Finding an extra memory disc

I haven't used my Canon in a while. I'm not sure why because it has more gizmos. But I charged the battery last night and this morning found pictures from a friend's birthday party and pictures I took just because. I loved this window shutter!

Here's before editing:

And after:

I ♥ Washington

This was my first experience with the west coast, or any coast for that matter. And I absolutely loved it! I have decided that I have to go back. Looking at these pictures makes me want to be back there right now. Enjoy and be jealous!

Some of my favorite pics of that girl I love so much.

I'm not sure where I've placed all the pictures of her after getting into my make up but here are some of the others. Mom complains that I taught her to make funny faces for the camera and now I have ruined her for serious pictures. But it's her faces that make the following pictures so memorable. I love this girl and miss her already.



She's been to Sea World twice now. This is from her first trip; she wasn't too sure about the big fish named Shamu. She's got dad wrapped around her little finger.


This picture cracks me up every time I see it but it also shows off those vivid baby blues.

We curled her hair and then went out to take pictures. I believe it was right after this picture she ran away from me saying, "No more pictures sissy!" She must have been really excited about what ever it is she got. This is the year mom got crazy with the wrapping paper and boxes.

Blue Bell ad! After this trip Caitlin laid down in the back of my car and told Whitney and I that she wanted to go home and bathe herself. (The Texas heat melts that ice cream pretty fast.)

I took Caitlin and Cheyenne to the park one day and followed behind them with a camera. I love taking pictures of this girl. Here is one of those rare moments Weston and Caitlin are not screaming at each other.
Caitlin also comes to my rescue when "Bubba" is being mean to me. I believe I almost had my nose broken here. She's a great distraction or decoy for me though.

I took pictures of the kids to print up and frame for Mother's Day. We were trying to get Caitlin to put her arms around Weston. We said the typical "at least act like you love him" and it didn't work so we finally told her to just choke him. I think she liked that a little too much.

Another one of those faces. She's getting so big!


From our NM trip last year. Funny face and baby blues all in one.

And one of my personal favorites. Again because of her eyes.

Ikea=Awesome

So this blog will mainly be for photos that I've tried to be artsy with. But I couldn't help but post pictures of my spoils from Ikea. My main blog has the story (A Roudy Life). The chair bounces and the rug is just awesome (and only $10).

AHHHH DTV!

The DTV switch was today! YAY it's over! OK so we'll see monday just how much I want to quit my job. Friday switch means callers have the weekend to leave us hundreds of voicemails and emails to answer on Monday. Today we answered and logged over 400 calls due to DTV and we didn't have time to log them all. It was chaotic in membership today but we had all kinds of yummy food. For starters we had cheese and crackers. We also had danish-like things, cupcakes, donuts. Then pizza for lunch! Talk about junk food overload! But I wanted to share how cute these cupcakes were. I didn't eat one ...they were way too adorable. They even had ABC sprinkles! Doesn't the bright colors just make you want to smile? Well they should! Want to read about some of the fun DTV calls...seriously some are hilarious. Go here. No here. Or maybe here. Take your pick they are all the same really.

Past Pictures

I haven't taken my camera out in a couple of days because I haven't been feeling up to getting out. But I do have some pictures that I took a while back that I am particularly proud of.

When I bought my first "high tech" camera I didn't want to touch it. I was too afraid of taking it out and breaking it plus I was upset with myself for spending so much money on it. Luckily I was living with a family who knew how to get me to do things. Cindy took me by the arm and made me run errands with her for a couple of hours. During which time she made me realize that the money spent was only being wasted if I didn't use the camera. When we got home she then made me take my camera out and use it. So I started playing with all the new gadgets and settings.

I fell in love with my camera the moment I found the feature that turned everything black and white except for the color you choose. This of course can be done better in Photoshop but at the time it was my favorite type of picture. I love the sepia pictures of little kids in grown up clothes with one item in color. The most memorable is a little boy and girl sharing strawberry ice cream. Here are some of the pictures I took with this feature a couple of years ago.

Better Post Next Time

Today I went for a walk to get pictures and I wasn't too impressed with what I saw. Nothing stuck out but there were a couple of images that I played with for a little bit.

Medusa made me laugh. It was just an old poster that was half way gone already. I didn't read what it said until I got home so it was a cool surprise.

