Lunch, Leftovers, and Lowe’s

And Fountain Cokes! But that doesn’t start with an “L”.

Yesterday’s lunch was a typical lunch. Except rather than leftovers we had hot dogs. . . another usual lunch. For those of you who know Cody, you know he loves his fountain cokes. So each day, after he walks over to my office and we eat whatever leftovers we have, we make a run up to the corner store.

Most days, we have time to kill before our lunch hour is over. The most common activity. . . . wandering Lowe’s. We go to Lowe’s just to wander at least three times a week. We really don’t have too many other choices.

You never know what we might look at. Well, except that we almost always go by the mis-matched paint. Sometimes we might look at appliances so we’ll be prepared as ours go out. Sometimes I dream of better ceiling fans. Quite often, it’s the PVC pipe. . . where Cody plots a protein feeder. And if it’s not the protein feeder, very often it’s other projects or supplies for the deer lease.

Yesterday, after looking at the storage stuff, the metal for my craft room, and paint, it was Tool World. It started off looking at sanders (which we actually own one somewhere in the garage) but Cody got off track quickly. I used my 365 project as an excuse to kill a little time taking pictures.

And truthfully, I was glad to capture a moment from our everyday typical lunch routine.

Being Childless Sucks, Life Doesn’t

When I blogged about how being childless sucks Wednesday, I received several words of encouragement which I did appreciate. But, I guess what I failed to get across in that post, is that it was just a moment. . . They come, they go. Sure, being childless hasn’t stopped sucking. But, it’s not the only thing in my life.

I honestly didn’t share about that moment when I searched google for those that know me, but rather because I know that there may be others I don’t know who feel the same way and are looking for something to perhaps validate their feelings or just someone who understands. (OK, that’s a really bad run on sentence whith far to many “thats” in the beginning, but you know, it’s a blog not a term paper)

You see just because being childless sucks, it doesn’t mean that life does. All-in-all, I’ve got a great life. A house over my head, a loving husband who truly spoils me, time to be creative, a job, etc. (Since I just made a long list New Year’s Eve, I spare you the long version ’cause I have a feeling this post is going to be long enough.)

(OK, in proofreading this, this next part is going to seem really off topic and a rambling tangent, I promise I’ll be bringing it back around.)

Last weekend as Cody and I were celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary, we discussed a new class that I want to take. This morning as I thought about that class, I realized that my hobbies all seem to piggy back on themselves. Last year, I spent a lot of time learning more about photography and taking pictures. This year, I’ve gotten back into scrapbooking. This new class is about organizing pictures with a scrapbooking purpose (well, that’s just the surface.) One of the assignments before the class starts is to go through your digital pics and printed pics and put them in chronological order. I’m in luck since my digi pics are all in folders my month and year and named by the date and a sequence that keeps the approximately 16,000 pictures in order. . . not to mention digi pics can be sorted by date/time taken. But, our printed pics, that’s another story. The class talks about not trying to do all your pictures but a portion so that you can learn the process and then repeat with the rest later. So, I decided to just tackle the years from when Cody and I met until we went digital- Fall Semester 1994-Deer Season 2003. (Another tangent. . . Deer Season, you may be wondering, why I associated that. . . Because I got my first digi camera on the way to the Campwood and I remember taking tons of shots along the 8 hour drive there. Looking back now, I realize it was purchase and trip that would change my life.)

So this week, Cody and I have been sorting those printed pictures. We really don’t have that many. They filled two plastic shoeboxes longwise (aka short side so that the pano shots would fit). It was so much fun to remember those days. We really enjoyed looking back. We were both amazed at how young we look. . . even though we don’t feel that much older today. In many ways, despite the things we’ve gone through, we’re still like newlyweds or perhaps even those kids in college. We’re still like those two lovebirds in those pictures- two lovebirds who got married and watched as their friends got married, two lovebirds who used to eat on the floor in Etoile, two lovebirds who have watched their nephew grow-up, two lovebirds that have seen great vacations, two lovebirds that met in college, moved to Corpus Christi, and came back to that college town. We’ve been blessed. I’ve been blessed.

