I just love this Word of the Week! I makes me giggle. I WILL be using this is a sentence as soon as I get the chance.
pettifog /PET-ee-fog/ , verb;
1. To bicker or quibble over trifles or unimportant matters
2. To carry on a petty, shifty or unethical law business
3. To practice chicanery of any sort
There are other several words in this definition that might show up on the next Word of the Week!
-Kaci
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Charli and Vegas
Charli and Vegas are a little worried about me because since getting my camera I have been chasing them around with it held up to my eye. It makes them just a tad nervous. I just wanted to share a few pictures of my fur children that I love so much.
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| My boy Vegas after a hard day's work. I can't wait to take pictures of him working cattle. |
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| My Charli girl doing what she does best, snuggling up on the couch. I love her expression. I love the way this camera and lens combo has a nice bokeh. |
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Monday, February 27, 2012
Winning
This past weekend my Dad came into town to rope at the World Series roping in Stephenville. Clint was roping there too so Blaze and me packed up a load of toys and parked ourselves in the stands for 2 days to root on our guys.
Friday night fared no luck or winnings for either my Dad or Clint. Saturday morning though I could tell they were both after something. I could see the fire in their eyes. They had both roped so good on Friday night but with team roping, sometimes it's not all about how good you rope. Its about how good your partner ropes, how good your horse works, how good the steer you draw is, if you're holding your tongue in the right position...among many other things. Most of the time it's just about luck.
Luck is a word our household has been without the past year in the roping pen. But you can't turn it around if you don't keep trying, right?
In the number 13 roping, my Dad was high call back. High call back means that you are the fastest team that has caught 3 out of 4 steers. The fourth round is called the short go. This particular roping took the fastest 20 teams for the short go to compete for 10 winning places. First place paid right at $14,000. They start with the 20th fastest team and work backwards to the first high call back. This does two things:
1. Makes is easier for the first high call back team because all of the other teams have already gone so the #1 team knows how fast they have to rope a steer to win big money.
2. Makes the first high call back team doubly nervous because they know that if they miss, they are out of money because there has been teams that have already claimed the 10 spots. If you miss, you go home sad with empty pockets. If you catch, you go home happy with a pocket full of money, but not before making a trip to the bar they ever so conveniently have at the arena for a celebratory drink.
Clint told me that he was down by the chutes with my Dad trying to calm him down before they called his name because he was so nervous. When I heard this I was confused at why he would be so nervous. My Dad made a career out of team roping in his early adult years and made 5 trips to Last Vegas for the National Finals in team roping. He's a veteran. No need for nerves and worries.
Clint said that my Dad told him that he woke up that morning determined to get one last win in for my Mimi, his mother, before she passes away. Clint told him to go out there and make this one count for Mimi. At that moment, all of his nervousness left and he set his mind he was going to win it.
Mimi is such an essential part of our family. She is a dynamic woman that I can only hope I am half the woman, mother, daughter, and wife she has been. She has taught me so many things including how to be strong, how to be the constant rock for your family, how to stand by your husband no matter what, to love your children with every fiber in your body and stop at nothing to ensure their happiness, to make your loved ones know you will always be there in good and bad times, and always give people the benefit of the doubt.
Dad (his friends call him Rusty or Buskin) nods his head for the gate to open, takes two swings and heads the steer, makes the prettiest turn for his partner to rope the feet and his partner Phil Lyon drops his rope and gets both feet. It's one of the prettiest runs I've seen, not that I'm partial or anything. They had to be an 8.86 to get first. Their time was a 7 flat.
As soon as Phil dallied, both guys faced, and the flag went down, I let out a scream that filled the whole arena. Everyone in our family are big cheerleaders and we aren't afraid to express ourselves, that's for sure.
After the announcer let us know they clenched the win with his deep and velvety announcer voice, Dad immediately got off his horse and tears welled up in his eyes. Blaze and me met him down in the arena and gave him a tight victory hug as we both started letting the tears fall. He was so happy that he could make Mimi proud one last time. I was just proud that I came from such a person.
