Black and White Wednesday - Work and Play

I am submitting this photo for my Black and White Wednesday photo at The Long Road to China and my "Work and Play" photo for the In a Yellow House challenge being hosted by Ashley at Ramblings and Photos. I took this photo a couple weeks ago when my new job offered me the company seats at the Astros game, I will most likely NEVER turn down Astros tickets. I snapped this photo after the Astros win, and it has one of my all time favorite players in it - Jeff Bagwell. I grew up watching him and Craig Biggio and really excited he is now coaching the boys.

See more work and play here

Check out more black and white images here

 

I will have a more interesting photo next week, I have been trying to get my photos ready to submit for the August 2010 Photo Hunt Challene, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway! Have a great week! 

The Wishful Lamb - Eyes Like Yours

This week the theme at The Wishful Lamb is all about the eyes. I actually did not know if I had a photo to enter, but I was trying to get some of Bentley sleeping in our pile of (clean) clothes for one of my submissions for the August 2010 Photo Challenge, but he was not cooperating, instead we started to play a game of fetch - you can see the ball by his paw, it was actually stuck to his nail and he couldn't get it off...silly cat.

5 Years

Five years ago my family was joking “oh there is another hurricane coming to New Orleans”

Five years ago they were evacuating to come to Houston for “the weekend”

…to do some shopping

…see the family

…have a good time

…to crack jokes that they only time we see each other is when we evacuate

Five years ago we were relieved for a moment that Katrina had not caused that much damage

Five years ago my family and I were sitting on the couch watching the flood waters tear through the city we all love

Five years ago my Aunt was wondering if she was ever going to see her son again

Five years ago my family was praying that their homes were still standing

Five years ago we never thought we would be housing over 10 people in our home ranging from 3 years old to 80

Five years ago my dear friend did lose her home, and almost everything she owned

Five years ago my cousin was stuck inside the NOLA courthouse because of rising waters

Five years ago is something that we will never forget

Thanks to Mama and the Dudes for awarding me 1st place for my WOW photo

Hurricane Katrina is something that we will never forget. My family did get lucky and only sustained minor damage, but the city was forever changed. These photos were taken - mostly in the lower ninth ward - a few months after the storm hit. These images I will never forget, seeing the destruction up close is indescribable. 

My cousin who was a police officer at the time, stayed there through the storm, after the storm hit we could not get a hold of him, he had to write his contact information on his clothes in case anything happened. Him and his buddy ended up being able to evacuate after several days. His sister picked him, his buddy, and his buddy's 3 great aunts - all in their late 70's early 80's (there were 3, we called them the golden girls) and brought them to my parents house. It was heartwarming to see people come together to help our NOLA family that was in need, and we will never forget what happened 5 years ago this weekend.

On a lighter note, I won another photo challenge - it was a great Thursday! I wontthe "Shadow" challenge over at The Wishful Lamb. Here was my entry

Thank you for all the kind comments on my photos this week, and thank you for the awards! I have really enjoyed challenging myself this week, and reading some new and fantastic blogs. Thanks again everyone!

Before & After - Arrows

I have really enjoyed participating in some new challenges this week. It has forced me to take some new shots, go through some archives, and ultimately learn more. I am submitting this photo for my before and after, I took this photo when we were headed home from our river trip this past weekend. We were at a stop light and I saw the Rudy's BBQ sign, and I saw the arrow - which is one of the themes for the August 2010 Photo Challenge. I have another arrow image, but it is pretty cliche..ok lame. Rudy's is me and my husbands favorite BBQ joint - the turkey, and jalapeno sausage is delicious...oh and the BBQ sause (yes that is how it is spelled) is amazing!

SOOC:

AFTER:

This was taken using my Nikon D5000, just using the 18-55mm kit lens - didnt have much time to switch anything out since we were at  a light
Brought it into PS zoomed and cropped to 5x7
Straightened the photo, it was slighty crooked after I zoomed
Edited out the powerlines, and light
Upped the brightness/contrast to compensate for the underexposure
I overexposed the sky a bit, but I think it gives it a more "artsy" feel to it
I did a couple other things and I can't remember...anyway, enjoy!

We bit {about me} Wednesday

ONE. what was your favorite birthday gift?

Most recently, my last birthday/Christmas (my birthday is on Christmas Eve) my husband got me my DSLR, my other one was when my husband (boyfriend at the time) got me a cruise to go swim with Dolphins, he knew it was something I really wanted to do and he wrapped up this cute box (ok his mom did) and it had sunglasses on the outside and when I opened it up it had sunblock, aloe, etc in it and then under it, it had all our cruise info, great surprise!!

TWO. have you ever been cow-tipping or snipe-hunting?
Hahaha no, you would think since I went to college in West Texas I would have

THREE. what’s the strangest talent you have?
I can bend my thumb back behind my knuckle, and I can pop my shoulder blades out

FOUR. what are your favorite kind of chips?
Right now, they are the Lays kettle BBQ ones, so good!

FIVE. do you know any tongue twisters?
I do not think this counts as a tongue twister, but my mom always forgets the words to this, and will always call me to get the correct verbiage.
“I have had an elegant sufficiency of enoughness and anything else would be an over indulgence of my already satiated appetite.” …just say “I’m Full!”

