Bath Time

One of my favorite just-for-me times is when I crawl into my huge garden tub for a soak. Beginning when the kids were born, I put them to bed and take an hour for myself in the tub. I sometimes bring along music, often light candles, and frequently bring reading material. I would never give up this time to myself.

Usually, the only intruder is my cat, Whiskey. He is will be 16 years old this spring and he has a fetish for bath water. Not sure why, but he always joins me and meows with unflagging resolve for water. He will lick the droplets off my feet and drink from a cup formed by my hands. He is a strange, but lovable creature.
















Weigh In: How often do you take just-for-me time and what do you do with it?

Happy Monday, y'all!

A View of Baltimore

These are the last images from my Baltimore workshop. It was such fun time and I am sad to be finished the editing of the photos! Oh well, time to plan a new trip, I suppose! (I always have Maine images I still have to edit!)

This is a view of M & T Bank Stadium, where the Ravens (go Ravens!) play, from Federal Hill.


This is the huge flag that flies proudly over Federal Hill:

A view of the Inner Harbor area from Federal Hill:

Puddles...


Today we are running electric in the basement, one step further in construction. I plan on taking some pics today so you all can see what we've done so far!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Hugs,

I am Nosy...

When I went to Baltimore a couple of Saturday's ago, we stopped by this really cool water fountain where there were tons of people to watch and photograph. We asked these boys if they could run in front of the water fountain so we could practice panning, and they were super sweet and obliged. See their mom's in the background watching? They were awesome too. They let strangers photograph their kids!


Here we have Nicole (in the green shirt) spooking us out . She was running so fast she turned into a ghost! This is what happens to motion when you set a slow shutter speed and don't pan the camera with the moving object. Check out the passer by who stopped to watch crazy Nicole run through the fountain on such a cold and dreary day! Too funny.


Then along came these three guys who were as silly as kindergartners. Something about this fountain makes every regress maturity wise! They would dare each other to run through, but they weren't quite as brave as our Nicole!


And then we have this solemn group of ladies who appear to be on a smoke/coffee break. They were just sitting and losing themselves in the calming spray of water. I wonder what is going through their mind. They are too young to have many problems, no? Don't all three know each other? Did they have an argument, thus the sad faces and the distance between them? Hmmmm... I really dig those brown boots, don't you? I can why she would not want to run through the fountain and ruin them. Don't get the sunglasses, though. Seriously, it was so gray it was pitiful. Maybe she wanted to go incognito for some reason. Spy? Hiding from a spurned lover? Oh, the possibilities!

I love people watching and I love photos of strangers. It makes me wonder about their life...their troubles and their joys. I am so nosy. I am always the one that has to sit facing OUT in a restaurant so I can spy on other tables. Pitiful, I know. Maybe that is why I like reading your blogs...I feel like I am spying on you ;0)

Have a wonderful Saturday! I am headed out to see my cousin and my aunt and uncle that I haven't seen in years! I can't wait to catch up with them!

xoxo,

Results of Photo Editing Contest- Winner One

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know we did. Ladybug and I stayed in our pajamas and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV while Brian and Ty went to play the annual community flag football game the men have every year. It was such a nice start to the day. Later, we all went to Brian's Uncle's farm and had a wonderful, delicious dinner with his mom's side of the family. There was a lot of eating and a lot of laughter. A good time was had by all. I think I need to walk about 5 miles today...

I hope your day was as blissful as mine!

I wanted to thank everyone who entered my Editing Giveaway last week. I was happy to get a chance to edit one of the winner's five images and was super happy with the outcome. I was glad she sent some "difficult" images as seen in the second comparison here. It was a challenge to work on a severely underexposed image, but it made my brain work and put my skills to the test. Since the handsome model is a teenage musician, I went for a grunge look for the second one.



If you are interested in seeing the other three images, you can check them out at Nine Acres Photography. If you have Christmas card pictures you would like me to edit, I guarantee a reasonable price and a 24 hour or less turn around time. Contact me for more details.

Hugs,

What Are You Most Thankful for This Year?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I know it is not a patriotic holiday, but it is a holiday unique to the United States. So, I thought this picture of the large flag that flies on Federal Hill in Baltimore was semi-appropriate for today. I wish each and every one of you a joy filled day spent with family, friends, or other loved ones.

