Halloween 2011

Today started out pretty spooky.  I arrived at work to find out our dental office had a break in during the middle of the night.  We have an alarm system, but they still broke out one of our windows and stole our tv in the reception area.  Apparently there has been a lot of this going on for the last couple of weeks.  The thief is hitting businesses at night and stealing tvs.  We had finger print dust all over the place. 

It was a beautiful night and we had lots of trick or treaters.  It was hard to leave my neighbor’s house to come home and pass out candy.  They are such a fun grandma and grandpa.   They decorate their yard every year. 

There is a spooky cemetery.

It is creepier when it gets dark and the flood lights shine on the headstones.

There is a creepy guy hanging and twisting from a tree.

My neighbor’s son in law dresses in the creepy blue overalls and mask. 

The witch above goes across the yard on a wire.

And what’s a creepy haunted scary yard without some grandkids running around in scary outfits.  My son isn’t dressed up yet. 

He went home and put on all black and a scary mask we have had for a while to join in the fun.

Want to see my cute grandma neighbor?  She dressed up as a hippie this year.

I just love her.  I still need to share my photo session I did of her and her grandson.  She’s a hoot. 

My porch isn’t scary at all.  I just had my lit up pumpkin turned on. 

I came back home to lots and lots of trick or treaters.  Some of our friends brought lots of kids on a really cool float.  Photos do not do this float justice.

There was music and lit moving décor on the float.  So fun.  I hope you had a Happy Halloween too.

A Storm Door With a Built in Pet Door

I finally talked my husband into getting the girls the door of their dreams.  It’s not much to look at, but it will let them go outside when we have the regular back door open.  I found a storm door that has a built in pet door.

Our current storm door is pretty sad.  It is a 70s aluminum door so it will be an improvement, plus the new door is way more energy efficient. 

The dogs have to wait for us to open the ugly door so they can go outside.  If this was a better photo you could see the pleading looks on their faces. 

Harley is getting older and I don’t think she will be able to wait to go outside like she used to, so it will be nice for her to be able to go out when she needs to.

She is starting to look a little rough around the edges.  I hope she can learn to use the door even though she is blind.

The girls do everything together so I am counting on Izzy to teach Harley how to go out or at least encourage her to push on the door flap.

Izzy is still small and cute.  She loves attention and is very jealous.

Can you believe that sweet face above bites Harley’s butt when Harley jumps up on the couch to sit next to me? 

I know she loves her friend Harley because they play and snuggle together.

I get my revenge for Harley by making Izzy play dress up.

I think she is worried that the flower makes her butt look fat.

I am going to have to get her a sweater because yesterday we broke a 100 year record and the Texas panhandle got about 3 inches of wet heavy snow.

My big tree in the backyard had limbs hanging low because of the weight of the snow on the leaves.  The leaves usually drop mid to late November. 

We were just in the 80s on Monday and Tuesday.  

I am going to order my door today and it takes a couple of weeks to get arrive, but I will let you know if the girls love their new door and how hard it was to teach a blind dog new tricks. 

My Portrait Photography Class

This week I attended my class for the 2nd week at our community college.  I am taking a continuing education class about portrait photography to see what I can learn.  I love learning about things that I love and being surrounded by those that have the same desire.

 

We learned about different lighting techniques to use on faces this week.  I am still unsure about it and it hasn’t made much sense to me yet, however, I did complete my assignment and attempt to get the lighting effects on my husband’s face.  He was such a good sport about it all.  I had to exaggerate the effect to see it and the only way I was able to to this was by turning off the lights and shutting the blinds in the bathroom and using a small decorative lamp for our light source. 

I was setting up for the assignment and got this funny pic.

Weird huh?

I sat my husband in front of our dark wood door and had him hold our little lamp in different areas to achieve the lighting patterns.  He commented that the photos weren’t very flattering and I told him it was fine as long as triangles showed up on his face I was happy.  My husband was a bit scruffy looking because he is still off work because of his broken finger. 

I thought it would be fun to share the different pics I got.  If I figure out how this stuff is helpful, I will be sure to pass it along. 

