Blogging from Garibaldi

It's 10:45 pm and I'm blogging on my sister's laptop from Garibaldi. T, Chad and Makena are playing the Wii (good photos to share later) so I thought I'd take a minute to finally get some photos on the blog. I forgot to load some of the photos I took of my tulips that Jamie bought me at Pike Place Market...guess those will have to be later. I played around with settings on those.

I walked down to the pier tonight to take some night photos of the bay. Moxie came with me to help and keep me safe. I'll get those loaded when I get the tulip pictures loaded. : )

I hope everyone has a great weekend. We always enjoy our visits with Mom, Rudy and Packer...and it's nice to have T, Chad and Mia to visit with too! Jamie is out with some friends in Portland and then he'll be in Garibaldi tomorrow morning-ish. Momma's birthday is on the 2nd so we're here to celebrate with her - love you Momma!

Wednesday's Playdate

Kylah and Kallie came to have a playdate again with us Wednesday. It wasn't nice enough for us to go to the park again...but play-dough time is always fun!

"Are you listening to me Auntie?"

'Where's Kallie's hand???'

Kallie's hand is in Auntie's hand

Kallie's hand is holding Kylah's hand

then Kylah made her play-dough people hold hands

Kylah wanted to hula-hoop on the Wii Fit

and then she wanted to play the drums while Kallie watched

isn't she cute?!?

Goin' Downtown

So...Jamie talked me in to going downtown last Saturday because it was such a nice day to take pictures.

we had lunch at Kingston Grill

see Jamie & Moxie hiding from me?

I did take a bunch of pictures (go figure) for my camera class as well. The rest of them are at Amber's Photos at left menu.

Pike Place Market

Here are the pictures from Seattle last week...we went to see our accountant and then went to Seattle afterwards.

Space Needle from the truck

We had lunch at The Pike Pub - I had a beer taster, yum!

going shopping at Pike Place Market

walking around

yummy apples! Do you see the people in the reflection??

We left for Seattle around 8am and didn't get home until after 9pm...long day, but a good day. Thanks for the side trip for pictures Honey!

Kleenex

Well...Makena has officially gone through 8 boxes of Kleenex in 3 days! Her poor nose and our poor environment! (Yes...I feel worse for her nose.) I do buy the Kleenex brand (sorry Momma) with the lotion in it as I hate to have to blow my nose with anything else. Because I read the Seventh Generation Blog, I thought it was interesting to receive:

The guide, from Greenpeace, ranks Seventh Generation paper towels, napkins, and facial and bathroom tissue in the top tier of paper products that are best for the environment. The rankings are based on two essential factors: where the paper comes from and whether or not chlorine is used when it’s made.

So, I've downloaded my guide and will look and try other tissue products in the future. We don't use paper napkins anymore - we started using cloth last year. We don't use many paper towels, so I'm not as worried about them. Toilet paper...hmmm...again, I'm a stickler for Charmin with the cuddly bear on the package! Just kidding, it's not the bear, it's really the 2-ply softness. We were originally using Seventh Generation tp up at the lake, but the composting toilet company suggests using regular toilet paper so we switched back.

In a different article today, someone mentioned using a hankie instead of tissue. Ummm...no! I'm WAY too much of a germ-a-phobe for that option. Yes, I know I can wash it but I just don't think I could mentally do it. So, off to shop for 'greener' tissues...

Yes, another post without pictures...I'll get them on here soon I promise.

Still here!

We're still here, it's just been a busy few days!! Early Thursday morning, we had to go to Bothell, WA (NE of Seattle) to see our accountant. Because it was such a nice day and we were already in the area, I talked Jamie in to taking me to Pike Place Market before heading home. We didn't get home until late that night.

We were both very busy with work on Friday - I had A LOT of things to fix for our accountant! At 6pm Jamie told me that I had to stop working. He talked me into going to McMenamins Kennedy School for dinner and a movie. (He didn't have to twist my arm much for that one!) Yummy veggie pizza, good movie for $3 (Seven Pounds - two thumbs up) and an even yummier pitcher of Hammerhead beer!

Jamie was supposed to help me clean the house on Saturday...it's been totally neglected and I wasn't dealing well with it anymore. He woke up around 11am, noticed how nice it was outside and decided that we were going downtown. "Don't you have pictures to take?" he asked. Quite the toss up...clean the house or gown downtown on a beautiful day and take pictures...hmmm??? So again, not much arm twisting! We walked around for a few hours and had lunch before we had to get back home. Girl Scout cookie store sales has started and I had a sale with my troop that evening. The girls did well (selling over 115 boxes) but it was pretty cold out by 5pm!

