It's been a while :)

Here's Miss Charlotte :) This is the only 8 year old I know who has this "fashion model" attitude :) I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! She totally rocked the outfit I bought and she got to keep it :) I made her day yesterday!

It's been a while :)

Here's what I've been up to :) I have a couple more sessions to edit, but here's some from a few :)

First engagement session :) Wedding is on April 9th and I'll be shooting that too :)

Enjoy :) 

Another share :)

Just a couple from the little girl session I did this morning :)

More sharing to come as I also did an engagement session today that I can't WAIT to go through and edit! :)

A couple quick shares :)

Here's a couple from that studio session I mentioned in the previous post :)

Sharing :)

I will still be sharing photos on this blog even if they aren't daily or weekly or whatever. They will be just for sharing and I will post whenever I can :)

So, here's my first "share" :) I was clearing out my memory cards and working on editing from my studio shoot tonight for class tomorrow and I came across this picture I took on Sunday.

Enjoy :) More to come over the next week since I had an AWESOME! studio shoot tonight :)

Game Over :(

For those that have been following, this is a sad post for me to post....

I have decided to discontinue my 365 project for this year. It has become more of a chore than something that I look forward to doing every day. With the amount of school work that I have been doing over the last month and a half, it has just been overwhelming. I know this is something small to cut out of my schedule, but every little bit will help at this point. I feel like I need to be focusing more on school work rather than my "fun stuff". I haven't even touched knitting and crocheting in the last month. Now THAT is a problem!

I appreciate all the "love" I've gotten in the time I've been doing this project. Unfortunately, I am laying it to rest.

Have a good year and be sure to let me know if you kept any new year's resolutions this year!

Day 45: Busy busy busy!

Yet another busy day :) Had a good time with some friends though and that's what matters :)

Day 44: Was a ....

Bad day... Just all around a bad day... Gonna have to make this one up :(

Day 43: Nathaniel

This little guy was a joy to work with :) Had the best "handsome prince" smile I've seen in a while :)

Have a good day :)

Day 42: Another Studio Shot!

And I am pretty gosh darn happy with it :)

Here it is :)

Have a good night everyone. I have about 150 more photos to go through  :)

Day 41: Oops

Man I have a lot of making up to do.... Will be in the studio tonight so I'm sure there will be some good images to come :)

Day 40: My Valentine

Yup, the only man in my life who really matters :) He will be my valentine until he feels he's too old for it... Hopefully by then I'll have a "My-Size-Valentine" :)

Have a happy Hallmark Day everyone :)

Day 39: The Life of a Student

Here's what it looks like next to my "desk"/"hole" on a regular basis... Just a pile of text books ready to be read... Oh. Joy.

The top left book is for Western Civilization. The book in the top right corner that you can see "lator" on is the book called "The Translator". It's a man's memoir of his time in Darfur during a huge genocide war type thing. Very good book! The book that is under that is my Cultural Anthropology book. Then the book with the little lizard guy is my Biology book. WOOHOO!! This is what I spend the majority of my time looking at. Now that you all have seen them all, I must get back to reading and studying. I have 2 exams this week.

*Note: Even if I am not logged on to Facebook, my blog posts will still show up as I have them coming up through an RSS Feed. My blog is another good way to get a hold of me if you don't want to use a phone to text or call. I get an e-mail to a very frequently used e-mail address if you comment on my blog :)

Have a good night everyone :)

Day38: Mounted Photos :)

I self-mounted the first few photos for my upcoming photo wall :) I need to get some more good photos printed and mounted though :) I have TONS that I want to put up. Some photos need some re-editing done as well. Can't wait to get it all done!!

They were really easy to mount... I got some black foam board from Michaels and an x-acto knife that has a blade that is deeper than the foam board. I got some spray adhesive called "Photo Mount" as well.  I cut a piece of foam board to fit the photo, sprayed on the adhesive, put the picture on, trimmed the edges where they needed it and done :) I'm still not sure how I'm going to hang them on the wall. I can't use straight pins for each individual photo, and I also can't use anything sticky (parent's rules...)... I am open for suggestions :)

Have a good day everyone!

