Summer activities

Summer Happiness

1. Campfire
2. Watermelon
3. Cookouts
4. Sun
5. Flip Flops
6. Yard games
7. Ice cold lemonade
8. Friends, outside
9. Flowers
10. Bright colors

What makes you think summer?

- - - - -

My head has been filled lately with work, relationships, tasks, errands, plans... I haven't been able to really enjoy my camera in awhile and it makes me weird. I start to have this tightness in my chest because I feel like I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing. It's not fun.

I will do better.

I'm physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted to the point that I can't even finish a sentence in my head without extreme effort, much less make sense on this blog. I better get myself to bed asap. Over n Out, my friends.

As promised,

Vinni. Stinkin cute dog.

Ladder Jacks, or Horse Balls.

Our little family for the weekend. Delightful.

Rabid beast?

This past weekend was long, tiring, but extremely enjoyable.

Roxy the Wonderdog.

My dog does not like to be photographed. She is a wonderdog.

I have photos from the holiday, will post and chat about it tomorrow :)

Memorial Day Weekend

They said we were crazy. They said we'd wait in the longest lines for the entire day and only get to a few rides. Well...

they were wrong. Today, 6 of us embarked upon a trip to CP on Memorial Day Weekend with nothing but high hopes and suntan lotion. Surprisingly enough, we did not encounter the wall to wall people we were warned about.

So here's what we accomplished:

First, the Millenium Force


Followed by the Maverick. Best one!


Then we bypassed the old swings ride to visit the SkyHawk.


Took a trip down memory lane and raced each other on the Gemini.


Celebrated Magnum's 20th birthday with a bumpy but excellent ride.


Waited in anticipation for the Top Thrill Dragster, then rode with glee. "Totally worth it!"


After a visit to the car for our packed lunches (thanks to Liz), we headed to the Wicked Twister.


Then had a blast on MaxAir. So amazing.


Liz's least favorite, the Power Tower. My stomach flew up into my throat. Seriously.


A little break on the Iron Dragon. Felt the breeze in our hair.


Rode the Mantis even though the last time I did I promised myself I never would again.

And this time I really mean it, no more Mantis!


Finished off with the Raptor then some delicious Frozen Custard.

A most excellent day.

Images via CedarPoint.com

Zoo'in It

The Toledo Zoo has this slogan that is something along the lines of 'Zoo'in It' and everytime anyone goes to the zoo and posts photos on fabo or the likes, the title is inevitably that. Then it gets stuck in my head for some time which reminds me of an assignment in one of my first photography classes. Our teacher took our class to the zoo (it was a very laid back summer course) and told us to just shoot what was interesting.

I just reviewed these photos and... boy... most of them are complete garbage. The one at the top here I quite enjoy however. The polar bears are so entertaining and, well, adorable. I knew nothing about color back then so I just had to sneak it into PS to make a few adjustments before posting - you know, just to keep my street cred'.

I don't remember too many of the fine details of the day, but I do remember my first attempt at photographing complete strangers. I remember being terrified that this little girl's dad was going to stomp over and demand the destroyal of my camera. So I took it very fast, then quickly made my exit to another area. It's a shame too, because with a few more moments to study the correct framing, I probably could have made it an interesting shot.

As I was scrolling through the blurry, lousy focused, poorly exposed photos, I couldn't help but wonder what this little girl looks like today. It's been almost exactly 4 years since I shot these so she must be 12? 13? I'm horrible at guessing ages but regardless...

Would the polar bears still make her stand completely still in wonder and curiosity?

Gma & Gpa

My Grandma and Grandpa have one of those love stories that starts in 5th grade, and results in 60-some years of together-ness. They are such a great example of the commitment that marriage demands. I can only hope to spend 60 years with the boy.

On Mother's day, my grandma pulled out her 'treasures' for us to peruse, and after absolutely falling in love with their wedding photos, somehow I convinced her to let me borrow the albums. I don't even think I need to explain why I love them so much - I just hope you can see what I see.

Happiness

Love

Excitement

A little bonus in the album - I found an old letter from my dear old Gpa to Gma. It's 3 pages long, hand written on the back of a Lumber company's invoice paper. Here's a little snippet:

Monday morning I got up, looked out the bedroom window right into the eyes of a big black cow. There she stood looking right back at me, just as if she belonged there in our yard. We had a total of 3 cows and 1 calf in the yard. Somehow she managed to get the gate open, and just walked in as if she owned the place. I had to put myself in high gear, and out the back door I went. Don't even remember opening the door. If I wasn't a site, chasing a bunch of stupid cows around the yard, in my short pajamas. I expected to have the sheriff arrive in at any moment with a complaint about some crazy individual running around in his nite shirt. Anyway, I finally got them out of the yard and I still don't see how 3 cows and 1 calf could make so many cow piles in that short of time.
I took a piece of rope and tied the gates shut, so put a stop to that old cow-play.
...
Today Glenn came in the [lumber] yard about noon, and asked me if we were keeping cows now. I thought he was kidding me, but he said he had just come by our place, and there was a cow in the front yard. Well, you know Glenn. I wouldn't believe him. He stuck to the same story, so finally I thought that I would take the bait and come home and see. Well, as I drove in the driveway, there she stood, in all of her bovine female charm, just like she owned the place. She must have had a good meal, for she acted real nice to me, and let me drive her back through the fence at the bottom of the ditch out by the road. That's where she got out. I patched up the old fence out there the best I could and called the neighbor to tell them to fix the old fence.
What a time.
This stupid cat can't even keep the cows out of our yard.

