winter walk

winter walk from Ali Murphy on Vimeo.

"ever so softly, winter brings peace to the earth and hope to our hearts" 

this weekend i went for a winter photo walk around campus.  it was freezing and snowing heavily at times, so i didn't stay out too long but i got some nice wintery shots.  i had to trek through about 8" of snow to get the first few photos in this video...and i loved every minute of it :)

i put together a quick movie of some of my photos [they're all unedited and straight-out-of-camera].  it was so much fun to be out in the snow and just enjoying nature.

a few of the snowy pine photos are on flickr.

hope you had a wonderful snow-filled weekend too!

saturday morning

 

i've been spending way too much time on the computer lately [surprise, surprise], so this morning i decided to take a break from technology.  i put on some music, made a cup of peppermint tea, and painted my nails...then i flipped through some wonderfully mindless gossip magazines [a perfect saturday morning, i think].

my mom got me the prettiest red nail polish for my birthday.  and guess what it is called??  ali's big break!!  how perfect is that?

so i'm back on the computer for the rest of the day to work [and to procrastinate on facebook, flickr, and blogs], but at least i took a little break from technology...

...and now i get to rock pretty red nails while i type :)

snow day

the past few days have been extremely snow-filled here in PA, and most people are miserable about it.  but not me...i love it :)

yes i have moments, like when i was walking back from a meeting late last night, almost a mile across campus...my feet were cold, my head was wet from the snow, and i keep slipping on all of the unplowed walkways.  or this morning when i cleaned off my car for the 20th time this week [a total exaggeration, i know :)].  or tonight when i hike downtown to get groceries and build some serious arm muscle carrying it all home.

but every morning i still wake up with a smile on my face when i see those fluffy flakes falling from the sky.  i think people have lost that magical excitement of a snow day.  people no longer appreciate mother nature, they just complain about how she disrupts their life.  i think that the snow is a reminder to slow down, to stay home and take a break from the busyness of every day, to enjoy a quiet moment in nature, or to channel your 8-year-old self and have a snowball fight or build a snowman.

last night i looked out my window and saw this sweet little snow angel on the lawn outside.  someone remembered what snow days are really about and took time to enjoy it :)

so i challenge you to take a minute and enjoy the snow this weekend...no matter how miserable it makes you.  go for a walk, take some pictures, or fall back into the snow and make an angel of your own...

christmas in new york

[see larger images on flickr]

for my birthday, my parents took me into new york to see a broadway show and walk around the city.  the show was so much fun [promises, promises] with lots of laughs and great music :) and the city was absolutely beautiful.  it was truly dressed in its christmas best:

bows on skyscrapers

twinkling lights on every tree

christmas shoppers dodging bright yellow cabs

carolers singing

st pat's filled with candles, christmas trees, and prayers

...there was definitely some christmas magic in that cold, winter air :)

light in the darkness

[see larger image on flickr]

"darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
- martin luther king, jr.

i took these photos at st. pat's in NYC right before christmas.  my parents took me into the city to see a broadway show for my birthday and we had the perfect day in the city!  we stopped at the beautiful st. pat's cathedral to listen to mass and light a few prayer candles.

i've always loved the prayer candles in church ...hundreds of tiny, flickering lights ... each it's own silent prayer nestled among other silent prayers.  when you step back and look at all of the candles together, they illuminate the church in a warm, hopeful glow.  it's proof that many tiny, individual lights really can eliminate darkness.

so, in honor of MLK day and this inspired man's beautiful quote...i think it's important to remember that we should all be a light in the darkness.

we should choose to love and not hate.

we should be a source of that warm, hopeful glow that illuminates our world.

first submission

on friday i submitted my first workshop paper!  it's a summary of my future research with my advisor about how collaboration using technology impacts privacy practices in the healthcare domain.  so i'm hoping we can get into this workshop, which is at a technology design conference in may.

this will be the first academic conference that i attend, and guess what?  it's in vancouver, canada!!  how awesome is that? i'm so excited to start to get into my research.

so, fingers-crossed that we get accepted :)

simon's evergreen

[see larger image on flickr]

simon pearce is an irishman who started a beautiful hand-blown glass and pottery store with workshop & restaurant locations in a few places in the US. one of those places was my hometown. sadly, they just announced that they’re closing this location :(

so i thought i’d do a little tribute to one of my favorite places with this photo of my favorite simon pearce piece, the evergreen…a special gift from my mom :)

i had great memories there:
...special lunches with my mom
...delicious birthday celebrations
...shopping & lunch trips with dear friends
...toasts to friendships, weddings, and babies

i’m going to miss that delicious vermont cheddar cheese soup, the irish brown bread, the warm, fluffy scones…and of course, sipping champagne out of their gorgeous hand-blown flutes…

slainte simon pearce, thanks for the memories…

color-coded

it's the first day of my spring semester and, this morning, i started to get out all of my school things - bag, water bottle, coffee mug, notebook, scarf & mittens.  then i noticed something...everything is color-coded!

now i'm OCD about a lot of things. when i watch TV i like the volume on an even number [please don't judge ;)].  i've been known to do color-coded OCD too...my closet organized by color, my push-pins at work used to be separated by color [in all fairness, they came that way...i just made sure it stayed that way], my bedroom is based on the same gray/blue & white color-scheme.  but this is the first time i did it without realizing it.  the only ones i bought consciously were the water bottle because it matched my new white & teal coffee mug, and the notebook because it matched my new kelly-moore bag [isn't she pretty?].  but the others?  total coincidence!

needless to say, this totally made my day!  so i guess spring-semester is off to a good start...and i haven't even been to class yet :)

hello beautiful

images from http://kellymoorebag.com/

isn't she beautiful?  i just ordered this bag today and i'm so excited!

i've been searching for a new laptop bag and looked at vera bradley and coach totes, but then i read about these new kelly moore bags for photographers.  now if you've ever tried to carry around an SLR with batteries, chargers, connectors, and alternate lenses it's nearly impossible with a regular bag.  everything moves all over the place and you're constantly worried that something is going to get damaged.

enter kelly moore and her stylish, organized, perfect camera-toting bags :) [check out her site for more designs].  the bags have a velcro strip inside with adjustable dividers so you can fit all of your camera gear [brilliant].  but i can also just take them out and use it as a messenger-style laptop bag for classes.

so i can use it for my laptop AND for my camera gear.  two birds.  one stone.  and it's a pretty teal with purple lining stone ;)

getting it right

[see larger image on flickr]

“cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.”
– oprah winfrey

my running shoes came out of the closet this morning so that i could start the year off right :)  it's that time of year again...a new start, a clean slate, a list of resolutions [which includes a lot of running!].

i actually love new years day because it inspires hope and determination...the heart and mind are open to the possibilities of what could be...and there's an excitement for the unknown.

so happy new year everyone!  ...here's to getting it right in 2011.