Christmas is coming . . . ready or not!

And let me tell you - I am NOT sure if I will be ready on time! I went shopping today to get a few things - mostly gift certificates - the easy stuff! I of course had to stop by Starbucks and get a Peppermint Mocha on the way. I LOVE those things ! It was even better than I remember from last year. ; ) I need to find something to get my husband. He is the hardest person to buy for - ever. He doesn't need a thing. I need to think of something really good though because he is letting me get an 85 mm lens that I wanted! So if you have any wonderful gift ideas - let me know - I am open to suggestions! As I was out shopping I picked up a gingerbread house kit. Once I get it decorated I will post a picture. I am excited to decorate it. Well - this is a short and sweet post but I am totally exhausted. Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!!!

Steph

November already!!!

Wow- I just can not believe how fast this year is going! In just a few short weeks I will be putting up my Christmas decorations! Unbelievable!!! Maybe its because I wish the week away so that the weekend will come faster!?! A week from Friday a friend and I are going Christmas shopping in Aurora. I can't wait. I love the outlet mall there. I am really hoping to get a bunch of my shopping done then. Each year I drag it out more and more. I just have such a hard time figuring out what to get everyone! (did you hear that Dottie??? I need a list for your family within the week. LOL) Speaking of the holiday season, I discovered a link a while ago to a photographer that is starting something where photographers all over the world are going to take peoples pictures on December 12 - people who can not afford to have portraits taken. The photographers will be doing this for free. Here is a link: Help-Portrait.com. If you have a minute - watch the video on the site. It literally brought tears to my eyes. So cool. Having really gotten into photography and realizing how much a picture can give a person joy, I think this is such a wonderful idea. If I had more experience I would certainly do it. I would love to help someone in my area but last I checked there were only 2 people even signed up for here. Thats sad, really. This reminds me of the NILMDTS. This stands for Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. It is an organization where volunteers go to hospitals and take pictures of babies who won't get to come home. If I thought I could do this emotionally I would love to do it. I am just not sure I could do it without falling apart. I think it is a wonderful thing though for them to go and take pictures of those little babies - it would be the only professional photo that the parents would have. Such a wonderful thing to do.

Anyway - hope everyone is having a great month so far! I need to get going and get some things done before the day is over. Since I always do - here are a few pictures to share with you.

Here are a few of Lexi:


And I went to the zoo here in town - the only thing worth seeing were the monkeys. LOL Here is one who thought he was Blane Wilson, doing his gymnastics routine LOL:



Here he is up close:

Talk to you soon!
Steph

Fall is officially here!

Yep - its official. Fall colors have finally arrived! I am loving taking pictures of all the pretty color around me! The two pictures above are two of my favorites. The one below was one where I was practicing getting pretty sunflare and I accidentally got a little girl pulling her wagon. LOL I didn't even know she was in the picture until I looked at it when I got home. Her mom was taking pictures of her too. She probably wondered why I was taking pictures of her little girl!!!

The weather here has been so nice! Its been in the 70's. I am loving that for mid October! I was off today so I ran a ton of errands. I returned a pair of jeans to Kohls, went grocery shopping, mailed one of my favorite lenses back to Tamron to be repaired :( picked up a prescription for my son and got it filled, and did a bunch of laundry. After all that I am pooped! My DH is in Las Vegas today. He had to go for work. I usually wish I was going where he does when he goes out of town but to be honest - Las Vegas is one place I really have no desire to go. I don't usually drink, and I hate to gamble so I always think whats the point of going there. LOL Like thats all you do in Vegas. ha I am sure its a very pretty place to take pictures though so I probably would enjoy that aspect of it! Well - I know this is short and sweet but I need to go get the clothes out of the dryer and get some other stuff done before bed. Hope everyone is having a great week! Talk to you soon!
Steph

Mom's weekend . . .

Its Mom's weekend at my daughter's college. I came last night and spent the night in a dorm. haha No, not my daughter's dorm, its a dorm that they only use for occasions such as this. Here is a picture of my room.

This morning I took a shower in the community shower. A brave girl I am today. :) I got up really early because they always have a balloon festival the same weekend as Mom's weekend, and I wanted to get some pictures of some of the balloons. It was pretty cool - I watched them set up and actually take off. Tonight they will return and have a "balloon glow" when it gets dark. I am hoping to get more pictures then. As for what we are doing today - I'm really not sure though since its with my daughter, I am pretty sure it will involve me spending money on her. LOL She is, after all, a starving college student. Now I wait until she actually drags herself out of bed so we can get the day started! Heres some pictures for you for now . . . I am sure more will be coming later!

