Fix-It Friday

Ok, here's my first Fix-It Friday entry. I couldn't decide what to do so I just ended up turning it into a digital painting. It was a little bit more difficult because I don't have my graphic tablet with me today, but I still like the end result. This little girl is so cute, I don't think you could mess up a picture of her :)

Before

After

I'd love to explain what I did in order, but I honestly can't remember. Sometimes I just go through the motions. Here's what I DO remember doing: Hue/Saturation layer overall, Surface Blur, used the Paint Brush to create some highlights, then a UnSharp Mask with the radius set high and the Amount set around 5% to bring out some of the contrast. I know I'm forgetting something.......hmmm.......oh well. Thanks to the ladies at iHeartFaces for this fun little project.

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Love this guy!

I can't even begin to describe to you how much I adore this little guy :) For those of you who don't know, this is my little brother, Derek. I just wanted to share with you a quick shot I got of him as he was leaving to go to his baseball game. He could be the most handsome boy ever :) And of course I'm not biased!

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My new favorite face

Prepare to be bombarded with cuteness. I only took about 450 photos of Audrey and Charlotte and this is what I finished in the past hour and a half. Wish I had a few of these a couple of days ago. I could have entered one of these into iHeartFaces's contest :) 

I'll be posting better version of these and many more from the day here at my portfolio site.

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My little model

I'll make this really quick, but I just wanted to share with you the first of a long line of photos that is soon to come now that I have the new flash. I wanted to get some practice with it, so I recruited the little princess, Anderson, to assist me. Turns how she's not a big fan of the flash, but I feel I accurately captured her personality in the very first photo I took of her as she was sitting in my kitchen. It's not great by any means, but it amuses me quite a bit. Here it is:

The colors are much more vibrant on my comp, but I crack up when I see this because I can just tell how disgusted she is with the whole situation. She seems to be saying "I hate you so much right now" Maybe not...but it wouldn't surprise me. Andie is definitely Jeremy's kitty, whether he likes to admit it or not. I'd also like to point out that she doesn't even look like the same cat if you compare this photo to the one of her on the right. What happened?

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Gotta love new toys

I'm absolutely thrilled because my flash arrived earlier than I expected. Love, love, love it! The only bad thing about it is that it's about the same size as my camera! It makes holding the camera a little more awkward, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. Get ready for a ton of new pics now that I'm completely equipped. Did I mention I love this thing? So excited! (I'm such a nerd. Shut up, Kari).

And I definitely have to mention this. I guess I don't really HAVE to, but I found it a little amusing. This morning on the way to work, I somehow ended up in a road rage sandwich. One of my biggest pet peeves are me-monsters who don't pay attention to the people around them, especially when they're navigating 4000+ lb vehicle. These two cars decided that they would ride at the exact same speed down the highway side by side. That annoys me already, but even more so is that the speed they decided to go was 50 mph. Ugh, just ugh. I'm not really sure where these people were going, but I have a 45 minute commute and I'd really rather not stretch it out any further than it needs to be. So, I'm riding behind this huge GMC SUV and this lady is obviously oblivious to the amount of traffic accumalating behind her. Directly behind me is a very impatient 18-wheeler. How do I know he was impatient, you ask? Well, he was about 12 feet (that's right, I measured) behind my bumper, and he begins to honk his horn. Not once, but several times. Does this phaze our me-monster GMC driver? Of course not because she's still ridin' that left lane like she's the only one there. So after about 10-15 minutes of this fun little escapade, the 18-wheeler is able to move over and pass in the right lane. And of course these two procede to exhibit their class by making obscene gestures and yelling at each other through open windows. Then he takes the high road and almost clips the front of her car as he cuts her off. Now...while I was slightly annoyed about the whole situation, I really couldn't be too mad because this whole scene was so amusing. But I couldn't help but think after it was all over that I should be the one getting pissed off. I mean, I'm stuck behind a retarded driver with tunnel vision and a tailgating big rig. Unlike these two, I really can't see myself flipping off another driver though. However, if they had caused me to wreck, you better believe both of them would feel the wrath of my red-headed temper.

