Life: It Happens Everyday

Vacation 2010

2010-08-04T12:25:00.009-04:00

I'm on vacation from work this week. So far we've gone to the beach and went swimming at a friend's house. Today is our bum around the house and try to get motivated to organize day. The kids will be hanging out at mom and dad's later today as I have to get to school today. Yes, I will be returning to school in the fall. But tonight, I'm testing to find out what classes I can skip over.

Anyway, last week, the family made the annual pilgrimage to a pond nearby Bridgton, ME. And while I didn't get to stay for the whole week, I did manage to take some good shots -

I love this picture of the girls - I applied an action from MCP Actions called Touch of Light/Touch of Darkness (it's free on their website - click on the link above). Originally, it was too dark but with this action, I saved this shot.
I don't usually like to pose pictures but need material for next year's calendars - every year for the last 3 or 4 years, I've made my parents and my in-laws scrapbook calendars as a Christmas gift. Last year, I made ones for both my sisters-in-law and this year, I decided that I will make myself one. This is Melody sitting on a rock, complete with a fresh booboo after tripping over a tree root while running.

The wind up there on my last day was absolutely nuts - hence, the windblown niece and sister-in-law. I love this picture anyway - That's the view from our camp, looking across the pond.

Finally, my favorite picture from Maine vacation - so windy - but they were happy to be there.

I've been using this vacation time to take more pictures and learning new editing skills. I'm also trying to organize my scrapbook room. That'll take more than just this week. I have way too much stuff. I'm just enjoying being away from my everyday life and getting around to doing things that need to get done.

Will post again once or twice this week as I've got lots of photos to post.

When it's hot and muggy out

2010-07-13T21:40:00.008-04:00

There's no better place to be but an ice rink. Yes, especially in mid-July on a hot and muggy evening. Dylan goes to a power skating hour in Pembroke. That rink is so cold that even the penguins have the sniffles and shivers in there. We made the big mistake last year of giving Dylan the summer off the ice but this year right after the season was over, Dylan spent two nights a week on the ice for 6 weeks. We let him take 3 weeks off with nothing and now he's back on one night a week until after the family vacation and then he's back on 2 nights a week until the season starts. Last season, he was on the ice almost everyday towards the end of August.

If you thought ice hockey was just a winter sport - you were way off!

Dylan wears his Yankee Conference All-Star jersey for practice. I'm so glad he loves playing and works so hard to get good at it. I'm so glad that having him in hockey gives me a great opportunity to practice taking photos in such a challenging environment (lighting is all fluorescent lighting and the ice acts as a reflector but unless I'm on the bench, I am shooting through glass and learning how to make that ice look white instead of grey in my shots).

Panning is something that I need to practice more - According to Wikipedia, "When photographing a moving subject, the panning technique is achieved by keeping the subject in the same position of the frame for the duration of the exposure. The length of the exposure must be long enough to allow the background to blur due to the movement of the camera as you follow the subject in the viewfinder." An example I took of Dylan tonight:
Dylan is mostly in focus while the rest of the background in a bit blurry. This implies that he is in motion.

I have all summer to figure out how to do this consistently before the season begins. YIPPY!

While we were in the stands, I got this shot of Melody -
That was pretty much the same expression I had when I saw how much Dylan's skating has improved because of this hockey clinic. Unbelievable!

I hope he sticks with it and I hope he works as hard at everything in life as he does at skating. He has the kind of stuff in him that makes great things greater...maybe I'm a little bias because I'm his mom. I'm also a pretty decent judge of character - Dylan's got what it takes to become a superstar in his own right. Of that, I'm sure.

Just one little photo...

2010-07-12T19:08:00.004-04:00

...of my little Angel in our friends' Mike and Michele's pool....
I love their backyard - it's like the ultimate party backyard - hope to visit more often this summer....thanks for having us over.

Our long long July 4th weekend

2010-07-06T09:53:00.006-04:00

How long can you stretch out a holiday weekend? In my case, I am on my 4th and last day of my long long 4th of July weekend. What did we do this weekend?

Well, there was some visiting with cousins up in NH. They are the only family I have out this way (the rest of the family we have up here is actually Adam's family - well, my family too but you know what I mean). I took a couple of photos of Angelica at the pool:
Angel probably has a BMI of -3. She's 7 years old and hasn't broken 50lbs yet. She's built like a twig...but she's not frail - she's probably as healthy as we should all hope to be.
I like this photo better - One of the things I want to work on this summer is to learn how to shoot in full manual. I have a crazy habit of staying in Aperture Priority (AV) mode on my camera. While it's cool for tricks like blurring the background and capturing bokeh, it's not as helpful as shooting in full manual. I think it would help making sure what I want in focus is in focus. I find that in both these photos, Angelica's face is only softly focused when I wanted her face to be more focused.

Besides breaking out my camera, I finished a long awaited scrapbook for my friend, Michele and started making the invitations for her little one's birthday. Adam and the kids put up the tent we got him for Father's Day in the backyard. They tried twice to sleep in there overnight. We're in desperate need of blow up beds or camp cots or something - last night they all came in at midnight because out old Aerobeds did not hold up and flattened out by then. I'll have to photo the tent the next time they put it up.

We did a lot of swimming this weekend - here in New England it's been 90+ (or around there) for the entire weekend. We went to Auntie Sandie's pool on the 4th and yesterday to cool off. My favorite picture of the weekend:

My favorite people in the whole world - love you guys - here's to a great summer ahead!!!

I'm not proud of these...but they will have to do.

2010-06-28T19:49:00.009-04:00

So I haven't kept my word on blogging more. I've taken my camera out even less.

Here it is, though, my renewed commitment to shooting more photos. After all, last Christmas I got a second hard drive to save more pictures. So here are some shots I've taken since the last time I blogged.

***Note: some are more technically better than others (nice grammar there - Mrs. Gunset, my high school English teacher would be so mad right now).

This was taken on Angelica's First Communion while she was walking down the aisle. Pictures in church are tough without a flash and a faster lens. It's a little dark in there. It didn't help that it was thunderstorming outside. Mom picked out her veil and headpiece while Angelica picked out her dress.

I wish she was smiling in this photo but I took it on the fly through the passengers' side door and didn't have time to snap another because it was spitting rain on my camera. This was by far, my favorite picture of the day.
This would be a favorite if everyone could smile like the moms in this photo - These are my kids (and my nephew) with my parents and Adam's parents - so who do you think they look like now?

Here's a picture of Melody while we waited for the First Communion kids to begin the ceremony.
It's odd that she has 2 catchlights in her one eye and barely one in the other. Not to mention it's such a soft focus in the picture.

All these pictures are a complete testament to the fact that if I want to be a better photographer, I need to shoot something everyday. And that going for the best shot without editing is still the way to go. For each one of the shots above (except the one of Angel in the car), I had to edit something somewhere and I am not that good at it (yet) and someday when I do get good at it, I still want my photo to be near perfect before I touch it -

And while these photos aren't the best I've ever shot, they are enough to make me promise myself to take my camera out more. And they still bring the memory of Angelica's First Communion with them. It was a pretty good day...rainy but good. We had a nice family get together afterwards and we were lucky enough to get my parents up here from NYC before mom's hip replacement surgery. (She's recovering nicely!!! YAHOO for that!)

Alright, this is a long week at work because of staffing and late nights but I'm still going to take my camera out every day for the rest of this week and the July 4th weekend is coming - totally an occasion to shoot - but so isn't every day...will work on it -

Outside my best friend's house

2010-05-03T18:32:00.018-04:00

We went home to NYC this past weekend to surprise my family - it was my nephew, Andy's First Communion. Angelica will have hers this Saturday -

On the way home, we visited my best friend, Agnes (her husband, Mike and little baby Claire - my Goddaughter. I have posted about her before - here.) My city girl, Booger bought a house in the 'burbs of CT (I knew she'd fold and move to New England near where Mike grew up - I can't fault her, I did the same thing by moving to MA where Adam is from).

Took a few pictures of the outside of her house -

A trellis in the backyard.

This is somewhere in the middle of their backyard.

The pond at the very end of their backyard.

On the walk back to the house from the pond, we found this - a smurfy 'shroom.

Out front to the right of the round driveway.

The Black Pearl in the round driveway - I was standing on the front porch.

Boog's house has an inlaw addition - this is the front porch on her side of the house.

This is the inlaw side - for now, they have a friend living there.

This is my favorite part of the front porch. I love those rocking chairs.

I only took a couple of pictures inside the house. Melody insisted on this picture being taken - she's sitting on Claire's blow up horsie. This was taken in Claire's playroom.

This is Melody and Claire writing on the deck in the backyard. She's almost 2 years old. Claire was a riot playing with my kids. On the way to their house, Melody said, "I can't wait to see Claire. We might not be able to play together - she can't focus on playing." Well, Melody - I think that almost 2 year old kept up pretty good.

More photos later this week - have a couple of projects that need to be completed by the end of the week.

The Beach on a Spring day in New England

2010-04-27T19:53:00.011-04:00

It's the strangest thing about living in New England - when the temperature is about 60 degrees in the sun, the water at the beach is not that cold. When you visit the same beach in the middle of a 90 degree heat wave in July, that water is more like the water you would find off the coast of a melting glacier.

On my last day off during the kids' spring break, I took them to Nantasket - love that beach - the waves are so little and the slant of the beach is so subtle that you could venture to go out pretty far (maybe 50 yards) without the water even reaching your waist.

Took some pictures -

Angelica and Dylan standing in the water. I'm not thrilled by the composition of this photo - I also wish that I had gotten more their reflection in the water...I cut them off. Sorry kids. I also wish that the horizon was a little straighter.....mental note for next time.
While the horizon isn't straight in this photo, I love this picture of Angelica running back to the shore. The look on her face just epitomizes what she's like - she's carefree and much of the time, happy - by her own doing. At 7 years old, she's learning to accept that you don't always get what you want and many times, she surprises me by just letting those kind of things go...

Love this photo - that horizon is as straight as I was ever gonna get it - I love how the kids look little and the beach and sky look huge. I took all these photos with my Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 with a circular polarizer attached to it - I am still learning how to use this kind of filter and as I learn, I will post here...I only know that you can get some hot looking blues in your photos with this type of filter. The unnaturally blue sky was also helped along by a little editing magic on CS4.

More of Angelica and Dylan checking out the shore - I got my feet wet too in this shot.

This is the newly 5 year old Melody watering the sand at her feet - I love how her hand is in her pocket.

When we were leaving, I told the kids that I needed a group shot - the first two I'm posting are outtakes and the last one is the almost best one of 17 shots that I took before I gave up....
What is Melody smirking about?

I kinda like this one - they all look genuinely happy - now if only Dylan's hand was not in this shot....

Someday, they will all smile nicely for me - just not right here....we'll work on it -

Melody's 5th birthday/getting back to the blog

2010-04-21T21:50:00.005-04:00

With school finally over - I got an A- in A&P II - I have devoted a couple of weeks now to just wasting away - but I did get back to shooting...and doing stuff at home like laundry and cooking and organizing my scrap room. And running...more on the rest of my extra-curriculars later...

I was off this weekend (thanks BT) for Melody's 5th birthday - we didn't have a birthday party for her but we did everything that this little kid wanted for her birthday. We went to the Boston Children's Museum for Target $1 Friday night. Melody's birthday was actually on Saturday - she made us go to IHOP for breakfast with a quick stop at Toys R Us for a gift and then to Chuck E. Cheese for pizza and games (I HATE THAT PLACE!)

I didn't dare take my camera to Chuck E. Cheese - rightfully so, since there had to be so many kids in there that it had to be a fire code violation. I suppose that is what happens on a rainy Saturday at the beginning of spring break.

Anyway, on Sunday, we celebrated at mom and dad's house - pictures:
Thanks to Auntie Kristin and the kids for the cool 3D bubbles (they really work too!)
That cake looks yummy (chocolate-coffee ice cream cake from Peaceful Meadows). We did cake after the gifts...we're pretty silly like that -

Later this week, I'll blog about the rest of the weekend - good stuff - stay tuned -

Here's my secret

2010-02-28T19:42:00.005-05:00

People often ask me "how do you do it all? School? Work? Volunteer? Shoot? Scrap? Housework?"

Here's the answer - I don't do it all!!! I certainly don't do it all and I do none of it by myself - except for school (no one helps me with that stuff).

Well, I guess work is a solo deal too - I mean I do my duties there but I have much support from my team and my new manager (who has the greatest name ever - Bernadette).

The hockey board? I do that for Dylan and his friends and the league. Sometimes it's good fun - other times, it's a lot more work than it sometimes feels like it's worth.

Housework? We shouldn't discuss this - laundry is the bane of my existence. I don't change the cat box (Adam does that). I don't feed the dogs (Dylan does this). I don't usually feed the cats (Angel or Melody does this). Sometimes I empty the dishwasher and refill it with dirty dishes. I rarely cook dinner (I'm not very good at cooking). Keeping the house tidy....well, Adam is much better at it than I am so he does it most of the time. (I love you, Pooka!!!!)

Scrap? I can't even remember the last time I had time to do this - but I miss it a whole bunch...so it's on my long list of things to do.

Shoot? Shamefully, I haven't been in the mood to shoot - mainly because I hate the lighting inside my house; I'm not the best at flash photography (since I think I'm forever a fan of natural light) and the weather outside has been just awful for shooting. It's been very gray - mostly rainy and the colors outside are frightful and dreary.

But I fired off a couple of shots the other day and thought, I miss my camera...I'll have to tote it around more to get more in the mood.

I took this picture of Melody by my favorite spot in the house to take pictures - our big picture window in the living room. I did use a flash but diffused it with a puffer (by Gary Fong) - it does the trick just well enough to ensure my subject is not completely washed out by the flash. Still, she looks a little pale to me - which is why I prefer natural light shooting. Like this one -

I took this one in church while we were waiting for Angel to complete her first confession. No flash. Yippy.

This is Angel by that same window - black and white rocks!!!
We're working on her Jack-O'-Lantern smile - even though there will be lots of dentist visits in the future - I still love that smile.

Hope to shoot more with Spring around the corner.

P.S. - I got a 95 on my first A&P II test - took the second one this morning - only 5 more classes to go!!!!

LOST DAWG FOUND!!!!

2010-01-19T06:51:00.003-05:00

After an incredibly sad 5 days, we have been lucky enough to find Buster....safe and healthy and clean and being loved by another family in our city, who thought it prudent to call the phone number on Buster's tag. I think he was as happy to see us as we were to see him.

Thank you for everyone's positive thoughts and energy and prayers. And thank you to the family who brought him home.

We can't be more happy that he's home.

oh my Buster

2010-01-14T17:48:00.004-05:00

In a crazy effort to find my missing doggie, Buster - who managed to jimmy open the fence and take off yesterday afternoon -

This is what he looks like - he does have a small scar under his right eye. If you see him, please leave me a comment here - I can only hope someone has picked him up and wants to give him back.

Holiday Mayhem

2009-12-29T21:43:00.012-05:00

Every year I wonder if all the craziness that surrounds the holidays is really necessary. I mean, there's the shopping, the wrapping, the card making and mailing, more shopping, more wrapping, worrying that the kids will love what you give them, the worrying that you got everything that you needed to for everyone on the list, the worrying that you spent way too much on the holiday, the cooking, the baking, the eating, the stomach ache after all the eating.

And then there is the worrying that you wouldn't get enough pictures of it all. And prior to that, if you are me, you should have practiced taking pictures a little more with the pathetic lighting in your living room. I did manage a few ok pictures (with lots of help from CS4).

I don't often center my subjects anymore - and unfortunately this was the best Christmas picture I took with my 3 babies together. Someday when I get over the anger of shooting my relatively uncooperative kids, I'll post up all the outtakes (there are many more of those than there are good pictures of them!!!) In case you were wondering, the weird shape of the lights on the tree are called bokeh - which can be created a few different ways - we can talk about that some other time.
My toothy 9 year old, Dylan - complete with bokeh...With that picture window to Dylan's left, I even caught a reflection on Dylan's left eye.
This is a better shot of Dylan.

Here is my Christmas Angel. I tried to take pictures from different angles around the tree - I wasn't really thrilled by this lighting. But rule #1 in photography - there is no such thing as perfect lighting. Except in my living room, the lighting isn't even close to good. It's lovely on a sunny day through the picture window but the light from the ceiling isn't conducive to easy non-flash photography.
This was Melody's turn with the tree.

I will say that I still prefer SOOC shooting with very little post-processing to the photoshopped pictures here....like this one -
This was taken out of the window of my car while I was parked in my driveway a few weeks before Christmas (there aren't 2 suns, just a reflection through the glass).