SIX. what was the last movie you saw in a theater?
I think it was Hot Tub Time Machine, it was actually really funny

SEVEN. do you collect anything?
Whenever we go on vacation I try to get a shot glass from the Hard Rock Café, my husband and I collect sports memorabilia as well

EIGHT. what is something you wish you were better at?
Patience overall…

NINE. what’s the worst habit you have?
Not sure if it is the worst but leaving glasses of water on the nightstand…seriously you would think I am like the little kid from signs…

TEN. when you wake up, what is the first thing you think?
Do I have enough time to press snooze again

Since no post is complet without a photo, here is my first submission for touch up tuesday

SOOC

The {minor} edit

All I did was crop down to 5x7

Up the brightness a bit

Upped the blacks in curves a tad...easiest edit ever

Black & White Wednesday - Cheers!

For this weeks black and white submission over at The Long Road to China is one that I had in my archives. I actually submitted it for the POTW, which I had not done in months. I took this photo on New Years Eve about a week after I got my DSLR. My husband and I stayed in, and we celebrated the New Year with our favorite champagne, and drank them out of our toasting flutes from our wedding

In a Yellow {tree} house

If you read my blog title you might figure out that the theme for the In a Yellow House photo challenge for the week is "trees." I took this photo while we were out on the boat at my husbands parents house...ahhh to have water front property

ok the linky never wants to show up for some reason.....so click HERE for more photos

Wishful Lamb - Shadows

I am excited to be participating is some new challenges this week, so I have decided to enter The Wishful Lamb's photo challenge. The theme is all about shadows. I took this photo in Colorado, we were walking back to our condo and this guy decided it was a good idea to snowboard down the stair case, so I stopped to capture the moment. For the record, he landed safely, I however would not have.

See some more shadows here

RAW(e) - Pink

I did not have a photo to enter into I Heart Faces or Shutter Love Tuesday, so I decided to enter a new photo challenge  (new to me anyway) - RAW(e)  this week. The theme is pink, and the catch is you cannot do any editing to the photo. I took some photos in the backyard of my parents neighbors house, they always have some type of flowers blooming, so here is my shot of a beautiful Plumeria flower.

5 Questions

Five question Friday, here ya go!

ONE. Do you have any nicknames and if so how did it come about?

None that were really out of the ordinary, my husband did start calling me his pop tart because he says my body temperature is freakishly warm, like a pop tart

TWO. What is your birth order amongst your siblings?

I have 1 sister who is 12 years older than me, I graduated Kindergarten the same year she graduated high school

THREE. In a movie of your life, who would play your significant other?

Gerard Butler or David Beckham, and I would play leading lady of course haha

FOUR. What is currently your favorite song?

I am not really sure, but my favorite artist at the moment is Sean McConnell, he is a Texas Country artist with some amazing music

FIVE. Are you saving your money for anything right now? Big or small purchase?

We are just trying to save in general, in all actuality we would just like to FINALLY get our new home buyers tax credit, we filed in Feb and still nothing but a nightmare

And of course I will share a photo...this is one that I took for the photo challenge  but took a different one that I am going to use instead, so thought I would share this one anyway. Have a great weekend, we are off to the river tomorrow after work, ready for a weekend away!

WOW

The challenge at Mama and the Dudes this week is "WOW." When I saw this theme, my mind jumped back to this one that I had way back in my archives. I took this with my point and shoot about 8 months after Katrina hit. My cousin drove us around for nearly 3 hours, it was very surreal to see all of the devastation up close.

I couldn't decide between color and black and white...so you get both YAY!

Wee Bit {about me} Wednesday

I love that Wednesdays are Black and White Wednesdays, and Wee Bit Wednesdays, and it also helps that it is one day closer to the weekend!

ONE. who’s the funniest person you know?

I would say my husband, but then he would think I thought his jokes were funny....KIDDING! I would have to say my best friend Ang, when we get together it is non stop laughter

TWO. were you a michael jackson fan?
Smooth Criminal, Beat It, Thriller Michael Jackson, yes...Neverland Ranch Michael Jackson...no

THREE. what was your favorite book as a child?
From what my parents and sister tell me it was The Velveteen Rabbit, from what I can remember, it would probably be The Babysitter Club, or something equally as corney - you now you read them!

FOUR. what’s the most delicious meal you’ve ever eaten?
ooooo hard one, really not sure - It is definitely a filet, but can't decide if the best one was from Vic & Anthony's, or Flemings

FIVE. if you could eliminate on thing you do each day in the bathroom so you never had to do it again, what would it be?
I think it's a tie between shaving and blowdrying my hair

SIX. if you could ask barak obama one question, what would it be?
Are you going to run for office again?

SEVEN. what’s the best place near you to get a drink?
There is a sushi place called Uni near me....half priced AMAZING martinis on Wednesdays - and I don't even like sushi, oh and there is an italian place called Grotto as well, hellooooo sangria!

EIGHT. what kind of music can you just not stand to listen to?
2Pac, I am embarrassed to admit but my husband loves him...I do not...apparently he is a "great artist"

NINE. who and when was your first kiss?
Playground kiss or real kiss? HA, I know I was in high school in front of my friends house...apparently it didnt leave a great impression lol

TEN. what 3 things do you think will become obsolete in the next ten years?
1. Pennies
2. Home Phones (I mean they pretty much are now right?)
3. CD's

Black & White Wednesday - Feet

So my photo this week for Black and White Wednesday over at The Long Road to China AND for the black & white photo challenge at Simplicity is all about feet! I My friend H and I went and took some photos of our friends new baby - Caleb this past weekend. H bought him these adorable shoes, they were a little big, as were the "pants" he had on. Much to his mommies disbelief we were able to knock him out and get some adorable photos of him. I will probably also use this photo for the "feet" theme in the August 2010 Photo Challenge, but I might use it in color, not sure yet! Here is Caleb, and his super adorable shoes!

See more black and white images here

and here