See what I mean?  That first photo is short Rembrandt lighting.  The side of the face furthest from the camera receives the most light and the side closest to the camera has a closed triangle on the face.  Next photo is split lighting, butterfly and then broad Rembrandt lighting.  There is another one where the triangle opens at the bottom and spills out light.  I guess my husband’s face wasn’t made for such lighting because I couldn’t make it happen so I did it on myself and he was my official light holder.  The photo came out kinda eerie and spooky.  I like the dramatic effect.  He kind of has subtle split lighting on his face. 

Do you take any classes for fun?  Are there any classes you want to take, but haven’t?  I would love to hear about it.

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

Pinterest is going to be the cause of my weight gain this year.   My latest creation I found are these wonderfully easy strawberries filled with cheesecake and topped with graham cracker crumbs. 

The pin had a link to the blog The Sweets Life and that’s where I found the recipe.  You can find it here.

I made these for work and they were such a hit that I made some for my family yesterday.  I had to snap a couple of quick photos.  It has been crazy busy I tell ya.  I used my fancy plastic containers so I could store them in the fridge, but they were eaten within a few minutes so there was nothing left to refrigerate. 

I didn’t own a strawberry huller the first time I made them and I bought one before I made them again.  I highly recommend using one.  Here is what mine looks like.

Well I am off to my portrait photography class I am taking on Monday nights.  I did get to take some fun photos of my neighbors yesterday that I will share very soon.  I think you will love my neighbor as much as I do. 

What I Did With My Painted Bamboo Mat

I mentioned I painted one of my bamboo mats black for photo shoots, but I also wanted to put it on my dining room table for a bit of interest and to add some black to the table.  You can see that post here. I am throwing the idea of painting the chairs black around in my head. 

Here’s the mat on the table.

It’s like one big placemat on the table.  I know most people don’t put floor mats/rugs on their tables, but I do.  Maybe I will start a trend? 

Isn’t that pine cone inside the little grinder thing cute?  I just love pine cones.

I am trying to force myself to use my tripod when taking pics and choosing different focusing points with my camera.  I am lazy so it is hard to go the extra steps, but worth it.

I still struggle when all the light is coming in through the windows and I try to capture the entire room.

Wanna see what the table looks like on a regular basis with my husband’s junk all over it?  I didn’t use the tripod for this photo.

Is your table a landing spot for junk too?  Would you put a floor mat/rug on your table? 

Linking to

You’ve Got Guts @ Funky Junk Interiors

DVD Watching in the Driveway

Thursday my husband drove to Plano, TX to trade in my faithful SUV I have had for 7 years for a newer model.  I went from a 2001 to a 2008.  I haven’t had much time to figure out the bells and whistles because life just won’t slow down.  Finally on Sunday we went out to see if the DVD players work and they do. 

My son insisted on wearing his IPod earphones instead of using the wireless earphones that go with the players.  I guess he likes things shoved into his ears. 

We don’t take many trips, but the next time we do I think I will be sitting in the back seat enjoying a movie.

Or maybe next weekend I might just go out in the driveway and watch a movie in my backseat. 

No one will know I am there because the windows are tinted pretty dark.

See you can’t even see my husband or son in the backseat.

I am trying to sell my Karmann Ghia so I can park in my garage.

Anyone interested in a pretty vintage car?

Can you tell the sun is shining brightly today.  We better enjoy it because it will be a high in the 50s on Tuesday and my son has a football game.  Brrrrrr

Subtle Hints of Fall

Most of the time I like to leave well enough alone.  If I like something I keep it or it stays like that for a loooooong time.  One of my favorite little corners is kind of springy summery looking.  I like it, but the rest of my room has some fall action going on so I decided to add some subtle changes to the corner.  When fall is over I just have to put away 3 small faux pumpkins and some 2 tiny floral springs and it is back to normal.  (Except we all know I will have to add something back to change the summery springy area to Christmas….it never ends.) 

I found some faux pumpkins at Hobby Lobby that were already a deep orange color that I like and I tore apart a floral stem to get a few sprigs I like from it. 

Here’s the stems added to my books and key.

I put 2 faux pumpkins in my spring wreath that hangs on my door screen and one on top of my printer tray.

I also printed one of my photos I created recently to my frame. 

And my corner has a subtle fall feel to it.  I like easy. 

Linking to

Sunday Showcase @ Under the Table and Dreaming