A glimpse of the past

Back from a great weekend, I hope everyone had some fun. I did stuff, I actually did stuff but I’ll leave that for another post later this week.

I’m a member of this photography forum called clickinmoms.com. The name isn’t lost on me, I realize I’m not a mom, but it’s an absolute fabulous photographers forum that will help you grow leaps and bounds in whatever stage of photography you’re in. Doesn’t matter if you’re a novice, amateur, hobbyist or full on professional, you’ll learn so much and grow in your skill. I love being a part of it and have learned so much in the 10 months I’ve been a part of it.

Last week one of the pro’s threw out a challenge to shoot in low light with manual focus and I was pretty eager to test my skills. Ever since I got Monty in November, I’ve taken a major step back in my photo taking skills. It’s been pretty hard to take and rather discouraging when I see my images once I’ve uploaded them.

He’s so different than my first DSLR that we’re taking awhile to get to know each other and its showing in the photos I’m taking. Which is one of the main reasons I haven’t been shooting much nor showing much of anything taken with Monty.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to take a photo of {for the challenge} so I went around my apartment for awhile until I stopped on a photo. A photo that I cherish. One that if there was ever a fire, it would be one of the few things I’d grab if I had time. Its of G-man as a child. One of the only photos he has and it contains one of his favorite memories of all time. Being on stage with Lionel Richie. You can see his joy on his beaming face. What a moment for a kid to experience, and I just love that he was that kid.

What’s even better about this photo is he and Lionel are the only ones that are in focus. All the other kids are moving and blurry, but not them. They’re perfectly still in the moment which makes the photo that much better.

I don’t think I’m breaking any rules by showing this. He’s a little boy in it, almost 30 years ago, so its not like its giving anything away. He looks more like John Cusack in this photo than anyone else. ..maybe it is John Cusack as a kid, who’s to say.

..and I’m sure my watermark takes away from it but I must protect my love, even as a little kid.
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The frame is another thing about the photo I like so much. His mom framed it back in the 80’s, one day I’ll change it out but for now it’ll stay. I like stopping by this photo often in all its original ways. It gives me a small glimpse into his childhood.

(I only used the candle as a light source. It was pitch black without it.)
In case someone’s curious on my settings:
50mm – manual focus
SS 1/125
f 1.8
ISO 5000

So I guess you can consider this your one (and quite possibly your only) glimpse of G-man.

How was your weekend? Bring me up to speed on you.

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September photo challenge–week 3

We’re at week three and I’m going for a bit of a different approach for this week. The three to choose from are stranger, family and life.  I went for life but more so what my life has been lately. Beyond the driving everywhere, another thing has been my life lately.

As I’ve mentioned just recently, I sell lia sophia jewelry. Have for just about 2 years now and its pretty fun. I haven’t really talked about it on the blog because mainly, I’m not here to push it or make a sale off anyone. So its not something that needs to come up.

Over the past 7 months, its been pretty consistent at keeping me busy. Kind of too busy (which is good), since having my full time job to work around it. It can keep me up pretty late, like last night especially, with helping customers or with my new girl entering in her first party, walking her through each and every step until after 10pm last night.

But this is what I do. This is pretty much what I am and what’s become a huge part of my life. And truthfully, I rather like it…and even more so, I’m pretty darn good at it.

I like helping my girls learn what they’re doing and I like figuring out how a customer can get 3 things for the price of the one they planned and watching their face go from ‘are you crazy?’ to sheer excitement. …not to mention, all that jewelry being mine sure doesn’t hurt.

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September Photo Challenge–week 2

Thanks everyone who’s given me recommendations on your beauty products. I’m a little disappointed that pretty much none of you need to use an eyebrow filler. And by disappointed, I mean jealous.

I’ll have to show you a before and after of my eyebrows to prove how needed it is for me…at some point..in the future.

Its week 2 of Katie’s photo challenge and it’s all about the joy, light and movement for the week. I had grand plans of going out at sunset to capture the corn swaying in the wind in front of the setting sun..and then I’d get home from work and realize that the 50, 000 other things I had to do trumped that corn. So I needed to think of a plan B. An even better plan than the first one.

