Strike a pose...

Things are coming along nicely in our photography realm. Even though I was working on the site template last week, once I had photos to edit and an album to put together, I was full-force on the branding for it. I turned everything black and white with our current logo and such, and I couldn't be more happy with it. I'm learning the basics of Adobe PS Lightroom and it's my new favorite program, hands down. And learning it is #52 on my list, so even better.

We went to Newport for our date night last Saturday - had dinner, took a LOAD of photos of each other and various things, and saw a movie (Mr. Woodcock). THIS was my model pose that came out of nowhere... I'm bringin' sexy back (especially in that gray hoodie).


And Mr. Model himself...


Once this album is posted (either in our current gallery temporarily, or a new gallery whipped up by the mister to match our site design) I'll give you the link-up.

OK - anyone ready to dish out the cash to go to Donna Downey's INSPIRED. event with me? It's not until next April, but registration has already begun! Pleeeeeeeeeease? It sounds like this event is absolutely going to be heaven with so many awesome artsy workshops. Sheri? Mandy? - you're on a wedding budget, you have an excuse. Stephanie? Anyone else that wants to go to North Carolina? You KNOW you want to go! :)

Twiddling my thumbs...

Dan is at a wedding in Cleveland tonight, and I'm sitting here staring at my Photoshop screen, changing around my site design way too many times. Just can't figure out what I want. So, I thought I would post the new logo that I've had done and see what you think of it. A little design in-progress.

I actually had to fight Illustrator tooth and nail to get this logo, since I had only used the darn program once before and had NO idea what I was doing. You'd think Adobe programs would all work the same, but that would just be too easy. I think it's finally coming around to my side, though. With those fancy rotated stars I figured I should vector the sucker so it could be transformed without jagged edges. I spit in thy direction of jagged edges.

The logo may change YET AGAIN - mostly the tag line may change in its formatting - but right now I'm trying to work my site template around this retro-looking chunk of possibility. TOO MUCH POSSIBILITY! Hence twiddling my thumbs and changing it again, and again, and one more time for good measure...

Dan and I have offered photo shoots to a couple of our friends with kids. Getting our hands dirty. I'm excited for those experiences - there are kids of all ages and family moments to capture. Any other takers? I think I can safely offer that here since I have ALL of about six readers, lol. Otherwise, I have judicial and executive powers to veto and all that jazz. Keep me posted.

Back to the staring contest with my site template - wish me luck!

Down with the quickness...

It's now 6:30p and I'm giving myself an hour on this post. Otherwise, I'll get distracted and take ALL night. I noticed recently that an entire summer went by and I didn't accomplish much... or at least not the things I thought I should have accomplished. What happened? Apparently I am queen of easily-distracted. Honestly, you'd think that in three months I could have at least finished a website design, and gotten photo DVD's made of our wedding, NO? What the heck was I doing the last THREE months? Although, I can't take all the credit in this apartment for moseying around all summer, since our video DVD's are hardly started - that wasn't my job. ;)

So, most things went onto my 101 in 1001 list that I still need to tackle... but there are other strategies I need to go after, like not taking all night to write a blog post. I need to work smarter, faster, MAKE MORE TIME for other things that way - like cleaning. But who needs cleaning, honestly? Realization #726 - I am not a good housewife, plain and simple. I even get distracted doing that!

Really, if I want to be successful at this business thing, I need to go at my billable time full-force. Get the best from myself and the most out of every hour. With a 40-hour work week on top of it all - until the business floats - I NEED to work on eliminating distractions like the 100 blogs in my Google Reader. Yeeeeks! Choose the ones I know I keep with and leave it at that. Etc, etc, etc... minimizing and simplifying everywhere.

Enough of that boring topic, let's move on...
please say HELLO to 40D.

This photo was taken before I figured out how to white balance. Indeed, I learned something yesterday. Like below - yellow bathroom and yellow me - turned to NOT yellow bathroom and natural pasty white me. All I did to these photos was a little unsharp mask and auto levels where needed, I didn't run any other filters or fancy schmancy things.

Photo of my mama I mentioned in the last post ...

Gotta throw in one of dad too...

