10-4

Saturday morning, I headed out to Ft. Worth again - second time in 30 days - this time, with my good friend Tricia, and this time to go to "Christmas in Cowtown". This event is basically a holiday-themed bazaar of multiple booths full of vendors from all over selling all kinds of stuff. It's girly and fun. So, we went.

Tricia next to the "Christmas in Cowtown" boot.

We bought several items this year. I purchased a vintage reproduction fabric cowgirl apron and a vintage reproduction fabric Christmas tablecloth. I also purchased a wedding gift for the wedding we attended Saturday night, outlined later in this post, and a necklace...

...and this ring, proudly displayed on my pale, short, squatty hand.

This is the third ring I've purchased from China Baroque, these ladies from Houston who break up pieces of china and make those pieces into jewelry - pendants, earrings, rings - even belt buckles. It is all very cool stuff. I am mostly a fan of the rings. So, I bought another one. It was very hard to decide. But, I ended up with the one in the photo above.

I'm sure you can guess that a trip to Ft. Worth with me must have also included lunch at Joe T. Garcia's Mexican Restaurant. Your guess would be correct! After we shopped 'til we dropped, we headed over to the best patio in the southwest on yet another beautiful fall day.

The bar next to where you wait for your table.

That same pretty walkway I photographed before.

The covered patio pavilion we sat in to eat this time around.

Me, photographed by Tricia.

Tricia, photographed by me. Aren't we clever?

A lovely patio pool we passed on the way out.

It was a fabulous trip and a great time with a great friend.

After we drove back to Dallas, it was time to get ready to go to the wedding. This wedding was the youngest son of a family S grew up with and his bride. The oldest son was in our wedding, and S was in his. S's younger brothers were both in this wedding, so, while we don't know the bride and groom that well, we knew lots of people at the wedding. It took place at Scofield Memorial Christian Church in Dallas. It is a really beautiful sanctuary. The bride and groom don't attend this church, but the church they attend is just building their sanctuary, so they got married at the church listed above.

Front and center in the sanctuary is this beautiful stained glass window, which, at 5:30 CDT, has a great view of the sunset.

Which made it sort of hard to see the ceremony.

Alexandra's dad was in the wedding, so she was there.


And enjoyed checking out Scofield's carpeting.


Here, S tried to get her attention while she was being held by her mom.


There were friends at the wedding we don't get to see very often, and it was nice to catch up. Here are Scott and Holly on the left. And, Holly is scheduled to have that baby in two weeks. It's a boy.

S and me, taken by S's dad. I hate it when he commandeers my camera.

After the ceremony, we headed to Dallas Heritage Village for the reception. It was in a large enclosed gazebo-like structure. It was a nice night, but it was a little warm inside the building. In the center of the room were these paper lanterns, hanging from the ceiling. I definitely thought they were cool. And, yes, I did stand in the middle of the reception by myself and shot my camera straight up at the ceiling to get a couple of these shots. And, yes, S said people were staring. But, bless my heart, I had to get THAT shot.

The cake was feeling the heat - it was lilting a bit to the right.

Here's the groom's cake - the groom is a policeman.

I took the cake photos with no flash - they are a tad blurry. The topper on the groom's cake was high spirited and a bit unusual, though, I thought, so I wanted to include it.

Since it was a little warm, and the seating was a little tight, after we visited with some family and friends, S and I headed back outside to enjoy the evening air. I got him to stand for a second in front of the little white church they have on the property.

Doesn't he look nice?

I decided to take a few shots from our vantage point outdoors. They had some candles along the path.

Candle outside the reception.

S's vantage point of the reception from the bench we found outside.

Looking down on the candle. I really like this shot.

We headed out before the party was over. S had had a long week, so he was ready to call it a night. It had been a full day.

Another Busy Weekend

When I started this blog, it was to post photos I'd taken that I wanted to comment on. Recently, however, I've been doing more posts about what I've been up to than commenting on the hundreds of photos I've got piled up on my external drive to comment on. And, while I've posted photos, often then are not what I'd call my best work, but rather "snapshots", quite literally, of my activities. I'm just typing this out so that if you've noticed this and wondered, "What the heck?" you will know I know this is the case. And, to say, well, I've been busy, and well, I do hope to get back to the other photos soon.

