Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category

Timelines

Friday, March 16th, 2012

If you are visiting me from Across the Pond , Welcome!

I don’t remember how I found Megan’s blog, (I think it was through the lovely Jenni ) but reading her stories

always brighten my day.   I’m also centering my text in honor of her today! WOOT WOOT.

I’m finding it difficult to know when to hit enter/return.

Yesterday I spent my morning making this for my Happydally Facebook Page!

If you haven’t liked me on Facebook yet, it is a great way to follow the blog and make sure you get my new posts.

Cause I post like three times a day you know…eh…per week? :)

Let me just say that Photoshop CS5 is my mortal enemy. I will OWN you one day CS5.

If I could just learn to properly “liquify” in Photoshop, my photos would go from looking like this

(I love CoCo and Ice T…have you seen that show!?! Seriously you must watch this at least once.)

to this

(Jessica Biel is bringing sexy back.)

Yes that is right…if I knew how to liquify and shrink my body in Photoshop, I would post a daily blog photo of my backside (clothed).

It would be like the fashion bloggers who post their daily outfits. I would post my daily bumfit.

OK. Now you know a lot more nonsense about me.

I blame Farmboy. He banned bread for a week, and there are even hints at ditching sugar.

I’m about one day away from doing this.

Well, I have “socially cheated” since I found myself in a social setting where bread consumption was a must.

Somehow both situations involved hamburger buns.

On a lighter note…

Rewrite your script are my new Three Little Words.  One little Word for 2012 wasn’t enough I suppose.

I was inspired by this mug I bought while at The Woodhouse Spa.

I thought it was a funny thing to sell in such a lovely spa.

I’d like to rewrite my life script to include a daily visit to the spa.

Yep, a mug can change your life.

Seriously. Have you ever went a day without coffee and you are addicted like me?

Something about drinking my coffee out of this mug makes me smile.

Ok, it is now midnight and I am turning into a pumpkin.

I’m excited to spend the day tomorrow with Farm Boy. He is actually not working on a Friday!

What are your weekend plans?

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It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

I almost died while walking the Sherms yesterday. I jumped in front of a car.

Things aren’t so bad that I’m purposefully jumping in front of cars. I’m just distracted easily.

Luckily the walk still turned out to be pleasant, sweaty, and entertaining.

Our usual neighborhood stroll was interrupted by some serious road construction.

This forced me to walk in someone’s yard (because the sidewalk was being jack hammered into  million pieces along with the shoulder) to get to our Stepford Wives street we like to walk down. The bad thing about walking in yards is that there are rude people who do not clean up after their apparently HUGE dogs.  In an effort to avoid a major pile of doggie doo (rhymes with__) I jumped back onto the road. What I forgot to do is look first, and I was almost grill decor for a very cranky Land Rover.

I think I’d look good in a Land Rover.

This was just the first five minutes of the walk.

We then proceeded to see:

One  sweaty dad pushing twins and running full speed. What a workout!?

Three unbelievably cute golden retreiver puppies drinking out of a bowl in their front yard!!! (I wanted to snap a picture, but the owner was sitting there looking at me like, get your barely middle class booty off my Stepford Street)

One old lady in a chair with her Chihuahua, watching the lady with the three puppies drink from a bowl. See we were all in love with the puppies. I WANT A PUPPY FOR VALENTINE’S DAY! Some people my age want babies. I want puppies. Sherman needs a sister.

Ok, back to our walk.  There are some interesting sights in the old Almo Heights.

This lil gem

Soy Mono? I am one? I am a monkey? No entiendo.   I do appreciate the symmetry you were going for with the A/C units. I do not appreciate the trash in your driveway. Welcome to SA.

Having a difficult time growing flowers during winter?

Just stick some silk ones in the flowerbed! Seriously? Silk flowers?

One very GREEN house. I love how they threw that peace sign up there, just in case you didn’t know they were hippies.

I took many more pictures, but they all include some leash or Sherman butt action, so I thought I’d spare you.

I had fun being a creeper taking pictures on my walk.  I pretended to try and answer my phone each time. lol LAME O

I also had this view the entire time.

