You Guys are the Greatest!

A big thanks to all the comments/messages and emails I received about my hard decision on my upgrade choices. I'm proud to announce that I've come to a decision, based on how I feel and the kind and supportive/encouraging words of you guys..I've decided Canon is the way to go. I feel weird feeling "incomplete" until I have one as I have never owned, used or even really HELD a Canon DSLR (besides my point and shoot I had before my Sony and in-store with the demos). But something is telling me that I'm a Canon girl and I'm sticking with my gut! So as soon as I get this Sony sold, Canon here I come!!

So Ashley has the cutest little link-up going on over at her blog. It's called "Letters to Kitty Paw". You make a photo/card/collage...etc with an attached letter to her very popular feline companion, Kitty Paw. Since I have a male cat myself and have photographed him frequently, the best photo popped in my head immediately for the challenge! So, Kitty Paw, this is for you....

If you would like to enter for a chance to win one of four fabulous items she is "giving away" to the top 4, head over by clicking below!


Sunsets here never cease to amaze me. If you've been following me for a while you know that at one point I feared boring you stiff with my repetitive sunset shots (from the same exact point on my front porch). But you guys sent tons of love and comments assuring me you would never be bored so I continue to share! I swear you could take a photo every. single. day. and not have two that were similar :) So this is my Sky Watch Friday entry:

SKYWATCH FRIDAY

Moon photos (since I've gotten better at them) have also become a favorite. I love to photograph people but in my spare time at home I love to photograph nature just as much. tonight's moon was a half moon so I took my 28-85 lens out and captured a shot of it. I'll be using it as my "Best Shot", my "Show Off" photo for over at And Then, She {Snapped} and my photo for Foto Friday. My edit for this photo included a very very tight crop, using the burn tool at about 23 to darken the details, sharpening and adding a lens flare (I think it makes it look interesting). You do that by going to Filter>Render>Lens Flare...select what type and adjust brightness. I "turn it down" further by using a black brush and "clicking" over the flare lightening it more so that it's more subtle. Anyways here it is!


Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Lastly I am also entering into Macro Friday for the first time in a few weeks! Here is my macro image:

It's of my little sister's ring she left here one of the times she stayed with us. I thought it made for a cute macro :)


Thanks again for helping me decide and I hope your weekend is totally great! We're getting some warm weather starting Sunday! (I'm talking 50's!! :-D ) So I'm suppper excited!

Once more if anyone knows anyone looking for a good DSLR and some lenses/accessories send me a message and let me know! Thanks guys~!

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"A Spoon Full of Sugar Make You Better Real Quick"

So ever since my "Wee Bit of Me" post the song "Stuck on You" by Sugarland has been stuck in my head so I thought using a line from it as a title would help it leave my head and get stuck in yours :) Is it working???
Anywho, pretty much it's 2 AM and I'm tired but my hubby and bro-in-law are up playing some kinda basketball game on PS3 so I'm getting my Friday link up post together! Oh and I entered Chelsey's Valentine's Day Challenge yesterday and if you haven't seen my entry check it out here and if I place in the top 20 I hope I will have your vote! There are some awesome prizes!!

LEM; Trees

This was a snow covered cedar tree we passed on our snow walk about a week and a half ago! I love the detail of it and how "full" the photo is if that makes sense. Kind've a different perspective of a tree.


Foto Friday; SOOC

So I pretty much never get by without doing some kind of edit to my photos no matter how simple..such as contrast/curves/level..color play..anything like that. This was a top fav as I went through my SOOC photos from another nature walk we took after the snow that was in the previous picture melted off!


And Then, She {Snapped}

Please don't hate me for more bathtub pics. I've probably bored you to tears with them! Every week since I started my 365 project I've had at LEAST one photo of Dillon in the tub per week. That's where I go on days I lack motivation...in the bathroom with my camera while he bathes to capture my POTD! As far as processing I just did some basic adjustments to brightness, contrast and exposure and then I ran a vintage action (and I'm so sorry I can' remember which!) but I turned off a lot of layers and turned down the rest until I came out with this!


Skywatch Friday

Also along with my weekly tub picture I usually have a sunset to throw in there too..and it's always of the same direction and the same two trees..(*duh self, the sun sets in the same place from your porch everyday!*) Can you tell I'm tired???
Skywatch Friday

Best Shot

Gotta share this photo of "Mister Man" as he has come to be called. He's like a mini lion with all that super thick long fur! He loves his outside time but comes in too! I love his eyes!

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Simplicity; Vintage

I know this seems a little "out there" but does something about this photo seem "vintage-y" to you?? I don't know if it's the edit I used or the fact that it was taken at my Mom in Law's and her husband is a collector of vintage items so it just gives that vibe or what? Either way I felt like it somehow conveyed 'vintage' so there it is!


