It's Easier When the Kids Sleep In

I'm so drowsy today. I think I'm on a happiness hangover from all that Up, Up, Up, I was experiencing yesterday. I'm not complaining, I love a Good Day.

I've been working on getting photos up at my photography website and the Facebook page for the business. It takes awhile, because I have to go between two computers. If I bump my old computer, it goes all wonky, because a driver is broken. I sure wish I could get that system fixed at some point. I love that machine. My old computer holds almost 4 years of photos and there are a TON of them. I'd like to find some unedited versions of some of my favorites so that when I get my photoshop, I can edit them properly. For example, I always kind of liked this one.

And this one.  Neither look anything like the jpg that I started with.

Oh! Sounds like my kids are finally waking up. They've slept until after 11am, so I've got all my work done for the day. Max is home from Summer school today with the barfs. Poor kid.

I wish you a wonderful day!! 

Senior Picture Season Is Now Open

I had a great day. I felt happy. No fighting with my kids, no kids fighting with each other. And I got to shoot David's Senior Portraits. So much fun!

We walked around the CSUC campus looking for good spots and there were a lot of them. It's a beautiful campus.

Then, we visited some of the local spots in downtown Chico like the Diamond Alley, I think that's what it's called. They have these structures at either end - I shot the kids there last weekend - and they are covered with these mosiac tiles. Beautiful.

Then we went just beyond downtown to the top of Bidwell Park, where we visited a bridge and a tunnel that runs under the road. The tunnel is tiled with tiles decorated with bugs and birds. It's new. Chico is really a pretty cool little art town.

Balance On One Foot

I was messing around in the front yard with my camera yesterday. I haven't been out there as much as I'd like, was making up for lost time. I had a lot of things to shoot, but I was out of fresh ideas. I got this and wanted to show Mark, because I was trying to explain to him, on the phone, how it looked. Like an onion, I said. It's sort of plopped down in a pot that includes a tree from Grandma's old house and assorted flowers. I have a feeling that it was a one-shot Easter flower. I like to lay in the grass and have my focus catch on different tiny plants or grass blades. I like the disjointed look in the background and sometimes I get some cool bokeh.

Make a wish!

I had a photo in my Etsy shop and I've been thinking that I'd like to recreate the shot with my Canon, because when it's printed, it has a bit of noise and messiness to it. Very frustrating. I want something better. I need to work on the colors .......

and the framing, composition, etc, so that I can recreate this one below.

See how I'm not even close? I think I shot toward a car and the light flared back or something. Hard to make it happen again. It needs more pink.

I am so tired today. I wanted to get away for a quick trip to the creek, but I had too much work. I kept falling asleep mid-type with my laptop in my lap, so I thought I'd take the advice of a friend and nap. Nope. Bay called and I have to go pick her up. I hope that I don't fall asleep on the road. Oh, that's not funny. Sorry.

I feel bad today. My eyes hurt, my tummy hurts.

*edit* I took a part out here. I'm way too introspective lately. I need to get over myself. So, this next part won't make sense, but well.........

Everything is about balance. Balance your diet. Balance your checkbook. Balance your skin ph. Balance your time in terms of work and play. Balance the spices in the dishes you cook. Balance on one foot for Tree Pose.

See the ending is kind of out of left field. What does that saying mean? "Out of left field?"

Nature Notes: Upper Bidwell Park in the Spring

Today I've got another Nature Notes blog entry. Nature Notes is the creation of Michelle from Rambling Woods.

Yesterday, I took a short hike in Upper Bidwell Park. I love this hike. It's a fairly steady uphill climb, not uncomfortable, but good exercise. This time of year, it's very green, lots of wildflowers.

In the Summer, it's much warmer and gold in every direction. The first weekend that Steve visited, we did this hike. He called it a "Death March," but he laughed when he said it.
As we hiked up the hill, I found myself growing comfortable with him again. It was the beginning of falling in love with him, after more than 20 years apart.

I'd say that 9 times out of 10 I've hiked this alone. I've run it many times and I always feel a mountain goat scrambling up and then I fly back down. One time, I ran by these woman who were my age and one called out, "You go, girl!"

The below shot is looking to the West. That ridge of rock you see is right around where the basalt rock starts. The creek lies below the line. I'll take some photos of that area soon.

More wildflowers. I wanted to lay on my belly to get a different view of these, but it was so busy up there and it's not like the front lawn when I'm trying to get shots of the clover.

I love the wildflowers, but oh man is my head a mess from my allergies. Not as bad as poor Max, though. He's very uncomfortable and he takes allergy medicine all year.

The shot below was shot near the bottom of the trail. You can see the fields of flowers. I start the trail with a worry. Some issue that has bothered me all day. With every step I examine the problem, try to work out the knot. By the time I get back to the bottom, I always feel better. I can leave it on the hill.

Herb Is Here

I always set my posts up the same. I upload the photos. I put them in "center," then I add my text. At work, I paste the text, then add the photos in later. I wanted to try something different tonight. I tried putting the photos in on the "left" and this is what I ended up with. It looks like a big ol' mess to me.

