Photoshop Day 7

The challenge was to post photoshopped pictures for seven days straight and I was going strong for the first 6!  Now it's after 8 pm on the 7th day and I'm rushing to squeeze this post in at the last minute so I can say I met my goal.  I didn't get to play in photoshop at all last night so I've just done these last photos very quickly.  I may have to revisit them at a later date and try again because these were the ones I've been wanting to play with since I first got photoshop.  Let's get to it... Alternate title for this post could be "The Seasons, According to Bren" or something like that.  Every time Bren is at my parents' house, all she wants to do is "fwing," so I have tons of pictures of her on the swingset.  These swing pictures could almost be her own version of a growth chart.

Here are the original straight-out-of-camera shots.

The pictures are arranged in order of the seasons, not necessarily her age.  I think she's the youngest in the summer one, and the spring one might be the most recent.

Here are the touched-up photos...a little sharpening and color boosting, and then just an added text box for the season.

Do you have a favorite Bren season?  I can't decide.  I really like the picture quality in the Fall one (like how you can see all her little hairs flying) but I like her smile in Spring.  The Fall one's cute too, and her fuzzy legs in the Summer one kinda make me laugh...

A Meme

Lent = four posts per week.  I only made it to three last week.  I'm failing already. So today, I'm doing a silly little meme.  I have lots of real things to write about, I just don't have the pictures with me or the time at work to put my thoughts together.  Which means today has to be a filler post that will count as one of my four. 

[What's a meme?  I had to look it up.  In a nutshell, it's a list of questions from somewhere else that I'm copying and answering myself.  I found these on another blog.  Fellow blogging friends, feel free to steal it from me.]

Age:  28

Bed Size:  Queen

Chore You Hate:  Cleaning toilets, which is why I pay someone else to do it for me

Dogs: Lollipop, a maltipoo

Essential Start To Your Day:  Any cold drink - I don't like hot drinks in the morning

Favorite Color:  Green (for today anyway, it changes all the time)

Gold or Silver:  Silver

Height:  5'7"

Instruments You Play:  None currently, but used to play the flute and sorta the piano

Job Title:  Senior Regional Accountant

Kids: Two stepkids - Anna and Wyatt

Live:  In a 3 bedroom house in the South

Mom's Name:  Marcia

Nicknames:  Lucy

Overnight Hospital Stays:  Just one that I know of - when I was 15;  I was there for 3 days

Pet Peeve:  Too many to name them all - loud eaters/smackers, people who stand and talk in the middle of walkways, really bad grammar, coworkers who don't use headphones....

Quote From A Movie:  I run my unit how I run my unit.  You want to investigate me, roll the dice and take your chances.  I eat breakfast 300 yards from 4000 Cubans who are trained to kill me, so don't think for one second that you can come down here, flash your badge, and make me nervous.  (Name that movie!)

Right or Left Handed:  Right for everything except cartwheels

Siblings:  Two older brothers - Nick and Ben

Time You Wake Up:  The alarm goes off at 6:20...

Underwear:  Yes

Vegetables You Dislike:  Mashed potatoes, corn, peas, peppers, onions, and many more

What Makes You Run Late:  Picking out and ironing my clothes

X-Rays You've Had:  Teeth, chest, wrist

Yummy Food You Make:  Desserts

Zoo Animal:  Monkeys, giraffes, elephants

Couples Shower

Finally, I have time to recap our party from last weekend! A week late's not too bad, right? These were the invitations that were sent out a few weeks in advance.

My friend Matt did the design work and printed them for me, and then I cut all the tissue paper fringe and glued it on. The last step was to sew the red line across the fringe "skirt."

In each invitation was one of these tags with instructions to bring a gift that started with that letter and to attach it to the gift.

I tried to go around the house and take pictures of all the decorations before the guests arrived. I think I missed a couple of things, but here's the bulk of them.

The banner was hanging on the mantle.

Two mini tissue poofs hung from the doorway separating the kitchen and the living room.

And the rest of them were hung in the kitchen over our bar.

The pom-pom skewers were set out beforehand, just waiting for their food.

I tied ribbon around two jars so the wooden flatware would match the theme.

And these cute napkins sat on another corner of the table.

The centerpiece on the table was a few of my wooden test tube vases. I wanted red flowers for them and roses were my only choice. I added the daisies and the ribbon to try to make them look more cutesy and less romantic.

Doc brought home some sunflowers earlier in the week, and I dressed them up so they'd match the party, too.

The cupcakes in jars were lined up like an army of deliciousness, just waiting for people to take them home.

Outside, we put a sign in our flowerbed so all of our guests would come to the right house. Jenny and Darrin got to take it home with them.

We also hung lights outside. This was probably my favorite part. I love strings of lights!

Luckily we got everything done and ready with about 15 minutes to spare before the party started. Just in time!

Reason #34 why I'm friends with Jenny and Darrin: they came dressed to match the theme.

Our other friends didn't get that memo, but we let them come in anyway.

It wasn't long after everyone arrived that the food was ready.

Here are the pom-pom skewers full of fruit.

And the whole spread: pork tenderloin, cowboy beans, spinach orzo salad, fruit, and rolls.

