Sophy in the Splash Pad

We had a little photo "mini-session" with Ryan. These were a couple of my favorites and it's how we found out that Sophy loves herself some splash padding! It's also how I found out that the water features in the park are called Splash Pads. Who knew?

 

Canvas Pop

This might be my new favorite item in the house. I took the pic as her regular pre-school pic. That night I was playing around doing some afterlighting on it then posted it on Instagram. I kind of loved it immediately. Shortly after I got an email that Canvas Pop had reclaimed wood frames. It was meant to be.

For a pretty hefty price (~$100), I ordered it. Hoping it would look good. I love, love, love it. This pic is just so perfect for her and a great color. The wood frame is fantastic. They've got a 30% sale right now and I may have done some Christmas purchasing. I'm not sure how I occupied my time pre-baby, iPhone/iPad mini and apps.

Anyway, I was not in any way paid or coerced to pimp out Canvas Pop, Instagram, Afterlight. Not that I wouldn't be willing, just no offers forthcoming. It's early in the picture season and I really am going to need to pace myself. That toddler is just too cute!

Photoshop Apps

I'm trying to make use of the fancy DSLR and have been incredibly inspired by the blogger-nets (I kind of hate the term blogosphere. I don't know why). Some major favorites are Under the Sycamore, Meg's Whatever blog  which totally captures kids and Kansas for me. It reminds me of my summers when I was growing up. On the flip side, the city pics on Sweet Fine Day are a different kind of greatness. Urban playgrounds and city kids are fun to see. Finally, the food porn, plus kid, plus island pics and other awesomeness of Gluten Free Girl's blog gets me through the crazy Texas heat. Day dreaming of picnics on an island in the Pacific Northwest... sigh. BUT, I did see the sign for the Texas State Fair so fall really IS almost here!

This is a tiny subset of the blogs I read with lots gorgeous photos and decorating/beauty shots. However, these stand out for me as they capture everyday moments. Making them magical, particularly with kids. Sophy is growing at a crazy rate and she's at school while we're at work so I have less of an opportunity to see her everyday interactions with world. I want to have a record of this time when she's exploring, learning and finds everything pretty nifty. This is what I will hold on to when she's slamming her door and screaming "I hate you". She can even watch me weep over the pics after I remove her door for slamming it but that's an entirely different thing. Let's not dwell. Not ready, not ready!

I've waxed poetic~ish about my love of apps on my phone and really, really wanted something similar for Photoshop. Turns out, there kind of is! I read about Totally Rad Lab on Ashley's blog but couldn't quite figure it out but found they had a free trial so I started playing with it. Now I'm hooked. It's a lot more of a commitment than my $1.99 phone apps but so far I think it's worth it. I hope I'm not spoiling anything for the family, but photo stuff is my new gift go to so I feel like I can justify the cost. Kinda. I hope my husband doesn't read this. :O

So here is an example of a "before and after" with Totally Rad.

Before

After

I cropped the poop out of it so you can get closer to the tiny toddler in the photo. I know there's a lot going on but I wanted to really get that feeling from the splash park. There may have been a little fixation on the rainbows. I don't want to talk about that either. Rainbows rule! Anyway, the super processed feel you see on phone apps is a favorite but this isn't a look for everyone. They have a lot of options for some subtle adjustments. I may have mentioned I'm not much of a "less is more" kind of girl.

The next set are from Pioneer Woman. I kind of have a love/hate relationship with PW in that I used to love her but after she turned into a giant marketing brand the "simple prairie girl" vibe was kind of lost. I do love her photos though. Recipes... eh.

Before

Ok, so this one has the tiny toddler making a break for it with Daddy's shadow at the bottom of the pic. I kind of love it which is why I end up keeping all of my photos in an "originals" folder taking up huge amounts of space. I'll figure out something with picture hoarding after I conquer my actual "stuff" hoarding. Anyway, back to the photo. And then it became...

