photo a day: july 7th-14th

July 7th

Where You Are.....

At the NKOTB concert with my sister!

July 8th

Path....

To a giant mess.

July 9th

3 Things....

 

3 random t-shirts from Tee Turtle!!

July 10th

Smooth....

 My clean kitchen table!

July 11th

I Wore This!

My favorite t-shirt.  It's comfy & I love the design.

July 12th

A Bad Habit....

I stopped smoking years ago, quit biting my nails a month ago so I guess it would be sweets, but at least these are organic, all natural & GMO free!  I couldn't very well take a picture of 'being a bitch', could I?

July 13th 

4 o'clock

 

Sleeping baby at the mall.  Riding around in a stroller is tough work, people!

 

July 14th

Edible....

Spicy sauce from our favorite ramen place, Kahoo's.

And now I'm all caught up with my posting!

photo a day: july

July 4th

  Red, white & blue.....

Olivia has decided that my rubbermaid containers should go in the recycling bin.

July 5th

Love....

My love, my best friend, my favorite person

July 6th

Favorite Smell.....

The heat has done a number on my lavender plant, but it still smells lovely

photo a day: july

 
My friend Kristan posted a picture of the photo challenge that Fat Mum Slim has started for the month of July.  Actually, I think that this photo project has been going on for a lot longer than that, but this post is for the month of July so it's the perfect time to start!  I've tried doing the 365 project, but it started to feel like work and I was running out of inspiration.  These kinds of projects are great for me because there's a focus and sometimes I need that!

I meant to post on the 1st and go from there, but I slacked off for sure!  Here's my pictures for the first three days of July.

Happiness Is....

my babies laying on the couch with me

Shoes....

My favorites, tho they've almost killed me

Cold....

7 Eleven's Coke cans.  Ice turns blue when it's cold enough to drink.

labor day busy-ness

We had quite a busy weekend this first weekend in September!  We started with Emma getting to get a hot lunch at school on Friday.  She was so excited and wanted to me to take a picture of her with her envelope of money.

Look at how tan she is!

Of course, she forgot to take her money to the cafeteria with her.

Then Ray and I went on a search for a new bike.  First he was going to refurbish his dad's old bike, but after talking to one of the guys at Sunshine Bike's here in Morgan Hill he realized it would cost as much to fix this bike up as it would to buy a new one.  So we went to just about every bike place we could get to before Emma got out of school.

We didn't find anything.  So we picked up Emma and headed out to Los Gatos and decided to take Emma to La Fondue in Saratoga.  This is probably my favorite restaurant ever.  Emma was excited to try the cheese fondue and steak off the grill, but mostly it was just a stop gap to the chocolate.

She was so excited!  She barely got any cheese on the bread, but she said it was so delicious.  I was too busy eating chocolate to take pictures of her during the dessert course!

Afterwards we headed over to Sports Chalet and Ray found the style of bike he wanted on sale.  The only problem was the color.  It was blood orange with black accents and it mostly just looked red, but in certain light it did look orange.  He bought it, but I could tell he wasn't really super happy about it.

Saturday we headed out to DeAnza College where on the first Saturday of every month they hold a huge flea market in the parking lots.  Lots of fun stuff to look at, though we didn't buy too much.

As with all the school around the Bay Area DeAnza's adding the solar parking lot panels which will be awesome next year in adding some shade on the hot days!

I love these china plate wind chimes so much I took two pictures of them.

This would make the cutest cake topper!

After the flea market we headed out to look for some accessories for Ray's bike and then headed out to my parents' house to celebrate my Auntie Marilyn & Auntie Terrie's birthdays.

You can't see it so well but my mom made the candles from a 'M' and a 'T'.

Course all the kids had to run over to help blow out the candles.

My cousin Austin got some new glasses and I wish I had his dad's senior picture so I could show you how identical their glasses are.  I took a picture of him and he said I had to take one of him not smiling because he's pretty sure his dad didn't smile in his picture.