Earlier on Christmas Eve, Adam and the kids made this -
He was practically perfect. Until the temperature rose above 50 degrees right after Christmas...there was about 20 inches on the ground for nearly the entire week of Christmas - now's it's all but gone - that's a New England winter for you....

Some of the above pictures were taken with my Tamron 24-75mm f/2.8. The Christmas close ups of the kids were taken with my Canon 50mm f/1.8. And the kids were all dressed in new jammies sent for Christmas by Auntie Booger, Uncle Mike and little Claire.

I will resolve to blog more this coming new year than I had this year. It will stay here at blogspot and if I am lucky enough to finish more scrapbooking projects this year, I will shoot those and post here too.

I have a few more good shots to post later this week - I'm on break from school for another 4 weeks!!! YAHOO!!!

NEED TO WIN

2009-12-12T06:25:00.004-05:00

...this free watermarking action from CoffeeShop. I love their free actions! In case you didn't know what actions were, they are a series of editing steps in a photo editing program such as Photoshop or Elements.
This is my nephew Connor - I used the CoffeeShop Vignette action to darken the edges. I did though enhance his beautiful blue eyes from scratch. Such a cutie!

If by chance, I am randomly chosen to win this prize - it will make my weekend!!!

Here I go again...

2009-11-11T19:26:00.007-05:00

So I've been on typepad for a few months and decided that paying for blog space (while I love how big the images can be) was not worth it because I don't have the time to blog as often. So here I am trying to learn how to work around making my images bigger.
This is my Angel - I did a little photoshopping to enhance the color of the leaves in the background and make her a little warmer. I used two actions that I got from Pioneer Woman Photography (I love that blog!!!). You can download 2 different packages of actions for free!!!And they are amazing!
This is a picture of my Melody - taken in the front yard the other day. She is getting so big!!! This photo is SOOC.

This is Dylan in the same spot as his sisters. I used the same actions on this photo as I did on the one of Angel's except when I used the warmer action, I dialed down the opacity - which made Dylan not look like he was bathing in the sun. I also used my flash (which if you know me, I'd rather not - but sometimes, it can be necessary.) Using my flash filled in Dylan's face (which is backlit from the sunlight). Now, if I could only remember to do it more often....

Since I have tomorrow off, I will attempt to accomplish more fundraising related activities for Brockton Youth Hockey, do the last of my design team assignments for the Scrapbook Cupboard, do laundry (because what day would be complete without some laundry?), and run some errands. I also need to tend to all the stupid time-based games I got myself into on facebook and try to alter the background and layout of this blog.

See you on the other side...

Permanent switch

2009-07-21T23:00:00.002-04:00

After 2 weeks or so of testing, I decided to give typepad a shot - mainly because I like how big the pictures can be.

So if you're still interested in my blog - it's new home is here. Thanks for reading and following - I'm hoping that while I'm on vacation for the next few weeks that I will get the chance to post more photos...

See you on the other side....

Possible switch

2009-07-06T21:46:00.002-04:00

I haven't blogged in days because I'm thinking about switching to Typepad. I'm free trialing their weblog service - so for at least the next two weeks, my blog will be here.

Thanks for checking it out - please leave comments here or there to tell me what you think of it.

Little Claire's Big Day

2009-06-22T20:12:00.008-04:00

In my culture, it's a big deal to be asked to be a Godmother (Ninang, as they call it in Filipino). Yesterday, I became Claire Paige Parniawski's Ninang. Her mom, Agnes (whom I still affectionately refer to as Booger)is Melody's Ninang. Pictures I took:
Quite possibly my favorite shot of the day...those lights in her eyes make me happy.
Boogs was afraid her that Claire's christening gown was "over-the-top". I thought it made her look very angelic.
This is Boogs and Claire. The last time I saw Claire, I thought she looked a lot like her Grampy Mike. I think, as all babies do, Claire has changed and looked different to me.
I think she looked a lot like her Grammie Emma. Although, I think Claire was trying out her scary face and she doesn't look much like her Grammie at all.
Again, those catchlights in her eyes...my favorite part of pictures....
Brunch before the Christening at a restaurant called Almond. To Mike's left are Missy and Ryan - who got married last May (congratulations!!!) If you didn't read my blog in March when Boogs and Mike got married, Ryan is Mike's brother and was his best man (and my partner) in their wedding. I have some pretty good looking friends, if I don't mind saying so myself!!!
This was Claire, Mike and Boogs right after we woke Claire up from a catnap. She was holding me in contempt for this.
This was before the Christening. Claire's nickname (one of them anyway, because everyone calls her something different) is Beet. Notice how nice her hair is before the hair washing....
This was after the hair washing but before the ceremony was over. This is Melody putting on a Baptismal garment on Claire (who proceeded to take it off, drop it and eat it when it was given back to her).
This is my 2nd favorite photo of the day - she looks so naughty - just how you're supposed to look after the priest washes you clean of original sin...
This is after the ceremony (check out Claire's do). I'm just waiting for Beet to drop that candle on Angelica's head....she didn't, but it would have been funny...

Boogs and Mike, thank you for choosing me to be Claire's Ninang. I am honored (once again, by you guys) to be part of such an important event in your history.

They aren't mine - but they are still cute!!!

2009-06-19T21:46:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, my friend, Tracy's kids came for a visit at work. I just happened to have my camera from Melody's graduation:
This is Alan - Back in 2007, he was Baby New Year for the hospital where he was born. He's where I chased him to the writing desk in our lobby and he was coming out from underneath.
This is Kerry Ann (I hope I spelled that right) - can you believe that she is only 5 months old? It's the super milk, mom!!!!

I'll post on FB for you, Trac - hope I get to take more pictures of them soon!

just a thought

2009-06-18T23:06:00.003-04:00

I am seriously thinking about switching my blog over from blogger to typepad. I know that you have to pay a small monthly fee to typepad, but I think in all my aging blindness, I would appreciate the bigger photos. I'll think about it...leave me a comment if you have an opinion....

Melody Graduates!!!!

2009-06-18T22:05:00.006-04:00

Today, Melody "gwadjuwated" nursery school.
I feel like time is just going on - she's already 4 and now a graduate. This was her existing the school yard at the end of the outdoor ceremony. It was great that the rain held off! And yes, that is Angelica's shirt that doesn't fit her and barely fits Melody.
This is Melody and Miss Mary, one of her 3 teachers this year. On her report card, Miss Mary commented on Melody's confidence and self-reliance and cooperative manners. At least she's like that out in the world - makes me feel good!
So proud of this little kid!
This my baby - growing up quick - thanks for taking this picture, Pooka!

This week's lucky shot

2009-06-13T21:25:00.003-04:00

This week, my day off was reduce to a 1/2 a day off - I'll take it - I was running some errands after I picked up the kids yesterday and took this lucky shot...

I wasn't looking through the viewfinder, I was driving and hoping that I could catch at least some rays - the sun flare and position of that sun was pure luck. In fact, I wasn't sure that this picture was going to have the sun in it or even as much of the sky as it did - it was just pure luck!

I also want to thank Bev @ the Scrapbook Cupboard for the opportunity to teach a beginner's photography class - I hope our students enjoyed and learned even a little bit about photography. I have my point and shoot class to teach there on June 27th 1-4pm. Check out the Scrapbook Cupboard online for registration details.

Thank you to Traci, Kristin, Rosalie and Betty - I hope I at least taught you something you didn't know about photography class - remember, the only way to take better pictures that you do today is practice, practice, practice!!!

My niece's birthday

2009-06-09T19:32:00.006-04:00

Last Sunday was my niece, Meghan's 8th birthday - We had some great weather here in Southern New England, which afforded me some decent photos...
This here is Miss Meghan - she's a doll! She's about 6 months younger than Dylan -
This is Samantha - Meghan's younger sister. She's 3 days older than Angelica.
Here's my Angel - I turned these 3 girls into tree huggers that afternoon - I'm least happy with Angelica's picture - not sharp enough for me...
Here's Sami blowing bubbles...
And finally, Meghan right before she blew the pretend candles on her ice cream cake out...we lost the candles - sorry, buddy!

Hope you had a great birthday, Meg!

At the pond...

2009-06-04T22:34:00.006-04:00

I was lucky enough to score a day off on a day without rain. Yesterday, the kids had a 1/2 day and after I picked them up, we decided to feed the birds at the pond in D.W. Field Park. I went there last week with Melody on a drizzly day off without any bread...so we brought bread and this is what happened:

There had to be at least 100 Canadian Geese just lined up waiting to get fed by park goers like ourselves. We brought a package of hamburger buns and it still wasn't enough.
Dylan's toothless grin - nice shades, D!

Melody was scared of how many geese were around us. I made her and Dylan go to an area where there weren't so many geese - but in no time, there were plenty of geese right there....honking away for some bread.
I thought this picture of the flying duck was neat. Dylan thought how they skid into the water was neat (but I don't have a picture of that)
I have this fascination of shooting people from behind...here are my girls just watching the pond. I live for these moments - thankfully Angel had no ideas about throwing her little sister in the pond...that water is gross...

The yard sale at the Scrapbook Cupboard

2009-05-30T17:42:00.003-04:00

If you're in the market for some crafting supplies, come on down to the Scrapbook Cupboard tomorrow 12-4pm. Friends and I will be setting up shop for a yard sale - Detail are here - click on yard sale when you get to that page.

The Scrapbook Cupboard is located at 516 Bedford Street, East Bridgewater, MA. When you're done shopping in the parking lot, shop in the store and check out all the neat classes they're offering.

Keep your fingers crossed for good weather....Hope to see you there.

My Little Buddy Ryan

2009-05-30T17:01:00.006-04:00

I had to pick up a tent for the Scrapbook Cupboard yard sale I'm doing tomorrow and I borrowed it from my friend, Michele. While I was there, I took a few photos of Ryan...who' been on my blog before. At nine months (holy crap - has it really been that long since he came around?), he's still one of the cutest babies I know!

This face comes right from the first sequence of Michele's DNA...it's the "um, should I or shouldn't I do it?" look
I think Ryan was thinking "why is that huge black box up in this lady's face?"
I like the change from horizonal to vertical - he is so cute - have I said that yet?
Michele said we should try putting Ryan in the grass but he really wasn't down with that.

Generally, I like the SOOC kind of picture but I thought this CoffeeShop action called CoffeeShop Denim was pretty cool...download that here.
I love this picture of Michele and Ryan (I would have taken pictures of Ryan's dad, Mike, but he hates me more than Adam hates me when I take his picture).
That's the best smile ever created -thankfully I got one happy picture of him in the 15 minutes I was over...he is just too cute!!!

What I did today on my day off...

2009-05-29T20:28:00.010-04:00

To me, it is well worth working for 5 hours on Saturday when you can have an entire day off during the week...so today, I did a bunch of things...

Took 2 of my 3 kids to school - Melody has a 4 day school week (I swear that is how it should be at work too!).
Went to Staples to make copies for a photography class that I am teaching in a couple of weeks.
Went to the Ash Street Playground to take pictures of Melody but then it started to rain. (I still got a couple of shots - wanna see?
An old friend and I caught up on Facebook this week and decided that we were going to experiment with our photography in an effort to make us better photographers. Our first challenge is to mess around with exposure compensation and focus. The above photo of Melody was one of the few I managed to fire off before it really started to rain on us at the park (which is right behind our house...literally if you hopped my 6 foot fence in the backyard and then scaled the 20 foot chain link fence you'd be in the park. Melody and I drove the 100 feet around the corner to the playground). Anyway, I shot this at +1 EC but when I pulled it up on CS4, I couldn't help but lower that after the fact - Melody looked a little blown out...with the adjustments I made, I believe that I ended up at +.66 EC instead...

I'd tell you what CoffeeShop action I applied to this if only I could remember...I like the bit of faded color this action made....the little vignetting does it for me too...

Went to The Art Experience to find a certain kind of pen I like to write with.
Went to Costco's to sign up for membership - apparently their photo processing is fantastic and relatively inexpensive for 1 hour.
Melody asked to have lunch at Ikea, so we did.

On the way home, we drove through D.W. Field Park. There's a big pond out there and some woodsy parts. It was pretty dreary and drizzly today...but Melody and I stopped in the park during a light drizzle to take pictures on the pond.
You know I was just praying that she didn't slip into the pond just there...it's very shallow right there but who knows what's in the pond water. A couple of years ago, when the fair was in town, there were 2 gator sightings at the pond (seems that someone who works with this travelling fair decided to let their pet gators free instead of living the travelling fair life...I believe they only ever found one). I'm sure that there was no gator nearby or we wouldn't have been able to see this:

This was papa swan. I think it's weird that his head can turn almost completely behind him.
This was papa swan with one baby swan.This is papa swan with baby swans #1,2 & 3. I took this shot at -1 EC. Still, papa swan and baby #1 were white enough to stand out more than babies #2 & 3.
Same picture adjusted to approximately +.33 EC.

Is it just me or does anyone else out there think that Canons shoot dark? Even at 0 EC, I tend to think that Canons shoot dark - any opinions on that, please post a comment.
This was the entire Swan family - you can't see all the babies - they're on papa swan's right side. Mama Swan is the smaller one that is further away from us in the photo. This pond is separated by a road that we often drive on - and we always try to look for "my" swans. Yes, they're mine - I own them. We've got a few years without seeing the swans out together - but for the most part, they are usually there. And no, I don't know if these are my swans and no I don't really own the swans...but I'd like to think they'd want to come and live in my hot tub or something. I'm not even a bird person - I just think they're pretty...even though these ones need their necks scrubbed...(their necks aren't as white as the rest of them.)
Not only were there swans, there were pigeons, seagulls, mallard ducks and an enormous flock of Canadian Geese. Mel and I watched a goose fight and were surrounded by a bunch of honking geese...not to mention the random piles of fresh goosie poo. YUCK!
Finally, Melody found this feather on the ground - ill!!! I made her put it back...in case a goose was missing that and left it there for later.

Will shoot more this weekend!

Finally here....

2009-05-29T14:21:00.003-04:00

...are the long awaited pictures from my best friend's wedding last March - taken by Jerome & Jennifer Braga of studio1923. If you would like to see their Agnes and Michael's wedding pictures - click here.

Be back later with pictures I took today...gotta get some laundry done and pick up the kids from school and because I'm such a great mom, I'll be taking them to the mall to pick out new sneakers - because in all my practicality, I let them get new shoes only when the ones they have are either too small or too beat up to be worn respectfully in public...Adam said that I should take them to get new shoes because Melody's right big toe is saying hi to bugs in the grass through the cute little hole in her sneaker...(overexaggeration - another week and there might be a hole but there isn't one today - I could even wait another week to go to the mall...)

I'm a great mom!

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-25T19:07:00.007-04:00

My parents came up to visit - it was nice to spend a little time with them. And now we can be somewhat restful for a few weeks...today was by far the best day of the long holiday weekend...and so I got these:
When I first started this blog, I talked about an emotionally perfect picture. While the picture above is not so bad (in my opinion), I like this one better.
...even though the girls are blurry because Angel and Melody were already moving down the slide. It's not the greatest picture ever taken (from a technical standpoint) but I love how Angel's screaming while Melody is happy to be holding onto her big sister.
Here's another one - This is Adam and Odie, the dumbest dog ever created. In this photo, Odie was kissing up to Adam in hopes of getting some left overs for a snack. This picture would have been totally perfect is I got all of Adam's head out of the sun...we were sitting across from each other at our patio table with an umbrella up...
Here's my pretty mom (in-law) who I have to say has been more patient with my incessant photo shooting than some others in our family. Thanks Mom!!! I love this picture of you!

I also got these pictures of Buster today:
Here's where I just called his name...
Here's what he did after I told him to smile....
And the retake because I told him he blinked.

Some news...I will be selling my old Canon Rebel xTi and the kit lens it came with (Canon 18-55mm f/5.6). If you are interested, it's a great starter camera if you haven't gotten a DSLR and want to start somewhere - it's 3 years old and was kept well. If you are interested leave a comment with your email address or email me at the following: badeleonrees@gmail.com
I can send you pictures and specs and any information that you need on it.

If you happen to be in the Southeastern MA area on Sunday, May 31, stop by the annual Scrapbook Cupboard yard sale - I'll have the camera with me for you to check out as well as vending some scrapbooking and stamping items that are coming from my stash (mostly stuff, I haven't or will not use)...click on the link above for details...

Memorial Day Weekend - an important day to remember those who have gone before us - especially the military men, women and families who everyday sacrifice so that I may sleep well and free. My family and I thank you all with all of our hearts! We think and pray for you often.

Gotta get the kids ready for bed and work on my photography class....Will try to post vacation pictures soon...