After

This. I did want to crop it a little tighter though to get more of Sophy in the pic again. I also really modified the contrast and did a major sepia moment. I wish I would have rotated the image, you know, so that it's straight (OY!) but I didn't. I think on the whole most wouldn't find it a successful photo but I kind of love it. She's just on the edge of exploring on her own. Ready to break free and find adventure. That's a moment I want to have forever.

Sunday Splash Padding

It's been a super busy weekend but we took some time this morning for a doughnut and park run. We had a mini-session with Ryan last weekend and Sophy loved the fountains. Today was more of the same!

Diptic App

I'm still playing with my iPhone/iPad photos and trying out some new apps. I'm a bit of a photo app hoarder. Sigh. A lot of the experiments end up on Instagram. Usually late at night. You know, to hide the app hoarding via publicly posting on the intranet. This was not a well thought out plan.

These were made with the Diptic App which I'm still kind of meh about. I think it's fun and I do enjoy looking at all of the Sophy faces but I don't see this taking over for some of my standby's. Mostly, I don't see myself taking a ton of photos that lend themselves to grouping this way although I'm willing to do some foodie samplings to try it. Might be an interesting was to gather some travel shots for a book... well hell, I may be talking myself into finding more uses for it now! Oy.

I have 4 more days to finish my SnapShops class. I really hope I make it.

Five on Friday

It's Five on Friday time again link up at a.liz ... I kind of skipped the last couple week for reasons unknown.

5. We're doing a quick summer mini-session with Ryan on Sunday so I'm obsessing over outfits. Still have no idea what's "cute" but can get "wet". Those are sort of mutual exclusive for me. Oy. My true obsession about this is mpix. I'm seriously addicted to their print services. They make all my pics look great and I order nearly everything in the lustre finish for this fantastic metallicy finish. LOVE. I also use their app for pics on my phone and it's amazing.
Note: they did not in anyway ask me to pimp out there services, I just have to share my new photo printing addiction. If they want to give me benefits for pimping there goodies I wouldn't say no!

4. iPhone photography. I just got my DSLR fixed and took it on our mini-trip. I may have posted 1.2 million photos online. Not sure if you saw. Here or here. But, I don't normally carry the big fancy camera around but I always have my phone or iPad mini so I signed up for a class specific to the phone. It's SnapShops which is awesome. It has lots of great information and now I'm a little concerned I won't get through it all in the next week. EEK!

3. Afterlight. I have a bunch of phone photo apps that I rotate through but this is my latest favorite. I can size images to "square" then make all the edits and add layers with sizing perfect for Instagram. Love Instagram. I could add that as #2 but I'll just do a combine gushing here.

2. Loving these art posters from Loose Petals on Etsy. Since I work in the travel industry now, these seem like perfect additions to the office. I've already a purchased a Dallas print and am now undecided as to my next favorite. They're all fantastic!

1. Totally random baby panda! Sophy has started saying "bear" which sounds a lot more like "beer" than "bear". It's the best thing ever. We call her Sophy Bear or just "bear" so it's extra cute. I drove her to school every morning and we practice saying "Mommy", "Daddy", etc. When we get to Sophy she just giggles. Sigh. Heart melts. I hope to catch up on all of my bear snuggles this weekend!

Guthrie, Oklahoma

Sophy's school was closed on Thursday and Friday of last week in preparation for school starting this week. Fall will be here soon!!!... digressing. And serious wishful thinking. Anyway, Rolland took the week off so on Thurs night, after work, we packed up and headed for Oklahoma. This could be considered an odd choice but it's halfway between us and our family (Kansas and Missouri). For this test run we met my parents who came down early Friday morning. It was a super short drive and just within Sophy tolerance limits.

Said little cutie, who appropriately looks a little bossy here, was our tour guide running wild through downtown Guthrie, Oklahoma.We picked Guthrie since my Mom had been there several years ago and there were lots of antique stores for browsing. The downtown/square area is adorable with tons of shops and great walking areas. It was really pretty. Kind of a Midwestern version of Stars Hollow.

This garden was on the corner and a little weedy but a terrific spot for some photos. Very few of which turned out. Ugh. It's a great little area to take a moment, journal, rest, whatever you need. I think McKinney needs one on our square.

