Photo Challenge Days 22 and 23

Well, that will teach me.

Counting my chickens before they hatched.

I had a great idea for the hands photo. Of course, I could not get everyone to cooperate, hence I missed a day *again*. Sigh. Hopefully I will not miss any more. (fingers crossed)

I am still determined to get the picture I had in mind one day.

Instead, I ended up with this.

I did edit it some. I have no clue what I am doing, I just push buttons until it is something I kinda like.

Sisters <3

Day 23 was sunflare. Once again, no clue what I was doing. See the never ending trend yet?

To be perfectly honest, this challenge quite literally gave me a headache. This picture was the last one I took before I decided the pain was a bit much and headed back inside.

Buffalo Lucy is having a giveaway!

Remember my first picture for the challenge, the self-portrait where you could see my awesome Buffalo Lucy earrings?

Well, now she is having a give away for a beautiful necklace.

You can go check out all the deets here.

I am already imagining wearing it to a wedding in a few weeks, I think it'd go perfect with my dress!

Photo Challenge Days 19, 20, and 21

I missed another day in there somewhere.

I will admit that this time it was more because I was intimidated by the challenge.
I know I still didn't do as great as I could have, but I did it, and that to me is still pretty damn cool.

Anyway, for starters, day 19 was something orange. I surprisingly don't have many orange things. I decided to take a close up of part of a dress I recently got.

Day 20 was pretty challenging for me, and the one I am not 100% happy with it, but I really like what I did for day 21 (faceless self portrait), so it all balances out.

I guess I am not feeling to chatty right now, I might be back later with today's photo. The challenge is hands, and thanks to pinterest, I already have my idea for that!

Photo Challenge Days 16, 17, and 18

So, I missed a day. Sad.

But, I picked back up where I left off and have the last two days, plus today ready now.

I'll start with Day 16, which was long exposure. I am still not a photographer *giggle*, and still using the point and shoot. I found out my more advanced camera is broken anyway, so I will have to figure out some of these things using teh google.
Anyway, I did this using the flash(light) from two iPhones. I know some of it is out of the frame of the picture, but I was tired and happy to get this as it was.

Day 17 was technology. I wish I had an iPad so I could copy the idea from another blog, but alas I don't. Here's my Kindle, which I should most definitely use more often. Who ever thought that a portable device for reading books would become not only a reality, but a successful one?

I actually remember when the Kindles first came out. At the time, they were around $400 dollars or so, and I knew of a girl (an avid reader) who got one. I thought that there would be no way I'd ever own one, and here we are now where it seems like everyone has one!

Today, (my new day 18) was "your shoes". I guess it could be interpreted in a few ways - such as the shoes you are wearing today, or all the shoes you own.

It is nap time while I am doing this today, so I went with the shoes that are by the garage door (much to my husband's dismay). They happen to just all be different colors of Old Navy flip flops, $2.50 is hard to beat! I actually have a few more colors in my closet, but these are the ones I've worn most recently. I was so happy to finally get a purple pair this year, as they have always been sold out in my size in the past by the time I get over there.

I probably should wear more supportive shoes, but these are so easy. Plus, I would have to buy more cute shoes if I was going to do that, haha.

Photo Challenge Day 15

I will admit that today was so far the toughest challenge for me, the non-photographer.This would have been a LOT easier if I had tried to figure it out earlier in the day.

However, I did not.

I had a great subject with a perfect sun, but didn't know what I was doing.

Lesson learned!

Plus, I am still using my point and shoot, so there was that.

Anyway, once I figured things out (duh! I swear I knew this before), it was a pretty quick thing, hence I have time to post real quick before bed.

Meet Sophie.

I still wish I had figured this out sooner so that I could work with a bigger light source, but this is pretty cute.

-jenn

Photo Challenge Day 14

Yesterday's challenge was eyes!

My favorite eyes.

She loves the camera and taking pictures, but that doesn't equal being very cooperative. She actually was trying to ignore me during this one, but I like how it turned out with the crop. I did do some other photo-editing, but ultimately decided to stick with the natural look since she's only 3 (and I don't need to do anything to speed up the aging thing!).

Photo Challenge Days 11, 12, and lucky 13!

Ooops! (I say that a lot here, don't I?)

Well, one thing that I have learned through this photo challenge is that I am a slacker, and cannot post for 30 days in a row. I did take my photos on the correct day, though you will see one of them I kinda (almost) missed. I went back to just cropping all of these pictures, I didn't have time for more.