Here are a few pictures from this weekend. These were taken with my new camera. I have so much to learn but I am happy with my start. I decided not to do any editing to these pictures because I like the rawness of them. Enjoy!
Love,
Kaci
Friday night fared no luck or winnings for either my Dad or Clint. Saturday morning though I could tell they were both after something. I could see the fire in their eyes. They had both roped so good on Friday night but with team roping, sometimes it's not all about how good you rope. Its about how good your partner ropes, how good your horse works, how good the steer you draw is, if you're holding your tongue in the right position...among many other things. Most of the time it's just about luck.
Luck is a word our household has been without the past year in the roping pen. But you can't turn it around if you don't keep trying, right?
In the number 13 roping, my Dad was high call back. High call back means that you are the fastest team that has caught 3 out of 4 steers. The fourth round is called the short go. This particular roping took the fastest 20 teams for the short go to compete for 10 winning places. First place paid right at $14,000. They start with the 20th fastest team and work backwards to the first high call back. This does two things:
1. Makes is easier for the first high call back team because all of the other teams have already gone so the #1 team knows how fast they have to rope a steer to win big money.
2. Makes the first high call back team doubly nervous because they know that if they miss, they are out of money because there has been teams that have already claimed the 10 spots. If you miss, you go home sad with empty pockets. If you catch, you go home happy with a pocket full of money, but not before making a trip to the bar they ever so conveniently have at the arena for a celebratory drink.
Clint told me that he was down by the chutes with my Dad trying to calm him down before they called his name because he was so nervous. When I heard this I was confused at why he would be so nervous. My Dad made a career out of team roping in his early adult years and made 5 trips to Last Vegas for the National Finals in team roping. He's a veteran. No need for nerves and worries.
Clint said that my Dad told him that he woke up that morning determined to get one last win in for my Mimi, his mother, before she passes away. Clint told him to go out there and make this one count for Mimi. At that moment, all of his nervousness left and he set his mind he was going to win it.
Mimi is such an essential part of our family. She is a dynamic woman that I can only hope I am half the woman, mother, daughter, and wife she has been. She has taught me so many things including how to be strong, how to be the constant rock for your family, how to stand by your husband no matter what, to love your children with every fiber in your body and stop at nothing to ensure their happiness, to make your loved ones know you will always be there in good and bad times, and always give people the benefit of the doubt.
Dad (his friends call him Rusty or Buskin) nods his head for the gate to open, takes two swings and heads the steer, makes the prettiest turn for his partner to rope the feet and his partner Phil Lyon drops his rope and gets both feet. It's one of the prettiest runs I've seen, not that I'm partial or anything. They had to be an 8.86 to get first. Their time was a 7 flat.
As soon as Phil dallied, both guys faced, and the flag went down, I let out a scream that filled the whole arena. Everyone in our family are big cheerleaders and we aren't afraid to express ourselves, that's for sure.
After the announcer let us know they clenched the win with his deep and velvety announcer voice, Dad immediately got off his horse and tears welled up in his eyes. Blaze and me met him down in the arena and gave him a tight victory hug as we both started letting the tears fall. He was so happy that he could make Mimi proud one last time. I was just proud that I came from such a person.
Here are a few pictures from this weekend. These were taken with my new camera. I have so much to learn but I am happy with my start. I decided not to do any editing to these pictures because I like the rawness of them. Enjoy!
Love,
Kaci
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| My sweet Blaze at the beginning of the day. |
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| This is what happens with no nap and constant playing with other little kids. |
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| I just love this one. Had to throw it in the mix. |
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| Buskin getting a pep talk from Blaze. |
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| Buskin loves his Blaze. |
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| My action shots need work. |
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| The winners. |
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| Dad getting congratulations from everyone. |
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| Special moment. |
Friday, February 24, 2012
I'm Baaaacccckkk!
I apologize for the blog hiatus. There are several reasons why I have temporarily abandoned my blog.