So, on to more snapshots of another busy weekend. First up, Friday night, S and I babysat for our niece, Alexandra. I arrived before S and received the instructions from her mom. She was in a great mood, and we played together for a couple of hours. S did get there before she went to bed, but she was already sort of tired when he arrived, so she was not interested in visiting with him. She went to bed for us, no sweat, which is always tricky the first time you watch a baby - they don't know you, you don't know their signals - but it went alright.

Below is a little photography preference discussion, just to throw in a little "actual intent of the website" into a "what I did this weekend" post. As I may have mentioned before, and as I'm sure you've noticed, I prefer to shoot photos with no flash. I think it keeps from washing the subject out, allows for more depth of field and action (usually) and generally presents a warmer color scheme. To do this, when it's not optimal light, you have to increase the ISO or film speed (or the digital equivalent) to allow the camera to capture the photo quicker. This is still not always possible. Or, because of movement, you'll sometimes get a blur in part (or all) of the shot. And, increasing the ISO also increases the grain or inherent "noise" in the photo. Of course, nicer cameras are able to correct this a bit. My XT gives off less noise at ISO 1600 than the Powershot does. On babysitting night, I was using the camera in my purse, so that would be the "grainier" Powershot at the helm. Anyway, when choosing flash or no flash, there are trade-offs. But, sometimes, and often with wiggly babies, no-flash photos just don't turn out.

Alexandra with no flash - see the grain in the photo? This was at an ISO of at least 800 (maybe 1600 - I can't remember)

Alexandra at ISO 400 after I turned on the flash. Less grain and noise here, but darker background and that pesky flash reflection in the sidewall of the kitchen cabinet.

I resorted to the flash for most of the night. But, I got a few others with no flash.

This one, as Alexandra stormed the camera, was with no flash.


She loves playing with these little stacking cups on the wood floor - she can make them roll and throw them around to make lots of noise.


Looking up at the towering grown-ups above her.


We played with lots of toys - S had shown up by this point -those are his big feet in the background.


And we tried on a few "hats".


Then, she tried to "eat" this toy.


She made a valiant effort.


But, don't worry, the toy was not ingested - just slobbered to death.

Below are a few of Alexandra's favorite expressions:

A gummy grin.


The raspberries.


And mid-yawn. It was getting later.

So, we went and changed the diaper, put on pajamas and headed for the crib. She went right to sleep, something we could see by watching the video baby monitor - crazy wild gadgets they have for parents these days.

One last photo - I call this one...

Alexandra, giving us her "babysitting seal of approval".

Don't you think that's it? Tomorrow - Saturday's events.

Happy Birthday Sam!

Today is my father-in-law - S's dad's - birthday. So, this post is to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to him and wish him a good day and a great year!

The State Fair of Texas

Big Tex Welcoming One and All to the Great State Fair of Texas

Earlier I posted some photos from the Indiana State Fair, which happens in August. The State Fair of Texas opened one week ago today, last Friday. S is a State Fair addict - he loves to go as many times as possible. At work, at least the last couple of years, we've gotten a half day team building day to go to the fair. It's been great fun. These photos were taken at last year's fair. I'll take some this year too each time we go. But, I thought I'd post some in homage so to speak, to get you in the FAIR mood, now. As you will be able to see, the day I took these, it was a bit overcast. So far this year, the fair has had sunny weather without a cloud in site.

The new ride last year was the TEXAS SKYWAY. The photos below were taken from that ride.

First, we have the requisite warning and scary illustration. I love these.

This is an overall view of the Midway area from the Skyway.


Through the window where you can read TEXAS backwards, a view one of the other Skyway capsules, and of the Cotton Bowl.

And, a close up of the Texas Star Ferris Wheel from the back side through the safety grate on the Skyway.

I hope if you're in Texas you make it to the fair for some yummy fair food and a walk through the exhibits. If you're not close by, check back here in a week or so for some highlights of this year's visits.