Back to Life - back to reality

2009-05-20T19:09:00.004-04:00

Vacation is officially over in approximately 5 hours...I shot about 1400 shots this week at the fantastic Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. A great time was had by all I think...I spent much of this afternoon just checking out the pictures I uploaded to my computer. I did get a few great shots...
Taken at the pool - I had the toughest time with shooting at the pool. Light from the water reflects and the sunlight is bright and everyone comes out underexposed...I must have shot 100 shots at the pool and this was the very last one. Thanks, Adam!
Melody's so funny - we were waiting in line to see something (I can't remember now what it was) but here she is telling me to take her picture.
I just want to thank my loving husband for taking this picture of us waiting for the bus...I edited this one in CS4 with an action called CoffeeShop Perfect Portrait and then applied CoffeeShop vignette to it. That is probably the best picture of me and the kids in 8 years...I love this photo!
This is a picture of Angelica walking with her Grammie at Disney's Hollywood Studios. We had to take the monorail the day before and she wasn't able to ride in the cockpit with the other kids so Grammie bought her a special prize and this was right after she gave it to Angelica (the bag in her hand). I vignetted this picture too.
This is Grammie and Melody waiting for the bus.
While this picture looks like sunset, I actually took this picture at 6:30am. Our room was on the 5th floor facing the East - beyond the twig there is a shadow of a mountain - that's Everest - Disney's latest Roller Coaster experience (I think it's like 3 years old)...did not go on that - I do roller coasters but not the ones that give me 3 hour headaches afterwards.
I set my camera on spot metering instead of the usual evaluative metering I keep my camera on.

OK, so none of these pictures look like Disneyworld, I assure you they were taken there this week. I'll post more Disney pictures as they get filtered through CS4...editing for me these days is very slow going as I am still learning about the power of CS4.

I'm off to watch the American Idol season finale...I'm rooting for Kris - and no, I don't vote...I just like to watch the singing...he happens to be cute too. =)

The Official End of the Semester

2009-05-12T06:53:00.002-04:00

Are you ready for this? I got an A- in Anatomy & Physiology I...I can't believe it!!! I mean, I can because I did all that work but I really did not think that I was that close!!! If you're as excited as me, post a comment at the bottom...

If you go to Massasoit Community College and need to take Biological Principles, A&P I or Human Genetics, I highly recommend taking those with Dr. William Hanna. I didn't have him for Bio Prin (I had another great teacher, Ms. Diane Salvetti). As fate would have it, I ended up in Dr. Hanna's hybrid A&P I class because I got locked out of the Wednesday night traditional lecture/lab class that I was supposed to take with one of my lab partners from Bio Prin; sorry Jim!). This material isn't easy made even more difficult by taking the class as a hybrid (1/2 online, 1/2 onsite). I liked taking this class with Dr. Hanna because he expects you to be an adult and really motivate yourself to do the work. He was available for questions and help but not to the extent where he was doing the work for you...I think that makes the best kind of teacher. I've had other professors who would only help you if you showed up at office hours with a 5" mini skirt on and two cups of coffee...my legs are not bad (or were better before kids) but they aren't part of my grades. Anyway, thank you Dr. Hanna for the challenge...bring on A&P II!!!

But before any of that - the real order of business this week is vacation. Unless my niece Caitlyn brings her laptop, I will not be blogging for a week...but I will be shooting down at Disney...it's Cait's 2nd trip and her brother, Connor's 1st trip down to FL...can't wait to capture those moments...

Hopefully I will have time to post photos later - if not...see you in a week!

I'm ready

2009-05-10T17:06:00.005-04:00

I've studied all day and cannot absorb another thing. I'm gonna go to a crop with a bunch of girlfriends and do something completely unnecessary for a change. I think I'm ready for tomorrow's final. I'm sure that I will be up early tomorrow am to re-review...

We were just outside blowing bubbles in the wind in the backyard....this is what I got...

I climbed up the playground to take this picture of Dylan on the trapeze. I also did this to the picture:I did the CoffeeShop vignette to this picture 2x. Nice...

I also got them together on the slide - this was their idea - not mine...they're better at composing a shot than I am.

Both shots were taken with my Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 on my new Canon 50D.

And now I'm packing for this crop - I'm so ready for this vacation!!!! YAHOO!!!!

A Little Bit of a Breather

2009-05-06T21:09:00.007-04:00

Next test isn't until Monday - it's the final...and then I am SO on vacation!!!!

Unfortunately, all the studying I've had to do has taken up all my time to do the fun stuff - like play with my camera. The good news is that the semester is over on Monday....I'm hoping for a B as an A is a little bit beyond my reach at this point...keep your fingers crossed for me...

I did though manage to decompress by fiddling with Photoshop CS4:
This is a shot of Melody falling onto Angelica. What I figured out was that if you don't rename your original photo and save it as something else, you will save over the original. In PSE6.0, you can save original and the newly edited version of the picture. (I'm sure when I have more time, I will learn CS4 well enough to be comfortable).
An unedited shot from that same set:

I can't remember what action I applied to the original shot but I love the color after the edit.

This is a picture I took the last time we went to Disney of Cinderella's Castle. I applied an action called CoffeeShop Teeny Tiny World (download from here)
It's hard to see but if you look at this picture and compare it to the following photo, you can see that the second photo looks like a "model-sized" Cinderella's Castle.
Pretty cool...I'll have to find something to shoot that will make that action more useful.

All that being said, while photoshopping is neat, I, for one, want to make sure that I take that photo properly SOOC without having to edit so much - I would rather use my time taking pictures that post-producing them...maybe someday if I ever make it to the big time, photoshopping will become a bigger part of my life...for now, I'm perfectly happy just taking the pictures.

My Selfless Plug

2009-05-03T08:56:00.003-04:00

It's up there - on the calendar at the Scrapbook Cupboard...

I'll be teaching two photography classes - one designed for DSLR owners and the other for Point-n-Shooters...

The DSLR class is on Saturday, June 13, 2009 3:30-7:30pm
The Point-n-Shoot class is on Saturday, June 27, 2009 1:00-3:30pm

Both classes, weather permitting, will give us some time to do an outdoor shoot, offsite - this part of the class comes at the end and is totally optional. We'll have a little bit of one-on-one time to talk about the shots while looking at them in your camera and if you want to, you can email me them for more technical analysis.

I highly recommend the following:
READ YOUR CAMERA MANUAL BEFORE CLASS. I am not familiar with every digital camera out there...so this is where you help yourself...It may not have as much meaning to you as it will after and yes, it is somewhat dry reading but you should have a base knowledge of what your camera can do so that learning the other stuff becomes more relevant (and fun!)
BRING A PEN. Lots of notes to take in this class. You'll get lots of notes and you will have to take more - these chock full of a lot of good information.
BRING YOUR CAMERA so that you can participate in the shoot and look at it while you are learning.

NOTE: I am not a professional photographer. I just love this stuff and finally wrapped my head around the technical stuff enough to pass on the knowledge to others. I did take a few classes with the fabulous Karen Russell but I am NOT teaching her class...she worked very hard on designing one of the best classes I've ever taken in my life...and I've worked hard on designing one for beginner photographers/scrapbookers. I certainly invite you to take her classes if you can get in (believe me...getting into that online class was near the top of my lucky list!!!!).
Thanks Karen for being one of the greatest teachers, I've ever had!

Sign up today - call the Scrapbook Cupboard - 508-378-0008.
Thanks Bev, for the opportunity to share my love of photography with your customers!

My new camera

2009-05-03T07:11:00.004-04:00

I'm in love - with my new camera...

The weather here in New England is seasonal for early May, after we had 2 90 degree days a couple of weeks ago...so I sat with the kids in my half-circle driveway and took their pictures.
My Angel...
Since I began really studying photography, I don't often take subject centered pictures...but I still like them when they happen. A little bit of sunflare...I can dig it!
Sometimes, I think she just looks so much older when she is serious.
That's the last time she's wearing those pants...they're a little short...the good news is she's growing...good thing too because I think her little sister is almost bigger than her.

Awww...brother and sister-ly love! I knew I had them close for a reason.
Miss Melody in her favorite purple shirt.
Even though her face is not completely focused, I still like this picture of Melody. While her hair looks so dark here, she actually has some good natural reddish/brown highlights that you can't see here. Here is Melody with another dandelion in her hand...she likes to take them and feed them to Odie as a snack.
Here are my little ones, trying to make one big people tower. Here's where they started to poop out after the tower fell.
Miss Melody taking the spotlight....this happens a lot...

All the above pictures were taken SOOC (straight out of the camera) with my Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 attached to my Canon 50D.

I'm still fiddling with my Photoshop CS4 program - just downloaded a bunch of free actions from
CoffeeShop blog. Will let you know how it goes but there are some really nice things on there for both Photoshop and Elements. Check them out...

Stay tuned for my selfless plug regarding a photography class (or 2)....

In addition to that....

2009-04-28T06:52:00.003-04:00

My friend Kim blogged about a friend who left us suddenly a few days ago. She writes,

You never know who we touch with our lives.

You never know who will touch you.

In addition to that, time has a limit. You don't know how much time you have to affect people. And as little as the things you do can be, you don't know how much meaning those little things have to the people you touch.

I work at HarborOne. It is my job everyday to help people. I don't look at it as retail or banking or financial, in nature. At its very core, what I do is help people. It could be helping them open up accounts or solving problems or answering questions...its still helping them. I do something that touches people everyday.

A smile, an answer, a shoulder to lean on, a photograph....

The little things you do are really not as little as you think. They may be little to you because it doesn't take much effort or you think nothing about doing something for someone. But it touches them.

Our friend, Paul didn't just touch people in little ways; he and his wife, our friend, Dana, were very active in their church with young people (who can, these days, use all the guidance they can get). Even through the rough times of illness and recovery, Dana and Paul turned to their faith undoubtingly because they knew it would help them and allow them to continue to help others. Their creativity is what touched (and still does) us. And their example will continue to touch me.

We could all take a lesson from the way that Paul lived and Dana lives their lives. Keep touching others....

Paul, may you find rest and peace and watch over us all. Please continue to touch our lives as an angel.

Dana, may you find peace and solace in your friends and know that he is right here with us always.

We love you both!!!

Coming down to the wire

2009-04-26T21:25:00.008-04:00

School is almost finished for the semester - A&P I with Dr. Hanna has proven to be a challenge - mostly in time management - this class is a lot of work!!!! I can't wait until it's over....2 1/2 more weeks...1 lecture exam, 1 lab exam, 1 histology notebook project and 1 final...

This week was a whirlwind: I worked the first half of the week and then had a double lab with a sheep brain and a cow eye dissection (good times!); right after school, Adam and I took off for a quick visit to NYC so that we could be with my mom while she had her angiogram. Thank God that turned out to be the best possible outcome!!! We drove back home to MA the next night and got home at midnight. I had to work an 11 hour day the next morning.

On Saturday, me and a few of my work crew participated in a charity bowl to support the Old Colony Y's Big Sister Big Brother program. I came in second place in terms of score (77)...I'm not a bowler.

And I studied last night and much of today - despite the fact that I really wanted to be out in the New England 90 degree weather. I found out today that my van needs some freon for the A/C...Adam will fix that sometime this week before it gets hot again.

While we were in NYC, after mom's procedure was done and the news of her relatively healthy heart came over, my parents surprised me with an early Mother's Day gift...a Canon 50D.

Holy Smokes!!!! They also got Dylan a brand new Nintendo DSi for getting good grades.

Because I've been so nuts since we got home on Thursday night from NYC, I didn't even break it out of the box until yesterday. I promise to review the camera on here as soon as I learn what all my controls are. I did though, get to shoot a few while I took a break from studying:

I had planned on taking the kids to the beach to test the new camera but after picking up CTMH catalogs in RI, I deemed the beach too far to drive to with a subpar air conditioner in the caravan when it was 92 degrees out. I took this photo of Angelica across the table at Friendly's - they were ok with ice cream - it wasn't the beach but it was the best that I could do...considering that driving down the highway with the windows wide open is not fun for me.I love this shot of her trying to smile with her eyes wide open!
I guess it wasn't so bad after the ice cream. Not the best picture I ever took of them but I still love it when they are all looking and smiling at me.
Here's Dylan taking a swig of a blue drink. His dad got him that haircut....I prefer the bowl cut but they both liked this haircut better.
This is Melody sitting in Grammie's quad the other night. I love that she loves to have her picture taken. The cut near her right eye is from the other day when her dad turned around to help Dylan with something while she was on the skateboard...he left her sitting and she stood up and then took a spill...nice going dad!

Finally, this is Melody doing her "Angel" face. This is her interpretation of what Angel does when she's mad. No kidding - it's true - I'll have to find a picture of it...

My Melody's birthday

2009-04-19T19:25:00.012-04:00

Melody turned 4 years old last Friday - I can't believe that the biggest surprise of my life is already 4 years old. I'm feel aged...not like a fine wine but someone who is getting older. Although, Melody (and I are both) getting better too...
This was Melody and her big brother and big sister - she was just a few hours old.
This is Melody when she first came home - she was a bit jaundice like her brother and sister so we had to put her in the sun.
Melody grew up fast like the other kids.
Just Melody and me - hanging out in the family room - right before maternity leave was over.
Melody has always loved bath time...Nice toes, Adam.
Taken during Melody's first visit to Disneyworld. She recently asked me if we could move to Disneyworld. I told her that I didn't have a job there. She told me that I could take pictures at Disneyworld for a job. I wish...
Melody's first Easter - visiting her grandparents at a campground. They don't have their RV anymore. Melody wishes they would have it back so they could go camping this summer. Moment of silence for the RV...
This is Melody poopin' out after her first birthday party...she just finished eating a brownie and hadn't taken a nap...well, she took a nap here.
Adam and Melody's first trip to Maine together. We went up the year before without him (he was in the Police Academy).
This is Melody finding her daddy's baseball cap and then wearing it backwards so that she can see. She's so naughty looking...
Here's Melody eating one of her favorite things in the world - a bowl of cereal. This kid could have one for every meal of the day. In the bowl: Kellogg's Corn Pops.
Here's Melody's second visit to Disneyworld - she's a little pooped out from travelling - it was our first day there (on her big sister's 4th birthday).
One morning, Melody woke up and told me to take her picture.
And once in the car too -
Thankfully, Melody is one of my more willing subjects...although I did not take this picture of her.
One of her favorite things in the whole world to do: swimming.
Melody's second favorite thing? Playing in dirt.
While I don't think she looks that much like me, my mom says that there is a picture of me just like this one - I think she means the pout...if I ever find that photo, I'll post it with this one.
Bubbles - Mel, you're out of bubbles...

I'm on the top of our playgound in the backyard shooting this photo of Melody going up the wrong way on the slide (that used to drive my dad nuts when we did that at the park).

Thank you for that flower, Melody.
I hope she always looks up to me (although, I think by the time she gets to high school she'll be taller than me).
I hope she stays silly.
And sweet.
And fun.

And I hope she always lets me take her picture.

Melody used to be the most shy of all my babies - and now that she's a little older, she's much more outgoing. And this kid forever has no problem with a dirty face or a runny nose (yuck!). She is by far, the youngest of 3 kids and that is obvious. And no matter how old she gets, she will always be my Melody. Happy birthday, baby!

Parent-Teacher Conferences

2009-04-17T05:44:00.007-04:00

Our Parent-Teacher conferences were yesterday. Let me share our experiences:

Some people think that I have it altogether - managing a full-time job, part-time school, full-time mom, part-time everything else in the universe I do. I certainly have a lot of support - from my manager at work, my professor at school, my husband and in-laws, my parents and friends.
But it's not always perfect.

My poor husband was working in the yard the other day and got poison oak on his face. He woke me up at 5am yesterday to tell me that he was taking a ride to the local emergency room as his right eye was swollen shut (he could have just gone to the doctor's like I told him to the morning before but he was too busy getting work done on his tattoo - while his face was slowly swelling to look like Rocky post-fight). Don't expect a picture here because he'll freak out if I take one and then freak out even more if I post it...
Anyhow, he got home in time to bring the kids to school and comes to find out that Melody didn't have school because of parent-teacher conferences...so he got the 2 minute one from her teacher -that's ok - she's in nursery school.

According to Melody's teacher, "She's doing great here. She's very well-liked, probably the most popular kid in the class. She loves to talk and sometimes gets in trouble for talking too much during circle time."
I like this picture of Melody - backlit (from the side), focused well - she's a little washed out from the sun (you'd only know this if you saw her, otherwise I don't really mind how lit up her face is). BUT no catchlights in her eyes is a little bothersome (although now that I look at this picture closer, there are catchlights but not enough for me). As soon as my Photoshop CS4 comes in the mail, maybe I will learn how put in them in - despite that purchase, I still would rather take a photo properly without a whole bunch of post production stuff.
Better catchlights here - Melody's in open shade facing light. Catchlights are also more prominent in lighter colored eyes than in darker colored eyes.

