Tuesday, August 31, 2010

My Baby!

Is growing up fast! Checking her new book bag, making sure she has everything for the big day!

Appeasing mom by smiling for the camera!






Waiting for the puppet show to begin!


Happy in the kitchen!


Performing a one girl puppet show.


New friends!


Bouncing around!


Playing Freeze Song.


It was my little mouse's first day of school and it was a good one!



She goes back Thursday for her first day there alone! I am looking forward to some alone time of my own!! I think I will be sad for all of, oh maybe three or four minutes! Max of 5 minutes and then I will wander aimlessly by myself until I have to pick her up 2 1/2 hours later!

Textures

The rage in editing photography right now is TEXTURE and I must say that I love how you can change a photo just by adding to it a little!!  Yesterday, I shared with you about my Knight in Tarnished Armor through photos of him working on his baby, the 54 Poncho (Pontiac Chiefton)!  If you missed it you can see the post just below this one!!  Anyway, while he was playing with his toys, I was busy taking photos and looking around the shop for great textures that could be added to a photo to make them super cool and different!

So here is the original photo of the Knight's feet!  I am obsessed with feet photos!!  LOL!!  Anyway, just a few edits in LightRoom 2 and here is what we have!


Next, of course, comes the texture!  This is the rust from something I found in the shop!  I can't quite remember what it was now!!  Actually, it looks like a rust spot from his car itself!  Anyway, what I did was drag this photo on to the top of the original in PSE 6.  Next I set the blend mode to Overlay and adjusted the opacity to about 75%.


If there were some actual skin showing I probably would have cleaned it up so he didn't look like he had some sort of disease!  LOL!  Here is the finished product!


And here is the finished product after I a black and white conversion!



See, it really is simple to do and to make it even easier I have decided to share these textures with you!  There are 10 or so that vary from rust to wood to chipping paint and water stained steel!  Please feel free to download them here!!  Enjoy and share your creations on my Flikr stream so we can all see how you used the textures!!

Monday, August 30, 2010

He...........

...is the man who takes my breath away!


...works hard and plays hard!

 
...is blessed with talent beyond words!

...is 1/2 of her!

...can anger me like no other,

but makes loving him worth while!

I Could Use A Weekend Away! How About You?

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Hampton Hotels. All opinions are 100% mine.





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Who couldn't use a free weekend at a hotel? I sure know that I could! Free of phones, free of dogs, free of doorbells and bills and free of kids!! Oh did I just type that? Why yes, yes I did! I am serious about the free weekend from Hampton Chain of Friends Sweepstakes.  The grand prize is 100 rooms for 2 nights for you and your friends!!  How cool is that?

This would be the perfect time to plan a reunion with some old friends that you have not seen for a while to catch up on life and just have some fun!  With 100 free rooms you could really have quite the reunion now couldn't you?  My High School was small so I could invite my whole class plus the class on either side!  Think of all the old memories you could share and the new memories that you could make!

So the next question is:  Where would you go?  I have always been lured in by the bright lights and the night life of a big city so I would choose a weekend in Chicago or St. Louis!  Both are within driving distance and offer all the fun I could ever hope to pack into a weekend!

Entering is as easy as 1-2-3!  First, just click Hampton Chain of Friends Sweepstakes and fill out the entry form!  Second, call all your friends and have them enter too!  Third, pick your destination and plan your perfect weekend with all of your friends!  What are you waiting for?  Get your entry in today!


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The Art Of Shopping

Anyone who really knows me will tell you that I enjoy shopping!  I find it to be an adventure and I love a good bargain!  Having said that, I also LOVE resale shops especially for the Diva and the Knight (work clothes)!  Saturday we were hanging out with the Knight while he worked on the 54 Poncho and I decided to head down the street to the local resale shop which, by the way, is the only thing cool in this tiny village! 

