Wednesday, July 27, 2011

French Roll Twist and Pin

sounds like food, doesn't it?
her second awesome video instalment, learn to do this:


if you missed my post about the first, it's here.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

All Done.

the last two challenges:

Day 29: Black and white

Day 30: Self-portrait

is it normal to hate self-portaits this much?  that last one was really hard to post.  gross.  and that's the best one of the bunch!
and thus ends the 30 day photography challenge.  i like that it challenged me to pick up my camera and use it as well as try new and different things that i didn't know or wouldn't have thought of otherwise.  now it's your turn!

Monday, July 18, 2011

Waiting For The Sun

there are 5 challenge photos today.  it wasn't that i didn't want to complete the challenges but i'm dead set on doing them in order and i had to wait until a day with sun before being able to take a sunflare photo.  no sun for at least 5 days, can you believe it?!  it's july, people!

Day 23: Sunflare

check it out - i'm holding the sun!

Day 24: Animal

does bubba the 15-year-old newt count as an animal or are reptiles not animals?  i always forget...

Day 25: Something pink

so many strangers comment on what cute boys we have and i just can't help being bothered by it.  what bothers me even more is the thought of dressing my little girl in head-to-toe pink just so people won't think she's a boy.  we broke down and bought the coolest bright pink shoes we could find, but the comments continued.  it's not that i don't like pink, i wear pink myself, i just don't like that she has to for unobservant people to figure out she's actually a female.  anyway, they just got too small, and i'm gonna miss them.  they looked good on her.  we searched high and low for shoes without gems, sparkles, flowers & butterflies recently and came up with nothing under $50, so we bought the same shoes as above only in black.  then we taught elliott that when he hears someone call molly a "he" to say, "she's a GIRL!"

Day 26: Close-up
i like those hairy little fellas.

Day 27: From a distance

yes, this was lazy, but i'm also excited about it because it shoes that from my porch i can see the flags of the great canadian superstore.  we are close enough to walk.  it takes 15 minutes from my door.  as a non-motor vehicle driver this makes me very happy!

Friday, July 15, 2011

I Love Hair

it's been 4 years since being a receptionist in a hair salon, and what i miss most (besides the amazing hairdressers i became friends with) are the oodles of current hair magazines i was able to peruse on slow days.  some came straight from suppliers with the new trends in cuts and colours, some were left by clients, some were bought by ourselves to add to the pile after we clipped what we wanted from them.  i miss seeing all those different styles every day, especially now that my hair is actually getting long enough to try some of the cute braids, ponytails and up-do's.
through pinterest i've been able to see hair photos and ideas without having to fork out $5.95 for a hairstyle magazine, and i recently stumbled upon this great blog full of easy hair-how-to's.  she even has an e-book you can buy online full of pictures of how to have a new cute hairstyle every day for 30 days.  i'm very tempted!
watch her first hair video!  i'm going to go try this one out, i believe it's called "the classic twist and pin" :)
and look how great some of these styles are!  genius.  i can't wait until my hair is a little longer so i can try more cute hair-do's!




- update -


i tried.  i did okay... right?  it looks cute from the front and sides, from the back it reminds me of a technique my mom used to use to make our hair curly when i was a kid...

3 things i've learned i need:
  1. longer hair
  2. wayyy more practice.  what took her one minute in the video took me about 10.  i don't really know how i'm suppose to secure those twists so easily with bobby pins...
  3. brown bobby pins!  at least they'll camouflage a little more.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

When I Say That Something...

...i wanna hold your hand.

Day 22: Hands

elliott's hands make my hands feel strong.
also, i need a manicure.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Another 4 At A Time

Day 18: Your shoes

Day 19: Something orange
what?  too obvious?  what can i say, i got lazy...

