Three-Sixty-Five Wrap-Up

173/365: The Proposal. The ticket stub from the movie we saw last Friday. I loved it!

174/365: Anniversary Bouquet. The bouquet of wildflowers my husband picked for me on our 2nd anniversary.

175/365: Thunderhead

176/365: Hooters Coming Soon! To Kingman!!

177/365: "To Read" Shelf

178/365: Second Shooting. My first time as a second shooter at a wedding on Saturday.

179/365: Reminscing. Irene gave me back the Australia brochures I collected for them while I was there. It was so fun to look through all of them!

For Today

6/29/09

Outside my office door…Debbie typing, customers calling, but mostly a quiet Monday…which is good because we’re all playing catch up from last week.
I am thinking…about my 365 wrap-up post, about the pictures I’m editing that I took of Oscar yesterday, and about the wedding pictures I still need to finish culling down (I’m down to 1129 from the 2057 I took…not counting the ones I deleted while we were shooting).
I am thankful for…the weather Saturday. It was HOT, but no rain, so we got to take all of our portraits outside in the gorgeous shady sunlight.
From the kitchen…probably taco salad tonight – we’ve got lettuce and sour cream to use up.
I am wearing…a Hard Rock tshirt, jeans, and Nikes. Woohoo for casual week!
I am creating…does microwaving my Lean Cuisine for lunch count?
I am going…to drop off recycling and get a few things at the Kingman Red & White tonight.
I am reading…blogs, as always.
I am hoping…that I can edit all the wedding pictures I took Saturday before our crazy summer boating weekends start and I get way behind on picture editing.
I am hearing…the copier copying, faxes coming in, Travis calling customers.
Around the house…clean dishes waiting to be put away, magazines piling up in my “to be read” basket, a messy bed that wasn’t made.
One of my favorite things…editing pictures on my laptop on lunch…it helps me stay caught up!
A few plans for the rest of the week…edit, edit, edit. Everyone stop in and give Cass a little encouragement this week…she has to cull through and edit over 4000 pictures that the two of us took!
A picture to share…the gorgeous couple we worked with Saturday.

Free Online Photo Editing Class!

I'm staying busy tonight looking at tons of wedding photos in my Inspiration Folder, but wanted to pop in and share this great find with everyone. 

For those of you that have been dabbling in photography, this free online digital photo editing class with Jessica Sprague is sure to be inspiring and helpful. For those that haven't heard of her, Jessica is a contributor to Creating Keepsakes (scrapbooking) magazine. If nothing else, you can pick up the free downloads that come with the class (and several other free scrapbooking kit downloads on her site. You just need Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Free registration ends June 28 and the class begins July 6. I signed up...did you??

Friday Gratitudes

1. So thankful for the awesome weekend we had with our dads last weekend.
2. So unbelievably blessed with a wonderful husband who has put up with me for 2 years of marriage.
3. Absolutely loved the beautiful bouquet of hand-picked wild flowers I found on the kitchen table on our anniversary.
4. So grateful for my sweet husband who makes me supper more often than I cook for him (yes, I admit it…and I LOVE it!).
5. So glad I found some new inspiration for my 365 book project (watch for the new “format” in Sunday or Monday’s 365 week in review post).
6. Very thankful for our air conditioner my hubby put in a couple weeks ago. I was dead set against using it there for a while…the 95+ degree days have changed that.
7. So glad I finally broke down and bought my new black and white damask camera strap cover from Shealynn on Etsy…I love it!
8. Thankful that I found DrewB's blog again...I hadn't visited it in a long time, but it's providing some great inspiration for tomorrow's wedding I'm second-shooting with Cass.
9. So grateful for an awesome sunset last night and a hubby who is willing to stop on the side of the road so I can stand on top of the truck and snap pictures of it.
10. So, so thankful that my Dad and Norm get along the way they do…Norm is headed to the lake tomorrow with Dad, Jenny, and Joshy while I’m shooting the wedding.
    

Two Years Ago Today...

...we were headed for Ft. Lauderdale and our seven-day Caribbean cruise honeymoon. What I wouldn't give to be headed there today, with him.

For Today

6/22/09

Outside my window…at home during breakfast - robins searching for worms. Here at work, no windows…so pictures of the Keys cover my walls.

I am thinking…about all the awesome creative stuff I find at Ali Edwards’ blog…where I found this ‘For Today’ prompt.

I am thankful for…an awesome weekend with Norm and both of our dads and family and friends. 

From the kitchen…looks like tacos tonight; Norm laid out ground beef before he left this morning.

I am wearing…black gaucho capris (a summer staple), black flats, and a yellow Aeropostale tee.

I am creating…blog posts. I can’t get enough lately.

I am going…to CVS after work today to finally pick up my free 8x10 print that I ordered two weeks ago.

I am reading…blogs, blogs, and more blogs. Plus countless books in progress at the same time.

I am hoping…that I can get my house cleaning done before I crash tonight.

I am hearing…the copier outside my office door.

Around the house…coupons to be clipped on the kitchen table, laundry to be put away by the closet, and wild Tiger Lily in a Ball jar by the sink.

One of my favorite things…sitting out in the yard after supper, reading as the sun goes down.

A few plans for the rest of the week…catch up on house work, search for wedding photo inspiration for this weekend’s wedding shoot with Cass.

A picture to share…a shot from Saturday's four-wheeler ride that Norm, Oscar, and I took to the buffer strips.

Post inspiration from The Simple Woman's Day Book found through Ali Edwards' blog.

Hello Monday.

Usually Monday mornings I wake up rested and rejuvenated from a weekend of sleeping in, getting things done around the house, and just trying to get a jump start on the week. However, this Monday I woke up exhausted (but happy). I am behind the eight ball already this week. I didn’t get my Sunday house cleaning done, there is still laundry in the basket where it was hurriedly pulled off the clothes line, there are dishes in the sink, and coupons to be clipped. But it’s because we had a weekend filled with fun with our dads, family, friends, and picture-taking. I stayed up too late last night editing and posting them here. Just like vacations, some weekends require the week to rest and recover from. And I’m thankful for those weekends too.

365 Week 24

166/365: Self. So glad Norm is catching on to my camera a little. I just couldn't get this right by myself.

167/365: Umbrella. This and the photo above were inspired by {damnittoby}'s photostream on Flickr. This one I did manage to take by myself before work.

168/365: Fog

169/365: Evening. This is where you'll find me about every evening all summer. This is also why my "to read" shelf is finally starting to dwindle a little.

170/365: Shopping. Just grabbing a couple things at Kroger after a movie date to see The Proposal (I loved it by the way!). When he saw what I was doing he walked away and said, "that's it, I'm leaving you here, I'm going home!". Ha!

171/365: Father Daughter Dance. A little dancing at the Hillsboro bar the night before Father's Day (again, shot by Norm - go honey!).

172/365: Shooting. Holden, Little Rodney, Rodney, my dad, and Norm shooting clay pigeons.

Happy Father's Day!

Since this was Father's Day weekend, I went rifling through my old photo scans for a few of my favorite pictures of Norm and I and our dads.

This is me and my Daddy, sometime in 1987. I was three.

This is where I rode to the babysitter - 1986. My dolly and I rode on the gas tank, playing with the radio knobs the whole way. This was around the last time I rode a motorcycle, until yesterday.

Norm and Rodney in September 1986. This was taken at an air show and was in the Chicago Tribune.

Norm and Rodney on the Allis D-17, in 1992. They still use the D-17 to run the auger and to rake hay.

This Father's Day weekend, Jenny was out of town, so Dad, Norm, and I rode up to Hillsboro for a little supper and fun Saturday night. This was the first time I've been on a bike since Dolly was riding with us. When we got home, Dad announced "this was the best Father's Day ever!". And it was still only 2am on Father's Day...it wasn't over!

Today Dad joined us for a fish fry at Rodney and Cheryl's. We had some delicious walleye "from the pristine lakes of Northern Canada" as Norm says...and it wouldn't be a holiday at the Norman's without some shooting! =)

Hope everyone had a great Father's Day...and Happy First Day of Summer!

May Wrap-Up

May's wrap-up is a little slim looking back on it now. Not that May was boring...actually we did quite a few things, but I posted about the Balloon Glow here, Cass and I's little photo field trip downtown Indy here, our "Weekend in the Life" here, and the Indians game here. It was an awesome month and we had a lot of fun weekends, filled in with busy weeks of farming. 

The calves hanging out in their playpen...all the mommas parked them under the tree and made them stay while they went off together eating grass. Oscar watching Norm drill beans in the field by our house. Norm saying "my eyes are burning", talking about the weeds in the field he'd just sprayed the night before...he was so proud that they were all wilting. Curious calves love my camera...missing them now that all the cows have been moved to 32. Oscar waiting for me to catch up on an evening walk...and waiting on me to finish taking pictures of the corn (a little project I'm working on for Rodney - post coming soon). 

Also, I just have to say...I'm falling in love with the picture in the bottom right corner of Norm in the field. It got passed up as the 365 picture of the day, but I'm seriously thinking about having that shot enlarged now. That was taken right before I almost ran him over getting in the truck...oops! =)

Friday Gratitudes

1. Hilarious Photo Booth fun with Dad, Jenny, Joshy, and Norm Sunday evening – so glad to get to spend time with the little tardo while he’s up from Georgia.
   
2. The inspiration that has me working out a little again for the first time since spring break…bikini season is coming fast!
   
3. Wonderful relaxing evenings sitting outside reading as the sun goes down...it's my favorite time of the day. I can see I'll finally be catching up on my reading this summer!
   
4. Blurb's blog "slurp" program that is allowing me to print an '07-'08 blog book of all of my posts through December '08. How cool!
   
5. My dad and text. The combination tickles me. Last night I texted him: "burgers?" to see if they were coming to cheeseburger night. He texted back: "workn still". I know that doesn't seem funny...unless you know him. Norm said, "that probably took him 20 minutes to type". I can see him drenched with sweat, covered in horse hair, with his Hulk thumb, horse poop covered hands, hauling his trailer down the highway (complete with butterfly painted-wood frame interior), trying to type on the tiny little buttons. Oh my.
   
6. Scott and Paula's Harley that Dad and Jenny are storing while they're in Japan. He's only ridden it once, but Norm loves riding so much and I'm so glad he and my dad can do it together.
   
7. The new PDF format quote form at work. BORING...right? It has been quite the controversy at work this week, but I, for one, am so glad we're moving into the 21st century.
   
8. My new black and white damask padded camera strap cover. It will surely show up in a 365 shot soon.
   
9. The anticipation of a movie date tonight...I can't wait for The Proposal!!
   
10. The frogs and crickets that have been singing me to sleep every night this month. I loved living in the city and used to think that's where I wanted to stay...hmmmm, wrong-o. I will never live anywhere but the country, most likely never anywhere but Fountain County...it is home.
    

April Wrap-Up?! It's Almost July!

For some reason it dawned on me today that I've stopped doing the monthly wrap-ups I used to do. Not only do I keep this blog to share my little random thoughts with all of you, but as a journal of sorts for me to look back on later. I'm actually in the process of "slurping" my blog for '07-'08 into a Blurb book that I'll have printed as a little blog scrapbook. There are lots of random shots that don't make it onto the blog throughout the month that I want to remember. So I'm posting April today, May's monthly wrap-up will be up shortly, with June's following soon as this month is also flying by.

I finally got around to painting our Adirondacks chairs...Jamaican Dream blue.

I did a little Easter egg dyeing for the first time since I was a kid...all in the name of photography.

We went dress shopping for Tiff's bridal gown and our bridesmaid dresses. She said we could all pick our own styles, but we all loved the yellow one in the pictures. It will be a wine color for Tiff's November wedding. And, no, none of the dresses she's wearing in the pictures are the one she bought...I can't show it!

Some of the first signs of spring...daffodils.

Signs of Summer

While the official start to summer is just around the corner, the signs of summer have been popping up for a while...

Queen Anne's Lace in all the ditches

Nightly four-wheeler rides

Family reunions

Flip flop tan lines

Grilling

Fresh Strawberries

Freezie Pops

Lightning Bugs

Get-togethers

Wild Tiger Lily

Flickr Inspiration

I have found some awesome (and addicting!) inspiration on Flickr lately. 

Flickr user {damnittoby} has some super cool self portraits and 365 shots that I plan on trying:

1. Day 133 - Breakfast., 2. Day 88 - "Just cause it ain't what you planned, don't mean it ain't what it oughta be.", 3. Untitled, 4. Day 290 -Well I never lived the dreams of the prom kings and the drama queens. I'd like to think the best of me is still hiding up my sleeve., 5. Untitled, 6. Day 202, 7. Untitled, 8. Day 109, 9. Day 111 - Raaaaaain!, 10. Day 79 - Clinicals make me tired., 11. Day89 - Four day weekend = !!! :), 12. ...or I'll continue to take pictures of myself.


I don't know how I came across spaghetti*'s photostream, but I love her bright, airy, clean style.


1. homesweethome, 2. Untitled, 3. Wishing you a *warm, beautiful and happy* new year, 4. Untitled, 5. just a liiiittle addicted ;), 6. hippy dress, 7. be a girl!, 8. summer sweetness, 9. Untitled, 10. Untitled, 11. Untitled, 12. Untitled

Pink Sugar's baby and couple photography is rockin my socks off too.

1. Untitled, 2. Untitled, 3. Untitled, 4. yawn, 5. Untitled, 6. Untitled, 7. wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!, 8. Untitled, 9. gorgeous, 10. Untitled, 11. Untitled, 12. Untitled

Pinkle Toes has some really awesome creative shots.

1. just because, 2. purely pinkle, 3. biker baby, 4. merry, 5. the color! the texture!, 6. fragile, 7. *featured*, 8. *yawn*, 9. double bubble

More Photo Booth Fun

Dad, Jenny, Joshy, Norm, and I had a little more Photo Book fun last night after supper. These are still cracking me up!! Floyd couldn't get enough of the silly pictures of himself.