Day 37: Not Weight Watchers Friendly

Well, when it is a "work day" in the lab at school, we get fed for free :) As well as getting 25 free prints...

Soooooo... here's breakfast! :)

yum yum :)

Have a good day everyone :)

Day 36: Nuffin

Got nothing for today. It's 10:45 pm and I had planned on already being in bed. Not going to have anything for today. Tomorrow is more likely since I will be at school most of the day and actually working :) Yes, working. Not in class :) Can't wait! :)

Day 35: Sneak Peek!

Here's a sneak peek from my time in the studio tonight! I love these two little boys! They are so much fun, very smart, and very creative! We had a blast!

And on that note, it's bed time! Have a good day tomorrow!

Day 34: My Brown-Eyed Girl :)

I love her so much! :) So, here's another picture of her cheesin' for me :) Nothing special to post about today... Well, Anna is definitely special :) But I mean nothing to "talk" about today :) lol

Have a good day everyone :)

Day 33: Teasin' my pupperzz!!

If you think your dog is a 4-legged, furry garbage disposal... You should see mine ;) All I had to do to get her to perk her ears up was say her name and hold up my pint of Ben & Jerry's Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream :)

Good night world :)

Day 32: New TV for the Super Bowl!!!!

First, I need to start with...


GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PACKERSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They sent the Squeelers packin'! I was happy :)

Anywho, while the kids and I were away this weekend, my parents bought a 50" plasma TV. Perfect timing! The Super Bowl was AWESOME on this TV :) Much better than any other TV I've ever watched it on! Here it is!

Well, now it's homework time :) LOL

Day 31: Granny Squares!

Well, ever since I learned how to crochet on my birthday, I've become a little bit obsessed lol :) I bought a book that has 99 granny squares to crochet. Soooo, here are #s 5 & 6 :) I am working on #7 still :)

That's all :)

Day 30: Crazy kids!

We spent this weekend with my friend Aneela :) She is a wonderful person and we really enjoyed ourselves with her and her silly little boy Luke :) So here is a silly picture of Luke, and a silly picture of Anna before she decided to get sicky!

Silly Mr. Luke :)

Silly Ms. Anna :)

Have a good day everyone :)

Day 29: Nil.

Yeup, another day missed...

I think at the end of the "365", I'll add on a day for every day that I missed :)

I have pictures for days 30, 31, and 32 :) They are coming soon :) Have to get them off the camera :)

Day 28: A night in the studio!

Well, I only have one photo edited so far, there will be more added throughout the night. I just wanted to make sure that I got something posted today for the 365 :) Sooooo, here's Caleb in his wagon!

That's my handsome man! :) 

Have a good day tomorrow everyone :)

Day 27: Another lighting test

So I got my flash bounce/soft box type thing today from Adorama. I got the Lumiquest ProMax UltraSoft Bounce Flash Device (http://www.adorama.com/LQUSB.html). I decided to do a few "test" shots with it of Caleb sitting on the floor watching TV... So, it's nothing special, but here we go :)

This is with the softbox on my flash and my flash pointed straight up at the ceiling. The softbox/bounce card directs the flash at a 90 degree angle and then diffuses it giving off this lighting. 

This is with the softbox off and the flash pointed straight at the ceiling. This essentially just bounces the light of the flash off the ceiling in order to light up the room. 

This is bare flash pointed directly at a 90 degree angle towards Caleb. Yuck! 

The settings were the same for all 3 images. I had my Vivitar 285hv set at 1/2 power (It's a manual flash, so it doesn't matter what the camera settings are, the flash is what gets adjusted mostly rather than the settings on the camera). My camera settings were:

Shutter speed: 1/200
Aperture: F/5.6
ISO: 400

Just thought I'd share :) Have a good day everyone :) And if you got hit with the snow and/or ice storm, be safe!

Day 26: Sleeping Angels

The reasons I live and wake up every day :) Not a whole lot to say today, but here's my BEAUTIFUL babies showing off their best behavior :)

Have a good night everyone and enjoy your day tomorrow :)

Day 25: Nada

Nope, got nothing today... Nothing but a whole lotta drama. That's all :)

Day 24: New Toy :)

Got a new toy today :) It's called a flash flip bracket :) I don't have any picture of the bracket itself, but here's what it does...

