Day 151

Well the end of the weekend has finally come. :(
We're going old school tonight and cuddling up on the couch while enjoying a little bit of Daniel-san. That's right...Karate Kid...in all of it's 1980's glory.


For the below I added a contrast and saturation layer.

Blue Sky White Tree:

Day 150

I can't believe there's a whole day of "weekend" left still!! We had such great intentions today but those intentions only got us though about 2pm.
After that all productiveness took a drastic turn downward. :)

Troy made cookies today. I helped.
Below is a shot of the finished product...what few were left. In PS I added an exposure, cooling filter, contrast and saturation layer.

Cookie Tower:

Day 149

Good day today. And I think that we're finally all rested up.
Got some work done this morning and then met up with the girls this afternoon to see Sex and the City 2. It was good but I'm not sure I liked it as much as the first one.

Old Tools:

Day 148

Home Sweet Home.

We left Baldwin City around 5:30 this morning in order to make our flight.
That put us home around 9:30 at which point we were starving. Soooo.....Nicole met us at our house and the three of us had brunch at Nookies. Yum!
I think the week finally caught up to us because once we got back home we laid down for a SHORT nap. Three hours later we woke up. We needed the rest.
Really looking forward to the long weekend and being productive.

I found the below on the underside of an abandoned train. In PS I added an exposure and b&w layer. I also added a warming filter.

Train Spiderweb:

Day 147

Today was our niece Aliah's 7th birthday!
I remember the day she was born and let me assure you it does not seem like it was 7 years ago. But alas, it was and she has grown into a beautiful little girl.
Along with Aliah we also got to spend time with two of our other favorite Haigh girls, Annabelle and Violet.
A great night spent with family.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALIAH!!

We are flying home in the morning and are leaving here at 5:30 so I'm keeping it short.
Looking forward to the fact that tomorrow is Friday and this very rough week will soon be behind us.

Aliah With Birthday Presents (notice the two missing teeth!)


Violet (trying to walk into the camera):


Annabelle:

Day 146

I wish it were under better conditions, but it's so good to be back and around family this week.
I want to thank everyone for the well wishes, thoughts and prayers over the last few days. They mean so much to the family.
Thank you.
Also for the countless number of calls, cards and flowers we have all received. Again, thank you.

Looking forward to tomorrow. Our niece Aliah turns 7 and we have a birthday party to go to! It will be good to have something to celebrate.

Below are some shots of flowers received.

Yellow Rose


Quatro Flora:


Black and White Lilly:

Day 145

Going. To. Bed.
Tired.
Exhausted.
Can't think.

Also had this on the computer so I'm "cheating" again. Sorry. I'm sure you will all forgive me.

Mama Loftin Creating Art:

Day 144

Back in KS, but not under the best of conditions.
Troy's dad passed away this evening after many years of struggling with MS.
We booked last minute flights and after a slight delay and a long drive we've finally made it to Baldwin City.
Keep the Haigh family in your thoughts and prayers over the next few days.

Tonight's photo is one that I happened to have on the computer (no chance to actually get the camera out today).

Day 143

This weekend went by so fast! Monday tomorrow....again. Ughh.

I tried something different with dinner tonight. I used a couple of the GIANT portabello mushrooms that I picked up at the farmers market yesterday. I had the husband fire up the grill, and I grilled them up after brushing them with a little olive oil infused with fresh crushed garlic and black pepper. It took about 5 minutes on each side. I threw them on a panini with some sauteed red pepper and onion. Served with a side of grilled asparagus and a small salad and voila! YUM!

Tonight's pic comes courtesy of a local bakery. In PS I added a warming filter and a contrast layer.

Decisions, Decisions:

Day 142

What a fantastic day!
Started out with a trip to the farmers market with Nicole and Becca. Absolutely love our local market. This time of year you can find asparagus, mushrooms, potatoes, a plethora of local and organic cheeses and tons more. Yum!!! Oh, and rhubarb. I wish I knew what to do with rhubarb besides a pie. Any suggestions?

Then the girls and I stopped to get a pedicure. So happy that it's consistent flip flop whether again! We rounded out the afternoon with brunch on the patio.

After all of that hard work I came home for a nap :) Now the husband and I are settling in for a movie and some cupcakes that I picked up from Sensation Bites.
Like I said, a fantastic day!

Market Mushrooms:

Day 141

Here's yet another thing that I absolutely love about the city. We realized around 7 that we had nothing around the house that sounded good for dinner. So we put on our shoes (or flips in my case) and set out. First stop was Soupbox for two cups of soup. Beer Cheese Cheddar for Troy and broccoli white cheddar combined with a little lobster bisque for me. Next we stopped by our corner grocer for some muenster and bread for our grilled cheese. Lastly we made a stop at Baskin Robbin's for a dish of ice cream to split. Great dinner! And, we were able to take the boys for their nightly walk at the same time.

Offspring:

Day 140

Another good day. Best part was that my wonderful husband got home tonight!
Low key night hanging out on the couch with all my boys.

