Mr. Austin

The last Wednesday of 2010 – and I will share one of my favorite photos from Christmas. Even though it is not “Christmas-y” it is still a favorite. This is my good friend Sarah’s little boy Mr. Austin – her and her husband come over every year to our annual Christmas Eve party, hard to believe that now they are toting a little one around. We brought him into the room where all the kids were playing and he went straight for the cars, he was way too into the cars to even look at the camera and apparently it is a task to get him to smile, even if you are his mom and dad, but I think I got a pretty good profile of him! I am also posting the SOOC to share for my Before and After shot.

BEFORE

AFTER

Shot with Nikon D5000 using 17-55 f/2.8 edited in CS3

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Touch Up: Christmas Present

I cannot believe that Christmas has come and gone and the new year is upon us. This year has really flown by – which I think I say every year. My husband and I spent my birthday/Christmas Eve at my parent’s house then headed to Marble Falls, TX to spend Christmas Day there. Christmas Eve morning I tried to take some photos of my mom’s Christmas decorations – she has them in just about every room except theirs. I love it. I remember I came home from college one year and the tree was moved from the living room to the den – we freaked out. Needless to say it got moved back and my mom just bought a skinny tree and put it in the den. She decorates it all in gold ornaments and I just love it (almost as much as the regular tree). This is my favorite ornament on the tree – I think it sums up the holiday season quite nicely. I am actually going to use this shot for touch-up Tuesday and my Christmas Past or Present shot for Shuttler Love Tuesday as well. Enjoy!

SOOC

TOUCH UP

What's that under the tree?

Last night my husband and I went out for dinner to celebrate my early Birthday – it’s tomorrow!! Yes I am a Christmas Eve baby. I was not due until mid January but I guess I wanted to make an appearance. I think it was an early sign of how impatient I would be in life – my mom agrees. I cannot wait for anything! Anyway back to what I was talking…er writing about… I had a few presents to wrap after we got home, after I was done I put them all under the tree and what does Bentley do? Heads right over nestles himself under the tree with them – all he is missing is a pretty bow.

BEFORE

AFTER

This was a quick edit late last night…

I edited in CS3, zoomed, adjusted levels, ran pool party…or lux I can’t remember and did a slight unsharp mask…I think…

I hope everyone has a great holiday. We will be celebrating my birthday tomorrow at my parents then head to Austin to spend Christmas day with my husband’s family. It will be a busy weekend – but filled with lots of family!

Black and White Wednesday - Is it a Brush?

This is my first post of the week – it has been a busy one already. I took Monday off to do all of the Christmas shopping, and actually was not too bad. Although, I will never put it off this long again. Ok, on to my black and white photo. I have been waiting to share this one for this week. After I processed this – which I didn’t do too much I asked my husband what he thought it was….he said it looked like a hair brush. I’m not sure what hair brushes he has been looking at, but it isn’t mine!

Here is the original....it is actually a plant that is outside of Brad's parents house...not a hair brush

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Scavenger Hunt Sunday

I am getting the hang of this whole Scavenger Hunt Sunday thing. It has been a busy week and I am choosing to bum around the house today instead of fight the madness that is shopping right now. Although I will be tackling that tomorrow on my day off. Anyway, here are my interpretations for the week, enjoy!

1. Winter - Well Texas has not been very cold, and I hear it is supposed to be in the 70's on Christmas - how's that for the Holiday season?? So I am sharing a photo from our Colorado trip in January

2. Selective Coloring - This is not my favorite thing to do, but I am happy with how this one turned out.

3. Wind - Well, this is a tad of a stretch but here goes. Every year we get an ornament that signifies something that happened that year. 2008 Hurricane Ike made it's way to our area, and it was the first hurricane my husband had really been through so his mom used that as the significant thing that happened. She bought us each a sail boat because the winds and water pushed a lot of boats onto land and the roads. Soooo a sail boat needs wind...and you see where I am going with this....

4. Framed - I love this theme. I think there are many different ways it can be interpreted. I love the family photos where the family holds a huge frame and they stand inside of it. This is my version - this is actually the fleur de li in my header - framed.

