Day 56 {I heart photo shop}

I am tired.  Even though I was running errands this morning in an area of town that had some great shots to be had, I just couldn't be bothered.  So on the way home from picking up Reid and a friend from track practice I stuck the camera out the window and took a few shots.  

I liked this shot straight out of the camera, but editing it made it way more dramatic.  I used a simple veil that I created and a new texture from Shadow house creations (link is on my sidebar).

I heart photo shop!

Day 56 {Mini forest}

Kate arrived home from 6th Grade camp last night.  She had fun!  This picture is of the mini forest she created.  I went to six grade camp in 1979, where I also made a mini forest.

We rocked out to transistor radios.  They rock out to iPods.  And the mini forest lives on!

Day 55 {It has a purpose}

Last month I shared a picture of this painted trash can in my neighborhood. The can had been sitting for months, up side down....seemingly without a purpose.

I questioned if it was just sitting on the curb as some sort of sub-urban art statement.  A few weeks after my post the trash can received it's purpose.

The odd thing is, this is the burbs where strangers don't block your driveway.  Maybe the residents of the house are forgetful!

Day 54 {Bizarre February Holidays}

Did you know that today is International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day?

Yeah, I didn't either.  But what I do know is that today is my MIL's Birthday!

Happy Birthday Jackie!

Weekend plus one!

Day 53 {Campers}

Kate and her friends are going to camp this week.  She was a little bit nervous when I dropped her off, but she seemed to feel better once she was hanging with her buddies.

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Day 52 {Polar Bear Plunge}

We went with some out of town friends to Sea World today and experienced the rare treat of being able to watch two of the polar bears rough housing in the water. 

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Day 51 {Cookies for sale}

Our first of many planned site sale.  

This is my troops 6th year selling Girl Scout cookies, so you could say that they are seasoned professionals.  They can tell if a customer is interested in buying cookies or if that person is just going to walk right by ignoring their sweet little faces.

It is actually kind of funny the way people try not to make eye contact.  One women came out of the grocery store, put on her sunglasses, then snapped the hood of her jacket up over her head. 

I understand that people hate saying no, but really.....it's ok (they are used to it).  Saying no thank you is far better than pretending they aren't there! 

Day 50 {Lasting Memory}

Yesterday would have been my Grandfathers 97 birthday.  This orchid is one of the lasting memories he left behind.

I wrote a little story about it on my other blog if you want to check it out.

TGIF everyone!

Grilling and chilling!

Day 49 {Inspiration}

First I want to thank all of you for the wonderful comments you leave. Your comments inspire me to try to be more creative with my photo's (and editing).

On to the shot of the day.  I had some time to kill before picking up our Girl Scout cookie order,  so I headed to this artist village that is just down the street.  I L-O-V-E this village. It is so colorful and funky. I always find something yummy to photograph.

I was so thrilled to see that one of the studio artist had repainted some of the walk way. Color like this just make me want to run home and start painting.

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Day 48 {Grilling}

It was dinner time and I realized that I hadn't taken a picture for the day.  So naturally the first thing that crosses my mind as I check to see if the chicken is done is to take a picture of it.

  As I came back in the house to grab my camera (sans grilled chicken) Reid and Jim laughed at me.

Really?  Surely they are used to me shooting pictures of ridiculous stuff by now!

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A note on photo editing.  I have learned a lot about using photoshop CS3 on Youtube. Once you learn how to work with layers and masks then applying textures to your photo's is a piece of cake.

Every time I find a new tutorial I am amazed by how much there is to learn.  Just when I figure out how to change the contrast in a photo one way, I find a completely different way to do it.

For example, in the top photo all I did to get that picture to pop was to make a copy of the background and then used the soft light blending mode at 100% opacity.  I learned that quick tip from Coffeeshop.

Day 43 thru 47

Day 47 {Pleats}

One of the things the girls have learned to do over the years (thanks to their dad) is iron their own clothes.  They do this every morning.  Even though Kate's polyester uniform skirt could go through a hurricane and still have pleats in it, she likes her pleats to be extra sharp.

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Day 46 {Lady bugs}

The gorgeous weather has brought the lady bugs out to play.

(textures: Shadow house creations)

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Day 45 {Happy Valentines Day}

Need I say more?

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Day 44 {You scream, I scream....}

Cold Stone ice cream......my poison for the evening = sweet cream with a brownie.

(I took this shot with my Nikon Cool pix 550)

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Day 43 {Apple peels}

Reid and I made two apple pies to take to a friends house for a dinner party. They were heavenly.

Day 42 {A little bit of sunshine}

 

 Where flowers bloom so does hope.
-  Lady Bird Johnson

And it is my hope that this shot will bring a little bit of sunshine to you! 

Day 41 {Say What?}

I want to create a picture wall in my living room and I was thinking it would be fun to have a frame or two with some bright scrapbook paper and scrabble tiles.

Wouldn't "Say Cheese" be kind of funny?

(Texture: shadow house)

Day 38 - 40

Day 40 {Playing in the rain sprinkles}

 

All of you that live in places with real weather would have laughed your behinds off at us wimpy southern California's.  As we stood on the sidelines this afternoon watching our girls play soccer, we complained several times how cold we were.  Then it started to sprinkle!

It was 59 degrees and there probably wasn't enough rain falling to fill a thimble.

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Day 39 {Ah, the smell of bleach}

  

I spent from 10:30 until 3:00 cleaning the house.  I took a picture of the scrubbed clean shower tiles with plans to shoot something different later in the day.  I forgot to shoot something different!

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Day 38 {Ranch run}

 

The girls and I went with Jim down to the ranch.  Ok, I actually dropped them off and then headed over to the outlet mall that is 5 minutes away (I bought two pairs of really cute shoes).

But I did get back just in time to see them finish up brushing Rusty.  He is a very furry boy right now!

Day 36 & 37

Day 37 {Lazy raining Saturday}

Saturday morning it was just me and the Bee and our newly purchased craft books.  I see some sock dolls in our near future.

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Day 36 {Treats}

We had a Girl Scout meeting today. The treats I made were a big hit with the girls. 

Day 35 {Old school}

I was cleaning out some drawers in Reid's closet and I found several old viewmaster slides (or are the cartridges?).  Even though we not longer have the actually viewmaster thing-a-ma-jiggy, I can't bring myself to get rid of them.

For something so low tech and old school, they still hold a special place in my heart.

(I put two more shots up on my other blog if you want to see them!)

Day 34 {Newly Near Sighted}

You got my brown hair and his brown eyes.

You got his crooked bottom teeth and my longer than normal legs.

You got his smarts and my eye sight.

Gene's.....it's a crap shoot!

Now I have to actually count!

Day 33 {FEED ME}

When it is dinner time the dogs will literally sit and stare at me until I get up and feed them. Xena (the big one) will nudge me with her nose if I ignore them too much.

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Day 32 {Halftime}

Not their best game!

Ok, now that the month has switched to February we can no longer count on the calendar to tell us what day of the project we are on.  I have to write the number down to make sure I don't make a mistake.  I made a mistake last year and it wasn't fun to go back and fix it. :)

Three substandard shots!

Goodness gracious....I downloaded my shots from the past three days and all I can say is yuck!

Day 31 {Girl Scout cookies for sale}

It is that time of year again (well at it is around here). Anyone need a couple dozen boxes of Thin Mints?  :)

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Day 30 {Saturday night dinner out}

Eating out at our favorite Japanese restaurant.

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Day 29 {T.G.I.F}

Most of our friends are so used to my "picture a day project" that no one thinks it strange when I whip out my camera to take a picture of the glass of beer sitting at our table.