A Tale of Two Spideys

Nico received a Spider Man mask for his birthday. And a second one for Christmas. He loves costumes!
The weather was kinda perfect this weekend... so I made the kids go out to play.

Nico was excited to see a few kids at the park and immediately went to grab his masks in hopes that they would play with him. Of course, by the time he got there, the parents were pulling the kids away. :(

That just about broke my heart. But, Alex stepped in - ran over to the park - and proceeded to engage his brother in some Spidey fighting.

They spent a good while out there - special quality time between brothers.

I love that Nic likes to dress-up in costume! I hope he stays like this for a long time to come!

Our Very Merry Christmas | 2012

I like to think that everyone enjoyed their Christmas this year. While it was the first without my grandpa - and that was hard - we still were blessed to have my grandma join us again for Christmas morning. As per usual, Mom made fab food and I provided the OJ. ;) Okay, I did make breakfast burritos.

If you remember last year - we had a new puppy for Christmas (well, we got her the week before). She's now a year old and still so cute. She's the lighter one and Ellis is her sister (not real sisters, but you know what I mean).

To add to the fun, my parents brought along their new puppies!! Jack B (as in Jack Bauer, as in 24) and Zoey are about 8 weeks old and are lab mixes.

They went in for Zoey - and came out with Jack, too. Jack was the runt of the litter, and they couldn't pass him up!

All-in-all, people were spoiled, loved, and filled with Joy. Which makes for a pretty perfect Christmas.

Cheese is the Word

Since just before my birthday earlier this month, I've had the privilege to do a few photo shoots for friends and family, and family and friends of those. I have been bitten by the shutter bug, I have.

Yes... even my aunt's doggie was a client! ;)

Coming up, I have a maternity shoot and a new born shoot. Both very new to me. Can't wait to learn lots!

Oh Christmas Tree... You bring me Joy!

It took us weeks... and honestly, we still aren't done. But at least the tree is standing. Thank gosh for pre-lit trees. And who cares if the back of the tree is as nekkid as a baby on his birthday.

I did purchase a FEW new ornaments this year, most the non-breakable balks. They were from Walmart for less than $3. I wanted to ensure I had enough White, Green, Red and Silver. My colors for this year.

I love the glow of my Christmas tree. It's like a warm cup of cocoa.

My little man helped me take these photos. And then proceeded to show me a magic trick. That kid has some talent! ;)

A Man on the Moon

If there was, I am sure I could have seen him.

I stepped outside for just a minute last night, and when I saw the moon, I had Alex grab my camera.
And the big lens!! Here's the first picture, with the smaller lens...

 

This one, above, is with the larger lens, but without a tripod. Just me swaying in the wind. What a cool effect.

f/4.5  1.6  ISO 100

This last one is also the larger lens, but with me propping the camera against the house. It's not perfect, but let me tell you, I've NEVER been able to get more than a pin hole for a moon before. I can even see the little star above it (although, I still moved slightly here).

I called the Mr. and told him I needed a tripod.
*want

Now that I know what this camera is capable of, I can't wait to drag the husband out to the desert at night to get some cool shots of the city!!

FUN!

Capturing Fall {Before & Afters}

I know December is just days away, but here in Arizona, we are barely starting to see signs of Fall. I've been waiting and watching.

I've decided to share with you those signs... AND also what I've learned from taking the Shoot Fly Shoot course. I have three pictures that I am going to show you... the first version of each is straight out of the camera (SOOC), without any Photoshop edits (other than adding my watermark). After each SOOC image, I will then show you what I did to enhance them in Photoshop.

It's hard to believe that a year ago, I was taking pictures like this:

...thinking it looked good! lol... Of course, you can tell that I was way over-editing them in Picasa or the like. Don't get me wrong, Picasa and PicMonkey were great to me! But I am so glad to have taught myself Photoshop, with a little help, of course, from other blogge's posting tutorials! ;)

Back to fall...

f/5.6  1/100  ISO 200

Pioneer Women (PW) Action - Slight Sharpen 100%  PW Action Slight Lighten 75%

f/4.5   1/100   ISO 100

PW Action Slight Sharpen 75%   Natural Touch Action (author unknown) 100%

f/4.5   1/100   ISO 100

PW Action Slight Sharpen 72%   Contrast Boost, no color change 100% (author unknown)

This Ash Tree is near and dear to my heart. We installed it in January 2011... and she has grown into a fine looking shade tree.

So... do you see the hint of fall? In another month, that tree will have lost all of its leaves. And next Spring, it will be bigger and better, for sure.

Well, from a photography/photoshop front... how did I do?
You likey?

Guest Bath Reveal

Well, ladies & gentlegerms... I finally have the guest bathroom reveal for you. This is our third bathroom; it sits downstairs, next to the family room and my office. Here are all of the posts in the series.

And here are some before pictures of the space...

Sometime after...

 Not ugly, but definitely boring.

Now that it's all made over, a certain brood of rugrats are no longer allowed past the threshold.
For real.

I really wanted this post to be full of glory; to share the beauty of the room. However, I don't think the pictures do the room justice. Blame it on the photographer, go ahead. But... in my defense. There is NO natural light anywhere near this room. It's off of a small hallway and there is nary a window nearby.

And I am still trying to learn manual mode on my new camera (thanks to Shoot Fly Shoot). And the room is SMALL.  9x6 - an even rectangle.

I love the picture above - the artwork picture - from Hobby Lobby. It was $29, but I used my 40% off coupon. The colors are spot on for what I was hoping to achieve. And then you can see the paneling and moulding. Better shots to come soon, I promise.

We did... we took out the medicine cabinet... and in its place we added a towel bar. I plan to add some additional art above the towel bar, but for now, I have pretty yellow hand towels.

We also took out the builder grade mirror that extended almost the entire length of the room. Too much...

The sink was hard to decide on. Originally we wanted a vessel sink, but we couldn't find a counter-top that was in our price range. And considering this room didn't HAVE to be made over, we wanted to keep the spending to a minimum. It was important to us to get rid of the builder grade counter top that extended over the toilet. My husband thinks it looked too 80s; I agree. So we found this beauty of a sink at Home Depot for $139. We kept our existing vanity, but purchased a new light fixture (which my husband had to move and install) and a new faucet. Both in Oil-Rubbed Bronze, farmhouse style.

Marcos did the tile backsplash; his first tile job ever. It's white subway tile with a blue/green glass insert. I love it, mucho. Hey, look! In the mirror ($35 from IKEA, btw), you can see the paneling some more!

In this picture here (below), you can see the pretty IKEA curtain panels I purchased, originally for the formals. I like them in the bathroom. And I like how TALL they are! We have 9 (or 10) foot ceilings... we want to show them off!

The greige is Mega Greige by Sherwin Williams, color-matched to Behr. It's a shade darker than what we painted in the formals and I adore it.

I even added fake legs to the cabinet. You can barely make them out in the picture below!

I am keeping an eye on RugsUSA for a steal of a deal on a patterned yellow rug, I think that will FINISH the room!

Okay, I promise to try and get better pictures for the House Tour post... But I hope you can see the difference. The tan walls and yellow lights are gone. It's now fresh, white and purdy!

Edited to add a few more pics; better ones, I hope.

And finally, one straight out of the camera (SOOC)... that gives a pretty accurate reading of the colors in that room.

 
Have you ever made over any rooms that didn't really NEED it; just to add character?