Field of Family

The reason I’ve slacked on my posts the past month???

Because over the past month and past several weeks, I’ve been taking photos for several friends to increase my ever so limited photography skills and experience. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it but it takes A LOT of time to sort through photos and decide which ones to edit. Pretty much, most evenings, after Bugaboo goes to bed, I hit the computer. 

It takes a lot of time for me to complete a set of photos because I sit back and analyze each photo and ask myself what I should have done differently to get a better shot or how I should have positioned them or myself better to create a more unique look, etc… In the end, it is what it is and I’m happy with how they’ve turned out!

Here is a family that I “shot” a while back in a field by my mom’s house.

They were a great bunch to work with and so photogenic!!

There is a lot more still to learn and I’m doing my best to learn it! Just completed a 16 hour online photography course over the weekend and still have several online courses to go!  It’s a slow process since it requires a lot of time and money and I’m lacking in both! But I’m ever so thankful for my family for being so supportive and for believing in me!! I couldn’t do this without them and hope to make them proud one day!

At the end of the year, I’ll have another pile of broken resolutions, but enhancing my photography skills and education won’t be one of them! I’ll have to post a resolutions update soon.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

PS: Just noticed that two of the photos I uploaded were not fully edited. I have another set at home where I used Photoshop to remove eye creases, but guess I e-mailed myself the wrong ones!

PPS:  A shout out to my cousin back in Pittsburgh who won another big fight!! Congrats and hope to catch a match in person soon!!

Trouble in Blogland

OK, so I don’t know what happened to the rest of my last blog. I had another photo on there and wrote a bunch of other stuff. Weird that it didn’t show up. I’ll have to update it tomorrow, but for now, I’m going to bed.

Still trying to figure out what happened with the rest of my post… argh!!!!!!!!!   Oh well.

Night guys!!

Little Football Fever

Football is a big part of life down here in the South… it’s a matter of life and death these days. People get fierce when it comes to their football team, especially here in good old Alabama. You’re either for University of Alabama (BOO) or Auburn University (my alma mater).

In my neck of the woods, parents want their child’s first words to be “War Eagle” and groom their children from a young age to become little Tiger fans.

Naturally, I wanted this too. Now I’m not a die-hard college football fan. I only care about Auburn and that is because you cannot attend school there and not fall in love with the game, the atmosphere. There is nothing like being in a stadium with thousands of fans cheering… it’s something everyone should experience at least once. There is a camaraderie and you become instant best friends with the person sitting next to you.

And tailgating? It’s a must. Everyone here does it… it’s a great time to get up with family, friends, and co-workers to eat, socialize, and talk football. Ok, so I don’t really talk football. I don’t know who is who and really could care less. I just like to be downtown and be a part of the excitement and watch Bugaboo as he takes in everything. He is one adorable little Tiger and proudly says “War Eagle” and is learning the fight song. He loves everything Aubie (our mascot) and everything orange and blue.

Every time he sees a football, Aubie, a tiger, an eagle, or anything orange and blue, he goes crazy. I’ve even started to take him to the park some evenings to play but knowing that the youth football league is out practicing. He loves to run up and down the fence line when the boys run and he tries to mimic everything they do. We even bring his little football along. He wants to be one of the big boys so bad. He may not even be 2 and a half yet, but he has caught football fever. I can’t wait to take him to his next big football game. He went to his first one at 1 and sat through more than half a game and even took a nap!

Below are some photos of Bugs at our tailgate spot earlier in the season getting pumped up for the game. Orange and blue flamingos anyone?

Playing with an Aubie balloon, ok, he’s been punching it like a punching bag for past 5 minutes.

AN UPDATE TO POST:

Well, I don’t know what happened last night, but there should have been more to this post than what appears here. I posted another photo of Toomer’s Corner and our beloved tree. The tree was poisoned by an angry University of Alabama fan and now the large old Magnolia trees in the heart of Auburn are dying. It was a sad thing to have happened but it’s not going to dampen our spirits or let anger and bitterness get the best of us. I HOPE that when we do play Alabama this year, that Auburn football fans will keep their heads held high and continue to exhibit the good sportsmanship conduct that we’re known for.

I can’t remember everything else I wrote last night but just that Bugaboo and I… We believe in Auburn and LOVE it!! WAR EAGLE!

Hope everyone has a great Friday!! I have the Friday song blasting in my head again, ARGH!!

Trick-Or-Treat

So this post is a little late in coming but figured since I couldn’t sleep and already cleaned the house and did laundry, there was nothing else for me to do except post some recent photos of Bugaboo enjoying Halloween.

Here is my little man as a giraffe! Doesn’t he make a cute one?