This is little feisty Amber, kitty of my brother and his girlfriend...
(don't let her cuteness fool you)

A chair with overgrown something at my parents' house...
(Dan took this one since he's obsessed a fan of nature shots)

This is the clock we rescued from LNT, still with its broken hands...
Any idea where to buy humongous clock hands?

My budding model, Merry - doesn't she look EMO? All she needs is a front chunk of hair to flip backwards and some jeans five sizes too small... That's for you Scott and Mel!

Miss Urpel - who has learned to talk since I last mentioned her. She has conversations with Dan on a daily basis... no kidding. But that's okay, because Merry flat out looks at me and says "mama." That's right. Oh, and this was taken before white balancing, but I liked it.

Moi... with a monster almost as big as my head.
Remind me to clean that bathroom mirror, will ya?

This is a sign near our place as you get on the highway. Honestly, can you really prevent animals on foot from getting on the highway? LOL. "Umm, excuse me Mr. Deer... did you GET the memo?" Or are people in Kentucky just smart enough to think they can giddy-up their horse to their destination?

And with that, it is now 7:30p and my time to go! Perhaps "writing blog posts within an hour" should be added to my list. Have a FAB Friday!

#51 - check! Addition to our family...

Nope, it's not another kitty baby (or any other kind of baby for that matter). It will be treated like the little monster it is, though. And it officially marks #51 off my 101 in 1001 list. I'll wait if you want to check out what #51 is ...

...go ahead and look...

...I have time, don't worry...

...I am getting anxious to tell you, though...

...figure it out yet?...

Okay, I'll give you some clues if you didn't want to look. ;) We've been looking all around for one of these the last couple weeks, knowing they weren't supposed to ship until mid-September. Some stores had them, though, so we tried our luck whenever we were out. After church on Sunday we checked out this store across the street, but were left disappointed. We also stopped at this place on the way to visit my parents - also with no luck because they had only received ONE last week and it sold quicker than it arrived. We had one more shot with this store up by my parents' house.

They had the sticker out in the display case, but no display - that's what we REALLY wanted - to see and hold one. We asked an employee if they had any in stock... and they had ONE. ONE! Dan asked the guy if we could open it since there wasn't a display, but he had to go find out first. I was confused and thought that the guy was going to find out if it was the display or if he could actually sell it, and ready to bring on the tears if we couldn't have it. (Other locations had told us that they couldn't sell the new models until they sold the previous models, crazy!) It was such a pretty box sitting in the cabinet, and I kept my eye on it until the sales guy came back. Not like it could've gone anywhere in a locked cabinet, you know, but whatever.

In the meantime, the second sales guy in the department said the box would have to be opened eventually, so he did it for us. Mmmm, one touch and it was love. I was downright giddy. There was no turning back now! We bought the new Canon 40D!

We got the kit that came with 28-135 mm lens because it was a GREAT deal... and we couldn't really take photos without a lens. We opened it up at my parents and played around with it all night. Photos of the cats, the car, grass, trees, you name it. KIDS in a candy store, that's what we were. I also got a really awesome shot of my mom by the kitchen window. I was so stoked about the natural light photos. I knew there was a big difference between the "big guys" and the little shooters, but holy cow. My mom would like to have my little point-and-shoot since we have the monster now (and I handed her my last p-a-s, but my brother keeps taking it from her). We're still going to keep the little one around for easy travel and such, though.

So that's about it on this topic since I'm off to dreamland, but I'll show some photos soon. Our kitties had an exclusive photo shoot last night and they're adorable. Until next time, I'm trying to read up on the manual so I know what all of the CRAZY FUNCTIONS DO!

Goodnight!

Oh, September...

It was about this time last year when Dan and I knew we were moving into our own apartment at the end of the month. Thinking we had PLENTY of time to pack and get things done... knowing that Dan was going to Mamelodi at the end of October and we had mucho stuff to do. Memories.

I'm happy the weather is still warm right now, even though I read everywhere about the anticipation of FALL and all that comes with it. Trying to still embrace the summer-ness before it's gone for good. I thought I was a goner when I wrote "Sauerkraut Festival" on my calendar for the second weekend in October. Mmm, the visions of sweaters, cabbage soup, yummy fall-scented tarts, you name it. BUT I brought myself back to the reality that I'm not ready for cold weather yet. I like my sandals and skirts. Darling Dan did surprise me with a little something last weekend, though... it's a Thanksgiving Precious Moments to start off our decorating for the season (whenever that may be). He's so sweeeeet.

