Lessons

Oh my words!!! I love my nephew soooooooo much. I was talking to my friend on the phone tonight when I suddenly could hear Bradsen crying in the background. When asked why he was crying he said it's because he loves Jesus so much. Wow! What a tender heart. I could learn a lot from him...and just 5 years old.

Boys are sooooo much fun!

Does anyone else have trouble getting kids to pose? No really...this little guy is the BEST when it comes to practicing with my camera. He'll pose for you for a  LOOOOONG time before getting tired of the game. I sure do adore that face!!!

Random pieces of my life...

You know, I just got over being sick a few weeks ago. It wasn't a bug but more something physical. Still, sick is sick...right? Well, Last Monday I started feeling a cold come on. By Tuesday I was toast. One of the worst colds I've had in a very long time. In fact, I am still coughing and still have a lot of congestion. That's 9 days!!!! It's all good. I'm slowly getting back on my feet. I'm hoping not to get hit with a third wave...you know, 3's a charm and all that.

Anyhoodles...

I've done next to nothing for 9 days! The past few posts I already had those pics edited(except the Friday fix-it. That's not my picture. It only took me a couple minutes to edit.) I wanted to share a few more pictures I took of my nieces and nephew. I took them the weekend before I got sick using my brand new 50mm 1.8 lens. Not only do I love these kids to tears but they are also very willing to be my practice models. Especially as I have lost my live-in model. Speaking of my niece Rose, today she turned 15!!! I feel like she was just here. We miss her. Okay, moving on...

I bought these lovely flowers at Costco last weekend. I've been enjoying them on my bar all week. I had to use my nice pitcher to hold them. They had super thick stems. I do not have a vase that would hold that thick of a bouquet. They were also top heavy so I needed something with height so they did not topple over. I really just wanted something with Autumn colors. I have Autumn envy!

I noticed the petals started falling off so I started playing with them. Before I knew it I had all the petals off all the flowers. The colors were gorgeous. I had to photograph them. My creative juices were not flowing(they were dulled by the cold meds, lol). I cut a few flowers super short cause they were pretty too...even without the petals. In the end I liked the flowers better then the petals in the pics. These are just 2 of the pics I took. The blue underneath is one of Rose's bed sheets. I thought it would make a good contrast.

On Friday I found out it was going to be a full moon...sorta. The full moon was the night before. On this night it was considered a 99% moon. I convinced hubs to drive me to the mountains to our favorite view point overlooking the desert below(and I happily wore my pajama pants as I never got dressed last week!). We got there a few minutes before moonrise. It was perfect. I took my little mini tripod only to realize that I removed the connector off my camera a couple months ago. Whoops! I would be free handing this shoot. I used my 55-250mm telezooming lens. It was super windy. What finally ended up working is we parked the car facing North. I sat in my seat and faced East, rolled the window down part way and used the top of the window edge to help stabilize the camera. When the moon first came up it was a bright orange. Over the course of a half hour it changed to it's normal whitish glow.

This is from the view point as well. We saw a gorgeous sunset. This picture is perfect proof that water sunsets are not the only glorious sunsets out there.

I was wishing I had a lens that could do this alone. But, this is a VERY cropped picture. Still, it's amazing! I didn't even edit these. I didn't want to change the original colors.

Okay, so anyrambling...

I decided it was time to learn how to texturize a photo. I could have done something super artsy but I decided instead to change the background on a rather boring dull pic. Nothing major here. I just put the 2 pics together then used my eraser tool to erase the texture from her body. It was tedious! Not bad for my first time, eh!

Oh yeah...here's the original. Great girl...boring background! (This pic is not sooc. It was edited first to even her skin tone and give an over all boost.)

Wow, are you still here? I thought I lost you a few rambles ago! Sorry about that.