Here are some more that I love… Bugaboo and my one and only favorite big sis whom (is it who or whom? I can never get that right) he absolutely adores…

Here he is enjoying his prize that he won in a fishing game at our church fall festival…

Enjoying the big slide…

The  first official trick-or-treat… We went out with our friends and their daughter who is in the same class with Bugs. They have been friends since 6 weeks old! Love it! (The photos did not load in order and I keep having trouble trying to get them in order but no such luck!) 

We had a great time and enjoyed the night with good friends. Hope to do the same next year!

Well, it’s late and while I still think sleep is far off, I have to empty the dishwasher and throw the last load of wash in the dryer… One of my close friends from college is coming up tomorrow to stay with us for 2 weeks, so want to make sure everything is just right and homey! I haven’t seen her in over 3 years! She is now a Captain in the Army and being relocated near us. Her apartment isn’t ready yet so she will be staying with us until it is! Too excited and can’t wait to catch up. I’ll have to post about her later (we met in ROTC and even ran the Army 10 miler in DC freshman year together… a LONG time ago!)

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

PS: I’m actually looking forward to work tomorrow because I get to go to a medical conference on Diabetes for the first part of the day… which means no phone calls or case notes!! WOO HOO YEAH BABY!!!!!! FREEDOM OUT OF THE OFFICE AND OUT FROM BEHIND MY DESK!!!!!!! Sorry… they don’t let us out of the office that much as you can tell, lol. Any type of meeting or conference and we are all racing to be the first one to sign up! I just wish I remembered to accidentally unplug my phone so no one could leave messages j/k. Have a good one!

 

 

PW’s Carrot-Thyme Soup with Cream

Hello? Hello? Anybody? Remember me? The girl who comes and goes? Well, I’m back for a spell!

I’ve been here and I’ve been there but right now I want to be here. I’ve missed sharing. Life got crazy for a while and still is but figured it’s not going to slow down anytime soon so might as well adapt and make the most of it!

There is so much to share but I’m limited on time this morning and my break is about to end. (Don’t worry, I’ll be filling everyone in on pictures, football, and life in the days and weeks to follow)

Last week (I think) I did my daily check in with the Pioneer Woman and came across her post on carrot-thyme soup. I saw the photos of her soup and immediately knew I HAD TO HAVE SOME! Plus, it looked so easy to make. I dashed out to the store and bought everything I needed to make it but forgot we already had dinner plans. So, I hid all of my special ingredients away in the fridge and vowed to make it the next night. Naturally, something came up and I didn’t make it the following night.

A long story short, I all but forgot I had everything in the fridge to make the soup until last night when I happened to need something out of my veggie drawer. It all came back to me! Bugaboo and I were celebrating a good day at daycare (more on my daycare drama later) with a Christmas themed night. While the soup was simmering on the stove, Bugs and I baked Christmas cookies and watched old Christmas cartoons.

The soup turned out delish and was a hit! I followed PW’s recipe to the T and did not add or subtract from it. It was so simple and only required 5 ingredients! (well, 6 if you add salt which I did not)

1. baby carrots

2. fresh thyme

3. veggie or chicken stock (I did half veggie and half chicken)

4. honey

5. cream

Just bring the carrots and thyme to a boil in the stock and then simmer for 45 min. Once soft, blend the carrots and stock in a blender until creamy, add the honey, add the cream, and stir all together. All that is left to do is to pour yourself a bowl and top it off with some thyme and ENJOY! (Sorry for poor photo quality but used my cell phone {because too lazy to get my camera out}and it’s just a plain little phone, nothing special) My photo does not do the soup justice at all, so check out the real deal here.

Man-Child ate a couple bowls last night and said that we definitely needed to make this again. He even took some with him to work this morning. I’d say it was a hit.

 I love soup and usually only get in the mood to make it from now until Christmas… and then my cooking mood ends and I don’t care for it anymore

There are plenty more soup recipes on PW’s site that I intend to try. I made several different ones last year and they were all a hit as well. Her soups haven’t let me down yet! I think I’m going to try her carrot and squash curry soup next!

The possibilities are endless.

I hope everyone has a great day and it feels good to be back on here again. More updates, posts, and lots of photos to follow (I’ve taken several lately for friends so as soon as they give me the ok, I’m going to share!)

Have a good one!

 

Pinterest

I owe one of my best friends, H,  a HUGE apology. She sent me a photo of a crib that she liked for her bun in the oven.  It was gorgeous. I responded by asking her if she had checked out Pinterest for decorating ideas for her nursery. Can you believe she did not know what Pinterest was! I promised to call her in about half an hour to let her in on the newest best thing ever… and wouldn’t ya know it, I got sidetracked and forgot. Imagine that (future post to explain why I was sidetracked)!

Well, I never got up with her and since I can’t sleep, (SO NOT eating McDonald’s again. The memories of hugging the toilet bowl all evening will NEVER let me forget my lapse in poor judgement, sorry, TMI) I’m going to spend the next however long it takes me to write this post talking about my new favorite obsession, Pinterest.