Love and kisses and all that old stuff
Bill

P.S. This is all we got, there aint no more. Don't spend it all in one place.

Sigh... how sweet.

Long Drives Alone

What a busy week this has been. I feel pretty crappy about my lack of good blogging lately, so I am going to intensify my efforts in the coming weeks.

Yesterday I spent the day in a conference in Columbus. It was the Photoshop Creativity Tour and it was pretty stinkin sweet. The only problem with it was the drive. I've realized that I'm terribly bored with driving by myself, which is new. When I went to Kentucky for school, I had to get used to 4 - 5 hour drives, often times by myself. When I went to BG for school, I had to get used to hundreds of 30 minute drives, mostly by myself!

But now,

I'm a townie. I get anywhere I'm going in 15 minutes or less. Which means, 2 and a half hours for me was painfulllllllllly boring!

What do you do to keep yourself entertained on long drives?

Up up and away

There is something entirely fascinating about balloons in photographs. More and more I've been seeing photographers using them for engagement sessions or even wedding photographs and the results are stunning (if executed well!) I'd love to try out a few things with balloons in the future, so I am asking around for couples who would like 'engagement' style photos together. A lot of my couple-d friends are married, so I may harass them for fake engagement photos. :)

I'm off to Columbus tomorrow night for a Photoshop conference on Wednesday. It's the Creativity Tour so maybe on Thursday I'll post something all creati-fied. Until then...

x's and o's

My Mom

This is my mom. Today is mother's day. The pressure is on to make my Mom realize that I appreciate everything she does for me - and the pressure is not on because of my Mom. It's on because I know I want her to know all of these things and in a way that is fun, creative, and loving. I've been known to write pretty good 'I love you & all that you do' cards, but I also wanted to do something a little out of the ordinary. Instead of spending money on flowers that will die in a few days, I strung fake flowers with ribbon and hung them in the doorway & on the patio where we all had a delicious lunch.

We had a very nice Sunday. Look closely, you will see some family members zonked out, a pants-less little one, and a very happy dog caught in the act of a yawn. I also saw my grandparents today and managed to borrow an album from Grandma which will make a most delightful blog post later this week. Just you wait!

I love you Mom.

Happy as Roxy

Here we are at the end of another week, facing the weekend. This weekend is pretty packed with plans already, and I hope it all goes as planned. One of my greatest friends is coming home from Chicago and we are meeting up with friends for dinner. That's tonight, so hopefully I can capture the evening in a fun way to post tomorrow for you to share in it.

What are you big plans for the weekend?

I've got some fun projects coming up that I can't wait to blog about. Right now they are far too unpolished and 'planning stage'-y to tell you about now, but I'm very excited.

I've got to run. Work all day, boo!

Going without..

The boy is stealing my ring today to get it appraised. It will be the first day without it since March 31st, and I'm already missing it. Before the wedding next year, we are going to have to have it put together with my sweet wedding band (I know a lot of people wait until afterwards for this, but with the wedding band I chose, I have to do it beforehand). That time I will be without it for probably a week or more! Yikes. And I won't be able to wear it until the wedding day obviously because it will be the band too.

I'm rambling and whining and I apologize. Hope you have a great Thursday!

Tulips :)

Just somethin pretty to look at this fine day. Happy Wednesday!

Bruvver

My brother Andy is 6 years older than me - which mostly just means he turns 3o this year. Actually, he turns 30 this Thursday! If you ask him he says he's only as old as his wife. Yeah? Well, to that I reply: Your wife is my age, and for years and years you LOVED being older than me, so now you GET to be older than me. Enjoy 30 Andy!

Hehe, in all seriousness, I wanted to say that my older brother is one of the coolest guys I know. I still find myself searching for his approval in some form or another when he comes home. When Breena (his wife) informed me that he said he approved of/liked Eric, I was thrilled. It's little sister stuff...

I found this photo while cleaning up my junk in the house. It's pretty darn cute. I don't remember being a bunny but I remember the somewhat yearly photos taken on the back stairs of the house we grew up in. Somewhere floating in a box, you could find a photo of Andy as PeeWee Herman (I think I was Minnie Mouse.) But I guess you don't have to believe me until I find it. Just wait...

Our Lazy Saturday

A spontaneous trip outside with a mini photoshoot courtesy of a remote for my camera & a tripod.

Cheesy in love

Eric and I had a little photoshoot today at the place we will be married in a year and a month or so. It was a beautiful day, and we both hate being inside on days like today.

The internet is way too slow to upload our photo shoot photos, so they will have to wait until tomorrow.