In PS I cropped this photo. I then added an exposure and contrast layer and boosted the saturation way up.

Candy Craving:



By the way, I'm more of a hot tamale fan.

Day 139

Happy Hump Day! Gorgeous day here.
It seems like all of our warmer weather this spring has been accompanied by rain. But not today. Today was 70's and sunny!
And because I made a point of getting out of work at 5 the boys and I actually got to enjoy the weather.
This is such a great time of year. My nose was in heaven. It was like a scent buffet with all of the flowers blooming! We wandered up and down our neighborhood blocks weaving in and out of the residential streets. I love our neighborhood. In such a big city its amazing to me that it can still feel so homey. :)

I'm breaking the rule of thirds tonight - well not really I guess. But, I've noticed that lately I no longer have to really think about the rule before shooting. It seems to be coming naturally.
In PS I've added an exposure, contrast and selective color layer.

Sandy Bench:

Day 138

Hello!!!!!
Pretty uneventful day here:

- Dog Walk
- Work
- Home
- Dog Walk
- Blog
- Bed

In PS I added an exposure, contrast and selective color layer. I also cropped a small portion off of the bottom.

Fire Wall:

Day 137

Long day. Exhausted. Going to bed.

In PS I added an exposure, contrast and saturation layer.

Off Scale:

Day 136

A little case of the Sunday sadies tonight. It's been such a great weekend and I'm not ready for it to end. But, on the bright side there's another weekend looming only 5 days away!

In PS I added an exposure and contrast layer. Really wish the sky had been something other than gloomy grey/white. Makes for a lot of nothing at the top of the shot. Owell.

Green Among Green:


Green Among Green Cropped:

Day 135

We woke up this morning and on a bit of a whim decided a mini road trip was in store for us. Michigan was the lucky state today!
Only a 90 minute drive, but an entire a world away it seemed. A simpler way of live.
But, it was good to be home too.

I spotted this shot as we were driving and talked my wonderful husband into pulling over. Well.....it wasn't quite that easy. We had to go for a bit of a hike to get down there. Which was all fine until we found a few (count SEVEN) ticks crawling on us. YUCK!! I can't stop itching even 4 hours later.

In PS I added a b&w layer and then added a tint.

Michigan Tracks:

Day 134

Summer!!! Or at the very least sun!!
Until you live in Chicago you can't understand the feeling of freedom that comes with a sunny day after months and months of gray, dreary, cold weather.

So today, on top of the warm sunny weather, swarms of people came out of hiding as well. Or out of hibernation maybe?

In PS I added a contrast layer, used the clone tool to clean up a few stray leaves in the top right corner and then added a warming filter. This is of the Wrigley building downtown on Michigan Ave. In the background you can see the Trump building. A structure that since being built rarely plays in the background. Maybe why I like th photo!

Wrigley Foliage:

Day 133

Bzzzzz.Bzzzzzz.Bzzzzzz.Bzzzzzz.Bzzzzz. SMACK! Bzzzzzz.Bzzzzz.Bzzzzzz.Bzzzzzz.Bzzzzzz.SMACK!
Half hour later:
Bzzzzzz.Bzzzzz.Bzzzzzz.Bzzzzzz.Bzzzzzz.SMACK!
10 minutes later:
Bzzzzzz.
"Damn!" "I don't understand why my alarm didn't go off...."

While in shower:
CRASH! BANG! BOOM! CRRRRRRRRR!

My thought bubble: Well, on the one side if the guys doing construction upstairs crashed through the ceiling it would almost definitely mean a new shower for us. On the other hand I'm naked. Hmmm....new shower. Naked. Nope, not worth it.

Good day here. Aside from the late start.

In PS I added a new layer and in it placed a copy of half of the background picture. I then used a saturation layer to remove the color. Enjoy!

Grass Blades:

Day 132

Fantastic day here! It started early but proved rather productive. But that's not the best part. The best part started after work. Date night with the husband. Had dinner at Sunda and then a movie. Just got home so I'm keeping it short tonight.

Took this on our way home. It's at the red line grand stop. I used PS to dim the shot and then used the selective color layer to bring out the lights. This also brought out the reflections in the metal ceiling. Lastly I added a contrast layer.

Fiery Platform:

Day 131

Check, check, check, check.
Yep, that's the sound of those little boxes on my (work) to-do list being filled! Yeah!!!

The below was taken on my way home. It's rained all day her and let up just as I was walking home from the train. This is one of my favorite times. Right after it rains. With that clean wood-sy smell and all the colors at their brightest! Just makes me smile. AHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh. Summer is coming. I can smell it...literally. :)

I love the bright green background and how it contrasts with the purple flowers. I also really how the shot shows that these flowers are really just a combination of itty bitty flowers! In PS I added a contrast and saturation layer. In the second I added a spherize distortion filter.

