One day old. Wow. He's finally here. He's healthy. We're over the moon, out of our minds, blissfully happy with our little miracle. Daddy snapped this picture of me and Cooper and I just love it. Cooper is all snuggled up in a patchwork blanket pieced by his great-great grandmother Stella that his great-great aunt Gene finished up as a special present to us. He's also wearing a hat that I knit for him when I was waiting for the waiting for his arrival to end. So precious.

Welcome Cooper!

Cooper David joined us at 2pm on 12/29/08, weighing in at a healthy 8 lbs 8 oz and 20.5 inches long. This is our first family photo. Cooper looks JUST like his daddy!!!

Yesterday was my weekly visit to Dr. Jones. He was again, very pleased at how well I'm doing and said I am very good at being pregnant. :) I got checked out and I've made even more progress with dilation and that the baby is definitely in the right position to make his entrance. He said he would be very, very surprised to see me make it to another Monday appointment, but that he'd been surprised many times before.

We do now have an end date in sight for sure though. If Mr. Cooper doesn't arrive before 12/29, he's going to have me come into the hospital to help get the party started. That way he doesn't get too big in there!

I have finally started to slow down physically. I'm back to wanting to sleep all the time, or feel like I should lay down and stretch out to give the baby more room to move. It's amazing how active he is. He really works me over good some days, pushing his little bum out and kicking and punching. I know I will be sad when the pregnancy is over... It's just such an amazing feeling to grow a PERSON! But we are both beyond ready for him to get here. His daddy is getting very anxious, as am I.

My feet have started swelling a little, but it isn't too bad. Nothing a little foot rub can't make better though! Walking is getting challenging also. His head is very low and is pinching a nerve in my leg--which I'm sure makes it funny to watch me hobble around when it gets irritated. But, it's all manageable and I know the end is in sight!!

Take care!

Another weekly checkup...

I saw Dr. Jones again yesterday for another weekly checkup. It was a pretty quick appointment because he got paged out to deliver a baby a couple minutes after I got there. But, he checked me out and said everything continues to look wonderful and normal and that is all we can ask for. He said that we should probably think about making sure we have everything in order and ready to go because I've made more good progress.

Guess what? Another checkup!

I had another good checkup with Dr. Jones yesterday. My weight and blood pressure continue to be right in line. He also did a little checking on me and he was pleased that things seem to be getting in gear. He didn't think the baby would come this week, but he did say he doubted I would go past my due date. That's encouraging!

We are just so excited and can't wait to meet our little boy. He's been very active lately, making sure he kicks me anytime I cramp his style!

Baby's First Deer Hunt

Dave begged me to go sit in the deer blind with him one day. So here I am, 8 months pregnant with Pinkie Baby #1. Although, it's probably not nice to call the baby Pinkie since it's a boy. Oops.

All I can say is thank goodness that a lawnchair will fit in the deer blind because this mama can't get down on the ground. Well, actually I could get down there. It's the getting up that is the problem.

Yesterday I went for another bi-weekly checkup with Dr. Jones. Everything continues to be normal! Weight is good. Blood pressure was great and you can still see my ankle bones! The baby wasn't too cooperative with listening to his heartbeat this time. He wanted to run away from the doppler, but we did hear it for a little bit and it's still going strong in there!

I get next week off, then I start having weekly visits until this little guy arrives. I can't believe we're in the home stretch! Thankfully, I'm not terribly uncomfortable, even though I don't have lots of energy to run around too much.

Take care and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Happy & Healthy

I went back to Dr. Jones yesterday for my 2 week checkup. Baby boy and are are measuring perfectly and the doctor is very happy. He told me pregnancy was a piece of cake for me and I should do it again sometime. I told him we should wait to see how labor and delivery are before we decided it was that easy. We talked about my mom's and my sister's labor experiences and he seems confident that mine will go smoothly as well. He said in a few weeks he'll probably send me in for another ultrasound to check on the baby's growth and give us a better idea if the due date is right or not.