Someone needs to go on a diet…make that two of us!

HAPPY FREAKIN WEEKEND!

I have to teach a Professional Development course tomorrow from 8-4, which means it’s a 1 day weekend. BOO

The good news is I can buy myself a new pair of TOMS Ballet Flats with the $$!!!! WHOOHOO

I MUST HAVE YOU! EVERY SINGLE PAIR!  I plan to provide shoes for a whole village with the number of these I plan to purchase. One-for-one baby!!!!

 

Long doggie walks are one of my favorite ways to end a long day. What do you do to de-stress?

 

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Weekend Food Find: Steel Cut Oatmeal

Saturday, January 21st, 2012

Twice in the past week I’ve made this delicious recipe from The Yummy Life Blog for Overnight, Slow Cooker, Apple Cinnamon Steel-Cut Oatmeal.

Wow, that is the longest recipe title EVER!

Well worth it though. It is quite yummy.

I used Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats. This package was enough for two double batches!

I also went overboard on the apples. I used 4 or 5.

I can’t remember because I kept feeding Sherman pieces and then had to cut up more to add.

Are those apple chunks or BUTTER!!?? :) Token out of focus shot. It wouldn’t be a Happydally post without one of those.

Seven Hours Later…

24 Hours later-Leftovers with dried cranberries! DELISH!

I really enjoyed making this recipe. I even took it in my lunch TWICE this week. I will definitely add more dried fruit next time to sweeten it up a bit. Check out Monica’s blog for more yummy recipes!

Do you have a favorite crock pot recipe? I’d love to try something new!

Happy Weekend

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Posted in Food, Photography | 3 Comments »

Something Lovely

Monday, January 16th, 2012

I heard this song while listening to the radio, and it reminded me of this picture.

When the storm is raging all around me
You are the peace that calms
My troubled sea
And when the cares of this world
Darken my day
You are the light that shines
And shows me the way

-Leeland

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Posted in Farm, Photography, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Thanksgiving 2011

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011

I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s daily posts on FB about what they are thankful for. I didn’t jump on the bandwagon, but here are some things that I am thankful to have.

I am thankful for free time to spend outside and enjoy the fall weather. (Even if that means sweatin it out in 85 degree heat in the S.A.)

I am thankful for my family.

 

I love my lil bro too, but he is too busy playing Mr. Basketball in NYC this week to be photographed. That is ok because we saw you on ESPN 2 and Channel 9 tonight!!!! Just to keep you in check, I will post embarrassing kid photos. He’s so cute!

Sherman- I am thankful for having a break from mommy duties when your PaPa is around.

 

Farm Boy- I know I’m not supposed to post you on the blog, but I am very thankful for you. You look handsome rockin the Paul Bunyan beard/ Movember moustache. I hope you win the contest!!!

 

We make a good team. :)

 

I’m off to get some sleep before the food fest begins.

Dressing is my favorite part of Thanksgiving. Do you call it Stuffing or Dressing?

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

 

 

 

 

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Shall We Dance

Saturday, October 8th, 2011

Several months ago, my sweet friend Melissa let me practice using my new camera the night of her daughter’s prom. I was still using auto back then, but there were some sweet moments regardless.

Today was the first day I sat and played with Photoshop CS5 for an extended time (try 7 hours). Several bad youtube videos later, I realized I’m in over my head, but it was still fun.  Obviously life has been crazy and busy since April, but at least I edited some before she graduated from High School! lol

I’ll be dreaming of layers (not the cake kind unfortunately).

 

Here are some of my favorite shots.





I’m still trying to figure out my “look” with post processing. Some of these are too soft, but I don’t like too punchy color either.

The black and white shot was my favorite.

Caitlyn you should be a model. For pay next time ;)  Isn’t she beautiful?

What did you wear for prom?

 

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Self Portrait…Sort of

Sunday, September 4th, 2011

In less than 24 hours I will be here:

 

Ok, this is actually somewhere in Australia, but I will be with the photographer and I’m guessing there will be some horses involved. It is Texas after all.  Yeee Haw!

