Day #24 - #27

I've been a busy, busy girl! I need to stop slacking on this Project 317... :)

4/9 - Day #24 - I got my new 50mm lens in the mail today! Woohoo! This was one of my first shots. It's not the greatest, but it shows this lens' depth of field capabilities! I've been using the same 18-55mm kit lens since I got the camera in 08, so this new lens is going to take some getting used to!



4/10 - Day #25 - Wheeeeere's Joey?!?! ... There he is!! :) He's so goofy



4/11 - Day #26 - I had my first official photo shoot today! :D I was pretty nervous at first, but it wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be. This precious little girl definitely made me work though!!



4/12 - Day #27 - So today is the first day I haven't taken a picture! This sweet little girl was going to come back over for some more pictures today but it didn't work out that way. Figured I'd just post another pic of her little cute self. :) I know it's almost the same pose as yesterdays pic, but she's just oh so cute in these! I've been playing around in Photoshop all day. Here's the result. lol

Day #21, 22 & 23!

Hello to all that read this little 'blog'...! [Yes, you Ms. Jay! Thanks for keeping up! Love you!]

It's been beautiful down here in good ol' Texas. The weather has been ideal and wild flowers are popping up all over the place! Red, purple, pink, blue, yellow, orange... It's as if someone took paint and splattered it all over the city! I love it!! I pretty much hated this place when I first got down here but not now. It's really growing on me! I'm sure I'll have some harsh words for it in July tho, when it's so hot I can't breathe! But until then, I shall express my love... :) ♥

4/6 - Day #21 - My beautiful Texas star. When I first moved down here, I lived up the street from this shop with tons of awesome things made out of scrap metal. [in Cove, off Ave. D] I wanted to go there since the first time I drove past. When my mom was in town, we finally went, and this is one of the things she bought me! [There's a trellis in the background we also got from there. Love it!!] *Thanks mom!*



4/7 - Day #22 - Oh my dearest husband! haha! I went fabric shopping today to find some backdrops... I got this cheap cotton stuff that totally ended up being see-thru. Duh. Here's my first shot in front of the backdrop with my studio lights. There's a series of these beautiful poses... What a ham! LOL



4/8 - Day #23 - We moved in October to a place less rural [for social reasons] and ended up in the inner city with a terrible yard! [Luckily we are across the street from a park!] Our back yard is constantly swampy and muddy and just plain yukky. Well, today I was chasing after Joey and went towards the back only to find this beautiful, thick green grass ? growing up out of the swamp! There's these little buds at the top so I'm interested to see what it turns into!



Smooches. xo

Day #17 - #20

4/2 - Day #17 - Fiiiiiire. We went camping at Stillhouse in Belton today. Spent the day setting up camp, grilling out, fishing, sun bathing and running away from scorpions. The weather was beautiful!



4/3 - Day #18 - Ok, so I didn't take this picture, but hear me out. Jason gives me crap all the time for taking so many pictures, yet all day today, he said things like, "Get a picture of this!" or "Ooo, where's your camera?"... He actually grabbed it to take pictures of some deer we drove past and again when we went over this super narrow bridge over a big beautiful lake... I found this picture in the bazillion pictures that he took. I was so proud of him today. :))



4/4 - Day #19 - What a beautiful weekend!! Camping on Friday and Saturday, then Easter with my awesome Texas family on Sunday! We had an awesome, competitive adult egg hunt and ate some really good food! We were all super exhausted by the end of the weekend. Felt so good to crawl into bed!



4/5 - Day #20 - I ordered some studio lighting off Amazon.com and I got them in the mail today! I'm not 100% satisfied with them though. Luckily my wonderful husband was still awake by the time I could set one of them up. He was excited that I got them, until he realized he had to smile pretty for my camera. He looks so thrilled, doesn't he? hahaha



I've been busy busy busy, but I still take time each day to snap a picture!!
xoxo

Day #15 & #16

Easter is right around the corner. I've never spent Easter away from my family before. At least I've got my boys. ♥ Jason's company had an Easter Egg Hunt get-together thingy on Wednesday. Then there was one for all of Ft. Hood on Thursday. We had a real good time at both. :))

3/31 - Day #15 - Joey found this bridge while Easter egg hunting. He had so much fun on it! Got some really cute shots, but this was a top fave. He is just too much for words. ♥



Here's more from Wednesday:





4/1 - Day #16 - Amish Friendship Bread. My mom has been making this bread on and off for what seems like an eternity. One day, she sent me a box with a bag of dough, some bread pans and a few other ingredients. I've been making bread every 10 days since then! Sometimes 2 loafs, sometimes 4. It's kind of irritating to keep up with sometimes, but it's fun to know that my mom and I are baking bread together on the same day, even though we're 1,000 miles apart.



