document life now

can you feel the love tonight?

Our next stop after the chimps was the lion exhibit. Our zoo has a really gorgeous lion exhibit. There's actually meerkats on the other side of the exhibit and they used to have a warthog right there, too, but he got all nervous having people around and they had to move him to a bigger, more isolated space. Anyway, Lion King. You can't help thinking of the movie when you walk through. Especially since we're all in a Disney frame of mind anyway.

We've been going to the zoo for fifteen years. The exhibit has been open for a decade or so. I have never seen those lions doing anything but laying around. Kind of like our fat cats at home.

This visit was different. It was clearly mating season for the lions and the lioness... she was just not going to let Mr. Lion get any rest.

She would pace. And then she'd pounce.

I would think about how at any point in this, they could rip the throat of the other one. They didn't. But there was a lot of roaring and growling happening. Just hearing it kind of made my knees weak. It's all fun and games when you're sitting there looking at sleeping lions and they look like fat cats. It's another thing when you hear that roar and realize they are still wild animals.

After they'd wrestle, they'd lay next to each other for a few minutes.

And then it would all start over. 

These photos were taken by Kiah, who is trying to learn how to use the little point and shoot we got for Christmas. I think she did a great job of capturing the action.

 

another trip to the zoo (iphone version)

On the weekends, I try to get in about 3 miles of walking at least one day. Last weekend, we decided to head out to the zoo to do our walking. The kids and I did one slow lap to look at animals. Then Brady and Ches broke off to go see more animals and Kiah and I did another lap for exercise. 

Here's some photos I snapped with my iPhone...

Ches was thrilled when I said, "turn and smile."

The lions were a little frisky this morning... more on that tomorrow.

One of those days when you have to remind yourself there are 10 inches of glass between you and the lion...

The meerkats were completely adorable. There were many new babies and they were tumbling all over themselves. I could watch them for a long time. 

so he graduated...

Or at least he walked across the stage...

Sorry for the blur. I was sitting very far away.

And then I started laughing. This is why:

He had to pose for this photo after walking across the stage. His cap fell off. He broke his flower trying to pick it up. He couldn't get it to stay on his head. He held up the line of seniors waiting their turn for a portrait.

I'm not buying the actual photo. It's $35 for a digital download. So I'll have to make do with this.

There was a lot of talking. A couple of songs. It was long. 

And then...

It was over. My boy. No longer in high school. Ready for college.

Time for a new life to begin.

pleasantly exhausted

This weekend was two days of cooking, eating, laughing, watching my son graduate from high school. 

It's Sunday night and I'm getting a visual migraine. All the weight of the weekend is sitting on my shoulder and I am exhausted. I need to crawl in bed, surf Facebook, finish my Nora Roberts novel. I need "me time." 

I had great fun with the "us" time this weekend. Here's a quick one to share:

and I really like this one of my mom & Brady:

definitely not us

While we at the zoo a while back, I took a lot of photos. Mostly of birds, which is strange because I'm not a huge fan of the bird. I do, however, love color and these birds were full of it.

And one of a wallaby and her baby. I was going to say his baby, but since the baby was still in the pouch, I'll assume this was a girl wallaby.

us

We took a trip to the zoo this weekend. Mostly it was supposed to be getting us in walking shape for Disney, but we also looked at animals and I took my camera just in case there were some photos worth taking.

When I downloaded those photos onto my laptop, I realized I had five really good photos of the five of us. 

Just us.

I really love those people.

before & after

My daughter is beautiful. She is. Inside and out.

Still... I love editing my photos. I love taking them from what I see in my mind's eye and making it happen on my screen. 

A few weekends ago, I took some portrait photos during that beautiful time of day known as the Golden Hour. 

Just days before, I'd bought a plug-in for Photoshop Elements 9.0 called RadLab. It is amazing.

RadLab = seriously amazing.

First, I shoot my photos in RAW, so I adjusted the white balance and exposure using Adobe's RAW editor. I did my typical portrait edit on these using Perfect Portrait from Coffeeshop. 

Then I opened RadLab on a new layer. I can't even put into words what a powerful tool it is for editing photos. I could add another level of brightness to the photo. Change the lens. Add a color pop. Or vintage color. Warm up my photo, as I did here. Make it pretty.

And then.... when you find a combination of settings you like, you can save the "recipe." I saved this one, and then used it on all the photos I took that evening. 

