Confession: My Foursquare Addiction

 

It's time to admit that I have an addiction. 

Well, I have many addictions, 

but the one I'm talking about today is my addiction to Foursquare.

What is foursquare?

It's a smartphone app where members can note their locations with their phone 

and can find out where friends are. 

You earn points for every check in.

You can leave tips and read other people's tips.

You can upload photos. 

You can unlock specials.

Foursquare has 20 million registered users.

I've been an active fourquare user for well over a year. Maybe closer to two years. 

I currently have 30 mayorships and 28 badges.

My highest points in one week was 346 points.

 I'm competitive. 

I check-in everywhere.

During my long morning commute to work, I check-in to intersections. 

I like being able to see where friends are going and where they've been.

I guess it makes me feel less alone?

I've checked-in at my children's schools, my local gas station, my grocery store, my mom's house, Target, Walgreens and anything and everything in between.

I realized that I had addiction when I checked-in 

at the emergency room with my sick child.

I'm not proud of that moment.

So, I've decid

ed to detox.

To completely quit.

 The only reason I might still occasionally use it is to unlock specials.

"Specials" are when businesses offer discounts and freebies when you check-in. 

That's it though.

Cold turkey.

Are you on Foursquare?

Were you addicted?

– 

My Sunrise Addiction

I have a new addiction.

I'm obsessed with sunrises.

More specifically, I am obsessed with taking pictures of the sunrises I see every day

on my commute to work.

Obsessed I tell you.

Now, there isn't a GREAT sunrise every morning.

But on the mornings that there are...

I try to find the best vantage point, along my drive.

I might pull over on the side of the road and take one with my window rolled down.

Or I try to snap one while driving on the highway.

The one above was taken at a stoplight,

and while I tried to crop out the phone lines...

I eventually decided they actually gave the photo a nice accent.

I ended up taking about 6 photos from the same sunrise this morning, after different angles and stages.

And the final photo, when I was ALMOST to work...was the best.

 If you follow me on Twitter, you'll see I tweet them as I take them.

What do subject matter do you find yourself photographing over and over? 

What beauty do you find it hard to resist? 

(For me it's my children, nature, my dog Annie, & sunrises!)

Sucked In

I have a secret to share with you.

A secret addiction.
Ok, I admit it, one of many addictions.

I've finally found my green thumb.

For the last few weeks I've been tending to my own garden.

It's amazing.
I dig holes, bury the seeds, water them and watch it grow.
I can add fertilizer for bonus growth.
I've grown buttercups, daisies, turnips and pumpkins,
blackberry bushes, water lilies, apple trees and banana trees.
and many, many more.

And, I've learned what plants attract which animals.
taking the many required steps to tame the wild animals and let them live in my garden.

I have bees that produce honey in my honey hive.
I have sheep that produce wool and cows milk.

I pay helpers to come work for me.

I build houses for the animals, so they can romance and make babies.

Now I have a mine, with diggers who find treasures.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about,
then you need to get on board quickly.

This game is the best I have ever played.

Viva Pinata!

We discovered it two years ago and played it all the time.

and then this fall the newest version came out,
so the boys and I have been sucked back in again.

We play together, each having our own gardens.
We share money, so we have to balance out who spends what and who works on making more money for the collective.
We all work together at attracting the hard-to-get animals
and figuring out how to keep them.

You can put up decorative accents in your garden, fences and such.
and there are lots of secret ways to do things that you have to figure out.

And you have to be creative about keeping the bad guys out of your garden.
They're called Ruffians, and they like to destroy things.

And then there are the sour pinatas you have to turn good.

It's a game for all ages and all types.
The boys and I have a blast playing it.
It's seriously addictive.
We've been sucked in.

And it's the only place I don't seem to kill plants.