According to Angel's teacher (who was Dylan's teacher in 1st grade too). "Angelica is a doll! She is an excellent writer and is doing everything expected of a 1st grader. She sometimes gets tired after recess, but I think it's because she's real little and petite and plays hard to keep up with her friends. She is well-liked and always keeps herself busy when she gets the work done. She's a solid reader and knows her stuff. The only thing Angel needs to work on is the pouting after not getting something to go her way - like when she isn't first or doesn't like something."
HA - no surprise there...
I've posted this picture before (I think). For the most part, Angel is a happy person.
As for being little, I'm not too worried (actually, I think she's growing and has had some growing pains of late) - she's good at keeping up and giving people a run for their money.
I love this picture - I shot a bunch of these a couple of weeks ago - Angel's in love with that shirt - my mom sent it to her. Centered shots are not as interesting as off-centered shots (to me anyway, and I suppose it depends on what you're shooting) - but I like this photo of Angelica because she's swinging in mid-air (hard to tell but if you saw the other photos in conjunction with this one, you would be able to tell that I shot her while she was swinging - some of the other pictures made it to an earlier post).

Dylan's the only one who gets letter grades (Melody doesn't get a report card and Angel gets check marks in Always, Sometimes, Needs Improvement). He got 10 A's and 3 B's; The only change he had was in reading from an A- to a B - reading comprehension can trick him (is what his teacher says). Dylan's teacher also said that "he's a good kid, gets along well with everyone, and needs to elaborate more when he writes. Everything he writes is very short and to the point with no explanations or elaborations."
Adam says he has police mentality: Just the facts, ma'am, just the facts.
Dylan is a sweater - this was taking at the end of the year hockey banquet - and no, he wasn't playing hockey, he was running around with his friends. The small catchlights in his eyes were from the fluorescent lighting in the hall...I had to adjust this picture post production for skin tone (I didn't adjust my white balance for fluor lighting and the original picture had Dylan looking yellow).

We also got test scores for Dylan from a test he took in February. The City administers a test to all 3rd graders to see if they are candidates for the TAG program - Talented and Gifted. As a 3rd grader, Dylan is performing on a 5th grader's level in both math and reading. According to his teacher, he was only one of two boys in their class who will be invited to further screen for the TAG program that he would begin in the fall. Very EXCITING!!! He averaged a 91 in reading and a 92 in math (more impressive was that he scored a 96% in math concepts and estimation)
Love this picture - even with the goofy smile - he's since lost one of those top teeth - the one that is hanging further down than the others. I love the blurry background which makes my eye focus on Dylan. And there are those catchlights again.

Both Adam and I are thrilled with all their grades. We couldn't ask for better reports...

Today is Melody's birthday - we'll post more on that this weekend too!

Gotta go - one last day before the long holiday weekend! yippy!!! and then the kids are on vacation - lucky them...

I need the weekend to get here!!!

2009-04-16T06:57:00.004-04:00

Things have been crazy as usual!

Dylan's hockey team is finally over - there will be a father-son skate and then they get most of the summer off.
Tryouts were last week and yesterday - got this shot from the bench...
This is pretty much how Dylan dealt with tryouts - falling and getting back up again - nothing wrong with that - just usually, skating works out better if you stay on your feet. My guess? He'll be on the Squirt C team (which is great because he'll have the same coach he did this year - Darren was a great coach!!!).

Gotta go - will have more to post this weekend...

Time to relax -for a minute...

2009-04-09T07:19:00.003-04:00

So, I took my 2nd A&P test yesterday - felt pretty good about it afterwards. About half of my class has dropped out...it's a tough class - tougher when you take it as a hybrid class (i.e. half online/half onsite).

Here are a few more pictures from last weekend.

Melody was a willing subject - she usually is - sitting in our half-circle driveway.
It was quite breezy - I didn't ask her to look that way, she just was...
Later in the day, I took a break from studying and shot Angel on the playground in the backyard. This photo was unedited.
This photo was edited with PSE 6.0 - I'm seriously thinking about upgrading to Photoshop CS4 extended. Any one with thoughts on that program - it's a lot more advanced than elements but I love all the cool things you can do with it that PSE can't do. Anyway, I used an action called contra pop on this one (got that action at EZactions.com).
And on this one I used an action called Vivid Color....makes that blue hood really come out...

More later - gotta go to work.

The weekend's over? Already? sigh!

2009-04-05T21:51:00.005-04:00

OMG! Where did this weekend go? This was my first weekend off from work that we didn't have to leave the state in a while - I've been studying all weekend long...with breaks for a friend's birthday party, dinner at Mom and Dad's with sister and her kids...I had a CTMH demo at Mimi's house tonight...thanks girls - that was fun!!!

I also managed to fire off about 500 photos between yesterday and today...I'll post a few here...
It only took me 7 shots to get this one...I liked their smiles better when they came with actual teeth.
This is Angelica, who has lost 5 teeth so far - it was almost 6 today when Dylan was swinging his sisters on the hammock out in the backyard that then turned over with Angel falling face first into the dirt - top left hand tooth is now a little loose...at least the tooth fairy won't have to worry about unemployment at this house.
I'm in love with that dimple! It was easier to see in the picture before this one.
Angel was also brave enough to put earrings back in her ears. She's had them pierced since she was 2 months old and only took off her earrings a few months back. Here she is showing them off after putting her hair up in a hat. There's that dimple!!!

Here is Angel pointing out that the tooth fairy is still in business at our house.

The pictures above and the following pictures were all taken with my Canon 50mm f/1.8 in midday, nearly high-noon, directly overhead sun. Angelica's pictures were all taken on the front porch in the shadow of the house, while most of the next 5 pictures of Melody were taken in our front yard, in the middle of our half circle driveway.
Ah, a mouth full of teeth - except Melody is dying to have a loose tooth so that the tooth fairy will pay her, she said.
These pictures were taken in succession - I stepped back a half a step when I took this one - no zoom on my 50mm...my feet are my zoom. I highly recommend learning on a prime lens...we'll get into that some other time - when I'm not in a rush to finish a blog entry...
I used to wish they would always look at me - now I'm glad that they don't sometimes.
It's still great when they do, though.
Finally, I'm sitting on the grass and Melody just got up...she's too cute for color tv!!!

Ok - really, I'm not going to blog and will probably not shoot anything for the next 2 days...for real...I have some books to hit! I just had to put these cuties up.

A Quick Entry

2009-04-04T21:01:00.003-04:00

Welcome to April - my next A&P exam is this coming Wednesday...so tomorrow, I'll be home reviewing for that. A few days ago, the weather was great for this time of year in New England and while we were getting ready for work and school, I managed to shoot a few...

That's me shooting myself in the mirror - lighting was great with my east facing window at 7:30am.
That's me peeking at me shooting myself in the mirror.
This is my Melody - happy because she asked me to take her picture and I did it...she then wanted me to take a picture in a different part of the room and I said that it was better for her to stay where she was and this was the shot I got:
I love this kid - she'll be 4 on the 17th. Her shirt says "Be Anything I Wanna Be"... I need a shirt like that for me.

Well, I'm off to prepare a CTMH demo for a friend's party tomorrow...Unless I can find more time in a day, I probably won't post until Wednesday night after I bomb this test. Ugh - wish me luck!

Other shots from Agnes's & Mike's wedding

2009-03-30T07:06:00.005-04:00

One of Agnes's and Michael's friends, Sameer Tikoo emailed me these photos - thanks Sameer! Right now, they're honeymooning - somewhere on a warm beach - that's where I'd like to be right about now...hope you guys are having fun!

Some of my fave pics from my best friend's wedding

2009-03-25T20:49:00.004-04:00

So when the girls finally got together in Agnes' room, we had about 10 minutes of down time and this is what we did with them - shoot...

This is Lenox - Andrea - I love the giggle smile -
This is cousin Kaity. I can't believe how much she's grown - she was like 4 or something when Agnes and I graduated. I'm so old!!!This is Esther - she's from Cali - the L.A. area - I like this picture of her.
I like this picture of Esther better - she swears she hates how she looks in pictures but I think she looks amazing! I only took 2 shots of her and neither needed to be edited.

This is Charmaine - the Barbadian princess of the our bridemaid group. I love her hair!

This is Agnes's beautiful friend, Helen - of us all, by far, she was the quietest and sweetest. And she looked like a doll!
This is Murad - Andrea #2. She looks like a pro in this picture!
This is our other photographer Kei - she took my head shot. I'm a Canon girl - I won't hold it against her that she owns a Nikon. Truth be told, Nikon's focus is sharper and faster. But I think I'm gonna forever be a Canon girl - seeing as how all my lenses are Canon.
Yes, this is Murad with a beer in her hand - and no, moms - she wasn't drinking it on her way to church - it was on the way to the photo shoot on the sound with all the goose poo. Good thing she didn't drink too much - she might have stumbled into a pile of that stuff. Geese really need to get their BMs under control - it was nasty....as Jerome said, it was the "shittiest shoot he ever had".
More pictures soon....

My Best Friend's Wedding, Part II

2009-03-23T19:39:00.016-04:00

More pictures from my best friend's wedding...most were a little photoshopped for effect...quite a few weren't...yeah, me! These pictures are obviously in no particular order. And I will be posting more throughout the week - I took like almost 300 shots...I won't post all of them here. Not all of them were good - but here are some that were.

This is Agnes and her step-father, Edward - he and Agnes's mom are ballroom dancers - they were tearing up the dance floor that night!

Hurry up - we gotta go.
Is my flower still there?
Mike is so cute!!! Nice sheepish grin...
Agnes made us wear gold sandals - none of us were comfortable - we were all barefoot by 10pm.
This is a photo of me taken by Kei (thanks, Kei) while we were waiting to go down to meet the limo.

I love this girl - she's so pretty!

Before we got her dressed - the part you don't see is me all excited that we're finally getting to it!
This was Booger's Qi Pao - a traditional Chinese wedding dress with the dragon and phoenix.

The menu - mmm, yummy!!
This is Agnes and her cousin, Kaity. Kaity was just a pre-schooler when Agnes and I graduated from high school...now look at her - sorry - she's got a boyfriend...

Mike and his mom, Peggy - I love her!!! She's too sweet!

These were the outlaws - Ryan is Mike's brother & Best Man - he's the one pacing in front while the boys were waiting for pictures - he'll be getting married in May...congratulations Ryan!!!
Hope you can't see all the goose poo we had to walk in to get to the edge where we took pictures.
I took this in the hummer limo when Sinead O'Connor made a guest appearance by video.

Mike - whatta guy, carrying her flowers around while she carried her dress around!

When we laid out her dress on the bed, it looked like a headless person lying there...sorry if this is a little creepy - but that dress was gorgeous!!!

A special thanks for Jerome and Jennifer from Studio 1923 (the photography artists) - check out their work at studio1923.com. They were so gracious to take photos with my camera and teach me a few things throughout the night...if you're reading this, please let me know when you'll be coming to MA - I'd love to drop in for a little to say hi!

You can check out what they did for Agnes and Michael before the wedding at agnesandmichael.com - incredible - someday, when I grow up I want to be just like Jerome and Jennifer!!!

My Best Friend's Wedding

2009-03-22T21:18:00.009-04:00

I am completely zonked and my stomach has been so-so since this morning - but we're finally home after being in NYC for the weekend wedding of my high school best friend, Agnes. The following is my Matron of Honor Speech and some shots that I would have used, had I thought about using props like Mike's brother, Ryan, the Best Man, did:

Weddings are full of bittersweet moments: The bride and groom finally make it down the aisle, exchange the rings and kiss. Parents watch their children promise to belong to another person.
They realize that their mission to raise two good people is coming to completion. They start to understand that their job is done - and with these two, they have collectively done an excellent job. Parents get the bill for this event & for one set of parents, they're relieved that this is their last to get married while for the other set of parents, they can't believe that this day is here and that shortly, they'll be doing it all over again. Parents, thankfully, you only have 2 children each.

My husband & I have 3 kids - a boy and 2 girls (Adam, we're so in for it!!!) and we can hardly remember what married life was like without them. Mike & Agnes, you'll have that problem too - with Claire already here.
People cry at weddings because at this moment, you truly do not know what your future will bring. And while that may apply to pretty much everything in life, with Claire in the picture, 2 very important things have been firmly established:

#1that you are both wonderful parents and

#2 that you make cute babies
(Lucky for you, Mike - it could have been a deal-breaker)

Michael, from the moment we met 2 summers ago, I knew you were "The One". We spent only a few hours in downtown New York City but it took me 15 seconds to notice the hearts flying out of your head every time Agnes looked at you. Yesterday, when I was late for rehersal, I said I would understand if Agnes dethroned me from my position as Matron of Honor. Today, I officially pass the crown & title of Agnes's bestest friend in the whole wide world to you. No one in the world better for the the job than you Mike - but you'll still never be her Matron of Honor - no one better in the world for that job than me.

Boogs, do you know that we'll have been friends for 20 years, next year? For those of you who don't know, Agnes and I went to high school together. We sat next to each other in every class we ever took, every day for 4 years. I was the only one at school who could still learn, despite the squeak of her feverishly writing with a Bic mechanical pencil - and lucky for me, she was always the one who would catch me falling asleep in class and wake me up before the teacher noticed.

Agnes, Michael is such a find - even if he is from CT. (My apologies to all of you who live in the great state of CT; originally, I'm from NYC and now I live in MA - but we can discuss that later). He reminds me a lot of my Adam - caring, patient, willing...

from the looks of it all, I don't think you'll need to worry about the future - Mike is the kind that stays and will work hard to keep you and Claire happy.

My advice about married life - Don't go to bed mad. Always ask for everything. Use good manners. Take lots of pictures. Keep family your first priority. And make time for yourselves.
While you may already have a library full of memories, you have a lifetime to make many more - use it wisely - a lifetime isn't enough for your love.

Supposedly, my speech was a hit (it was a surprise to them anyway - good enough for me). Agnes made such en elegant bride!

Agnes & Mike - thank you for having me be such an important part of your day - Adam & I love weddings - it makes us remember how lucky we are by just being part of something we did a long time ago - we love you guys (and Claire Bear too!!!)

I'll put more pictures of the day on my blog later this week - getting permission and some editing to be done...

Pictures I took this past weekend

2009-03-17T17:47:00.005-04:00

I can't believe that Dylan's hockey season is almost over - well, really, I can - it's been a long one - end of August until mid-April...I got to sit on the bench (well, stand on the bench) and take a lot of great shots of the kids.

Dylan asked Coach Darren in the middle of the game if he could play defense...he hasn't played defense all season - he was a goalie half the time and a left wing/center the rest of the time. He had no idea what to do - that lasted 2 shifts....heehee.
This was Adam - our other goalie - he's got an awesome left kick save! And thanks to his mom, he's got a cameo on my blog!

I will post more pictures when I get more oks from team parents...gotta go to work - I know that time on this will say Tuesday night sometime, but it's actually Wednesday morning...'til later...

I have like 10 minutes to blog...

2009-03-14T15:21:00.006-04:00

Just got home from work - where it was incredibly busy! Saturdays at the bank - everyone must wait until Saturday morning to go to the bank (at least they must wait to go to my branch...although I suspect that it was busy at every HarborOne Credit Union branch today - and that's a good thing!!!!)

What have I shot lately? Not too much - work is occupying way too much of my time!

My friend, Tracy came by work the other day with Kerry Ann - I took this picture of her....
If there is one thing I regret about not knowing how to take pictures earlier in life, it's that I didn't take pictures of the kids' feet when they were little. These belong to Kerry Ann.

I took this picture of Melody's picture at Dad's 60th birthday because she looks like she's had one too many - hee hee. She'll hate me for taking this photo (of her photo) when she gets older.

I plan to spend time tomorrow taking lots of pictures - Dylan has playoff game #2 tomorrow morning and I asked the coach if I could sit on the bench to take pictures of the kids on the ice. I waited all season for this chance....Also, Adam is off all day and the weather is supposed to be great tomorrow. Can't wait...

This weekend...

