A little adventure

Last weekend, I went to Cincinnati for a photography workshop with my friend Jody. Knowing that we only had a day and a half to hang out without our kiddos (she has 3…whew!), we tried to pack in as much fun as we could.

We met at an orchard (Peifer Orchards) in Yellow Springs. It was so hot that day…I think it was 94 degrees and humid (you know, typical August in Ohio weather). One of my favorite things about our visit, aside from the acres of sunflowers right across the street, was their apple cider slushy. It was so crisp and refreshing and flavorful - it totally hit the spot! If you make the trip there during the late summer months, I highly recommend trying it.

The sunflowers across the street were amazing! I've never seen so many of them at once. Although, Jody said it reminded her of her recent trip to Italy (just one more reason to visit Italy!). 

Yummy sun flare! Sun flare in your photo is a matter of taste…I've found you either love it or hate it. I kinda like it, but I also think it depends on the mood you're trying to capture. :) 

We had to get pretty low to get some of the blue sky. It was somewhat overcast, but we could see a tiny bit of storm clouds building up as we were getting ready to leave.

Jody read somewhere that flower images are much more interesting if they have an insect milling about on them. We had no trouble at all capturing that because there were lots and lots of bees.

In fact, I even captured a bee in mid-flight! Truly a happy accident, because I don't think I could've done that on purpose even if I tried! hahaha!

And Jody turned my camera on me…because when you're the one with the camera, you're usually not in the pictures (I kinda like it that way though...and I may or may not have been sucking in my stomach-bwahaha!!).  :)

After our romp in the sunflower fields, we headed over to check out Clifton Mill/Gorge. It was like stepping back in time. At Christmas, they have it all lit up with beautiful white lights…I can only imagine how pretty it is.

This side trip was definitely a great start to our adventure…next stop: Hollywood Casino! We didn't get back to our room until 2:00 am! We didn't have much sleep before our 9 hour Folio-Love fest the next day…and the train that ran by our room at 4:00 am didn't help much either-hahaha!! We had a really good time!  :)

phases 1 and 2 are complete...

We are working hard on our kitchen and I am loving how it is turning out so far.  Phase 1 was installing the backsplash.  Phases 2, 3, 4 and 5 involves painting the 4 different colors of paint we bought.   I'm just making these phases up to sound super organized....but it's really a disaster zone here.  However, here's a section that IS completed...and clean. lol!  In real life, the yellow paint isn't that yellow...more of a dirty mustard color called Cork from Behr.

So much better than the super bright white wall above the cabinets and lemon yellow paint where the backsplash is....oh, and the new stove (to replace the 16 year old one) is pretty slick too!

Eeeek, I am so excited and I cannot wait until the transformation is complete!!

"Transform....transform...."  A Bug's Life quote that is now stuck in my head.  Michael watches a lot of Disney and Dreamworks movies that we can almost quote by heart.

shoot the moon

I love stargazing and watching rare astrological events.  Very often, you'll find me sitting outside at night waiting for meteor showers or comets or just enjoying the night sky.  I may or may not have a little adult beverage at my side too, especially during those warm summer nights after the boy is in bed.  Before Michael was born, I even talked Gary into going for a drive out into the country to get away from the suburban street lights so we could see the action in the sky even better.

This weekend was a rare "perigee moon" aka Super Moon, so I got out my tripod and remote control in an attempt to "shoot the moon".

Not bad, I guess.  Was definitely wishing for a super zoom lens so I wouldn't have to crop it a ton and end up with lots of grain, but we can't have everything.  Still an enjoyable evening, not too cold out and I had fun playing with my camera.

I'm a winner...kinda sort of...but not really

I submitted a photograph for a little contest that Canon had back in January.  I received an email a few weeks ago that my photo was one of the 9 first place winners (1 grand prize and 9 first places)!  How cool is THAT?!?!

I'd guesstimate that it was a prize package worth about $600 that included a Canon Inkjet Office All-In-One wireless printer, as well as a Canon PowerShot A495 point and shoot camera, a beautiful leather carry-on/laptop bag (it has that wonderful new leather smell, mmmm) and a few other goodies.