1. I have been waiting, waiting, and waiting ever so patiently to buy myself a DSLR so I can give you better pictures than what I have been delivering in the past. I wasn't happy not one bit with the quality of them so I am holding out on some of my blog posts to bring you better pictures.
I have finally made the plunge! I bought myself a camera! YAY! Hip Hip Hooray! I didn't realize how stressful the decision was going to be to do so. I am quite the impulsive person and when I see something I want I usually just go after it, so to research the camera I wanted so diligently, bother other photographers to death with questions until they probably wanted to tell me to go fly a kite, keep up with competitive prices with different retail avenues, and researching the lenses I wanted is quite uncharacteristic of me.
I really am surprised with myself by this behavior. I tend to go out and buy something and learn the hard way on what I should have done. I was really stressed out about this because I wanted to make the best decision for myself and my beginner hobby photographer skills.
Which brand should I get? Which model should I get? What can I afford? If I get this camera, will I outgrow the usage of it in just a couple months and wish I went with the next model up? What lenses do I absolutely need first? What accesories are a must?
See! I was driving myself crazy! But I'm happy that I did because I am happy with my decision now... I think. Should I have gotten the next model up? No! I am happy with my decision! I really am freaking myself out about this. This is coming from a girl that just breezes through life with almost no worries.
So anyways, I will share with you my camera adventure in a later post.
2. I wrote a blog post that included a quote from a Buddhist that comforted me in a time of pain. It seemed to speak to me and give me the words that I needed to hear. To me, it could have been written by a kindergartener and I would have still found comfort in those words. Just because the words came from a different religion doesn't mean I should turn my head away from them. I guess my boundaries of people, things, and thoughts are more blurred than others. I don't pay much attention to boundaries and segregation.
When I write my blog, I write it as though I am talking to a friend. I don't hold anything back, I'm honest, and I don't try to shrink myself down to what would be popular and get my blog more followers. I want this blog to just grow organically because in all honesty, for me, it's just an outlet.
I was surprised by some of the comments in passing that I got from people that read that post. I had people trying to pretty much "save" me from the Buddhist religion and show me the error in my ways, that I should choose Chrisitianity. I had people comment that they loved the quote and that is was so true, but they weren't going to reveal the source because it was Buddhist.
I know that I knew better to write about something as sensitive as religion, but I wrote was true to me at the time. I felt like I needed to defend myself and email people back explaining why I wrote that but I never could bring myself to press the send button. It almost hurt my feelings that people were reacting this way, but I get that my words were misunderstood. My relationship with God is just fine, by the way. Reading a book on Buddhism does not make me a pagan.
I thought long, hard and soaked everything in from that experience. Should I filter my blog to make it more reader friendly? Should I have not been so vulnerable and write what I did? Do I need to explain myself?
All I can say is that I will not change who am I and what I write. I do understand that people will not always agree with what I have to say but I am setting myself up for that when I type the words out and send it out to cyber space. I can take it. I'm a big girl.
I don't feel the need to explain myself, apologize, or debate my reasoning. What I do feel is that the people that know me, understand me and my love and appreciation for everything in this world, know that I mean no malace or hurt in my expression of this love. I love culture. I love understanding things. I love digging to the roots of everything. I love knowledge. I wish I could be a full time student and just learn my days away.
This expereience somewhat scared me away from my blog for a little bit but I will let you know that I am here to stay. I will continue writing what I have to offer this blog and I won't stop until I'm ready to stop.
On that note, upcoming blogs will cover my first year of gardening, Blaze's new goldfish tank that I have taken on as another obsession of mine, great photos, and more exciting things.
3. I've just been too darn busy!
Love all of you that read the blog. Whether you like it, love it, or hate it... Thank you!
-Kaci
1. I have been waiting, waiting, and waiting ever so patiently to buy myself a DSLR so I can give you better pictures than what I have been delivering in the past. I wasn't happy not one bit with the quality of them so I am holding out on some of my blog posts to bring you better pictures.