Love these details on the buildings.

Relatively nice weather. It was crazy humid making the high 80's temperature seem much warmer. Everyone was a little "dewy" by the end of our shopping excursion.

Another little garden. This one a memorial garden. I'm a sucker for a vignette and this one with the pretty garden and the rusting metal roof behind it. Love.

And maybe most importantly, my goodies. I was on a quest to find some studio redo items but mostly just found stuff. This is slightly counter to my clean out project but I'll just have to replace not so pretty fun stuff with the new pretty fun stuff. I've been on a big pottery kick lately and found some great pieces. The two on the right are both McCoy pottery and in my favorite aqua/blue green. The pinecone jardiniere is a great piece combining my aqua~ish dining room/kitchen color with the rest of the mocha downstairs. Plus it reminds me of winter and I love that! I also need to credit the husband with finding it. He's a keeper!

The sweet little deer vase had some damage that had been repaired but I love him. He was less than $10 bucks and the cracks are barely noticeable. He had to come home. It's likely he'll end up somewhere in the studio space or Sophy's room. It's another piece of Shawnee pottery for my tiny collection. Sophy has a cute little Buddha planter that's on her bookshelf that I love. And I have little tiny fairy planter holding random bits on my desk. I may have to swap them out and put Buddha in the studio. So many choices!

The giant pig was at a fantastic store called Prairie Gothic.  She has a great mix of new and old finds. I kind of wanted one of everything but only piggy made the cut. I had my eye on one I saw in a Napa Style catalog but I hate Michael Chiarello so much I refused to order it. This one was cheaper and I like to think cuter. I want some of the serving pieces she has with western images of bulls, cowboys, Native Americans, etc but I need to do some major decluttering before I bring anymore kitchen stuff home.

And last, but not least, findings for jewelry and other arty goodness. A large jar of keys, a box of cracker jack charms, chandelier crystals and a Tupperware container of mix/match jewelry that smells a little but will clean up well. Lots of chain pieces to be taken apart for links in new necklaces and bracelets are worth a little moth ball smelliness. All in all the perfect mini getaway.

Up next, tons of family photos that if you won't care about if you aren't related to me. Plus more Sophy than a normal human can be expected to tolerate. Super excited about this week aren't you?!

Sophy Duo

It's Sophy two ways. Like on Top Chef.

 Daddy took these pics yesterday when we were on our mini-trip. More to come as I go through a couple hundred photos. I was a little photo happy for only two days! Anyway, these are great pics that I couldn't resist. This face is the best. Ever.

Fancy Camera Quick Pics

I've mentioned all over the intranets that I've cleaned off all of my memory cards for the point and shoot plus the super fancy, and newly repaired, DSLR. In doing that, we took a couple of cute Sophy candids. You know, just to make sure it worked ok.

I may never recover from this pic above. How can you resist this 23 pound bundle of cuddly goodness. In sherbet colored footie pajamas. So. Cute. Sophy loves, loves, loves her pacifiers. She would like them all at once and immediately. Once one upon waking and having her lamb paci removed from her mouth for diaper change and arriving home from school where she's gone ALL DAY without a paci. The horror! Unfortunately for her, I think we're going to work on weaning them next week. She's fine all day at school without them so bed time only until even that's gone. My heart hurts thinking about not seeing her dragging them around with her. But, she'll be talking constantly so there's that.

Oh yeah, super grown up baby can crawl onto the furniture by herself. I have no idea who approved this. She also likes to watch Peppa the Pig while sitting on the big furniture. The cute is non-stop.

Park Visit

It was really pretty this morning, still hot, but really pretty. We packed up before it became too scorching and biked to the park. Sophy got her bike carrier this spring but was not a fan. She looked terrified and was ready to get out after her initial ride.I decided another trip with a swing and jungle gym pay off might be enough for her to reconsider.

As you can see, still skeptical but super cute.

The park by our house is awesome. There's several miles of trails, swings and play equipment and Cricket! Sunday morning is the local Cricket Club (?) with everyone in white. Love it.  No idea if anyone's any good but I just like that they're out there running wild with cricket bats looking nifty in the white uniforms.