I like stop signs. Not sure why, I have never really been good at stopping at them (unless I have a camera apparently). And fire hydrants. I tried taking a picture of one outside my house yesterday but couldn't get the right shot. This still isn't it but at least I'm getting closer.

I'll get better pictures tomorrow. The plan is to dress Krista up and have a fun time with a photo shoot.

Picasa Edits

The best part of photography, in my opinion, is being able to edit images. Of course we didn't always have the technology to do stuff like this with early photography but there are still fun things to do to edit pictures in the darkroom. If I had the resources and time I would spend a majority of my day in the darkroom. I even love the funny chemical smells of developer. But alas I do not have the time or equipment. I don't even have the cool Photoshop editing software. I have the free download from google called Picasa and it has served me well so far. I don't edit all of my photos; I just play with some of them.

I was really fascinated with the fact that our back stairs have "No Parking" painted on them. I also love black and white photos but taking out all of the saturation didn't do this picture justice. So I gave it a focal point and this is what I got. The ground crew keeps leaving cones in our visitor parking spots and I've called management on them several times. I have been given the ok by management to move them if they are blocking the visitor parking spaces and I have had to do that a couple of times. We even put their "Authorized Parking Only" sign behind the shed. I'm not sure if they have found it yet because they have yet to put it up again. Anyway, even though I despise these cones they were still fun to take pictures of.

The metal on this wheel barrel looks so cool. I used a warmify tool on this picture just to make it feel more relaxed. Can I say a picture looks relaxed? I just did so I guess you as a reader just have to get over it.

And my personal favorite, the saturation tool not only turns pictures dull and faded to black and white but it also enhances color. The original was just a nail and a rock which wasn't all that interesting in my opinion. But saturating the picture pulled out yellows and oranges in the wood I couldn't even see when I was out taking the picture.

I feel like I need to close with text to make this blog post look more symmetrical. So really that's all this last tid bit is. You can ignore it, honestly. I am on my way out the door now to read with my roommate.

Life is full of surprises...Find them.

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday at work. I was called down to the lobby with the claim I had someone waiting on me. I never have appointments and I never have things delivered to the KMC so it seemed odd. Then I realized it must be Paul but I did not want to get my hopes up. Not only did Paul come to visit me he brought me the brightest yellow daisies I have ever seen. They made my desk light up as well as me. I was beaming the rest of the day. I have this fascination with the middle of the daisies. The green bumpy part has a really cool texture.
To top things off I took a lunch break. Yes, that’s right I find joy in lunch breaks. My lunch breaks before consisted of me clocking out for 15 minutes, grabbing a quick snack and clocking back in. I was also having a hard time staying until 4:00 and never have I been able to stay until 5:00. I stayed in front of my computer the entire time and wondered why it was so hard to stay at work. I would then go home and work on Independent Study classes, that’s right you guessed it, online! Last week I decided to take an actual lunch break. Leave the building if possible and take a good book (or one I have to read for class). When Paul and I went to the Springville Museum of Art last week I discovered a tree out front that is perfect for leaning against. I found my new lunch spot! Don’t be jealous and don’t you dare think about stealing it. There are these corn-like things around the tree that I’m sure have a specific name and function. To me it looks like deer feed. Regardless they also have a cool texture and were fun to take pictures of.

Explanation

To explain what I am doing with this blog would limit it but I can tell you where the idea came from. I was having a rough day and needed someone to talk to. I’m good at talking everyone around me knows that but actually saying what I want to tends to be a little more difficult as I am sure it is with most people. I knew needed to pick up a hobby and I was determined to find one but I couldn’t think of something that had minimal costs and I didn’t already do for school. I’ve dabbled in jewelry making but for a college student that tends to be a little too costly. I always love writing but I already spend hours writing for school. By the time I have time to write for myself or start a new idea I am fed up with it and cannot come up with anything clever. My camera has slowly been pushed to the back of my closet and I’m not sure when the last time I took it out was. I am sure I could look at the pictures that are currently on the chip but I have yet to take it out. Instead I grabbed my tiny Samsung L200 and now carry it with me where ever I go. I do not claim to amuse you with this blog. I merely amuse myself by taking pictures and writing about them. I do hope that as I come to find beauty, joy and happiness from everyday blessings you will too begin to see how wonderful life is.