I don’t have a whole lot of commentary today.  (Yeah, I know and I was getting so good at it!)  : )

My next week and a half is packed pretty full, but most of it will be fun. : ) And you’ll be seeing some of it here!  (Excuse me while I celebrate).  But for today, enjoy this simple little image. And the fact that I think we’re finally seeing Spring around here!  : )

Enjoy your Tuesday.

I really love cacti.  They’re pretty & oh-so-deserty.  Oh, and they’re hardy little plants, so I’m pretty sure that’s why they’ve survived our oddly cold winter. So, add a spider web to that coolness and I’m a happy girl. Spider webs are very pretty, delicate and skillful. Of course, I hate the spider part, but the webs are pretty. So I was super excited to take this image:

Did you get a good look? When I downloaded this pretty little thing & pulled it up to get a look bigger than my 2 inch LCD screen I realized that the friendly spider not only made it into the photo, he (or she) brought along a helpless little fly friend.  Neat, right? Even neater is the fact that I didn’t know that creepy arachnid was there, so I didn’t even have to go to the trouble of freaking out while getting a pretty shot. Yay!  : )

Have a lovely (real) spider-free Tuesday.

We had snow (again) this week!  Wowzers. 0_o

And because of that lovely white powder, my husband’s graduate classes were cancelled & we got to spend some time together.  It was an early birthday present to me.  : )  Yay!

No, he didn’t make a snowman without a jacket. : )  His mommy taught him better than that. He just took it off when we went inside to gather the finishing touches to the snowman & my camera.

Here’s our finished snowman. Check out  his super colorful scarf & mittens. : )  Yeah, they’re mine. Cute, right? I hope they don’t catch on fire when he lights up that grill, though.

Here’s his face detail. You can see his snow-nose and snow-chin.  And that’s an apple slice for his mouth.

And, finally, me and our friendly snowman. Do you think he knows I’m giving him bunny ears?  (Don’t worry, you can laugh. No one else will know).  : D

If you’ve been getting snow recently, I hope you’ve enjoyed it. And maybe even had a day off to make a snowman!

So, since it’s still cold, cold *cold*, I decided I’d see how I could take advantage of the situation instead of whining about it. Or at least whining about it less, lol.
So I got out in the cold & after spending about 5 minutes straight trying to take pictures, I returned to my car with a red nose & frozen fingers & a bit of condensation on my camera’s LCD display from pressing my freezing cheek to it.
So I changed my tactics. If the weather was going to attack, I’d just return to my fort (aka car), get warm, and then venture out again for another go. So that’s what I did. Over & over. Though I did drive between excursions, so the scenery changed. : ) It kept me sane and at least slightly less cold.

And through the exploration, I decided I’d run a 4 weeks series of Winter’s Nature. Spring/Summer doesn’t have a monopoly on pretty nature, so I hunted some down.

Look!  Baby pinecones!  lol. (I have no idea if that’s what they really are, but they sure look like it!)

The “frame” on the image is thanks to Rita over at Coffee Shop Photography’s Free Actions. I’ve loved this bordered look for a while & thought I’d try it, especially since she made it so easy, though you should still check the tutorial so you know exactly how to customize it. : )

Happy (Cold) Tuesday!  Enjoy the weather as much as possible.

Well, after a hunt for green high heels that fit my specific requirements, I decided I’d try something new… and hope I didn’t fail completely.  I didn’t. : ) Which makes me very proud since I haven’t painted anything for 4-5 years, but I found a pair of canvas shoes on sale & dug out my old paints, to produce these:

The shoes started out as that subdued teal color (check the inside of the shoes) & I painted them a popping bright green.

Then I really tested my skills & tried to paint those little cameos. Believe it or not, the one I like best is the one I didn’t try to sketch out.  Figures, right? lol.

I stumbled upon this idea via this etsy shop.  If I had more spare cash laying in corners, I’d spend a lot more of my time on Etsy. lol.