I have finally made the plunge! I bought myself a camera! YAY! Hip Hip Hooray! I didn't realize how stressful the decision was going to be to do so. I am quite the impulsive person and when I see something I want I usually just go after it, so to research the camera I wanted so diligently, bother other photographers to death with questions until they probably wanted to tell me to go fly a kite, keep up with competitive prices with different retail avenues, and researching the lenses I wanted is quite uncharacteristic of me.
I really am surprised with myself by this behavior. I tend to go out and buy something and learn the hard way on what I should have done. I was really stressed out about this because I wanted to make the best decision for myself and my beginner hobby photographer skills.
Which brand should I get? Which model should I get? What can I afford? If I get this camera, will I outgrow the usage of it in just a couple months and wish I went with the next model up? What lenses do I absolutely need first? What accesories are a must?
See! I was driving myself crazy! But I'm happy that I did because I am happy with my decision now... I think. Should I have gotten the next model up? No! I am happy with my decision! I really am freaking myself out about this. This is coming from a girl that just breezes through life with almost no worries.
So anyways, I will share with you my camera adventure in a later post.
2. I wrote a blog post that included a quote from a Buddhist that comforted me in a time of pain. It seemed to speak to me and give me the words that I needed to hear. To me, it could have been written by a kindergartener and I would have still found comfort in those words. Just because the words came from a different religion doesn't mean I should turn my head away from them. I guess my boundaries of people, things, and thoughts are more blurred than others. I don't pay much attention to boundaries and segregation.
When I write my blog, I write it as though I am talking to a friend. I don't hold anything back, I'm honest, and I don't try to shrink myself down to what would be popular and get my blog more followers. I want this blog to just grow organically because in all honesty, for me, it's just an outlet.
I was surprised by some of the comments in passing that I got from people that read that post. I had people trying to pretty much "save" me from the Buddhist religion and show me the error in my ways, that I should choose Chrisitianity. I had people comment that they loved the quote and that is was so true, but they weren't going to reveal the source because it was Buddhist.
I know that I knew better to write about something as sensitive as religion, but I wrote was true to me at the time. I felt like I needed to defend myself and email people back explaining why I wrote that but I never could bring myself to press the send button. It almost hurt my feelings that people were reacting this way, but I get that my words were misunderstood. My relationship with God is just fine, by the way. Reading a book on Buddhism does not make me a pagan.
I thought long, hard and soaked everything in from that experience. Should I filter my blog to make it more reader friendly? Should I have not been so vulnerable and write what I did? Do I need to explain myself?
All I can say is that I will not change who am I and what I write. I do understand that people will not always agree with what I have to say but I am setting myself up for that when I type the words out and send it out to cyber space. I can take it. I'm a big girl.
I don't feel the need to explain myself, apologize, or debate my reasoning. What I do feel is that the people that know me, understand me and my love and appreciation for everything in this world, know that I mean no malace or hurt in my expression of this love. I love culture. I love understanding things. I love digging to the roots of everything. I love knowledge. I wish I could be a full time student and just learn my days away.
This expereience somewhat scared me away from my blog for a little bit but I will let you know that I am here to stay. I will continue writing what I have to offer this blog and I won't stop until I'm ready to stop.
On that note, upcoming blogs will cover my first year of gardening, Blaze's new goldfish tank that I have taken on as another obsession of mine, great photos, and more exciting things.
3. I've just been too darn busy!
Love all of you that read the blog. Whether you like it, love it, or hate it... Thank you!
-Kaci
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Word of the Week Wednesday: Screed
If this is your one chance to learn something new today, I hope you didn't already know what this word meant because I sure as heck didn't. Here's a good one to help you along on your "Words With Friends" game.
screed\ skreed \ , noun, verb;
1. A long discourse or essay, especially a diatribe.
2. An informal letter, account, or other piece of writing.
3. Building Trades. A. A strip of plaster or wood applied to a surface to be plastered to serve as a guide for making a true surface. B. A wooden strip serving as a guide for making a true level surface on a concrete pavement or the like. C. A board or metal strip dragged across a freshly poured concrete slab to give it its proper level.