So H, this post is for you…

To put it simply, Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. It lets you “pin” a photo of anything you see and like on the internet onto “boards.” You can organize your boards into categories such as photography, fashion, holiday decoration ideas, DIY, food, etc… Basically anything that you see on a website while browsing online can be “pinned” onto your board with the link to where you found your new favorite item.

It doesn’t stop there… Pinterest is like another big social network in the sense that you can view what other people “pin” on their boards. If you like what someone else “pins,” you can then “re-pin” it to your board.

Oh, and you have to request an invitation to open up an account. So, it makes you feel cool when you get a request… like you are oh so important enough to be asked to join their exclusive club (nevermind that you actually had to ask to join).

Two people introduced me to the world of Pinterest a couple of weeks ago (you know who you two are and I curse you every night I lie awake in bed dreaming about the things I’ve seen and want!) and I’ve been addicted ever since. I did try to stay away. I tried very hard. But there is something that draws you in… you see an outfit you like, you see a great idea for a DIY Halloween decoration or treat, or you see a great idea for a future photo. Before you know it, you have pages and pages of “pins” you collected and you sit there and figure out how you are going to get each and every one.

Imagine thousands of people posting items of their favorite foods, quotes, photos, crafts, fashion, and anything else you can imagine… Talk about A LOT of creativity, inspiration, and a big case of the gimme gimmes. I acted like a little kid the first night I browsed Pinterest. I wanted it ALL! And I have everything saved so one day I CAN HAVE it all and check it off my “pin” list! Bahahaha!!!

Just kidding? I think?

No, really, I have several cool ideas for Halloween and fall DIY decorations that I cannot wait to try and will post about when I do (because for me to attempt and complete a craft is a rare thing. I’ve never been the crafty type). I also have several outfit ideas saved that are me to a “T” and will search out as my dress size continues to shrink.

I could go on and on about the 40 plus pages I’ve saved… but my baby is starting to cry and fuss in bed and bless him… if he starts to get sick too then I’m calling Mc D’s first thing in the morning…

So back to you, H. You really need to get on Pinterest and search out nursery ideas, baby bedding, newborn photography, etc… you will go crazy!! You don’t have to be an exclusive member like me to take part in all the fun. I will be calling you at lunch (since I’ll be working from 8-10…talk about a long busy day, 14 hrs! pity party for me starts… NOW…) to talk Pinterest and nursery ideas!!

You can view anything you like by simply clicking here (Enter at your own risk).

Disclaimer: Before you click on the link and enter the world of Pinterest… BEWARE!! It is addicting and all time-consuming. You will spend precious limited minutes (ok, hours) on the weekends (pretty much only time I can get on sadly) sitting on the couch with your favorite (and only) big sister checking out trendy fall outfits.    :)

Any Pinterest lovers or addicts out there??? What do you spend most of your time searching and “pinning?” Share the love!!

Ok, it’s 1:30 am and nausea has finally subsided… off to care for my bugaboo and try to catch a few Zzzzz’s. 6:15 am will be here before I know it! Have a great Thursday!

I Heart Faces Weekly Challenge “White”- Daddy Time

So once again I am rushing to get a photo in by the deadline for this week’s iheartfaces challenge. I’m a last-minute person… what else can I say? As I type this, I’m boiling chicken so I can finish making enchiladas and black bean soup for a late last-minute dinner. That’s how we roll in this house!

This week’s photo challenge theme was “White.” I had the perfect photo in mind to submit. I waited all week for the challenge to open so I could enter this photo below: This is a photo of Bugaboo playing on the piano.

But then I read the directions again before submitting and saw that a person’s face had to be in the photo. Just my luck.

When in doubt, always read the directions, lol.

After kickboxing I rushed home to find a new photo that would meet the qualifications since I did not have the time to take a new photo.

Here it is… Daddy Time (I’m horrible at captions so just went with first thing that popped in my head… on a time limit ya know!)

Man-Child and Bugaboo wrestling on the mattress.

Well I’m two for two (rushed photos). I’m keeping my fingers crossed that next weeks will go better.

Things have been crazy and I’m just plain worn out. I was fast asleep last night by 10pm and for anyone that knows me… that is SUPER early. I worked all weekend and then jumped into another crazy week at work.

BUT some exciting things are happening this weekend… first football game of the season!!! When you live in a college town… you live for football each year… and it just so happened we were oh, ya know, NATIONAL CHAMPIONS last year!!!! So things are definitely popping over here. Can’t wait to take some photos this weekend so you can experience football fever!!

Well, chicken is finished, shredded, enchiladas filled and cheese melting, and soup simmering… all completed while writing this! Now off to enjoy the yumminess!