I’ve really enjoyed my first full month of retirement from photography, but it’s quite obvious I need a new hobby. ha!

Right now, my hobby appears to be that of a “couch potato” – I’ve/we’ve managed to watch Dexter Seasons 1 through 4 (um, AWESOME!), every Dance Mom, Scouted, Grey’s Anatomy, CSI (Las Vegas) and of course our regular family shows – Modern Family, Desperate Housewives, etc. While it’s been nice to just sit around and relax on these chilly winter nights, I really need to be on the look out for the next thing! Quilting? Cooking? Zumba/fitness?

We’ll see what happens!

Speaking of fortunes, this was Scott’s:

Appropriate too? We’ll see!

Oh, and if Claire gets her way, I guess Harry (the one with the brown bushy hair) will be my future son-in-law.

The middle photo though was a pic of our Christmas tree – taken with my current very favorite lens – the 35mm f/1.4G – on manual mode to make the lights blurry like that.  :-)Next we have our New Year’s Eve photos! We were getting ready to go across the street to our friend/neighbor’s house for a party, so I barely had any time to take these. uggh! (Scott rushed me out the door…) But I got what I could. Nikon D300, Tamron 17-55mm f/2.8 lens (at like ap of 16, iso 160, shutter 1/160), Alien Bee ring flash. I brought all these photos into Toy Camera Analog Color with the polaroid border and Process type 5.So yay!  I got the first two pages of our 2012 Memory book done!  :-)

While I was at it, I took some ipod touch photos of some of my fav images I took in 2011 of Jacob & Elle. Used “Nashville” and “Early Bird” filters from Instagram here.And tried something completely new on this image – hmm…not sure what I think, but I know Elle is beautiful no matter how I edit the photo!  :-) Have a great week! I start my 10 days in a row again at work tomorrow…boo hoo! Feel sorry for me?

So that set our color scheme of lilac, black & white. We took two of the tables in her room and painted them black (pain in the butt – but they look great!). We also painted her letter “C” silver (which sucked cuz it was an oil-based paint – uggh! Thanks to Scott for cleaning that up!) It took us two days and lots of sweat, but we got it done! She is thrilled and LOVES it!Lamp, bed skirt, zebra body pillow case & drapes from Target, zebra sheets from Kohl’s, coat rack from amazon.com, frame from Home Goods.  Purple Christmas tree I bought last year (along w/ pink & blue) from Wal-Mart.com (sorry Rhiana if you see this – she decided to keep it! )

“BEFORE” – photos taken February 2010. We also decluttered a LOT and we took a lot of her little girlish things and put them in a tote. We’re calling it our time capsule. Didn’t throw them away, but just put them out of sight and out of mind for now.  “AFTER”. Claire said, “It’s FINALLY a COLOR!!” I said Hey! Tan is a color! She disagreed. Hasn’t she changed a TON in two years?!! My baby is growing up – sniff sniff! Once again, Buddy would not leave us alone when we were trying to take pictures! Seriously – we kept taking him off the bed, told the boys to call him, etc. Oh well, he’s so cute! Claire got this picture a while back at TJ Maxx and I love it! Inspiring!!That’s our room make-over! Claire spent $200 of her own on it (Christmas money) and I told her it has to last at least FOUR years – until she’s 17. I just hope she can keep it as clean as it is now!

btw….does anyone want to buy a gallon of lilac paint? I bought two but only ended up using one! Only $15 o.b.o! I’ll also be selling her old bedding on Craig’s List.

Brad & Reonne took the trophy home though for having the ugliest holiday sweaters – she went the extra step and added lights to them! Nicely done Reonne! They get to hang onto Billy Bass until the next party.  :-)

And here’s the video for the White Elephant Gift Exchange. The singing and dancing ostrich was quite the hit of the party!

Just in case you can’t get enough Ugliness for one post, here’s the link to the sweater parade from two years ago = UGLY SWEATERS and the WHITE ELEPHANT exchange.