First couple passes down the slide required a little help from Daddy. After that, she was loving it on her own. That's pretty much how she rolls. She's got this.

Swings are still a favorite, she giggles and giggles with each push but you have to stand at the end and grab her hand/foot. I have no idea why.

Running on the play gym. She's a lot more grown up than I'm prepared for at this point. She's running everywhere!

Well, maybe she's still got a little growing. :) Her romper's still pretty big!

The biking was a big hit. She sat back drinking her water yelling "weeeeee" with Daddy. The ride was fantastic and really nice through the shady portions. Wasn't even that hot. Unfortunately our planning did not account for all the hills at the end on the way home. Oy. Next time, reverse route to the playground.

Journaling... Project Life?

I've been trying to do some journaling every day. It's a helpful mini-meditation. I also feel like I'm doing something, even something small, that's creative. My poor little journal has been covered in tea and soda (multiple times) but it's hanging in there. I picked it up at Barnes & Noble a couple of years ago but it's finally being used. Luckily, my hoarding tendencies have served me well and I have a large box of new journals to work in if this gets irreparably damaged. I would love to do some more intricate journaling using my own bound books but for now, baby steps. This works for me and it's easy to carry around with my little pencil case with pens, highlighters and a few markers.

My new favorite journal trick is to doodle with highlighters. It's a quick color add to the page and a little lettering then good to go.  I'm still working into the fancier lettering. It's tougher than you might think. I always forget which way the sun is shining to create "the shadow". Ugh. 

Earlier this week, I did a quick note on "Intention" which my yoga instructor has been setting for me which is kind of handy. And the one she set was about resolution and being firm, mostly in practicing my yoga, but it got me thinking about commitment and trying to do some documentation regularly. I've been following Pam Garrison's lovely Project Life updates and decided I'm trying it next year. There's some hope that the studio might be in shape to handle an ongoing project like that. Might even get it's own cubby. But I don't want to over commit. :) I can also start gathering the supplies slowly, use what I've got and set aside for this as I go through supplies and reorganize. Relatively low cost beyond binder and inserts is my hope.

I'm also working on how to use my fancy DSLR along with taking better iPhone photos. Signed up for SnapShop (yay!) so with 5-6 months to practice with both I should be fairly proficient by January. I also ordered a super cute camera strap for the DSLR. If I can accessorize, it helps create the habit for me... at least that's my story and I'm sticking with it!

Also really loving the idea of getting started and involving Sophy. I would love to see a week through the eye's of Sophy. That baby has serious opinions.

Chinese Lantern Festival

I was looking through my camera at the photos for our Seattle trip and found all of these... plus 100 more from New Year's Day. We went with some friends to the Chinese Lantern Festival in Fair Park.
It was amazing! It was also freezing but we bundled that baby up and headed out.

We started off at Angry Dog where I did indeed have said dog. Tasty. Then back in the car to hit the park. A friend had posted the groupon offer on Facebook so we had pre-purchased tickets at half off but honestly, it was so worth it at full price. A few days earlier we had seen the Chiluly exhibit at the arboretum for the evening tour and it was really disappointing. This exceeded my expectations. Highly, highly recommend it.

This dragon is made of dishes. Incredible!

Little cutie mixing her animals here. Last minute Target purchase for a good hat with her panda coat also a Target purchase when she was still in utero. She also had gloves not pictured since this was actually us packing it in not heading out.

He should guard our house. Loved the Foo dogs.

Heading in and a very well bundled baby as promised.

Sophy and Daddy ready to head back home.

Super cute, and mittened, baby waving to her fans.

Warning: adorableness overload with this cutie! Seriously, she is this cute all the time. It makes my heartache.

I took a gazillion photos trying to get just the right shot of the Cotton Bowl. This was my favorite.

I think the longhorns and lotus flowers sort of sum it up.

Fantastic! Honestly, I still rave about it, you know 4 months later so that's a pretty big endorsement.

Next up Seattle! I promise!