My Mom & Dad went to the Longworth family reunion down in Southern California a couple of weekends ago and our cousin Wally gave me his old Canon Rebel 2000 film SLR.  I took a few pictures and I can't wait to finish the roll so I can see how I did!

Wally had a 28-300mm lens and a standard lens.  When I was looking at lenses online I discovered that the 50mm lens I've been coveting is much cheaper for this one...*hint, hint* :)

On Sunday we headed over to Sunshine Bikes in Gilroy to see what kind of accessories they had.  While there Ray found a bike closer to the one he really wanted.  

It's the same bike I have except it's the men's version and matte black.  We like Electra bikes.

They're so preeeety.

So now he's a little happier about his bike and we can go on family rides now!

Today we headed over to Valley Fair to use up gift cards that we've had forever.  I got these fancy little beauties!

Sally

Jack

And now they're ready for my Jack & Sally shelf!  So cute!  I love them so!

It was quite the busy weekend, but we survived!  This upcoming week is a whole bunch of doctor appointments and all kids of fun stuff.

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!!

working the 35mm

I took a few more shots with my 35mm lens today.  All were edited in Picnik.

Sepia with a little fade to bring back the color.

This one was a little washed out from using the flash so I added ‘vibrance’.

Used ‘Orton’ but faded it just a tad.

1960’s and took off the rounded corners.

This one I just cropped.  Originally the flower was in the middle.

I’ve been slightly obsessed with these flowers lately.  They’re like teeny sunflowers.  Here I just cropped as well.

I’m getting the hang of my 35mm and at least getting more use out of it than I was before.  I don’t think it’s the kind of lens I want to use for street photography or every day running around, but it’s nice.  Now I just need to play with the settings a bit more and see what it can really do with bokeh and lights!

distractions

Yesterday I had planned on finishing Quinn by Iris Johansen because it was due at the library yesterday and I couldn’t renew it.  Instead I spent most of the day online reading Jason Lee’s blog Sisters.  I first read an interview he did with My Modern Met where they showed off really cute & creative pictures Jason’s taken of his two daughters.

I loved them so much I pinned them.  Yes, I’m on pinterest too.  You can find me here.  I don’t have too many ‘pins’ but I do love checking out other people’s pins so let me know if you’re on there too so I can stalk you!

Anywho…I started looking at Jason Lee’s wedding blog and discovered the blog he has where he just takes pictures of his kids.  Once I got started I couldn’t stop.  I went all the way back to the first post and just kept clicking away.  Haven’t gotten any reading done.  This distraction has now cost me 25 cents at the library!
But sooooo worth it.  These kids are super cute and Jason’s photography is phenomenal.  I find myself perusing more photography blogs lately and starting to get the itch again to go out and start snapping away.  Today I pulled out my 35mm lens because really, I’ve been neglecting that one.  I took a couple of pictures of Emma with it, but I really want to get outside and see what I can do with more natural light.


I played around with the second one in Picnik and added some ‘stars’.  Weird, I know, but fun.
I read this article today about Henri Cartier-Bresson and his street photography.  I’ve always loved street photography.  Especially after seeing Vivian Maier’s found works, but I’ve always felt kind of awkward about taking pictures of strangers.  After reading Eric Kim’s article I’m even more intrigued by street photography.

And then there’s Alex Beadon.  Her stuff is amazing!  I love her self portrait series and her seasonal princesses.  I can’t wait to see the next one!  I actually have loved every picture she’s taken.  Not only do I love her photography, but she has some great tutorials and inspirational ideas and encouragement. 

I could probably go on and on, but again I really should be doing something else right about now.

 

big plans, my friends … big plans

Yes, I did.  I had big plans.  I was going to edit (and by ‘edit’ I mean add a watermark because I am actually too lazy to edit my photos more than that) all these pictures I’ve taken in the last few weeks and do a bunch of blog posts to catch up on everything that’s been going around these here parts.

I got as far as uploading all the pictures into Picnik, opening the first picture and then deciding I was just too tired and lazy to get into all of that right now.  Yes, I know, I suck.