4. British Dialect. A fragment or shred, as of cloth.
5. Scot. A. A tear or rip, especially in cloth. B. A drinking bout. verb:
1. Scot. To tear, rip, or shred, as cloth.
Quotes:
By the time this screed gets to you the drafts may have come, but as I've heard nothing yet and been writing for two months now, you'd better have a look anyway. Will you please?
-- Ernest Hemingway, Selected Letters
I bet I could turn out a rattling good screed. Why, last year I almost got the prize. I sent in fearfully hot stuff.
-- P. G. Wodehouse, The Prefect's Uncle
Origin:
Screed is related to the Old English word for shred. Its alternate sense of a long speech was first recorded in 1789 and may be related to the sense of the word meaning a long lists of names.
Did you enjoy expanding your vocabulary today, kids? I did!
-Kaci
screed\ skreed \ , noun, verb;
1. A long discourse or essay, especially a diatribe.
2. An informal letter, account, or other piece of writing.
3. Building Trades. A. A strip of plaster or wood applied to a surface to be plastered to serve as a guide for making a true surface. B. A wooden strip serving as a guide for making a true level surface on a concrete pavement or the like. C. A board or metal strip dragged across a freshly poured concrete slab to give it its proper level.
4. British Dialect. A fragment or shred, as of cloth.
5. Scot. A. A tear or rip, especially in cloth. B. A drinking bout. verb:
1. Scot. To tear, rip, or shred, as cloth.
Quotes:
By the time this screed gets to you the drafts may have come, but as I've heard nothing yet and been writing for two months now, you'd better have a look anyway. Will you please?
-- Ernest Hemingway, Selected Letters
I bet I could turn out a rattling good screed. Why, last year I almost got the prize. I sent in fearfully hot stuff.
-- P. G. Wodehouse, The Prefect's Uncle
Origin:
Screed is related to the Old English word for shred. Its alternate sense of a long speech was first recorded in 1789 and may be related to the sense of the word meaning a long lists of names.
Did you enjoy expanding your vocabulary today, kids? I did!
-Kaci
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Word of The Week Wednesday: "Lackadaisical"
In the series of books that I have been reading going on for about 5 years now, The Sookie Stackhouse novels, Sookie always references her "Word of the Day" calendar that sits by her phone in her kitchen. She tries to use it in the narrartive of her life. It is sometimes comical of the word that is on the calendar because it seems to parallel with the adventurous activities going on in her life at the moment.
To break it on down, Sookie is a telepath. She has heard everyone's thoughts like a radio unable to find a station in her head all her life. She lives in a small town in Louisiana. Vampires have declared themselves as true beings and are attempting to contribute to society. She cannot "hear" the vampires thoughts which is unbelievably soothing to her. Sookie is in love with a vampire. She is a friend of the local werewolf pack in Shreveport. She is part fairy but she doesn't find this out until she starts hob nobbing with the vampires after they "come out of the coffin". She is a strong girl and her strength is constantly tested by her aquaintances with the supernatural world. She is learning to use her "disability" as something positive.
I absolutely love this series. For me to follow a series and read each book as it comes out religiouslly is saying something for my ADD brain. If this sounds a little familiar to you, they have made this into a HBO series called "True Blood". Personally, the t.v. show is good but the books blow it out of the water.
So in honor of Sookie, I am going to start having a "Word of the Week" post to enhance our vocabulary and stretch our brains a tad. This is possible because of my friends at allwords.com . I probably shouldn't use the words "my friends" because they have no idea who me or my blog is or that we even exist, but we are all friends here right?
This week's word is:
Lackadaisical
Definition--Lackadaisical- adj. lacking energy; listless; lazy.
Discussion-- Lackadaisical is one of my favorite words of all time. It has an interesting origin, stemming from the English interjection alas! or alack! It is an alteration of the phrase alack-the-day. It perhaps developed its current meaning through the influence of the word lax, meaning loose.
It not necessarily a bad thing to be lackadaisical, provided that you are doing so at appropriate times. For instance, perhaps it is a Sunday afternoon and all you want to do is sit around and watch golf on television. That's perfectly acceptable. However, there are certain places that you must not become lackadaisical, such as when you are at work. I have not met a boss yet that appreciated listless employees!