But I was stumped. Plan A is pretty awesome, who am I kidding?!

However, one night I was beginning to get the familiar pains of hunger and did my normal stand in the kitchen, I have nothing to eat routine of opening the pantry, cabinet, fridge and freezer door at least twice when it clicked!

BACON!

I can’t even describe how excited I was to know I had bacon in the fridge to cook, but know it made me more excited than a normal person should be. Mid way through it cooking, a couple more clicks went off in my head and my idea was formed.

So I bring you my {true} joy and light for the week.

I love bacon. I really really do. On top of my spree of buffalo burgers I’m on again {6 in 6 days}, I’ve also had a BLT a night for the past 4 nights.. my body is pretty happy over all the extra protein its getting and let me tell you, I’m happy to oblige!

Please tell me you like bacon!? I want to still be friends.

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My way or the highway

Can I just say, it pays to speak up. When the stylist does something you don’t like, or is “done” and you’re unhappy with it, do you say something? Do you tell them to fix a problem that you see or do you say it looks fine, pay and go home unhappy?

She was half way through with styling and I wasn’t happy. My rule is to make them straighten my hair so I can see every possible issue. It makes for a fairly boring hairstyle but I don’t care. I want to see how it’ll look as if I styled it. I questioned a spot and she fixed it and continued straightening. She “finished” and I still wasn’t happy and she fixed 2 more spots. Finally I was satisfied.

I know if I walked out of that room without saying a word I would have nothing but negative things to say and would have complained for months as it grew back out. But now, I’m content with it. It put the bounce back in my hair, that I was desperately needing.

Now! My fun friend, Katie is doing a September weekly photo challenge that I love! She gives you 3 subjects that you can choose from (for the week) or gives you the ability to do all three. Whichever tickles your fancy. Then every Thursday, we all get to link up to show what we did. Today is the first week’s challenge! Fun, right?!

The 3 this week are:
Me
Now
Details

Since I brought my camera to my hair appointment, I thought what a better “now” and “me”. One thing about this salon is its all individualized. Where each and every stylist has their own private room with doors and they’re allowed to decorate it any way they want. I’ve never never been in a salon like this before. Have you!? I kinda liked how she closed her door to give us the ultimate privacy! As you can see that woman loves pink, and apparently dresses every single day in hot pink.

Mine chose more of a vintage 60’s theme, as you can tell. With a vintage hair dryer, chair, pictures on the wall and furniture.

Because we know no post is complete without public restroom mirror pictures, I felt it was only right. Ok, truth is, I kinda felt she was ready for me to stop taking pictures in her room, so I jetted off to the restroom to continue. Weird? Akward? Maybe…but I succeeded.


I’m looking forward to the next few weeks of her challenge. If you want to play along, you definitely can! She’s keeping the link open throughout the weekend, so hop on in and show us you..or what’s going on now…or the details of it all.

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Instagrammed it

Haaaaaappy May!

There were parts of April that just didn’t want to let go, but May is here. Warmer days are coming more frequently for most of us. I 1/2 look forward to it…well, a little more than 1/2.

During April, I took part in the photo a day challenge again for kicks. Some days were a lot of fun to tap into my creativity as generally, I have very little.

1. Your reflection- G-man’s going away picture. It has all his co-workers messages around the picture of the jet. I love to look at this picture and read the notes when I walk down my hall.
2. Color- pretty flower outside my apartment
3. Mail- sweet mail dear friends have sent me over the past few months
4. Someone who makes you happy- G-man…had to blur his face, it was quite visible as apposed to small instagram
5. Tiny- all those little people down below on one of my trips to HI
6. Lunch- unexciting and rather puny lunch of sugared peanut butter toast
7. Shadow- doing a little Capt. Morgan {don’t even drink the stuff}
8. Inside your wallet- my impression from my badge. I think I’m ready for a girly wallet now.
9. Younger you- I was 23 years old! Could I look more like a baby??!
10. Cold- …literally, I was cold walking to my car one morning.