A shower!!

Yesterday my wonderful sister, sister-in-law and friend Aimee hosted a baby shower for us from our friends and family. There was lots of yummy cake and cream cheese mints, a couple good shower games and lots of great presents. It was fun to get everybody together and it's so nice to see that everyone else is as excited for this little boy to get here as we are.

Thanks everyone!

HICCUPS!

I felt baby hiccups for the first time today! How cool!

First Baby Shower

Yesterday was our first baby shower. The girls that I work with gathered at Lorie's house. We had lots of good snacky food, a very yummy cake, a guessing game for baby items, and lots of very nice gifts. Those girls are very good to me.

It was a lot of fun to put the wall hangings, picture frames, and clothes and all the other cute stuff they gave us away in the baby's room. It is really starting to look like a baby's room for sure!

I had my appointment with the cardiologist yesterday. He said the OB was right to be concerned as it could potentially be an issue. The basic idea is that it's ok for my pulse to race occasionally as long as it's not happening daily and the "spells" don't have certain characteristics. So, he explained what exactly to watch for and to keep track of how often I have them, but that he's hoping I won't have another spell and it will stop. If it happens again, I get to wear a heart monitor for 30 days so they can see what's going on. I had some tests run and sat around in the waiting room a lot, but everything they saw encouraged them that my heart is normal, it's just getting a little excited at times.

The plan if it keeps happening, besides the monitoring, is some sort of medicine to chill out my heart a bit. So, that's all I know. He told me he was very glad I came because it's hard to tell the difference between the kind of racing pulse that is okay in pregnancy and the kind that is not. Hopefully, it doesn't happen any more though!

Of course, since we were in Columbia, Dave and I took the opportunity to do a little shopping for more baby supplies. We found the cutest little onesie that says, "My Daddy Rockz." Of course, Dave had to have that!

Not good excitement...

Well, we had a little excitement on Monday night. For some unknown reason, my heart decided to run a marathon of it's own and my pulse was racing very fast. After checking with my friend who is a nurse, she decided that a call to my doctor was definitely in order. He wanted me to go to the hospital just to make sure everything was okay with the baby. We spent about 3 hours being monitored before my heart rate finally slowed back down to a normal speed. Let me just tell you, this little guy was not impressed with the monitoring belts on my belly. He beat me up the entire time they were on there. I guess he doesn't like anything to cramp his space!

My doctor decided that sending us to a cardiologist would be a good idea, to make sure it wasn't something we needed to be concerned about. So, I have an appointment for next Monday morning.

Another checkup

I had my monthly checkup with Dr. Jones today. Everything is still right on track and he is pleased! I am done with monthly appointments now though, and I start going every two weeks. I can't believe it's time for that already! At my next visit, I get to drink the love glucose drink and have my blood tested for gestational diabetes and a nice big shot of Rhogam for having Rh negative blood. Good times all around!

After my appointment, mom and I went shopping, of course. We didn't go too crazy, but we did find a few baby goodies we couldn't live without.

I haven't had much to write about the last few weeks. I am feeling very good these days, not too huge and awkward yet, but thankfully not sick anymore.

This baby boy is going to be the some sort of aerobics instructor though! He is always a moving and a shaking! I go back to the doctor next week for a checkup.

Last week the crib and dresser for the nursery came in. We spent Thursday night with Papa Drew assembling things. They look great!

A huge shout out and thanks to my brother, Tysen, aka Uncle Bub. He came up this weekend and painted the baby's room so we didn't have to worry about Dave painting everything but the walls. ;) I added some pictures of the baby's freshly painted room and you can see the furniture too.

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails for Us!!

It's a BOY!

We had our anatomy scan today and everything went great. It took the ultrasound tech, Miss Randi, a good loooong time to get the boy to open his knees for her, but she got the money shot! Everything showed normal and healthy, which we are extremely grateful for.

We are so very excited!