2009-03-08T21:12:00.006-04:00

This weekend, I actually broke out my camera for a good amount of time....although I could shoot for 8 hours a day and think that it isn't enough...I fooled around a little bit and got these shots:
The only thing that would have made this picture better for me would be catch lights in her eyes...it was never going to happen with her back to the window in our living room.
I love this picture of Dylan - the window is to his left...where you can see most of his face...one catchlight in the eye closest to us...
This is the two of them playing something together - I wish I had enough frame to catch that. Melody was taking a nap at the time...
Finally, a picture of my handsome husband - always an unwilling subject...all I can say is that he better start getting over it...there are only so many pictures of the kids that you can take...thanks for letting me take this picture of you in Dad's new recliner.

If I can get permission from my friends, I'll post pictures that I took of them at a party we attended this weekend...Happy 30th Jess!!! 30 is the new 21 - actually it's 20-10 and better than 21 because you've learned a whole lot over 9 years!!!

The test is over!

2009-03-04T19:36:00.007-05:00

Congratulations to me - my first A&P I test is now done...how'd I do? I felt ok after the test was completed. I think I did as well as I could, considering that I was overly hungry (but not hungry because I was overly nervous) and wound up about the test. I got to school mid-morning and didn't stop reading until 3:00pm - the test began at 3:30pm.

My friends said that my blog needed some pictures ASAP - so here's what I took pictures of today...
These big white areas are adipose tissue - bettern known as fat cells...and no, they aren't mine but I have plenty like those... =) And that little brown thing on one of the cells - just dirt on the slide.
These are simple cuboidal epithelium...these are found in your kidneys...
This is a mucous membrane - the little white things are goblet cells that secrete mucous...these ones belong in your intestines.

I did get the quick chance to take this one at the hockey rink, when I picked up the girls while Dylan had practice...
I wish Melody was looking at me too - Angelica keeps losing teeth...see the little space in her mouth...there's already a tooth there - she just lost it 2 days ago.
I was fortunate enough to get this one of Melody - I wish she was looking at me. I am forever wishing that she was looking at me!

Another test at school coming up in a week - a lab practical test...identifying different bones, tissues on slides and markings....shoot me already!

Poor Dylan - he had to leave practice early because he came down with the flu...thankfully, he is the last. Adam got the fatigue version of the flu...I can't wait until spring - and the end of flu season!

Today's the day

2009-03-04T07:21:00.000-05:00

My first Anatomy & Physiology test...I have today off since I'm working the weekend and will be studying most of the day until the test this afternoon. Will let you know how it goes - keeping my fingers crossed for a 90 or higher...

STUDYING LIKE CRAZY!!!!

2009-03-01T21:10:00.001-05:00

I spent most of this weekend, recovering from the flu and studying like crazy for my first Anatomy & Physiology lecture exam. It's on Wednesday - I have learned over the years that I am not a crammer...and so I study as I go along and then at the last minute, freak out needlessly because I usually do a pretty decent job studying.

I'll let you know how it goes on Wednesday after I take the test...Adam is working day shifts this week...it will be nice to have him home at night for a little while. Maybe I'll get to take pictures of him interacting with the kids...

Back to work tomorrow - despite a snow storm that may be due to bring 10-13 inches of snow - we finally got rid of all the snow we've had for a majority of the winter only to have it all come back overnight tonight. I think the kids will not be going to school tomorrow. Lucky them...that will also mean that it may be very quiet at work tomorrow - which is lucky for me since the beginning of the month always brings many things to do in the office.

Hope you like my little MP3 player...these are my favorite songs for the next minute or two.

I'm a pathetic blogger

2009-02-25T19:07:00.005-05:00

I have become a pathetic blogger - not posting anything for 8 days is just plain wrong. I should go to blogger jail...let's see what have I done in the last week....

Our 9th wedding anniversary was last Thursday 2/19...we went to see Dirty Dancing on stage. Pictures were not permitted but I snuck this one in...the dancing was excellent and the guy who played Billy also sang 2 numbers in the show and he was unbelievable!!!

Baby was ok but I don't think anyone could be Johnny Castle except for Patrick Swayze - the dude who played him was a great dancer...he was the 3rd understudy of the regular guy who plays Johnny...we'll just leave it at that.

Last week was February break for the kids but Angelica was sick with the flu; she gave it to Melody and now I have it too. Thankfully, I got it the worst. For the beginning half of the week, I could barely speak (I'm sure a few people were thankful for that too) and then yesterday, I finally went to the doctor who told me to stay home for the rest of the week because I had the flu. (If I can stand up tomorrow, I'll be back at work...which may not be wise, but I'll take my chances.)

I was going through old pictures in my library and found these:

These were taken last August - at the National Night Out Against Crime - that took place at Campanelli Stadium here in Brockton - The Army National Guard brings out a rock wall that they use in training. This is Dylan climbing the wall...with his Mickey Mouse Crocs on.

This picture was taken right before Dylan got yelled at for jumping into our friends' pool (that they are not supposed to jump into).

Both those pictures make me want it to be summer today - I'll take warm and sunny...and for warm, I'll take 55 degrees right now. Spring is coming...just not right now...but it will be here soon.

What I've been up to

2009-02-17T20:37:00.006-05:00

Lately, I've been scrapping for myself - I did all these layouts between Friday and Saturday night. I'm a very slow scrapper...especially when the tv is on and I'm trying to catch up on everything in my DVR.

A while back when I first took a one day photography workshop with Karen Russell, I bought two of her scrapbooking kits...and of course, I'm only breaking them out now. I believe these kits are no longer available (you used to be able to get them on her website but she's all sold out). This kit is called 10 Reasons. It's just an absolutely wonderful introspective idea for a scrapbook.
I apologize right now for not having a 13" scanner/printer (I'd end up a hybrid scrapper, I think, if I had one - I'll put it on my "when I win the lottery" list) - I took these pictures of my layouts on the floor of the kids playroom.

Reason No. 5 - Because Every Moment I have is Blessed (this is Melody).
Reason No. 8 - Because I hope that one day, she'll say that I did it all (this is Angelica).
Reason No. 6 - Because someday he'll be a better man than most (this is Dylan).

Reason No. 3 - Because this family defines me (one of my favoritest pictures of the three of them).

All the materials came from a kit. All the materials (except for the cardstock backing) are from the Narratives line by Karen Russell for Creative Imaginations. I love their stuff!!! You can order directly from the CI website or support your local scrapbook store and get it there. All the photos in my layouts were 8x12 - not your typical size for pictures. I ordered them on scrapbookpictures.com - reasonable prices for larger prints and at $2.00 an order for shipping (no matter how big the order) - you really can't beat it!!! I never like putting up my scrapbooking work - I'm overly critical of myself.

Other pictures I took over the holiday weekend...
Little Miss Melody - I can't even remember what she was looking at...but this look on her face is what defines her best - curious and observant (or nosey and spyish...)
I like any picture with the three of them together looking at me - even if their smiles are in the awkward stage...
I love this picture of Adam cuddling with the girls watching tv - while he's not thrilled about me taking candid pictures of him, he'll get over it...and too bad if he doesn't.
Love this picture of Angel - my living room has a very big picture window that faces North - so there is a fair amount of light that comes through that window.
Finally, we had lunch yesterday at the Rainforest Cafe and scored seats right next to a fish tank. I actioned this photo with an action called Sharp Shot Color Pop Pro from ezactions.com. I'm not altogether sure how to use that but it made this picture pop! Took this picture with no flash using my Canon 50mm f/1.8...had to crank up my ISO to 800 - making it a little noisy (not so apparent here but would be if I blew this picture up).

Anyway, no school this week but it is the week to catch up on my histology project (don't ask) - it's for A&P I. No news on the city layoffs as of yet...I'd rather not talk about that. It's our anniversary in 2 days and I don't yet have a card or a gift...better get crackin'...
that's all for now...

Finally fixed it

2009-02-14T07:00:00.004-05:00

Yippy - I finally fixed my blog. The black and pink design was super cool but the little ad for pyzam.com (where I got the design for free) was killing me.

Gotta go to work this morning and figure out some kind of family friendly Valentine's Day activity for after work.

DETERMINED TO TAKE PICTURES TODAY!!!

This is just what I needed...

2009-02-12T21:04:00.003-05:00

When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you till it seems you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
-Harriet Beecher Stowe
(copied from Karen Russell's blog - her really cool Valentine's story...click here - it's inspired me to talk about my own Valentine-y story.).

This whole week has been very stressful...talks of layoffs in my city (which would directly affect Adam as a police officer); health concerns; scheduling conflicts; work; homework; Valentine productions...but that quote right there is just what I needed to remind me of how I roll.

My husband and I have been just 2 of the most fortunate people in the world. This marriage has just been full of sheer luck and opportunity. We got married and started this wonderful life and it hasn't really stopped being wonderful....some of you have heard this story before...

We got married in 2000 and while on our honeymoon, Adam got a phone call from the NYPD to join them - the Police Academy started 5 days after we got home to MA so we did what any sensible person would do - we packed our stuff up and headed out to NYC to follow Adam's dream of becoming a police officer. I got pregnant with Dylan 2 minutes after we cut the cake at the wedding reception and had him 9 months later...we were lucky enough to live with my parents so that I could stay home with Dylan. We lived in NYC during 9/11 and endured the sadness with the other 11 million people who lived there with us. One year later, Angelica came along. Adam decided that he wanted to come home to MA (to raise our kids with a chance of seeing real grass). So we came back here in Feb. 2003. I got my old job back; he got a job as a police officer at Beth Israel Deaconess - all before we left NYC. We stayed with his mom and dad for 5 months and then bought our home. We moved in - got the cats we left with my parents and got 2 dogs a week after we moved in. I stayed at my old job for just over a year and then got lucky to land a job at HarborOne Credit Union (where I still am) - just after I got that job, Adam got laid off from the hospital but had a spot on the Brockton Police Department. He went into the Academy just before I had Melody (who was very unexpected - she is the reason why birth control companies don't say that their pills are 100% effective).

Life hasn't slowed down for us in the almost 9 years we've been married. This week, I have felt like it's come to a screeching halt with the possibilities of our country's failing economy finally reaching my front porch. I think the uncertainty of it all is what bothers me most (I've had a headache since Tuesday). Even if my lifelong streak of good fortune continues, surely we will have friends who will be affected by the city's cutbacks. And that part won't feel so good.

But that quote at the beginning of this post is what I needed to get me out of my own skin - out of this feeling of uncertainty and what feels like a downward spiral...holding on for dear life - holding on....and feeling like I'll never let go. (thanks Josh Downs!!!) I'm officially happier than I was 20 minutes ago...

just so crazy!!!

2009-02-11T14:07:00.003-05:00

I've been so busy between work, school, making valentines for the kids and keeping my head on straight that I haven't had time to take a lot of pictures lately. But I did take these:
This is Mittens - we've had her for 10 years. She'll be 11 this year at the end of July - she's trying to look dignified in this photo.
This is Melody in her very favorite shirt - we're a green family - check out her shirt...

Here's Dylan just lounging...after he got a haircut which he desperately needed - he started to look like a used Q-tip because his hair was getting so long.

Finally, here's Cisco, mid-meow...We got him shortly after Mittens. He's going to be 10 this year on Valentine's Day.

Off to school I go - I was lucky enough to sell my 3 day weekend for a 1/2 day off so that I can attend class without interfering with work. (Thanks, Pam!!!!)
Gotta find more time to take photos.

A quick post

2009-02-07T07:33:00.005-05:00

About 5 1/2 months ago, I took pictures of my friends, Michele and Mike's little baby, Ryan Michael....

You just knew that he was gonna be a beautiful baby -
I absolutely melt like butter with this picture - who couldn't love this little guy? I think Michele likes this picture....she's holding him in this photo that I shot with my Canon 50mm f/1.8 in our friend Tracy's hospital room the other day. I love the lights in his eyes from the window - her room had a window the length of the room and it was a nice sunny clear (very crispy cold) day. Ryan was so good for the hour that we hung out with Tracy and the new baby.
This was Ryan looking out the window on Michele's shoulder getting a little thumb action - teething - sigh...I miss my kids' gums but not enough to have another one without teeth. =).

I'm out - gotta go to work and hopefully the car is all warmed up because it's 1 degree outside...getting up to a balmy 43 degrees today - that's like sweatshirt weather!!! YAHOO!

My day off

2009-02-05T19:02:00.004-05:00

Today I had the day off. It's nice to be home but it's never really a day off.

I went to school today to test my dichotomous key - don't ask - google it if you must...at least it works. I took a couple of pictures on campus:
Lens flare: happens when light bounces on your digital sensor. Sometimes it's wanted (for effect) and sometimes it's unwanted (like when you take a picture and it seems hazy) - either way it's very difficult to control. In the picture direcly below, I love my lens flare.

I even like it here but it's not as nice as the picture above.

In the picture below, the sun is nearly directly overhead - there is not a cloud in the sky but that light source has nearly washed out the sky to an overcast day. Check out the little flare at the bottom of the picture.
I took a couple of photos of my friend Tracy who just had a baby girl yesterday - we visited at the hospital this afternoon. I won't post the photos until she gives me the ok - but they were nice. A while back, I posted pictures of my friend Michele when she had her baby, Ryan last August - we visited at night and her lighting was difficult. Tracy's mid afternoon lighting was perfect and little baby and mom were just gorgeous. Hopefully, I can get her ok to post soon.

Other photos I've been taking -
This was Melody at my nephew, Connor's birthday party at Bugaboo Creek Steak House.

This is Melody and Adam dancing in the kitchen when I got up for a drink while I was home sick the other day. I wish that focus was sharper - but an semi-ok picture is better than no picture of this...
One morning while I was getting dressed, the girls decided to sneak in on my side of the bed. Angelica is front and Melody is behind her right next to Adam.
This is Mr. Potato Head that lives in front of the blue morpho butterfly in my boss's office. He's here to remind us that spring training is just a couple of weeks away....can't wait - it's like 9 degrees or something like that outside!!! My feet are freezing!

Speaking of the Red Sox, this is Dylan holding a magnetix in front of his Red Sox shirt - took this one day after school.

Pretty random pictures but it's all for practice - I can use lots of it - I'll take pictures of pretty much anything...it all teaches me something. Off to scrap - or read some A&P - I'll decide when I get upstairs.

ok - the new template stays for now....

2009-02-02T18:17:00.003-05:00

Today kinda stunk - I went to work in the morning and ended up coming home early because I had a stomach bug that kept me pretty much out of commission the whole day. I didn't do anything but come home and try to sleep it off. My tummy still hurts but at least I'm not as queasy....I hate the feeling of queasiness - I'd rather be tossing my cookies than feeling just on the brink of tossing my cookies.

Went on a mini-caravaning LSS tour with girlfriends over the weekend. Good times....lots of fun stuff...now to work on them all.

Unfortunately, I will have to cut this posting short - as the porcelain god beckons....I hope this goes away by tomorrow. I don't have time to be sick this week.

OK for now....

2009-01-30T20:27:00.003-05:00

For now, this blog template will have to do - I have some stuff to do tonight and I won't be home tomorrow - just hanging with my girlfriends is what I'm up to....

tell me whatcha think - I think it's too dark for pictures...but I sure am a black and pink fan!!!

NOTE TO SELF....

2009-01-28T21:17:00.003-05:00

Don't mess with your blog if you don't have time to fix it!!!! CRAP!!!! I went to this lovely place called Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates and DL'ed a free template and I didn't like it but I couldn't fully recover my old template and I don't have the time to fix it right now....I'm so irritated with myself!!!! ugh - I'll fix it this weekend!!!!

P.S. I highly recommend that site with the blogger templates...she does some nice work.

My computer is in the kids' playroom which is right next to the laundry room where my dogs are crated...would the dog with the really bad gas please stop blowing fluffies? SIGH!!!!

Catching Up....

2009-01-27T20:36:00.003-05:00

So the other day, I went to my first onsite meeting for my hybrid A&P I class (that's anatomy & physiology I). Professor Hanna - I like him. He's seems like a real nice guy, genuinely interested in your higher education and expects that you do all you can for yourself in order to earn your A.
I like that. Good thing too, because every other section of A&P I is closed...

Got through week 0 of my online photography class with Karen Russell. If there is anything that is great so far this year, it's this - I may become an online class junkie - this makes for #2 along with the hybrid A&P I.

As for pictures I've taken in the last few days:
Angel and her famous grimace....Love the funky smile stage, don't you...she'll be mad when she gets older and figures out that the above is not the proper way to smile...hehehehehe...good blackmail material. I'll keep that one in the back for pulling out later....

This is Tuck from the Wonder Pets! - one of Melody's favorite shows...if you're not familiar with them, they are 3 animals that live in a school house. When the kids are not around, they get a phone call on their tin can phone from an animal who is in trouble and they leave the school house to rescue them. Tuck is the Turtle, Ming Ming is the duck and Linny is the Guinea Pig. This photo is of an 18" stuffed Tuck (who happens to be wearing his cape backwards). He sometimes tags along with us in the car...