My house smells so yummy right now.
*Camping this weekend at Belton!! WOOHOO!

xo

Day #13 & #14

Howdy! :)

I started going to the gym again on Monday. Fell out of the loop since our trip to WI for Christmas!! Yikes. My muscles are thanking me today. Jason and I discussed our gym goals and I'm excited to work together to achieve them!

3/29 - Day #13 - My baby loves his dinosaurs! :) We got a few of them last week from friends of ours and he hasn't put them down since! They've ridden in his carseat, ate lunch on his high chair, even taken a bath with him! I think it's adorable. ♥



3/30 - Day #14 - Here's my booga-loo! He's such a ham. He's saying, "cheeee!". lol! Gotta love him! ♥



I'm not usually very good with words, so I appreciate a good quote every now and again.

"Kiss your life. Accept it, just as it is. Today. Now. So that those moments of happiness you're waiting for don't pass you by."

So, instead of searching for happiness, or even pushing for it, just sit back and let it happen! There's so much going on around us and if we'd all just stop for a moment, and be IN that moment, I'm sure our perspectives would change.

xoxo

Day #10, #11 & #12

3/26 - Day #10 - Yep. It's almost sprinkler time! :)



3/27 - Day #11 - We went to Belton again today. Spent the whole day on a boat. Passed by this waterfall in one of the bays. I LOVE waterfalls! Took this with my point and shoot camera.



3/28 - Day #12 - This is an angel my mom bought me for my garden when I moved down to Texas. She's sitting on my front porch. ♥

Day #8 & Day #9

I don't know how they do it. Either the salesmen are really good at their jobs, or my husband and I are just really naive. [Or both!] We've bought cleaning supplies, meat & chicken, magazines and now a vacuum cleaner. [smh] The guy came in and vacuumed our carpets, mattresses, couches and pillows. WOW. It was nasty what he pulled up from my supposedly clean furniture. Then, he washed my carpets. I was sold before he even pulled out all the fancy equipment. Did we get ripped off? Maybe. Will we regret the price tag? Probably. Will I feel better knowing my place is a little cleaner? Definitely.

3/24 - Day #8 - Kirby Sentria. We've got a lot of door to door salesmen in our town, and the Kirby guy sold to us! This thing is a monster.



3/25 - Day #9 - Candace. I LOVE her freckles. I've been wanting to take a picture of them for the longest time, and I finally got it! :) The sun was setting and shining a beautiful golden light on this fence in front of her cousins house. Luckily I had my camera in the car. There will be more of her, I'm sure.



Isn't she adorable?!?! I LOVE this picture. She's 4 months pregnant. I can't wait to get more pictures of her!! [Click on the picture and then click on it again. Love the detail!]

I've downloaded a lot of actions for Photoshop Elements from this website: http://coffeeteaphotography.blogspot.com/. Check it out. These girls are great! I haven't taken my picture for today yet. Headed outside in a minute... :)

xo

Day #6 & Day #7

I think my brain is about to explode!! In a good way, that is... :)
I met with the sweet photographer chick today. She answered all my questions and then some! We practiced a few shots outdoors, then indoors with her super awesome studio lighting and then on to Photoshop Elements to teach me a few tricks and tips! We also talked about posing, accessories, backdrops, raw files, different lighting options... oh my! I'm so grateful for her graciousness! Now I need to process it all and PRACTICE! My mind is set on getting some studio lighting. I can't believe the awesomeness of it! lol She recommended DiscountTommys.com for some good, yet affordable products. She helped me photoshop that 'auto retake' picture of my stinky. Here it is:



So, I've been getting a lot of good outdoors time lately. It's totally got me on a natural high. I love it. Been to Belton lake twice this week. Can't believe such beauty is found so close to this unpretty town. Which leads me to my Day #6 photo:

3/22 - Day #6 - We went to Belton again. I just HAD to put my toes in the water. I love water, birds, trees and pretty skies. Belton has all that and more. Can't wait to spend more time there!



3/23 - Day #7 - Wow! My first [candid] shot of Joey under studio lights! :) I'm totally going to get some... Played with my new photoshop program on this one. Boy do I have a lot to learn. ;-)



Yeah, it took me about an hour to photoshop this picture. It's soooo different than any program I've ever played with. My goal is to cut my editing time down to 40 min. next time. haha!

Until next time...
xo

Day #4 & #5

Helloooo. So, yesterday Jason and I threw a baby shower / cookout for a SGT in his company. It was pretty cold [for Texas] and very windy but it was a good time. It was our first official get together since we've been in Texas. [been here a year in May!]