Anyway, to the left is my Sage. I've had this Sage plant for a few years. It got really big this year. Currently, it's gone a bit woody. I don't use a lot of Sage, but I love the way it looks, the silvery green leaves are lovely. Just to the right of the Sage, in the very same pot is a minature Lemon Tree. Last year I got 4 lemons off of it. That is 3 more than I ever had on it in years before.

To the left of this is what is left of my Oregano. I think that there's a little mint in there, too. The Flat Leaf Parsley made it through, as well. I like that stuff, it's pretty, but I so rarely use it.

The Oregano and Mint both go nuts, just trail all over the place. There's a pansy behind it. I put the pansy in a tree start that Mom gave me. I'll grow the tree, but it's so plain right now. I wanted the pansy to fancy things up a bit.

I put up these little Basil starts. I used the heck out of the Basil. I like to make pizza and Pesto with Walnuts, so having Basil of my own saves time and money.

I got an email from a company today that does these redwood planter frames. They were so cool. There's one that is 8x8 and one that is for "city dwellers" and it's 4x4. They asked if I wanted to "sample" it. I'm not sure what they mean. Do they want to ship me part of it? Or to try it and send it back? Or are they going to send me a kit, because, honestly it's a pretty awesome kit. I would love to see that kit out on the patio. It would look pretty and I could grow some actual vegetables in there.

Well, I'm off to bed. I'm reading the book, "He's Just Not That Into You," and I find it incredibly liberating. So, he just wasn't that into me. So what. Maybe the next one will be.

Ruby Tuesday - Pencils

I haven't taken part in Mary, the Teach's Ruby Tuesday for awhile. So, I shot my box of colored pencils this morning. I haven't used any of them in so long. I have the Prisma colors and some watercolor pencils - I love these pencils, but I haven't used them for awhile. The top of the box was very dusty. I think I'll get them out this weekend. Sarah and I can draw something fun.

I bet a lot of people are going to have holiday decorations for their Ruby Tuesday shots. That wouldn't work for me - my decorations are white, pink, purple, and blue. Bay came home and said, "It's so girly in here!" and it is. I'll post some photos of the decorations later.

Do you color with the traditional red and green or do you like to mix it up?

Sarah and I Run For Food

For the second time, Sarah and I did The Run For Food. A 5K event that benefits The Jesus Center - a facility that provides aid to homeless people.

We had a good time, but every time I do something like this, I am reminded that my daughter needs more time playing outside and less time sitting in front of the computer. An overweight, 42-year-old mom should not be able to run circles around her 10-year-old daughter. :( I will fix that. It's my new purpose. I want to not be able to keep up with that kid.

Here we are before the race. We got there just before it started - our clock apparently needs a battery and it was later than I thought. Oops. The announcer said that there were more than 2200 entrants this year.

Here's a shot of the crowd. Everyone was so excited and chatty. I saw a lady lean in and sing to her husband - lots of music - and it was so sweet that it gave me goosebumps.

This approximately the midway point. We cross the creek and go back the other way. It's a 5K event.

After the race I took this and it has a curious whirly feel that I thought was kind of cool. It makes me dizzy to look at it.

Here we are at the end. Hurray!!! Look how pink our faces are. Time to go home and start the pies.......in theory, anyway. Instead I uploaded the photos. I gotta be me. The pies will get done.

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Sunday with the Yorks - My First Family Portrait Session

I had the opportunity today.....err, well yesterday, as it's in the very early hours of Monday, to do a family portrait session with my brother's beautiful family. I had so much fun. I was nervous, as this was my first official job, but as soon as I got behind the camera, my nerves just went away.

My brother's kids are gorgeous. Here is my favorite shot of the day, so far - I'm only 1/4 of the way through the editing. This is Brad Jr. Look at those eyelashes - the sun caught them here. This is Brad and his lovely wife, Shawna. Shawna is the one who asked me to do the photos. There was a funny moment here where Shawna was saying, "Lets try one like this....... " and then she made a comment that I so wish I had caught on my brother's face. Dagnabit! I do think that the way they are looking at each other here, well it's very loving. They were high school sweethearts, too.

My youngest nephew is Hayden. His older sister, Ashlee, and his older brother, Brad, are constantly loving on that boy. Hugging him, kissing him, it's all about the little brother. I love to see close sibling relationships like that. My brother is almost 13 years younger than I am, so I was this way with him. He was the best baby - sweet and cuddily. I need to find a photo of him........ I'll get back to you with that. He was the best surprise of my childhood.

Heres's a taste of the devilish charm I saw today. These two crack me up. I was showing Sarah the photos and she laughed so hard, making up commentary as we went through all the photos.

Here they are all together in their backyard. The kids love this yard - they have so much room to run about. What do you think of the boy's matching outfits? Those hats, so darn cute. I have a lot more that I will share later in the week. I had so much fun shooting these guys. I hope that they had fun, too.