Later in the day, I let the kids take pictures with my camera - while my nerves are shot to hell while they're taking my camera around the house (always make them put the strap around them - I'd rather they hang than drop my camera - just kidding, mom!!!!). Dylan got these two photos of Melody:

Both of them were shot with my Canon 50mm f1.8 @ 1/30sec and 1/50sec, respectively.
Let's discuss the top picture first...
Dylan doesn't know but compositionally, this picture of Melody rocks - blurry background with Melody off center...nice one, D!!!

The bottom picture is cool too because Melody's face is blurry and you can focus on her finger. I'm not sure if she's imitating Dylan behind the camera or trying to check out a booger at the end of her pointer - but I nearly died laughing looking at the popeye expression on her face. (still giggling)

I will let them take more photos -while I'm right there with them. I will even try to get into more pictures with them....the rest of the week looks busy - end of the month - lots of stuff to do at work - on to week 1 in photography class, week 2 in A&P I....I'm getting so edu-ma-cated...YAHOO!!!!

Better Daisies.....

2009-01-21T07:00:00.005-05:00

While I was scanning my digital library for pictures for my first Scrapbook Cupboard design team assignment (I'll post it if I get permission and when it's finally done), I found two better pictures of Daisy that I took the other day....

I love how Daisy is looking right at me - I edited this photo just a little - emphasized the light that was coming from Daisy's left...it's early afternoon light but by removing the color cast (will have to explain later), it made that light look warmer than it did as a reflection of the snow. You can kinda get the gist of what I mean by warm light when you look at this next photo -

Same location about 2 seconds before the last picture was taken...I adjusted the color cast on this photo to make that snow white (it's not a darker picture) just a different color cast.

If I get a moment tonight, I'll explain further...1st night of school tonight - my Anatomy and Physiology I hybrid class...yikes!!!

A quick entry -

2009-01-19T16:22:00.013-05:00

I had to work this past Saturday - it was pretty busy at work - I still made it to Dylan's hockey game - the Boxers won 5-4 with Dylan as the goalie...he's gonna need to work on staying up and not diving for the puck. It was by far though, one of the best games the kids have played all year....

I wrote two evaluations (one needs tweaking) this weekend. I'll be done with them all by Thursday. I will be going to do a CTMH demo for my friend Kimmie. We have a little club thing going (leave a comment if you're interested in anything CTMH).

We also started Karen Russell's online photography class. I'm super excited about this!!!!

This week begins the madness - I have a Brockton Youth Hockey league meeting tomorrow night. School begins on Wednesday - I'm hoping to get into a different section because I don't want this to interfere with work but I'm not hopeful about it. I did though score my textbooks for much cheaper than I would have if I bought them at the bookstore by plugging their ISBN's into Amazon.com and got them both from students on there. Yahoo!!!

It snowed about a foot here between yesterday and today...and finally it was warm enough for the kids to go out and play...I shot all of these photos with my Canon 50mm f1.8

Angelica was busy building a snow fort for the next time they go out to play - it looked more like the beginning of an igloo - but what do I know? I grew up in NYC where it snowed like 3 times when I was kid...nice nostrils there, Angel - is anyone up there? (no one here but us magic nose goblins...hey, I'm her mom, I get to tease) It's hard to notice but Angel has a little booboo right under her left nostril - she fell on her face the other day running full speed at the ice rink, while we were watching Dylan's hockey game.
This is Melody laying in the snow, attempting a snow angel.
Those are the icicles that formed off the gutters in the front of the house. It was pretty dreary in the AM.
I LOVE this picure of Dylan - the only thing that would make this picture better? Catchlights in his eyes but it doesn't even matter - certainly an emotionally perfect picture!!! Dylan is laying flat on his back after trying to slide down the snowy slide in the backyard.
Dylan wanted me to take action photos of him -
Dylan mid-air before the snow angel formation.

I don't know if Dylan thought that snow angels are made this way or not but his dive made for great succession shots...try it sometime - just keep your finger on the shutter and shoot away. Dylan, stop practicing the dive - we DON'T dive for the puck!!!!
This is Daisy - resident snow dog #2 - Buster was inside at the time. Both of my Pembroke Welsh Corgis love the snow!!!
Quite possibly our next Christmas card...thanks Daisy!!!

Thanks to all the girls at Kimmie's CTMH party!!! It was a blast!!! It always is with you chicks!
More pictures soon!

A New Level of Busy...

2009-01-13T19:39:00.006-05:00

Just when you think it wasn't possible for me to be any more busy, here I am - on the brink of a new semester at school, starting my rookie month as a Scrapbook Cupboard design team member (YIPPY!!!), about to start my online photography class with Karen Russell (that's next week), waiting for our financial forms that go with filing taxes (I do our own on Turbo Tax), preparing for a CTMH demo this Monday night at Kimmie's, and waist deep in evaluations that need to be written - at work, while I'm short staffed because everyone is coming down with the flu. I'm exhausted just thinking about it -

The good news is that I got into a Copic certification class (with my friends Kimmie and Julie!!! YAHOO!!!) That's in March...

I was supposed to have the day off today (which would have been nice, because Adam was home this morning). Instead, I have Thursday off - and Adam has court that day. So much for a date to Chick-Fil-A in the Burlington Mall...I could still go by myself - we'll see....

Pictures? hmm....I haven't really taken any - shame on me!!!! But in my defense...well, really, I have no excuse except that I haven't found anything photo shoot worthy...I shot at the hockey game the other day...I have something I can post -

This was my CTMH demo from the other day...I didn't shoot this photo though - I scanned it into my computer. Same with the following two pictures:
When I first started scrapping a couple of years ago, I got sucked into a rolodex swap - this was one of my first creations. I still love that quote....
This is a lifesized version of an inchie I created in a swap I was in over this past summer. I must give props to Adam and Dad for the color design input they had - I made this bunch while we were on vacation in Maine. Thank you Susan for sucking me into an inch-sized world.

I'm off to create something for Kimmie's demo....will post after the party...hopefully will have more pictures to post shortly.

Coincidentally....

2009-01-06T19:43:00.005-05:00

Today, I had a conversation with a trusty friend who I spend a lot of time with. While we're together, we often talk about things unrelated to what we're doing and today we did that. She said to me, "You know how you ask me, if we weren't doing this, what would we be doing? Well, one of my dreams is to own a bar."

Today, I read Kimmie's blog - and how Julie said to her that if you don't write down what your goals are, they remain dreams...I'd heard that same thing last year in a training class I took at work. It's the truth - putting things in writing, gives you a kind of commitment...to making things happen...

While my friend is a very grounded, realistic person, I'm writing down this down for her - in the form of my blog entry - she will someday own a successful bar...I'm gonna say sometime before she is 40...so it will be part of her 7 year plan. And while this isn't her commitment, it's more like my wish for her.

Coincidentally, I've been working on my own list of goals - short and long term...I'll put them here, when I'm done. While I'm thinking about my own goals, it's evaluation time at work - so we're thinking about goals there too...for myself and my team.

Speaking of ambition, over the weekend, Angelica did this:

That's Melody in the background of Angelica's grape sculpture - I don't know anyone who can make grapes stand on end without squishing them except my Angel...
I love when she's laughing in a picture. I took this picture with my Canon 50mm f1.8. It's not the sharpest picture in the bunch but I'm working on that - my online photography class with Karen Russell begins on Jan. 19...can't wait!!!

Gotta go and work on my next CTMH (Close to My Heart) demo project. I have a demo on Saturday after work...I'm working a little late tomorrow and am off from work on Thursday - laundry and scrap room organizing, registration at school, and a possible hair cut...good times!!!!
There's a blog post to be had that day...maybe.

An Award? Who me?

2009-01-02T08:05:00.002-05:00

My good friend, Kimmie nominated me for the Marie Antoinette Real Person Award. While I don't believe I should win an award for being a real person (which is nice), I humbly accept this award and would like to say that it is an honor just to be nominated (tears and sniffles).

Apparently there are rules to this award, including nominating others...

1. Please put the logo on your blog.
2. Place a link to the person from whom you received the award.
3. Nominate at least 7 or more blogs.
4. Put the links of those blogs on your blog.
5. Leave a message on their blogs to tell them.

My nominations follow:

1. I nominate my friend, Julie, whose creativity is an inspiration to me! I miss you - we need to find the time but I think we'll be seeing each other very soon!

2. I nominate Karen Russell, a fantastic photographer who inspires me to keep working at taking better pictures all the time - she epitomizes a real person!!!

3. I nominate my friend Michelle, who has all sorts of cool things on her blog!!! I just went there and still want to put half the stuff on your blog onto my blog!!! I miss you!!!

4. I nominate Ellen Hutson, whose blog perpetuates my and my friends' obsession with inchies.

5. I nominate the women at Pioneer Woman Photography, Ree and Miz Booshay - you guys just rock!

Oh crap - I'm out of blogs to nominate...if that means that I don't get this award, that's ok - I can't just randomly pick real person blogs for a real person award if I don't know that the blogs are put up by real people. Oh well...just check out the ones above - they rock!!!

Pictures I Love, Vol. 2

2009-01-01T08:04:00.015-05:00

I think I should resolve to make this a monthly blog entry. It will be my latest Circle Journal at the Scrapbook Cupboard.

Took this picture of the girls with my dad on our stairs when they came to visit right after Christmas....I love this picture of them together...

This is my mom with all her grandkids - I love how the boys are just melted into the background and the girls are up front with my mom.
Back in the beginning of December was our first snowstorm - the kids were so excited that even though you could still see the tops of grass blades in the backyard, they still bundled up to play in it - it was barely even cold enough - I took these pictures in my sweatshirt!!! Dylan's face matched his jacket.
She's so pretty - I can hardly stand it!!!

Here's Melody jumping onto our pendulum swing in the backyard...snowy hands...

I posted a picture similar to this a couple of entries ago - this was taken with the 3D glasses that turn lights into shapes...these are mom and dad's lights on the bushes in front of their house.

I love how I always seem to have Melody on the left, Dylan in the middle and Angel on the right in most pictures that I have with the 3 of them...it just seems right - in fact, one day when the kids were real little, I discovered this about their names:

M-E-L-O-D-Y-L-A-N-G-E-L-I-C-A

maybe that's why they take pictures like that....
I love this photo, not because you can closely study the anatomy of Melody's snout but because this is classic for both my girls - Melody is a ham and Angel will look right into your eyes and make you love her!!!!

I think I posted this picture of Dylan before - I love it because he is just too handsome!!!

I love this picture of Melody - taken at JayR's and Jenny's wedding - she's rarely still enough for me to take a decent picture but here, she looks grown up enough to keep still for a second...

I may have put this one up too - Buster is my first dog...he rocks and will obey for treats...although here, Melody is feeding Buster a dandelion and he's good with it too.

Finally, this is Angel swinging on the pendulum swing in the backyard (long before that snow shot of Melody swinging). I caught some light in her eyes...I live for that light.

This year will bring more shots - hopefully good and better ones...

The meaning of today

2008-12-31T18:28:00.002-05:00

I LOVE NEW YEAR'S EVE...I think it has to be one of the most special days of the year...today is the last of it's kind...the last day of the year. It's the end but also a chance to begin anew...

When I was a kid, New Year's Eve was a big deal...although I grew up in NYC, we never Times Squared on NYE. But we did dress up to be at home and take our annual family photo. And mom always cooked a feast that we would start eating at midnight.

As a grown up with little kids, NYE has been seriously toned down...no partying. Although, a couple of years ago we had our friends, Eric and Jessica over to hang out and watch tv and eat munchies and drink beer 'til midnight...WHOOPIE - we're such party animals!

Every year though, I do take the time to think about what the year has brought me. And every year, I find that I am more blessed, more lucky and more rich than I was the year before. I take this night and the next day to be my chance to start over again - to be better than I was, just yesterday.

Resolutions for 2009:

1. Be more organized in every area of my life - work, school, kids, laundry, photography, scrapbooking. This will help with #2.

2. Finish what I start. Projects, assignments, laundry, etc. Under this comes the ability to follow up if necessary on things so that I can get them to completion. While I didn't have a lot of unfinished business, I did feel like not being as organized as I should at times, caused me to drop the ball for a few things...

3. Stay positive. I need to not be such a worrier and channel all that energy into #1 & 2.

4. Blog more. I should keep a journal but blogging is more fun - and you can put pictures in it.
I'm going to aim to blog 3 times a week (at least - if I get more in, great!!!)

5. Be more frugal. In 2008, I loved to just spend money. Although towards the last quarter of 2008, I really wasn't in any kind of mood to spend money, even at Christmas. I resolve to spend money on things that we need and things that I absolutely want and not just think would be nice to have (and I can't promise that I won't ever buy something that would be nice to have, this year...but I certainly will have what we need and absolutely want before we go buying something that would just be nice to have).

6. Enjoy my time. Time is a limited commodity. I don't have a lot of it to do the things I want to do because it gets used up by all the things I have to do (mainly work). I will use my time wisely and enjoy just doing nothing sometimes and spend some good time with my friends and family this year.

7. Stay healthy. I'm not a dieter or an exerciser...so I'm just hoping that I make decent choices in terms of food or activity...I'll be making major efforts to schedule doctor's and dentist's appointments for myself and actually keep them...(my dentist yells at me when I show up, for flaking on him).

8. Take more pictures. I'm sure that taking Karen Russell's online photography class will make me do this, this semester...just need to make sure I keep doing it all year.

9. Go home to NYC to visit my friends and family more than twice a year. This one will be a toughie - we're never still enough to stay home here in MA, much less go to NYC...but we'll make a concerted effort.

Today is a brand new day - a brand new year....take advantage of this time...it's a gift.

An Answer to My Destiny....

2008-12-29T22:24:00.002-05:00

As a kid, you look up to people - not just because you're short (although I grew into my adult height by the time I was in the 8th grade) - but because you dream - sometimes more easily as a kid than as an adult. But I would have to say, that dreaming is something that I have done more in the last few months than I may ever have done as a kid...

I had always wanted to be creative....visually creative. I remember as a young teenager (probably a little younger than that), I wanted to take pictures. I had a camera as a young person...albeit it was film (no kids, there was no such thing as digital) - and it was a hand me down from dad - a Nikon - when he got his Minolta. I had no idea what anything was on that camera...I knew how to load the film, manually focus and press the shutter button. I didn't know that if it was too dark that the camera would know how long to keep it's shutter open - I thought that the long pause before the click meant that I broke it.
I didn't keep the camera - I can't remember what happened to it. And dad still has his Minolta film camera (it's somewhere in the deep recesses of the mountains of stuff my parents have managed to accumulate over the years) - he's graduated to point and shoot digitals, while I took my love to a Canon Digital Rebel xTi (Canon has since come out with the xSi - but I'm not interested in changing camera bodies just yet - I'll hold out for a couple more years to get something in the Eos family - I have a 10th anniversary coming in about 2 years...)

I was reading Karen Russell's blog (you can get there by clicking here). In her most recent entry, she talks about the Christmas gift, given by her husband, Josh - an old piano...and how she has always felt that becoming a pianist was part of her destiny. I left a comment on her blog telling her that I would answer her entry on my blog:

I always wanted to be a photographer. I have always wanted to capture moments to remember. BUT I was made to be a pianist. I took almost 8 years of classical piano and music theory. My parents made me when I was 7 years old. I hated it, at first, and after I had taken 18 months or so of lessons and then begged my parents to let me quit, my first piano teacher passed away. I remember going to her wake and seeing how many students she had taught and that was my wake up call - I begged my dad to find me another teacher and he did. And I studied with that teacher for 5 years. I'm not one to brag about me - but I played me some good piano...I was one of the pianists for the Glee Club at school (my good buddy, Tobi, was the other one - she's better than me) and I played keyboard for the school musicals (except for the one in Senior year -when I played Liesl in "The Sound of Music"). Chopin was a favorite - but I'm down with Bach, Handel and some other dead guys....

I also found my voice while I was learning to play...sang in school musicals, chorus groups, glee club and church choir. I did all these things in high school and once I got to college, I left it all behind me...

I still wanted to be a visual artist...and didn't find out that I could be one until I started scrapbooking - which made so much sense to me because it brought together 2 things that I wanted to be - a visual artist and a photographer.

Friends that don't scrap or take pictures ask me all the time - where do I find the time to do it all? My answer to that is I don't - I just do it anyway...

