The Beginning

Instead of driving the full 13 hours to the beach, we decided to make a pit stop somewhere in between just to change it up a bit. We were going to stop in New Orleans like we did last year but instead ended up in Mobile, AL. We stayed at the nicest hotel Mobile had to offer which was cool since it was super fancy but pretty cheap since, let's face it, we were only in Mobile.

When we got up the next morning, we stopped at the USS Alabama, a giant battleship that was in service during World War II. It's kind of a giant open-air museum of sorts since they have everything from different fighter jets, planes, subs, etc. It was pretty cool but I was NOT dressed appropriately and it was like 300% humidity there that morning.

I bet you saw this F16 and immediately started humming the theme song to Top Gun.

Speaking of Top Gun, Jason always gets mad since I like to call him Goose every once in a while. For some reason he thinks he should be Maverick or even Ice Man, but let's face it, he looks WAY more like Goose (plus I think Tom Cruise is a weirdo and WAY too short).

The class clown runs in the family too.

Lawyer, ironically, was dressed in a shirt that was all patriotic and said "Home of the Brave" on it.

Sitting at one of the big guns.

The dimple on the cheek gets me every time!

This just looked cool and graphic to me.

My sister- and brother-in-law let me take family photos of them and their new baby. This is a sneak peak and one of my favorites.

The beach is coming up next!

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder...

Did you miss me? Sorry, I took a little hiatus from blogging because I went on vacation! I have pictures to share from the beach later but here's what happened before our vacation...

See that blondie above? See something that's a little off?

Yeah, this crazy kid decided to BREAK HIS FOOT before we went on vacation! He did it on a Tuesday and I didn't think much of it and by Thursday my mom thought I might want to take him to the doctor to just make sure it was okay. He was kind of limping on it but I just thought he got like a stone bruise on the bottom of his foot of something. (Sidenote: This kid broke his foot by running and jumping in the shallow end of the pool and his foot landed on the stairs....AFTER I told him to not do it!)

Anyhow, I took him to the doctor on Thursday and sure enough, he had two broken metatarsals (the long bones that connect the ankle to the toes) in the center of the foot. We got a half cast (basically a splint) put on and we went ahead to the beach on Friday for the week, keeping it wrapped up when we weren't playing in the ocean and in the sand. He had the real cast put on yesterday...and after days of telling him that he wouldn't get to swim once he got the cast put on, I'll be darn if they don't offer water-proof casts these days! So we still get to swim and take regular showers.

Here's a sneak peak of this beautiful red-head we got to spend time with this week on our vacation!

More to come soon!

I'm a Super-Star!

Er, okay, maybe not that cool...but one of my favorite blogs to visit about fun embroidery is showing off my unicorn that I stitched! How fun is that!

Visit Feeling Stitchy to check it out!

A Little of This and That...

I've got a lot of things swimming around in the great beyond, known as my brain. So here's a random post full of, well, randomness.

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Lawyer got a new toy the other day from Jason. I'm pretty sure that most 4 year olds don't technically need one of these but Lawyer sure does love it.

It's this scuba underwater propeller thingy (not certain what the technical name is). It's actually used by scuba divers in the ocean and it can go down to 60 feet but we decided it would be super fun in the pool.

See? He loves it! I can't wait to buy some disposable underwater cameras...I'm going to get some ultra-rad shots in the water!

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I've got one sleeve on the circulars for my nephew's sweater I'm knitting. The other sleeve is started so hopefully I can finish this by sometime in this millennium.

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Did I mention I tried my hand at embroidery recently?

There's this super-cool website that has fun embroidery patterns you can purchase. I actually bought the owner's little book from Barnes and Noble. That's where the unicorn came from.

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Oh and I found the coolest thing for when Lawyer starts losing his teeth. It's called the Official Tooth Fairy Kit. It's got a letterpress (LETTERPRESS, I say!!) form that has what looks like an old-timey dentist chart of teeth that you fill out each time. Here's what the website says about it:

The Official Tooth Fairy Kit contains one letterpress Certificate
of Record for filing with your local Tooth Fairy and one reusable silk screened cloth deposit bag for your first and all subsequent transactions. The official certificate keeps record of name, age, tooth lost, method of extraction and compensation information.

How hilarious is that? I purchased one today and can't wait to get it next week. Lawyer is going to LOVE it when I pull this one out at the appropriate time. You can buy one at the Office of the Tooth Fairy.

