Texture on the Mind

Alright ladies....Give it to me and give it to me good! Its the only way I am going to learn. These are the few textures I have played with in the last couple of days. I want criticism...good and bad...what looks right....what looks wrong....?



My mom got these little ivory figures through family members that got them during the war. They are way cool and very intricate. The original pictures I took here and here are fine, but since they are so old, I thought they would be good to try textures on.




So let me have it. No really, I can take it. Let it all out.

I will be out of town starting tomorrow and back on Monday. I hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday weekend. See ya on Monday!

Soaking Up the Last Days of Summer.

We went to the Dam the other day to play at the playground. The mistake I made was taking my dog with us too. She really needs the exercise...so that's why I brought her with us, but she whimpered every time I tied her to a tree or told her to stay so Ella and I could play. Yes, we did get a little exercise in, but I was way distracted and probably should have stopped taking pictures and payed more attention to the pooch. Then we walked down to the river and the water was so low that there was a great big sand bar there to run and play on. I let Lulu off her leash and silly me, didn't even think about it, but there goes Lulu GALLOPING into the river. CRAP! How am I going to get this dirty and wet dog into my car to go home? Yuck! In any case, I was so flustered that I didn't even get any shots of her in her glory. O-well. Munchkin had a good time and really, that's all that matters!








Ella came twirling down the slide in this shot. I really wanted to put my hand up to my mouth and gasp in hopes that the end result was good, but considering she wasn't in any real danger, I kept shooting.


She was not too happy at the end of the ride. She hurt her elbow a little bit and whimpered.


But when I laughed and told her how silly she looked (as I often do to avoid a breakdown on the kids part), she finally gave in with a smile and a giggle and ran off to the next thing. Phew.....(I say that alot!)


I am going out of town on Friday for the holiday weekend, but have been working on textures from Christina's wonderful tutorial. I will be posting one or some before I go. You'll have to be honest with me....Sometimes its hard to get the right balance. Back to practicing I go!

Dancing Queen - Part 2

Here's a few more images from our "Aweemoway" dancing session. In this first picture, I just love the look of excitement and action as it looks like the wind is blowing her away with all of her hair flowing in the breeze. But I couldn't decide if I liked the color or the b/w version. To begin with, the color version was a little grainy that's why I did the conversion. I love the colors of her jammies and how beautiful it makes the pictures look, but I loved her eyes in the b/w shot. Which one fancies you more?


The next two pictures I loved because, as I said in my previous post, with the headband on her forehead like that, she totally reminds me of a Flapper from the 20's. My little Peanut getting her groove on!





This last set of photos kills me. She is SUCH THE ACTRESS! In the middle of dancing, she went into the garage and explained to me that Princess Snow White was sad. I asked why and she just said, "because she is". So I asked her if I could take a picture of "Sad Snow White" and she happily obliged (phew, dodged that cranky bullet). Then after I took a picture of her sad, I asked if Snow White could show me how she looks when she is happy. I was so bummed that they came out blurry, as this all happened in a matter of 30 seconds, but I still loved her expressions. Again, SUCH AND ACTRESS, that little girl of mine is!

Dancing Queen - BSM

My child LOVES to dance. I signed her up for gymnastics class, but I really need to find a dance class for her somewhere. These pictures were taken the other evening. Some of my favorite times are when I am sitting there taking pictures of Ella and Keith playing together. It was beautiful out that night and Ella had already taken a bath, gotten in her jammies and we just ate dinner. Earlier in the day, we had heard the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" from The Lion King. Every time we sang Aweemoway, Aweemoway, Aweemoway, Ella jumped into a little groove. She was like a robot, right on cue.





She reminds me of a little Flapper girl here below, with the ruffles on her jammies and the headband on her forehead.






But this last picture I am calling my BSM. Because no matter what she does, just the look of pure joy and happiness in her face melts my heart.



Head on over to Tracey's to see more Best Shot Monday images.

Fun In the Sun

We have been out on the deck ALOT in the past couple of weeks. It has been hot and dry for as long as I can remember. Since Ella enjoys playing with cups and buckets of water right now, I enjoy just sitting there watching her, or getting a couple of things done in the kitchen....ok, like actually cleaning it, I guess. I dont know why, but if my whole house was dirty, as long as my kitchen was clean, I feel so much better. Weird huh? Anyways....We bought some freezy pops the other night and let Ella have one for the first time. Do you remember eating them as a kid? I couldnt wait for the actual ice part to be gone so I could drink all of the sugary sweet water at the bottom of the pop.






God, I wish I could remember what was happening at the moment I took this picture below. What a face!

Here Little Birdie!

So in continuing our day of nature (from previous post).....shortly after we had the butterfly incident Ella and I came in to get ready to go visit my Mom. As I am backing out of the driveway, I look forward and see a little birdie hobbling across the driveway over to the grass. My first thought was that I just ran this thing over since he was hobbling. So I pulled the car back in the driveway and went for a look. He was just sitting on the edge of the driveway....totally not scared at all. What's your next move when you see nature staring at you in the face? Go for the camera!


So, instead of going back in through the garage and all the way up the stairs for my camera, I decided to go in the front door. And what do you know....There was another little birdie sitting on my front step! Could this get any better? They must have both just flown the coop.


I went for my camera, but ran back out to let Ella out of the car. She was of course yelling to me that she wanted to see the birdies too. I told her she couldn't scare them though. So happily snapping away I went on both of the birdies. Amazingly, when I got back from my Mom's 2 hours later, they were both in the same spot.