KICKING!!!

Happy Anniversary to us! Five years today and Dave's present was feeling baby kick for the first time. I can't think of anything better.

We spent the day registering for baby gear and thinking of all the fun things that are going to take over our house soon. We cannot wait!

SIX DAYS!

Only SIX more days until we (hopefully) get to find out what flavor of baby I'm cooking up in here! We are so ready to find out and just generally just out of our minds excited to start saying he or she.

I think the general consensus is that it's going to be a boy. I've only had a couple people say they think it's a girl. The girls at work tell me I'm carrying like a boy does, but who knows right?

I am feeling so good right now. I am so thankful for that. I do have days where I absolutely cannot eat enough, but that is the only thing I can think of to mention. So, that in itself is great news! I have been able to reintroduce beef into my diet without getting sick now. Thank goodness that aversion is over! Chicken gets old after a while.

This weekend Dave and I will go to St. Louis and begin the fun process of registering for baby items. It should be interesting!

Well, I went the OB for my monthly checkup yesterday. My blood pressure and weight are all right in line. I've only gained 2 lbs so far! Doc gave me permission to eat a little more ice cream if I wanted. :) Mom went with me to this appointment, and we both got to hear the heart beating away at 140 bpm. It was a pretty uneventful visit, but the doc is pleased that I'm halfway through this pregnancy and just cruising along with no problems.

I've been feeling the baby move more and more. It's mostly at night, when I lay down to go to sleep. It's a very fun feeling. I can't wait until Dave can feel it on the outside. The "morning" sickness has left the building! Thank goodness that phase is over. Now I'm mostly starving all the time. Trail mix and chips and salsa are a big, big hit right now.

In 18 more days, we have our anatomy scan aka BIG ultrasound where we will hopefully get to find out what the sex of the baby is!!!!

Is it a Brown Eye Girl in there????

Last night, Dave's band played at the Cooper's Oak Winery in Higbee. Since I knew it wouldn't be smoky in there and I was actually feeling up to it, I decided to go hang out for a bit. I was having a good time, just hanging out with a few friends and listening to the music when Dave started singing "Brown Eyed Girl." I guess Baby Drew knows daddy's voice, because most of the way through that song, I was feeling little flip flops and flutters. Bestill my heart!

I just had to write about this here because I know with my crazy forgetfulness right now, I probably won't remember it later and I know I'll want to.

The Beat of a Heart

I had a check up with the OB yesterday. Everything is going great and growing. I still haven't gained any weight, but the doc assured me I'd probably catch up soon. ;)

I got to hear the heartbeat on the doppler machine. It was about 150bpm. That's one of the best sounds I've ever heard.

Belly pictures

We finally took the first belly picture on Sunday. Whew. Got that over with. It was a little weird at first, but I know it will be fun to have pictures of the changes when it's all over with.

Everything is still going well. I've got a hungry little monkey in me as it seems its never more than an hour or two between snacks for me. Strawberry milkshakes have become a new favorite lately. Thank you Sonic!

OB

I had my first appointment with Dr. Jones last week. They asked me a million questions about my history and family background and took about six vials of blood to test! We also got a quick peek at the baby on ultrasound to check for a heartbeat, since the baby is still too young to hear on a doppler. I saw that little heart beeping away again and it's just magical to watch. I can't wait until we can hear it too. I go back the first of July for my next checkup and even managed to get my visits coordinated with my friend, Annavee's. So, we get to share the ride to our appointments and see Dr. Jones together now. It's fun to be pregnant at the same time as a close friend.

Thankfully the morning sickness has really faded away for the most part. It seems the only time I really get sick now is if I get too tired, or if I eat onions or beef. I'm still enjoying naps, just not every day now. I think I'm starting to get used to being pregnant better.

Sleep, sleep, sleep!

