Joy of Love Day 5: What You Love To Hate

The lesson today was about using your camera's selective focal points.  I mostly had to read the entire user's manual to understand what that meant, but I did learn a few things.  :)  And while my options are limited, they DO exist!  Here's my first trial run, just using a nutcracker (I didn't think Obi would be still enough for me while I experimented):

It's important to note that I didn't move my camera or zoom in at all, I was just playing around with the focal length options.  I had my ISO set to 80 for all of it, and the metering set to "spot."  There was a noticeable difference, to be sure, but I felt like nothing was focusing well, and I wanted to achieve that blurred-out background that so many great photographers have (if it was at all possible with my little point-and-shoot).  That's when I discovered that, because I was soooooo close when I took these photos, I should probably use my magic macro button.  :)  So I tried again:

It really did make a bit of difference!  I was REALLY liking the 1.5x option (because it didn't zoom in SOOOO much but it still gave me what I wanted), so then it was time to move on to the actual assignment for the day: what you love to hate about ________. 

In spite of her sweet temperament, Obi does a lot of things I don't really appreciate.  She jumps on people when they come in the door, and barks anytime the outside apartment building door opens.  She licks EVERYTHING like it was her own puppy, which makes everything smell like doggie breath.  She whines at the dinner table.  She thinks she's a lap dog and climbs up on us (which is actually really cute, that black lab part of her, but sometimes painful, too, with her greyhound elbows).  She talks back to me.  She gets SOOOO jealous of me and Paul (because she thinks he's HERS) that she literally comes between us, whether we are kissing at the door or snuggling on the couch.  She digs in the bathroom trash if the door doesn't quite shut.  But, MOST annoying of all, she tears through any toy, pillow, or doggie bed we get her in just moments--especially if that toy is filled with stuffing! 

I tried to get a good photo with the above settings of her actually pulling all the stuffing out, but she moved too quickly and, short of using the flash, she was just a blur.  I wish I had more control over the shutter speed and stuff on this camera!  I still managed to pull together a few decent shots, anyway:

Her destructiveness has earned her a nickname around here: "Destroyer of Worlds."  It makes finding good, durable, lasting dog toys a difficult, expensive task.  Sometimes I wish we had adopted a much smaller puppy...but then I wouldn't have sweet, adorable, crazy Obi, and in spite of all her flaws, she brings a lot of joy and playfulness into our home.  I honestly can't imagine our lives without her!

Check out the rest of today's Joy of Love entries HERE!  And there's still time to sign up!

Joy of Love Day 4: What They Wear

What does Obi wear?  Not much, just her collar.  But that one thing she wears keeps her from looking weird.  (Naked Obi DOES look weird.)

Naked Obi...she has no neck!

Getting a good picture of her collar, however, was a challenge.  Thankfully, I discovered picnik.com, a free online image editing site for amateurs like me.  It makes even dull photos a little more interesting.  :)  So here's my photo for today's assignment, what Obi wears:

I kinda like the way the light played off the metals, and adjusting the contrast helped that even more.

Is it better square?  I think so.

ALSO, the tip for the day said we should play around with our camera's metering.  I was surprised to learn that even my point-and-shoot had three metering options in the manual setting.  Here's the difference:

Great mugshots of Obi. :)

I think, at least with the bright light coming in from the window, there's only a very subtle difference between evaluative and center weight.  The center weight supposedly averages the exposure for the whole photo but gives greater weight to the subject at the center, while the evaluative breaks the image into several complex areas and sort of automatically adjusts the lighting accordingly?  That's what the manual says.  It's kinda confusing.  But I DO know that the spot option was too bright for almost everything I was shooting when the sunlight was pouring in through the window.  I'll have to try later to see when it would be useful.  :)

And, for your viewing pleasure (or at least mine): this pretty much sums up our feelings on this Friday afternoon.  Cozying up in the post-storm sunshine...can I please nap, too, Obi?  :)

Check out the Joy of Love and everyone else's awesome photos HERE!  You can still sign up for the class/daily emails--remember, it's free!

Amazing...

