Project 52: Week Four {Imperfection}

The theme for week four was imperfection. As I walked through the house today, cleaning up toys and clothes from the kids, and little pieces of straw from the dog house, I thought "well hell, if that's not imperfection, I don't know what is."

Having two young kids and a messy spouse, my house is never spotless. I could spend every waking moment cleaning up, but I enjoy being down on the floor with my kids, playing, and singing, and rolling around, and wrestling. That means the clutter stays where it is for two or three more days and I'm quite okay with that. It's the imperfection in my life.

{Concert} Brad Paisley and The Band Perry

So last night, Eric and I went to the Brad Paisley concert. We LOVE him. One of our favorites, for sure. Scott McCreary (I'm not even going to look up the spelling of his name, sorry) from American Idol was there, along with The Band Perry. We didn't get there in time to see Scotty, but we did get to see most of The Band Perry, and Brad was simply amazing, as usual. This isn't our first time seeing him and once again, it was an awesome show!!! We had floor seats and I took my camera...here are some shots.

At one point, he walked around the entire floor area and was literally within arm's reach of us. Crazy!! Aisle floor seats definitely paid off!

Kendall {9 months}

I took some 9 month photos of Kendall the other day. While I thought they were cute, Eric noticed that the black shirt and tights with the black backdrop probably wasn't my best choice. He says it looks like her head is floating around in a sea of black. Oh well....it is what it is!  :)  And she's smiling and showing off her teeth, so I would call it a success.

Project 52: Week Three {Inspiration}

This week's theme was quite challenging for me.  Obviously there are a lot of things that inspire me in life, whether personally, creatively, at work, with my kids, etc. One thing that I kept coming back to was symmetry.

Symmetry:

A sense of harmonious or aesthetically pleasing proportionality and balance.

Things that are geometrically symmetrical catch my eye.  And since I don't have (quick) access to a stunning architectural example, I had to find something in my life that represented symmetry. And this week sucked for that with all the sickness in my house.  But here is one example I found around my house:

Project 52: Week Two {Life}

This week's theme is "Life".  I actually took several photos to be considered for this week.  I have one favorite, and another that I really like. So I'm cheating by sharing two. But that's ok - it's my blog and I can do it.  ;)

Here is life, to me.

These two make up everything that life consists of for me. They are in my every thought throughout the day. I love the weekends the most because they come into my bed and the giggling begins!

Here is another shot from this week that I really liked.

Cute

No further explanation is required.

Project 52: Week One {Resolution}

So I decided to participate in a photo challenge for 2012. One for just me, and one that will, hopefully, boost my creative juices. They are seriously lacking right now. I don't feel ... challenged. I need to change up a lot of things with my photography - angles, locations, website, to name a few. So over at this awesome lady's website (http://myfourhensphotography.com) is a Project 52 Photo Project for this year (52 weeks, 52 photos). There are many different kinds of Project 52. However, since I get most of my Photoshop Actions from this site, I figured I might as well give some props to them and participate in their challenge.

This week's theme (though the week is over and I'm sneaking this one in) was Resolution.  I actually made three resolutions this year (I never make any):  lose 25 pounds, be financially responsible per Dave Ramsey, and travel more.  The following is a photo I snapped that represents these three resolutions:

Stay tuned next week for the new theme!

Sarah & Tony {engagement}

This shoot was last weekend and it certainly wasn't one of my favorites....I'm not a huge fan of the location (MK Nature Center), the lighting was not ideal, to say the least, and I just didn't have a good vibe with the couple. So when it came to editing, I wasn't inspired. This wasn't my best work and I really need to kick it into gear for everything I have coming up this year.

Here are a few samples from the shoot.

Goosebumps

Music moves me and this song is incredible. Sounds like his "old" music, which was so well written.

Christmas Project #4 - FINISHED

Uh, Christmas is over, isn't it?  I still had one more project to do with Carter that we just couldn't cram in before Christmas arrived.  The gingerbread house!  And it seems like I have been telling him for days that "we'll do it tomorrow". Well, today was finally the "tomorrow" I had been promising. Better late than never, right? RIGHT?

So the little kit that he picked out so long ago was a little "townhouse" - no joke, that's what it really said on the box. And you had three different designs you could choose from, or you could design your own.  I don't think I've ever done a gingerbread house before, so designing my own seemed out of the question.  I will forever regret that decision.  I let Carter pick the design, and of course, it was the most complicated out of the three. Naturally. So here was our blank slate.

 First we had to do the beginning preparations. We rolled out the fondant, which was actually quite tasty.

 Then we began construction.  The door was first, per the instructions. And let me just preface the rest of the construction photos by saying, whoever designed the house for the photo on the box must have been a pastry chef....or they photoshopped the hell out of that house. No way was my frosting going to look all smooth and shiny, as depicted in the photo on the box. So already I'm a little pissed, but I keep reminding myself "Carter won't even notice, just keep going."

Next we rolled out and cut down some of the gum drops for the accents around the doorway, and for the windows. By this point, I'm thoroughly pissed off at this house. This was WAY more work that I thought it would be! At one point, I told Carter "this is just like scrapbooking, except you can eat it!" I was ready to stop construction and just eat the stupid house.

 But we forged on. More icing, more candy. More damn windows.

 A thousand little dots on the roof.  Really? Was it necessary? Yes, Carter told me....it has to look like the photo on the box, mom!

So I dotted the roof.

 Both freakin' sides.  ;)

 And suddenly we were done.  DONE!

 It's not a perfect house. I will admit that. It was a royal pain in my ass, but Carter had fun and that counts. However, I will never, EVER buy one of these things again. My Christmas season is complete without them. It will now go on the list of things to keep hidden from my children. Also on that list are Pojos and Chucky Cheese.  ;)