Day #4 - Sooo, my mom bought me this BEAUTIFUL white orchid last year and I totally ended up killing it. :((( I've wanted to get another one, but chose a fake one instead. At least until we are finished moving...again.



Day #5 - Jason, Joey, Macey [Blankenship's boxer] and I went hiking on one of the trails at Blora today. Yesterday was the first day of spring. I can't wait to camp out here when it warms up a bit. There were little buds on all the trees. How exciting! Joey did so good on the trails. xo



xoxo

Day #2 & Day #3

Yesterday I was super sick, but still managed to take a few photos. :) Being sick allowed me time to study all day long about apertures, shutter speeds and ISOs. It's all starting to make sense in my head, but now I need to practice with the camera! I was taking pictures of my Stinky eating lunch today in manual mode. I thought they were going to turn out super cute, but when I uploaded them, they were all blurry!! :( So I got my camera back out and shot some more in Auto, and they turned out perfect. I realize blurry means I need to speed up my shutter speed, but my fstop and iso couldn't go any lower... So now I'm really confused. :-/ I'm meeting with a local photographer on Tuesday and she's offered to answer all my many questions. :)

DAY 2: This is my favorite vase. My bestie has the same one. We got them from World Market. Awesome store! Reminded me of St. Patty's day.



DAY 3: One of the 'auto' retakes. I love it!! [and him ♥ ]



I have not played around with my new Photoshop Elements yet. I figured I needed to learn how to take pictures before I learn how to fix them. ><

H.A.N.D.
xo

Project 317: Day #1

Day ONE of my Project 317! :))



I talked to a super sweet photographer [www.morgankervin.com] and she totally helped me out and gave me some pointers. So grateful for the conversation we had today!

I downloaded Photoshop Elements 8. I'm trying to get a picture on there and it's not working. GRRRRRRR. Going to take the rest of the night off and try again with a clear head in the morning.

Night!
XO

Ready, set...GO!

Soooo... A girl friend of mine is doing Project 365. [taking and posting one picture a day for a year] Unfortunately, I didn't start on January 1st. My favorite number is 317. Random, yes. Tomorrow's date is 3/17. So I am going to start my very own Project 317 tomorrow! :) A picture a day for 317 days! :) If my math is correct, that will be until January 28th. I hope I can keep up!!

My Stinky helped me bake a cake today. :)




And then helped me clean up! :)) Love this boy. ♥



I ordered a DVD from www.elitevideo.com about my Nikon D60. I should get it in the mail soon. Hopefully it teaches me all I need to know about my camera without paying $400 for a photography workshop!

Nigh-night all.
xo

Tres.

I took my first walk with my camera today. Played around with a few things and realized how much I really have to learn! It's kind of intimidating...

We found the coolest trees on our walk. It was as if they were hugging each other.



A few more shots from my walk:





These two have absolutely NO photoshop! Isn't the sky beautiful?! It didn't look so blue in real life... Taken at twilight.





I'm shooting some engagement photos for friends of ours sometime in the next couple weeks. Practice, practice, practice! I bought a tripod today. Practiced a little with the P S M and A settings. The manual looks like Chinese half the time. But I won't learn if I don't push myself. There's a class starting April 5th. Hopefully I can get in and learn, learn, learn! :))

XO

Day TWO

I'm getting really excited. :)) I was up waaay too late last night reading that website. This morning, I went through some things in my cameras manual and started practicing outside. There's SO MUCH to learn... I really need to pace myself.

I've been wanting to get a picture of my Stinky's eyelashes for a long time now.


Click on it to see the enlarged picture.


I took a lot more today, but I just realized there's a limit to the amount of pictures I can have on here. :(

Goodnight!! XO

In the beginning...

Hi fam and friends,

I'm going to *hopefully* start and keep up with this here 'blog'. Through it, I'd like to improve my writing, communication and photography skills, all while keeping you updated with my life and my journeys! Plus, it's another good excuse to hop on the internet real quick. ;-) Although, those of you that know me, know that it doesn't take much to get me on the computer. *sigh*

An amazing photographer, Kamee June [www.kameejune.com/#] sent me a link to this great photography website: www.kenrockwell.com/tech/notcamera.htm. I've always loved photography but never got too far into the technical side of it. My husband got me a Nikon D60 for Christmas in 08 and I still stick to AUTO. Well, it's about that time to take it up a notch. I'd like to begin Project 365, taking [and blogging] one photo a day for a year! Between my Nikon, my Sony Cyber-Shot and my cell phone, I should be able to catch one a day...

I will begin my Project 365 on March 17th.

But until then, here's a picture I took today of my Stinky. It's his new potty. He won't sit there for long. Surprised I got a picture of it!



Anywhooo, guess it's time to go to bed! :)

Goodnight. XOXO