Saturday LATE Nights Are My Bad Habit.

I can't help it! Joe usually works overnight, and so I am home and have no one to tell me to go to bed, and I don't have school in the morning... So I diddle around, play on the computer, make projects, clean, talk on the phone, whatever! And before I know it, it is like 2 a.m. and I am sleepy all through church! Yikes!

So, since I am doing it again, I thought it was time for another REAL blog entry. To start, here are the rest of the photos for my online photo assignment. These are some/all of my journals I have kept since I was 19. They are my treasures.

{the next one is the very first one... before this little old book, I was NEVER consistent at journals. After it, it has become a part of my creative life. This is the one that started it all. I cherish it! I even made the blue/yellow clamshell box in bookbinding class so it would be preserved/protected.}

{the top of the stack is my current one. The pile goes in chronological order, bottom to top!}

The assignment for our first week was to just play with camera settings on inanimate objects. Instead of just snapping photos of my keys or dirty dishes or whatever else is lying around, I really wanted to take a minute to think of an inanimate object i would WANT photos of. I eventually though of my journals. After getting the idea, I then had fun dusting them off and giving them a photo shoot in front of my window. I have been wanting to work on the backlit look, with the bright light in back, and so this was a great opportunity to practice.
I am pretty tickled with the end results! What I learned:

1. I am a manual settings girl, all the way.
2. even a great photo can be even better with a little photoshop.
3. inanimate objects can have soul.

~ Melody and Eirik~

Melody and son came to spend the night this past Monday, headed to the airport to following morning. This is a quick shot I took of Eirik, practicing with my new lens (Canon 50mm 1.8). He is SO cute. Impossibly cute. A truly happy kid.

Also... Here is a shot I was trying to get with my new vintage coat. I wanted to get an antique/edgy mix, so I played with contrast and burning to get this final picture. My tripod broke while taking these, and it was 29 degrees out and windy, so that look on my face is one of intense, frozen, irritated concentration. (Thoughts in my head as I am doing this: "Please don't tip over and break my camera that is attached to a 2-legged tripod resting on the broken third leg while the wind is blowing and my hair is getting in my eyes and the self-timer is almost out of time no time to fix it now *SNAP*")
yeah. SO, needless to say, the facial expression ended up being the last of my concerns. After three or four shots, I gave up, disgusted. Still, I was pretty happy that I could salvage the B&W one. And this one, too. (Urban Acid Action)

A few more random things, just to keep me from going to bed for another handful of minutes:

1. New Friends Bring New Blogs: Jaime Young, in my ward, is cool-i-o. so is her blog. She is so talented, funky, stylish and good-natured. And her kids are really cute.

2. This song is from Everything is Illuminated. Joe and I get a kick out of it, so I bought it on iTunes for him. The guy is Ukranian.

3. This makes me laugh. (Prepare for St. Patty's Day Randomness.) They change their funny skit every so often, so bookmark the page and go back sometime.

4. I just gave our bed a makeover. I am in LOVe with changing the look of our bed, so I have about 5 or 6 different duvet covers and three or four sheet sets. All very different from each other. It is too fun! Here is the latest: a duvet cover I just got on sale from Pottery Barn (WAY cheap!), new khaki sheets from Wal-Mart, and two new pillows under the pillowcases. I am SO excited to go to bed tonight, even without Joe to share it with.

(So why is it 1:15 and I am not there yet??)

ok, NOW.