Photography Challenge Day 14: Eyes

No, I didn't take this picture.  But when I saw that the challenge was Eyes, I remembered how blue Trekker's eyes were as a baby, specifically this picture.  Or, should I say, this picture before I made it sepia tone with the blue eyes.

And now I can't decide, adorable?  Or scary?

Here's the original for comparison:

Photography Challenge Day 13: Cannot Live Without

Cannot Live Without?  There are so many things that we can all live without.  Very uncomfortably, of course.  I mean, I need shelter.  Preferably with air conditioning and running water.  And tv because I really like to watch "The Amazing Race".

But what do we really need in order to live?  Air.  Water.  Food.

What is life immensely better with?  That's what this photo is about.

I have always loved those old time photos from weddings where *cue southern accent* everyone is standing on the front steps of the grand porch under the mighty oak tree, looking regal in their wedding finest...  Like at Madeline & Justin's wedding at Resolute in North and South.

*ahem*  oh, excuse me...

But, alas, the church didn't have stairs.  So our photographer got up on a ladder and took this photo from above.

Things in this photo I cannot live without?  My husband, my marriage, my family, oh, and you see how it's windy - there's air in that photo too...

Photography Challenge Day 12: Sunset

July 3, 2010.  Sunset over Lake Mendota, Madison, WI.

Our first summer together, Jeff and I went to watch the Madison fireworks.  They are (almost) always held the Saturday before the 4th.  They have this really big "Rhythm & Booms" event (which, on the radio, sounds like "rhythm & boobs" btw), but we chose to just go to a different location and watch, and not put up with the huge crowds of people.

I had found this little bitty city park on the lake just behind a church my first summer here when Mom & I were looking for a place to watch the show.  You just back your car into a spot in the church parking lot and you can easily be out of there and on the road before the big groups of people have jammed up the roads.  It's quite nice.

Until this year, that is.  They've changed the location, and they're over a different area, so no more watching from this pretty little spot.  Too bad, too, because it sure was nice...

Photography Challenge Day 11: Something Blue

June 2010

Okay, first of all, 2010 was when I bought my camera.  I might have taken a lot of pictures that year.

Tina let me know that Rylee was going to play softball at a tourney North of their place, so closer to our place, so Jeff & I went for the day.  If I remember correctly, it was hot and steamy, but it was fun to play with the "sports continuous" function on my camera.

Then, last week, when I knew I had "something blue" coming up for the Photography Challenge, I knew that I wanted to upload the pictures to my Google Photos, and crossed my fingers that Google would "auto-awesome" the sets of sports continuous photos.

As you can see, Google did as I had hopes!  It's so awesome!  

Wow, can you believe how much Rylee has grown in the last 4 years?

And this is my favorite photo of that day.  I love it!  It shows just how much power and exertion she's got on the pitch!  I think I was really lucky to get this shot!

Photography Challenge Day 10: Childhood Memory

I'm the one in red.  With cousins Marcos Alan, Susana, & Becky, and my sister Tina.

I had a broken arm - or wrist or something - when I was a kid.  That's why I had a sling on in this picture. 

We had a jungle gym in the yard and Tina and I were playing when I fell off.  That's how it broke.

I don't remember a whole lot about that.  But I remember that Mom must have iced my arm, because I remember her putting something in the freezer.  Did she freeze my cast?  I also remember someone at church helping me write.  You can see that it was my right arm, and I am right-handed, but I sure hadn't learned to write at that time - I was not quite 5 and I hadn't gone to school yet!

Hey, maybe I can blame my bad handwriting on this broken arm?

Photography Challenge Day 9: Someone You Love

no one expected someone else, did they?

This man.  I love him.  Look at how cute he is!  So handsome in his suit...

When I was making my bouquet, I had to ask him to hold it for me as I was building it (darn green floral tape was about to be the death of me and I needed help!).  Well, every time he held it, he started singing the wedding march.  So cute!