Weigh In: What are you most thankful for this year besides family, of course? Hopefully that would be everyone's number one answer.

I am thankful for all the foster children out there who thrive and become productive, loving members of society despite their beginnings or circumstances. I am thankful there are good foster families who teach these children that life is about choices, not excuses. I am glad we can be a part of these amazing kids' lives.

Hug and kiss your own family tight today!



P.S. I am giving away 5 x 7's of this image as a thank you to all of my loyal readers! You can get it here.

Wordless Wednesday- Baltimore Inner Harbor Duck

This image for sale at Nine Acres Photography Gallery.



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Foster Family Progress

I am thrilled that today will be the last Foster Parenting class we will have to take. Actually, Brian and I both have one make-up class to attend in January, but that will be no sweat compared to what we have been through the past 2 months. Tonight will be special, as there will be a panel of 2 adoptive parents, 1 foster parent, and a teenage foster child. They will talk about their experiences and answer our questions. After that we are having a potluck dinner to celebrate our "graduation." Good times!


I was contacted by our Home Study worker yesterday and so the next part of our journey begins. She sounded wonderful on the phone and I am thrilled to meet her. She will be coming out to meet us next week. We still have tons of paperwork to finish and several inspections to go through, but we can take it one step at a time.



The construction on the basement is moving along. Brian finished studding out two bedrooms, the bathroom, and the laundry room. That is the first phase of the project. The family room, the bar area, and the third bedroom will begin in spring. The electricity should be run this weekend and we have had the contractor out to give us an estimate on doing the drywall and the finishing details. Optimistically, we are shooting to be finished Phase 1 by Christmas. I will hopefully have pictures soon of the progress. Right now it just looks like a skeleton!

If you like the second picture, I am giving it away free here as a computer wallpaper background. Instructions are found at the link. Enjoy!

Hugs,

Mother and Daughter Day

Ladybug and I had a great mother-daughter day on Saturday. One thing Brian and I decided was that each of us need to take quality one-on-one time with each of the kids...especially now that a lot of our attention will be directed to foster children in the near future. So, Ladybug decided that she would like to go out for lunch and a bit of shopping. And that is what we did. After hitting up the Goodwill store for some great finds (more on that later), we went to Payless Shoe Source in search of the boots Ladybug desired.

Payless was having their BOGO sale, so it was perfect timing. Ladybug was successful in her quest to find her boots: (Pics are not mine...they are from the Payless site.)


And of course, since it was BOGO, I HAD to find some shoes of my own. I picked out a casual pair that I could just slip on and go. They are comfortable and warm and cute.


But then, I caught a glimpse of these babies and I had to have them. I am not a shoe fan, but I am always looking for a cute, comfortable black dress shoe. And this one was spectacular. I must say, ladies...this shoe makes my legs look amazing. LOVE these shoes:


Now, if you are good at math, you would recognize that 1 + 1 + 1 = 3. So, by the laws of BOGO, I had to find just ONE MORE THING in the store or I was giving up a half priced item. The handbags were calling my name. Oh yes. I may hate shopping for shoes, but I have a handbag fetish. So, off I went, to Ladybug's chagrin. She was under the impression it was her day and she knew all was lost once I arrived in the handbag section. But don't worry, she got me back.

You see, I fell for this adorable bag, but as I was about to pick it up I heard a concerned voice say, "Mom?"

And I turned to see my beautiful daughter shaking her head, "No" at me. Stunned, I asked, "What?!?" with more than a little concern in my voice.
"Mom. That bag is NOT for you."

"Why?"

"It is for younger people, not people of your age."

Oh dear. I placed the bag back where it was on the shelf, hung my head low, and instead purchased a pair of half-off sunglasses that I need to protect my *aging eyes*.

Nothing like being deflated in a matter of 2 seconds flat.

I love the fact, though, that she feels she can be honest with me. I just wish she wasn't SO honest all the time ;0)



P.S. The winners of the Photo editing Giveaway are:
Since only 7 people were brave enough to let me do this for them, I don't have the heart to tell 2 they don't win. So guess what? All seven of you win! I will be contacting:

Jose
Jess
Jennifer
Janis...(with all of these j's I am beginning to think the Duggar's entered my contest!)
imom
djw209
The Church Lady!

Congratulations and thanks for entering. I will be contacting you soon!

