Day 90

Today is Easter Sunday!!!

This morning Wyndham hosted an Easter Egg Hunt for the little children staying at the resort.

The girls had a great time and found lots of eggs.

Here they are posting with the Easter Bunny:

Happy Easter everyone!

Day 89

Absolutely marvelous first day on the beach!

Spring Break 2013

Day 88

We hopped on a plane to Florida yesterday. It was a long but good day of travel. This is my post for yesterday since I missed posting last night.

 Here we all are at the airport gate waiting to leave...

Day 87

Spa Night

Day 86

Emma had another swim lesson this afternoon!

She is so cute in the water!

Day 85

It is still cold here.  I am feeling uninspired again this week.

I decided to snap a photo of the dogs curled up together in their favorite chair this afternoon.

It was very dark so I took my aperture to 1.8.  I focused on Franklin's left eye. That is pretty much all that is in focus.  Oh well.  I now know the limitations of my camera, and it is hard to get past them in situations like this afternoon with poor lighting.  I guess I should have gotten the speedlight out.

Day 84

Here is the opposing view of the dining room.  

I moved the chair in today from our bedroom. It is a much better fit.

Now I need to hang the draperies, buy a small rug and a small settee for the "living room" space in addition to hanging a few photos.  Will it ever be finished?

iPhone photo

Day 83

After 2 months of painting wainscoting and drywall, I finally finished the dining room today!

I love how it turned out!

Day 82

Jackson had another soccer game today.  They lost 3 to 2, but Jackson scored his first goal!

This is a shot of him kicking it into the goal.  Amazingly it got by the defender and the goalie!

So proud of how Jackson played today!

Day 81

Tonight we went to the Winterized Wonders Annual Art Show at Brendan's middle school.

Brendan had two pieces of art on exhibit...

The first piece we saw is a clay sculpture of a "bird with personality".  The bird is sporting a baseball cap and football pads ~ according to B.

This next piece won second place in the Sketch category!



There was live music, professional artists, food and more.  What a neat experience!

Photos taken with my iPhone!

Day 80

On this first full day of spring, we had winter-like temps not reaching above 43 degrees.  Brrrr!

The good news is everything is really starting to come to life again!  Spring is my second favorite season because of this beautiful transformation!

My "Tulip" tree has finally started to bloom although it is behind a few others I've seen very nearby.

I decided to snap a couple of photos.  They are really insignificant so I decided to fancy this first one up  with some color pop and a funky Sarah Gardner texture.

I actually like the next one but wish the flower was more in bloom.  All of the bokeh is natural which makes me happy!  Love that light!

Now we just need warmer temps to match our official springtime!

Day 79

I had JC pick his favorite from the photos I took last night.

This is what he chose...not my favorite, but this one is funny!

Emma did a split flying through the air and then crashed and burned...somehow she managed to score.  I guess that's soccer at 5!

Day 78

We have just now gotten home and gotten the kids in bed.  It is 8:46pm, and I am quite exhausted from the day's events.

Emma had another soccer game tonight.   I don't have it in me to download the pictures so I'll post another one from this past weekend.  I edited it this morning along with a few others.

Day 77

Brendan was hard at work on his Eleanor Roosevelt project this afternoon.  He didn't really want me to take a picture of him.  He did let me snap a couple though.

It was gray and rainy and this was taken indoors.

It's not the best picture, but I find myself taking fewer and fewer pictures of this boy who is quickly becoming our young man.

Day 76

Day 75

Today we traveled back to Boone for our second game.

We lost, but Jackson played very well so we are not disappointed.

Day 74

Tonight Emma and I did her photo shoot to mimic my inspiration photo.

Emma was not all that cooperative as far as following direction or standing still or cooperating with her mouth expressions.

Here is my inspiration photo...

Here is the straight out of the camera...

And the final:

and here is the interpretation...(definitely not as crisp...)

I had such a great time thinking this through and getting the props.  I cannot wait to tackle another one.

Day 73

Today is a very special boy's birthday!

Since it is a soccer practice day, and my turn to drive, I decided to take Dunkin' Donuts for the group!

What a sweet bunch of boys they are!

Happy Birthday JJ!

Day 72

JC brought home a beautiful orchid today.  It was a gift from some of his patients who also happen to be long-time friends.

ISO 6400  f/5.6  SS 1/320

Somehow I turned my "auto ISO" function on without knowing.  I thought the ISO was set at 250, but my camera was overriding it.

Taking photos of jewelry and flowers and eyes really really makes me want a Nikon Micro Lens!!!

Day 71

Emma's Very First Outdoor Soccer Game

She looked like a pro!  We are so proud of her!

Day 70

NINE days until the official start of spring...

but who's counting???

ISO 1000  f/2.5  SS 1/100

processed using Florabella Colorplay Actions with a Sarah Gardner Wax texture overlay.

Day 69

We drove straight from the beach to Jackson's soccer game today.

Our team lost, but we are proud of how Jackson played!

ISO 200  f/6.3  SS 1/500

Day 68

Same vantage point at sunset...

ISO 320  f/6.3  SS 1/200

Day 67

OKI

ISO 400  f/5  SS 1/2000

ISO 400  f/5  SS 1/1600

Day 66

Today I picked Emma up from school, and she decided to dress up as Merida from the movie, Brave.

ISO 400  f/3.5  SS 1/400

ISO 400  f/4  SS 1/400

She still has the dress on, but the hair has come off.  

She and Jack even kicked the soccer ball a bit before Jackson got picked up for practice.

Day 65

Emma wore her Little Red "Rolving" Hood dress today...

ISO 400  f/2.5  SS 1/4000

Day 64

ISO 2500  f/2.8  SS 1/200

processed with Florabella's Retouch and Colorplay's Pink Honey

Day 63

I'm very excited about my last photography assignment for the month of March.  We have to pick an inspiration photo from a photographer.  We then we have to plan out all the details like the subject, location, props, etc. and post all of these details.  Our teacher only wants us to submit between one and three photographs for this assignment.

Emma actually chose my photo for me.  She was giddy when I came across the photo that I will be using.  If she is happy about it, then hopefully, she will be more willing to cooperate with me during the actual photoshoot.

Anyway, as the sun was setting tonight we quickly ran out onto the porch to take a few test photos.  

She is just in a t-shirt with unkempt hair, but I kind of like the sweet smile on her face.  It is a little too over-the-top for the inspiration photo though.

Processed using Florabella's Colorplay actions with a Florabella texture.

ISO 1250  f/3.2  SS 1/200

Day 62

Favorite photo of the day...

One of Jack's teammates ready to kick:

ISO 200  f/4.5  SS 1/1000

Day 61

Today we drove up to Boone to visit family and to play soccer!

It was 32 degrees, very windy, and snowing!  Not an ideal day to play soccer outside.

Our boys lost.  Jackson played well, though, and he had some great passes.

ISO 640  f/4  SS 1/4000

Day 60

This afternoon I had the pleasure of photographing our Goddaughter before her Daddy-Daughter dance at school.  She was just precious and did everything I asked of her.  She is so excited!

ISO 640  f/3.2  SS 1/400

I could stare at those eyes forever!