Another stroll through a meme in May . . .

Weird Facts About Myself The Rules:

Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 weird, random, facts, habits or goals about yourself. At the end, choose 6 people to be tagged, list their names & why you tagged them. Don’t forget to leave them a comment saying “You’re it!” & to go read your blog. You cannot tag the person that tagged you, so since you’re not allowed to tag me back; let me know when you are done so I can go read YOUR weird/random/odd facts, habits and goals.



For me, I'm going through my photostream at flickr. Let's see what i come up with...



Some people think this is weird, but to photographers it's "the bomb". It's called bokeh and it's what you get when you shoot with your lens' aperture wide open. See that blur in the foreground and the background of the focused flowers? Yeah, that's bokeh and it's something cool to try to achieve which will result in "oohs" and "ahhs" from your photography friends (like me). :c) There are tons of "groups" at flickr just to showcase your "bokeh" photos. I'm one who has gotten addicted to it.

And here's another example of beautiful bokeh:





I loooove these green tea frapps from Starbucks. I tend to get these more than (frozen or iced) coffee on most days in the summer. And the color I'm in love with. For some odd reason funky colors of green have really grown on me lately. Isn't it snazzy? (This photo is from my photo shoots in Chicago when Jo and I took a break in air conditioning with some yummy chillers.)

This isn't so much weird, or maybe it is? But here are my necessities when going on long shoots (weddings included).



D200
cell phone
glasses
water
and Starbucks (usually it's coffee or sometimes something cold. Just has to have caffeine.)
and, a cool place to sit down and rest my tired feet for a bit before more shooting :c)

I take chances a lot with my camera.



That's me and that's me during a shoot in Chicago in WATER. You kinda have to take some chances when you want the perfect photo otherwise you miss perfect opportunities. This is about the only realm of my life where I take chances, but that's okay. :c)



I can't find anything weird to say about this one. (hehe) This is just a favorite picture of when my dear friend Jen and her daughter, Addy, came to visit us. I miss her.



Even with all the problems we had in this house and the money we spent and lost on it, I still really miss it.



If you've never been to Chicago, you should go. And make sure you see "the bean" in Millennium Park. This is the bean, well part of it, and our reflection in it. A couple hours later we would have gotten our picture taken with zillions of other faces in it, too. It's quite popular. What makes this weird is, I don't like how dirty it is! Usually (I believe) it is cleaned once or twice a day and obviously it hadn't been cleaned yet!

These pictures make me laugh. Again, not weird. I just need something to fill this spot and these two pictures are two of my favorites from May. Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Bob the Builder:




And, this isn't weird, either, but then again, maybe it is because it excites me. But remember my contest to win the free canvas? Well, my winner, Candi, she asked if she could buy one a bit larger. So I said YES! and gave her a canvas in a 20x24 (I think it was) at my cost --- so she walked away with an awesome deal-a-roo! She got the canvas up and here it is!

If you hop on over to her blog, you will see the before and after of the space where she put it. Isn't it awesome?! I'm so happy for her that she won because it really turned out so great and it just makes me smile seeing it up in her home. Congrats again, Candi :c) (I also gained a friend in all this! Cool, eh?!)



This is my new favorite shirt. I may be weird, but I love it. Hmmmmm...wonder why?


Okay, there we have. My list of 10 weird things (they aren't so much facts, but at least I played!). I am not tagging anyone. But please feel free to do it -- it's fun! (Thanks, AJ!)

Proofing done! Chicago here I come!

This time of year is so busy for me. Wedding after wedding, shoot after shoot. It's never-ending. I love actually going out and photographing and I love coming home and post-processing on my computer, but I really don't like the time it takes me to post-process. Man oh man oh man. So while I have been down one computer and online a ton less, I'm still attached to my other computer as I proof away. I pushed myself incredibly hard this week finishing up 2 weddings. One I proofed over 1,000 photos (yes, that many), and the other, being just a reception, I proofed about 500. I figured I spent about 50 hours thus far this week post-processing. I've learned this week that I am not charging enough for the time I put in to my work. ((sigh)) At least I enjoy it. Now if I could only figure out how to balance that time between home/kids and work. (As I work I always am thinking "how do those other women do it?". I wish they would tell me.)

The good news is that tomorrow morning we're packing the kids in the car and heading to Chicago for a long weekend. Saturday, my beloved Johanna, is assisting me in photographing 6 shoots. All downtown Chicago!! How incredible it that?! I'm very much looking forward to this experience. It's something I have always wanted to do, and now unbelievably I am! The day is suppose to be gorgeously perfect and I think (no, I know) Jo and I are going to have an amazing time.

The rest of the time I am spending it solely with my family. Neil and the kids will be with me. We have no plans. We like to go places without plans and do everything spur-of-the-moment. That's a true vacation, when there is no thought processing involved!, for us. We've talked about the Chicago Children' Museum, Lincoln Park Zoo again, we don't know. But it's Chicago, and where we stay each time we're up there, we're within walking distance to everything. So we have the Windy City right at our fingers :c)

So with that said, I'll see you all Tuesday! We are coming home late Monday. Hope you have a great weekend. Think of me Saturday and send me energized thoughts as I have a feeling come lunch I will be exhausted. I'm shooting till 7:00. Yeah, I'll be tired.This is where I'm shooting. And maybe here where Buckingham Fountain resides. (Katie, yes we would LOVE lunch!! Thank you for the offer -- incredibly thoughtful.)

Here's a peak into the last two weddings. More, as always, can be seen at my other blog or flickr.








p.s. I haven't received my new laptop yet. I'm thinking if I don't, it's actually probably a good thing. It means I won't have a computer to take with me and I can't work on anything photo-wise no matter what. What will I do with my time after the kids go to bed? Talk to hubby? Read a book? Watch Joel on The Soup? Watch the Ferris Wheel turn with it's beautiful lights at Navy Pier from the balcony? All sounds heavenly. ((happy sigh))

And I forgot I had this one. Myself in action doing that photo up there. (Wanting to draw an arrow right now to that picture.) Heather shot it. She's so funny. It's kinda fun, though, to see what I look like. One thing I learned by seeing this picture is that I won't be wearing that dress again. It looks like a Moo Moo. Ha :c)