Friday, February 26, 2010

{five on friday} 2.26.10

This week's 5 on Friday will be a little different than usual. Mostly because I just don't have time for a full post, but also because I thought it would be fun to switch things up. So instead of five random thoughts, I'm giving you five images - this is my photography blog after all!

All of these images are from a few weeks ago, when I just felt the urge to snap some photos around the house... (you actually already saw one image in an older 5 on Friday post)

{one}
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My Daisy girl. Isn't she just the cutest.

{two}
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She just looks sooo relaxed. For some reason any time she hits our bed she is instantly snuggly, tired and adorable. :)

{three}
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Although it only takes one noise somewhere else in the house for her to perk up (and usually start barking...)

{four}
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This is my hubby's first love...Dammit. Most people laugh when they hear her name, but now when I hear that word I just think of my precious kitty (is that strange?!)

five
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I swear she is the most elegant, classy kitty I've ever seen. I love the way she sits with her little paws tucked under. :)


Unfortunately the third child didn't make it into this batch of images. Marley was being particularly moody that night, and thought he'd hang out under the bed rather than with the rest of the family. Oh well, guess this one is just for the girls :)


Well that's all I've got for you today... I must get back to my training class at work (shh, don't tell them I was updating my blog instead of paying attention *gasp!*...let's just hope they don't call on me anytime soon!!) HAPPY FRIDAY! :)

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Love

As promised in my recent 5onFriday post...here is what I have been working on with that adorable picture of baby feet.



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What do you think?

I'll give the credit where it is due... Lexi's mama is the one who gave me this idea. I will also say that these didn't turn out *quite* how I was picturing in my head... but for a Photoshop novice like myself, I think I did ok.

You know what they say...practice makes perfect (or as an old swim coach corrected...practice makes habit)... so I'll keep on practicing :)

Friday, February 19, 2010

{five on friday} 2.19.10

This one will be super short and sweet, because I am just a busy bee today. I didn't want to totally abandon the blog though :)

{one}
Could someone please explain to me why my job is either insanely busy or insanely boring? This is not good for my sanity, folks. If you hadn't guessed, today falls under the insanely busy category. I'm thinking all of next week will fall under that category as well. Which means the following week I will probably be bored out of my mind. Awesome.

{two}
Stay tuned...I am working on something really cool to go along with Lexi's most recent photo shoot, and it involves this image:
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I hope to post it soon.

{three}
Check out this site- The Pioneer Woman. I recently started following her blogs, and this chick is awesome. You may have already heard of her...in fact most people I know have, but somehow I missed that memo. Anyway, she talks about everything from photography to cooking to her life in the country. I have learned a lot of photography tips and tricks from her site, and her blog keeps me entertained daily. :)

{four}
We leave for Vegas in T minus 18 days. In case you had lost count. :)

{five}
This makes me smile:
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I got it in an email the other day, and decided to save it as the phrase stuck with me. It's so true isn't it...


I know that was a rather lame 5 on Friday, but it's better than nothing right! Here's to hoping for a productive weekend, which will result in another blog post next week. :)

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Lexi ~ 2 months

Finally.

Back on Superbowl Sunday, I went to take some Valentine's Day themed photos of my little niece, Lexi. I know it took me forever and a day to get these done and posted, but hopefully they're worth the wait. :) I learned a lot of things about editing, shooting, and photography in general from this shoot, which I will share at the end. But for now, enjoy my favorites from the set! (There are quite a few...I had a hard time narrowing them down...)



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Photobucket I have a feeling we are going to see this ornery face again and again as she grows up :)

This was not planned or set up at all, but oh how I love it...
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Cute puppy dog eyes + baby toes = L.O.V.E.


This one cracks me up. Mama had this cute little puppy doll with hearts on it we were trying to pose Lexi with (which just wasn't working). Lexi's face in this image is priceless...
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Could someone please get that thing away from me?!

She was rockin some adorable shirts :)
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I did some tinkering in Photoshop on this one, to give it a vintage, faded, look. Don't ask me how I did it though, because I don't remember. :) I do like how it came out!
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We tried (rather unsuccessfully) to get a shot of Lexi with her 2 doggies, Tank and Roxy. This idea is WAY harder than it sounds. You try keeping a baby happy and looking at you, while also trying to keep 2 rambunctious dogs sitting next to the baby, and also looking at you. Yeah. Not so easy. So this was the only image that even came close to what we were going for...
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Not bad (if you can get past the fact that Lexi's not even looking at the camera, the backdrop is only halfway there, and Tank's ear is cut off...)


And this next picture...well it makes my head hurt. At a glance, this was my absolute favorite image from the session, hands down. I couldn't have posed this if I wanted too. But then upon further inspection I realize that our attempt at a backdrop has failed miserably, along with the fact that it is almost the same white as her shirt...another fail. I photoshopped this image like nobodies business, trying and starting over, trying and starting over. I think in the end it looks ok...but oh how awesome it could have been if I would have just paid more attention during the shoot. *sigh* Lesson learned.
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why is my name stamp so big on this one??? I have no idea...

Here we got a little more into the Valentine's theme...
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How can you not love a baby covered in rose petals?! Precious!

Add a sleepy baby into the mix...now we're talkin...
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And I've saved my favorite 2 images for last...



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Honestly, I think this is my favorite picture I've ever taken. Ever. I don't know what it is about it, but I just love it - everything about it. I will be printing and framing this in my house, most definitely.

And is this not the cutest hat you've ever seen on a baby?!
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Unfortunately my memory card filled up before I could get too many of her in this gem...so better luck next time I guess. I still love how this turned out...it's not "technically" a good shot (half of her face is out of focus, there is a random light in the background, the background is way too busy, etc etc) but I kind of like all of the little imperfections. :)



Whew. Kudos if you made it through this whole post, it was a long one! I will spare you, and save my lessons learned for another post and another day. :)


Thanks little miss Lexi for being such a cutie pie, and thanks to her mama for letting me take endless pictures of her!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day

Little miss Lexi wanted to wish everyone a happy Valentine's Day! :)



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Friday, February 12, 2010

{five on friday} 2.12.10

Here we are again, another Friday. Man the weeks just fly by these days, don’t they?!

{one} Hallmark made it up.
As I’m sure you know, Sunday is Valentine’s Day. Quite possibly one of the most commercial holidays on the list…most people would argue that Hallmark created this holiday, just so people would have to buy cards, gifts, candy, etc. And I won’t lie; I don’t necessarily disagree with those people. :) But I’m not a complete hater of V-day; I just don’t get as excited about it as a lot of people do. We don’t really have any big plans to celebrate, and we agreed not to do gifts to save some money. (so romantic, aren’t we? ;) I’m thinking about cooking a big breakfast for my hubby, and hoping that he will cook me a lovely dinner in return (he’s usually the breakfast cook and I’m the dinner chef, so I thought why not switch it up!). I will say, though, that I did get excited when I was card shopping, because I got to look in the “husband” section for the first time. There are so many more choices in that section than the others, I love it!
Hallmark Logo Pictures, Images and Photos

{two} still not done.
I have been working on editing all of the photos I took of Lexi last weekend (I posted a teaser earlier this week), but no, I am still not done. *sigh* I blame it on my never ending quest for knowledge. I have been trying to brush up on my Photoshop skills, but for a newbie like myself, it takes a while. I’ve read a bunch of articles, watched some tutorials, and browsed the web to no end really, learning a ton of new things. I am not so great at remembering everything I learn though, so its taken me a little while to implement all of the things I’m learning. I hope to dedicate a lot of time this weekend to them though, so expect a full post next week! I know Lexi’s mommy is anxiously awaiting. Just to tide you over, here is another teaser…
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Ok, so that’s not Lexi is it. That is Mr. Tank. While I was at their house setting up our little make shift “studio”, the dogs kept jumping up and posing for me, before I could even get anything set up. I went ahead and snapped a few of them while I was waiting on Lexi, and I thought this one just came out ADORABLE. I mean, how can you resist that face?!


{three} speaking of Valentine’s day…
Another blog I have recently discovered is Annie’s Eats. She posts tons of wonderful recipes with stunning images to accompany them. Her latest post was about these adorable heart cookies.
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If I can find some time this weekend, I would love to try these out. If you know my husband, you know he has an insane sweet tooth, so I have no doubt he would love them. Plus they are just so cute! We’ll see if I actually get around to making them…if not, there’s always next year, right?! (Click here to read the original post)


{four} breaking the bank.
Can anyone explain to me why owning a pet (or 3 in our case) has to be so dang expensive? We took Daisy to the vet last night for just her yearly check-up and shots, and couldn’t get out of there for less than $100! My goodness! Not to mention the doctor told us that the cure for her horrible breath would be a teeth cleaning at the vet’s office, which will only set us back another $165. Get out of town! Next week the cats go for their check-ups…I think I will just go to the car and let Matt pay for it so I don’t have to hear how much the bill is…I don’t want to know.

I can gripe all I want, but they are like our children, and are worth more than any stinkin vet bill. And when they are this cute…
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What can ya do?


{five} less than a month.
As if I haven’t talked about it enough on here… WE’RE GOING TO VEGAS! Exactly one month from yesterday you will find me in fabulous Las Vegas, at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino, jamming out to the greatest band EVER at the greatest concert ever, 311 day. I. Cannot. Wait. We will be heading out on Tuesday March 9th for a 23 hour drive, arriving the morning of the 10th. We will then head out to explore Vegas and do the tourist thing, before the main event. On the 11th we will head to Mandalay Bay for a 5 hour concert that I am certain will blow all of our minds. Then on the 12th we’ll run around Vegas for one last hurrah, before hopping back on the road for another 23 hours. Yes, I realize that the amount of time spent in the car pretty much equals the amount of time spent in Vegas, but hey…that’s half the fun! I will definitely be purchasing another memory card (or 2) for the trip, because I know my camera will be in my hands pretty much at all times. :)
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And yes, I will take my own version of this photo while I'm there. :)

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Lexi ~ 2 months *teaser*

This past weekend I got to hang out with my cute-as-can-be niece, and take some more pictures. One of my new favorite things to do! :) Well, I haven't had time to get through all of the images yet, but I promised Mama I would post a teaser for her, so here it is!

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Will you just look at that grin?! The shirt is pretty darn cute too, I must say... ;)

Friday, February 5, 2010

Snowpocalypse 2010

No, I did not make up that name, but it is clever, isn't it? ;)

Today we had round 2 of crazy snowfall for the winter. I should say 'have' not 'had' because the snow is still falling. I think we're up to 5 inches or so by now. Anyhoo, I left work early today (in an attempt to get ahead of a few inches of the snow), and when I got home I decided to bring my camera out while I took Daisy outside. And then I actually had some free time (what?! what is that?!) so I edited those images and got them ready to post - so here we are, with 2 POSTS IN ONE DAY! Somebody alert the media!

So this is what I saw this afternoon out in the backyard...


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My little snow bunny...
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This one just makes me laugh... "where have my legs gone?!"
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I am now off to spend the rest of the evening on the couch under my heated blanket :)

{five on friday} 2.5.10

Aaaaaaand we're back to our regularly scheduled blogging :)

Happy Friday!! I'm very glad that this one is here, and also glad I actually have the time to write this post! Hooray! So without further ado...

{one} Superbowl Sunday is upon us.
First of all, can you believe it's already Superbowl time???? I swear we were just going to our first pre-season football game like last week! Well it's here. The G household will be hosting our own little superbowl shin dig this year (which really just means a few friends coming over to watch the game and throw back a beer or two :). I haven't decided what to make for munchies yet, but I'm definitley thinking Beer Bread (my go-to party recipe), Rotel dip (because you can't watch football without eating Rotel dip - or as my family always called it, "Chili con Queso"), and possibly some Little Smokies. I am thinking about adding one more item, but not sure yet...maybe a new recipe...but who knows!


{two} My Husband, the Interior Designer.
A few weeks ago, I decided it was time to start hanging some things back on the wall in our house. This stemmed from a couple things. 1) we had just come to the decision that we aren't going to try to sell our house any time soon, and 2) we had just finished cleaning out the "man cave" room and the office, so I discovered all of the things that used to be hung but had since been in storage. One such thing was our engagement photos, which not only cost us an arm and a leg to purchase and have framed, but also looked pretty dang fancy hanging on the wall if-I-may-say-so-myself. So we (ok I) decided that they needed to go back up, but I wasn't sure I wanted to put them in the same layout I had them before. So I set them all out on the floor, and spent approximately way too long trying to think of a new layout. I eventually gave up and said "ok fine just hang them how they were". Well! Much to my surprise, I came home from work the next day and that husband of mine had not only hung them up, but in an entirely different layout that I absolutely love! Go Mr G! See for yourself and tell me...do you like before or after better??
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After
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{three} You're Killin' Me Smalls.
First of all, 10 points to the first person to name that movie reference. :) Second of all, have you been watching the Jayhawks lately?! If you haven't, I don't know that I'd recommend it. While I love my Jayhawks, and I love watching them play basketball, I do not love being on the edge of my seat during every. single. game. Seriously! Not good for my stress level!


{four} She's Only Getting Cuter.
My niece, that is. :) I have a photo shoot with the little monster coming up, and I'm really excited! I haven't taken too many photos lately, so I'm looking forward to getting back at it. If you don't remember the cuteness that is miss Lexi, check out my first photo shoot. Mama and I have some good ideas for this shoot, so stay tuned! Oh, and just in case you needed a cute fix for the day...
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{five} Check Out This Blog.
A friend forwarded me the link to this blog, and I've been hooked ever since. I am SO sad that this chick is not in KS, because she is awesome! If you are an animal lover, and have even the slightest appreciation for photography, stop what you are doing and click HERE.
Are you drooling yet?! (no pun intended...) This girl has got it goin on, and her images are amazing. I don't think there would be anything greater than being a Pet Photographer, and being really good at it. I have definitely found some new inspiration!! Oh, and if anyone wants to go to Atlanta and kidnap Cooper for me, I wouldn't stop ya! :)