vacation (enough to need a vacation from your vacation)...

sneak preview

later i'll have a little more time to actually sit down and post about the entire vacation, but for now, it's back to catching up on sleep and laundry...

the Challenge, Days 15-20...

lookie there, two days in a row full of pictures! still trying to catch up on my challenge photos, so here goes the next few days:

this isn't exactly what a silhouette photo is suppose to look like, but i was on vacation people! it's not like i was spending all my time researching and practicing my backlighting skills. but you have to admit, this is a pretty cool shot...

once again, a technique i have no clue about. long exposure requires knowing how to actually use your camera and all it's possible settings. this shot just happened by chance, but it kind of looks right. anyway, at Disney, this is the one ride i will not ever ride, but the boys and GaGa sure did enjoy it...

at our house (or the beach) technology is every where! the kids have a slew of gaming equipment and we have more than enough iPods to keep multiple families entertained, but remember, we were on vacation, so you would think that finding that perfect technology shot would be a little more difficult, but at any given moment The Husband is on the phone or on the computer, because who doesn't work while on vacation...

shoes?! really?! if you haven't been to our house, then let me clue you in on something...we own more shoes than Imelda Marcos. our family has a problem, we like shoes (especially flip flops). so, this is probably one of my favorite shots that i've taken so far...

okay, this one has a fun story behind it. The Husband and I went to Boston (he had to work, i went for the food) for a few days while the kids stayed on "vacation". the first day we were there, after whale watching, many crab cakes, a big bowl of lobster bisque, and a couple beers, we made our way through the streets of Boston. i wasn't even planning on taking pictures, but this day just happened to be "something orange day", and this is what we came across. normally this giant boat on wheels is a tour bus that goes around the city full of tourists, but not that night. we just happened to walk up on a film crew in the middle of filming scenes for Ted (coming out in 2012)! you know we had to Google that as soon as one of the set crew told us what they were doing. it was actually kind of boring to watch, but still pretty cool...

once again, another darn technique i have no clue about! bokeh (pronounce it however you like) is the blurry little lights in the background of a picture. again, another trick you have to do with your camera, but easier to figure out than some of the other ones i've had to do. it is a shot that takes some planning, because for me i don't normally have little twinkly lights just put up around the house on a regular basis...

the Challenge, Days 9-14...

whoa! i bet you thought i had given up...well, i thought about it many times, because it's was very difficult to keep up with this every day while away from the house for more than 2 weeks! trust me, my poor memory card is maxed out. when we finally got home i had to start sifting through the hundreds of pictures to find my "challenge" shots. because i like to provide a little story behind each shot, i'm going to break up the posts (since there are 18 to catch up on). let's get started...

this one is obvious...someone you love, my boys of course. and since were going to be in the car for hours on end, why not make a pit stop at our Alma Mater. we're raising them right...

okay, at first glance this may seem strange (especially since i can't remember the last time i stepped foot in a church) but since we were in New Orleans i made a quick stop by the Saint Louis Cathedral. this view is what i remember as a kid. i spent many a sunday morning with my mom and sister in wooden pews just like this one. i remember my sister singing at the top of her lungs (even though she didn't even know the words), i remember thinking the whole "stand up-sit down-stand up-kneel down" part of a catholic service to be a little like going to a football game and cheering for your team, and i remember waiting patiently to get a little bite of wafer and a sip of wine (that always happened right on time at 9:45). so, that's my childhood memory...

you would think in a house full of boys that finding something blue would be extremely easy, but i didn't want easy, and we weren't really at home....so, why not challenge myself and find something blue that didn't belong to me? being on vacation kind of helped in this situation. i'm pretty sure this was from the next leg of our vacation, Hollywood Studios in Orlando. if you've never been, it's pretty much like a giant movie set. you can walk around (what seems like miles and miles) the different areas of the park and it appears that you're in a different city. so, this cute little blue door, which looks like it's down a Chicago street, is actually a false set in an amusement park. pretty cool...

ahhh...pretty much perfect. this picture was not doctored in any way. those colors are real, and i would've missed it if it weren't for NoNo saying during dinner, "why is it onge and pwerple outside?"

okay, this challenge was definitely a challenge. 13 things? i was in a park with thousands of people and thousands of things, so, finding only 13 was hard work. every time that i thought i had 13 things positioned just right, some stranger would come by and move one or put an extra one in the shot...arrgh! so, by the end of the day we finally made it to the Tower of Terror. guess what? it has 13 floors of sheer terror and free-falling excitement (which P-donculous rode 3 times in a row)...