Flower of Itty Bitty Flowers:


Flower of Itty Bitty Flowers with Distortion:

Day 130

Troy brought home two whole red snappers. Naturally we couldn't just cook them both up the same way, we had to make it into a cook off. Unfortunately I didn't think to take any shots of "after". Give me some slack, this isn't a food blog - it's a photography blog. (For food check out my cousin Bridget's blog!)

Troy chose to grill his fish whole. I little olive oil, salt and pepper.
I of course chose the more complicated route (no easy way out here!) I had Troy fillet the fish ( I don't like touching it). I then sauteed some peppers, onions and garlic. I added some Chardonnay and then some pre made Ratatouille that I found at Trader Joes.

The first is a blurred out version of one of the fish. In PS I added a contrast, saturation and selective color layers.

Snapper Down:


In the second I used a distortion filter called Pinch to create a fish eye effect (Ha!). Enjoy!

Fish Eye of the Fish Eye:

Day 129

Happy Mother's Day to all of you Moms and Moms-to-be out there!!
Had a great day here.
I planted my garden today. Yes, I proved more than one person wrong! Here's what I've got: jalapenos, green peppers, red peppers, tomatoes, cantaloupe and watermelon. We'll see what happens....in approximately 70-90 days. At least that's what the little tags on them said. So much for instant gratification!

Below is a shot of one of jalapeno plants. In PS I added an exposure, contrast and saturation layer.

Jalapeno:

Day 128

Good brunch, complete with mimosas, without leaving the house? PERFECT way to start the weekend! Thank you to our fantastic neighbors Susan and Aaron!

I had such grand plans for today. Troy and I went to the store yesterday and came home with plants....vegetable plants....like the kind you plant in a garden. For those of you that know me, you know that I don't do plants. At all. My plan was to get these in the ground today but thank you to a heads up of a frost advisory this little (Huge!) project will have to wait. As you can imagine, I'm devastated. :)
I even bought those little tools that garden people use. A hand shovel and hand rake. Troy called them fake because they are plastic. Hey, that's all home depot had.

I took this photo of our neighbors' adorable little girl. In PS I added a selective color and contrast layer. Lastly I added a warming filter. I used PS to over expose the shot a touch in order to make her eyes stand out a bit more.

Focused:

Day 127

Friday! We made it!!!
Enjoyed a healthy dinner and glass of wine for dinner tonight with the husband.

Seriously, who doesn't want to eat a salad after looking at this??!! Yum! In PS I added a an exposure, contrast, saturation and selective color layer. I also added a warming filter.

Healthy Dinner:

Day 126

Looking forward to Friday and the fact that it's followed by two unplanned, glorious days off. But first I have to get through Friday.

The below was taken by I90 a little west of us. I liked the reflection that was created here. In PS I added an exposure, contrast and saturation layer.

Brick Wall Reflection:

Day 125

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!!!!
Hopefully everyone had a great day. Myself? Well, I started the day with a 6:30am conference call and didn't leave the office until 9. But, it was a good day. I got a TON of things done that I've been aiming to do for the past week. I know, it's sad how much I accomplish in the hours not between 8-5.

Snapped tonight's photo on the way home. It's one of our favorite neighborhood places with outside seating (which tonight was full due to the great weather and with the holiday) My wonderful husband came and picked me up hence the drive-by look to the photo. This definitely isn't my favorite by far, but it's all I've got today so you'll have to deal with it. In PS I added an exposure, contrast and saturation layer.

Drive By Margaritas:

Day 124

I had such a productive day! You know that feeling when you finally get finished with something that you've been working toward for what seems like forever? Such a great feeling!! Unfortunately it won't last long seeing as my list of to-do's is never ending.

Tonight's photo was taken on a walk Troy and I took tonight. In PS I added an exposure, contrast and saturation layer.

Red Cup:

Day 123

I just realized that I'm more than a third of the way done with the blog!!!

The below is a shot of an old Cheverolet truck. I like the clean lines and color contrast. There's only 4 colors in this entire photo! (ok, there may actually be different shades, but 4 main colors)

In PS I cropped the original photo down to just the head light that you see below. I also added an exposure, contrast, and saturation layer.

Old Chevy:


In this one I used the distortion layer.

Chevy Light:

Day 122

Home sweet home.
I can't believe it's already Sunday night. Back to the grind tomorrow. Here's to a productive week ahead!!

These photos were taken back in Iowa. The top is one of my favorites. I didn't have time to spend editing it, but I think I can do a lot with it still.

Tree Bin:


Barn Profile:

Day 121

Wow. Who knew Iowa could be so exhausting?
Finally home after a long day of running around - I think I've actually seen 3/4 of the state today.

Went to a beautiful wedding tonight. My little cousin Heather made a gorgeous bride. It was great to see family that we rarely see these days.

Happy Couple:


When we got home we found....ummm.....sheep? Yes sheep. Out roaming around the farm. So Troy being his small-town-used-to-scoop-hog-poop self didn't think twice about heading out to herd them back into the field. Even with his suit on. He lured them in with a bucket of nails. What? No one said they were smart.

Post Wedding Chores:


Farm Boy at Heart: