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!)

Wordless Wednesday

Bloggers Without Makeup!

I cannot believe I am doing this!

So, ok, Stephanie at Adventures in Babywearing invited me over to participate in her new contest: Bloggers Without Makeup. At first I thought, "heck, no!" but then I thought about how liberating it was just to make a self-portrait collage of me and put it up to share with the world, so I thought maybe this would feel even better. Lord knows I need better self-confidence and this is just the start of proving that I have it in me, right?! So . . . here ya go . . . its me, Val . . . sans makeup!

For those of you who know me well, you know that I will not step foot out my front or back door without wearing makeup. Ever. Ok, I take that back. Unless I'm in Hawaii and am getting a nice pretty tan on my face, then I might go without. (right, Chel?!) So know this was a huuuuuuge thing for me, but now that I've done it, I feel pretty dang good about myself suddenly. And I need that before my 26-people wedding party and 400-guest wedding that I will be shooting tomorrow. (Positive vibes and prayers for Val, please!)

Those above were taken this morning and this one below was taken while in Chicago over the weekend.

Liza, Liza, you're so cool!

Liza joined in on my self-portrait challenge and it makes me soooo excited! (See, little things really excite me.) It's so cute, Liza! Your little composite of pictures and your hair cut! I love it! Now maybe some of my other fellow readers will be inspired to do one . . . ahem, Alexis?! The pressure is now on people! Make Val happy. You know how we have a flooded basement, right!? Well, if you take part of this challenge, it will make my day. Doesn't that make posting your picture for the world to see totally worth it?! (I would hope so!)

Woo-hoo! Another self-portrait challenger!

Cerella, how beautiful you are! Love your self-portraits! And what a clever composite (wink, wink!)

C E R E L L A

Hmmm. . . . I may have to rethink my prizes!?

YAY! Someone took my self-portrait challenge!

So . . . Lisa wins!!!!

Love ya, Lisa! Thanks for following through! I guess you're the only one who loves Val. Pitty on me. (Hehe.)

Check out her cuteness!

Oh, and by the way, speaking of prayers, keep her in yours as she is pregnant for the 6th time. Like Val, she's experienced 3 broken dreams saying goodbye to 3 beautiful angels. She and I don't have a good standing in this arena. Please pray for her and this new dootle.

Anyone else want to take this challenge!? It's fun . . . trust me and you'll get bonus points!

Self-portrait Challenge

(click on me to make me bigger!)
I had an idea to take pictures of my hair to show you since I just got it colored and love the results. Once I started snapping pictures, it got a little out of control. So with the pictures I took of myself with my new hair, I decided to muster up a collage. As I was doing it, I thought maybe I'd use one of the pictures as ny new "about me" picture, and then I thought I'd use the collage as a new header for my blog . . . I don't know. But what I did decide is that I would extend a challenge to all my bloggin' friends to do a self-portrait of themselves and post it in the next couple of days. Great idea, if I do say so myself!

You might think I used some fancy camera, but I didn't. Most of the pictures I put up here on Purple Valley are taken on my small Panasonic point-and-shoot. I swear, it's nothing fancy, but it does take pretty good pictures most of the time, and I know two of my bloggin' friends (and one non-bloggin' one who I wish would start bloggin') have the same exact camera. So my challenge is just that - to take a couple pictures of yourself, pick your favorite and then post it. I know Cerella will be up to this challenge as she gets camera happy a lot like I do! There's no prize except that maybe I'll link ya in my blog to my favorite self-portrait. And if you don't do one, I'm going to call you chicken. There's no reason not to. Believe me, there are plenty of things I don't like about my face, but that won't stop me from sharing my smile with you.

Now go get busy!