Another week has gone by and rather quickly! I guess the time passes when you sleep 10 hours at night and take naps every evening too. It seems like a requirement most days to hit the couch after work and take a short snooze. Dave always laughs when he comes home from work to find me on the couch napping. I guess it's ironic since I've never, ever been one to take naps!

This week, the food aversions haven't been too bad. Well, unless you count beef. I still can't stand to look at it or eat it. But thankfully chicken and fish are on my side now, along with the occasional hot dog. Vanilla pudding, applesauce and broccoli with ranch dip are favorite snacks.

Last weekend, grandma and I went shopping in Kansas City. We hit The Children's Place and got a few cute unisex sleepers and a very cute little white outfit with animals all over it. It's so much fun to buy for our baby!!! We also hit the maternity store and I got some shorts and a swimsuit that will grow with me. I especially needed the swimsuit since mine from last year is obviously not going to fit and swimming has been my exercise of choice the past few weeks.

Monday is my first appointment with the OB, Dr. Jones. I can't wait to go and see how the baby is doing!

Baby Drew is growing perfectly!! It's starting to look like a little person in there!

Mmmmmm BLT!

I have new cravings to report! I think for 3 days straight, all I ate was BLT sandwiches. Thanks for the tomatoes, grandma!! Otherwise, I can't get enough water to drink and thankfully, I've had several days with no nausea at all. I've been taking lots of naps and somehow, I'm still tired enough to get into bed by 10pm. No more Mrs. Night Owl here!!

Tomorrow I have an appointment with Dr. Wilshire one last time to peek at the baby for a growth check. Then we'll move on to the OB office of Dr. Jones on June 2nd.

Morning, noon and night sickness...

Pregnancy makes lots of interesting changes in a body! I know this is just the beginning, of course, but I'm already amazed at the changes taking place.

This week, I have been SO TIRED and SO HUNGRY and a bit sick too. I wouldn't say "morning sickness" is a correct term since it seems to come on any time from 4am to 11pm and last for an hour or two to all day. It's all worth it though.

The baby certainly is hungry for very specific foods, which is so funny to me. This week, it's been grandma's homemade noodles, mashed potatoes, chicken breast, toast, shredded wheat and turkey sandwiches. The only acceptable drink right now is iced tea. Coffee is no longer my morning love!

Today we got the amazing news that we are going to be parents!!! I hadn't been feeling well for a couple weeks, but I thought it was just the flu. I finally called my doctor, who ordered bloodwork yesterday to see if he could tell what was going on.

This morning the nurse, Marnee, called and said she couldn't fix what was wrong with me because I was definitely pregnant! I think I screamed at the poor girl, but I was so excited and surprised! Dave came down the hallway towards me to see what I was screaming about. I hung up and told him, "We're having a BABY!!!" He made me repeat myself a couple times and we hugged and smiled and hugged some more.

This afternoon the doctor did a scan to see how far along I was and make sure everything looked good. It all looked perfect and we got to see a blob and a little fluttering heart. Dave and I giggled and stared the whole time.

We had a really fun day breaking the news to our family and friends. We're all so very excited for this new little one!!

Four Months!!!!

Stomping Mad

Stomping Mad
Originally uploaded by aljdrew

Sunday night, Dave and I went out hunting for those elusive little morel mushrooms. Instead, I came up with this great sunset shot of a buck who happened upon us.

Buzzard's Roost

While driving around last Monday night, Dave and I discovered this old, abandoned house. It begged me to take it's picture. Then, the pictures begged me for some photoshopping. And then each one I photoshopped, made me want to try another. It's a vicious cycle I tell ya!

It's amazing what Photoshop can do for a picture.

Neighbor Boy

He's not a baby anymore. That cute little face is losing the baby look and going for all big boy. Jackson lives next door to us and he is C.U.T.E., in case I hadn't mentioned him before. Tonight he was outside playing with his daddy in the front yard. He was all about watching the semi trucks go by on the road.