Etymology--Lackadaisical- See above for connection to lax, which means loose or slack. Here you can see the connection between the word lackadaisical and the popular slang term "slacker."
As I type all of this, I am wondering if someone is trying to tell me something here? Is this in any way paralleling with MY life?... Nah!
Enjoy your Word of the Week my little bloggies!
Love,
Kaci
To break it on down, Sookie is a telepath. She has heard everyone's thoughts like a radio unable to find a station in her head all her life. She lives in a small town in Louisiana. Vampires have declared themselves as true beings and are attempting to contribute to society. She cannot "hear" the vampires thoughts which is unbelievably soothing to her. Sookie is in love with a vampire. She is a friend of the local werewolf pack in Shreveport. She is part fairy but she doesn't find this out until she starts hob nobbing with the vampires after they "come out of the coffin". She is a strong girl and her strength is constantly tested by her aquaintances with the supernatural world. She is learning to use her "disability" as something positive.
I absolutely love this series. For me to follow a series and read each book as it comes out religiouslly is saying something for my ADD brain. If this sounds a little familiar to you, they have made this into a HBO series called "True Blood". Personally, the t.v. show is good but the books blow it out of the water.
So in honor of Sookie, I am going to start having a "Word of the Week" post to enhance our vocabulary and stretch our brains a tad. This is possible because of my friends at allwords.com . I probably shouldn't use the words "my friends" because they have no idea who me or my blog is or that we even exist, but we are all friends here right?
This week's word is:
Lackadaisical
Definition--Lackadaisical- adj. lacking energy; listless; lazy.
Discussion-- Lackadaisical is one of my favorite words of all time. It has an interesting origin, stemming from the English interjection alas! or alack! It is an alteration of the phrase alack-the-day. It perhaps developed its current meaning through the influence of the word lax, meaning loose.
It not necessarily a bad thing to be lackadaisical, provided that you are doing so at appropriate times. For instance, perhaps it is a Sunday afternoon and all you want to do is sit around and watch golf on television. That's perfectly acceptable. However, there are certain places that you must not become lackadaisical, such as when you are at work. I have not met a boss yet that appreciated listless employees!
Etymology--Lackadaisical- See above for connection to lax, which means loose or slack. Here you can see the connection between the word lackadaisical and the popular slang term "slacker."
As I type all of this, I am wondering if someone is trying to tell me something here? Is this in any way paralleling with MY life?... Nah!
Enjoy your Word of the Week my little bloggies!
Love,
Kaci
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Blog Share Sunday: The Pinterest Project
So how many of you hopped on the Pinterest train? I swear, it is like crack to the crafter. You can find Pinterest here if you haven't already gotten addicted.
Pinterest is an amazing website where people "pin" their favorite recipes, DIY crafts, home design ideas, party planning ideas, cleaning tips, clothing ideas, jewelry ideas.... pretty much everything cool. You create a profile and you can "pin" your favorites to your profile.
In the short few months that I have beenaddicted sharing the fun of Pinterest, I have about 96,254 pins and about 658,154,452 likes on things that I want to do someday. I seriously cannot keep up with all the coolness.
This weeks Blog Share is for The Pinterest Project. These two gals create and share things that they have found on Pinterest. Their tag line on their website is, "a pin a day keeps the crazy away...". Preach on sisters!
Go check their website out. It is a charming website with the best of Pinterest! You won't be disappointed.
Love,
Kaci
Pinterest is an amazing website where people "pin" their favorite recipes, DIY crafts, home design ideas, party planning ideas, cleaning tips, clothing ideas, jewelry ideas.... pretty much everything cool. You create a profile and you can "pin" your favorites to your profile.
In the short few months that I have been
This weeks Blog Share is for The Pinterest Project. These two gals create and share things that they have found on Pinterest. Their tag line on their website is, "a pin a day keeps the crazy away...". Preach on sisters!
