Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Pumpkins!

Keeping up with the Halloween Spirit, the hubs and I spent some quality time together carving our pumpkins last weekend. We let our busy-ness get the best of us last year, and never got around to doing this, so I'm really glad we picked the tradition back up this year...you just can't beat digging into a slimy pumpkin, makes you feel like a kid again!

We decided not to do the traditional Jack-o-Lantern faces, and instead picked some fun patterns we found online. He did a Jayhawk (rock chalk!) and I did the logo for my favorite band EVER, 311 (we're going to their concert in a few weeks for my birthday, and also planning a trip to see them in Vegas next year...so I had 311 on the brain!). Anyway, hubby's pattern took way longer to carve than mine, so I killed some time by taking a few photos! :)


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Mmm...pumpkin guts...

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Halfway there!


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Slow poke...


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That is some serious concentration.


Aaaaand......the final result!

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All lit and ready to scare some trick-or-treat-ers...

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(And yes, I know, these last shots kind of suck...but it wasn't *exactly* night time yet, but we were running late, trying to get out the door, so we turned the lights off in the kitchen and snap snap. So this is the best I could do :P )


Next up on the *getting-into-the-Halloween-Spirit* list is finding our costumes (yeah, I know, a little behind schedule aren't we...). Any ideas for us??

Monday, October 26, 2009

Shelley~Senior

Sorry for the delay...I've finally got the real deal for ya!

So like I mentioned in my previous post, we took a mini road trip out to Paola last week to shoot some senior pictures for my cousin, Shelley. She LOVES animals, and wanted to go to her friend's farm and get up close and personal with some cows. Well, what can I say, we did just that! It was quite an adventure getting there...we had about 3 different maps/directions to go off of, you know we got lost, oh and did I mention I also got pulled over? Yeah, like I said, an adventure. Luckily, though, the Paola Officer was super duper nice, didn't give me a ticket, and actually helped us find where we were going! Thanks Officer Magillicutty! (Ok that isn't his real name, but that's what I decided to call him since I forgot it...either way he was really nice!)

So anyway, after all of the drama, we found our way to the farm, and off we went to tromp around in fields and get some great senior portraits.

Before I get to the photos, let me throw out a short disclaimer: first of all, this is really my first time shooting portraits (unless of course you count high school photography class assignments, but lets not talk about how long ago that was). Also, this was my first attempt at Photoshop...which explains why it took me so long to edit and post these bad boys. After quite a few hours of trial & error mixed with a little bit of user manual reading, I think I've figured out enough of the *basics* to edit a batch of photos. So anyway, just bear with me and my newbie-ness to this whole photography thing. :)

Ok enough jabbing, how bout some photos!

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To give you an idea of the scenery we had to work with...
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Not to shabby, eh?! You'll see bits and pieces of this massive piece of machinery in some of the other images...

One of my favorites...

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You rock that tractor wheel, just rock it. :)

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Excuse my french, but does she not look like a total badass here?!

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This is Lillian (I think that was her name...) she tagged along with us for most of the shoot. She was such a sweetie!

Another favorite...

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There's that tractor again! ;)

The background in these next few was just perfect...all of the colors and scenery just pops. I couldn't have set it up better myself!

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And of course, the real reason we came all the way to Paola...

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The COWS!

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(Although Shelley informed me that my previous post was incorrect...that was actually the BULL, and I *think* this one was the COW. I'm totally out of the loop on the farm lingo...)

Well there you have it. My first attempt at portraits. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. I am excited to continue to practice and grow, and see where this hobby of mine takes me!

Thanks for being such a good *model* Shelley, I had tons of fun shooting these photos!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Shelley~Senior *Just a teaser!*

On Monday I went out to Paola with my cousin Shelley (my friend Ash and her sister Caitlin tagged along with us too) to tromp around on her friend's farm and shoot some senior pictures. We had a blast...Aside from some interesting adventures getting there (more to come on that later). I haven't gotten through all of the pictures yet, but hopefully I'll get that done this week. I thought I'd post a little teaser photo though just for fun...


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Oh wait! That's not Shelley...is it?! *hehe* Actually this is one of the cows that Shelley was SO excited to go down and hang out with.

Here's the real teaser photo...

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Isn't she just adorable?! I haven't done any editing at all yet, so this guy is straight off the camera. I am going to work with a trial version of Photoshop and see how it goes, so hopefully I'll have some stunning images to post soon!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Tailgating...