Dark Falls

Ok, they're not really the dark falls. It's a lovely, light-filled place where I took this photograph. This is another from our recent fishing trip. But, Photoshop is your friend when you want to take a bright and cheery waterfall and turn it into something dark and rich.

I'm back!

And not in black! That is a good song though. LOL



Sorry for the hiatus. I had that little surgery problem crop up and pesky thing made me tired and a little off my game for a few weeks. Now, I'm back and raring to go. I definitely think it helps that it is no longer -10 degrees and snowing. Instead, our grass is growing, the birdies are back in their houses in our yard and the bugs are flying. So I know spring is here!


We recently went on a fishing trip. Check out the trout pic I got. I stood there for a long time waiting for a fish to get into just the right position. Here fishy, fishy, fishy...

Where did I go?

You can't see me. Where did I go? Well, away for a short while. And honestly, I'm afraid to break it to my loyal (four) readers that it isn't going to get any better. Poor pinkie needs surgery to fix an internal boo boo. It's nothing really major, so eventually your pinkie will be out in full photography gear, cataloging the boring details of her life. ;) Until then, an apology to myself and the blogging world for not being unbusy and organized enough to handle the Blog365+1 challenge. Hey, I lasted like, a whole 5 weeks before I fell off!! Hee hee.

I am so excited!

I am going to the city for dinner and alcohol consumption, wine to be exact, with my girls next week! I cannot wait. It has been since before Christmas when we last got together. It seems that it gets harder and harder for us to make our schedules meet up at just the right times. Jobs, husbands and babies seem to get in the way of our wine nights. It will be good to spend time with the bottles of red and white, oh sorry, I mean Marianne and Kim. Of course, if the saying, you are what you eat/drink was true, then they probably would be bottles of red and white. Hee hee.

Also very exciting, for Valentine's Day we are heading to a nearby small college town to eat at a fabulous Cajun fusion restaurant. DELICIOUS. That is all I can say. We went there for my birthday, and now I'm so excited to go back so soon. The Vday dessert menu is supposed to include Chocolate Cobbler. Now, what in the heck is that and why haven't I had any before??

For Heaven's Sakes Woman!!

Stop taking pictures of me!! I know your camera lenses fog over when you go outside, but maybe you could practice taking pictures of fog, maybe?

No mama! Nooooooo!!!

Not the covers!! Please don't take my covers! I'm a naked, skinny dog who will freeze without my COVERS!! All 7 of them, to be exact. I neeeeeed them!

Fun on a Monday Morning

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Most Noble Lady Amanda the Simple of Buzzcock Lepshire Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Pics of the Weekend

My sister's baby girl turned two a couple weeks ago and they had a skating party for her this weekend. You wouldn't think a two year old would be coordinated enough to roller skate and not fall all over the place, but girlfriend rocks the floor.

It's too darn cold outside

to do much of anything but play with pictures taken when the weather was actually nice outside. So, another scrap page for your viewing pleasure.

More Utah Scrappiness

Today's share is more from the Utah scrapbook. For whatever reason, I'm really into it right now, so I'm going like gangbusters.

This is today's sad attempt at photographing nature in freezing cold temperatures on a horribly cloudy, green skies day. Oh well. I like what the duck is doing. I'm just going to have to retry when the weather is less overcast. Since the colors in the sooc were weird, I ran an antiqueing action on it and bumped up the curves. I do like how old the picture feels to me...

Have I mentioned yet that in addition to taking pictures, I love to scrapbook them? Actually scrapbooking is what got me wanting to learn how to take better pictures. It seems like all the pages I see in the magazines are full of near-professional quality photographs taken by the scrapbookers themselves.

Anyway, I really do enjoy scrapbooking. I'm not sure if anyone would guess this, but working in the legal field doesn't exactly allow one a lot of creative freedom in the workplace. Ha ha ha. It allows none. Everything is black and white, or we're trying to convince people that it is anyway! So, it is great to have scrapbooking and photography to be my artistic outlets, to allow me to get my hands dirty and play with all sorts of artsy things that I wouldn't otherwise get to use.

