Archive for November, 2008

The man and I celebrated our eighth anniversary this week. Can you believe that? I can’t. Not only that, but we’ve been together for just one year shy of an entire decade. It’s pretty hard for me to wrap my mind around that one.

If I could go back in time eight years and change things, I would. Oh, pick your jaw up off the ground. I wouldn’t change my marriage or my groom. Just the wedding. I’ve been thinking about that this week. I didn’t really want a huge church wedding. I wanted to get married on the beach with just a very few close family and friends. Barefoot in the sand with the gorgeous ocean in the backdrop. With the best photographer in town. Instead we did a church wedding with an amateur hobby photographer. I loved his work, but I absolutely hate our wedding photos. I’m not knocking amateurs, of course (I guess I kinda am one?) but this one screwed up and I’m not sure I’ll ever get over it.

Nor will I get over the lack of ocean in the backdrop of said photos!

Anyone have a time machine? I’d like to go back 8.5 years, get married in the spring right when my man returned home from Korea, instead of the following November… and on the beach. With a pro. Barefoot. Then I’d fast forward again, only a little further into the future than the present, to whatever point in time it is that we become parents. Cause I’m tired of waiting, people.

Hopefully this will be the last anniversary we’ll be sans babysitter.

But either way, I lurve you hun. Even though our wedding photos suck, you’re my world. We didn’t get married barefoot, but hey I guess shoes aren’t so bad.

Eight years down, forever more to go. *grin*

A few weeks ago my mom kept my little baby cousin for a couple of days while my uncle & aunt worked at a health fair (my uncle’s a chiropractor, you see… in fact, my hubby who has been seeing him for a while now calls him “Uncle Cracker”. Cause he’s a back cracker. And the uncle. Uncle Cracker. Get it? Oh, never mind.).

I went over and visited them for one of the afternoons because Little Baby Cousin is the cutest thing ever and I hadn’t gotten to see her in a while.

Of course I took my camera. Of course I took well over 100 photos of the child in a span of 30 minutes. And then of course I took some more. She’s such a ham and is incredibly photogenic. She thought it was a lot of fun, especially when I let her push the shutter button and take a couple photos herself (I held the camera). She got a nice shot of my mama’s legs and a nice shot of the room. I think the kid has a bright future as a photog. The one of mama’s legs was super sharp. And framed nicely too, like all tilted and artsy-like.

Cute AND talented. Kid’s got a good life ahead of her.

I spent the next several days going through them picking out the good ones and doing a little photoshop magic. I have received permission from Aunt to share a few of them here on my blog because a cuteness so great needs to be shared with the world.

So there she is, the perfect little model… my Little Baby Cousin (who is having surgery tomorrow, by the way, so your prayers would be appreciated).

I wish I could show them all to you, but alas, the cuteness is far too much. I fear you would go into cute overload. Which is quite dangerous, I hear.

See, I can handle it because I’ve worked my way up, bit by bit. But Little Baby Cousin is new to you, and you must get used to such cuteness a little at a time… step by step.

Aunt & Uncle were pleased with my not-so-mad photo skillz. I think I am now the official family photographer. I think such a title deserves a new lens.

I think the super cute Little Baby Cousin agrees. There are many more legs in the world to photograph, you know.

I know you’re all waiting with bated breath to find out about last week’s photo. We had lots of great guesses, but no winners! To be quite honest, I don’t think I could have guessed it either. It was a hard one. Like some of you, when I see it, I think “coffee grounds” too. But nope, no coffee. No stains. No carpet. No poppy seeds and no baked goods. Though what comes inside it can be associated with baked goods.

Confused?

Does this photo help?

It’s a piece of a broken pecan shell sitting on my blue jeans. Isn’t it weird how the black spots on the shell look 3-D? That does make them look like coffee or poppy seeds.

Thanks for playing along! I hope you had fun. *grin*

Now for this week’s photo… hopefully a tad bit easier, but maybe not! (Click to enlarge.)

So, do you think you know it? Can you outsmart my macro? If you have a fun macro or close up shot to share, let me know! Or if you have any ideas for some close up shots, feel free to make a suggestion. Maybe someday you’ll see it. *grin*

And bloggy buds, meet Mr. Seagull. (Please make sure you click to enlarge!)

Photo courtesy of Mr. Honking Macro Lens.

Two things.

1.) I love this lens.
2.) AI Focus + continuous shooting mode = woooooo!

That bird was not very close. The lens just really rocks. And if I had a steady hand and more experience, it would rock even more!

So it’s Monday and I’ve got this sweet, new macro lens and I thought to myself, “hmmm, Macro Monday!” would be a fun thing I can do to help me learn to use this monster.

Here’s the deal. I’ll post a macro shot of something I found during the previous week and you get to guess what it is. If you guess it right, you win! What do you win? The satisfaction of knowing that you’re smart and get to help me refine my photo taking skillz. Cause they aren’t quite mad yet, yo. *giggle* Sorry, I guess I can’t do better than that right now.

I’ll post the answer (and winner if there is one!) as well as a small non-cropped version of the photo so you can see for yourself what it is on the following Monday when we start all over again. The photos will not be heavily edited. I might adjust the lighting levels if they’re too dark, or correct the color if it’s off and perhaps sharpen it just a tad if it needs it, but that’s it. They will be at the magnification that the camera takes them… no digital zooming!

If you have a macro or even a point and shoot that takes really great close-ups, feel free to participate on your own blog! Just make sure you leave me a comment to let me know so I can check it out.

Here’s our first Macro Monday photo (click to enlarge):

What do ya think? Do you think you know it? Tell me! Outsmart my macro. *grin*