The two large prize boxes arrived a couple of days ago and I was beyond excited about all the loot.

Before you leave a congratulatory comment or pat me on the back for having such great photography skills, I should mention that the contest wasn't really based on skills.  It was based on what was depicted in the photo.  You see, it was a contest for having the most unorganized home office.  Talk about being humiliated and embarrassed.  At least it was the first time I could tell my husband that being unorganized paid off for once, right?

Oh yeah - the other goodies that were included?  A new Franklin Planner portfolio and 2010 refill packages, along with 4 organizing books.  I am full of hope (or full of something) that I will have a wonderful "after" picture to show you.  But for now, here is the prize-winning "before" picture.  Please don't judge.

In the meantime, I'll be selling all my crap precious goods on eBay.

where have I been?

Unfortunately, I haven't been anywhere. Our computer crashed, but luckily Gary was able to load the recovery software to get us mostly up and running again, except for a few applications (like my Palm software...error, error=grrrr). A week later, after we were getting back into the technology groove - you guessed it: the darn computer crashed AGAIN. Gary ran some diagnostics on it (yeah, he's pretty smart...and yeah, I guess we're a little nerdy) and it came back with an error code of FATAL crash imminent. That was Saturday morning.

I have a far-fetched wishlist in my head (and heart) that includes a dreamy Mac computer and it's been on my list for a few years, but they are so expensive. I mean, it financially didn't make since to buy a Mac because you could purchase 2, almost 3, new PCs for the price of 1 Mac.

BUT, after 3 PC crashes in 3 years, 2 of them within 1 week, the Mac was starting to seem like a better option. We did some research online (Apple had just had a one day sale on the iMac and a Macbook Pro on Friday- $100 off of each, not really that big of a sale, but it was big for Apple...let me remind you that it was now the day AFTER the sale) and we found the best deal at Best Buy (mostly for their financing)...especially considering the nearest Apple store is about an hour away.

We head to Best Buy to check 'em out in person. OMG! There they were on the display table... showing off their sleek sexiness...they might've well been topless for Pete's sake. And let me tell you, the new 27" iMac is....HUGE!!! We talk to the Apple Guy, who gives us a 2-3 minute demo...and wow oh wow. We were pretty sure we were going to make a purchase - even G admitted he had been thinking of switching to a Mac, which surprised me! But watching the Apple Guy edit photos, create a picture book, create a family newsletter, create a DVD with your pictures set to the beat of the music from your iTunes library...all in 3 minutes....well all I could say the whole time (after I wiped the drool from my chin) was "Yes. OH. Wow. Yes." Almost a When Harry Met Sally performance, let me tell you.

The sales guy was great, no pressure, go think about it, down-to-earth realist, etc. etc. So I ask him what he could do for us if we bought not one but TWO Macs. He left to work out the numbers and we came home with these:

A wonderfully, glorious 21-1/2" iMac and a 13" MacBook Pro. I swear I heard the angels singing and a golden light appear when we opened the boxes.

Just one more picture for you that makes me chuckle, the juxtaposition of the two computers. We could SO turn this into our own commercial.

The only downside of the whole transition is that Adobe would not let me switch my CS3 software from a PC version to Mac version because it was 2 years old. They did offer a discount to upgrade my software to CS4 in a Mac version for a mere $500 (which is actually a very good discount), but still....it bummed me out, and we did not (could not) purchase it...at this time. So no 'real' photo editing going on for awhile. WYSIWYG SOOC....and all that jazz.

It'll be awhile before I come down off of this cloud. {sigh}

overwhelmed with projects

Lately I've been feeling overwhelmed with the amount of projects going on here. Most, if not all, of the projects were self-created because of this need I have to be "working" while I am not working. But I'm not good with having this disheveled look all around me. I'm kind of anal about being organized and things having a proper home, although you wouldn't be able tell this by taking a peek into our house right now. This chaos makes me want to purge...The. Entire. House. To make it feel light and airy and clean and relaxing. Which in turn makes ME feel lighter and less stressed (I'm already "airy"- hahaha!!). Having less stuff and being organized allows me to accomplish so much more.


But purging itself is a project that I'll have to add to the bottom of our list of things that we are working on: the 2nd bathroom remodel (which is like 3 projects in one), landscaping (another 2 or 3 parter), jobhunting, Michael's summer therapies, and then the normal day-to-day stuff like housecleaning (bleck!). Shoot, I find myself busier now than when I was working...I think it's because I want to have all of these projects done before going back to work.


So in order to make a dent in these projects, I better get crack-a-lackin' and get back to it!!


And since a post isn't a post without a picture:



That's Michael "petting" Cally. She's such a great cat...she seems to understand Michael and tolerates a lot. He used to chase her around the house to try to sit on her.

teacher thank you gifts

Michael's last day of school was 2 weeks ago. Wow, summer break is really flying by!! Anyway, I wanted to do something special to thank his teacher and other important people in his school life. But because there are so many people that need to be thanked (it DOES take a village!!) I needed to be conscious of not breaking the bank at the same time. After talking with neighbors and friends to brainstorm ideas, I decided to give them a variety of homemade greeting cards. I put together 8 sets of 9 or so cards each and Michael gave them out on the last day of school. I think they turned out cute, and they were really fun to put together.We also snuck in a gc to Starbuck's for Michael's primary teacher (love her!). I would love to hear about your gift ideas...tell me all about it in the comments! :)

digital class - gift idea

I recently completed Jessica Sprague's quick online video introductory to digital scrapbooking last weekend and here is the result (a tribute to my mom for Mother's Day):




I made this in hardly no time at all! Jessica gave excellent step-by-step instructions in her video and it was only 15 minutes long (if that!). I could start and stop and pause whenever I wanted too. The best part is that she is offering this video class for FREE at your own convenience! Good stuff! Why not try it out?? You can print your results on 8x8 paper and frame it. Great Mother's Day/Father's Day gift idea!

destruction #1 - complete!

Holy cow, it's been almost a month since I last posted (did you miss me??)...but we've been crazy busy around here. Today is no exception!

I wanted to get some before and after pictures on here of our master bathroom remodel.

Here's what it looked like before:
It wasn't bad, but it's had the same look for almost 14 years now so we were ready to change it up.


And, ta-da, here's the after:
It feels so good to have it all done and I think it turned out pretty good. As you can see, our bathroom isn't some big, spa retreat or anything like that...just your normal master bath: toilet, shower, double sinks. But it feels kinda spa-like and relaxing to me now though and that's all that matters. :)



This is our laundry list of things completed:

• new shower door
• new shower faucet/head (shower jewelry, if you will)
• regrouted shower
• installed ceramic tile
• made and installed frame around mirror
• installed new lighting
• painted
• caulked

I still want to decorate a little more, hang a picture or two, maybe get a cool vase for between the sinks, but for the most part it's done. We definitely earned our vacation to Florida after that. Whew, it was a lot of work!


And because we're obviously insane, we've started the destruction on our downstairs bathroom.

symphony of destruction

We're redoing our bathroom. Completely spur of the moment kind of thing though - totally unplanned. It all started innocent enough with a leaky shower faucet/handle.

We didn't want to do it ourselves because you have to change the faucet/handle out by cutting a hole in the wall behind the shower. The only problem is that the wall behind the shower handle is split into two sections: our bathroom linen closet and our master bedroom closet....which means two strategic holes, some saudering, pipe cutting, patching the holes, etc.. Long story short, we got a couple of estimates and the leaky shower was fixed yesterday. Yea! Good thing we had it fixed when we did, because it turns out the valve assembly was a little corroded. That means it was starting to leak between the walls and we would've had a much larger repair on our hands down the road.