I love our neighborhood!  :-)

Jacob was super crabby and didn’t want to do it (like usual) and Elle was sweet and cooperative (like usual) so it was pretty awkward at times.

It was snowing SO HARD when we were shooting!  Just kidding - it really wasn’t snowing at all – it was WARM (like almost 40) so almost all the snow was melted and I had to even clone in some snow.  Hardly any snow in MN in December when I would actually LIKE to have some snow for once?? Figures!!

But Florabella came out with a FREE snow overlay download, so that’s what’s on here – #6 at about 80% or so. You should try it! Pretty fun! And hey, it sorta looks real, right?  The outdoor trees I had planned to shoot in at the first lot had been moved indoors, so we went to the next lot. This is where they told me they both felt really dumb because everyone was looking at them, and why would teenagers be shopping for a Christmas tree anyway? (((deeper sigh))). But I got them to do a few shots at the lot before we headed to “the woods”.By then my “hot chocolate” was lukewarm at best. Then Jacob spilled his on the blanket when trying to sit down. Nice.  ;-) Well…………there was my attempt at a Christmas tree lot photo shoot. Totally NOT what I had in mind, but it is what it is. What’s a person to do, right?

• backdrop stand from National Camera (the cheapy one – like $79)
• clamps from Home Depot
• white fleece from JoAnn’s fabrics – it’s about 4 yards long
• white fuzzy pieces from TJ Maxx & Wal-Mart
• white tree from Target (got it on clearance for $5 a few years ago!)
• icicle lights from Target – clamped on to the backdrop stand
• ornaments from JC Penney – on clearance a couple years ago
• Nikon D700
• Nikon 35mm f/1.4 lens – btw….I have literally not taken this lens off my camera since I got it a few months ago. I LOVE it!  I used to shoot primarily with my 24-70mm f/2.8 which I still love, but I think this lens is just a tad sharper and it’s a focal length that I find very comfortable.  :-)

camera settings:  aperture 1.8, shutter 1/200, ISO 400, auto white balance Isn’t she a sweetie? Yes she is! Tammy is such a good mommy and is so cute with her.

Now you may wonder why I did this shoot when I just “retired”. Well…I will continue to take on “personal projects” (aka usually for FREE!) when and if I feel up to it and when and IF I get a fun idea. Or I may volunteer my services for a good cause here and there if time allows.  We will see.  :-)

While the girls were doing hair & makeup, I took some of Claire’s old “M” magazines and taped them to the wall to use as a backdrop. Claire LOVES Justin Bieber, so she said to make sure to get a lot of him.  ;-)

Outfit #1 -

• Top:  Target
• White skinny jeans:  Old Navy
• Necklace:  Wet Seal
• Sunglasses:  Aeropostale
• Ring & bracelets:  Karen’s
• Star confetti:  Party City

This shot was way harder than it looks – plus it made a huge mess!So I used hearts  here – from my bokeh overlays.

Talking about a certain BOY Outfit #2 -

• Top:  Wet Seal (pink cami from Aeropostale)
• Jeggings:  Delia’s
• Necklace:  Wet Seal
• Earrings:  Claire’s
• Rub-on nail decorations:  Rue 21
• Headband & ring:  Karen’s
• Silver float sheeting:  Party City online (thanks Ria!!)

She was doing a great job at being moody and serious, but her inner “ninja” came out.  haha!  She does crack me up!  She’s a big old goofball! Outfit #3 -

• Top, jeans, earrings, necklace:  Wet Seal
• Black cami:  Target
• Bracelets, ring:  Karen’s

Love you, Claire Bear!  No matter how grown up you look, you’ll always be my little girl.  :-)

Who:  my awesome neighbor, fellow photographer & good friend Nichole and her little man.

When:  Friday 1/21/11

Where:  Quincy Studio & NE Mnpls

What:  Nichole got a sassy new hairdo so we went down to the studio to show her around & take a few head shots.  Of course I had to get some of adorable Karge too!  He is THE sweetest little boy!  I said I wanted to hang around him all the time – he cracks me up!  :-)