Go check their website out. It is a charming website with the best of Pinterest! You won't be disappointed.
Love,
Kaci
Friday, February 10, 2012
Picasa! Picasa! Oh My Gosha!
I honestly did not realize how behind the technology times I am until I started blogging and reading others' blogs. I thought that you had to purchase very expensive photo editing software to touch up your picture a tad or write words on your picture. I thought that those people with cool backgrounds and super cool fonts on there blog had super duper high-tech graphic designing software. Boy, am I WRONG!!!
My first little jewel of a discovery is "Picasa". Picasa is powered by Google and are you ready for the best part???? I'm so excited about this part! ............IT.......IS.......FREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
I love that it is free because:
1. I will admit that I am cheap.
2. How do I know what kind of features I want in a photo editing software if I don't test the waters a bit?
3. I like making lists. That has nothing to do with this post, but I thought I would share.
Picasa is so super easy a cave man can do it. (I just had the vision of the Geico cave man in a casual suit getting mad at me for saying that. Marketing. It's powerful.) You can enhance, crop, put text on your pictures with just a few clicks. You can find Picasa here. Download it to your computer and start playing until your little heart can't take it anymore!
For example, here is what a few clicks did for one of my favorite pictures. I like this picture because:
1.It has my dear Zipper in the background. I love you Zipper!! I'm still looking for you, buddy!
2. I didn't do this on purpose but I'm glad it happened, the focus is on the reeds of grass and Zipper is blurry in the background. I'm an amateur, I know, but it turned out to be a pretty cool picture I think.
3. I like making lists. Oh yeah, we have established that.
This photo is another one that's in my fave 5. It's got my 2 favorite men in it. This was taken when Blaze was a week old and we visited Daddy for Blaze's first horseback ride.
Before...
Again, I love everything about this photo but the colors just aren't doing it justice.
And then BAM! Love the crispiness of the colors. I love the beautiful blue sky. I love Clint's blue shirt and his blue eyes. Blue is my favorite color and he's one of the reasons why. I love that Blaze looks so small in his Daddy's arms. I added a little text to demonstrate your possibilties.
My first little jewel of a discovery is "Picasa". Picasa is powered by Google and are you ready for the best part???? I'm so excited about this part! ............IT.......IS.......FREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
I love that it is free because:
1. I will admit that I am cheap.
2. How do I know what kind of features I want in a photo editing software if I don't test the waters a bit?
3. I like making lists. That has nothing to do with this post, but I thought I would share.
Picasa is so super easy a cave man can do it. (I just had the vision of the Geico cave man in a casual suit getting mad at me for saying that. Marketing. It's powerful.) You can enhance, crop, put text on your pictures with just a few clicks. You can find Picasa here. Download it to your computer and start playing until your little heart can't take it anymore!
For example, here is what a few clicks did for one of my favorite pictures. I like this picture because:
1.It has my dear Zipper in the background. I love you Zipper!! I'm still looking for you, buddy!
2. I didn't do this on purpose but I'm glad it happened, the focus is on the reeds of grass and Zipper is blurry in the background. I'm an amateur, I know, but it turned out to be a pretty cool picture I think.
3. I like making lists. Oh yeah, we have established that.
This is the before...
I like the overall composition of this picture but it is a little dull.
Here is the after...
Now, that's better! The colors are sharper, the shadows on the reeds of grass are more contrast. I like it, I love it, I want some mo' of it!
This photo is another one that's in my fave 5. It's got my 2 favorite men in it. This was taken when Blaze was a week old and we visited Daddy for Blaze's first horseback ride.
Before...
Again, I love everything about this photo but the colors just aren't doing it justice.
I have dug up several more easy peasy technology tips like these and I will be sharing them with you all soon as well. Get excited people!!
"... But I still love technology, but not as much as you, you see." Thanks to me and Kip from Napolean Dynamite, you're going to be singing that song all day long now! Hehe!
