last night...

The new camera...tweaked it in www.picnik.com but only a tiny bit. The sky really looked that amazing outside of my living room window last night!

Totally rad find...

I haven't been taking pictures with my new photgraphic wonder very much. It's just not at all inspiring to look outside and see trees with no leaves and brown dead grass. But the other day, I couldn't take being stuck inside anymore and the day was warm (at least for February). Found a totally fun place to take a picture! I'm dying to take one of a family or a group of friends sitting on these benches. Decided to try one of myself to see how it looked. This picture turned out really bad (still figuring out all those manual settings..). So I messed with it some and this what I came up with. I used a new program that is FREE to all!

The wonderful,Tara Whitney, to whom I bow in regards to anything having to do with photos, posted a link to this site on her cool blog. Want to make those pictures look better with just few clicks? Head on over and play.

www.picnik.com

It's one of the best free sites for manipulating your pictures that I've ever used!

Mmmmm.....

Went here today. Cool stuff to tell. So much inspiration. It was amazing. And wait till you see what I bought.....

Warning...girly movie alert...

Thank you, Jane Austen.....

For these two amazing stories....I watched them one right after the other tonight with a friend who had never seen them before (shocking, yes, I know!)

This one is my all time favorite. I think I know it by heart now, but still can't stop watching. It was when I fell in love with Kate Winslet's characters. Her Marianne performance in this is probably my favorite of hers, but then again it's tough to choose out of so many Oscar worthy ones.

And this one...just lovely. It doesn't get old either. It's still "new" to me since I haven't memorized it yet. We (my 2 gal pals who watched it with me tonight) were commenting on how Mr. Darcy becomes more adorable as the movie goes on. By the end, you just love him to pieces. Just talking about it makes me want to watch it again right now!

And yes, to all you English majors out there, I read Sense and am in the process of reading Pride. I never read either in high school. Pity! I am terribly behind in the normal classics that most kids read in high school. Been trying to rectify that in the last few years. These 2 books have quickly become some of my new favorites.

And this one has always been one of my all time favorite movies. Gwyneth is perfect. And if you don't just fall in love with Mr. Knightly...well, shame, shame on you!

Such great flicks. Great night of laying on the couch watching movies with the old English language and yummy British accents. Great, great, great.... My hat's off to you, Jane.

Surrender

The green eyed monster won. My tax returns were out of my pocket before I even got them. And every penny was worth it.....

Can't wait to practice with this baby. The Nikon D50 is mine after a long search.

Anyone need photos of their families? I'm dying to take some family shots!! Time to go visit Luke again.

Flashback

Have had these pictures sitting on top of my computer monitor for a couple days. Crazy how little we were.

This picture is so awsome! #1 I look like I have really long legs and am probably really tall (wouldn't that be nice!) #2 We used to have ice cream cones every night after dinner in the summertime. They had a name on them, so we would call each other that name until the cone was gone. Plus, we were allowed to ride our big wheels and roller racers (how awesome were those!) out on the concrete carport while eating at the same time. #3 I love how little and cute my brother looks with his two big sisters.

ice storm pics

Here are a couple shots from the ice storm last week. The last one is the day after. All the ice fell (cause of the horrible wind) and just stayed in these weird broken bottle shapes cause it was so cold. It would be fun and beautiful if it didn't mean no electricty and no heat as well...

creating

Here's some stuff that I've made lately. There's more, but I've been bad about taking pictures of everything.

A birthday card for a friend

My playing card art journal. I am loving this project. Find out more about it here.

Another card in the journal.

Finally, this is not my creation, but I am so enjoying using it while I'm using the paper and glue. It's a fantastic-o CD. Listen here.

This week has been a crazy one. We've had some nasty weather here in the Mid-Atlantic. Ice storms. Yuck, yuck. Power out. FREEZING COLD. My little cottage is cold when the heat is on (no insulation) and with no heat...let's just say I spent the day on my couch covered in 5 blankets reading Harry Potter #6. Dinner was grilled cheese and tomato soup cooked over a camping stove by a friend. Fun memories, but not so much fun to actually live through. Please, please come soon Spring! I'm really ready to be done with the cold weather!

Happy Thoughts

Of course this little guy is #1 right now!

#2 This picture that I keep on my desktop. It makes me stop and dream about standing on that beach at least once a day.

#3 This CD. Heard about it here. You have to listen to "oh, it is love." Can't get enough of these fun songs right now.

#4 The Weasley's. Harry. Hermione. Snape. 2nd read is just is as good as the first. CANNOT WAIT FOR THE LAST BOOK!!!

#5 Layouts galore. Inspiration is brewing. Her style is addictive.

#6 Jack Bauer. 2 hours last night. Edge of your seat fun.

#7 Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and I'm not depressed about it. That's encouraging...

#8 Pictures in my hands and not on the screen. That's right. I printed out my photos!

#9 Tax returns...mmmm...here comes my new camera.....

#10 My little bloggity blog. It makes me so happy. And all of you that read it!

4 states away...

is just too far. Oh, my gosh! I love this kid!

Had to go back home today. Yes, I know it had been a whole week and work was calling, but man-o-man was it hard to walk out that door and give that little cheek one last kiss. I keep smelling my clothes hoping I can smell his baby smell. And hugging my sister goodbye was super hard this time (don't cry sissy-poo!). She has just become the most amazing mom since the very moment Luke was born. And not to ignore my brother-in-law (or Darth Vader as the kids call him)...he's pretty darn amazing too.

Seriously...babies are magic and any person that they touch seems to catch some of it.

How cold?

Still alive and kickin' on the frozen tundra. It has seriously been colder than cold here. The day Luke came home, it never reached above 7 or 8 degrees and it was windy which made it feel like -10. The past few days have been fridgid. I know I complain about it being cold at home, but nothing compares to this!

Luke is getting better and better each day (and yes, Steph, we called him Lukey from the first moment too! I think of you each time I say it.) He's such a sweet baby. He doesn't mind that we cover him in a million kisses every day and just stare at him for hours on end. We are just smitten! And I can't even begin to articulate how incredibly excited I am that he and his mommy and daddy with be with me all summer. That will make leaving on Friday so much easier.

Thanks everyone for the comments! Each one is so special.

and now...

without futher waiting, praying and hoping, I proudly present to you my dear, sweet little nephew, Luke Everett. Isn't he adorable?!!

He arrived at 7:52am on February 2nd. He's 6lbs 11in. A little bundle of huggable, yummy magic. You can see more pictures on his mommy's blog.

Don't know why...

but I adore this picture.

It's from the cruise in September. The fun story behind this photo. I got majorly seasick this night. It was fancy dress up night for dinner. When the bro and I sat down at the table with our fam and 2 other couples (don't you just love meeting your new "tablemates" on a cruise.) they looked at us and kinda stared for a second before saying, "well, you look a lot different!" (in a good way, of course. We aren't the dress-up type.) Then as dinner was served seasickness won and I had to leave the table. My brother was quite the gentleman and took me back to the cabin where I happily popped some medicine and then we went back out to enjoy the evening. We ended up going to all the stupid little photography set-ups that the ship sets up for you to have your pictures taken when you are dressed all fancy. We, on the other hand, took stupid pictures. Those (example...the bro with his eyes crossed and me smiling overly happy) were hanging up with all the other serious couples who were smiling their best.
This picture now hangs in my room and I still smile at it a couple times a day. I just love how dumb we both look.