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Tailgating is something that I'm pretty sure is in my blood. Ever since I was little, my family has been season-ticket-holders for the KC Chiefs, so I started tailgating at a very young age. Now that I'm all grown up, I am lucky enough to have a hubby who shares my family's enthusiasm for football and tailgating. He's actually got even more enthusiasm than the rest of us! Even though our home team is not the *best* this year (and most of us can't remember the last time we were even *decent*), we still make it out to Arrowhead Staduim at 8:30am Sunday for a Noon game. Crazy? Yes. Fun? Absolutely!

This past Sunday the hubby, my parents and I all went out and watched the Chiefs get their you-know-what's handed to them by the Giants. Just because the football wasn't great, doesn't mean the tailgating wasn't AWESOME! :)


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There's no better way to start a day of tailgating off than with a Bloody Mary (or so my hubs and mom say...)

I personally prefer to stick to beer :)

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I just love snapping random pictures of that darling husband of mine...isn't he such a stud!?


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We've decided to forego the traditional BBQ themed tailgate party, and instead we do Mexican food - what can I say, it's what my family loves! We make some pretty darn good fajitas, if I may say so myself. :) And hubby is pretty dang proud of his Chiefs Keg-Grill.


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We got this sweet Tailgate Toss game last year for Christmas...as you can see the whole family got in on the action!

Of course, the drinkers that we are, have to turn everything into a drinking game. So, to keep it simple, in this game the losers take a shot (ok a swig).

As you can see...we all lost once...

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(If you look close in the picture of my dad, you can see his watch. Yes, that's right, shots of Patron at 9:50am!)

And I won't lie...my family knows how to drink...and we don't mess around with our alcohol...

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The Parents


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They wore matching shirts! Awwwwwwwww


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Had to capture the scenery...KC really knows how to tailgate!

The hubs and I will be at the game again this week...doing it all over again... maybe the Cowboys will give us a break (ha)... Go Chiefs!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Major Accomplishment!

So it's 12:30am on a Friday (ok technically Saturday now I guess...) and here I sit on my laptop watching wedding shows on TLC. You don't have to remind me how cool I am. Did I mention that the hubs is asleep on the couch next to me and has been for about 2 hours? Yeah. We are that awesome.

Anywhoo...I have to relish in my accomplishment tonight, and since it has to do with photos, where better to do that then my photography blog?! Basically what it comes down to is I am now the queen of Snapfish. :) About the time I got my DSLR camera, is pretty much when I stopped doing anything (other than blogging of course) with all of the photos I've taken. Don't ask me why this is, but it just came to me the other day. I used to promptly upload, order prints, and fill up photo albums with each event that came and went. Currently, though, I can't even remember the last time I added photos to a photo album. That, my friends, is not good. This is not something you can just fall behind in, because life goes on, and photos keep coming. Well, I've found myself behind, and have since committed myself to playing a huge game of catch-up. Now that I've started, though, I've realized what an undertaking it is.

So tonight, I have completed step 1. Uploading ALL of the "good" photos from the past 9 months to Snapfish. I'm doing this for a couple reasons. For one, I like to be able to share photos with friends and family. Snapfish makes this easy. Also, I am going to need to order a TON of prints. I can't quite afford to do this all at once, but slowly but surely I will be ordering prints of almost all of the photos I uploaded. Snapfish has reasonable prices, usually has some type of sale or promotion, and will mail them to me! And lastly, I like to have my photos in another location besides my laptop, just in case. Having my last laptop stolen, and losing 3 months worth of photos (yes, I know, it was my fault for not backing them up often enough) has traumatized me for life. (Apparently not that much, though, because I have yet to back up these 9 months worth of photos on my external hard drive...hmm...maybe I should add that to the list). Basically what it comes down to is that Snapfish was a good one-stop-shop for me to upload, print, store, and enjoy the ridiculous amount of photos I take on a regular basis. Let me tell you how HAPPY I am to have this step complete. It took an outrageous amount of time, but was worth it. And of course, I vow to keep up on it, so my collection is always current. Next step: order prints. (ok maybe I should change that to 1. save up money, 2. order prints) Then I will have to find some major time to work on the photo albums. But I will save that for another Friday night. :)

Also of note...while waiting for pictures to upload, I was quite productive! I found an amazing camera bag I'm pretty sure I need (the fabric design is customizable...and there are about a MILLION choices!) I also managed to learn a thing or two...I discovered Digital-Photography-School.com where I read all about Aperature, Shutter Speed, ISO, and more! I know I learned about all these concepts in photography class in high school, but of course that was back in the old film days. Also, I did read the manual for my DSLR, but this was a good basic description of all the principles, and I learned a lot of helpful tips that I will be trying out soon! I have definitely bookmarked this site, as it is FULL of information. If you are at all interested in photography, I recommend checking it out!