First off, I love this place because it is called the Rustic Barn and it is in an old barn!  Way cool!  Second, she has not only clothes but all kinds of old, rustic decor for your home!  I love the feel of the place!  Third, she has great prices on stuff!!

I stopped in the Diva section and got tons of cute stuff to jump start her fall and winter wardrobe including a pink pleather miniskirt and matching top (tags still on), a pair of jeans, a barn jacket, a chunky sweater, a skirt with a hoodie and a denim skirt!!  So now she needs some funky tights to go with the skirts and a couple of pairs of cute boots and she will be ready!  She already has some other stuff that I picked up earlier so we are almost set!!  The best part is that the clothes are all well made from folks such as Gap, Children's Place, Gymboree and Osh Kosh and they are in perfect condition!!  I LOVE it and it saves money because the kids grow way too fast and she could care less what brand she is wearing on her booty (for now)!

Hope you all have a fantabulous week!!  We will be saying goodbye to an old friend who lost his battle with cancer this week!  Please keep the Johnson family in your prayers!!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

My Kids!!

I finally got the moody teen to cooperate and do his Senior Photo session!  Let me tell you, he ditched me several times before I hog tied him and threatened to photograph him drooling in his sleep!  I was really going to submit it to the yearbook too but he didn't believe me!!  Anyway, they are done and in all of the craziness, I decided that it would be a great time to do the Diva's preschool pictures also!!  What was I thinking??  I wasn't but I got the job done!!  LOL!  So without delay................My Kids!


Well, there she goes!!  Always on the move, much like her momma!!  Prepping for a new client tonight!  Will be taking off soon to do their family shoot!!  Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!!

Monday, August 23, 2010

All Rolled Into One!

I am finally caught up on all of my editing including a shoot with each of my children which I will share with you later this week!  I like it when everything is all wrapped up and in it's place and I feel like I can finally breathe again!  I am just giving you all a sneak peek of a couple of shoots from last week!! 

First up is the Holland family!  She is the sister to the bride of my last wedding!  Dad is in the Navy and little man is all boy so it was a fun shoot!


For more of the Holland Family you can go to Picture Perfect by Jo, the blog! 

Next up is Allison who is a Senior this year!  To say that I have known her mom for years is an understatement!  She is such a sweet girl!
For more of my shoot with Allison you can go here!  I have another family shoot later in the week so the sharing will continue!  Up next a preschool shoot with the Diva and the Moody Teen's Senior shoot!  YES, I finally got him to cooperate!!  LOL!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Still Plugging Along!

I am glad that Friday is finally here!  It has been a busy week for me and I will be wrapping it all up with a nice bow today which means tomorrow I can meet with a couple of clients to deliver final products and then relax for the rest of the weekend!  Yay, me!!  We may take in a festival this weekend to hear some great music and eat some great food and just enjoy the weather!  For now, I leave you with a sneak peek of the Yim Family!  If you want to see more you can head on over to Picture Perfect by Jo the blog!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Jumping for Joy..........

............because Leslie and Jason tied the knot!  For more you can go to my photography blog!  Next up are a couple of Seniors (including my own Moody Teen) and a couple of family shoots!!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Just Passing Through!!

Sorry for the fly by but life has been it's normally crazy self so let me bring you up to speed:

Yesterday the Moody Teen celebrated his 18th birthday and started his Senior year of High School!  Sniff, sniff, my baby is a grown man!  I also had to finalize the Diva's registration for preschool yesterday!!  Wait, slowdown you are growing up waaaaaaay to fast for my liking!!  Sigh!!!!!!