I found a new great book. It is The Phantom of Pemberley. It is written as a continuation to Pride and Prejudice. I am so in love with Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth that it pains me to see the story end. I always wondered what their life might be like after they married. It is written as a romantic mystery. There is a lot of mysterious action plus you get a follow up on your favorite characters...and even a few you love to hate. The sickly Anne may find her way out of her mama's grasp and into love...but with who? And will mama approve? Georgiana grows up and falls in love. But does her man live through the trials at Pemberley? You must read it to find out. This book was written by Regina Jeffers. I think she stayed true to the era and to the original story while bringing a current feel to the book. It is NOT a christian book! There are a few risque scenes between Darcy and Elizabeth...but they are married after all. The scenes are more suggestive then gross and dirty. I was not offended at all by them.

Of course, I found this book while looking for another Pride and Prejudice book. My friend Erin mentioned on her facebook status that she was reading it. Well, HELLO? It's me! The wannabe Mrs. Darcy!!! The day I saw that status I convinced hubs to take me to the bookstore. The book is called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I also found it had a prequel called P & P & Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls. The first book follows the original story line but has Zombies written in. It's quite something else. The prequel is a complete new book. It shows how the Bennett sisters became Zombie fighters. Anywho, make of it what you will. I bought them all and read them while I was sick.

As a P & P lover I would recommend The Phantom of Pemberely for sure. If you are a die hard like me get the Zombie books as well. Whatevs...I'm really long winded tonight!

Leave me some love!!!!!! and don't unfriend me just cause I ramble...please!

Before and After

I came across a blog hop that had my name written all over it. It's called before and after hosted by Pixel Perfect. You show 2 pictures. 1 straight out of camera(SOOC) and 1 that has been edited. Here's my go at it.

My friend and I, with her kids in tow, went out to the mountains a few weeks ago to explore a camping area we both knew growing up. This campground has a little creek that runs through it. We let the kids play in the water for a bit. It was tentative at first as they were unsure of getting into a pool they could not see through. Although, I'm not sure why...they go to the beach all the time. I grew up swimming in water holes like this. Actually, THIS water hole!!!

Before(SOOC)

After

I use a Canon Rebel xsi and Photoshop cs5. (I love the actions from Pioneer Woman...and they are free!)

5 Question Friday

1. How many pets do you have? 1 cat named Aria. She's a total princess who prefers her mama's lap over anywhere else. 1 dog named...KASSIE!!! She's also a princess who is skerd of her own shadow. She loves the beach! 1 husband named Chuck. His wife is a princess too...(do we see a theme here?)

2. If you could switch places with anyone in the world for one day, who would it be? I would switch with Jesus. I think his presence here on Earth could be used in a big way, even for 1 day. I would be at the feet of God and loving every minute of it.

3. What is your favorite money saving tip? My tip is to have a very well planned out budget. It is important to stick to the budget in order to succeed in saving money.

4. What do you want your kids to be when they grow up? Well, I want Aria to shave all her hair, pierce her ears and nose and eye brows, get a full body tattoo then join the circus as a side show act as the bald, pierced, tattooed cat. I want Kassie to grow a pair...(of balls, that is). She can then hit the freak show circuit with her sister as her bodyguard. Fat chance I suppose!

5. What is your favorite quote? I dislike these kinds of questions. I'm not a quoting kind of person. How about Mr. Darcy, I love you mwah mwah mwah...wait...that's not a quote! Never mind then!

Well, I finally finished sewing the skirts for my niece. I have had this project on the back burner for months. Such a slacker! This first skirt is the same material I used to make Rose and I matching aprons. My friend picked the same material for her daughters skirt unknowingly. Great minds think alike yada yada yada! Since I had the kids for an overnight sleep-over I let Kathleen model her skirts for you all. Cause I'm cool like that!

You can't see it but the waist is fitted. A little more technical than just being elastic all the way around.

The skirts are also very full. She loved twirling in them.

What was the little man up to during our modeling shoot? Have a looky...

nom nom nom...yummy Aunt Pam! (Aunt Pam's rock!!!...just sayin')

defeating boredom on a very hot day...

What do you do with 2 kids when it is too hot to send them outside to play?

They play the wii...

You stuff their faces with food...

You print out activity pages from the internet...

They dance around the living room to some awesome music...

You take them to the beach to watch the sunset...

I love the beach silhouette pictures!

The sunset pictures are in order of how I took them so it is a true progression of a sunset in So Cal.

Yes, after that amazing sunset this is what we saw driving home!!!