And, I realize just how blessed to live in the digital age! We narrowed that lot of pics down to just a little over one box. Purging a lot of awful and failed shots, I realized how much I benefit from being able to instantly see my pictures. Going through the so-so pics, I realized how much easier it is to take advantage of learning photography in a digital world. Looking at how few pictures there were compared to fewer years of digital, I realized just how glad I am that I don’t have to pay for film and processing.

Creative Updates: 365 Link and Scrapbooking

Just wanted to share a simple update for those of you who are interested.

1) My 365 Project is going strong. I’m not sure whether I’ll get around to sharing a bit about each picture in blog posts but I plan to upload them to this gallery on about a weekly basis. (I’m also having them printed and putting them in my 365 binder). You can also see images from that gallery on the right hand side. . . and there’s a link to the gallery in the top menu.

2) More Scrapbook Layouts. . . I haven’t posted the other layouts I’ve done for my class so far. I’ve got one more to do before week 5 of the class starts on Thursday. It’s a 12 week class so just imagine how many layouts I’ll have done by then.

Since I plan to make scrapbooking a better part of 2010, I thought I’d go ahead and create a gallery for the pages I’m amassing quickly. Again, you can find a link up at the top directly to the gallery too!

(Again, these are all using Cathy Zielske templates from Big Picture Scrapbooking’s Design Your Life class. . . and the papers/embellishments I did not create are mainly from Crystal Wilkerson/Jessica Sprague)

3) Later this week, I hope to post some of Cody and I’s pictures from the zoo Saturday. There really wasn’t a movie we wanted to see for our anniversary and we had the church’s 50th anniversary dinner Saturday night leaving us with a limited amount of time. So, we went to the zoo in Lufkin after we went out to lunch. You’ll have to see the racoon pics we got! (Cody actually out shot me by 100+ shots) Truth be told neither of us is that much of a movie person and we’d rather be outside and taking pictures any day. It was a rare warmer anniversary as the temps were around 70- so we took advantage rain or not.

October Began With A Trip Down South

We were just down there in July.  But when Coralyn told us that her brother passed away, we knew we’d make another trip down to Corpus Christi.  Cody says it totally messed up his average since before July, it had been a really long time since we were there.   It didn’t matter as we knew we needed to be there.

Since I’ve become a Hotwire fan, I checked out Hotwire and found I could get a 4-star hotel in the waterside area for less than I could get a hotel out by him mom.  (So far, I’ve only hotwired 4-stars because you don’t know what hotel you’re getting and 3-stars can be a lot of different things.)  And most of our activities would be in town so the htoel would be closer.  I checked out what 4-stars were in Corpus and thought we would be across from the seawall.  NOT! We were across the Harbor Bridge- Yipee!  (And on the beach, but we’re not beach folks).  Cody did take it better than I thought he would- probably helped that we’d stayed at the hotel, under different ownership, over 10 years ago.  We had a great room and I always enjoy watching the ships and the tugs come in and out of the port. 

I counted 13 tugboats while I was there.  (Much fewer than I remember seeing in the past)

Our room was not directly overlooking the beach. . . Instead, we had a bit of an angled view- of the beach, the Lady Lex, the Corpus Skyline, the Harbor Bridge, and the Refineries.  Our balcony was excellant for some night shooting.

We had a chance to catch up with Cody’s cousins and that was really nice.  The last time we saw his second cousins, the oldest was 1. . . now 10!  And there were three we’d never met.  We also learned that their dad, Cody’s uncle, wanted to be in Coralyn’s wedding that he and his wife had a second wedding in a Catholic church.  (And that their mom had to convert from Baptist to Catholisism to do it.)  I barely knew his uncle but heard some great stories.

We also spent one late night catching up with some friends we hadn’t seen in years!  That was lots of fun. . . and it was another chance to see how quickly kids and families grow.