April turned out to be a great month for me on many levels.. I’m finding I’m not wanting time to leave, however. I want to stay put because all this time is going by, and truth be told, it makes me sad in so many ways.

A little something I’m dealing with. Say la vie.

How’d your April turn out??

Follow along with me on instagram, I’m emily_grapes

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Rise to the challenge

An idea has been forming over here. Not an original idea since I’ve seen it all around the internet, this blog does it ever other week, but one I want to participate in and encourage others to do.

Self portraits

What I want to do is to get us women more in front of the camera. By a silent raise of hands, how many of you new and not so new moms are ever in front of the camera?? How many of you are actually in the pictures with your kids…or your husband??

Or even just have that solo shot of yourself?

I can hear the majority of you now…I’m just not comfortable in front of the camera, I don’t think I look good, I’m not where I want to be body wise and having a camera pick up on that…bleh, no one is there to take the picture for me, and blah blah blah blah blah.

Yeah, I get it. But remember this…your kids will look back at all those pictures and think, ‘how come mom was never in these?’ ‘I don’t have any pictures of me and mom.’ {trust me, I say this now and its sad as the kid.} …sorry mom.

I’m singling out you moms but its for you single gals as well. Get in front of that camera! Pass it off to a friend, your man, or a stranger to get you in that picture. Its going to be OKAY that you won’t look 100% perfect all the time. Life isn’t 100% perfect so why should you think you need to look that way in the picture??

What am I proposing? I want to do a one time link up of us and our self portraits.

The rules are:
- You  must take the pictures yourself, whether its by timer, remote or arm stretched out (but only if you have mad arm stretching skills).
- No cell phone pictures
- Any poses or expressions you’d like (in the PG range). If you can pull off the pouty look, more power to you! (I always end up looking like an open mouthed mad woman)
- Any setting. Home, field, lake, building, by trees, holding a kid, with flowers, pretty much anywhere EXCEPT BATHROOMS. –let’s be real.
- No nudity –again, let’s be real.
- have fun with it.
- embrace how you look right now

This is open to everyone, even those who don’t have blogs can participate. All you’ll need to do is email me your best (to you) picture by the date given below and I’ll include it in my own post.

No more eye rolling…are you with me??! It can be a lot of fun if you let it. And just think, you’ll finally have that picture of yourself that you’ve secretly been wanting but too embarrassed to admit.

In case you’re wondering, I’m already planning mine in a room that gets great light. I’m a generally shy person, so the thought of doing it in public scares me a bit. So no need to feel intimidated with this, stay indoors if that’s where you’ll be most comfortable.

The link up will be on April 11th. That gives you 2 weeks to take those pictures and create your post of your favorites. I really really hope you’ll join me, let me know in the comments. Just the thought of seeing your beautiful faces is getting me all excited!!

And remember, you aren’t the only one that feels they’re awkward in front of the camera…

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3rd and final round of pictures and a request

I’m rounding out the February photo challenge today. Showing my final pictures of the last 9 days. If you missed it, which how dare you… then  you can catch up with the first round and second round while we wait.



Day 21: Fave photo – I didn’t have a favorite since I was traveling that whole day, but my friend took this of me and her daughter (who, she prefers not to show her face) on her front porch.
Day 22: Where you work – at this moment, I work from my dining table. And truth be told, it isn’t that clean anymore.
Day 23: Your shoes – I love my moccasins. I live in them, literally. Even right now, I’m at the table, with them on. They’re the most comfortable shoes ever.



Day 24: Bathroom cabinet – I use maybe 10% of what’s in there and what I do use is all up front. I should consider getting rid of the things in the back, but I find I’ll probably need them soon enough. Isn’t that always the case?
Day 25: Green – a picture I was editing for someone who is actually buying them. Very excited to  know they’ll be displayed in someone’s home.
Day 26: Night – what’s the best way to fix a cold night? With fire and soup of course, and a big thick blanket to boot.