Well, now it's 1:00am, and I've officially spent too long on the computer tonight. (by the way, blogger, you are not my friend tonight...) The hubs is awake, has relocated to the bedroom, and I think I will follow. :)

P.S. I thought I vowed never to post without a picture, but I am breaking that. I tried, but like I said, blogger is not my friend. So just imagine that there is a lovely photo below... and goodnight.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Fall is here!

Well, October is here, and I must say it came out of nowhere. Seriously, last time I checked it was, like, JULY, and I was freaking out about how soon my wedding was... and now I look at the calendar and it's OCTOBER already?! Goodness.

Anyway, the start of October means the start of Fall (and the Midwest weather sure didn't skip a beat! I think it's trying to pass right over Fall and move on to Winter...and can I say I am NOT happy about that!) and the start of the Holiday Season which of course means DECORATIONS! I am not really a fan of the weather that comes along with the Holiday Season, but I am a fan of all the festivities, and the fact that I get to make the hubby drag out all of my tubs of decorations. :) So, last weekend, being the first weekend in October, I did just that and got our house looking nice and Halloween-ey! :)

And then I was bored, so I pulled the camera out...


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I have a slight problem with "theming" my decorations...I have some
scary things...

And some cutesy things...

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I also like to try to throw a little "Fall" decor in there, that isn't specific to Halloween. I need to beef up my stock of these decor items, though (sounds like a Hobby Lobby trip is in my future! :)


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This cutesy one is actually my mom's...it's kind of neat to have a little something in my house that I remember seeing in my parents house every year growing up...

And lastly, the most important...

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The CANDY BOWL! I will be the first to admit that no, this bowl of candy is not for Trick-Or-Treaters, but for us. :) October is a month where I can justify having a bowl of candy in the house to munch on...we'll see if there's any left for the kiddos come Oct 31st ;)


So there you have it! The G household is officially in the Fall/Halloween spirit!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Fat Boy

As you know if you've read this blog...we have 2 cats. Marley is our little rescue kitty, who we endearingly call "Fat Boy". I promise, we call him that out of love. But really, he's a bit "heavy" (those were the vet's words at our last visit...). He outweighs our dog by about 3lbs, and our other cat by a good 6 - yikes.

Anyway, the other day I walked into the bedroom and in all his fatness he was snuggled up by my pillow and it was just too darn cute.

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Friday, October 2, 2009

Mama T's

I know I have mentioned it before, but just in case you missed it - my family is very close. Every Saturday, at 11am, we meet at my grandma's house (that's Mama T.) for lunch and shopping. If it's the week of someone's birthday, then everyone comes for lunch, and we usually do the activity of the birthday-girl/boy's choice, followed by dinner out. In my family, you don't just get a birthday, you get a birthday weekend. :) But I digress. Back to the Saturday tradition. So this has been going on, well, for as long as I can remember. The earliest memories I have of it were when I was really little my mom would drop me off while she went to aerobics class, and then everyone would come over for lunch. My grandpa, Pops, and I used to spend Saturday mornings playing "store", and charging Mama T. outrageous prices for items I found throughout her house. :) Ahh the good ol days. Anyway, Pops is unfortunately no longer with us, but I know he is looking down from above with a great big smile every Saturday morning.

So this past Saturday, as I was sitting at the table eating lunch, I thought to myself we've never acutally documented this tradition. Sure we have pictures of all the birthdays, but no one ever takes a picture of us doing what we do every Saturday - hanging out! So I decided to take care of that. I didn't take as many photos as I would have liked, but I think I can work on that - we are there every Saturday and all :) So for now, here is the first glimpse into a typical Saturday at Mama T's...

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The main event is lunch. Just like in the movies, we all sit around the table, eat a FABULOUS meal that Mama T cooks for us, and chit chat about our week.

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Did I mention the massive amounts of food we consume?! When it's mine or Caitlin's birthday, we get the special treat of Mama T's fried chicken (let me just say I wish it was my birthday EVERY week).

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And then after lunch Aunt Rhonda (left), Aunt Terri (right), and my mom (some how escaped this photo) do dishes. I supervise. :)

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Daisy supervises as well. She likes to make sure that there aren't any traces of food left on anything that goes in the dishwasher. :)

This post is to be continued - with more of the great tradition in my family that is Saturday at Mama T's....