5. Remember When... - I was going to use this photo for wind, but decided that it was suited for this theme as well. Remember when you were a child and everything was so worry and care free - oh and bill free? This shot reminds of that. I love it.

Head on over to Ashley's blog for more hunt photos

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the weekend. I cannot believe that Christmas is next week, which means the last year of my 20's begins next Friday! Another year down!

Live Every Moment: Decorations

I shared this photo as part of the Scavenger Hunt Sunday photos last week, but I am going to share this again for Live Every Moment's decoration theme. I love our little purple and silver tree, I don't want to take it down after the holiday season. Is it totally inappropriate to leave your Christmas tree up all year?

Check out more decorations HERE

Before & After: Simple Beauty

I took this photo while we were at my husbands parents house over Thanksgiving. I just got around to editing some of them. I walked around their house and took photos while the boys played washers. I have not messed around with textures too much but I really like how this turned out.

BEFORE

AFTER

Shot using Nikon D5000 and 50mm 1.4 

• Zoomed and cropped
• Adjusted curves and my levels
• Ran TRA's vignette+blur standard dropped the blur and edge burn fill to around 80%
• Ran TRA's Dirty Diana texture and faded, and erased some
• I think those were all my steps....enjoy!

I am also using my "after" photo for my simple beauty entry. Check out more here

Black & White Wednesday - Baptised

After I came home from my crazy week away I basically had to land get off the plane and go straight to my nephews baptism. Talk about exhausted, but I could not miss seeing Evan dressed in his little suit. Talk about adorable overload. He did a great job at the fairly long ceremony. He waved to the priest, asked for more oil on his head, and he did not cry when they dunked his head in holy water. My mom always said that he would walk to his baptism and he did! After the ceremony we went to my sister and brother in laws for food and CAKE! Evan headed outside to play with his lawnmower and Opie. I snapped this shot and I think it captures his personality to a tee - plus how stinkin' cute does he look in that suit?

Shutter Love Tuesday - Dream

I know I have shared this photo before, but I think it fits perfectly for the Shutter Love Tuesday Theme. I shared a funny photo of Bentley yesterday, but here he is in his calmer moments - snuggled up with me on the couch. Without fail any time I pull this blanket out he hops up on the couch digs out a little spot and sits right behind my knees. Being almost 18 pounds, he nearly takes up the whole couch leaving little room for me. It’s ok though, he’s spoiled like that.

I Heart Faces - Pets

I had every intention of submitting the hilarious bath time photo, or an actual normal photo of Bentley. But I came home and Bentley went about his normal routine of rolling around in my shoes...and chewing the heels. He has done this for as long as I can remember, not sure why he does it because surely they do not smell good.I guess it just falls into his long list of quirky things he does.

Check out more adorable pets here

Scavenger Hunt - I'm Back

I was going to try and make it 4 weeks in a row, but after last weeks craziness I was lazy for a couple of days, but I am back this week! I know you are all excited =) So here are my interpretations this week

1. Holiday Colors - This is our front door decoration. Simple and Cute. I love it

2. Winter/Holiday Icon - I got this little guy this year and I think he is super cute. He actually has legs with these clown shoe things on and he is standing next to our fireplace. My husband thinks snow me should not have shoes. But he is cute none the less 

3. A Tree - Well it's a tad of a stretch, but here is Bentley sitting UNDER our tree. I think it works, and I know you like seeing a photo of our awesome cat

4. Quiet - I shot this on my drive home from work last week. The sky looked amazing that day I could not resist.

5. Favorite Color - Purple has always been a favorite color of mine. I actually saved my little wal-mart tree I bought a couple years ago and turned it into a purple and silver tree.

Check out more entries here

Holiday Bokeh = Holiday Cheer

Ok, my blog title is a little lame but I love a good bokeh shot. This is one of my all time favorites too, and it just so happens to be a holiday one. I have shared this a couple times before, but I just love it so much! I will probably take some more holiday photos of some cute ornaments on our tree – but I just had to share this one again! Happy Holidays!

Head on over to My 3 Boybarians for more holiday cheer