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I looked out the window the other day and saw Lawyer creating hopscotch squares. Where, pray tell, did he learn this? I have never done such a thing with him!

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Oh, and running still sucks. No matter how much you want to convince me.

Love, Me

PS: Two nights ago, Jason, Lawyer and I went to see Land of the Lost (don't take your kids, I hear EVERY SINGLE CUSS word in the first five minutes and there was plenty of boobs - on cups, grabbing, etc - and this was supposed to be a movie I could take my 4 year old too!) and we showed up just in time for the tornadoes (although I don't think it was much more than funnel clouds) to be ripping through our 'hood. Good times.

Not So Good...

This dress has been done for a while now but I haven't really had it at the top of my list because it's, as my 4 year old would say, "Not so good."

I won't give up on this knitting pattern because I have quite a few changes that I would make the next go 'round to possibly make it "good" or possibly even "great".

But for now? "Not so good".

Oh Dear...

I love fantasy/whimsical things - probably why I love children's books and movies so much....Alice in Wonderland having always been a huge favorite. I once was discussing a fantasy-like book with someone once and they told me "I don't like fantasy stuff." Um, last time I checked, most books you read for fun have some sort of fantasy value. That's why people like to read books - to put themselves in another place and in another time! Anyways...

I decided to buy some art on a whim at 8:00am this morning. I've really enjoyed the art and blog of Emily Martin of Inside a Black Apple. Her art is intriguing and whimsical, with a slight dark-side to it. Think Alice in Wonderland meets the Adams Family.

I bought two different pieces and I can't wait to take pictures when I receive the art so I can share them.

This purchase has led me too want to paint my office...again. But not until after we have knocked out most of one of the walls between my office and living room to put double french doors in. Then I can paint it. The same color as my bedroom. I'm thinking the icy blue-green and red would look quite lovely.

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On another note, I hate running. There I said it. Those that like it and love it and live it, I congratulate you because I think running sucks and anyone that can honestly say they love it should be extremely proud of themselves (and I'm not being hateful, I'm truly intrigued by those that love it). This isn't to say that I have quit my little 5k jaunt. I'm still plugging away, I'm just saying it sucks.

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I rented another lens for my camera and it should be here next week, just in time for our little vacation to the beach (thank goodness!). I'm super-excited about this lens since it is an L-series lens...I can't decide if it will make me super happy to have rented it or super-sad that I will have to give it up after three weeks.

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Does anybody know of anything fun to do in New Orleans that doesn't have to do with T&A? We'll only be there for a few hours worth of a stop but I like to do stuff. I was mortified when we took our son through Bourbon Street last time, even at 10:00 in the morning. I'd like something a little on the G to PG side this time. It doesn't necessarily need to be something to do, it could just be something interesting to drive through or see.

Art is Top Priority Around Here

You've never seen a 4 year old more in-tune with his creative side.

Seriously.

We had fun...

Um, yeah. About this weekend...I went to the mega-country concert of the year! LeAnn Womack (Julian Hough got sick), Blake Shelton, REBA FREAKIN' MCINTYRE and GEORGE ARE YOU KIDDIN' ME STRAIGHT played at the brand spankin' new Dallas Cowboys Stadium on Saturday night. We had floor seats, dead center, 35 rows back and it was simply an amazing concert at an amazing new stadium! The company we had was great and I think all of North Texas is officially dry for how much beer the six of us consumed. Good times.

Oh and fun fact o' the day...Jason's company did ALL the glass for the new stadium, including the world's largest moveable glass doors!

Lawyer got to hang out with Granny and Papaw and he was perfectly fine with that. He even spent the entire day at Six Flags yesterday.

Let's see...I've gone 6 weeks straight (maybe 7?) of drinking at least 64 ounces of water every day but I noticed that I'm closer to a gallon of water (128 ounces - thought I would do the math for you) the past week or so. Why? I decided I needed to get my butt in gear and attempt to get back in shape so I started a LITTLE running program (I'm talking minuscule) since I wanted to do something new and running is always new to me. I'm doing this "Couch to 5K" schedule and so far it is alright. My hamstring hurts so bad even though I'm very strict about doing at least 10-15 minutes of stretching before and after my little walk/jog. Funny thing is, it only hurts when I walk but when I run, it is fine.

Okay since I've rambled on, here are some pics of Lawyer and I at the park. (Granny and Papaw - this is when you want to look away, okay?) Lawyer scaled the little rock wall. The 4 year old is absolutely fearless.

NOTE TO SELF: If you are going to take your nice camera to the park and you think you might want to capture some fun pics of your child...make sure you have a charged battery! Or at least make sure you have your iPhone with you so you can still take pics.

Knock Out

Poor Lawyer was subjected to yet another little photo shoot.

But it was because I was inspired by this photo of his great-grandfather. Lawyer was only missing a black eye.

Have a wonderful Monday!

He Gets Me Every Time...

I bribed (no...gave an incentive to) Lawyer for me to take pictures of him. I do love getting new pictures of him but my main focus this time was to stretch myself with my photography skills. I'm still learning where to place lighting (I really only use natural lighting and NO flash!) on my subjects, whether it's food, a completed project or, of course, a person.

Usually, these little photography escapades do not turn out since Lawyer just about does everything to avoid me like the plague when he sees me point a camera at him.

But this time? I think I caught some of my most favorite pictures of him.

Thank you, my sweet boy, for participating. I'm sure it had nothing to do with my bribe (uh, incentive). Oh, and those interested (not that I am even remotely a professional) in how/what I did to get each picture, I gave details for what worked for me.

Exposure: 1/60
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50mm
ISO Speed: 800

I purposely over-exposed this picture...this was nothing that I did in Photoshop. In fact, the only thing I did was slightly sharpen the eyes and put an edge burn around the picture to slightly darken the edges.

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Exposure: 1/80
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 65mm
ISO Speed: 800

The original photo turned out extremely under-exposed so I fixed it in Photoshop. This looks okay but nothing like the top photo.

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Exposure: 1/80
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50mm
ISO Speed: 800

I didn't pose Lawyer, I just said "Stand in this area" and then whatever he did, I just kept shooting. This was one of my favorites, he looks pensive.

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Exposure: 1/60
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50mm
ISO Speed: 800

This is a tad cheesy...but I promise, I did not pose him like that or at all. I asked him to get on our leather ottoman and he just plopped himself up like that. It still turned out okay for those that like posed pictures.

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Exposure: 1/50
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 28mm
ISO Speed: 800

Ah, the W wall makes a comeback. I wonder if this will ever get old to me.

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One thing to note, I don't usually like shooting at such a high ISO speed but given the fact that I have VERY dark walls and the sun was directly over our house with no real light pouring in from the windows, I had to bump it up that high.

Okay, there is your groovy photography lesson for the day from an amateur photographer!

Oh and want to know what the bribe/incentive was? Marbles...you'll have to stay tune for what is so special about these particular marbles that Lawyer was willing to spend a little time with me over!

Day 5 of Summer

::Sometimes we just like to hang out on the couch and watch a movie.

Just Us

Because I love "Before & Afters"...

Here's Jason's "before and after" after a fabulous trip to the dentist for some teeth whitening! He has the most beautifully shaped teeth and he finally went and did something to perk them up...I love them (and him)!

Oh and here is a picture of Jason's eyes...he has the most beautiful color of eyes. They remind me of sea glass. This is a straight out of camera shot so don't think I manipulated the color of his eyes.

Self-Portrait

Here's yet another Lawyer/Mom picture....I'm really starting to like the pics I'm getting with him - especially when they are silly.

The other day, I BEGGED Lawyer to let me take some "nice" pictures of him and after tears (not by me...but almost), resistance and lots of ignoring me, I thought the little photo shoot had been a waste on both of our parts...but after looking through my pictures, I liked this one a lot - despite the lack of focus (I can't decide if it is me or my camera - all my pictures lately seem REALLY out of focus...hmm).

Okay, that's it from me!

Day 4 of Summer

::Bubble Blowing

::Seed Starting

::Sun Catching

Day 3 of Summer

An outdoor science "experiment" is where it's at this summer!

Day 2 of Summer

What would summer be without snow cones? Honestly, I've never touched a snow cone. For some reason shaved ice with a really sugary syrup drizzled over it never sounded that appealing. But for MOST PEOPLE, what would summer be without snow cones?

My goal this summer is to get into MORE pictures with my family. I have very few pictures of myself with my family - a handful really, but you know, having a creative outlet sometimes means getting out of your comfort zone so you'll be seeing a LITTLE bit of myself in a few pictures. I'll even try NOT to make nervous jokes about myself either (like, "Don't I look like I stole glasses from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?"). Besides, I'm doing this for Lawyer's sake - not my own.