Day 27: Something you ate – sorry if this looks gross. It now looks gross to me, but its eggs and toast. Nothing fancy, just breakfast one morning.
Day 28: Money – I got this dollar ring when I turned 16 from a customer at the café I used to work. He was a biker riding through our town and when he learned it was my 16th birthday, he fashioned this for me. I’ve had it for almost 15 years and never plan to use it. I always wished I could make these w/the 1 showing.
Day 29:  I’m listening to – Michael Jackson’s “hold my hand”. G-man plays this song regularly for me and every time I hear it now, I think of him.

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In other news, I’m helping gather donations for a live/silent auction for a non profit organization, Rick Alonzo Ministries and wanted to see if there’s any handmade businesses or business owners who would want to donate something toward the fundraiser.

Not only are they raising money for his daily ministries to help the youth and high school kids, but also to fund a South African missions trip later this year to help and spread the gospel.

If you’d like to donate anything, please let me know. You’ll receive a contribution receipt for your donation.

Happy Hump Day!!

{{update: to clarify, I’m not going on the mission trip to South Africa, but rather Rick Alonzo is. I’m only helping gather donations for the auction to raise money for him going.}}

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Round 2 of pictures

I’m on the plane heading home and I thought I’d give the photo challenge post another round seeing how it wasn’t so bad after all, the first time.

I’m still enjoying taking pictures daily. Its just so fun figuring out which picture to take for each assignment. Some are more challenging to figure out than others but I always manage to get the one that suits the day perfect for me. Is it the same for you too, if you’re doing it?



Day 9: Front doors…leading out to the lanai
Day 10: Self Portrait…those are my ‘bulging’ muscles in my arms, by the way.
Day 11: Makes you (me) happy… G-man making me banana pancakes for breakfast.



Day 12: Inside your closet…since I wasn’t home, I showed a glimpse of G-man’s uniform side of his.
Day 13: Blue…the gorgeous blue waters of Hawaii
Day 14: Heart… bacon hearts..ummm, delicious! Perfectly fitting for Valentine’s Day, as we all know.



Day 15: Phone…my simple iPhone case. It suits me.
Day 16: Something New… G-man’s new tinted windows that were done that day. Perfect timing.
Day 17: Time…I was able to get G-man to hold up his watch (a little begrudgingly, I might add) to show the aircraft carrier’s time coming into port.



Day 18: Drink…how can I not do my morning coffee for my drink. Its pretty much all I drink beside water.
Day 19: Something I hate doing… dealing with headaches…which all day I couldn’t figure out what to do for the picture when it hit me that I’ve had a headache all day…and I hate dealing with them. Again…perfect timing.
Day 20: Handwriting… I love cursive. Hopefully it doesn’t die away like they’re claiming it will. Though I’ll still always write in it for as long as I’m able.

Only 9 more to go..

After my flight, I have that lovely 3 1/2 hour drive home. Hopefully it’ll go without a hitch…hopefully and then, I’ll be back to my norm..not to mention I’ll get to tell you where we went over the weekend.

Have a happy Tuesday.

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February photo challenge

Taking an itsy bitsy break from Maui for a day… I was seeing the monthly photo challenges go round and round and always thought they’d be fun, but always would shy away from them cause one or two of the days didn’t interest me.

I’m lame, you can say it, but when the February challenge popped up, I was game. After a bit of investigating, it looks like it started from Chantelle over at Fat Mum Slim.
Here’s the list:

If you’re following me on instagram then you’ve been seeing me post each day, but I thought I’d throw them around here as well. If you’re on the fence about doing one, you really should. Its really fun to do, quick too and I’m enjoying seeing everyone else’s that is doing it as well.

1. View: Hawaii
2. Words: Menu…I was starving!
3. Hands: I was tickling his hand
4. A stranger: Infinity pool at the Four Seasons
5. 10am: We were checking out and I felt like Ross from Friends snatching up all the L’Occitane shampoos, conditioners and lotions.
6. Dinner: I forgot and snapped my after dinner tea
7. Button: The elevator..which floor is mine?!?
8. Sun: I leaned out of the window on the lanai to capture the sun peaking around the hotel building across the street.

Tomorrow I jump back into spilling the beans about Maui and my blate!. Hope everyone is having a wonderful Thursday!!

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