After dinner, the party moved outside for some cornhole.

The weather was pretty perfect for sitting outside.

We headed inside after a bit to watch the guests of honor open gifts. It was fun to see what everyone came up with for their letters.

D for Dave's Dinners cookbook.

S for scrabble and sangria.

U=Utensils!

A welcome mat for W.

Our letter was C, so we made them a cornhole set painted in Texas colors (Darrin's alma mater).  It got broken in during the party.

It's safe to say they got lots of good, fun, and unique gifts. I think they were pleased!

One last picture with the couple, and that's a wrap!

NB Diaries: Chapter 6

It’s been a while since the last time I wrote about New Boss, but that does not mean there’s been a shortage of interesting conversations. In fact, there have been so many conversations that I almost don’t know where to start. I feel like I should carry a tape recorder with me at all times.  These days, it’s not unusual for me to spend at least one day a week in her office for an hour or three, just listening to her stories. I’ve heard about her experience of taking the CPA exams in a covered barn in the pouring rain and about her entry-level jobs at several accounting firms. She’s told me about living with her husband and their wedding at the courthouse. She drew me a diagram of her gigantic walk-in closet and told me about the shelves collapsing about a year ago because of too many shoes piled on top. (No, the shelves have not been fixed yet.) She dotes on her two nephews that live in town and still goes to visit her mom.  I know that she doesn’t like to go outside the house unless it’s to go to work or to see family, but she and her husband keep all of their bird feeders full of food so their cats can watch the birds. Their bird bath is heated too so the birds can still come in the winter. 

 Last Friday I found myself walking to her office, report in hand, around 9:15. Before I realized it, it was almost time for lunch and we were still talking! It always starts with something work-related and then, maybe because I’m so nosy, we trail off to something she collects or somewhere she’s been or something she’s interested in.

 Friday’s conversation actually started in my cubicle over a work issue, when we got in a bit of a discussion over the pronunciation of the word “asterisk.”

 NB: You could draw it up like this and maybe put an ASS-TER-RISK by this… Me (interrupting): What’d you just say? NB: What? You don’t know what an ASS-TER-RISK is? Me: It’s ASSTRICK.

 Ok, ok, before you go and join her side, let me just say that I know how the word is spelled. I realize there’s an S before the K at the end. But most people don’t pronounce it that way (at least not around here). And they certainly don’t make it sound like three different words like she did.

 NB ended up going back to her office while my coworkers still laughed about me trying to correct her. Two were laughing at me for being wrong; the other was telling me he was getting ready to defend my pronunciation of the word.

 Five minutes later I, along with the rest of my team, received a series of four emails.  The first was the definition from definition.reference.com and the second was an audio file of how to pronounce the word.

 Third email: Even Lil Wayne knows how to pronounce “ASTERISK.”

 And the fourth, after she could still hear me arguing that my pronunciation was right: Girl, you were wrong. Just give it up, you’re making yourself look like a fool!

 I quickly prepared the report she had asked for, minus the asterisk, and took it to her office. We reviewed it together; she was pleased. 

And then - and I can’t for the life of me remember how – the conversation turned to her admitting that she had googled me (and my coworkers, too). Now, I don’t really think this is all that weird (let’s face it, I googled her too), but it was a little weird that she admitted it to me. She knew Doc’s name and commented on the china we registered for  - apparently its still online. She knew the day we got married and where I went to school. 

My heart started pounding as I asked her about what all she found. I was terrified that somehow she had found this blog. (Maybe she did and just didn’t let on. Hi, NB?)  She did say that I was pretty boring and there wasn't anything interesting. 

She found my facebook profile but was upset that I had it set to private so she could only see my profile picture and nothing else. 

And then, THEN!, that’s when she hurt my feelings. She told me I did not look good in my profile picture. 

But she didn’t stop there (I have thick-ish skin, I could handle that). She went on for 5 or 10 minutes about how much she disliked my sunglasses and how awful they look on me. 

NB: They’re way too big of frames, which is outdated. Me: That’s kinda the point. I think it’s funny how big they are. NB: They are completely unflattering to your face. Your face is small and those frames are huge. Me: But I like them. NB: I don’t care if you like them, they look stupid. 

And on and on and on. One of my coworkers was actually present for that part of the conversation, so I have a witness that I’m not making this up. She seriously did not like my sunglasses. 

Are they really that bad?

 

Anyway, I jokingly told a couple of friends about it over the weekend as if she’d hurt my feelings, but truth be told, I was over it by the time lunch was over. I still like the glasses and I will wear them proudly! 

Needless to say, by this morning (Tuesday) the whole ordeal was long forgotten. NB was out of the office yesterday and I really just hadn’t thought about it at all.

 Until I got this email:

 To: Lucy@workemail.com From: NB@newboss.com Date: Tuesday, 9:29am

 Subject: I didn’t mean what I said about your sunglasses.

 They are really cute. Sometimes I act like a jerk. Plus, you are so awesome, I have to make up stuff to kid you about.

 I’m sorry.

 New Boss

  So, there you go: my sunglasses are cute and I’m awesome.

He is Risen!

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." --John 11:25-26

Happy Easter from our family to yours!