Many many months ago, some late night facebook browsing landed me on one of my favorite photographers page.  She posted that she would be coming to the US soon for some workshops and TEXAS was listed as one of her stops. I was shocked. Even more shocked when I saw that it was in Round Top, one of my favorite small towns to drive through between here and Houston.

Oh a whim I tried to pre-register thinking there would be no chance of getting in. I was pleasantly surprised to get a reply, and one big paypal payment later I was signed up!

Now, some of you are already thinking what I then started thinking.  Umm no I’m not a professional photographer.  I am barely skilled enough to be called an intermediate photographer. I am only one f-stop away from being a big baby beginner.  It scares the shiz out of me.

So do spiders.

But that is not going to stop me.

As I’ve started browsing the sites/blogs of the other women who will be there I’ve had a wide range of emotions. I go from awe to WTH was I thinking. I thought I was going to have a lot of free time to improve between registration and September. Little did I know that Funemployment and the summer job from hell were looming in front of me.  All this on top of the fact that I now have a different job than the one I did when I registered and the pressure is overwhelming.

Then I remind myself to keep my mouth shut, listen, take notes furiously to avoid eye contact, smile and nod a lot, and if all else fails use big words that you do know. This is how I got by in Costa Rica for months without knowing much Spanish after all.

I had to post a picture of myself and explain why I chose it.  I am not in that cute baby fat phase right now.  I’m in that, I was super sad and ate way too much frozen custard in the Freddy’s parking lot every other day phase. I also decided to dye my hair and who knew it would go Katy Perry  instead of Mandy Moore like I’d hoped. lol

I chose this photo from our quick trip to Austin yesterday because

1. I love Austin and I wish I was there every day.

2. I have a classic Daliene smirk/I’m about to laugh at you face  and

3. It makes me laugh and laughter is good for you :)

I even photoshopped the back-to-school acne off my face!

I am definitely not prepared, but I am beyond excited and interested.  I have no idea what it is going to be like (other than HOT) and that I’m supposed to bring boots because the poison ivy is bad. I am bringing my goat milkin rain boots. Yep I milked a goat once.

I really wanted to submit this one as my self-portrait, but I didn’t know if it was appropriate.

SO wish me luck as I load up the farm truck and head to Round Top, TX for 3 days of sweatin and shootin one of the greatest children photographers ever Barb Uil aka Jinky Art.  Visit her site and you’ll see why I’m hooked.

 

 

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Posted in kid photography, Photography, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

I Had Lunch With the Mayor

Saturday, July 30th, 2011

I had lunch with Julian Castro, the mayor of San Antonio, at La Gloria today.

Farm Boy (in the blue t-shirt) played tourist for me and let me take a picture with my iPhone of the back of Mayor Juilan’s head.

Here he is from the front.

"I went to Harvard Law"

He seems like a cool dude. He drank soda and ate chips and chatted with some lawyer looking dudes. It was a fun lunch.

We love going to eat here after visiting the Pearl Brewery Farmers Market on Saturdays.

I highly recommend the tacos al pastor with pineapple if you visit La Gloria  by The Pearl Brewery.

Delicioso!

Before lunch I spent some time taking pictures at The Pearl Brewery Farmers Market.

This is one of my favorite places to take my fancy cam because there is always something fun to see. Unfortunately I didn’t make it earlier to get better light, but there was still lots to snap about.

 

 

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I love shopping at farmers markets and this one is small, but nice. Today I only bought some Guajillo Honey Almonds from Al’s Gourmet Nuts stand. They were so sweet and crunchy.

I ate them before I could take a picture. Ooops

Here is Al showing off his gourmet treats!  I wanted to make a “That’s what she said” joke here but Farm Boy vetoed.  Feel free to think up one for yourself and then have a good laugh. :)

I really like to support Texas Farmers.  I am so impressed with all the fresh, local food available in this part of the state.  If you haven’t made it to The Pearl you should stop by.  The market is held every Saturday from 9-1 rain or shine.

 

Do you shop at your local farmers market or go there to people watch?

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Farm, Food, Fun, Photography | No Comments »

The One I Can’t Have

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

I have a confession. For the past several weeks, I’ve been caught up in secret online shopping war.  Each Monday starting at 10:50 a.m. I would sit sweating and heart pounding as I hit the refresh button over and over.   I am not exaggerating when I say my hands were shaking while I did this.  No, I was not caught up in a bidding war on Ebay  (are there actually any bidding wars on Ebay anymore or is that so 2003?).  I’ve been caught up in the ultimate photographer accessory shopping competition. Yes, that’s right, I’ve been trying to buy a Ketti Handbag.

Ketti wha? you say. Well you see, Ketti Bags are apparently the most difficult camera bag you can buy, and leave it up to me to become fixated on the one shown above. Chevron

When I got my new camera I knew I needed a good bag to carry it in and keep it safe, but I wanted one that looked like a purse so I could take my camera everywhere.  After much searching I realized they were all quite expensive and I gave up.  I made my own. OK, well Farm Boy made if for me mostly. He is much more patient than I am, plus I wanted to play with the new camera.

Here is how that turned out.

Bag from Kohls $56

 

Craft foam from Hobby Lobby $8

 

Ripping out the lining seams...look at the zebra print!

 

Farm Boy is measuring because I'm a math idiot and he's a mathemagician.

 

Measuring the foam. Work your ruler magic Farm Boy! Nice beard :)

 

The plan was to spray glue the white foam to the craft foam.

 

No xacto knife? No problemo! Kids do not try this at home.

 

The panels for the inside looked something like this.

 

All the panels put together. Now if we just had a hot glue gun. :(

 

Time to cram the foam underneath the lining. This is when it would have been good to know how to sew.

 

Handstich the lining and hide all the foam!

 

As you can see, that purse is a padded BEAST.  It is like carrying around a 30 lb diaper bag. Still, it worked quite well for my camera body.  The only problem was we didn’t create dividers to protect the lenses.  The other issue I noticed the first time I used it while shooting outside was it was HOT. Fake leather does not absorb sweat very well. ICK!   SO needless to say, I was back on the bag hunt within a few months.

And then I fell in love with the Ketti Chevron Bag

Each bag is handmade in Seattle, WA. Designed by  Ketti Phillips a talented photographer.

See how it says currently sold out?  Well, that is because she only makes a few bags a week and then posts them for sale promptly at 9 a.m. Pacific time.

You sit there hitting refresh crazily for five minutes on this page waiting for it to say Currently in Stock and then you hit Add to Cart like a madwoman.

For those of you still reading this crazy post, you are probably thinking I’m a fool who is caught up in the hype for a silly purse.  Kind of like those people who stand in line all night long for Black Friday laptops, even though we know Best Buy probably only has 2 available at that price.

Just like those crazy people outside of Best Buy, I had to give it a try.  Once I even got the Chevron purse in my Paypal cart, but by the time I typed in my info it was gone. Stinkin Paypal.

This Monday I wasn’t working, so I geared up with my debit card and my extra bold cup of coffee ready to snag that Chevron hottie.

When the clock turned 11 (our time) I was READY! Except Ketti was not. WHAT!?  She didn’t make my beloved Chevron this week. I guess she was tired of seeing zig zags in her sleep.  I had seconds to make up my mind.  There were 3 choices.  1-Give up on getting Chevron (this was my last available Monday at 11a.m.).  2- Figure out a way to shop for these bags on my iPhone and spend every Monday ignoring my students, risking getting fired just so I can get this bag. 3-Give up the dream of Chevron and go for my second choice Brown Medallion (it was available).   So many choices, so little time…

If anyone knows me, they know I am not able to wait when it comes to shopping. I am a car salesman’s dream.

I hit BUY on the Brown Medallion

This pretty lady is en route from Seattle right now.  I am already planning out all the shiz I can cram in there!!!

I will post photos when she arrives. Heck, I might even throw a party.  A ridiculously expensive purchase party where everyone brings an item they spent way too much time and $$$ on.

I definitely think I will be the hottest photog in the SA with this bag, but I will always dream about the one I couldn’t have…I’ll always love you Chevron, even if we couldn’t be together.

 

What is the most ridiculous thing you’ve done to buy something you really wanted?

 

This song says it all for me :)

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