I was lucky (blessed to be a chosen one really!!!) to land a coveted spot in Karen Russell's online photography class - The Photographer's Workshop - we start the week of Jan. 19 - coincidentally, the first week of the spring semester at school (which I need to register for - rather, beg my way into a class that is already full...keeping my fingers crossed). And while I am sure that it will take me at least the same 8 years (realistically, more) it took me to be a decent pianist, I am determined to become that photographer I wanted to be as a kid.
I don't play anymore, really - but I can do it again, if I sat at the piano for a couple of hours a week - nothing compared to the amount of practice I did when I was younger...I started with 30 minutes a day in the very beginning but by the time I was a senior in high school, I was practicing an hour before school started, singing and playing 3-4 hours after school and another hour or so after I got home, with a 1 hour lesson, once - sometimes- twice a week...

Karen, take piano lessons - it's hard but it's wonderful...that's how I feel today about photography...and life in general. The 19th can't come fast enough for me....

If I've learned nothing else in this life - it's that it is never too late for anything...

P.S. Good job on the gift, Josh!!!

The first of a few entries that need to be blogged...

2008-12-29T20:23:00.009-05:00

A late Merry Christmas to one and all - this time of year is extremely hectic for me...

Last weekend, we had Dad's surprise 60th birthday party....HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!! His birthday is really the day after Christmas but we had to celebrate it early for holiday reasons....

Dylan celebrated his birthday - we went out for Chinese food on his actual birthday December 23rd. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DYLAN!!!!

Then Christmas Eve...visiting Aunt Nancy and the EB gang!!! Hi everyone!!!! I try really hard to be all done Christmas-ing by Dylan's birthday and I never get there....I spent half the night wrapping the last of the gifts (which weren't supposed to be many but felt like there were a million things to wrap)....I had so much that I had to start while the kids were still awake:

I even tried to wrap Melody because she would not leave me alone with the gifts - and no, I do not wrap their gifts in front of them...I did though make the mistake of wrapping a box of Swiss Cake Rolls in front of them and told them they were for noone when they asked me who they were for...Dylan told Adam that I wrapped a box of Swiss Cake Rolls for noone 3 days before Christmas.
Regarding the picture above: not the best picture I ever took of Melody (a little blurry) but certainly one that evokes Christmas in me.

When I finally got around to taking pictures of the tree and other Christmas things around our house, it was past midnight...
This was a neat picture of my pre-lit Christmas tree. No, the lights are not shaped like snowmen and no, I can't make bokeh shaped like that naturally. I took a pair of these 3-D glasses that change the shape of lights into snowmen and put it in front of the lens and clicked. I have not mastered the art of using artificial filters on my camera but this is not a bad start (I think)...I have other pictures like this that I will have to post another time. In case you were wondering, I shot this photo with my Canon 50mm f1.8 ISO 100 in 1/8 sec. I rested my camera on the arm of my couch and just hit the shutter button.

We ran out of cookies but found a 100 calorie pack of chips deluxe...Adam prepared this plate and cup of milk...yes, those are our everyday plates - they go with the rest of our Disney kitchen. Santa left a note saying that he appreciated us watching his diet but that next year, he would hope that Adam would make some of his homemade cookies - he also said that he liked our plates.

Then Christmas Day - the one day a year that we can wake Angelica up 6:30am (the butt crack of dawn for her) and she'll get out of bed like a pop-tart from a toaster...
This was probably the best picture I took all Christmas morning.
Others that I took:
Dylan's first gun toy ever...I'm not into gun toys but I'm glad that the warnings of no face, head or point blank shootings have been heeded...
And finally, this picture which I am too close to Melody to take - it's the only one I have of all 3 of them at Christmas....

These last 3 pictures were all taken with my Canon 50mm f1.8 ISO 800. The one of Angelica by herself came out best because she had front lighting from our ceiling fan pointed right at her. In the second picture of Dylan by himself, you can see the hint of the Christmas lights from the tree (evident in the coloring of his face). The last picture I took of the 3 of them, I'm too close to Melody and I should have moved a little to my left to capture more of the other kids in the back. I would have been happy with blurring Melody in the picture but I'm so close that you can barely make her out....sigh...next Christmas....

What did Adam get for Christmas? This year, he got a deep-fryer (because the grease from all the fast food he consumes just isn't doing the trick to block up the arteries - yuck - we haven't tried it yet because there is nothing I want to eat less than something deep fried - I just got over the stomach flu). He also got the game Emergency Heroes for Wii - because in real life he is an Emergency Hero and if he wants to practice off hours, he can. There was the box Swiss Cake Rolls (a throwback to a gift from Grammie Marie - God rest her soul - when Adam was little). A "Life is Crap" desk calendar (a mockery of the "Life is Good" trademark) and the gift that I thought would have been the best one: an electric ice scraper...it was so good, that he got me one too. (Santa must have been running a special on these)...

What did I get for Christmas? A jewelry box (from last year's list), an electric throw for the couch (I'm forever cuddled up on my couch with a blanket), an electric ice scraper and 2 tickets to see "Dirty Dancing: the Musical" when it comes to the Opera House in Boston on our 9th wedding anniversary in February. Every year comes our anniversary and the last couple have been a bust in terms of dates - because neither one of us has had the chance to really think about making plans in advance...well, Adam took care of that this coming anniversary...we'll go to dinner before the show and the kids will be sleeping over mom and dad's. Neat-o. How romantic...and hopefully he doesn't think that this Christmas gift covers our anniversary...although being more romantic is part of both our agendas for the coming year.

Stay tuned for another 2 or 3 blog entries this week as part of my new year's resolution to blog more gets a head start...

Thank you, God (and Santa and pooka) for all my gifts - especially my kids and the time to be with my family. I hope in your eyes, I've earned it all....

More on Dylan

2008-12-21T17:49:00.014-05:00

So Dylan's birthday is December 23rd - 2 days before Christmas - we came home Christmas Eve from the hospital - I signed him out AMA...(Against Medical Advice) so that we'd be home in time for Christmas.
This is Dylan at his first Boston Red Sox game - courtesy of Mom's company box seats. This was taken in the summer of 2006...he's 5 1/2 years old here.

All of Adam's dreams came true when we got the hot tub that sits on a patio in our backyard. We got it in May 2006. This picture of Dylan was taken on July 4th of that same year...we learned quickly that you do not pile in 8 kids into a hot tub built for 4 adults. It turned the water green. But in our defense, we also figured out that you should untie the second half of the filter before putting it into the canister. OOPS...nothing a little shock couldn't take care of. And yes, we did lower the temperature to a balmy 80 degrees before letting them all in - and we made them all go to the bathroom before getting into the hot (warm) tub.

This is the first day of 1st grade - with Mrs. Wheland - who is now teaching Angelica.
Like all great parents, soon after 1st grade started, we took the kids out of school and brought them to Disneyworld with their grandparents. This was taken on Angelica's birthday soon after we arrived at Port Orleans French Quarter Resort @ Walt Disney World. Don't worry, we got permission from the teachers...

Later that day, it was pouring, but it didn't stop us from going to the park - here's Dylan waiting for the bus to take us to the Magic Kingdom.

FAST FORWARD>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Almost a whole year later, Dylan started the 2nd grade. And no, I didn't go a whole year without taking pictures of the kids....my mom would kill me.
This was taken in last year's first snow - December 27, 2007 - shortly after Dylan turned 7.
This is Dylan's first time sledding - my cousin took us to this huge hill near their place up north...Dylan had to be going like 20 miles an hour because snow conditions were so icy!!!

Dylan lost his first tooth this year - and just like when he was a baby, whenever he had a tooth coming in, he'd get that darn spot of eczema on his face.

These were taken earlier this year, when Dylan was in the Learn to Play hockey program...
Dylan learned a lot of things this year - how to ride a 2 wheeler was one of those things.

D, I hope you had a great year...you've grown so much!!!! You're a good boy and a good person. I wish you good health, good grades, good times and good clean fun everyday this coming year!!!

I love you, Dylan! Happy Birthday baby!

A Dylan-ous Blog Entry

2008-12-13T05:15:00.016-05:00

It's been a while since I blogged - because life is just way too busy - I thought with school out, it wouldn't be so bad and now I'm wondering how that even fit into the picture...there is so much to do this time of year...

Dylan's birthday is a week from tomorrow. He'll be turning 8 this year. Time goes by so fast...we moved back to MA from NYC in Feb. 2003 - we bought our house that year at the end of July - this was taken the following October - Dylan was only 2 in this picture - turning 3 that December.

Dylan was almost 3 in this picture - gone are the days of the fireplace that he is sitting on. Gone too are the days of the bowl haircut too. This picture was taken with my old Sony point-n-shoot. I can't even remember the specs on that camera....

Halloween has turned out to be a tradition in getting the cousins together....with the exception of this year, the kids always get their costumes at the last minute sales at the Disney Store...this was Halloween 2003 - Dylan was Mickey Mouse as a fireman (no, they did not have Mickey Mouse as a Policeman or Dylan would have definitely been that instead).
This was taken the following summer 2004 - at my mom's house - check out how blond Dylan's hair gets in the summer. It is not as blond anymore - his hair represents the Asian in him...but not back then.
This picture was taken before a friend's wedding in November 2004. That's Dylan with my nephew, Andy in the church where Adam and I got married too.

I love this picture of them together - Dylan was almost 4 years old in this picture taken at Faneiul Hall in Boston. He was so little then...
Dylan just all of a sudden really looked like a big boy - this was taken 5 days before I had Melody - I took this one on the way out the door to go to work.
Dylan was off to kindergarten in this picture - he was only 4 - the age cutoff time in our city is to turn 5 by December 31 of the year you start kindergarten. So he's usually the baby in his class.

I'll continue to post Dylan shots as I get the time to blog this week until his birthday - that way when he gets old enough to find my blog on his own, he'll know that I thought of him this whole week - like I do every year at this time...to make sure that he gets a birthday separate from Christmas. Signing off for now to work on my parents' calendar...it's part of their Christmas gift...

Last Day of School

2008-12-10T16:07:00.001-05:00

Tonight is my final exam of the semester - it took a bunch to get here and I'm wicked proud - I'll post my final grade when I get it - I'm hoping for an A. I studied like crazy this morning and finally stopped reading about 1 1/2 hours ago. If I don't know it now....

In the meantime, Adam made it into the local paper (again.). If you want to check out the article and video - they are here. Hope it doesn't go to his head...just kidding....

pictures? um....for now, just check out Cisco in my new header - he's laying on Melody's school bag, pawing at Cookie Monster.

My Day Off

2008-12-06T00:04:00.003-05:00

Most days that I don't go to work, I think, are really not days off....for instance, I woke up this morning at 6am like I usually do. Got the kids ready for school, gave Melody a bath, made her breakfast, did some light shopping (nothing for Christmas - got Melody a winter jacket and Angel some socks and Dylan a couple of shirts). I managed to finish my calendar swap pages and Susan's Circle Journal entry. I baked a loaf of Tastefully Simple Bountiful Beer Bread to go with the Artichoke & Spinach Dip I made to bring to tonight's swap and crop.

I dismissed the kids early from school to bring Dylan to the doctor to check out something out (follow up from a couple of weeks ago). And on the way home, at a red light, I took this picture:
When I got uploaded into my computer, Dylan said "Wow, mom you got a picure of Bean the Bunny in the sky." Bean was our first bunny that died of what I like to think were natural causes at the end of last summer. He's the big shadowy figure on the lower right of this picture...
"how observant you are," I thought...moment of silence for Bean.

Tomorrow night is my company Christmas party...otherwise known as the annual Rees date night. The kids will be sleeping over mom and dad's house and we'll be there, bright and early on Sunday morning to pick Dylan up for a 7am game. So much for having a bombing good time...the Christmas party (or Holiday party as it is known at work) is usually a great time!!!
I'll blog about it before this weekend is up.

P.S. Props to my friend, Kimmie who was recognized on her blog by artist Claudine Hellmuth. You go girl! I'm wicked proud!!!

oops

2008-12-01T21:31:00.002-05:00

ok - no one told me that the xerox widget didn't lead to the website I wanted you to check out the other day...so here is the link....

http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1280.html

send a soldier a card, courtesy of Xerox....

Photo Assignment: Drive

2008-11-30T07:16:00.012-05:00

I do a lot of crazy things - like take pictures while I'm driving. This week on the Digital Photography School website, the assignment is "Drive" - interpret it as how you wish...and all pictures that are entered into this contest need to be taken in a recent timeframe. So yesterday, while I was driving to work in the morning and then to Dylan's hockey game in Pembroke, from Easton, I took this while I was behind the wheel:

I left my house early for work yesterday morning with the intention of checking out Target for potential Christmas gifts - when I got there, I figured out that the store did not open for another 30 minutes (I should have checked online for the hours before I left my house - but that would have made too much sense). These barriers are at the the end of the parking lot.

Right before the barriers is this stop sign....It was a color picture that I converted to black and white and then used an action called "color select" and then I vignetted...I have Photoshop Elements 6.0(Adobe came out with 7.0 this year - I'll pass for a year). You can get both these actions at EZActions.com. If you are really into post-shooting editing, I think Photoshop CS4 is the way to go - very expensive if you are just an enthusiast like me (makes a great Christmas gift - hint, hint - just kidding - I don't have time to learn that right now)...PSE7.0 is about $140.00 - and is not too difficult to learn, if you have the time to practice....
This was a back road that I was driving to the hockey game after work.
This is one of the towns I had to pass through to get to the hockey game. Let's see - 21 miles from work - Easton to West Bridgewater to East Bridgewater to Halifax to Pembroke...40 minutes later.
So I'm driving through Halifax on a back road and come up on this sign - you know that I stopped short (don't worry, no one was behind me), made an illegal u-turn and then another, parked on the side of the road and got out to take this photo....why? Because that is my mother's maiden name and my middle name - it's a cultural thing that Filipino do...I won't say all Filipino people do it but it's pretty common for your child to have a first and middle name followed by the mother's maiden name and father's surname (I think the tradition may hail from Spain - where I believe it is still commonly practiced). We can talk about Filipino history some other time....

Today, I have to study for the last test of the semester (I still have a final next week), the girls have skating practice and Dylan is playing in Providence, RI at the Dunkin Donuts Center - Providence Bruins ice - playing Whitman-Hanson today (I know who you're routing for Kimmie!!! Can you believe that we have to travel to all the way to Providence to play Whitman-Hanson? Whitman is the next town over from Brockton.)

Watch out world: Brockton Boxers Mites C's have hit the big ice....pictures of that soon!

Check out this website

2008-11-28T07:11:00.001-05:00

Bringing you....

2008-11-25T13:04:00.002-05:00

Breaking news..... I figured out how to change my header. Those images on my header right now, are Inchies that I created for an Inchie Challenge. Yahoo!!!!

I'm so excited! We now return you to your regularly scheduled program!

I'm losing my bloggability

2008-11-24T14:54:00.017-05:00

I'm sorry that I haven't blogged in a week. Between being at work and school and being sick and hockey games/practices and deadlines and projects and such, I haven't been still long enough to blog. Although today, I'm home from work, still sick from last week. So here I am before the kids come home from school - able to blog.

Let's see, what have I done since I last blogged...I got a 91 on my last biology test. The next one is next week....I can't wait until we are done with this semester...next semester: Anatomy & Physiology 1. Much harder than Biological Principles.

I think I'm a full fledged hockey mom - I'm the fundraising coordinator for Brockton Youth Hockey (because I told myself a long time ago that when I had kids, I'd be involved...that was nice - for a minute). This week we had the Yankee Candle pickup - which without Adam, it would have for sure been a nightmare. And thanks to all the team reps who helped with making sure everyone got their stuff. And thanks to Lisa, who received the late orders at her home. And thanks to Mom, who volunteered to receive a bulk of the orders at her office.

Sadly, my inchie is no longer on the front page of Ellen Hutson's blog. But I did get other more exciting news - remember that online photography class I was trying to get into but sadly by minute 2 of registration got locked out of? It's The Photographer's Workshop by Karen Russell. I got lucky enough to get into January's session!!!! I'm beaming and excited and completely nuts over it!!! YAHOO!!!!

I finished my winter/Christmas inchies for a swap that I'm involved in (this one was pretty much a given because it is at my favorite scrapbook store in the world - Scrapbook Cupboard.)
I'd post the pictures here but I will have to wait until I swap out...

Pictures I've taken:

This is my 1 1/2 year old niece, EvaMarie - digging for magic nose goblins.
This is Dylan and Angel cropped out of a photo with all 11 of my in-laws' grandkids...yes - that dimple on Angel's face is real - we're not sure where she got that from - neither Adam nor I have dimples and supposedly, it's a dominant gene that codes for that trait...I love that dimple!