We managed to squeeze in some time for the Aquarium.  Literally, we had 1.5 hours Saturday, so we made a run for it. . . OK we walked.  One of the things that stuck out with us was how hot and humid it was.  And windy.  I remember the wind, but neither of us really remembered it being that nasty hot and sticky. . . in October none the less.  On our walk to the aquarium from the hotel, this is what Cody’s hair looked like.

On our way to the aquarium we really worked hard to keep the sand out of our shoes.  We really aren’t folks that enjoy sand. . . though we did take one walk along this beach.

We wound up getting a membership at the aquarium and snuck in another 1.5 hour trip on Sunday.  We always loved the aquarium.  With two trips and the fact that we had other pics of the aquarium, it was an excellant chance to practice some photography.  And a challenge in some of the darker areas.  The otter exhibit has always been one of my favorites and we spent lots of watching them- even saw a girl drop her cell phone into the otters water.  The otters pounced on it. . . a new toy.  We also arrived both days just in time to see the last dolphin show. 

One really huge ship left the port while we were at the aquarium. . . I mean really huge!

Like the distortion. . . they had a dome thing you where you could stick your head “into” the one of the tanks.

Cody took these next two shots of me. . . in the tank. . .

Just for mom:

The aquarium highlight though happened with about 10 minutes before the aquarium closed in the viewing area underneath the dolphin tank- where they held an impromptu underwater show practice.  Oh my goodness, to see the dolphins interact and their faces.  It was amazing.

All of these pics are unedited except for sharpening done when uploading.  We took over 1500 pics which of course have been edited down tremendously but I haven’t had a chance to even begin editing them. And as you can see by the number of pictures posted here. . . I’ve had a tough time narrowing down my favorites.

The 100- Best Punishment Ever

Well, I went from exhausted and trying to catch up from one weekend to a weekend under the weather.  I really want to share these pics from last week but still haven’t had a chance to do any editing.  So, I’ll share them SOOC.

Last Wednesday, Cody and I went down the arboretum to get some photo practice in.  Of course, he was his usual persnickity self.

And, it was some time in this moment when he took a picture of me that I’d had enough.  And so, for whatever silly little thing he did, I punished him- with 100 additional shots of him.  (Mind you it was light hearted)

I pretty much let him do his thing while I took pictures of him from different angles and played around with composition.

And just for the record, my husband does not have man-boobs.  I know I’ve posted pictures to the contrary before and I have  no idea what he did with his shirt but I have lots of beautiful shots of him from this shoot with breasts.  So mad at myself for not catching that while I was shooting.  I guess I just need to remember that he’s like the little boy whose always going to have his shirt untucked and really check out what he’s got going on.

Needless to say, I’m really glad I had 100 shots to finally get it right.  But, I’m really happy that I did take the 100 shots.  It was an excellant exercise.  I had to get more creative.  And, this shot, which is one of my favorites, was one of the last ones that I took.

And, as you can see, we had fun with it!  Doesn’t that shot say something about my sweet husband.  Even after sitting for 100 shots, he still looked at me that way.  Or perhaps in his head he was really laughing at me standing on the bench beside him. . . perhaps he needs another 100 shot punishment.

A Day of Rest: Sunday Scribbles

Today, well at least this afternoon, has been a day of rest in the Jenkins household.  I declared later last week that we would rest. . .no matter what the weather did.  Sunday we would get some rest.  Sundays should be filled with faith, family, and rest.  We haven’t observed that rest part in quite some time.

I thought scribble down some goings on just to keep you all in the loop.

- I said the day was a day of rest- THIS afternoon because:

1) I woke up at 1 something this morning.  Our old bed left me so achy that I got up and went to the living room to sleep.  I never do that.

2) We got to church and there was no power.  So, after arranging chairs/hymnals/etc into the Narthex, we had our monring services by windo light and piano.

3) Since the church service was a bit warm, we needed something to drink.  We stopped at the convenience store for a fountain coke and donuts (Shame, Shame, I know but the donut shop was right next door.)  We wound up having a leak on the truck. . . Cody said it was a major antifreeze leak.  I start thinking the worse. . . we’ve spent so much getting the trailer ready at the deer lease that the thought of a repair bill stopped me in my tracks.  It turned out to be a hose that came loose.  We walked over to Lowe’s for hose clamps, screwdrivers, and pliers (Cody’s tools were in the other truck from our trip to the deer lease yesterday.)  Cody fixed the problem in the convienence store parking lot.