Herding Cats

Have you heard that saying before? Me too. But, I didn't really get the phrase until I went to my friend Errika's house this past Sunday to try to photograph her daughter Sydney (21 months), her neighbor Alyssa (23 months) and her god-daugther Madison (3 years) all at once. There, the phrase came to life like never before. In another post, I'll show you some of the sweet individual photos I caught. But, here I'll showcase a few photo montages that must be viewed as a set to be fully appreciated. And, to really give you a definition of what cat herding is all about.

The first set of shots we tried were in Errika's living room in front of the fireplace. Watch the action - or the lack of the action stopping - or the fact that no one shot shows all three sweetly smiling and facing forward. They are sweet and special in their own way, but, well - just look:

Sydney, Alyssa, Madison

After trying indoors, we headed out in front of the house. Here's another good set of action:

Alyssa, Madison, Sydney

And, finally, this great montage:

Alyssa, Sydney, Madison

Herding cats has to be very similar. But, they're cute, yes?

Keepin' It Real

One of the blogs I like to read - Confessions of a Pioneer Woman - always talks about keepin' it real. Well, I can't keep it as real as she does - I don't have a ranch and a gaggle of cows and dogs and kids. But, while sitting in the chair at the beauty shop last Friday, I thought - here's an opportunity to share my angst and insecurity with my blog reading public. So, here we go.

And, **BONUS**, these photos were taken with the camera phone!

So, I headed to the salon the other day to get my hair colored and cut. Somehow, reaching my mid-30's, I have collected an ever-increasing number of gray hairs right on top of my head. Thanks to my sweet mother-in-law, I tried full color kits at home a few times with her assistance, and really I thought they did a pretty good job. Until, that is, I tried the kit in the summer. In the summer, my hair lightens quite a bit, which I didn't really realize until I colored it with the perfect color from the winter and it suddenly looked way too dark and drab. So, I thought, maybe I'm being silly. Maybe I need no color at all. So, I let it wear out and - SHAZAM - I have TONS of gray hair. Still.

This led me to believe maybe it was worth paying someone a gajillion dollars over my lifetime to color it for me. I have a FABULOUS friend that cuts my hair. She is a super talented wonder of a hair person. Every time I asked, "Michelle, do you think you could cover the gray in my hair?" she would calmly answer, "Yes, whenever you're ready to try it."

I decided it was time to let Michelle give it a whirl. I made the appointment and Michelle was there at the ready. She explained we could do all over color, which would certainly cover the gray, but could possibly grow out faster, or we could highlight some of the hair a lighter color with the idea that the grays would blend in to a lighter color better. And, it tends to take longer to look like you need to renew the process. If you take the highlighting route, you can either highlight on top or all over.

After careful deliberating inside my little head, I decided to try highlighting just on top. I came to this decision because I thought why pay to do what my mother-in-law can already do? And, I thought I could try the highlighting to see if it covered enough gray without paying to highlight my whole head. I felt pretty good making it that far in the decision making process on this front.

Me, in the chair, after Michelle counted the gray and I made the first round of decisions.

As you can tell from the photo, the decisions had already taken a toll. Michelle then took out the color book. Lord help me. I sort of just sat there until Michelle talked herself into a decision and I agreed with her. There was no way I was qualified to make that decision on my own.

So, Michelle set out to highlight the top of my head. The cream she used for that was bright yellow, which was a strange proposition to think that was going to turn out to a good color. But, I went with it. I was in for the full try. It's only hair.

Me in the chair, with highlight fluid in process.

After she foiled me up and I sat there for a while, she carefully took all that metal out of my hair and washed it before she cut it and styled it. And, from the photo, I was enjoying myself!

The end result.

It always looks better after Michelle cuts and styles it. And, I realize you can't really tell one darn thing from this photo about the highlights. They are subtle - er, natural. They look good, I guess. But, they don't really help the gray "blend." I'm not so sure I'm a highlights girl, but we'll let it wear a while and we'll see.

So, there you have it - my trip to color what God gave me (or keeps giving me more of) to a more pleasing tint. Next up - the dentist!


Just kidding.


Sort of.

New Header

I tried my hand at making a new header for the top of the page for our new month. It hangs out the side of the "square" provided by blogspot. Not sure how I fix that. But, otherwise, I like it. We'll see if I can keep it up - replacing the header in a timely fashion, that is.

Happy fall! Happy October.