In last couple of weeks at learn to skate, Melody has graduated the crates...she'll get there...it will take much longer than the other two kids, but that's ok....
The above text depicts how Melody has been handling learn to skate.
Not only am I a hockey mom, I'm also a hockey auntie...this is my nephew, Andrew playing for the Boston College Jr. Eagles....he's a Squirt (1 level above Dylan's Mites)...but these kids were incredible....
Dylan - at the ready...

I'll pretty much do anything to get a shot - this is behind the goalie net while Dylan was goalie-ing for the learn to skate kids who are just about there learning to push the puck...yes I was on my ice skates, and yes, I went down on one knee and yes, I couldn't really get up.

Dylan at work....yes, I'm still on the ice with him...

While I was sick today, Adam made cookies and Melody snuck into the dough when he wasn't looking. Good job, Melody! She'll love this picture when she gets older.

I'm going back to bed - this head cold really has me in a vice...there are moments in the day when I feel better...dr. said take some decongestant, lots of fluids and rest...if only I knew how to rest...really no options...if I want to be better by Thanksgiving, I'm out for the count...will be able to blog a bit more this week...no school, Thanksgiving at home, no extra hockey practice. Finally, a breather...if only I wasn't so stuffy...or runny...cough cough...

HOW COOL!!!!

2008-11-18T19:25:00.003-05:00

My snarky friend Susan (who is no longer snarky, thank goodness) got me into making Inchies... scrapping at a whole new miniature level. All inchies are traditionally 1x1 inch squares.... anyway, long story short, Susan encouraged me to post to an online contest....so I did - it was the "rustic" inchie challenge on Inchie INKlings. Much to my surprise, when I went to check if they posted my inchies up, I found my inchie on the front page of this website under INKling challenges!!! That's pretty cool!

Ellen Hutson is an awesome artist - I'm not sure if she is the pioneer of the inchie craze but she sure influenced Susan to become an Inchie addict. She then sucked me in....I'm very good at getting sucked in...I have a smaller collection of inchies than Susan does - I have about 90 or so - we joined a few swaps (one online, which I may not do again because I think I like knowing my swappers better than swapping with strangers). We're in another one at the beginning of December. I'll post photos of my inchies another time.

My friend, Booger keeps asking me how do I do it? How do I fit it all in? I'm not sure...I think I force things to fit in...like how do I juggle work and kids and home and school and Hockey board and scrapping and hanging out...Again, I'm not sure - I think all these things are important enough for me to make time. I don't go to movies, I don't roam the mall, I don't sit at bars, I am just always doing something. I DVR everything so that I don't miss anything on tv. I make lists and cross things off. I try to focus on one thing at a time so that I don't muck anything up too much. I also let things go - like having perfectly shiny kitchen floors or completely manicured grass or blogging everyday. I accept quite a few things that may not be ok with some...like waking up early everyday - even on my days off to do things like go to hockey games, or scrap with my friends.

I don't know - maybe I just covet a 30 hour day and pretend like I do and go about it that way.

Spending time with the fam doesn't mean a whole day...what counts is how you spend the time you have - took this picture of my 2 nieces and a nephew while walking from my car to mom's house:
I am the master of doing more than one thing at the same time. This is how I spend my energy. I'm not sure I know how to do it any other way.

I do have quite a bit to do tonight...so off I go - more pictures next time....

A few days off

2008-11-10T06:56:00.015-05:00

I had a few days off this weekend - WooHoo!!!!! So what did I do?

On Saturday am, I took a card making blitz class at Absolutely Everything in Topsfield, MA.
10 cards in 3 hours (no glittering - but I need to put some on to some cards)...then we went to the Burlington Mall to have lunch at Chick-Fil-A...where my snarky (my new favorite word) friend Susan nearly took my head off because it was at the mall and she hates the mall....thanks for going Su, I love Chick-Fil-A, but now not nearly as much as I did before the mall with you. =)
We then headed over to Ink About It in Westford, MA...when my snarky friend Kristin had had enough of driving. (I drove her SUV home) Thanks for driving - next time I drive...unless of course, Snark-a-riffic Susan has anything else to say about my driving...whatever Susan...

Dylan had a hockey game at 7am on Sunday morning: they won - 5-1. He played left wing (which is what he plays when he isn't the goalie....he scored a goal. I don't have a photo of that because I was too busy cheering at the glass!!! But I did get these:

I think I love the 7am game - playing with the early morning light coming through the windows. This game was against Westwood 1 - we hadn't faced them this season yet - we were on home ice at Brockton High School. Dylan is #2 (lots of butt shots in ice hockey).

Took a shot of the score board - in case we don't have a good a game as this one was anytime soon.

Sunday night, I made it to the Scrapbook Cupboard - my friend Kimmie organized a short crop to make cards for our friend, Dana, whose husband has been going through major health issues. We're praying for you both, Dana - keep strong and take it one day at a time.

Today, I called up Snarky Susan (who wasn't snarky anymore) to find out if she wanted to hang out on our day off. I still had kids to pick up from school and grocery shopping to be done but she still decided to hang (yippy!) After we picked up Melody, we decided to take a trip out to Foxboro and visit Patriot Place (next to Gillette Stadium, where the NE Patriots play).
Susan treated us to lunch at Red Robin (highly recommend their burgers) and then to dessert at the Baskin Robbins Cafe. (THANKS SUSAN!!!!) I think it had something to do with the fact that Melody found the penguin cup that Susan lent to me one day (we both think Melody conspired with CocoaPuff - our fuzzy cat with seasonal allergies). Apparently, it was her favorite portable hot cocoa cup....from Starbucks Coffee.

Now, I grew up on Baskin Robbins but it was nothing like this place - there were crazy desserts. We were the only one in the place and Melody loved the moving projection of the BR logo...funny. Susan ordered us the ice cream fondue - which came with brownies, angel food cake, strawberries, bananas, and little tiny scoops of ice cream to be dipped in the cup of their hot fudge. We had fondue forks which Melody was intrigued with because they were long and only had 2 prongs. I didn't bring my camera but thankfully, Susan had her camera phone and took then sent these to me:

In the second photo, you can see my hand holding the fondue fork to save Melody's eye from impalement and my hand from two prong holes. I think Melody likes Susan better than me - she looked at her and smiled nicely....not like she did for me this afternoon:
Nice gums Melody - brush your teeth better baby!

The highlights are natural - I wish I had those.

This was Melody's supermodel pucker - you're too cute, Mel!

And then Angel took my camera and shot this photo of me...
Ok, no more camera for you Angel - that shadow of my face is not a reflection but rather that she moved because we didn't put the flash on and it was too dark for a short shutter speed....I'm a little scary looking there. All that being said, she followed the rule of thirds, got the ctchlight in my eyes from the reflection of light from a window in front of me, got a decent exposure in a low light situation and didn't worry about cutting off the top of my head or the bottom of my face - nice photo baby!!!!

Tomorrow is Veterans' Day - thank you to all the men and women out there tonight who fight for my freedom everyday and to those who have done it in the past - while it is usually a holiday at work (I get all the government ones because of the banking industry), we are testing new stuff at work - so I am going in for a few hours. Hopefully, not too long so that I can come home and study for a test on Wednesday - School is almost over - less than one month to go....then we get 4 weeks off until next semester begins....I have so much to do before that - better get crackin'....

YAHOO!!!!

2008-11-03T19:25:00.001-05:00

Class got cancelled tonight- I got all the way to school to check out the note on the door that said that class was cancelled - hope my teacher's ok - I even brought candy from the kids' stash to share tonight...I wonder if this means that there is no exam on Wednesday - I'm hoping we don't have to reschedule this class...

Anyway, this gives me 4 hours to do stuff...I need to DL a video to my computer as it needs to be edited. I can do laundry (NAH!!!). I can jump in the hot tub and make myself something good to drink (maybe!!!) I can clean my scrap room (Hmmm....)...I love it - I'm hoping not to waste it so I can't stay on here too long and blog...ok - going now to accomplish something...

c-ya soon!

Last night....

2008-11-02T09:36:00.009-05:00

Last night, I went over to my friend Kim's house for a Tastefully Simple party (one of us is always having a party of some kind - anything to get together with the girls...) - funny stuff always happens at these things:

For example, Kim will now be known as Kimmie - thanks to Auntie Janie who revealed that tidbit of information.
Dana, my inchie-fied friend was a TS virgin until last night - it's just too good to keep it sacred, D.

Josh held up the chocolate pound cake - I won't pick on him, too much, he's a good sport to be coming to one of these things with his family, but when the chocolate pound cake was getting passed around, he was holding on to it...not to worry, he got the last crumb too.

Barbara, who is also my Tastefully Simple rep will also become your rep if you call her "root beer" - ask her about it when you book a party (and don't tell her I told you).

Bev, owner of my favorite LSS - Scrapbook Cupboard - bought more stuff to add to her pantry full of TS stuff and would be happy to have you make some of it for her (hehehehe)

After the demo, Susan and I hit the kitchen to check out the leftovers and nearly completely 86'ed the beer bread - DEEP SIGH - so good to eat, so bad for your carb count...oh well - my philosophy in life is "eat and be happy then die" rather than "starve and be miserable then die".
Thus the necessity of the "skinny button" on any camera pointed in my direction.

Halloween pictures:
This is my 1 1/2 year old niece, EvaMarie - who was madly in love with this costume - we got back from trick-or-treating and she never took it off - this was taken before we went out - she was so good; we went out for 1 1/2 hours and she didn't cry or complain or want to be carried even once - she just kept telling my sister-in-law, Laura "more candy" when we walked up to a house. My nephew Andrew was a rapper - nice goatee, Andrew...

Dylan was Indiana Jones. Yes, it was just a onepiece top and a hat and no, he did not have a whip - that would have been just one more thing for mom and dad to carry 1 1/2 blocks after starting to TOT...yeah, no thanks.
Angelica was a friendly witch - she did pretty good too - she had had it after 90 minutes of TOT. I had a lighting nightmare at my sister-in-law, Kristin's house and this was the best I could do with Angel - she looks a tinge orange in it - but sometimes, a bad picture is better than no picture. Sorry, baby.

Melody was a bunch of grapes - that costume cost me about $8.00 to make - we got a white hat and painted it brown for the stem, bought 2 dozen 5" purple balloons and some safety pins - pinned the blown up balloons all over her. She got the most comments - even from bigger kids: we ran into some junior highschoolers (both boys) and one of them said, "wow, what is she supposed to be?" And the other one said, " A bunch of grapes, stupid." Again - the picture above was a lighting nightmare - the latex on the balloons was bouncing light everywhere - that was my flash - I had to force myself to use it because my available light was just not available enough. But I love this picture of Melody because she is actually looking at me with a smile - as opposed to the usual grimace with her eyes pointing somewhere else.

Very busy week ahead - school on Monday and Wednesday nights with a test on Wednesday night. Dylan has hockey practice 3 times this week and team pictures on Wednesday night. Can't wait 'til next weekend - going out with Susan and Kristin to take a Christmas card class - yes, I make my own because I love to have no time for anything else and it just makes the holiday season all the more pressing...good times!

What can I call it?

2008-10-28T06:06:00.005-04:00

I need to come up with a word not yet invented in the English language that defines how many things a person does in a day. I am sure there are already words out there - for example, busy, assiduous, engaged, occupied, having a full plate, having fish to fry, overloaded...

I have tomorrow off because I am working this weekend so I decided that I would make a list of things that I need to get done between today and tomorrow...

1. drop Melody off at school
2. drop Dylan and Angelica off at school
3. go grocery shopping while I'm kid free
4. pick up Melody from school
5. do laundry
6. fold laundry
7. put away laundry
8. biology class homework (although I might be able to get this done on my lunch hour today)
9. sort and mail out my inchies (again, may be accomplished today)
10. finish my summer swap pages (ok I'm a loser - it's already fall - good thing there isn't a swap for that!)
11. pick up things for Halloween costumes (so far, the only idea I have is making Melody a bunch of grapes)
12. pick up Dylan and Angelica from school
13. help Dylan with his cereal box book report (which we will be working on tonight as well)
14. dinner?
15. go to school for a 5:30pm biology class.
16. CTMH order (somewhere in the day, this needs to go out).

I'm good as long as I focus on the list and not get distracted by things like TV or emergency room visits (which thankfully, we are not prone to).
Taken the other night when we went candlepin bowling - Melody was wicked serious about winning - she came in last of all 10 of us but she was determined to get that ball down the lane - even though some of her throws took more than a minute to get all the way down the lane (some were going so slowly that they even rolled back to us....now that's entertainment!)

This weekend off

2008-10-26T20:10:00.017-04:00

Really, though - I don't get any weekends off...even my weekends off from work seem busy...but it's a good busy!!! After I did a CTMH demo for one of the girls in our CTMH club on Saturday morning, we went to NH to visit my cousins...for some candlepin bowling and pizza...I took these shots in our driveway before we left:
I took this picture of Dylan with his back to the sun....known as backlighting. Sometimes when you take pictures like this you get a nice bright background with an underexposed subject...here, not so bad - he was standing in front of the back of our Dodge Caravan. But you can tell that the shadows are pretty obvious on his face.
I took this photo a few moments later but I moved Dylan and me into the shade of a tree in our front yard. Sunlight is coming from nearly overhead to Dylan's right - better exposure of his whole face because we're both in the shade and the sun in not directly on either one of us. I like both pictures but this is a great example of how important the source of your light is to get the correct exposure.

I took this picture about 2 feet from where I took Dylan's last shot about 30 seconds after I took that photo. The sunlight is coming from behind me and in front of Melody - she is under the shade of a tree and I'm halfway in and and out of the sun. Great exposure of her face - but you can see the sun shining right on her tummy...and you can also tell that the wind is blowing from Melodys left to her right by the direction of her hair.

This is what her shirt said - "Little Sisters Rock!" Yeah - they do!!!

It was so nice out yesterday - breezy but warm - almost 70 degrees. So Mittens decided to escape while someone was coming out the front door and take an early afternoon outdoor snack on the leftover leaves of a lily in our front yard. I love the fall colors in this photo and how Mittens is giving me the hairy eyeball.

Unfortunately, foliage is past peak up north and here the leaves are in the middle of turning but nothing is too bright - still I love this photo that I shot of the leaves of the tree in the front yard.

This is just a photo of a small flag in front of our house...

I'm glad I got more shots of the kids before we left for NH.
Dylan looks so mature in this picture and Melody looks so boogie face (gross!!! She's got a cold.)
Let me just iterate how difficult it is to get three children to simultaneously look at you and smile...I at least got those two pictures above.

This I shot while I was standing on my van with the kids on the ground. Perspective is important - it can change the whole mood of the shot - I love Melody's smile in this picture...Dylan has the Rees expression on his face and Angel looks like she's been holding that smile for too long...sigh...the joys of taking my kids' pictures...

I took all of the photos above with my Canon 50 mm, no flash.

Got home last night around 9:30pm and then woke up this morning at 5:30am for Dylan's 7am hockey game against Pembroke. Dylan goalied today - the game ended in a tie 2-2. He shut Pembroke out the first 2 periods. Good job Dylan!!!!
I love how Dylan's face and the number two on his sleeve are the only things in focus in this picture. (I took this photo with my Canon 75-300mm at 300mm no flash through the glass at the rink this morning.

I left in the middle of the 2nd period (bad mother I am) in time for Susan to pick me up (thanks buddy!!!) so that we could meet up with Kristin and others to go on a scrapbooking bus tour. It was fun - but note to self - no more back of the bus...I had bus stomach until I got off the bus...ugh! Next time I drive the bus...

Oh Whatta Night!!!

2008-10-22T06:50:00.007-04:00

So last night, after work, I attended our semi-annual recognition night. HarborOne does a pretty good job at keeping these things very interesting. We had a special guest speaker last night -

MATT LIGHT from the NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS!!!!

And I got the seat right next to the stage where he spoke at the podium!!! How exciting!!!
Of course, I left my camera in the car and so did not get pictures of him speaking. But while Matt was signing autographs and taking pictures with everyone, I ran back to my car and got it - took a few shots -

Pretty cool...not to worry, someone took my picture with him...not with my camera. (not my best shots - I'm working on shooting on the fly!)

Matt's message to us talked about his path to success and what he felt makes him and his team successful. What did I take out of it? That loving what you do and having a good time go a long way to yielding success. Be relaxed and confident and work hard to be successful. Who knew that banking and Professional Football had so much in common? Matt's philosophy can be applied to pretty much - life in general...

Thanks to HarborOne for having a wonderful guest bring such a pertinent message!!!!

Thanks Matt Light for taking the time to come speak with us. That was NEAT!!!

Gotta bounce - kids need to get dressed for school.