I bet you're wondering how our simple faucet repair (I can say "simple" when someone else did it for us) turned into a complete redo. Well, while we were walking around Lowe's and Home Depot shopping for new shower fixtures, we found a really good deal on bathroom lighting for all 3 bathrooms. Then on a subsequent trip, we see a huge deal on tile flooring. Heck, we might as well throw in a new shower door too. And what about the grout? We should regrout - I can do that myself. It'll be fabulous! That's a whole other story, the regrouting thing. I don't have a job and I have time during the day...and it saved us a lot of money to do it ourselves...but never again!

While the shower repair was going on yesterday, we noticed that our kitchen sink sprayer was slowly leaking into the cabinet below. So now the state of disaster in the bathroom expanded into the kitchen. Luckily, the kitchen leak was easily fixed by Gary.

You'd think that I would've had the dishes done before we had to shut the main water off for the house, but I was tired and I had grout issues and the leaking stuff took priority.

Hey, I'm just keepin' it real...it's how I roll.

valentine's projects

I wanted to share some cute Valentine's or Sweetest Day projects that some of my fave creative gal pals and I made. When you have all boys in the house, it's such a treat to break out the pinks and reds and girly fun stuff. Take a look at all this love!


Cardstock gift box:

Sweet treats - candy wrapper & bag o' candy (shhh, don't tell anyone I ate the candy bar that was inside the wrapper):

Personalized composition notebook:


Card (V-day, Sweetest Day, anniversary):

Most of the projects were made with Stampin' Up and Close To My Heart products.

Have a great Valentine's Day filled with lots of love!

winter scenes

So I have this project I've been working on that involves a solitary tree out in the middle of a field. The project is to take a photo of this tree in each season. Well, it snowed a little bit early last week and after I got the boy on the bus, I loaded the dog in the car and headed out to my tree for its photoshoot.

There it is, my lonely little tree.

After taking pics of my tree, I went in search of some old snow-covered barns and other winter scenery. I have always enjoyed the first snow....but let it be known that the longer and colder the winter, the more I daydream of much warmer locales (my H.B. girls know what that's all about!).

Snow can be quiet and beautiful, fresh and fun....but only in the beginning.

are you in?

I wanted to tell you about an online class that I signed up for with the talented Jessica Sprague. We ALL have stories. And whatever way it is that we choose to tell them, we all need a way of capturing them first. So that's where Jessica's class, Stories in Hand, comes in.

In her week-long, instructor-led class, we will learn:

• Techniques for capturing memories from our own lives and from others
• Dozens of prompts for stories you might have forgotten
• A cool system for capturing the stories happening in your life right now, AND for listing the stories you have yet to tell
• Technologies you can use to help you gather your stories together with photos, video, your blog, or any other media you have that gives a peek into your life.
• And we will make a REALLY CUTE project! (You’ll find out the supply list when you register).
• You are not required to have Photoshop to complete the project.
• Oh yeah, by the way, this class is COMPLETELY FREE.

Here are the instructions to register for the FREE Stories in Hand class!

1. Log in to your jessicasprague.com account. If you don’t already have an account you can create one here: Create Account

2. Go to the Access Codes page here at JessicaSprague.com

3. Enter the Access Code: SIHFreeNov20084. Once you enter the access code, the Stories In Hand class will now appear in your My Classes page!

Make sure to click on the My Classes link and go to the Stories in Hand class! She has a welcome page with the supply list and what to expect from the class! (oh, and a fun surprise!)

You’ll be added to the class group and have FREE unlimited access to the class materials and the private message board.

So tell me...are you in? Come on, it'll be fun! And it's free so you have nothing to lose. :)

put to work

Just wanted to share a few of the projects I have been working on lately.

Painting our cornhole boards so they look like Buckeye helmets (kinda). I totally copied our neighbor's idea and estimated the measurements from the teams' actual helmets.

Staining wood for our basement remodel project (still have some painting left to do).

Built and upholstered a headboard for our guest bed, although I kind of want it in our room now. It's a plywood box that I had Gary build (isn't he wonderful) and it slips over the original fake brass spindled headboard that his parents gave us. I wrapped the box with batting and fabric and attached the buttons. Definitely a whole new look for a lot less money than it would cost to buy a new headboard.

Hmmm, now what else can I work on? Don't worry, I have a To Do List a mile long!