:

Picture one. Camera in portrait orientation, flash "next to" the lens just as if it were either the pop up flash or on the hot shoe:

Picture two: Camera still in portrait orientation, flash flipped to be "above" lens as if it were attached to the side of the camera

See the shadow behind and to the right of her head in the first picture??? It's not there in the second :) These are both straight out of the camera :) No editing or anything done :)

Day 23: Phone :)

I was just playing around and decided I wanted a picture of my phone and the pretty background I had on it :) So, here it is :) lol

Have a good night world :)

Day 22: Another Snow Day!!!

Yay! I finally got my "big" snow! We have a total of 13" of snow and I am ECSTATIC! :) Anywho, I love to take pictures in the snow and I love to build big piles and stuff with the kiddos :) I also love the way my mom's fence looks when it is covered in snow :) Kind of remind me of a barn door :) Anywho, here's a picture of the fence in all it's snow covered glory :)

Enjoy your snow filled day (if you're in a snowy place today!) and have a good one :)

Day 21: Love...

With no regrets.

Today's "photo" isn't a photo at all. I made it in Photoshop... It's a little bit funky and definitely didn't come out like I wanted it to, but hey, it gets my point across.

Everyone has loved and lost at some point. Whether it has been family, friends, relationships, or what ever else. Every time you lose a love, your heart is scarred and hardened. By the time you find that last love, the one who is the best and the one who makes all the other heartache in the past worth while, you will probably have a ton of scars on your heart. Don't regret any of those scars. Look at it this way (well, not about me, but you get the point..)

"I set out on a narrow way many years ago hoping I would find true love along the broken road. But I got lost a time or two... Couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you... Every long lost dream led me to where you are. Others who broke my heart, they were like northern stars pointing me on my way into your loving arms. This much I know is true; that God blessed the broken road, that led me straight to you..."

One of my favorite songs of all time :)

Yes, I feel like I could have made better decisions in the past, but I don't regret anything that has happened in my life. For all I know, the one thing I would choose to regret would mean I wouldn't have one of my kids and would have COMPLETELY changed the outcome of my life.

So, the short version of the last 2 days... Live with no excuses and love with no regrets. Every scar on your heart is there for a reason. God blessed that broken road that eventually led to your happiness :)

Day 20: Live...

with no excuses.

This is only half of a quote that I found in a background on my phone this morning. The rest of the quote will be finished tomorrow. Live with no excuses... What does that mean to you? To me it means not to make excuses for why you didn't do something you really wanted to do. Don't make excuses for why you stopped talking to someone. Don't make excuses when you forgot to do something. Just say, "I forgot"... It's really not that hard to not make excuses. But definitely don't make excuses when it comes to your family. Your family is the only family you'll ever have and they deserve better than excuses for any reason. Anywho, here's the picture :)

Have a good day everyone :)

Day 19: More (fake) Macro :)

I got inspired finally! I decided to do some random macro because that's what makes you a "professional"!!! Well, at least according to some joke that I read, but hey, it inspired me :) LOL So, here's a macro shot of the top of a Mountain Dew Throwback can :) LOL

That's all folks! Have a good day :)

Day 18: Another Eye

So, my best friend's daughter spent the night last night and she reminded me this morning to take my photo for today. So, her idea was a picture of her. My "eye"dea was a picture of her eye :) I'm a little bit obsessed with eye pictures right now. I think they are a person's most beautiful feature. You can see a LOT in someone's eye and you can learn a lot about a person through their eyes.


     “The eyes are the mirror of the soul” ~Yiddish    Proverb

So, here is Sierra's eye :)

 Enjoy and have a good rest of your day!

GO JETS!!! :)

Day 17: Sicky Boy

Yup, Caleb is a little bit sick. I think he was actually worse yesterday. He had a pretty good fever yesterday but today it is down a good bit. He is still a little warm, but is acting completely normal :) So, I was really hoping to get a clear picture of his beautiful baby blues, but that didn't happen :/ I told him to open his eyes nice and wide, and this is what I got!