Before and After

I received a couple of emails asking me what I meant by editing pictures for you. As you know, I am doing a contest offering free photo editing for 5 people. I decided to extend the contest one day so that those of you who wanted to see an example (or two) could see what I could do to make pictures even better.


This shot is from my recent trip to Baltimore. The original image is on the left and while it is okay, it could be improved for sure. First, I hated the white/gray sky, so I added a fake sky that is just slightly blue. I didn't want to do too much, as it would look fake.

Next, I brought back some details in the ship. As you can see in the after picture, you can once again see the boards that make the ship, while in the before picture you can't. The last thing I did was add contrast and saturation to the image so it would "POP" more, or have more of a 3-D feel to it.

See? Nothing wild and crazy! I will always preserve your original image as well, so don't worry about losing your original.

One more example...people.

The original picture here was underexposed due to an accidental mess up with my settings (I was teaching how to underexpose on purpose and forgot to change my settings back!). I knew it was underexposed as soon as I checked the preview, but I didn't want to inconvenience the ladies for another shot. So, I decided to fix it up with editing.

I decided to lighten up the shadows off the faces and to lighten the entire picture in general. I added detail back into the image (compare the orange jacket in the before and after shots). And I increased the contrast a bit.

I hope you agree that the after shots are more visually appealing than the before shots.

Now that you have seen some examples of before and after shots, I hope you will be more inclined to enter the contest. (To enter, please leave a comment on this post) I will leave the contest open for one more day. I will announce winners tomorrow.

If you win, all you have to do is email me your images or give me a link to your flickr site if you use it. That's it!

Have a great rest of your weekend!

Contest Give-Away!

Happy Friday everyone! These are a few pics of some of the ladies that attended my Baltimore workshop last weekend. You may recognize two of them as bloggers.


Second from the left is Jess of Wrong Week and third from the left is Dana from DJW209. That made meeting them doubly sweet! The other two ladies rocked too, and as a matter of fact, I think one of the two may be blogging soon!


Um, yeah. You'd have to meet Jess in person to know what a wild and crazy girl she is. LOVE HER! Thanks for a great day, ladies! (Please don't kill me Jess.)


CONTEST GIVEAWAY! Today I am offering my free photo editing services to 5 people who leave me a comment here saying that they want the prize. The prize is that you can send me 5 full size digital pictures in a zip file via email and I will edit the pictures for you for print and for web. I then will email the edited pics back to you for free! Have an image you want to look spectacular for your holiday cards this year? Have some vacation pictures you wish just had a pop to them? Send them to me!

There is a catch, however ;0) It is easy, though, so no worries! First, I want your permission to show the images as "before" and "after" images on this site and my photography site! I will not identify you or the people in the pictures. I will use the images to promote my photo editing skills for my business. Also, if you are selected and you have a blog (not mandatory), I would ask that you post a the before and after shots to your blog as well with a link back to my Nine Acres Photography. That's it!

Contest ends at midnight on Sunday morning! I will draw 5 random numbers based on the number of comments and contact the winners on Sunday. To be eligible to win, I must be able to reach you, so either leave your email address or a link back to your blog! If I can't contact you another number will be drawn in your place.

Good luck!

New Post Over at Simple Smooches!

Please check it out: Simple Smooches

PSSST~ Free stuff with an order, so don't miss out!

xoxo,

Autumn Rush

One of the things I love about the Inner Harbor in Baltimore is the outdoor amphitheater. It is a place where local bands, street performers, and others can come and perform for all of the guests milling around Harborplace. Saturday, while I was there teaching a class and leading a photowalk through Baltimore, a young (I believe they were still in high school) band named Autumn Rush was playing. They were fantastic to listen to and very talented.















Despite there only being three musicians, the sound was full and energizing. They even took requests from members of the audience (one person asked for a faster tempo song) and handled themselves amazingly well when a not-so-sober onlooker invaded their space. They were very professional and had great poise for their young age. I wish I had a sound byte to play for you, but I couldn't find any further information on the web about them. If I get any links to the band, I will post it later and let you know.

***Edited to Add Link to All the Small Things Cover***


Have a fabulous Thursday! Only one more day to go till the weekend! Holy cow...that just made me realize that Thanksgiving is only 1 week away! How did that happen? *sigh*

Hugs,