Not only is it powerful, it's fun. You can immediately see what effect you're having on your photos without yet changing them. And even if you do apply RadLab, if you open it as a new layer, you aren't harming the original.

I am a die hard Photoshop Elements user. RadLab seriously expands PSE into a serious photo editing tool. It's always available for Photoshop, if that's your pleasure. If you'd like to play, you can download for a 30 day trial by clicking on that link. 

And if you try, I bet you buy...

my new camera strap

I wrote about my cameras a while ago and around the time I was writing that post, I decided I wanted a new crossbody camera strap to wear this summer. I searched Etsy for days trying to find exactly the right one. 

I was torn between damask and a yellow ruffle with gray background. I do have this yellow and gray love affair happening. However, what I really, really wanted was the black/white damask strap with a yellow ruffle. I found a seller who had the damask with a red ruffle and sent her a message. 

There's my tip for the year -- if you're browsing Etsy and see something that's almost right, but not quite, just drop the seller a line. I've only once had a seller say that she couldn't do it. Every other time I've done so, the seller has been happy to make the change. Sometimes I've even given the seller an idea for a new product line. 

A few days later -- and I'm not joking here, it was literally a few days later -- I got a package in the mail. 

Cute. Beastly cute. And comfy. Minky lining right where it hits my neck. Perfection in a camera strap.

If you're wondering where you, too, can get a beastly cute camera strap, the store is Your Sassy Side. 

And if you're wondering why I marked up my photo... I've been playing a lot of Draw Something and I'm getting used to writing my thoughts as I'm drawing. So I had to try it with a photo.

I really do hate when you can see the back of my hair from the front. To be fair, this was after a long day at work and I was rough. Still hate it, though. I did refrain from grabbing my scissors and trying to fix it.

See... so not a blogger with a perfect life. I'm overweight and accept it. Try to walk most nights, but I didn't this night. Rough, remember? I hung up on Kiah that day on the way from work because she was disrespectful. My dog threw up all his breakfast before I left for school. My son hasn't cut his hair in almost a year. My youngest has decided to learn to play guitar via YouTube.

My life is nowhere near perfect. My camera strap, though? That's darned near perfection. 

[I am totally not being paid or rewarded to give this review. The seller/shop owner doesn't even know I have a blog. I am really just that thrilled with my purchase and wanted to share.]

comparing cameras

Two photos taken off our balcony during Spring Break:

1.

2.

Top photo taken with the point and shoot Dan gave me for Christmas. Bottom photo taken with my iPhone using the Camera+ app and edited using the same app.

I used my iPhone frequently to take photos while we were on Spring Break. I actually even took my bigger p&s and never once took it out of the camera bag. Very rarely used my Canon p&s. The iPhone was just there... offering instant editing and sharing via Facebook, twitter, etc. Although I have long been a "camera photos are not real photos" kind of person, the iPhone 4s takes really good photos and the quality is good enough for printing.

Which brings me to my dilemma.... what to use this summer on our big trip. I really love my Fuji. I know it well, it takes great low light photos (essential when you're taking ride photos), and the macro setting is unbelievable. I use it all the time and my kids even know how to use it. 

The Canon just did not live up to my expectations. If I'm just looking for a pocket camera to pull out and take snapshots, it's more than fine. However, my iPhone can do the same. No need to carry a camera and the iPhone if I'm just going for snapshots.

What I have decided is that I will go ahead and wear my Fuji most of the time. It is a large camera -- not quite as large as a dSLR, but close. It won't easily fit into the bag I'm planning to take. I'm mostly worried about the sudden rain showers that exist in Florida in the summer and keeping my camera from getting wet. So I'll take some big freezer bags to put the camera inside during a pop-up storm. I want my photos to come from that camera. The photos that come from that camera are treasures, not snapshots and if it's worth taking the trip, it's worth truly capturing the memories.

My back up will be my iPhone. I have a New Trent external battery for it, so I should be able to keep it charged throughout the day. I'll be able to take quick photos and share them quickly. I love that idea.

The Canon is going to be gifted to Mykiah. She'll carry it with her, and use it to capture the trip through her eyes. It will be perfect for her. 

Camera dilemma? Solved.

my girls

Brady pretty much feels like he used up his picture taking quota back when we did senior portraits, so he really wasn't in the mood to pose on Saturday. I tried to get a few of my pretty girls.