So, this weekend, while we were in the city for that archery shoot, we hit a couple scrapbooking stores. Lord have mercy, I do love Archivers. I had already begun purchasing some paper and embellishments to do an album of our Utah Thanksgiving trip, but I really hadn't found the perfect album yet. And call me crazy, but I'm just enough wacky that I don't like to make any scrapbook pages until I have THE perfect album to put them in.

Well, we found the perfect sage green leather album to put them in, so last night I did the opening page for the album. I'm not the best about getting albums done really, but I have a goal to have this Moab album done before we go again! Hopefully I can stick with that plan.

For anyone familiar with scrapbooking products, this is a mix of Crate Paper's Souvenir line, Karen Foster's ATV paper, and some American Crafts "Thickers"--which FYI, are the CUTEST fuzzy felt stickers ever.

More scrapbook pages to come surely, since I've been bitten by the bug this week!

Shots From My Weekend

Pun intended. Hardy har har. It turns out that I placed fifth in the midwest indoor sectionals in my division this weekend. Go me! My mom was there snapping pics like a good mama does. The gymasium lighting was a muey flattering shade of pale shrimp, no? *gag*

Sickened Pinkie

I'm sorry for the lack of lustrous and wonderful photos for you to oogle and ahhhgle at the past few days, but Friday I came down with The Sickness. And by that, I mean the achey, fever, chills, sneezes, coughs, hacks, hoarse, nasty Sickness. Bad times. But, somehow I managed to make it to Kansas City with my husband and parents for an archery shoot this weekend. I'll share those pictures soon, but right now, I need a nap.

What do you do?

What do you do when the wind chill is below zero and you live out in the middle of pretty much nowhere, where there is nothing to do after 7pm except go to Wal-Mart and your dogs are tired of you chasing them all over the house with the camera? You take your butt to the basement and see if there is anything worth practicing your depth of field, focus, and metering skilss on down there.

Now, let me tell you, there is lots of good stuff in our basement...exercise equipment, an archery shooting setup, loads of out of season clothes and decor, my little candle making corner, and even a little living room area. But photo worthy stuff? Not so much. So far, this is all I've got.

I own a Six Million Dollar Home!

For a countryfied city girl, I sure do own a nice home. A home any discerning taste would appreciate. A six million dollar home to be exact. It's posh to be sure. You can check out the builder's website here. They did a fantastic job.

Here is a picture of my new home. I hope you like it.

P.S. In case you didn't get the joke, it's my new camera bag. Hee hee. But honest to goodness, it really is called a Six Million Dollar Home. Sadly, it will be the only million dollar anything I ever own!

Monotone Kitty

This is the same photograph I posted Saturday of kitty Angel. I played with it a bit in PS tonight with different color conversions. This is my favorite out of what I came up with. I did a mocha toned black and white conversion and bumped up her eyes so they would stand out in the brown tones. Angel looks good in brown, no?

The January Party

On my 21st birthday, my brother, sister, significant others, friends and I went out in St. Louis to party it up. We started with a Blues game to ease into the night and then hit it hard down on the riverfront at Morgan Street Brewery. It was a night full of extreme drinking for me and the only night in my life up until then, and since then, that I have ever puked from consumption. I pride myself on holding my liquor, but they got me with those 21 shots in two hours. Whoever thought 21 shots in one night was a good idea was W.R.O.N.G.!

Since that birthday was such a success, my brother has hosted a January Party for our combined birthdays ever since. You see, my brother, sister and I were all born in January. Yes, our parents really liked the month of April! April showers produce snowbabies! Every year since it's inception, the January Party has grown. This year was no exception, with roughly 40 people in attendance. Inappropriate humor, raunchy redneck songs courtesy of my man, and a ratio of 1 person for each bottle of liquor present equals a great time had by all. We are still waiting for our livers to recover.