Keith came home around noon that day to set up the sprinkler, since it seems we haven't had rain in a dogs age. I had just put Ella down for her "quiet time" so I went outside with Keith. I told him about our interactions with the butterfly and the birdies, but the birdies were no where in sight. Then we noticed the one from the driveway just a couple of feet in on the grass. We were afraid that they couldn't fly, so Keith tried to pick him up and move him to a shady spot. It was about 90 degrees that day and in the sun....we thought he'd cook. As Keith got him on his finger, I screamed, "Let me go get my camera!" In I went to grab my "4th arm" (Ella is my 3rd) and came out to take pictures. Amazingly enough, he was still on his finger. A couple of minutes later, he flew off into the shady grass and snuggled behind some plants. We were glad he could fly at least, and he was nowhere to be found later on in the evening.


We never found the second birdie that was on the front step. I hope both of them got to a safe place. What a neat day.

Save The Butterfly

Ever since going to the zoo and seeing the butterfly tent that they have, I have been infatuated with butterflies this year. One of Ella's favorite things to do in the last couple of weeks is play with water out on the deck. She will have a bucket full of water, a few cups, a few measuring spoons and just keep pouring and spooning the water from one place to the next. Sometimes she will pour it on our feet, or the dog or the grass, or the mulch under the deck....You name it.

Anyways, the other morning, we went outside and Ella told me there was a butterfly in her bucket. My stomach sort of sank because I didnt think that butterflies were supposed to get their wings wet like that and I was afraid he was dead or wouldnt be able to fly.


So we poured him out on the deck until I could decide what I was going to do with him. I felt bad for him because he was walking kinda crooked like one of his wings was heavier than the other.


Thankfully, he walked right up on my hand and I brought him off the deck into a little cherry blossom tree we have and perched him up on one of the leaves. I was hoping that he would dry his wings off enough to be able to fly again.


LAter that afternoon when Keith got home, I was telling him about it and we went back to see him. He was still there, but I must have gotten too close for his liking because then he flew away right before my eyes. I was so glad. I felt like we saved the butterfly!


That same day we had an encounter with some baby birds too. It was really kinda surreal, all these things that happen to cross our path that day. It felt like a day full of nature. That story along with some pictures is coming in my next post.

Best Shot Monday

Ella had a sleep over at her Grandma and Papa's house last weekend. The next morning, they took her to church and then there was a picnic after where they had face painting, games and food. Ella didn't come home until about 1pm! That was a great morning. :) I got to sleep in and Keith and I got a lot of things done....Not to mention we had a lot of peace and quiet. But by about 11am, I really started to miss her. When that happens, I start to get ancy, don't know what to do with myself and feel like I am missing my third arm. So for 2 hours or so, I would look out the window every 15 minutes to see if she was home yet. Its amazing how having a child throws off your whole being. Since I am a stay at home Mom and am with her every second of my life, I should have been reveling the time she was away knowing that she would be home shortly safe and sound. Gosh, I love her.

Anyways, when she got home she was so wired...and so tired! She had so much fun she was jumping around like a kitty on catnip. And when I saw her face, I bolted for my camera. I couldn't choose between these two shots for BSM because I liked both of them equally. They aren't the greatest shots technically, but to me, they show both sides of how she was feeling at the time. The first one shows her playfulness and the serious face in second one, for that slight moment, showed how the energy was draining right out of her.

One quick tubby to clean up and down for a nap she went. Even though I didn't get to play with her right away because it was nap time, I was finally back to myself, knowing that she was resting comfortably in her bed.




For other BSM's head on over to Tracey's.

I'm A Finalist!

Out of over 400 entries, I am so excited to be one of the 20 finalists at 5 Minutes for Mom's Summer Fun Contest. There are so many great photos who were chosen to be finalists, but the one with the most votes wins! So please head on over to 5 Minutes For Mom and vote for #4.

Even if you don't blog alot (which I know I have some family members and friends who kindly lurk in the dark and check in on us once in a while), please, please, please just go and vote for me! There's $500.00 at stake here people! Mama needs a new pair of shoes! Undies for the kid! Money to pay the credit card bill! Ok, you get my point. #4, Worth It All...GO VOTE NOW! Thank you kindly! :D

Also, I hate making 2 posts in one day, but had too plead for votes...so don't miss the post I made this morning below! I got great Goodwill bargain on dress up clothes!

Can I Wear That Dress Mommy?

So, thanks to Jen at New Green Mama, Ella and I went to the Goodwill yesterday to scout out some dress up clothes. Jen had posted the other day that she made a killing at the Goodwill and found some great dress up clothes for her daughter. Since we had not been there in a while we headed on over to see what we could find.

As luck would have it, Thursday was 50% off children's clothes day. Could this get any better? I found these two beautiful dresses for $2.50 each. The second dress still had the tags on it to boot!


Since Ella doesnt nap anymore, after she has her quiet time in her room, I have been having a movie time with her in my bed. That way I get a little rest, if I happen to have work to do while she is in her room and we can just sit and snuggle while watching Care Bears, Dora or the Little Mermaid.

Well I put her in my bed yesterday and told her I would be right in. I was taking the pictures of the dresses on thier hangers. 5 minutes later she walks out, with this sweet little voice. "Mommy, what are you doing?" I stood there and just froze. Instantly I thought, "Well there goes my nap time!".....because the next thing she said with all the hope she could muster in her face is, "Can I wear one of those princess dresses?" So I let her pick one and outside we went to go rock collecting.

I dont know why, but as I was processing them in PS, I felt that alot of them called for a little desaturation. The softer pinks sort of called to me yesterday, I guess.
















Thanks for the inspiration Jen!