Photography Challenge Day 8: Routine

My routine includes putting on some yummy lotion from Bath & Body Works.  During the winter I use Body Butter.

This past weekend Jeff & I went to the Johnson Creek Outlet Mall.  Bath & Body has a store there - and they actually have some outlet store prices!  Plus they honor regular coupons and sales. 

I had a coupon to get one item free with a $10 purchase, which I made because I needed my "Look Ma, New Hands" lotion.  This French Lavender & Honey was my free item.  Plus some of their items were $6.50, so I also got a Pear Blossom lotion.  Yum!

The real reason for going to Johnson Creek was to get me some new bras.  The "normal" Lane Bryant stores don't carry the style that I like, but the outlet stores do.  Hmm, weird.  Well, it's a good thing we went, because my bra broke at work yesterday!  I now have only the 3 new that I bought on Saturday, plus one that's not nearly as comfortable...  Wow, that was good timing...

Photography Challenge Day 7: Changes to Come

Yep, skipped Day 6.  Subject for Day 6 was obsession, and I had no idea what to put for that one.

Changes to come?  Not sure what to do here, other than to share some photos of Mom from when she was 17 and just this past Christmas - only a few years have gone by, but changes come with time.

1970

2013

I selected these two photos because of Mom's smile in both - they're the same, right?  It's nice to know that there are some things in life - like smiles and laughter - that will always be the same.  We might all get older, but some things never change.

In other news, I CAN'T WAIT to go to Mom & Dad's for Easter.  They spent nearly 3 months in Florida, and even though we don't live right nearby, now that they're back, it's nice to know that they're an easy drive and not a plane ride away.  I want to hunt eggs with Trekker, try a chocolate & orange recipe with Tina, play games, and eat good food!  Only 4 work days and then I have a nice long 3-day weekend!

Photography Challenge Day 5: After Dark

Again, 2010.  This is as close as we were to the Jefferson Memorial - my favorite.  This was when I learned the value of a tripod...

We weren't allowed to park on the bridge where I took the photo from, so Jeff let me out and drove around.  I think there were police or security guards watching us closely, and right after I got back in the truck and we left, I saw that their patrol vehicle went to where we had been.

All I wanted was some pretty night shots...

Photography Challenge Day 4: Something Green

 

Sometime in the cold of winter I went to a user group meeting for my HRIS.  A company with a recently built facility hosted.  My gosh the place was amazing.

 

 

There was a huge river rock (seriously, about 6 people could probably all sit on it), and it was partially in the vestibule, so the glass was cut to fit around it.  That's how fancy this place was.

 

In this facility, at the West end, were two giant Living Walls.  They had to have been at least 3 stories tall, and just plants.  All these plants planted into this wall.  It was really amazing.

 

It really was beautiful - and this photo doesn't do it justice.  There was a slight water noise, because you know it needs to be hydrated and no one's going to go and water it with a watering can!  See how tall it is compared to the door at the right?  I can just imagine sitting out there, with lunch, a book, or ear buds.  Man, that would be a nice place to relax at lunch time...

 

Photography Challenge Day 3: Clouds

Washington Monument in Washington DC

I took this photo in 2010.  I so love it!  Someone said that they see a baby, like from a sonogram, in the clouds...

Do you see it?

Photography Challenge Day 2: What You Wore

to Wendy's wedding:

 

October 2000.

 

 

Wendy was a college friend.  Fun, down to Earth, shorter than me, also a Business major.  She ended up meeting someone (yet another Business major) while at the bar, they started dating, and a year and a half after she graduated from college, married him.

 

I would go with her to the town she was from and help her with wedding stuff, because I was still in college for a semester more than she was, and even after I was done with school I would drive down and meet her there to work on stuff. 

 

Wendy had already chosen her bridesmaids, but asked me and another college friend to help out by handing out programs and making sure the reception was running smoothly until they got there.  The two of us just happened to match the day of the wedding - and it wasn't planned!