this one seemed fairly easy. everyone in my family (except myself) has beautiful blue eyes, but when asked to smile for the camera, this is what i get...

the Challenge, Day 8...

oh, the list could go on for days...today's challenge...A Bad Habit. yes, we all have them (some more than others). most of my habits are even too embarrassing to take a picture of, but today, well, today is Wednesday, and today is Chick-fil-A day. yes, every Wednesday i have the most tastiest of fries and the most delectable sweet tea in all of the lands. honestly, i could eat just those fries and be one very happy Momma. okay, so every once in a while i actually eat a sandwich or a salad, but they really just get in the way of the fries. i have a serious problem...

the Challenge, Day 7...

the theme for today...FRUIT?! seems pretty vague, and when i looked at what everyone else had posted for their "fruit photo"...let's just say there's a pretty heavy weighted scale when it comes to who is participating in this challenge. on one side you have extremely amateur photographers (kind of like what your grandma would take) and then the heavy side, professional photographers (most of their pictures are very staged and very edited). so, i like to think for me that i fall somewhere in the middle; trying to balance in the middle of a heavy weighted scale.

anyway...back to the fruit...considering we're going out of town in a couple days our house is pretty barren when it comes to groceries. luckily i found half a watermelon in the fridge, and the kids were more than willing to help me get rid of it....

*if you're interested in seeing the hundreds of other participants and what they have done, click here Flickr 30 Day Challenge Group

the Challenge, Day 6...

ooh...look at me being all creative and photographing stuff other than people. i will say that this challenge was a little easier than yesterday's. shooting from a low angle is easy for someone who's already low to the ground (get it, cause i'm a shorty)...

the Challenge, Day 5...

ugh...now is when my inability to use my camera properly becomes very obvious. the challenge today...shooting from a high angle. what?! well, this is what you get, standing on ladder at the barber shop while the Dude gets a cut...

The Challenge, Day 4...

you would think this day would have been easy. i love the color green! but taking a picture of the usual green things was kind of boring. i would have loved a picture of my newly budding key limes, but two little devils decided to pluck all the dang limes off the tree!! so, instead i opted to find something else. after a very long and hot day of soccer games, we took the kids for the best sno cones ever. our friend JD* proudly showed off the results of his sno cone...

*yes, i got permission from his Momma to post his face all over the interwebs

the Challenge, Day 3...

seriously?! and i thought the self-portrait was tough. i racked my brain all day trying to think of a clever way to capture clouds. if you don't know, it's summertime in Texas, which means no clouds. unless it's raining, there's nothing but hot blue skies for days. after spending all morning trying to be creative, this is what i came up with:

yeah, this is me trying to be artsy fartsy. i floated some cut-out paper clouds in the pool (which if finally clean by the way). i wasn't completely happy, so, i spent the rest of the day sitting by the pool until i decided to heck with it! my picture is going to be like it is...Texas style summer clouds (or lack there of)...

the Challenge, Day 2...

oh how proud i am of myself!! day 2, and i'm sticking to it (definitely deserves an ice cold beer). today's "theme" was what you wore today. well, it's no surprise to those who know me, but i'm pretty much in sweaty gym clothes every single day. you would think with the amount of dri-fit and multiple pairs of running shoes in my closet that i would be a whole lot skinnier, but somehow i manage to completely counteract any sweating i do by the amount of food that goes in my mouth. and to the surprise of most people, even if i spend hours at the gym, it may take me ALL day (i'm seriously that lazy) before i ever hop in the shower...

the Challenge, Day 1...

i'm totally off the chain crazy. i thought this challenge would be a lot easier than this. i guess it wouldn't be called a "challenge" if there was not some effort involved. i'm going to be honest, i almost gave up, and it's only the first day. seriously?! a self-portrait on the first day?! it took me almost an hour to take a picture of myself. and that was after spending all day thinking about it. i can take a picture of anyone or anything all day long, but when asked to take a picture of myself...well, that's just down right silly. i felt like such a fool taking a picture of myself with myself by myself. and then i stayed up all night (granted it took me a few glasses of wine, a Plum Collins, and a beer to get started) trying to make the picture look decent. i'm way too hard on myself. i finally narrowed it down to the two least horrendous looking and shot them on to Instagram for a vote. this was the hands down winner (and by hands down, i mean only one person voted - Yay Me...next time i won't post things on the internet at midnight)...