Weekend Love

What I loved about my weekend:

1. The AMAZING morning light that creeps into my small apartment.  

Kona and I have a morning ritual where she realizes that I am leaving and will stop and just stare at me.  So on this pretty morning, she gave me some good photo material to work with.  

This light is honestly so gorgeous!  I wish I could bottle it up and take it with me to all my shoots. 

2. Lazy walks.

Here Kona is recovering from her excursion with her best little friend Paxton.  Me and my good friend Nikki went to a nearby creek where the two fuzzy friends ran in and out of a creek for about an hour.   Kona is a tough one to tire out so it was a successful trip. 

3. Reading first thing on a Sunday morning in bed. 

I just finished up The Help.  As my friends promised, it was a non-stop, can't put me down book. I definitely shed a few tears, I couldn't help it! Now I just have to wait for Brett to finish reading so I can finally see the movie.

4. Filling the blank hours with Pinterest.

Ok, I have to admit, I am totally addicted to Pinterest.   It's become a void filler and menu for me.  This morning as I planned my week's worth of meals, I instantly went to Pinterest to find my saved recipes.  It's actually pretty awesome as I no longer have to save print out of recipes from years past. 

5. Your Dekalb's Farmers Market

About every Sunday, I venture across town (about 10 miles) to my food oasis. I do the type A thing and come baring a list of essentials.  I usually speed up and down the aisle with my list, constantly marking off what I have collected. I have recently really been trying to do a whole foods diet so the Farmer's Market is the perfect place to go and it's incredibly affordable.  This week's new addition is Swiss Chard. I hope it works out... lol. 

I have a confession- I heart makeup

Even though I would consider myself a tom boy, I totally love to play with makeup.  Some girls love to buy shoes and others love purses but you put me in Ulta or Sephora, I am not coming out empty handed.  I recently went to Ulta to pick up a new OPI shade and ended up coming out with two new nail polishes and the Urban Decay "Naked 2" palette.

I LOVE Urban Decay eyeshadow so it was incredibly hard to resist a beautiful, neutral palette! Needless to say, I purchased it and began watching some youtube reviews and tutorials on the palette.  I'm super glad I bought it because the shades allow you to create simple and dynamic looks.

The only other kinds of blogs I stalk as much as photography blogs are cool makeup blogs.  I'm so jealous of all the fun makeup those girls have and most of them get it for FREE!

Even though my sweet boyfriend would prefer a natural or makeup free look, I can't help myself.  Here is my take on an Urban Decay smokey look.  Here is the original video I watched.  Mine looks like it turned out more bronze but that probably has to do with my bathroom lighting and my primer has a yellowy tint. (Is yellowy a word...?)

This is an extension tube....

My lovely photog mentor, Aharon Hill, gave me an awesome and SUPER THOUGHTFUL Christmas present.  I do not yet have a 105mm Nikon macro lens so it is difficult to take those up close ring shots with my 50mm 1.4/f or my lovely 24-70mm 2.8/f.  With these handy little extension tubes, you can make any lens a marco lens.  No, these images are not perfect or identical to a 105 macro lens but they do a pretty good job.
A friend of mine recently got engaged and her ring was B-E-A-utiful so I took the opportunity take some practice shoots.  Here is what I got. Thank you AHARON for your constant support and guidance in my photo journey!

Shooting Wide Open + Puppy Love

My favorite lens is my 50mm 1.4/f although I hardly ever shoot completely wide open.  Over the weekend while relaxing, I decided to pull out the camera in some extreme low light situations to practice.  I shoot Nikon which does a pretty great job in low light.  In the following shots, I had my ISO around 2,000 and my aperture at 1.4.

Not surprisingly, my subject was my pup Kona and her best friend Finn.  He is a pretty handsome guy.  I say they make a stunning couple.

Books and Cupcakes = Happy Weekends

I have been reading the series "Game of Thrones" since the series came out on HBO last spring.  These books are amazing and keep you guessing at each turn but the books are RIDICULOUSLY long.  Each book is around 800 pages.

I reached about the half way point of book four when I took a break and started reading the Hunger Games.  My boyfriend gave this to me as a Christmas gift which he later regretted since I won't put it down for anything.  It's an easy and quick read so I finished it in a few days.

This weekend I tackled "Catching Fire" which is book number two.  The last page is definitely a cliff hanger.  Luckily I have book three waiting on deck.  In summary- if you want a quick, engaging, non-stop read... Go get it!

On a tastier note, I decided to bake some cupcakes for my ladies night tomorrow. I grew up baking sweets so it was nice to have a quiet Sunday to just bake, listen to a Airborne Toxic Event on Slacker.com and lick the mixer (when I was done.)

My day in images...

Anyone have $6,000 to give me?

... I want.... Now if only I had $6000 laying around to buy it when it comes out in Febuary.

I can dream...

http://ces.cnet.com/8301-33371_1-57352486/nikon-d4-arrives-after-leaks-turn-into-flood/

Not Committing to a New Year's Resolution- Because it doesn't work

It sounds good and it feels good when you say, "This year, I am going to *Blank*."  But let's be honest, making these new year's resolutions sets us up to fail, at some point.  Some people fail at week two and others fail around February  Granted we all make these commitments with good intentions but unless you make the commitment while in action, it's not going to happen.  This is coming from experience of course because for years I have tried to "start out fresh" and make these lifestyle commitments.  Normally I make them while I'm drinking some sugary cocktail and eating so high calorie food.... "Tomorrow!" I shout in my mind-only to realize four days later I haven't done anything except take my dog to the dog park and watched her run.  Well at least Kona is a doing a good job of sticking to her diet and getting her work outs in.

So instead of a resolution this year, I am making a goal to live a healthier life by taking action.  Action means moving, running, getting out of bed and not hitting the snooze button, running to the dog park instead of driving, cutting fruit the night before, prepping meals and left overs for lunch.  Granted, I do DO these things but I want to do them more and get myself on more consistent healthy and happy routine.

And, to cheers this goal, here is my yummy snack thanks for the wonderful Dekalb Farmer's Market... Oh, how I love thee.