Where have I been?

Funny how such a small person can take so much of your time... 

Sometimes it's frustrating to never have time for anything or anyone else... 

But I know this time is fleeting....

So I try to embrace the lazy days and cherish every little milestone, giggle, and smile.

She's the most beautiful, wonderful, calm baby I've ever met. And she's mine!! *

Summer passed us by so incredibly fast... No idea where it went!

So I'm trying to milk fall for all it's worth and so far have been rather successful. :)

Some faithful blog fans have asked when I'm going to continue blogging (so here's for ya'll!).

I'll confess, I did consider just letting the blog slide and just moving on.

And I'll admit I did feel a little more than overwhelmed to pick up from where I left off and bring the blog up to date with everything that has happened (and all the new pictures)... but honestly, it's just so much work and time that I don't have to do so.

Therefore, I'm just gonna say HI, HERE I AM!! 

And try to get here a little more often and share my latest pictures and going ons. :)

She's getting much bigger and is becoming less dependent on me (ok, so I get 10 minutes to myself every so often instead of 2 minutes ;) lol) so maybe I have a chance to get back into the blogging groove.

I really do enjoy having a little journal to look back on!

So thanks if you're still here following! 

And hope you had a great summer and equally wonderful fall. :)

 See ya soon!

*I know all mothers feel this way and I'm totally biased. :D

The arboretum and maternity photos

My friend was gracious enough to help us out with some maternity photos at the end of May. I really wanted to have some pictures of me and the hubby at this time in our life, photos for our little one to cherish one day and see how happy we were expecting her. :)

I had hoped to get some photos with the decorative apple blossoms (pink!) but they weren't in bloom (of course) but we found lots of other lush early summer backgrounds at the arboretum. 

Can we call that place paradise, too?

Of course I can't go to the arboretum and not take some flower pictures...

From my last arboretum post about tulips, you might remember a whole grand space filled with buds. I had been worried that I wouldn't see them bloom... but I did!!

It was glorious!

 

And one last picture of the last vase I had of tulips from our garden. Ah, can't believe that time has passed already! 

:( 

Why do summers have to go by so fast?

Lately...

These past few days I have been nesting. It's what crazy pregnant women do. Like reorganize walk-in closets, scrub the grout in the shower, vacuum behind couches, reorganize and clean the kitchen cabinets... ya know. It's time consuming. It's tiring. But I'm admittedly rather house-proud and I'm expecting someone very special to come along soon, so it can only be expected!! :)

Also, I've been reading up more on birth since it's getting closer. I have been saying all along (much to the amazement of many) that I'm not scared or nervous and I'd like to go the natural route if possible. So I've been googling natural births and finally caved in and watched "The Business of Being Born" (produced by Ricki Lake of all people, lol!). I wasn't planning on watching it (I had heard about it many months ago) since I figured it would be a lot about how crappy the American health care system was etc (and I just find that sad and depressing since there are those near and dear there), but I read there were a lot of good natural (home) birth experiences on there that I wanted to see, because honestly, who has seen one?

It could be hormones, it could be that I'm sentimental, but I cried throughout the whole thing almost!! I really felt like so many women put into words what I've been meaning all along when I say birth is something I want to experience. And if seeing babies being born isn't enough to bring you to tears, then...you're not me. :D 

If you're interested, check it out. I'll admit it's a little hippy-dippy with the home birth stuff, but it really has a beautiful message for the empowerment of women, no matter your choices.

So lots of pregnancy/birth stuff going on in my brain right now... Which is why I haven't been bothered to crochet. Or do much of anything really. Even the weather has been bad, so I've spent my downtime watching Downton Abbey (thanks pinterest for the idea --I'm hooked!) and sleeping.

I'm waiting for better weather to take some photos outside with the hubster and some blooming apple trees, but I was inspired today by the evening light and ideas from my sister to take photos by the window. 

Hubby helped of course, but I gave him direction. So you could say it was a team effort. ;) 

I know I'm not easy to photograph. :D

Those were the two I liked best. :)

It's pretty late here in my parts, so off to bed it is. 

Tomorrow: gardening!!

I can't wait! I have been missing that place but we sure did need the rain!

See ya soon I'm sure! 

Rosy times

I went to the arboretum this week for a little photo shoot with my friend. However, the roses there caught my attention big time so before we could get started taking pictures of her, I had to get some time in with roses. 

♥♥♥

Let me say, looking through these pictures makes me want to stop being lazy and go pick up some turpentine so I can paint. 

It also makes me wish I had more time to paint!! 

...I think I'll be revisiting this post when the time eventually comes to play with oils again...

And just so you think I didn't take pictures of just flowers...

Keeping my pretty friend private. ;)

Thanks pretty friend for a fun time and a new great learning experience, I walked away with a lot of new ideas/tips/thoughts/info.

....so anyone else up for a session...? 

Lol, maybe I should finish my thesis first though. :D

Have a super wonderful awesome weekend!!!

Bridal portrait practice

A type of awesomeness is developing and growing. This form of awesomeness is what I'm currently seeking.

I had a really fun time yesterday taking beautiful pictures of my beautiful friend looking beautiful. Life can be beautiful, you know?!

My plea for practice was answered, and what's better, I got to practice bridal shots!!

Yay!! Is there a better subject matter out there? (Ok, well flowers, but...) ;)

I learned quite a bit more about shooting portraits now with the 50mm lens that I am so in luuurve with. I've already got a pretty good handle of nature photos with it...but portraits are something I don't practice every day. --> why it was, and is, so important that I finally get to try it out for the sole purpose of portrait photograhy. 

I made a mental note or two about posing and direction ("look happy", lol). 

I also learned technical things about metering, focusing with the 50mm, and aperture. 

I loved that we were doing bridal shots because I knew the white dress would pose some challenges as far as over-exposure and blowing out. 

...and I learned a thing or two about upgrading to edit in Lightroom 4. (♥)

I would appreciate some constructive feedback regarding my photos if any springs to mind. 

Be honest (but in a nice way, please!). Remember, I'm learning ;)

Another thing I would like feedback for, and I've been meaning to ask for this for a while, is do my pictures look blue or off color in any other way on your computer? 

This is a problem my sister has mentioned, and it's annoying because my photos look spot on on my laptop...and I edit according to the histograms... so any info on colors being off would be helpful so I can figure out how to solve it!!

Another first I've done for this post, is resize my images for web use. 

Does it look different?

Thanks so much for stopping by, especially if you took the time for critique!!

And many many many thanks to my wonderful model!!!! You were awesome and helpful! :)

Hope you're having a weekend of awesomeness, no matter the form it comes in! :)