Day 20: Bokeh

this took some research.  bokeh?  what the heck?
apparently it means "blur".  i found a great tutorial on how to change the shape of the bokeh area (ie. blurry christmas lights that are heart shapes, etc.) but you need a camera with different lenses, my point-and-shoot didn't have the capabilities.  i was sad about this.  but i had an impromptu photo shoot with my molly while learning bokeh techniques that i will post to facebook :)

Day 21: Faceless self-portrait
me (faceless, of course), holding molly (pretty typical), standing in front of the kitchen sink (as a stay-at-home-mom/home-maker also pretty typical, though i do it way less than i used to since we got that shiny new contraption on the right called a dishwasher!  yay!)

Friday, July 8, 2011

4-in-1

i'm playing catch-up and posting days 14-17 of the photo challenge all in one post.
on one hand this would be easier if i didn't have children because i could just go anywhere and take pictures of anything for as long as i wanted.  on the other hand, they're always here to use as my subjects. they sometimes move a little too quickly but that's because they eat sugar for breakfast.  no they don't.  but you'd think they did sometimes.

day 14: eyes

i'm sorry they're the saddest ones ever, but there's something about teary eyes that is so beautiful.

day 15: silhouette

is it just me or is silhouette a crazy way to spell a word?
i didn't make this a completely blacked out silhouette because i needed to be able to still see that ruffle bum!

day 16: long exposure

i had to look that up but i was glad i did, i like learning new tricks.  that was fun, elliott enjoyed it, too.

day 17: technology

sheesh.  keyboards these days aren't even a half inch thick.  how do they do that?!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

This Happens Every Time

i announce to elliott and molly, "i'll be right back, i have to go to the washroom."
molly drops whatever she's doing, sprints in front of me into the bathroom and lifts the toilet seat.
she points to the toilet and says, "sit?"
she points in the toilet and says, "pee?"
she then starts snorting because she sees the toilet paper and wants to blow her nose.  i help her.
then she walks over to the drawer where we keep our toothbrushes and says, "sheee?" which is how she says "teeth" because she wants to brush them.
when i'm finished using the restroom she closes the toilet seat for me and jiggles the handle until i flush.
she rubs her hands together and says, "shhhh," which is the sound the water makes when she washes her hands, to remind me to wash my hands.
she's a good little helper, she's got the routine down better than elliott does.  i'm surprised she doesn't hold her hand out afterwards for a tip.

photo challenge pictures to come later... i'm feeling lazy...
and i don't know what today's "long exposure" challenge means and i don't have time to go look it up.
later.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Assorted Favourites

today i share with you a guilty pleasure of mine: candy.  specifically: gourmet jelly beans.

day 13: yourself with 13 things

my favourites, in no particular order: coconut, chocolate, root beer, passion fruit, strawberry daiquiri, cinnamon, raspberry, red delicious, strawberry, green apple, kiwi, verry blue, and blueberry.
are you salivating?  i am.

Laaame

yesterday i was supposed to take a picture of a sunset.
it was a clear summers day (which i'm not complaining about), the kids were going to bed (which i'm really not complaining about), and, while colin was getting snacks and drinks ready and queuing up a movie to watch together, i managed to hop outside for a second to snap what i had in my mind to be a beautiful, colourful sunset picture.  though when i got out there i realized the sun sets behind a big hill and there was no way i'd see it unless i drove somewhere, but i don't drive (which i'll never complain about).  i did, however, catch the sun setting on the houses on the other side of the park across the street.  and a telephone pole, a tree, and a car.  haha.  and that's as good as it's gonna get!  enjoy the beauty:

day 12: sunset

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Something Borrowed,...

i don't know what kind of flowers these are because they're not mine, they're in my parents' garden, but they sure are pretty and they fit today's challenge:

day 11: something blue

When I Was Young

day 10: childhood memory

these aren't the exact matryoshka dolls i grew up with, but these of russian nesting dolls were hours of entertainment for me when i was a kid.
when my in-law's went to russia on a missions trip a couple of years ago they brought back "bob the builder" matryoshka dolls for elliott!  how cool is that?