My winning photo . . .
And there are more of my submissions to come!
This morning I got to take my family to the Grand Opening of Hoag Hospital, Irvine for a special breakfast and tour of the beautifully refurbished facility. How did I gain access to such an elite event (ha ha!)? So glad you asked. Well, I shot one of the 100 photos named winners of the Hoag Hospital Irvine photo contest. Cool? I sure think so. Below are some pictures of the fun. The one thing missing? My photo! I walked all of the open floors of that dang place (no small feat what with the large baby currently inhabiting my abdomen) and it turned out that my photo was one of the 50 or so that are still “in production.” It was definitely fun wandering around the hospital with no patients and very little staff. Not to mention Sid and I agreed that the photos, all taken on the Mountains to Sea Trail, as well as the other aspects of the refurbishment, really make the hospital a pleasant place to be.
The breakfast was given in the cafeteria of the hospital, it was nice.
Ave asked me to take a picture of the back of her hair so she could see what it looked like. Lovely, no?
I like them.
Wandering. Isn’t it pretty in there?
How rad is that?! I love that! When I get my teeth cleaned, I always close my eyes and pretend that the super bright light in my face is the sun and that I am on an empty beach with God, so I almost felt like this was my idea! This room was labeled “Nuclear Medicine,” I would like to know what that refers to, exactly.
Because of this photo, the baby will have bragging rights when he/she needs ‘em one day, “Oh yeah? Well I’ve been winning photography contests since I was in the womb!”
Jonny was the first to spot my name and the look on his face when he saw it was very gratifying. I’m always trying to impress my kids and it isn’t easy!
Here are my lovely gifts, a glass paper weight and a really nice book of some of the winning photos.
The other winning photos are so amazing that I wish I could go out into the wild today and take some pictures. But that season will be here, with the funny, coincidental circumstances that always seem to accompany such times, soon enough. There were definitely some funny and coincidental circumstances surrounding my becoming aware of the Mountains to Sea Trail (part of it is in my hood) and the contest itself. I’m super grateful that everything lined up just right for us to share this special morning. My only issue is, how will I ever get to see my photo in the hospital? I suppose I could wait a few months, and then try to fake an orthopaedic, pulmonary or cardiac event, so that I would require care from the facility (did I mention how nice-hotel-like the patient rooms are? They all have huge windows, thus a view and natural light as well as lovely photos on the walls taken on the Mountains to Sea Trail! I would fancy a stay in one), and then sneak out of my room in the middle of the night to find my photo . . . Hmmm . . .
It’s been a weird week here in the Stankovits Household. Sid broke his ankle skateboarding last Tuesday. He’s been in a cast with the doctor’s orders to have his “toes above nose” since Thursday. I’m now 35 weeks pregnant, wow! This pregnancy has picked up some momentum. I’m so grateful that: #1 Sid didn’t have to get surgery, #2 This pregnancy and baby are healthy (as far as we know at this point) and I am strong enough to keep up with the housework, #3 That we have had the blessing of Sid being around with us all the time, I wish it could be this way more, but now is a time when it’s super cool as we’re getting closer to baby’s arrival, #4 That the injury didn’t occur closer to my due date. There’s a sublist attached to each of those numbers, too. Life is weird, but good weird, I think this will be one of the periods in time that we look back on often and say, “wasn’t it crazy, but so cool?” A lot like the period of time surrounding the birth of our third child, if you’re unfamiliar with that story, you could check out The Story of June’s Birth under “birth stories” to the right.
Here are some photos of this weird week.
He was eating this up! This was before he got his cast, the day he had seen our Primary Care Physician. He was stoked because without the injury he never would have been lying on the couch long enough to allow for this! He knew it and so he savored it. To the left is a sheepskin for the baby which had just arrived from here. I had read that, aside from the wonderful benefits of putting babies to sleep on them, one reason they use sheepskins in hospitals in Germany, is because it speeds up the recovery time of those who had undergone surgeries, so Sid rested his ankle on it a lot before the cast was put on. Two birds, one sheepskin =)
There’s the cast behind June. A nice way to pass the time, he was completing the next painting in his Revelation series. He got it done! And it is amazing, like the others. Crutches next to the waiting baby bassinet (with a blanket over it so the cat won’t sleep in it) . . . weird week.
By the end of the weekend the kids were crazy with cabin fever, so Monday we headed down to Baby Beach. I have a couple of great videos, but still haven’t found a way to post my videos on here, yikes Jennifer, get with it! So here are some photos from that much needed respite.
Those three!
Thankfully the trash bag worked and no sand made it into the cast.
I almost can’t believe that’s my boy when I look at this photo! He’s so grown up.
She was exhilarated from her swim in the ocean and it was contagious!
She asked to borrow my “glassies.”
I like the way life’s weirdness stretches us in ways we aren’t used to, we get to see how capable we really are and we get to rejoice in a new awareness of all we are so richly blessed with. Wishing you and yours, only the very best weirdness life has to offer =)