And finally, here's my confession of the day: I'm a moron. Ok, it's a confession, not necessarily a surprise. While typing this blog in Safari, I "somehow" deleted the search bar. Yeah....i know. I didn't even know you could do that. The problem is that I can't get it to come back...lol. It's so sad. I had to resort to using FireFox because I can't type in a web address in Safari. I'm so stupid—Why, if I were lying face down on the floor, I wouldn't have sense enough to turn my head to breathe. (<----Bonus points if you knew where I got that from).

Anyway, enough rambling. I'm going to go get some dinner and prepare to watch Pitchmen tonight. I don't even know why I like this show.

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Audible.com

Don't know about you guys, but I'm a huge fan of audio books. Like I've stated in previous posts, I have recently become addicted to podcasts. While listening to one of my favorites (Stuff You Should Know), they mentioned one of their sponsors—Audible.com. And since I am such a fan, I thought I would pass this cool deal onto you. If you go to this site, you can sign up to receive a free audio download. They have a ton of stuff from famous speeches, stand-up comedy, and of course books to choose from. I'm still trying to decide what I will spend my free credit on, but I'm leaning towards Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer about his personal account of an expedition on Everest that occurs during the deadliest season in the mountain's history. In case you didn't know, I have a crazy notion that one day I will climb Mt. Everest. Hahahaha...probably not going to happen, but I can dream, right? Anyway, go sign up and enjoy an audio download. Until we blog again....

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iHeartFaces Blurb photo contest

Ok, I know I have a ton to learn when it comes to photography, but this looks like a fun little contest, so why not enter? I hope Kari doesn't mind, but I've always loved this photo of Charlotte. She's just such a pretty little girl. So, here's my entry:

I am submitting this photo into the www.iheartfaces.com Blurb book photo contest. If chosen, I grant I♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites.

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It is so Monday...

I think that if I was somehow closed off from the rest of society and had no means by which to tell time or dates, I would still physiologically be able to recognize when it was Monday. Is there anyone who actually likes Mondays? If so, you're weird. Sorry, it has to be said. Go seek some counseling. Monday's are horrific. I've been staring at the clock for the past three hours, but it seems like it's been 12. Today probably wouldn't have been nearly as bad if I had something to do. Things are so bad that I actually thought proofreading would help pass the time. Now I don't even have that to do. Now that you understand my dilemma, don't judge me for blogging at work. Haha!

So, last night I was making every attempt possible to become a criminal. Well, sort of. I was "technically" making back up copies of movies that I own, just to figure out the process. I was almost successful too! To pull a line from the first Pirates movie, I could quite possibly be the worst pirate someone's ever seen. For some reason it skipped over the last chapter of the movie that I was copying and it went straight to the credits. But being the technical nerd that I am (or at least some people think me to be), I have no doubt that I will perfect the process in the next couple of days, hopefully without having to purchase any additional software.

Speaking of purchases that I really don't really want to make, I finally broke down and bought a new flash for my camera. In case I forgot to post about it previously, the built-in flash got destroyed when I knocked my tripod over with my camera mounted on top of it. I almost cried....seriously. I've been making due without a flash for a while now, but I have a couple of things coming up in the future that make this purchase necessary. So, here it is:

Nothing fancy...well, except for the price. This little thing cost $469. Eventually it will pay for itself, but right now that price hurts a little bit; mostly because I start thinking about how many new items of clothing I could buy with that $469. Jeremy was really funny when I was asking about whether or not I should spend that much on a new flash. He just replied with, "I have no idea what you're talking about, so just buy it if you need it. Just don't ask me because the moment you start talking about megabytes or pixels, I zone out."

Now I'm going to shoot off in a completely different direction. I have a little brother named Derek.