It's amazing what a good photo can do for a scrapbook page!  If I get nothing else out of this whole month, I will have this page and it will have been worth it.  :)

An Ode to Crystallized Ginger

Ever since my little stint with nausea last week, I've been sucking on candied ginger like it was...well...candy.  :)  I love the kick-you-in-the-pants sweet-and-spicy flavor of it.  I like how I feel after eating even just a small piece.  I crave it at least three times a day and, lucky me, we found it at an organic/whole foods store (Sunspot) that's basically within walking distance from our apartment.  If I ever find myself with an unallocated $4 to splurge, you'll know where to find me.

So obsessed am I that I was thinking the other day how yummy this stuff would be in a muffin.  I googled it.  Sad news: someone else thought of it first, so I get no bragging rights.  Glad news: it's so good I don't care. AND there are chocolate chips involved.

Tell me that doesn't look delicious!

Our cute cupcake tree gets its first use!

View from the top...minus the one I ate.  :)

Seriously, my whole house smells SO delicious.  Paul and I aren't huge cake or cupcake people (although I DO love decorating them), but maybe if I start looking for more surprisingly good muffin recipes we can look like normal people for our birthdays (have our "cake" and eat it, too)!

Go HERE for the full recipe and more mouth-watering pictures!

The Joy of Love Day 3: Then and Now

Since we adopted Obi as a one-year-old dog, we never got to see her as a puppy.  In the year since, she really hasn't changed much physically (except maybe gotten a little fatter).  In fact, the only really noticeable differences between then and now are that (a) she's learned a LOT of new tricks, and (b) she's much lazier, sleeping or at least resting for the vast majority of the day.  I tried to capture the difference in her energy, but the photo (taken last night) was kinda blurry to begin with and much worse once I started cropping tight (the tip for today).  I love the idea for the new pic, just not how it turned out.  The second one isn't too much better.  Thank goodness we can try again tomorrow!  :) 

THEN pictures usually included lots of playtime with Paul (which she STILL loves, just doesn't have the stamina for anymore).

NOW pictures are almost always of her sleeping.  She's too adorable when she sleeps to NOT take a picture.  :)

Cropping really DID make this photo WAY better, more interesting, and more adorable.  I love her little paws crossed over.  :)  Just wish I had a better camera and/or a more steady hand.

Look at those paws!  She's moved on from tomboy to princess in the last year...probably natural considering the transition from shelter kennel to 24/7 access to a comfy couch and a full stomach.  :)

Check out everyone else's photos from the class HERE!  There are some SUPER talented photographers out there that inspire me to want to be better.

Other phone pics

Since I CAN.  :)

Paul and Em in our pool.

Trail up and around Mt. Baldy, Indiana Dunes.

Black bean salad, eaten with chips.  YUM.

New York.

Big sky.

Happy Hollow trails in the beginning of autumn.

Putting up Mom's Christmas tree for her.  Sorry they're all so blurry!

Sammy/Dickens, my dad's family's new puppy.

A little arrangement at our in-laws' house.  I usually use this as my background all Christmas long.  :)

I'm SO grateful to have a phone whose pictures actually come off it.  You don't even know.  AND thankful for the technology that allows 4 or 8 GB of storage in a device smaller than my thumbnail. 

Obi the Pup

Obi's really struck me as adorable lately...maybe it's because of the cute things she's done, or maybe it was because yesterday we FINALLY let her out of her cage when we had a child over and she surprised us by being EXTRA good!  I can't even describe, it was like my nephew was her puppy or something.  Check out the not-so-carefully planned photos of her below!  :)

Sleeping with her blankie. Her eyes are kinda creepy when she sleeps with them halfway open.

Sharing chips oh-so-gently with Paul.

The blankie and the blow-up bed...her two favorite things!

Tired after playing in the snow with Paul.



This is from yesterday.  Tanner was LOVING our little skull, and he thought it was hilarious that Obi would lick it (she licks EVERYTHING).  I love everyone's different expressions here.



Obi, patiently taking the beating petting from Tanner.

The two were BFFs!  He was holding her muzzle here and she was licking him.  It was adorable.

Pooped out from a long, happy day!

Also, some pics from my phone! (Finally!)

Some lovin' from Paul.

Laziness in the sunshine.  :)

Falling asleep in the WEIRDEST positions sometimes!  :)

I'm trying to post a video, but having some difficulties getting it to upload.  It's only 18 seconds long, but I've waited over an hour.  :(  It's like the above picture of Tanner "petting" Obi...but she really didn't mind, at least not the way she minds when WE do things that bug her.  She started crawling away from him, but then he smiled and started crawling right along with her...and they just sort of crawled together.  The video stops before they made it to the hallway by the bedrooms, but it's still cute.  I'll try again later when I'm feeling more patient.  Anyway, we were super worried about how Obi would be with a small child around the house.  Now we know better!  She'll be just fine.

