Jan 30, 2007

I didn't think I'd ever see Barbies again. I've always looked forward to having little girls. I wanted to dress them up, put up their hair and watch them play dolls. Well, the dressing up and hair really only lasted until they were about 5 years old. They've never really liked playing with dolls and barbie interest was only about 5 minutes. Imagine my surprise when I saw a box with some barbies in it appear in the living room. I was even more shocked to see the girls playing with them. But...they don't really "play" with them. They dress them up and then ask me which one I like better. Of course, I have to say they are all beautiful or I will hear about it over and over. So, these are some of the barbies they have been dressing and undressing. The middle one with the plaid dress is the one they both think is "da bomb". LOL!

Jan 28, 2007

OK-I cheated a little. This picture is not one I took today. Once again it is cold and snowy so I am including a picture I took last year around the same time. It is the Lake Michigan shoreline with what else?...snow! HHCC please.

Jan 26, 2007

I had my nephews over today and took a few pictures with my girls for Valentines Day. HHCC appreciated.

Jan 22, 2007

Unfortunately, we received some snow yesterday. I was really hoping it would stay in the 40's through the winter. LOL! I decided to go out while it was snowing yesterday to see what kind of photo opportunities I might run into. Well, I ended up getting stuck in the snow and it took me a little while to get out. So I decided to just go home. These are the pictures I got. Please tell me what you think. They didn't exactly turn out the way I had envisioned them. I've got to get better at that. The tree and sun settings are with my 28/200 mm lens, iso 200, f11, ss1/320. The swing shot is iso 200, f6.3, ss 1/640. The guy running is iso 200, f3.2, ss 1/3200. HHCC appreciated.

Jan 21, 2007

I saw this on someone else's blog and thought I would try it. What do you think? Does it look too orange? HHCC appreciated on all my pics.

Jan 20, 2007

I've been away too long! I work 3rd shift (both 8 and 12 hours) and the days surrounding me working are usually spent sleeping or being so tired I could fall asleep at any time. LOL! This is a picture of a paper mache fish Sydney made when she was in 1st grade. I liked the colors.

Jan 16, 2007

The Domes

One of the neat things about my city are the domes. They are three round solar spheres. One houses regular summer plants, the second is the desert and the third is the rainforest. Many people hold weddings or have their pictures taken in the domes. The outside doesn't look too fantastic (especially with gray skys LOL) but the inside takes you to another place. :) They usually have something neat set up in the main section. Right now it is a train station with an entire city set in the garden. I tried to get some close ups of it-but they didn't turn out as I had envisioned. I am not used to shooting this type of scene-any tips? HHCC appreciated.

Jan 15, 2007

We had a little bit of snowfall last night. I drove around the city today trying to find pictures of my hometown. Unfortunately, the sky was not too agreeable. LOL! It was about the same color as Lake Michigan. Here is a picture of the Calatrava-our new art museum that goes out over the lake. The other picture is showing some of our buildings downtown with Lake Michigan in the forefront.

Jan 12, 2007

"Nursing is the easiest job I've ever had and the hardest job I've ever had".

I am a Nurse.

It's funny...I never wanted to be a nurse. When I was a child I had dreams of being a psychologist or a financial guru or an actress--but never a nurse. I actually thought all nurses wore short dresses and were dumb. Was I ever wrong. When I was 22 years old one of my high school friends was diagnosed with lukemia and it scared me to death. I had this overwhelming fear that it could have been any one of us. I mean, how fair was it to Megan and her family that she had lukemia? She was the only birth child her parents had, she was super smart and voted most likely to succeed. She was working in the capital (of Wisconsin) and had her whole life ahead of her. I looked up her diagnosis and learned everything I could about it. That's what drew me to nursing. I went to school to become a nurse and was scared every day that I would fail. Nursing school is hard! LOL!