Ok, starting where we left off. Day 11. Something blue.

I went with something that I hope to get a lot of use out of soon.

The sewing machine that is currently living at my house. I am only borrowing it, it is not mine. BUT, the

cover that my grandmother made for it is blue! Yay!

I hope to be able to get started sewing within the next few weeks. I have some fabric coming in today that I am super excited about.

Moving along to Day 12. This is where I kinda sorta almost missed it. Sunset. I really wanted to get the actual sun in this picture, but I was barely able to get this in. If only I had remembered slightly earlier. Oh well! It is what it is.

I love that I could take this picture from my driveway. It will definitely

be nice when they finally build houses (shade!) across the street, but for now, it is kind of peaceful to look out and see something like this every evening.

And, today, Day 13. Myself with 13 things.

What the heck could I find 13 of to take a picture

with? The first thing I thought of was stuffed animals, since we seem to have a ridiculous amount of those, but then I remembered our shot glass collection. I love it, some of them are from our own adventures, but a lot of them are from other friends and family bringing us back some from theirs. I picked out my 13 favorite, and I had to use the self-timer for this one. Unfortunately, even blurred, it is hard to see them all. I won't even get into how many attempts it took to get this shot, so it will have to do.

In order from right to left, we have:

1 - Texas Renaissance Festival , Plantersville, TX (2006 - us)

2 - Epcot, Walt Disney World (us - 2003?)

3 - Las Vegas, NV (I want to say my parents?)

4 - Harley Davidson, Gruene, TX (us - 2006ish)

5 - St. Thomas (us - honeymoon 2006)

6 - Hard Rock Cafe, Nashville, TN (my husband - 2011)

7 - Alaska (my parents - 2011)

8 - another one from St. Thomas (us - honemoon 2006)

9 - French Quarter, New Orleans, LA ( in laws - 200?)

10 - Maui, Hawaii ( a friend of mine - 2010?)

11 - St. Maarten (us - our honeymoon 2006)

12 - NY, NY ( don't remember)

13 - Washington, D.C. (myself - 2005)

Ok, I realized the 13 things didn't have to be the *same* thing a little late, but I still like what I went with.

Here is another picture to see the glasses better:

Photo Challenge Day 10

Day 10. 1/3 of the way through.

I am impressed with myself for not forgetting a day yet (though I have come close).

Today was a childhood memory. At first, I was going to take a picture of my stuffed Big Bird that is about 3 feet tall. It has seen better days, for sure. While I do have memories of it from my childhood, I noticed something that was much more prominent.

This picture is the first one I have edited (other than cropping/adding text) any. These books do show their age a little bit, even without the editing, but I look forward to one day letting my kids read them. It is board books for now, as my daughter likes to rip paper at unknown times still.

I read a majority of these books countless times. My favorite was Go, Dog. Go!

Photo Challenge Day 9

Someone I love.

Pretty simple. I have the three people I am fortunate enough to live with that I love the most.

I decided to go with the youngest, since she was the most cooperative.

She's only been in my life for about 6 months, but she has stolen my heart. The one tooth is just so cute too :)

Photo Challenge Day 8

A bad habit.

*A* bad habit?

I have many, how was I to choose?

I briefly considered going to the cupcake shop, just so I could get a cupcake to take a picture of. And eat. Of course.

I resisted, so maybe that is not a bad habit after all. Ok, I know it still is.

Another one I immediately thought of was the time I spend on the internet. But how does one take a picture of the internet? I considered a few ways, but this is what I ended up with, mainly because it was what was easiest for me today.

Oh, internet, I can't quit you.

Copycat Recipe: Outback Caesar dressing

I think I have two salad dressings tied for first place when it comes to going to a restaurant. I love the dressing on the salad at our favorite Japanese Steak House (miso??).

The other? The Caesar dressing from Outback Steak House.

I kind of also love how they always serve it on a cold plate or bowl.

Reason #4,563 to love the internet: Well, recipes, in general. More specifically, copycat recipes!

I found this one on a few different sites, but here is one link.

This is what the recipe calls for:

1 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup egg substitute

1 cup plus 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 and 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon anchovy paste

2 cloves garlic, pressed

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon crushed dried parsley

Directions:

1. Whisk all ingredients together except the 1 cup of parmesan for the topping.

2. Chill for at least an afternoon or overnight.

3. Assemble all salad ingredients in a large bowl, whisk dressing again and add dressing to salad in portioned amounts until you get the desired amount of dressing for the salad. There may be some dressing leftover.