Obsidian the Model

My friend Jessica (check out her photography blog HERE) pointed her readers to a FREE online photography class going on this month (check it out HERE).  I figured, with my little point-and-shoot Canon PowerShot A560, I could stand to learn a thing or two about taking decent pictures.  Of course, I don't have a fancy camera or any real background in photography, and no aspirations of any photo business ever (my flower business would be enough for me!), but I DO love scrapbooking.  So why not?  It's free, right?  So what do I have to lose?  :)

Anywho, the class is called the Joy of Love, and each day they send a prompt to help you photograph the ones you love and a tip or two.  Which I just need.  Obi, our puppy, is a difficult model.  I can never get good shots of her--especially when she's moving around!  But I worked on using more natural light (avoiding those red evil dog eyes that I usually have to edit out because of the flash I usually use) and getting down to her level.  I also caught her in a few moments of boredom rest.  I like the result.  What do you think?  Isn't Obsidian a GORGEOUS dog, really?

Obi looks BORED.

Obi looks AT ME.

Obi looks SURPRISED.

Obi looks BORED (again).

Obi looks OUT THE WINDOW.

FHE 1/31/10

Paul and I really do love FHE, but we've kinda been slacking lately.  Between the madness of the holidays, the fact that neither of us really grew up with FHE so it's not "routine" in our minds yet (even after YEARS in YSA FHE callings and attending meetings), and the fact that we both kinda assume the other person will remind us, or plan it, or...whatever...yeah, we just sort of let the ball drop.  So we basically do it when we remember.  Well, one of our main goals as a family this year is to be better about that.  So, thanks to our chart that keeps it at the forefront of our minds and helps us know exactly what each of us must do:

Isn't it cute, all laminated and velcro-ed?  :)

Song: "If I Listen With my Heart" (a primary song we are trying to learn!)
Prayer: Paul
Lesson: Chapter 8 in Choosing Glory.  For FHE as a married couple, we've mostly been reading books together, one chapter at a time, and then discussing thoughts that come up.  These are usually church-related books, but they wouldn't necessarily have to be.  Once we FINALLY finish this book, we're thinking about taking turns presenting Conference talks in any way we want.  We're kinda excited about it, because it would involve real study and planning.

Can I just put in a plug here?  Sister Lili Anderson was my strengthening marriage and family teacher at BYU, and I LOVED her class.  As not only a PhD/Marriage and Family counselor but also mother of 8 kids, she has SOOOOOO much insight about the gospel and how it relates (in concrete ways) to marriage and parenting.  Of course, you get as much out of it as you put into it, but talking about the principles she reviews in her books has really already helped Paul and me.  Personally, it's been a healing thing for me to understand the feelings I've had about different trials in my own life and what those feelings mean in context of the gospel.  I TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY recommend her books to anyone.  The first one, Family Foundations, is pretty much our curriculum for her course (besides a really big coffee-table-style book breaking down the proclamation on the family), and it merits reading.  In it, she introduces what she calls the Three Realm Model, and this second book is all about that.  We really love it.  It makes certain parts of the gospel make a lot more sense.  Check out her website and order her books at lilianderson.com!

The awesome book.  Okay, moving on...

Activity: Yahtzee.  I beat Paul in our first game by 4 points.  He beat me the second time by over 70 points.  But I came back in our "tiebreaker" round to win by almost as much, thanks to an actual Yahtzee.  It was way fun.  And I got a massage out of it.  :)

Treats: Peanut Butter Fingers!  My roommate used to make these once in a while, and I loved them lots.  I'd wanted to make them over the holidays but, y'know, I didn't want Emilie to DIE, so...I made them now.  Let me know if you want the recipe!  I'm too lazy to type it all up right now.

So, that was it!  It was a fun evening.  We always enjoy the spirit of unity we feel when we actually settle down and DO FHE.  Hopefully now that we're starting to get more organized we'll have more fun stories and experiences to share!

Yummy PB Fingers...High Five for FHE!  :)