The moon this morning . . . I told you I got up early!

Then came the sunrise:

Watching them get ready to go:

Once they were in the air:


And when I got back to the dorm, I took these, just because! :



Thats it for now! Have a great Saturday!
Steph

Happy Labor day!

OK - I am not so happy about this day because I am working today. :( But so far there has been little work for me to do so I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will get to take some time off today and enjoy it like all the normal people who get holidays off! I went outside to get my paper this morning, and noticed rain drops on the tree in front of my house. I know you are thinking "and your point is?" since it has rained the past 2 days here. haha BUT I have been wanting to get some pictures of rain drops with my macro filters that I bought. Some people over on the 2 peas site posted some raindrop pics a while ago and they were so cool. So, I ran inside and grabbed my camera and took some pictures before the drops were all gone! When I first started taking them I noticed that my neighbors house was in them, but upside down! I thought that was so cool. Then I had a lightbulb moment (I do think a little bit slow sometimes!) and realized if I turned around and took them from the OTHER side I would get my own house in them. Pretty clever huh? (notice sarcasm there?). So - here is my raindrop pic with my house in every single drop:


I just love seeing what my camera wil come up with next. haha

So I hope everyone has a great day! As of right now the sun is actually shining, so I hope I can enjoy at least part of it!!!

Talk to you soon!
Steph

Happy Tuesday!

This has been a darn good day!!! Nothing special happened, but I was off work, the sun was shining - and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I went to run errands this afternoon and wanted to share a few pictures with you. I went to my favorite park again - I am becoming a regular there with my camera in hand. : ) I wish we had more scenic places to go but unfortunately the park is IT in this town. LOL Heres some pics - the flowers there were beautiful today - I just love the peacefulness of the outdoors. Maybe I need to move into the country and build a huge deck to sit outside and enjoy it more! Anyway - hope you all had a great day! My husband and I are off to Steak & Shake in a bit for date night. I'm trying really hard to eat better and exercise more - but there are some things I just can't give up - and a steakburger is one of them!!!
Talk to you soon!
Steph

Hey all!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was pretty good. Friday night a good friend of mine and I went to the fair. I always go just to eat the food. LOL I had a ribeye sandwich and mini doughnuts! I took pictures of this year's butter cow - every year someone sculpts a cow out of butter. This year its suppose to be Abe Lincoln as a young boy reading, and then of course, the cow. Its one of those things at the fair that we always have to look at even though usually its the same as last year. LOL

Saturday I didn't do much of anything. I had planned on scrapbooking but for some reason that didn't happen. :( It was nice though to be able to do absolutely nothing if I wanted to!

Today, we took some things to my daughter for her dorm. She starts school tomorrow. We ran to Wal Mart to get her an extension cord for her microwave and fridge and guess what? They were completely sold out of extension cords. Apparently every other student at the college needed one too. haha So I guess I will be mailing her one this week! Once we got home I was so tired and didn't feel much like making dinner so I just made pancakes. Its kind of nice having breakfast for dinner sometimes! Right after dinner, I took my dog out for her evening duties. She is notorious for not getting along with other dogs. She is wonderful with people but for some reason there are very few dogs she actually likes. I was talking to a couple of my neighbors, not really paying attention to Lexi brecause all 3 of the dogs (my two neighbors' dogs and Lexi) were actually getting along for a change - then all of a sudden I hear a loud commotoin and Lexi and the dog across the street are fighting! I tried to snatch her up and next thing I know her leash is around my neighbor Kim about 3 times, and the dogs are still fighting. She took her dog, Tippy's leash off of her to set her free, and then we both unwound Kim from the leash and checked out dogs. What a mess it was! Once we came inside, Lexi was breathing so hard - I think it actually scared her. This has happened twice with her and this dog. Usually I am so busy yapping with the neighbors that I don't see what happens until they are in the fight! I know one thing - I really should have taken her to preschool so she would have learned how to play with others because apparently thats one thing she did not learn as a puppy!!!

Well, its almost my bedtime, so I'll leave you with some pictures, because as you all know, I love taking them! Have a great week and I'll talk to you soon!
Steph