Jamie did help me clean the house on Sunday - thanks Honey!!! I didn't even know we owned all of those clothes that I washed! He also helped me with some pictures I still needed to take. Then...another cookie sale for the troop. Our weekend was then done...

Back to work again on Monday...still playing catch up with my accountant. Then a Girl Scout meeting and another cookie sale. In the mean time, Makena hadn't been feeling well again at her dad's and didn't go to school on Monday. She wasn't looking or sounding good when I picked her up - so I've been trying to take care of her like a good mommy. She spent about 3 hours in our bathtub reading, soaking and getting steam. She is coughing a lot and has gone through about 4 boxes of tissue already! She's slept off/on and had a lot of water and chicken noodle soup. : ) I was up with her most of the night and slept in her bed with her for a few hours. The night-time meds knock her out for a while.

I also have a Relay FUNdraiser - Bus Trip to Spirit Mountain - that I'm trying to finalize things on. I also have some CASA paperwork that I have yet to finish...see Honey, I'm prioritizing! : ) And we are trying to plan a cruise during Spring Break. My Grandmother's surgery went well - thanks for all of the warm wishes! I was hoping to visit sometime this week, but with Makena being sick it may not be a good idea.

I do have a bunch of fun pictures to post, but it can take forever for them to load on the blog site so it's going to have to wait. (I don't like posting without pictures.) I know you'll be checking often, so I'll try to get them on here soon! : ) I only have 2 more photography classes...I'm thinking of signing up for his next session tho so no worries!!

Our Valentine's Day

Jamie brought the Wii Fit home for us for Valentine's Day and I finally got started on it last night. (I've been watching Makena & Jamie for tips!) Some of the games are fun, and others of them are just hard! : ) But boy can I hula-hoop!! And, let me tell you, I look gooood whirling around my living room with 5 pretend hula-hoops on! : )

I don't have any pictures from Valentine's Day or dinner because after helping out in the cookie warehouse and sorting cookies at home I was tired! We moved around 7,000 cases (12 boxes of cookies in each case) in less than 5 hours! That's a lot of yummy cookies!! Jamie took Makena and I to lunch after I got back home. We went to Lil' Cooperstown - one of my favorite places. We ran some errands and then while I soaked in the bath tub, they played on the Wii Fit and Jamie made dinner. Makena said she helped by staying out of the kitchen. (I'm gonna have to try that one!)

I found a recipe for home-made Mac N Cheese - the top of the recipe said 'comfort food' and it caught my attention! Plus, I can pretty much each pasta & cheese all day! (I know I shouldn't, but I can.) So that is what Jamie made us for dinner. We also had a yummy fruit salad and potatoes. I had picked up our favorite bottle of champagne (Tre Donne - gotta try it!) and we drank that while watching movies. Makena got Sobe, not champagne of course.

Japanese Garden

I didn't have a problem getting Makena & Haillee up in the morning - Moxie snuck in the room at 8:30am and did it for me! I made them breakfast and then waited and waited (and waited) for them to get off of the Wii. Finally they were ready around noon.

Because it was free admission day at the Japanese Garden, there were quite a few people there!

The next two photos are the same thing, just with different settings. The first photo shows the water "soft" or "smooth" and that is with an aperture setting of f22. The second photo shows the water dropping or more natural and that is with an aperture setting of f8. Then I just adjust my shutter speeds to the aperture setting to let in light. I use the f8 setting most often in my photos as it also blurs the foreground and background - focusing on the subject of the photo.

The photo was also taken with f8 - you can see the ripples in the water.

Hailee told me that photography looked uncomfortable because I was on the ground a lot. : )

Rose Garden

After the Japanese Garden, we headed over to the Rose Garden for some portrait shots (my homework this week). The girls weren't very impressed with the roses...I tried to explain to them that they are really beautiful in the summer time - when they are in bloom! : )

I took my "models" to lunch - we were all hungry by then. And the yummy hot-chocolate hit the spot!

The rest of the Japanese and Rose garden photos are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/amberzpix/JapeneseRoseGarden# I didn't take nearly as many photos as usual! : )

Makena & Hailee's Pix

Here are some of the pictures that Makena and Hailee took at the Japanese Garden.

I like the reflection in this one - trees from the water

another reflection - the clouds from the water

Here are the rest of the pictures that Makena and Haillee took http://picasaweb.google.com/amberzpix/MakenaHaileePix#

Thank you!