101 in 1001 - On Labor Day we went to Linens 'n Things and made out like bandits. They were having a huge sale - and we had a coupon on top of that - so massive savings. We figured it was prime time to buy a new duvet set. We went with the same striped brand we have now, just in different colors so we can mix and match later. You might remember last year we bought a celery-colored duvet cover and shams with "camel" sheets... okay, light green and yellow. This time we went with slate for the duvet and shams (like the photo below), and brown for the sheets (not like the photo). They didn't have the matching curtains in stock since we're sporting the celery stripes and will need slate stripes, so those will have to be ordered. And I'd like to point you toward my 101 list, since buying the duvet and sheets is HALF of a goal completed... so close. Only 100 and 1/2 more goals to go!

Anyone else notice a trend with these colors (slate and brown) lately? I'm waiting until I clean and put out fall decorations to switch the bedding. Ahhh, LOVELY changes to come.

We also scored a cool find at LNT... a new-ish clock! I can't find a picture of it online, which is not surprising since it's probably an old item. I'll have to take a picture soon. I think it's a 24-inch round clock that's distressed and stained in style, and says Victoria Station, London England on it. IT SAYS VICTORIA! AND LONDON (Dan's fav place)! I said it's a "new-ish" clock because it's new to us, but the hands are broken off and it has some scratches in the paint (which lend to its distressed look). We were able to get it for 70% OFF. Mega steal for an awesome item that just needs a little lovin'.

Music - Have I told you about this guy yet? If you like piano players, you'll melt to hear his music on permanent repeat (and maybe just seeing his pretty photo).

Designs - In true Vicki fashion, even though our website hasn't completed phase one of design yet, I decided to redo it. I wanted more. Sure, the design we have now is kind of simple and cute, but I want simple with PUNCH. I'm really digging retro lately and I think the new logo jives with that. It's good when you grow out of your own designs and want more, and fun to have something new and challenging, but sucky when you have to see if your old stuff can fit into your new stuff. Bring it on!

Holiday grand plan - Anyone else doing this? It's now the second week and I'm still doing things for the first week. Well... the first week included making a gift list and christmas card list. I know our budget and recipients for the gifts, so the list is halfway made and just needs some filling as we come up with ideas. The card list is also halfway done with the help of our wedding guest list, but the question is whether we want to send out 90-some cards again or narrow down the list. I speak from experience when I say that I will NOT be printing out that many cards if they include a photo - they will go to a printer OUTSIDE my home.

This week's tasks don't apply to me as much, since they include taking a freezer inventory and figuring out what you'll be cooking, freezing pre-made meals, stocking up on ingredients, etc. I'll be making cookies and things, but will decide on those later.

That's it for tonight, folks. Boring, schmoring post. Time to find some ice cream and get moving!

101 in 1001...

Day ONE.

So it begins, my 1001 days of goal accomplishing goodness. BIG, small, fabulous, not so fabulous - all things that I've been meaning to achieve or would like to jump into. The list filled up fast! Some I know I can achieve easily and want to be motivated by crossing them off, others will obviously take longer and be more challenging. I didn't want to set myself up for failure - REALISTIC goals - I know my limits.

I also made a section of repeating things in hopes of creating great habits. Why only do something for two months? Well, because it's unrealistic to make myself do it the entire 1001 days, and if I can do it for two months I may want to continue it regardless of the list. WHAT A JOURNEY this will be. I ran the list through #75 because I wanted to leave some space for growing with new loves and goals in the next 2.75 years. Who knows, I may even fill it up by the end of September. And I reserve the right to add new goals in place of ones completed. ;)

Check out the home of the 101 in 100 list, mucho cool.

Let's get to THE LIST! I'm posting it here to read, and will post about the completion stories here, but will be keeping it up in my Google documents because it's way easier. I'll put a nice link in the sidebar, though.


