I like it because it was taken on a beautiful day out in Littlehampton. This was the only shot I took of these spades (as I wasn't sure if you were allowed to hang out in a beach front shop taking photos of the merchandise!) so I am pleased it turned out OK.

'On The Street Where You Live' by Ronaldo F Cabuhat

On The Street Where You Live, originally uploaded by Ronaldo F Cabuhat.

I really like this photo. After seeing it for the first time I just had to keep going back and having another look at it. The trouble is I really can't say what it is I love about it. What it is that drags me back for a second look. But I am not alone in my thoughts. It has been viewed 13,285 times on Flickr, made a favourite by 349 people and appeared in 37 Flickr galleries. I therefore throw it open to you. What do you think it is about this photo that makes it so great?

'The flower behind the refraction' by Morphicx

The flower behind the refraction, originally uploaded by Morphicx.

I love close up shots of flowers and this one is just fantastic. It's a real burst of colour. I love the yellow and pink together. And what makes this extra special is the water droplets on it. Fantastic detail. I am so pleased that summer is almost here and all the summer flowers will soon be blooming. I'll hopefully be able to lots of lovely macro flower shots that I can share with you. Fingers crossed they'll be as great as this one.

'Landing in France.' by Chelsea (Disco Tetris)

Landing in France., originally uploaded by Chelsea (Disco Tetris).

Just a quick one from me tonight but just wanted to post this fabulous photo. I am still loving all things Parisian and it made me smile. I reckon this image would look fantastic blown up large as a poster or print on someone's wall. Perhaps my wall in fact!

'I am a mother...' by {life through the lens}

I am a mother..., originally uploaded by {life through the lens}.

The power of the blog is amazing. I wrote a post yesterday about how blissful it would be going to the beach with my daughter and after I posted I agreed with myself. It would be lovely to go to the seaside with my little girl so we went to Brighton for the day today and had a fabulous time!

I totally love being a mother and every day my little girl becomes more and more my little best friend. Only eighteen months old but she can be so kind and caring, and she has a brilliant sense of humour. She also shares my love of shoes! (Of course I am writing this post through rose-tinted glasses and completely ignoring any of the training she's currently undergoing for the terrible twos!)

Anyway, I thought this photo would be perfect to go with this post tonight. It's so simple but I think very powerful. Mother is in capital letters as it's so important and the flower lies next to it showing the beauty of motherhood. More excellent work from very a talented photographer.

'in his element' by penwren

in his element, originally uploaded by penwren.

So April was warm and sunny and made us think that summer was on the way. But May has been flippin' freezing so far! Had my flip flops all poised and ready but nope it's back to trainers and boots!

I love this photo because it looks so blissful. It would be nice if the weather was nice enough to sit outside and chill out even if it meant wearing an extra layer. And how perfect it would be to spend an afternoon sat by the sea with a good book in hand. Saying that though, I doubt I'll get any kind of afternoon free to spend with a book any time soon, by the seaside or otherwise! Perhaps I'll make do with an afternoon at the beach with my daughter throwing pebbles into the sea. I'd say that was pretty blissful too.

'I love tulips' by Me

I love tulips, originally uploaded by PhotoPuddle.

I decided to treat myself to some pretty flowers today. I'm still doing really well at buying flowers for the house. Today I opted for these really colourful tulips. If you'd asked me a year ago what my favourite flower was I would probably have said red roses. I love the colour and I had them as my bridal bouquet. However, my love of photography has really kicked off in the past year and I am seeing flowers in a totally different way. So now I would probably say it's tulips I love the best! I have featured so many lovely tulip photos on this blog already and be prepared there will be more to come!

'166/365' by ljkay

166/365, originally uploaded by ljkay.

I don't really have a lot to say about this one except when I saw it I just knew I had to put it on my blog! It's a wonderfully arty images of photos and I wouldn't be surprised if it had already been used on other photography blogs out there in the blogging world!! Great work!

'The Journey' by simply hue

The Journey, originally uploaded by simply hue.

You may or may not remember a post I wrote about my love of steam trains and how I would love to take an Orient Express style journey through Europe! Both me and my husband even looked into it but - ouch - those prices are steep!!! But never mind, the fantasty is probably even more exciting than the reality! I said I would have to find some beautiful luggage and here it is! Pictured in this fantastic photo are the fabulous cases I'll be taking with me. Now all I need to find is my dream dress for dinner!

'day 80::365 gratitude::achievement' by LaundryGirlPhotog

day 80::365 gratitude::achievement, originally uploaded by LaundryGirlPhotog {{on a mini break}}.

Happy Weekend everyone!! Hope you all have a fabulous couple of days whatever you get up to. Mine is going to be rather busy as our days are filled with visiting friends and family. It will be Sunday night before we know it.

I've picked this photo simply because of the beautiful colours. The picture is lovely for other reasons too but it's the colours that kept me coming back to look at it again and again.

'Houses of Parliament' by Photonian

Houses of Parliament, originally uploaded by Photonian.

It's election night here in the UK therefore I thought I'd be a bit topical with a photo of The Houses in Parliament. I found so many fantastic images of Parliament, Big Ben and Westminster Bridge but it was this photo that really grabbed my attention. It's really interesting to see a landmark like this shot from a different perspective. The sky is amazing too! And for those of your who are interested in more traditional views I will no doubt be featuring another amazing Houses of Parliament photo soon.

'Wood for the fire' by Me

Wood for the fire, originally uploaded by PhotoPuddle.

I am getting much braver with my camera. I don't know why, but I sometimes I feel a little bit shy when I am out and about taking photos. Like I'm not allowed to be taking pictures in public or something. This was taken on a brave day. We were at a National Trust place and there was a second hand book sale on in one of rooms in the garden. I couldn't resist taking some pictures of the books as they looked so vintage and cool. Turns out though that this snap I took on my way out was much better than any of the book photos.

'First on the sunbeds!' by lizwalley

First on the sunbeds!, originally uploaded by lizwalley.

Love this photo. As well as being really artistic and well composed, it totally makes me think I'm on holiday. I bet when this photo was taken most of the holidaymakers were still sleeping off the night before. The cat does seem to have the right idea though. I wonder if he's saving the other sun loungers for the rest of his cat family! If so he wants to get some towels on them quick sharpish!

Well this picture is another one that has got my imagination running wild. I'd therefore say that makes it a very good photo.

'Going UP!' by just.jane

Going UP!, originally uploaded by just.jane..

To all of you in the UK (or anywhere else that had a bank holiday today) hope you've had a lovely long weekend. Just think, there's another one in just a few weeks! Got to love May haven't you!

I chose this photo because I felt it had a real holiday feel to it. I love the vintage tones, all the colours and it really makes me want to visit Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk! Looks like it would be a great place for a long weekend.

'Champagne corks' by Teemu R

Champagne corks, originally uploaded by Teemu R.

I feel the need to celebrate a little as this is my 100th blog post! I have only been blogging since January but I am loving it. I love sharing some of the photos that I've taken that I am proud of and it's also great to sit of an evening looking at hundreds of other people's photos on Flickr. I really feel part of the blogging community too. I think that's what makes blogging so much fun. It's not just about writing your own posts but reading some wonderfully creative and well written blogs and 'meeting' some amazing people.

To accompany this post I had to have a champagne picture. Nothing like a lovely glass of champagne to celebrate with. I just love the simplicity and of this one. It's essentially just five corks on a table but everything about it is perfect and so well thought out. I love the bright, crispness of the photo and I can't believe how shiny the table must have been to be able to capture such an amazing reflection.

Anyway - cheers!! And here's to the next 100 posts!