Love,
Kaci
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Blog Share Sunday: Photo Tips and Sips
As a follow up to last week's Blog Share of Ramblings and Photography great blog of photography techniques, tips, and whatnot, I bring you Photo Tips and Sips. This particular post is probably the best guide that I have found on beginning photography, what lenses you should invest in, and what all the technical mumbo jumbo means. If you are interested in investing your own camera and taking on the adventure of photography, this blog post is a must.
Out of all the books that I have checked out in the library and tips from other photographers that I have gathered up, I consider this to be the biggest wealth of knowledge on beginning photography in the history of mankind!!! Well in the history of me, I guess would be a more believable statement.
Thank you Photo Tips and Sips for compiling and bringing this great blog post together for us interested in photography but don't know how to navigate in all the scientific terms! You rock!
Go check her blog out.... now! Run! Hurry! Have you looked at it yet? What are you waiting for?
http://www.phototipsandsips.blogspot.com/
Enjoy my lovlies!
-Kaci
Out of all the books that I have checked out in the library and tips from other photographers that I have gathered up, I consider this to be the biggest wealth of knowledge on beginning photography in the history of mankind!!! Well in the history of me, I guess would be a more believable statement.
Thank you Photo Tips and Sips for compiling and bringing this great blog post together for us interested in photography but don't know how to navigate in all the scientific terms! You rock!
Go check her blog out.... now! Run! Hurry! Have you looked at it yet? What are you waiting for?
http://www.phototipsandsips.blogspot.com/
Enjoy my lovlies!
-Kaci
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Giveaway: 2 Southern Living Magazines
I really like the Southern Living Magazines.
They always have great recipes and I usually have to wipe the drool off of the pages after seeing all the sumptious dishes. Not really but I do drool over them in my mind.
I want to do another giveaway because the blog has had over 2,000 pageviews in just the few short months that I've been doing this and I want to thank each and every one of you that follow, support, and share the blog. This has been a great outlet for me and I can't wait to see what it evolves into. I hope you are pickin' up what I'm puttin' down!
On that note, I want all of you to know that I am looking for a few of you out there to guest blog on this one. I want this to be a community effort. I think that it can only get better with your input and different perspective. The subject matter is totally your choice, there are no guidelines, just write what you love. Email me at kacijohnson@live.com and shoot me your ideas and we will see where it takes us.
Back to the giveaway... I am giving away January and February's issue of Southern Living... just because.
Here are the rules:
Comment below with your answer to this question:
"What is your favorite movie and why?"
The contest will start on Wednesday February 1st, 2012 and end on Sunday February 5th, 2012 at noon. Your comment is your entry. I will choose a winner at random with my new friend, random number generator. This is not a journalism contest, it's just for fun!
Good luck!
-Kaci
p.s. This giveaway is sponsored by me. Southern Living has no idea who I am. It is not a paid advertisement. I just like their magazine. Over and out.
They always have great recipes and I usually have to wipe the drool off of the pages after seeing all the sumptious dishes. Not really but I do drool over them in my mind.
I want to do another giveaway because the blog has had over 2,000 pageviews in just the few short months that I've been doing this and I want to thank each and every one of you that follow, support, and share the blog. This has been a great outlet for me and I can't wait to see what it evolves into. I hope you are pickin' up what I'm puttin' down!
On that note, I want all of you to know that I am looking for a few of you out there to guest blog on this one. I want this to be a community effort. I think that it can only get better with your input and different perspective. The subject matter is totally your choice, there are no guidelines, just write what you love. Email me at kacijohnson@live.com and shoot me your ideas and we will see where it takes us.
Back to the giveaway... I am giving away January and February's issue of Southern Living... just because.
Here are the rules:
Comment below with your answer to this question:
"What is your favorite movie and why?"
The contest will start on Wednesday February 1st, 2012 and end on Sunday February 5th, 2012 at noon. Your comment is your entry. I will choose a winner at random with my new friend, random number generator. This is not a journalism contest, it's just for fun!
Good luck!
-Kaci
p.s. This giveaway is sponsored by me. Southern Living has no idea who I am. It is not a paid advertisement. I just like their magazine. Over and out.
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