And that’s what they look like on my feet – phenomenal, right? (Please ignore the bit of old nail polish peaking out of the shoe.  It will be removed by the end of the day, I promise. ; )  I still need to spray them to seal the paint on, and now that I’ve taken these shots, I see a few places I may want to touch up. Little things that I can’t see when they’re on my feet & I’m not studying them. : )

But all in all, I really am pleased. And now I have more custom-shoe ideas. Anyone got old shoes they want painted? ; )

Well, last post for the Entwine series. : ) It’s girly, I know, but I’m still recovering from Valentine influences, haha.

So, there are 2 things to be learned from this image: I like pearls (especially if you looked at last Friday’s post) and I couldn’t tie a nice bow to save my life. Seriously.

Though the lopsided-ness of this bow worked out for the image, if you want to do a photo shoot with me and need any bows tied, *bring a friend*!  Think I’m kidding? My mom  makes fun of my inability to tie bows. Ever since I was a little kid, even my shoes’ bows have been crooked (they tend to spin sideways).

I have figured out the cause: I tie my “underneath” knot, left over right and then I tie the bow right over left (or maybe it’s right over left & then left over right), but the point is that since I flip-flop my directions, my bows flip-flop too. And even though I know the cause, I’ve been tying bows wrong for so many years, I can’t force myself to fix it. Even if I concentrate really hard.

So lesson: teach your kids to tie straight bows & never, ever ask me to tie a presentable bow for you. ; )

Enjoy your Tuesday!  I will because the only bows I’ll tie will be on my shoelaces (and no one sees those because of my jeans… maybe this is why I hate to wear shorts & tennis shoes?)    : )

New four-week set: Entwine.

Inspired by this image & influenced by the flickr group: inter}{twine.

For the next four weeks, I’d better go hunting. ; ) I’ve had this picture for a little while now & I decided this morning that I would base my next set of Tuesday posts on this idea.  I hope everyone enjoys (and that I don’t run out of creativity!  lol).

Happy Tuesday!

Don’t get me wrong.  I love the rain & cold weather is nice… for a while.  It’s been cold a little long this winter and we’re only in January.  Of course, since we’re in Texas, it should clear up in a few weeks (haha), but I am looking forward to not having to dig a jacket out of my closet to do something as simple as run to the store.

As you can imagine, this image is a few months old.  I was digging through my archives, to delete some images that I never sorted through a while pack and stumbled upon this lovely.  In color, it’s not so fantastic, but after I switched it to black & white, I just love it!

In other news, I got my new camera yesterday.  It’s a Canon 7D.  I’ve been looking forward to upgrading for several reasons, but after taking some experiment/play shots last night, I plugged my new “toy” into my computer today & my image program couldn’t read the files.  After a moment of “oh-my-gosh-what’s-wrong”, I googled the problem & found the fix.  Thank goodness I waited a few months to get my camera (or else the update wouldn’t have been ready).  Everything is much better now, running just like it should.  Hurrah for my new camera!

My first session in 2010 and I absolutely adore the results.  (Of course, I like the subject, too, I’ve known him just about forever). ; )

Ryan is a senior in Lubbock & is planning to study music in college next year. And with good reason: he got second chair in all state choir this year.  Amazing, yeah? (Especially to me – I’d like to have musical talent, but, well…)  On to the fabulous visuals.

How photogenic is he? And if I wore glasses, I’d try on ones like that first!

There are these neat old train cars outside of Lubbock that are set up on the side of the highway & if I understand correctly some type of Christmas celebration/decoration happens there every year… but when that stuff isn’t up it’s the perfect place for some photography.

Cotton!  And look at that sky!  So blue!

Can black & white get any better? His expression, pose, & the textures – I just love it!

His expression here makes me smile every time. Just a little bit of mischief, I think. ; )

Good news. The client/ordering section of my website can now process credit cards!  : )  I’m very excited about this because I know that’s much more convenient for most people.

I’m going to go eat my lunch now (left-over stuffed peppers – yum).  Have a fabulous Tuesday!