So instead of updates about all the junk ‘n’ stuff that’s been going on around here you get this post.  Which is about nothing at all really.  Think of it as the Seinfeld episode of my blog.

We are now almost halfway through the month and I have only read 6 of the 20 books I have lined up for the month.  Though I am more than a third of the way through another 6 I fear I will not be able to make it to 20.  Though actually, next week Emma starts school so as long as I keep the house from turning into a toxic waste dump that’s 5 hours a day I could be reading.  Maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel.

In other exciting news on Thursday my friend JeNae and I attended a welcome meeting with two representatives from the Girl Scouts to begin the processes of starting Emma and Autumn’s (JeNae’s daughter, you’ve met her here before) Daisy troop.  I am so excited about this.

I was a Girl Scout from Brownies all the way through High School and then became a leader for 2 years.  I attended the National Convention in 1993 as a delegate chosen by the Board of Directors to speak about being able to substitute ‘God’ in the Girl Scout promise.  Having grown up Jodo Shinshu Buddhist it was an important issue for me.  I spent my entire Girl Scout career making a promise to an entity I did not believe in and I wanted different for other girls.  I spoke in front of thousands of people at the convention and later my speech was printed in the newspaper. 

Girl Scouts was incredibly important to me.  I made friends there that I still have to this day.  I believe that it gave me self confidence and in that time a safe place to land when the rest of the world was too hard to handle.  I grew up seeing how women could do amazing things either by reading about them in Girl Scouts or actually working side by side with them during my years as a scout. 

I earned both my Silver and Gold Award and you know, I still have a huge sense of pride and accomplishment about what I did in my years as a Girl Scout.  I can’t wait for Emma to experience this part of my world.  And she’s coming in during the best time ever!  2012 will mark the 100th Anniversary of Girl Scouts! 

Hopefully, Emma will love Girl Scouts as much as I did … and on that note, it’s time for me to hit the hay!  Goodnight everyone!

project 365, week 18

So behind, so behind!  I think I’m two weeks behind now.  I’ll post the week before today and then I’ll get to last week’s tomorrow.  Hopefully…..

5.2.11 – I call this one ‘Cheater Bokeh’.  I just took a picture of some bokeh on my computer screen.  *tee-hee*

5.3.11 – It looks like wine, comes in a wine bottle, but it’s not wine!  For us preggos.

5.4.11 – This is a picture of my lap desk pillow.  I love it!

5.5.11 – It was such a hot day and Emma and I were in the driveway while she was making her Mother’s Day presents.  Ray had hosed down the driveway and I stepped in the water and took a picture of the footprints before they dried.

5.6.11 – Took Emma for our pre-birthday pedicures.

5.7.11 – The Birthday Girl blowing out her candles.

And there’s the week!

the great aphid attack of 2011

I started noticing an alarming number of aphids collecting on our rosebushes next to our driveway.  I kept thinking I would need to do something about it, but I just kept forgetting.  Then I noticed that the rosebushes at the front of the house were infected.  Ugh.  So began the war on the aphids.

We went to Johnson’s Garden Center and bought three containers with 1500 lady bugs each.  

We waited until nighttime when it’s cooler.  Lady bugs don’t fly at night so if you scatter them on the bushes at night they’ll crawl around and discover the aphids instead of flying away immediately.  This is what the roses looked like before we let the lady bugs go.  So many aphids!!

Here’s one little guy the next day wandering around.

This is the same rose bush I took a picture of the night before.  HUGE difference!  We still have a long way to go.  Hopefully the lady bugs will start laying their eggs and make the rose bushes their home.  Then we’ll be able to keep the aphids under control.

The other bad deal about aphids is that they attract ants.  The ants eat the honeydew that the aphids excrete.  Did you know that ants will actually farm aphids!?  They’ll take aphid eggs back to their nest to protect in case they have to move to another home.  If they do move the queen will take one egg with her (aphids don’t need mates to reproduce) and start a new aphid farm wherever she goes.  It’s quite a symbiotic relationship, but I don’t want any part of it!

Happy eating little ladies!