Texture

I've been following a site called I Heart Faces for awhile now and today I decided to enter a contest. Let me start off by saying in no way do I expect to win, but I still wanted to enter a photo for the fun of it. Learning this stuff was my New Year's resolution and unless I practice I'm not going to learn it, right? The challenge for this week is "texture" and, being brand new to Photoshop Elements and my camera, this certainly was a challenge. Honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing. I was able to figure out how to get the texture over the photo but removing it from Maggie's face? No clue how to do that in Elements. I'm not going to complain though because working on my entry has been lots of fun and I feel like I've learned a thing or two about textures.

By the way, I found this free texture at Photos by Gina . To check out more textured photos or submit your own, go to:

Finally

Since I'm not a snowboarder and never will be (see this post if you've forgotten why) I haven't been able to see Chad doing his thing on the mountain. Until yesterday. Our friend Russ was cool enough to take a quick video with his iPhone so I could see Chad in action. I must say, I'm impressed!

jasmere.com

I'm pretty sure I've told most of you about this fun new website but for those of you I missed, you need to check out jasmere.com. If you like shopping, discounts, unique and quirky wares, buying from independent, up-and-coming and lesser-known retailers or just getting a great price on something different, this website might interest you. Here's how it works: every weekday there is a new deal on their website (similar to babysteals, onekingslane, minisocial) and that item is offered at 50% or more off the retail price. Then, as more people buy the item, the lower the price becomes. Everyone who buys the item that day gets the lowest price. Cool, huh? They call it "social shopping".

I hope I haven't made this concept sound more confusing than it is because really, it's simple. Post any questions you have in my comments section and I'll get back to you with answers.

So anyway, what kind of items do they sell? Anything and everything! In the past they've had clothes, handbags, organic soaps, wine labels, kids stuff, brownies, paper products and more.

If you go to the top of their website (jasmere.com) you can enter your email address and they'll notify you of the deal that day.

Even better, if you decide to buy something between now and February 28, 2010 you'll get $5 off your first order. On some days that means the item will be nearly free. Enter the giftcode lm635 when you check out for the discount.

If you don't like the deal today, check back tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. Most likely you'll find something soon that interests you or someone you know. Head on over to jasmere and get ready for some fun deals coming your way.

***(Full disclaimer: jasmere is a business owned and operated by our good friends. If you came to my baby shower you met one of the owners. Even more reason to sign up, right?)***

Just Because

Some of you have seen a photo similar to this on Chad's Facebook, but for those of you who haven't, here's a new one. Maggie and I were sitting on the grass last week and decided to have an impromptu photo shoot. You can see all her drool but it's still a cute shot, right?

Backpack

The weather was beautiful this weekend so Chad decided to go for a walk with Maggie and me. Now that she's over 16 pounds he thought to bust out the Kelty hiking backpack he received for his birthday from my parents last year. We walked my usual 3-mile route with her on his back and she talked and smiled and looked out at the world the whole time. In other words, she loved it. Now we're ready for spring and summer when we can go up to the mountains and hike with her in tow.

(Yes, I know she's still in her jammies. It was that kind of day for her.)

Paper Wasps

Chad was working in the yard this weekend and found this nest attached to one of our bird houses. Not particularly great for the birds (or us), but definitely cool to look at close up. The nest is from a paper wasp and is really intricate up close. As the name suggests, the nest really does feel like paper. Neat!

Oranges

As a housewarming gift a couple years back we received two naval orange trees. The first year we had them in large pots but last year decided to plant them in the ground on the side yard. Turns out that was a good idea because this winter they produced oranges for the first time. Three of them, in fact. We let them ripen on the trees for a few months and picked them this weekend. Who knows how they're going to taste. We'll peel and eat them this week.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. She and my dad came for the afternoon and evening to hangout and have dinner. We had a good time with them here and hope she had a great birthday. We love you!

More Food

Yesterday I gave Maggie sweet potatoes and she seemed to enjoy the new taste and flavor. Now, because you're supposed to wait three days before introducing each new food, it'll be a few days before I try her next new meal. With that said, I'm on a food-making kick so I spent yesterday afternoon processing butternut squash and zucchini. When she's ready I'll have them on hand and after a quick thaw we'll be good to go.

fresh & easy

So today a fresh & easy market finally opened in our neighborhood. The store is a mix between Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and 7-Eleven and I can defintely see myself going there to grab a few things when I'm in a hurry. Oh, and if there wasn't enough to like about inside, check below to see what's in front of the store. I'm sold.

Pip Pip, Puree

Now that Mags is six months old and rice cereal is old hat, her doctor says she's ready for baby food. We received a baby food cookbook as a gift and I put it to good use this afternoon. I decided to start Maggie, as suggested by the doctor, on sweet potatoes and peas. I first steamed the organic peas, then roasted the sweet potatoes before processing them both down to a soupy puree. I made enough to freeze so Maggie has a few meals ready to eat. Let's hope she likes them.

Dining In

One of our Christmas gifts this year from my parents was money, and with that gift came the stipulation that we had to spend it. Bummer for us, don't you think? After studying our wishlist for a few days we ultimately decided what we most wanted and, put together with some holiday money from my grandma, we ended up with a new dining room table and chairs. We've wanted to upgrade for a while now and we're so excited to finally have a grown up set. Thank you Dad, Mom and Grandma!

Six Months

Today is Maggie's half year birthday. Six months. Time flies.

Happy New Year!

For Christmas I got a Canon D-SLR T1i camera and extra lens from Chad. Lucky me, right? With no excuses for poor photo quality now I've resolved to learn all about the camera, refresh my knowledge of apertures and f-stops (my last official photo class -after college- was in 2003...a long time ago), learn Photoshop, and take lots of photographs. And the hope is that many of the photos I take will be good enough to put on this blog. My goal is to have more posts than ever these next twelve months. Happy New Year, everyone!