Thanks for all the great compliments and comments on my pictures! I am enjoying my camera very much - as you can see!! I am "seeing" things different now when I'm out taking pictures. I'm not actually changing my setting as much as I should be - one step at a time tho right?? : ) And, even more of a reason to keep taking tons of photos!

Unfortunately, I look back at pictures from years ago and think "I shoulda...". I'm glad that I have ALL of my pictures tho!!

Makena has a friend staying the night and I'm hoping to take them somewhere tomorrow for this week's homework assignment - portraits. It's President's Day, so they don't have school...hopefully I can get them up before noon.

Jamie?

WILL YOU BE MY VALENTINE?

Happy Friday the 13th!

I hope your Friday was as fun as mine! First, I picked up Kylah around 9am to help me deliver Valentine-a-Grams for Meals on Wheels. It took us about an hour and a half to deliver our 8 boxes. Kylah had on her beautiful red heart necklace for Valentine's Day (you can see it in the first picture) - she was a great helper! Thanks for coming with me Kylah!

Kylah had to walk up the street a while to find the perfect bushes for me to take a picture of her in front of. Loved it!

Half way through our deliveries, I found out that Makena wasn't feeling well and had stayed home from school. After I took Kylah home, I picked Makena up from her dad's and brought her home. (She was supposed to be going with a friend to Sun River for the weekend, but wasn't going to make it.) I made her some soup and tucked her in (on the couch) to read. I had to run to Costco for some 'necessities' and then had to be at my CASA child's school for a meeting. His teachers had only great things to say - which made me very happy to hear! It's such a great feeling to know that this boy is finding his forever home to love and care for him like he should be.

I then had a few errands to run and a quick stop in to Trader Joe's. Because I was eager to get home, (I felt like I had been gone all day) I did some very fast shopping. But, during my shopping trip...I got hit on! In a hurry...and not expecting that at all...I grabbed my items and ran out the door. It was after 5:30pm when I finally got back home...totally unusual for me! I don't like being gone all day, that's for sure.

I made dinner and now we're watching Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. If you haven't seen it, cute movie! PG-13, good music and funny. (Cover your eyes at the toilet scene tho!!)

OH - Jamie brought the Wii Fit home for us for Valentine's Day!! I've been waiting for weeks - can't wait to actually use it! (Even though I'm not eager to see my fat-self Mii.)

Happy Friday the 13th! I also hope everyone has a very Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow! I will be at the Girl Scout Cookie warehouse for 4 or 5 hours and then I'll be spending the day with Makena & Jamie. Just the two people I want to spend that very day with! I love you both!

Portland at night

After the girls went home, Jamie & I headed downtown. My camera class was shooting some night photography - I begged Jamie to go with me. Again, more of my favorite photos - the rest are at Amber's Photos at right menu or www.picasaweb.google.com/amberzpix (you can view the photos best by looking at them in a slideshow). I was playing with shutter speed (I did not use a flash in ANY of these photos) and reflection. A tri-pod has to be used at these settings or everything is blurry. One of the "ideas" is to keep the background clear/focused and then the moving objects are blurred.

This guy was playing his guitar out front of Nordstrom. He said he was trying to get a little extra money before he left on a trip to Europe.

The red light is the tail-light of a car that had just driven by.

Jamie doesn't look too excited in this photo, but after a snack and warm drink from Starbucks he was much happier!

This is a window display at Nordstrom. I am across the street.

This is the window display as I caught it (by accident and I was totally excited!) through a blurred window of the Max train.

Another window at Nordstrom, from across the street.

Then I took a picture of the reflection of the window above from a See's Candies window. I had to be very low to the ground.

There was very minimal light here and I liked how the pictured turned out so warm.

Around the Arlene Sch. Concert Hall there are posts separating the people waiting from the people walking on the sidewalk. Each one of the posts has a different caricature on top. Again, very minimal light.

This is one of my very favorite photos of the night. I am across the street and pretty much sitting on the ground with my tri-pod and the only time I used my smaller lens (I couldn't fit in the entire sign otherwise). I wanted to also see the light post at the bottom left corner, I caught a cloud (yep, a cloud in the night sky) in the bottom right corner and I was able to get light off of the light post that was on my side of the street in the top right corner.

I kept trying to get a picture of this doorman from across the street, but he kept moving around so he was blurry in every picture. Finally, he stopped and pointed me out to his friend there - then he winked at me. I was able to get the photo - they were both smiling at me.

This is a reflection of the above picture from a coffee shop window.

This should be my last post for today. I had a lot of catching up to do! Another day of over 500 pictures on my camera - still loving it! Thanks for going with me Honey and helping me carry things!

We had dinner at Standfords afterwards. I had forgotten how much I like it there.