4. Sprinkle with desired amount of extra parmesan cheese and toss.

I served this with romaine lettuce, homemade croutons, and some pan grilled chicken. Sorry, this picture isn't the prettiest. The croutons were already made out of wheat bread, but then I also burnt them *blush*

My review?

3.75 stars (out of 5)

It was a great Caesar dressing, but it isn't quite up to the dressing at Outback. It is definitely very similar, but there is something missing in the spice or flavor department. I can't *quite* put my finger on what is missing.

Photo Challenge Days 6 and 7

Combining posts again.

Note to self: become more organized.

Anyway, so yesterday was day 6, and the challenge was from a low angle. As promised, I took a picture from the same general area of my kitchen. Nothing too exciting.

Today was fruit. Yum!
I was already planning on making a fruit salsa recipe that I had seen, sometime this week anyway, so I just coordinated to where I would make it today. It is super yummy, I have seen the general idea in different places, but saw it once again on pinterest and knew that I had to make it.
It is basically strawberries, raspberries, kiwis, and apples with a little sugar. There was also supposed to be a little fruit preserves, but I wrongly assumed I had some at home when I did not (oops!). It is definitely something that would be good to bring to a potluck or something similar.


I will be back later to share a recipe for a copycat dressing for one of my favorite restaurant salads!

Photo Challenge Days 4 and 5

I did not forget day 4! Promise.
Didn't get an opportunity to upload and post, so I will post days 4 and 5 together.

First up, day 4: something green.

There are plenty of things outside that were green, but I decided to take a picture of my daughter's lovie, appropriately named "Monkey". She loves him, and he only cost the 25 cents I put into the grab machine (won on the first try!). There was also the $15 I paid someone on the internet so we could have a back-up, but that is beside the point!

Monkey.




Then, today, day 5, was from a high angle. I wanted to take it somewhere that I also plan to take tomorrow's picture from (from a low angle). The easiest place for me to get a high angle without creating a big to-do is the kitchen, so long as no one caught me standing on the counter! This shot was the one that made my kitchen look the cleanest, haha. I wish I could have done something cool like climb a high tree, but that just isn't available to me.

Photo Challenge Day 3

Clouds.

It is an extremely simple concept. I am no photographer, I am using a simple point and shoot. I do want to learn more about cameras and taking pictures for myself though. One day, maybe when I can get my hands on a DSLR.

I have a huge headache today, so stepping outside to take this was difficult. I was only able to get in a few shots. With squinting (the little light was making my head hurt more), I couldn't quite tell what I was even taking a picture of. Turns out this is the only picture that didn't need a house cropped out of it, and it is also my favorite shot of the clouds.

I could probably go on and on about some random analogy of the dark and light of the clouds, and the sky, etc. but I will spare you ;) We could really use the rain, but these clouds will probably just pass us by.

Photo Challenge Day 2

If we want to get super technical, I'd be posting a picture of my pajamas.

It is Saturday, what can I say?

However, I did eventually get dressed since I had to leave the house for a graduation dinner (Congrats, Alex!), and this is what I ended up with. Clothes right now are super frustrating for me, somehow my new found love for cupcakes isn't meshing too well with clothes looking how I like - imagine that. So, I was happy to find this, there was a lot of sparkle in the outfit, which is always fun.

I am a little bummed because I just realized that a lot of people started this on June 1st, since June has 30 days. Ah, well. I am still having fun.

Photo Challenge Day 1

I took way too many pictures, and I will probably not like this one tomorrow, but oh well! I like this shot because you can see my buffalolucy earrings.

Bonjour!

Hello!
So, this is my umpteenth attempt at blogging.
Going to stick with it this time. Swear.
Ok, maybe.
I will at least keep this blog instead of starting a new one should I decide to go at it again. I will likely use this blog for numerous things, rambling about parenting, cooking, reading, crafts (if I ever find time), etc.

Hopefully starting off with a photo project I found on pintrest will help. Maybe I will even do the 365 day challenge eventually, but I figure I should at least try this first - it has objectives, which should make things easier for me.

I will be back later today or tomorrow with my picture for day 1: self portrait! Intimidating way to start!

Oh, and before I forget, Happy Anniversary to my best friend in the whole wide world. Alleu.