Braggin' on my husband

Last night, E told me he is amazing.

I already knew that.

But he received an award from the Kansas Press Association for work last year. In fairness, the awards are shared w/ his co-desk designer.

Erik and Troy won second place in headline writing.

They also were awarded third place in sports design.

Yay for the fellas!

Time to vote!

Ooooooook people.

I stalk a few blogs regularly ... and Davina tries to encourage photogs to get fit + healthy. I enjoy checking in on her blog.

Ok, so I put in a few pieces of advice ... and she used 2 of mine. SO, please GO HERE and vote for me! I voted for #4 ... I don't think I'll get to pool the votes for me. It's either/or. ;)

I wouldn't say I've turned into a health nut (I just ate my tiny raisin cinnamon rolls), but I certainly am motivated to keep my body from falling apart in 50-ish years, that's the ideal.

Washington D.C. — random

From a sampler platter at Capital City Brew!


National Cathedral Shrine-thingy.


Union Station.


Outside the Armenian Catholic Church.


Awesome-looking fire station across the street from our hotel.

Random, I know. But then again, so am I.

Washington D.C. — Newseum

YAY!!!!!!! this was the BIG thing I wanted to do in DC. Yup, I'm a NEWS NERD!!!! :)


But when I saw the Newseum was close to where we would be, I totally INSISTED on going inside.


It was exciting to see the "today's front pages" feature out front. It's interesting to see how different papers across the country display the news in different ways.


This is a powerful visual. All of the green is countries who have freedom of the press. Yellow has semi-freedom. Red has no freedom of the press. It was incredibly powerful to stand back and look at this wall ... and all I could think was how lucky/blessed we are to have the freedom we have.


There are plenty of awesome journalism quotes ... here are a few (but my favorite remains "if your mother says she loves you, check it out."):






And this editorial cartoon cracked me UP!


With the promise of a dog for the Obama girls, there was an entire gallery of presidential pooches. :)


And here's the view from the top of the Newseum. Totally WORTH the price of admission. Oh, and for all of you journalists, you get a little b it of a break on the admission price for being under-paid in a thankless job. Did you ever think there'd be a perk for being a journalist? :)


And there was some displays on those who put their way in the way of possible harm to bring the news around the world.


Last one today is for my sister:

Working on the 101 list — Crunchy Chicken and Fruit Salad

So I had some leftover chicken and needed a quick and easy recipe. Enter, Crunchy Chicken and Fruit Salad from BH&G. :)

Of course, here's the list of the new recipes I've tried so far:
Dec. 21 — Peanut Butter Pancakes
Dec. 31 — Calzones
Jan. 9 — Braised Brussell Sprouts + Pork Chops with a creamy herbed sauce
Jan. 14 — Black Bean Burritos
Jan. 18 — Hot Chocolate Mix
Jan. 29 — Ham and Bean Soup
Feb. 1 — Macaroni Salad
Feb. 14 — Focaccia Bread
Feb. 17 — Honey Glazed Chicken
Feb. 27 — Potato Soup
March 4 — Crunchy Chicken and Fruit Salad

... WOW ... one week left!!!!!!

Washington D.C. — Capitol

Look familiar?


I'm just missing the President in the picture (I DID, however, see the Presidential motorcade whilst having a pint at a local Irish Pub!). If I'd been at the top of my game, I'd have had my buddies take a photo of ME going up the steps. It just goes to show you what 24 hours on the bus one-way will do to a girl. Would you believe I was so desparate to sleep on the way back, I even tried to sleep on the floor? TRIED being the operative word. Ugh. I've had people ask me if I'd go back. The answer is yes, but I am old and cranky and it would take a LOT to get me to do the bus portion of the trip again. But I digress.


Another view of the same place:


Some fun during the tour. I couldn't decide if I liked it wider w/ 5 sun spots, or tighter w/ 3. So I give you both:




Hey! I recognize him! Good old Ike was hanging out in the area. :)


Some pretty ceilings:




And lastly ... check out this detail. It was on a light fixture. I just couldn't get over the thought that was put into some of these details. I think it's safe to say that doesn't happen as much nowadays. Too bad. I like these little gems you find.


ps-I've also updated my Web site ... and added some columns. :)

Washington D.C. — walking tour at night

Of course, the biggest deal was a new President was sworn into office 2 days before we arrived. The town was a' buzzin.'

So, the night after the March for Life ... I hit the streets with my awesome tour guides, Lovely Kristine and Handsome Heath.


This was the ONE time I wish I had my pro camera with me. I was using the awesome point and shoot Erik gave me for Christmas. I loved the shadows and the light in comparison with the row of flags. :)


We were going up the steps to the Lincoln Monument ... my first glimpse of Abe:


Kristine and Heath in the big area!


Me w/ Abe! All bundled up, plus 30 pounds of clothes to keep me WARM during our walk.


And here was my most favorite part of the interior. It gave me a giggle. Marble turf? :)


We walked around the entire exerior.


And the cold was worth the reward of an awesome view of the monuments!

# 26 — Go to Washington, D.C.

... CHECK!!!!!

Woot! Woot! :)

Over the next few days I'll be posting from my trip to D.C. Do you believe I am 27 and I'd NEVER been to our nation's capitol? Sheesh!

From the archives ...

Isn't this woman ADORABLE? Ida Conrow McGhee was 102 at the time I took the photo. She was the oldest living letterwinner and helped dedicate a boat during my years at K-State.

For a project, I lugged out a super-heavy box from the junk room .... and dug through it for photos from that time. It was certainly full of old negs and lots of surprises!


This was probably the BIGGEST surprise. I saw it and immediately thought "I didn't take this photo." ... but I captioned it, so I guess I did. Odd.

Sports photography certainly wasn't my strong suit during college and after. Mostly because I didn't feel like fighting the guys for the sports assignments. It was easy to shoot sports when the sports team unpopular. But the minute they gained a shred of credibility, the guys were all over it. Too bad. I loved shooting KSU womens BB, but then they started rocking out, and no more for me.

Oh well, life goes on.

And every once in awhile, you found a jewel, which is what happened Saturday night.

And I'm satisfied just knowing I took a photo I thought was taken by a photographer I admire. :-)

#79 — Get karenmikols.com UP AND RUNNING!!!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you hear me screaming from here? I'm SO excited to have my editorial site UP AND RUNNING! Please CLICK HERE to check out karenbonar.com .... I'm trying to figure out how to get it to forward from my maiden name to my married name. What a struggle. To keep going by my maiden name or to just go w/ my married name. Anyone who's worked w/ me professionally knows my maiden name ... ugh. Whatever. I figured if I got both domain names and just forwarded them one to the other, it'd work out, right?


I'm proud to be knocking off items from the 101 in 1001 list.

Check out the galleries ... I've actually compiled photos from several different projects ... all in one place. I especially enjoy
the abstract gallery. There's also the teen pregnancy I photographed a LONG time ago. Erik made the comment he'd never seen those or many of the photos before ... so true. But here they are now!

There's still some updating to do, tweaking to do on it, but the big thing was GETTING IT ONLINE AND RUNNING. Ya know?

You have to click the play button on the main site to get the slideshow to roll through ... I'm trying to figure out how to get it to run automatically. But that's one of the tweaks ... it'll all get sorted out eventually.

EDIT: got the opening slideshow fixed! It automatically runs now. Yippie!!!!!!!