As for me, I am knee deep in editing a wedding, a Senior session and 2 family sessions so I will have tons of things to share very soon!!  I did take a break last night to go for a motorcycle ride in the cool evening air and I loved it!!  I saw the most beautiful rainbow (no rain involved, hmmmmm) and wished that I had my camera to share it with you all!  Anyway, sorry again for the post and run but I really need to get back to work!!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

It's The Most Wonderful Time of The Year


Usually that is a very true statement!  We, as parents, are always happy to see the kiddos packing up and headed back to school but this year is very different for me!  It is wrought with happiness and tears!  The Moody Teen is taking that final step into adulthood in that he will turn 18 on the first day he starts his Senior year of High School!  Sniff, sniff!  Is he really that old?  Am I really that old?  The answer to both is, of course, a big old YES!!  To make matters even worse, my little Diva starts Preschool this year!  Oh my aching heart!  OK, so it is only 2 afternoons a week but still!!

I am really not sure how I am going to cope with all of this change!  This also begs the question, what will I do with two free afternoons a week?  No really, I never get time that is 100% alone, by myself with no little Diva shadowing me!!  I'm sure at first I will come home and sulk but give me a couple of weeks and I am sure that I will find some sort of trouble to get into!  I mean there is shopping and coffee shops and, well, I guess I could get some work done too!!  Hope you all enjoy this most wonderful time of the year!

Monday, August 9, 2010

From Senior to Abercrombie Model

Meet Garrett or future Abercrombie model as I like to call him!  This shoot quickly went from Senior shoot to model shoot and the suggestion was made by, none other than, his mom!!  Thanks mom!

If you want to see more less more of Garrett you can head on over to my photography blog Picture Perfect by Jo!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Summer Fun

It has been way too long since I have had a truly positive post that shared photos of everyday life here in the middle of the cornfield!  Life took a detour and on that detour the road construction was long and bumpy and hard to deal with but it also brought a new perspective for my life and the direction I want to travel!  So, having said that, we have done some fun things this summer and now in one long post I will share with you in photos what we have been up to when life was not getting in the way!

We had an awesome time on our day trip to the Windy City!  The bus dropped us off at the Museum of Contemporary Art and the colorful steps immediately caught my eye!  Next we have the Diva wearing her new Bitty Baby from the American Girl Store and looking at the "big girl" dolls that she would like to have when she gets older!  Next is this handsome guy!  I am a sucker for a bully baby and he was so sweet that I wanted to bring him back with me!  Of course the Diva is posing with her baby who she named Gia!  Who can resist cool architecture?  Not this girl!!  LOL!

Here is the Diva with her baby!  The next photo was from a parade we saw a few weeks back but it fit so I stuck it in!  She is just so stinkin' cute!  Sorry, my humble opinion here!!  Next is the sign above the door to the store of the day and then there is the bag that I built my outfit around!  I LOVE this bag!  It hold my D700 with lens attached, a flash, extra lens, cards, batteries, my phone and my wallet so I was set for the day!!   And then we have just a few of the girls and their loot from the day!

Grandma called on Sunday to ask if we would join her for the final day of the fair!  The Diva was all to eager to oblige!  Here are the Diva and Gma together.  Next is a turtle that was up for grabs in a game!  You know those games where you can win a goldfish, well, they upped the anti with these cute little turtles!  This guy was happy to pose for me!!  LOL!  Grandma and the Diva decided to do a little shark fishing and hooked two with one cast!  Then came the gambling!  Oh yeah, the Diva loved picking numbers and putting her Grandma's quarters down and then, of course, throwing the ball into the ring was a highlight too!

This collage is full of the things I loved capturing from the fun day at the fair!!  I have always loved the Ferris Wheel but no one would ride with me!!  Chickens!!  The turtle made this one cause he was just too cute!  Then there were the ducks!  I love me some ducks!  Could have something to do with one of the Diva's nicknames, Duckie!  She got that one the day she was born when the doctor said I see duck fuzz as her head crowned!  And who can resist a girl and her Grandma having fun together?

Well, I need a nap now because this journey down memory lane has tuckered me out almost as much as the original trips did!!  I am sure there will be a few more adventures before school starts!  The Moody Teen goes back on the 16th (his 18th Birthday) and the Diva starts preschool on the 31st!  Wow, where has the time gone??

 

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