So that's it, my Friday link ups! I wanna take a moment out like I do every once in a while and thank you all again for your support, encouragement and kind words that I look forward to reading everyday! You guys are my source of strength and my want to go out and capture something new and different everyday! I visit as many blogs as I can as you all are so talented and such an inspiration! Your words always touch my heart! I promise! I hope you guys have the greatest weekend EVA!

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Warning: Photo OVERLOAD! :)

Goodness Sakes it seems like it's been years since I've been here!
But I have been pretty busy. I had two couple's shoots this past Saturday.
It was around 54 degrees that day which was AWESOME 'shooting' weather!
So I asked if anyone would like to get some portraits taken the night before and had a couple of takers!
So Sunday we spent the day visiting my husband's Mom and then YESTERDAY we finally got our last tax form and went and filed last night! YAY!
So we're pretty tired from the running and happy to have the whole tax hurdle cleared!
ANYWAYS I'm going to catch up on my link-ups while at the same time sharing some of my favorite photos from the weekend sessions!

Perceptive Perspective
Winter Fun

We've been doing a lot of 'exploring' lately. There was no exception for the weekend since we decided to go on a 'nature walk' after our 5 inches of snow had (almost) melted. As you can see there was still some patches hangin on behind me and my son. We had tons of fun walking through this swampy forest. We all had our waterproof boots on and it was pure adventure for Dillon..he was in awe. We went as far as we could without being knee deep in water and came back but it was so much fun! I decided to use this photo to represent our fun as a family and hope to have many more adventures this year! Also entering in Paper Heart Camera's theme, Brown..Dillon's brown hoodie, my brown hair and the brown all behind us!


Trendy Treehouse, Shadows!

During my first shoot the couple wanted to do that pose where you lay down head to head. Since the sun was workin it's warming magic I didn't want them laying under the blasting blinding beams of the sun so we found a shaded place where the tree's shadows allowed them to lay there and pose comfortably. I had two I loved so I'll share the other one too:

I love her eyes in this one. Beautiful!


Happy Monday, Sunrise & Sunsets

This was during our visit to my husband's Mom's. I had left the dock with my son (because do you know how nerve racking it is having a two year old who can't sit still on a dock!?!?!) so we went to more stable and dry land ;) I caught this of my husband, his Mom in the middle facing me and his sister still there talking. I love to see family together, it's sweet. I just wish the satellite dish wasn't in the shot but oh well..I still like it! The sun was in the process of setting (or in it's last hour) when I shot this :)


Sweet shot Tuesday

Seriously, is there anything sweeter???!!!


Communal Global and Happiness Project





Happy customers make me happier than taking the photos...which I have a huge passion for! The first two photos are from the second couple of the day that day. I love their expressions and they loved their photos so this would categorize in "happiness". I will share the rest of them at the end of this post if you're interested! :-)

Scripture & a Snapshot

I chose this combination because the limb I took a photo of was kind've falling apart from so much rain and moisture. So this verse is kind've an uplifter when you're down or dreary or afraid of anything and yourself. I love this verse, what is there to fear when you have God?


Okay so here are the rest of the photos from my sessions Saturday:

This was one of my favorite shots/poses. So I am using it for most of my Wednesday linkups! I am using this photo as my entry into Joni's my Funny Valentine Challenge over at her blog, Six Cherries on Top! For the cutest couple contest!




Better in Bulk








I had so much fun with both these couples and I can't wait to get out and do more! I hope I didn't overload you on photos! You may see these again in the future...but I hope you'll still come back!

Oh and lastly but CERTAINLY not leastly I received a recognition for two of my photos! One was by Trenday Treehouse for my overlay shot last week and the other was for my entry into Live Every Moment's them, Anything. I received top three in LEM's and a favorite for Trendy Treehouse! Here are my honorable buttons:


You have to vote for the #1 photo in LEM's challenge and I hate asking for favors but if you would go to her blog by clicking HERE I would be most thankful to you!

Lastly (I promise!) I received a bloggy award from THREE people..it's an honor for me to receive all these things in a short period of time, it really is! I am overwhelmed with joy for everything you guys do and I appreciate you all! For this award I'm supposed to mention the award-ers, tell you 7 things about myself and pass it along to 15 bloggers. Well I find it hard to choose between bloggers to share it with so I want to share it with ALL of you guys. You're the reason why I blog so you deserve an award everyday! As for the three lovely people who shared it with me, the are Jesslyn Amber, Melissa from Love & Life and Tiffany from They Call Me Mama. Go check them out, they're a great read and look! Thanks you guys and have an awesome week!

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