BEGIN: September 01, 2007
END: May 28, 2010

REPEAT SIGHTINGS

1. Complete at least one scrapbook page a month
2. Bring out the old yoga mat - do once a week for two months
   
3. Blog once a week for two months
4. Hang out with Sheri once every three months
   
5. Hang out with Mandy once every three months
6. Hang out with Rob once every two months
7. Throw a party at our place once a year
8. Sort the mail upon walking in the door - do for two months
   
9. Participate in two church activities each year (not including Thanksgiving food drive)
   
10. Have date night with hubby every other week
11. Create a habit of only snoozing my alarm once in the morning
12. Create a habit of getting eight hours of sleep every night
13. Take a photo of myself everyday for a year
14. Join Dan twice a year in something he enjoys (hiking, skiing, etc.)

SINGLE SHOWINGS

15. Get shelf put up to display wedding things
16. Have select wedding photos printed for each set of parents - give in albums
17. Make guestbook - find and fill an album with wishing well cards and guest photos
18. Make our wedding photo album - find and fill an album after printing all wedding photos
19. Make our honeymoon photo album - ditto above
    
20. Finish making photo DVDs for families and attendants that want copies
21. Make video DVDs for families and attendants that want copies
22. Have select wedding photos printed to fill our wall frames
    
    
23. Visit with Bev and Jenny for dinner and their wedding gifts
24. Have family(ies) together for a photo shoot
25. Have my grandma fill out a question/answer book about her life
26. Put together a rough draft of my family tree
27. Make a cross-stitch of Dan's and my immediate family tree (like Sheri's)
28. Find a balance for visiting both sets of parents each month
29. Take Alex and Jared out for a day (nephews)
    
30. Take Megan, Brittany and Bo out for a day (nieces and nephew)
    
    
31. Have a picnic outside
32. Go out to have dinner and see a play
33. Go to The Beach Waterpark and reminisce my teenage employment
34. Go camping and don't forget the s'mores
35. Go to Disney World with my hubby
36. Go on a weekend road trip
37. Go on vacation to a place I've never been
38. Spoil myself with a day at the spa
39. Go to the WEBN Labor Day fireworks in 2008 and 2009 (time to catch up)
    
    
40. Read the rest of the Harry Potter series (#4, 5, 6, 7) and see available movies
41. Finish crocheting the purple and green blanket I started in college
42. Finish crocheting the winter scarf I started for myself
43. Setup the beginnings of my dream craft studio when we buy a house
44. Get my piano moved from my parents' house to our new house - have it tuned
45. Learn a new piano song
46. Create/stock up on cards for all occasions - with divided storage container
47. Organize photos and scrapping kits on my external hard drive
48. Finish backing up my laptop and synchronize it with my external
49. Help Rob with the vacation scrapbook he wants to create
50. Become better at drawing with my Wacom
51. Buy a digital SLR camera
52. Learn how to use Adobe Lightroom with the new camera photos
53. Take a digital photography class to learn the new camera (or take advantage of Sheri)
    
54. Create some personal art for our walls (digital or not)
    
55. Get out my acrylic paints, oil paints, and pencil crayons - use them!
    
56. Do something crafty with the 365 photos of myself (see repeat goal above)
    
57. Attend a craft industry trade show (or other art/craft event)
    
    
58. Get rye-designs.com to a launching/opening point
59. Put together a sample book of invitation paper weights, enclosures, etc.
60. Design eco-friendly business philosophy (digital invoices, minimal paper waste, etc.)
61. Read three books that will help with our business
    
62. Design marketing materials and strategy for distribution
    
    
63. Buy a house in Spring 2008
64. Try to meet other young married couples in our area - have them over
65. Meet someone in person that I know only online
66. Maintain my current weight (or better)
67. Decide on current career
68. Get new prescription glasses (or look into Lasik)
69. Go through boxes of old mail with Dan - sort and shred trash mail
70. Vote in a presidential election for the first time
71. Sort through the clothes in my closet - donate or sell things I don't wear
72. Sort through totes at parents' house to decide what I want to keep/sell
    
73. Minimize clutter - give everything a home
74. Get a new duvet and curtain set for our bedroom
75. Figure out where I want to volunteer bi-weekly at church
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