 

I had a great LBD - little black dress - that was not safe for church.  But, I threw a lavender sweater over the top, pinned the top so I didn't flash anyone, and looked lovely, if I do say so myself.

 

 

***************

 

And I realize that this whole "Photography Challenge" is probably about me putting out pictures that I took, but it's my blog, darn it!  And I'll post whatever photo goes with the category of the day!

Photography Challenge Day 1: Self Portrait

Okay, so here's the deal...  I had "liked" one of those 30 Day Photography Challenges on Pinterest a while ago, and I thought, what the heck, may as well.

So I'm going to post for each of the days of the challenge.  Or maybe I won't if I don't like the category.  I guess it's up to me.

What I can tell you is that even though I'm sure the challenge is to take a photo that day, I'm going to use a lot of photos I already have, as opposed to taking new.

So, enjoy.  And maybe do the same thing, too, on your blog, or your Instagram (if you have Instagram, let me know!), or whatever social media you use.

 

So, this is my arm.  We've been getting the bedroom all reorganized because we bought a new bed (info for another post), and I got this lovely little bruise/laceration combo on Saturday when I lost my balance trying to clean off the floor of the closet so the chest of drawers could go in there.  Unfortunately it's right at the spot that usually rests on the corner of the arm rest in the car...  so it's been hard to find a comfortable arm position lately. 

 

Hey!

Hey!

Whoa, you scared me!  Hey...

Whatcha doin?

Nothin, just playing on the computer.  How 'bout you?

Wrapping some presents,

then I was going to make some phone calls.

Why?

Oh, I need some help with mowing the lawn, if you could...

Hmmmm, let me think about it...

Pinterest Review: Using Shaving Cream to color Easter Eggs

Pictures from Easter weekend 2013 - Trekker's chalk creations!

The first thing he did when he got to Grama & Grampa's house was pull the chalk out.

I needed a breather by the time Easter came around last year - that's quite a long time between holidays from New Years to Easter - and I needed not only away from work, but away from Wisconsin!  So I went to Mom & Dad's requested the pleasure of Trekker's presence, and we colored Easter eggs!

While I got the stuff together, he drew.  I think some of those creations are magnet monsters.  Not sure.

I had, of course, seen something on Pinterest about using shaving cream to dye eggs.  You put shaving cream on something, like a cookie sheet, put the dye in the shaving cream, roll the eggs around, let them sit for a while (I let them sit for a good 20 minutes).  

The results:

Okay, so only the three on the left were done with this process.  You see, we didn't have shaving cream.  We had shaving gel that had been under the sink since I was in college.  We gave it a shot, but I was skeptical, so I didn't do many eggs that way.  Plus, Trekker wasn't interested, and dying eggs alone isn't as fun as you might want it to be...

For the rest of the eggs, Trekker and I dropped the eggs in dye - old school.  Some of them were dumped in more than one color, and I think were a nice subtle mix of colors (see the little hints of pink on that orange one in the front?).  My favorite is that super bright orange-red one.  In fact, I think it sat in both orange and in red dye...

I would definitely do my Easter eggs again this way.

Did I mention that you have to wash the shaving cream off of the eggs?  I would hate to leave off a step...

One of the girls from work dyed her eggs this way too, but only after she and her mom had an extremely long conversation about whether or not they would be edible after sitting in shaving cream.  

I think they ended up using whipped cream instead.

Trekker is not exactly what one would call "gentle" with his Easter eggs.  He gets very excited when he finds eggs, and just kinda tosses them into the basket.  But boy, does he get some use out of those eggs.  I think we must have hunted the eggs at least 5 times.  That's why I wasn't worried about if they were edible or not.  They really were smashed up by the end...

He even gets excited when someone else finds the eggs!  If he hides the eggs for you, he gets so freaking excited, and ends up finding them for you!

Oreo did not accept our invitation to help find eggs....

Do you have Easter egg plans?