Cutie, right? One thing I like to do with Derek is take him to different places that he might not otherwise get to go to. For instance, I took him to see the exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls when it came to Raleigh. We don't always get the chance to take a "bigger" trip like that though. But he loves to just be out somewhere with me, so I decided to take him to Greenville to do some shopping. We ended up just going to the mall because the weather was terrible. Unfortunately for him, the game room has closed down. That's the only thing he was really interested in doing. He's a sweetheart though and was content with just walking around with me while I did some shopping. While I was trying on clothes, he "pointed out" that I might not be as fit as I once was. I was wearing a tank top, which I thought looked pretty good, but apparently this is what he saw:

So, for those of you wondering what I'll be doing later, you can find me on the bowflex or the treadmill.

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A Quick Recap...

Ok, been incredibly busy for the past week. Obviously, since I'm just now getting around to posting a blog. Anyway, just wanted to catch up with everything that's been going on:

HENNA PARTY

Alright, I know I stole Kari's photos, but let's face it, it was hard enough to do the henna. There's no way I would have been able to photograph myself drawing it. Just to summarize, Kari called one day and asked if I would be willing to come over that night and draw a henna design on her sister's (Lisa) very pregnant belly. I've never drawn with henna before, so I wasn't sure how well it was going to turn out. The whole thing was a comedy of errors. For the complete synopsis, check out Kari's blog. But for all those out there who are interested in trying this, here's some important advice: READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!

Why do I hold a pen that way? I'll have to remedy that, it looks stupid.

BBQ FESTIVAL

This wasn't a comedy, this was a tragedy. Poor, sweet Topher just isn't ready to be completely surrounded by loud noises, big animals, and LOTS of people. He was doing exceptionally well at the beginning of the day. It wasn't until we got to the center of the festival that he started to flip out. I mean REALLY flip out. We passed one of the rides that started to make a really obnoxious noise that was similar to gun fire. Apparently Topher isn't a fan of the loud noises so I led him away from the area hoping to calm him down. Unfortunately, this was at the exact moment that they decided to start yelling something over the PA system. We ended up underneath a table where Topher decided that he was going to stay for the rest of the day. Since there was absolutely no chance of getting him to walk on the leash, I picked him up and carried him out of the festival. Kind of amusing since he's not exactly a lap dog. I learned my lesson though. It will be a while before we venture out on this sort of expedition again....unless we bring his harness.

NEW JOB

I don't have any intention of boring you with all the details, but I just wanted to say that I'm pretty happy with my new job. I think everyone should get a tremendous laugh from the thought of me being a proof reader. Luckily, I'm only one of three editorial assistants. My background in design might be my saving grace. We'll find out tomorrow when I hand in my design project.

FAMILY GAME NIGHT

For those of you who don't know, one of our gifts to Jeremy's mother including the promise to devote one night a month to a family gathering. I'm not sure what Jeremy's opinion is on the subject, but I'll admit that it is something that I look forward to each time. This past weekend, we tried to incorporate some outdoor activities. One of these included badminton. This isn't your grandma's badminton though. Although we didn't keep any official score, we still played pretty intensely. Jeremy's dad, Dave, tried to take me out of the game a couple of times. And he was on MY team! All in all, it was a fun night and we always have a good time.

BOWFLEX

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that Jeremy had purchased a bowflex for his birthday. I LOVE IT! At the risk of sounding like a commercial, it is so easy to use! Once you figure out how to switch from one position to the next, you can easily fit in a full body workout in 30 minutes. It won't completely replace my tai chi or yoga sessions though (insert Kari laugh here).

I think that explosion of useless information will suffice for today. Later all!

-Jewel

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WAAAaayyyy behind

Ok, lots going on lately. I've kind of fallen behind in my blogging (like someone else I know). So look for the upcoming blogs about: Family game night, Topher at the festival, the new job, henna party, and anything else I can think of. Unfortunately, can't write about any of those in detail right now because I have to finish cleaning my house and preparing for the first of those things in the list. Now I just need Jeremy to get home from the grocery store so I can start cooking. Later All! Happy Mother's Day :)

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