But I persevered and have been a nurse for 10 years now. I can't imagine my life any other way. There are days I am tired of working and pray we win the lottery so I don't have to work again--but I definitely wouldn't be the same person without this experience in my life. It's funny-my uniform feels so comfy. It's like putting on my favorite pair of sweats. And, although I get frustrated at work quite often, my coworkers feel like family. I've been very fortunate in that I have been able to work my nursing career around my family life. The majority of my career has been working in the hospital in labor and delivery, newborn nursery and post-partum care. I've also done time in med/surg, pediatric case management and camp nursing. My goal right now is to focus on bereavement photography and to get a program started at our area hospitals. A large part of my life is and has been nursing and, of this, I am proud.

Jan 11, 2007

First I want to express my thanks and gratitude at all who respond to my blog. Yesterday y'all just about made me cry. Your comments are deeply appreciated. I really do look at this as a year long challenge and I can't wait to see what else I can do. :) Well, for today I took a picture of H2O! Yep-water! I remember back in my 20's in nutrition class when we were talking about how important water was and I just couldn't understand it! I NEVER drank water and I had no desire to. I drank lots of Coke and I was doing just fine. LOL! Well, last summer I was the oldest person at work. There were lots of teenagers and 20 somethings and I was feeling a little down about all the weight I had gained during my pregnancies (7 YEARS AGO) so I decided to change my diet right then and there. The first thing I did was give up soda. As of June 4, 2006 I have not had any soda at all. It's kind of funny-I definitely think it's an addiction. I'm afraid to take a sip because I might not stop. Doesn't that sound wierd? Anyway, I started eating a lot of fruits and vegetables and I lost 20 lbs by the end of summer. This year I hope to add some exercise into the mix and maybe tone up a little. I also wanted to include a picture of my 9 year old-Kaitlyn. I don't have as many pictures of her as my Sydney because she's at the age where the last thing she wants is a camera in her face! LOL! My girls mean the world to me.

Jan 10, 2007

Oh my gosh! This has taken me forever to do. I have NEVER posted a picture of myself ANYWHERE! I must have taken about 75 pictures before I came up with ones I thought were just alright. What is my problem? Yes, I've softened these a bunch and lowered the pixels so no one can see me up close. One thing I did realize is that I look a lot like my mother. I used to love having my picture taken. In fact, I have a whole photo album of just me between the ages of 10 and 18. I guess I've been really hard on myself the past couple years. I have a history of cancer and, with that, menopause...and I'm only 37. I've been seeing the physical effects for about 2 years now with thinning hair and aging skin. The disease has accelarated the natural aging-and I HATE it! But I don't want to be one of those people my children wish they had more pictures of. I vow right now to not be so concerned with how I look in photos. I realize that not everyone see's what I do and there's not a heck of a lot I can do about it. Thanks so much for starting this challenge-I am really looking forward to exploring everything about my world.

Jan 9, 2007

I know the subject this week is ourselves. But I hate having pictures taken of me. My girls mean the world to me so this is a little bit about myself. I will try to come up with something more creative tomorrow. My picture yesterday uploaded looking very washed out. I am trying to play with brightening my skin tones a little but still keeping the definition. Please tell me what you think about this picture. HHCC please! Thank you so much for all your comments. ETA: The settings are f3.2 ss1/50 iso 400. I used my 50mm lens and a white vinyl background--all natural light.

Jan 8, 2007

I have such a hard time coming up with something different to photograph. Here's my Sydney girl once again. I just got a Spyder2express calibration and calibrated my monitor last night. I had to tweak it just a little because it looked too red. My dh also bought me PaintShop Pro XI yesterday. Today I was working on color and b&w again. HHCC appreciated-tell me what you think. :)

ETA: These were shot with my 50mm lens: f1.8, ss 1/100, iso 200

Jan 4, 2007

I wasn't able to take any pictures today so I thought I would work on my conversions. I really have a hard time converting to b&w. This picture was taken last January. What do you think of the conversions? HHCC appreciated! :)

My first pictures!

I need to make up for lost time so I'm including two pictures I took today. I really want to work on my focusing. I lost details in the finishing of the pic with my daughter in (of the cat). I also really need help with color. These were shot in manual with my 50mm lens. This shot was f1.8 ss1/40 ISO 200. I understand I can't get great focus using a ss less than 60. I didn't realize it was that low but was surprised it still looked ok. The cat was f1.8 ss 1/60 ISO 200. I was trying to get a good focus with low fstop.