snow crystals

On Valentine's Day, we had a few small flurries. And it was really, really, really cold outside -- which makes great conditions for taking photos of snowflakes! Something about how they don't melt when they land. However, they were still super teeny tiny, so even with my macro lens, they look itty bitty. But I love seeing the shape of them all and how they do vary. Plus? They really *do* look like the paper flakes we made with scissors as a kid!Anyway, these images need a bit more studying than usual, but I hope you enjoy them. For your internet share of the day, I have a few.First, I wish the olympians enjoyed their routines as much as this UCLA student -- this is so much fun to watch! (And it's awesome to see such a great gymnast with a more "normal" body type.)I also think this is a fascinating site where you can buy books read by celebrities. Not, like, audio books. But the actual hard copies of books that they read (and marked up and dog eared and noted). Plus it's just fun to see what they're reading!And this article about how romance evolves after 10 years of marriage really sucked me in.One of the most "romantic" moments Jamie and I had this year was on a trip to Wichita. Jamie was still asleep in the bedroom (we were staying in a suite hotel with a living room / bedroom setup) and I was changing Ezra's diaper in the living room. It was a monumental diaper with a LOT of ... material... to deal with. But Ezra had just started this phase where he did NOT want to have his drawers changed, and when I lifted his legs to clean him, he straightened his entire body and pushed himself off the couch where I was changing him. This left me holding him upside down by his ankles with feces all over him and no free hand to fix the situation.I began screaming for Jamie to come and help me. "Help! Help! Jamie! I need your help!"He comes *running* out into the living room thinking, I don't know, there was a life-or-death emergency or something due to the anxiety in my voice. Instead he finds me holding Ezra upside down (who is swinging back and forth screaming at this point) and poop everywhere. We both began laughing hysterically. Needless to say, we got him all cleaned up and had a hilarious time doing so.And yes, that counts as romance. Someone you can count on for help with anything, even a poopy, flailing kid. (Don't worry, there's plenty of the old-fashioned romance with us as well, but the story above is the kind of "romance" we need from each other most these days).