You guys, it's embarrassing how much I think about photography. I really try and I'll keep trying not to bring that bore here, but aside from the things I need to tend to my family and run our lives, it's pretty much the only thing on my mind of late. Since I've been in a funk over the past few months about my work, that hasn't been a great place to be. Inside Lauren's head: don't go there. But when I pulled these three Instagram photos together for my weekend post, I was struck by how connected they felt. The tones from from taupe to gray to brown with pops of red. And then the lines. On the house. On the shed. On the bread? None of these are what I'd call stellar photographs, and none of those choices were intentional, at least in relation to each other, but as happy accidents? I'll still take that any day.

Maybe, just maybe, I'm finally starting to get somewhere.

I met a friend for coffee who I hadn't seen in ages. We go way back. Our kids were in preschool together and then they weren't. This woman is one of the smartest people I know, and she was Cal's third grade teacher to boot. It was one of his best years. Now our kids are in school together again. Not friends as much as friendly, revolving around each other's orbit. They just finished up a science project together (through the years they always seem to share at least one class), and it's nice to hear my friend's daughter's name here and there throughout the weeks (now that the project is over, we likely won't here it again all year!). So it was great to get together and have some breakfast and talk cameras (she's a photographer too) and kids and school and work. Isn't it amazing how such a simple thing, coffee with a friend, can lift you up so much?

But then came Sunday. Our girl Lucy had a bad day. We're not sure what happened exactly because when she woke up, and when I took that photo of her, she seemed fine. But for the bulk of the day she was limping and even yelping in pain (which we've never seen her do), and by evening she was putting no weight at all on her right front leg. She's still perking up at the smell of steak, so all hope is not lost, but I feel worried. She was limping less when she got up, so hopefully a good night's sleep helped. Still, we're headed to the vet first thing today. Please keep us in your thoughts if you can.

Oh! Tomorrow I'll share some of my highlights from the first week of #perception_collection. I've been having great fun so far, and I hope those of you who've been joining in are too.