Uh-Oh

In an effort to turn this blog back to its original course, here's a funny family story.

Wilder recently got a David and Goliath board book. As he tends to do with many books, he has a favorite page -and only wants to look at THAT page when he brings it to you. With Sandra Boynton's "Oh my, oh my, oh Dinosaurs" it's the "Dinosaurs happy, dinosaurs sad" page. With "David and Goliath" it's the page where David slays the giant. Wilder points to the fallen Goliath and repeats over and over, "Uh-oh! Uh-oh!" Though it's frustrating that he doesn't want to look at the rest of the book, it's so funny how he fixates on one thing.

Popcorn. That's another thing he won't drop. Well, he drops it all over the house, but he's addicted to it. We keep the popcorn bowl over the fridge and he constantly presses against the appliance with his hands reached up as high as he can get them, begging for a refill on popcorn -at six in the morning. I'd happily oblige, but besides eating it, Wilder just loves to dump it out all over the floor -in every room. Ah, funny kid.

So there's a tib-bit from our kiddlet!

**NEW BLOG**

Roccy inspired me to start up a blog dedicated to my new addiction: Photography. Here's the link. Visit and comment often!

(The name is still a work in progress -I know, it's lame. But soon it will be something snazzy.)

Emily & Kayla

My friends Emily and Kayla helped me out by allowing me to have my first photo shoot with my Nikon D60. We arrived at the historic Georgetown Square just after a thunder storm and, very thankfully, the sun slowly began to come out. I had so much fun going through the pictures and finding the cream of the crop. It's great beginning to get the feel for what constitutes a good shot and even more fun being able to tweak it after the fact in Photoshop. My enhancements were very minor -it's the girls' natural beauty that make these pictures quite a hit in my book. I hope you enjoy! And thank you, again, Kayla and Emily, for being so helpful -and such great models.

Even The Dog Looks Good

Still touching up some photos from my first round with my new camera. Oh, Dear Mister Nikon D60, you've changed my world.

I'm In Love, I'm In Love, I'm In LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!

Welcome to my new Wonderland! The Nikon D60 is just getting warmed up. Here are some shots from this morning's playtime. Enjoy! I'm having an absolute ball -it's "A Whole New Wooooooorld!" (Sing it with me, Jasmine!)

Erica's Wedding Day

(Disclaimer: I didn't mess with these photos -there's straight out of my point-and-shoot.)
I had the ultimate pleasure of not only creating all the bridal and bridal party jewelry, but also getting to the majority of the ladies make-up on the big day. It was the most fun I've had in a long time -seriously. I'd love to learn more about make up and application. It made me want to go to Beauty School. Seriously.
Erica and I have been best friends since..., well, since the middle of 7th grade. We actually first met at a celebration party for now-Governor Sean Parnell when he was running for State House. That was just the beginning of a very beautiful friendship. As we traveled the rest of our school years together we talked endlessly about boys, God and our futures. We traveled together to Europe, bought ridiculous pants in Greece (I wish I still had mine), double dated for dances, and shared so many experiences, joys, griefs, and a great deal of our hearts. Erica is a wonderful and true friend. It was my absolute honor to get to be in and participate in her wedding.

Crystal, the Wonder Nurturer. Wilder wacked Aravis, hence the very sad face. Sorry, sweet one. Crystal, Erica and I had many, many fun shared memories, as well. We were all pretty much joined at the hip (that is when Crystal was free between hanging out with her boyfriends.) Erica and I were what you'd consider late bloomers when it came to guys. Oh, we liked them -but when you're smart, Christian girls (and it's well known around school) you get to enjoy guy friends more than boyfriends. But that was fine with us, we had each other and we had a BLAST.
Stephanie (Cumberlidge) Campbell getting all do'd up. Stephanie was a very integral part of our high school years and beyond. Through relationship with her we learned -and continue to learn- more about becoming women who love the Lord. It was wonderful getting to see Stephie after so long. Love you, Dear!
Best Friends and Babies.

Beth Colliander (sister,) Erica, Sarah Colliander (sister-in-law,) and Gwen Collinader.
Mother of the Groom, Mrs. Leman, Erica and her mother, Mrs. Colliander
Erica and Joseph with the wee ones.
Just the 20 of us...
The BEAUTIFUL Bride in a candid shot.
The girls
Crystal, Gwen Colliander and Elise.
Stephanie Campbell and me.

Sisters, sisters :)
Kindred Spirits: Stephanie, Erica and me.

Holy Toledo

I just got off the phone with customer support. I figured out the 5 million dollar question that's been hounding me for the past 6 hours and -now- I am finally going to relax and read a book.

Last night we purchased a Nikon D60 digital SLR camera -the stuff dreams are made of. At least my dreams. I literally dreamed all night long about this new camera and how today I would twiddle with it and enjoy the first fruits of this wonderful new world of photography this camera would allow me to enter. Finally by this afternoon I had time to take it in hand, snap some pleasantly remarkable pictures and work on uploading them to my computer. I just couldn't wait to see how they looked on the monitor and tweak them with Photoshop.

Dun, Duh, DUUUUUNNNNNNN!!! The foreboding notes played.

Nothing would work. My computer wouldn't even RECOGNIZE my camera. My sweet, wonderful, brand spanking new fancy camera. Oh, poor, POOR me.

For six hours (minus a few breaks for sanity and to -of course- take care of my child) I have been researching, troubleshooting, uninstalling, reinstalling, and doing lots of deep breathing exercises. "It's not the end of the world, there's got to be a solution. Must....find....the answer........*deep inhale, deep exhale. Repeat.*"

To make this utterly boring story come to a quick(er) end, I just spent all of 2 measly minutes on the phone with a nice tech support gal at Nikon (who, THANKFULLY, spoke perfect English) and was informed that since my Windows edition is not compatible with Nikon's stuff, I'd need a card reader to upload my pictures. Voila! That's it! Super, duper PHEW!

What I learned:
-Some random and sporadic things about drivers...which I still don't understand
-Be persistent
-Be patient
-Relax when you've exhausted your resources -and your patience, and your brain cells
-Don't eat a lot of sugar when you're trying to problem solve

Dear Camera,
I look forward to enjoying the beautiful snapshots you hold within your sweet little memory card tomorrow after I wake up the manager at Best Buy and make them hand over a card reader at 7am. Okay, so I'll wait until they open. But, I have to say, today was a real test of character and problem solving skills. Please tell the folks at Nikon to have more operators during the day so I don't have to spend 6 hours working out a simple problem until they are free in the evenings to take my call. Then again, I have learned that one only needs to be patient and persistent to find the answers. I look forward to spending some POSITIVE quality time with you tomorrow.

Sincerely,
Kelly

More Beautiful

I think this is today's last batch -but who knows. I may just finish up retouching the photos today and post once more. There are too many to include them all, but I just can't help myself. I'm so glad for the practice and to work with such beautiful pictures!









I also have this with "Quattro" printed on the bottom like the color one above.