Angel Eyes

This is my brother's other cat, Angel. Her name implies that which is not true. She isn't really a lovey, angelic cat. So, Angel is more like her stripper name I suppose. She was named after a Budweiser model my brother met in college, so what do we expect right?

Angel was much more cooperative than her brother, so I do believe her picture turned out much better. For this photo, I touched it up a little in Photoshop to bump up the curves. I also ran an action on it called SuperDrama, which was a freebie from a girl named Tara on the ILP board.

Here kitty, kitty...

I apologize for my lack of adoration for the feline species. It is nothing personal. They are fine to look at, but touching them sends me into an allergic fit the likes of which I never care to repeat. So, it was with a little trepidation that I agreed to (attempt to) photograph my brother's cats this weekend. You see, I only have one lens for my fancy schmancy new camera. It is a fixed focal length of 50mm. So to get as close to the kitties as I needed for a good shot, put me in the danger zone. But, luckily for me, my brother is a doctor. So, at least someone will know what to do if my face turns into a big red balloon from the kittiexposure (again).

Tonight was my attempt to photograph Dryfus. He is as good as a cat can be in my eyes. He just wants to lay on anyone available and be petted, but he does listen when he's told to get the hell off me. Hee hee. Poor cat thinks I don't like him, which just fascinates him further. Strange cat psychology at work there. At any rate, he didn't really want me to take his picture. He just wanted to scale my leg and sit on my head---because that's exactly what I didn't want. So, this is the only good picture we ended up with tonight.

My other place of employment, aka

my husband's shop. He is a marine & ATV service technician at Superior Adventure Center. When I'm not shuffling paper and taking phone calls from everyone and their dog and cat at the good old law firm, I help out around here. I do paperwork for them mostly...the odd bookkeeping, inventory and interior design jobs they throw at me. I originally started working there last fall to pay off some protective gear I needed for our trip to Utah. It has been a good trade off. The boss gets the help he needs, and I get the stuff I need. Everyone is happy. I wish my other job was so easy!

Fizzy Orangey Goodness

A special treat this afternoon as a reward for drinking my required 64 oz of water today.

He's so very, very unimpressed

Bo Dawg, that is. He kept giving me this pitiful look that said, "Stop with the camera. I'm like, so totally over it."

Pirates ahoy matey!

My nephew was Captain Jack for Halloween this past year. I thought it would be fun to try to make a custom background in PS for one of his pictures. This is what I came up with. Apparently, I need to rework it though, because I just noticed that there is something up with his right arm. It looks like I need to refine my cloning tool skills. Oops.

My first PS template

I like to pretend like I know what in the heck I'm doing when I open up my Photoshop CS2. However, I actually know nothing. But, thanks to this wonderful book, I'm able to fake it pretty well. Oh, how I do love that book. I think I'll sleep with it tonight. You know, see if osmosis can leak more of it's goodness into my brain.

But in the mean time, here is my first attempt at using a PS template. I was fortunate enough to come across this pretty frame on the I Love Photography forums. Thanks to my friend, Kerri for hooking me up with that site! The photo was taken at my parents' house over the holidays. I used the burn tool a bit to get rid of some distractions in the photo and use a few freebie actions I found on the internet to soften the colors in the photo. Originally, my niece's shirt was a super bright fuscia.

New Sidebar Pic------->

Of course, I got a pink hat for my birthday today!! It's a Packers hat, in case you couldn't tell. But, hubby figured I'd get more use out of a pink hat, instead of one that was green and yellow. Good call!

I must be getting old

because sometimes, my idea of a perfect Saturday night is sitting at home on the couch with a dog on my lap, one at my feet and a husband nearby...just watching a movie and doing a little something crafty. Tonight, it was knitting. I was binding off this baby blanket that has only taken me 1.5 years to complete.

Meme from Hotfessional

Her highness, the Hotfessional tagged me for a meme! Yay! My very first tagginess.

Here are The Rules:
Link to the person that tagged you. Done!
Post the rules on your blog. Done!
Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. Done!
Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. Done!
Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website. Done!