Have a good day everyone :)

Day 16: Back to the books!

Back in the books today! This time it's Biology :) Today has been a pretty normal day for me. Other than Caleb not feeling well. It's going to be a long night, he hasn't really eaten much at all today :/

Anywho, here's the picture :) I need to finish reading 2 more pages, then start cracking down on Western Civ & Cultural Anthropology :)

I added the grain and slight vignette on purpose. I like it :)

Have a good night everyone :)

Day 15: Introducing...

My eye!

Yup, it's beautiful and I am happy to finally have a very close up picture of it! Not really much else to say other than that my eye is pretty tired and would like to finish reading for Western Civ and then go to bed!

Selective Color :)

Full color :)

Have a good night everyone :)

Day 14: Becoming a History Buff

Well, not by choice at least. I am taking a Western Civilization class and a Cultural Anthropology class this semester and I have spent as much time as I could today reading my text books for both classes. I am bound and determined to actually read like I'm supposed to and REALLY strive for A's in all my classes this semester. If I get A's in all of my classes, my GPA will go from a 3.425 to a 3.635. I would love to get my GPA back above a 3.5 and eventually maybe back to a 3.8. I have no chance at a 4.0 thanks to my school not realizing that I was totally not "equipped" with the right "knowledge" for African American Literature last semester. So, here's what I've been focusing on all day :)

Absolutism in the Reign of Louis XIV. This chapter is basically about absolutism in general.

Yup. Exciting isn't it? Have a good day :)

Day 13: Don't forget to...

Exfoliate!

On my mission to feel better about myself, I have started  using some products from Lush (http://www.lushusa.com/shop). I have been doing this "treatment" for about 4 days now and I have seen a MAJOR difference in my skin!

Here's what I do (Thanks to Beth Haneke for teaching me this!):

Products:
Ocean Salt
Aqua Marina
Eau Roma Water
Celestial

Process:
Use warm-hot water and get your face wet. It is important to use the hottest water you can because it helps to open your pores. Take a "fingertip" full of the aqua marina on your index finger. Then on your middle, ring, and pinky fingers get a finger tip full on each of the ocean salt. Mix all 4 fingertips of product together in the palm of your hand. Once it is all mixed, scrub it on your face just like you would an exfoliant or facial cleanser out of a tube or bottle. Once you have scrubbed all of your face, rinse off with the warm-hot water again. Remember to use the hottest you can handle. After you have rinsed off all of the aqua marina and ocean salt, spray your face with the eau roma water. Once that has dried, apply the celestial just like you would any other facial moisturizer :)

Just in case you are wondering, all of Lush's products are all natural and some of their products are even vegetarian or vegan. They are all handmade by real people and when you purchase a cup/bowl of product, there is a sticker with a picture of a person along with the date the product was made and the date it expires. The person in that picture is the person who ACTUALLY made that specific container of product. I LOVE LUSH! I've always been very happy with their products and Lush is the only place I get bubble bath for the kids. If they decide to eat the bubbles, they won't get sick. Awesomeness!

Oh, here's the picture! :)

Have a good day everyone!

Day 12: A New Me :)

Well, I think I have come to the conclusion that I am not going to get past my negative self image problem without make up. It really sucks because I have been trying really hard to teach Anna that she doesn't need make up to be beautiful and here mommy is putting make up on :/ Well, anywho, here I am :) Next step to the new me: Get some contacts!

I think it's pretty darn awesome that you can't tell I have any make up on other than eye liner and probably mascara :)

Well, that's it for now. Have a good day everyone :)

Day 11: Fail.

Gah. I failed again :/ Oh well, try again tomorrow!

Day 10: Double Fister!

So, my sister drinks almost nothing but Wawa's Lemonade Iced Tea. My son LOVES it and "steals" it from her all the time. It's really pretty cute. So, here is Caleb finishing off one bottle and getting ready to pick up the one in front of him that still has some left in the bottom.

The little double fister himself! 

Aunt Peppy is teaching him well! :) LOL

Oh, and disregard the craptastic jersey and please don't make any crappy comments about the crappy game that the Ravens lost today. Ugh.

Have a good day :)