So, the day did not start of normal at all.

- Watched the Royals win again today!  They’ve one 5 out of 6.  That’s been fun.  Now, it’s football games and hunting shows on TV.

- I start my new photography class tomorrow (Karen Russell’s) and I’m super excited about that. 

- Cody and I are being sure to get some rest today because it’ll be a busy week.  My class starts and Cody has an Elder’s meeting tomorrow.  Then, next weekend, Cody has big hunting plans with some old college roommates.  (I’m still finger crossed that it all works out ok for him.)  I’m trying to figure out what I want to do next weekend. 

- I mentioned my jelly roll purchases last weekend.  I can’t wait to start sewing them into a quilt.  But, first I need to finish a few other sewing projects including curtains for the deer lease trailer.

- We’ve got the trailer all painted- Olympic Morning Fog (my favorite color).  We’ve started moving stuff in and it’s nearing it’s final stages for this deer season’s preperations.  Can’t wait to have it done!  Here’s a few fuzzy pics of the trailer just to prove it’s nothing fancy.  Though we’ve poured our work into the inside and it looks much better than the outside at this point.  (We’ll clean up the outside- when the water gets figured out- and someday paint it too!)

(You can see all the mess we have outside of it too!  Can’t wait until we can burn and quit looking like white trash in the yard.)

Flashback Friday: Balloon Races- July 2008

Last year, Cody and I went to our second balloon races in Longview.  This time we let my little brother tag along.  We’d only been there the Sunday morning races a few year back but knew we wanted to see what the balloon glow is about. It was a long weekend and I’ve got a million pictures, but I’ll try to keep it somewhat condensed.

We were there super early.  Parking fills up fast and when you’re not from around there, you want to be prepared.  We headed out just after work.  It was hot, of course- it’s July.  Dryer’s was giving out Dips- and we instantly fell in love with them as we ate them in the shade we found beside an eighteen wheeler trailer.  Who wouldn’t fall in love with ice cream on a hot July day- especially when it’s free.  There were planes to look at and I took a few shots.  We hung out in the grass for quite sometime.  . . my brother and I playing dueling cameras and sharing pictures.  Our DSLR’s were still really new at the time.  Eventually, the festivities really kicked off.  The planes flew over.

Then some of the balloons aired up and took a little flight.  Cody and I remembered how cool it was to watch them fly and my brother found out what we’d been telling him.

As the festivities turned to the actual Balloon Glow, they sang the anthem. . . and then BOOOM!  OK, that’s not quite the sound but it came with a thunderous boom.  What was it you ask. . . the sound of hot air balloons lighting up the sky. 

I can just about guarantee that Cody, Jack, and I were standing there with our mouth’s wide open in awe.  We hadn’t expected that at all.  It was a total shock.  The awe didn’t stop.  You really can’t imagine just what a balloon glow is like until your there. . . walking around all the balloons.

We got home really late. . . and got up just a few hours later. . . turned around and drove all the way back.  It’s not but a little over an hour but with very little sleep it felt like forever.  Then we waited, and waited.  The sun started to come up and we pitched our spot on the grass. . . Then we waited, and waited.  It was too windy to fly.  We were bummed but so were the balloon racers.

We were faced with another long wait. . . We wanted to see the balloon glow that evening.  Gas prices were super high and we didn’t want to drive all the way home.  We went to the “unphotographed” park I mentioned yesterday and slept in the truck.  After a while, we walked around and I did take pictures, really I promise.  Then we went to the Oil Museum.  I’d always wanted to do that but I honestly expected something a bit different.  I got some of the most awesome pictures of the old town they have set up, really I promise.  We went to Circuit City where I got a good camera bag.  We went to see Wall-E and really didn’t enjoy it.  (I think we were too tired to enjoy it. . . it seemed really slow for a kids movie.)  Then we went to Whatatburger.  We checked out the great shots that I’d taken, really I promise.  My brother had some great ones too and we enjoyed looking at them. . . But then, somehow in my exhaustion, I deleted all my pics from the day.  I was sooooooo bummmmmmed. 

But, it wasn’t long after that and I was happily snapping away again.

Now, the entire day, we were in contact with my parents trying to get them to come to the Balloon glow.  They finally did.  And, this time knowing what would happen after they played the anthem, my brother and I set up in tandem with our cameras pointed directly at my parents. 

Oh, dad had the same delayed reaction we’d all had the night before. . . the “I should be taking pictures” finally came around to him though.  (I love how these images capture the awe of the moment which we’d felt the night before and were reliving again.  But, I bet mom’s ready to ”bop me” for posting them.)

 We were as enthralled Saturday night as we’d been Sunday night.  But, boy were we tired (and hot).  Neither of which really bothered us until the lights went out.

A few months later, I booked an air conditioned screen shelter at the state park near where the Balloon races were for the traditional balloon race weekend. . . I did not want to have to make the drive back and forth and wanted to have a place to crash during the day.  I wound up having to cancel that reservation as it’s the weekend we went to Corpus Christi following my mother-in-law’s surgery. 

That reminds me. . . I need to make a to do to reserve it for next year.

The Morning Skies Taunt Me

Some mornings I hate going to work.  When the skies look like these, I’d rather be somehwere else. 

I took thse shots about a week ago.  But, it happened even just yesterday morning- before I’d even seen the skies. . . I could see the color on the sidewalk and knew what was overhead.

I’d rather be photographing the beautiful skies in front of me rather than wastching from behind me.  I don’t have a choise though, I have to go to work.  So, I probably drive Cody crazy on these mornings as I carry on about the light and the colors in the skies as he drives us to work.  I normally don’t take pictures because it’s hard to get great shots through all the truck windows at 70 MPH.  And since I love to “sneak” in shots of Cody driving, I’msure he’s glad I don’t.

But, I can’t help but wish I could photograph these mornings.  I dream of a day when I don’t have to go to work and can capture the beautiful sky.

Of course, in that dream, there aren’t any powerlines as well.

Photography Walk Date

I mentioned Cody and I’s little photography walk earlier this month- where I got a picture of my off-centered and awkward husband- oh, I mean an off centered and awkward picture of my husband.  By bad, honey.

Here’s a few other shots from that walk. This first one is my favorite shot from the batch.

Squeezing in Photography on Our Trip Down South

I mentioned our trip down to South Texas last month briefly. The entire trip was brief. We went down there on Friday and returned on Sunday- and 12 hours of that was driving time. We went down there following my mother-in-law’s neck surger. Cody was able to get some of his honey do’s done for his mom while we were there. (There’s always a list much longer than the time we have to spend.)

The drive can get really boring. This trip in particular I just had a hard time being stuck in the truck. (Might have something to do this trips proximity to our Kansas City trip.) To help beat it, I grabbed my camera and took a few shots. Of course, our windows weren’t that clean and it’s often hard to get a good picture at 70 MPH. But, I got a few decent ones.

My allergies inevitably got the worst of me while we were down there and Saturday morning, I stayed at the htoel.  I checked out a great article in Photoshop User regarding HDR photography.  I couldn’t wait to get some bracketed shots to try it out.  I downloaded the Photomatix software to give it a try. 

I thought I would have to wait until we got back to Nac, but when my memory sent us on a wild goose chase out SPID Saturday evening we took a trip down Ocean Drive.  Cody stopped in several places where we’d never stopped- even when we lived there.

Here’s a few I processed as HDR images.  This first one was great- because it was so hazy and you could see the skyline on the horizon.

We even visited the seawall and took a walk along the jetty.  I can’t tell you how many times I’d wanted Cody to stop there before. 

Night Photography on the 4th of July

One of the photography experiments that I’ve wnated to do for quite sometime is some night photography. I’d really like to go on campus or downtown one evening and just explore this area of photography. On the 4th of July, we stayed out of the crowd and hung out on the square. I had my camera set up to take a few shots of the fireworks etc. But, it was these shots- the ones of downtown that I had more fun taking. And they further wetted my appetite for more chances to do this- hopefully when downtown isn’t as busy.

Art Find: Gregory Crewdson

Last January, when we were in Kansas City, I fell in love with this photograph at Nelson-Atkins Art Museum.  The first time I saw it, I just walked right by it.  But I was drawn back to it.  That’s when I started to notice all the details- the woman, the car, and an older lady in the windows of the right house in the front.  I fell in love.  It was an amazing lesson- to stop and look at all the details.

I took the picture above because I wanted to find out more about the artist.  When I got back, I was beyond disappointed to find that the information piece on hte right wasn’t clear enough to figure out who the artist was.  (And of course, after traveling days and days down Route 66, I couldn’t remember.)  I searched and searched but couldn’t figure it out.

Monday I left work at noon because I had such a headache.  We recently upgraded to a new package of channels from DirectTV (in order to get pre and post game for the Royals and Sabres) and included in that was Ovation TV.  I’d seen before that they had lots of art things and wished I had the channel myself.  So, since getting the package, I’ve been checking it out.  Monday there was a show about photography- Close Up: Photographers at Work. 

Guess which photographer was in it?  You got it.  I saw a part of his work and instantly knew it was the guy.  Gregory Crewdson was the name so blurred in my image whose image is so clear in my mind.  You can see the image clearer here.  (I’m not including it here as it his work and copyrighted, of course.)

His works are highly staged as if a movie production.  You can see more of his works by doing a google images search with his name or just searching for his name.

Off-Centered and Ackward

The photo I’m about to post is awful- among it’s problems- it’s off-centered and awkward.

This “lovely” example of a picture gone bad was take about a week and half ago.  Cody and I took an evening to go out and take pictures.  We went out the a native plant area on the college campus.  (It was actually because the weather fooled us into thinking it wasn’t as hot as it’s been. . .)

I took Candice Stringham’s Portrait Photography Class earlier this year.  One peace of advice that she gave me was not to photograph Cody from a lower level. . . Of course, I do that because I’m shorter then him.  Her advice came to mind as I prepared to take a picture of Cody.  So, I got up on my tippy toes and tried to get a shot of him.  Of course, I couldn’t be still.

When I saw the shot on my display, I said remarked that the shot wasn’t very good saying, “you’re off-centered and ackward.”  Cody took that statement a bit further stating he knew he was off-centered and ackward.  It became our joke the rest of the evening.

Teacher and Student

Last month, I took a class at Jessica Sprague called Photo Editing: Frame-ups and Special Effects.  It was a lot of fun to step outside of my box and do things to photographs that I don’t typically do. . . it’s just not really my preference or style. 

This month, I’m taking the Brush*Abilities class at Jessica Sprague.  It’s been some more fun experimenting and learning.  Although during the last class, I really tried to stick the script, this time I feel like I can play a lot more.

The first image was yesterday’s task.  Below are some of the things I played with for today’s lesson.

(For both the top image and the bottom image, I used the Digital Distressing Kit from Scrapartist owner Nancie Rowe Janitz that came with the class.)

God Is Great. . . People are Crazy

My husband opened his big fat mouth yesterday and created quite a stir in our household yesterday.  You see Monday we were talking about my enrollment into Karen Russell’s Snapshots of a Good Life Photography Class and how much it cost.  You see, he’d had selective hearing in our previous converations about the cost.

Well yesterday, he was telling a dear friend of ours about his selective hearing.  Next thing he knows, he get’s a card with my name on it.  It was a Photography Scholarship for me.  (And it’s not the first time she’s done something like this for us either!)  This friend is crazy but oh so Good.  Too Good.  Too Good to be True.  

She loves giraffe’s and so I made her a little thank-you- using none other than my photographs.

I can’t wait to take Karen’s class.  And, I’m in awe of the people that God has put in our lives and how crazy good they can be.  And, Cody is going to have to learn to keep his mouth shut around a certain someone we both know and love.