So without further ado; six quirks/habits about me that are just plain strange:

1. I wrinkle up my nose in a snotty way, even though I conciously try not to.
2. I gained exactly 7 PMS pounds every month.
3. I think I like playing Barbie as much as my 7 year old niece does.
4. I watched the Little Mermaid 3,647 times. I probably would still watch it at least weekly if I hadn't worn the VHS out.
5. The smell of gardenias and vinegar (separately or together) make me throw up without fail.
6. I visit my favorite websites in the same order every morning.


Tag You're It!!
Pioneer Woman
Iam Bossy
Redneck Mommy
365Amanda
Scrapbooking Ali
Dooce


Spread the strangeness.

Working Girl

Since neither this blog or my budding photography pay the bills, I have to keep a day job. For the past four years, I've been a litigation paralegal. My days are spent answering client's seemingly endless questions about whether their case will ever, EVER, E.V.E.R. settle. For some people, that frustration is well earned. We've had some lingerers (?) hang on for over 7 years. And trust me, no one wants to regularly be chillin with their lawyers for 7 years on end. But, I do my best to soothe their anger, sadness, and whatever other emotion might come up. When I'm not on the phone, I'm photographing accident scenes, client's injuries, summarizing medical records and sometimes even going to trials. I rarely have the same day twice; things are so varied around here!

So, I have a pretty nice corner office, with a real door, two desks, a credenza and everything! The only not so great part to me is the TEAL carpet. Not so much a fan. But, as it turns out, the carpet compliments my Mexican watercolor collection nicely. Said paintings were purchased on my senior trip after high school, so they beautify and remind me of a couple of very good weeks in my life. So I think I've made the best of a bad thing underfoot. Throughout our offices, there are lots of built in bookcases full of lovely old law books. Some are over a hundred years old. Now that everything is accessible online, they don't get used much anymore. But their beauty, and the wonderful history they are full of will only grow with time.

Pinkie the Archer

At the lengthy pestering of my husband to give it a try, I took up competitive indoor archery a couple years ago. As it turns out, I LOVE shooting. Sometimes it's fun to imagine that I'm aiming at my boss's head. Funny how I always seem to be accurate at those shots. Anyway, today's picture is of my arrows. Being the pinkie that I am, I insisted on having pink feathers on them. At least I didn't make him buy me a pink bow. Yet.

Dog gone it...

They're all I have to take pictures of! The dogs, that is. If the weather was any nicer (read: more than 20F), I would venture out and take some random nature pictures full of winter beauty. Or something like that.

Instead, here is my parents' indoor beauty, Misty the Weimaraner, aka Queen of the couch, aka Queen of the Master Bed, aka Queen of, well, everything at their house. Hee hee.

My Weekend's Work

I got the pleasure of spending a few hours with my 2 year old niece this weekend. She is such a terd, according to her big brother. While my sister and mom were in a photography class (we all got new Rebel XTi cameras for Christmas), the short one and I headed to a nearby park to run off steam and attempt to take some outdoor pictures. I must've taken about 100 shots, but only 10 really turned out the way I was hoping. The circumstances weren't fabulous, with it being harsh afternoon sun and that 2 year old attitude.

Mom, I'm hopelessly devoted to...

...slurping your face at 6am so you will take me out to potty.

...sloberring on your work pants, first thing in the morning.

...drinking 3 gallons of water and then throwing it up on the dining room carpet.

...shedding more hair than you ever thought possible, because I know you love to vacuum.

...wiping my butt on the carpet, because I know you love to shampoo the carpet as much as you love to vacuum it.

...and best of all, adoring you with my whole heart and following you like the little lost soul that I am.

Love you,
Bo Dawg

Inspector Lucky

Since he has already been the subject of many frames in my new camera, he was bound to get over his aloofness and get curious at some point about this THING that keeps beeping at him and blinding his eyes.