Handy Photo Overload

I am trying to get back into the swing of things. We have had one busy, busy month. At times I doubt my abilities to handle so much "busy".............. but that's a whole other post!
We recently got back from our annual Fall Break trip to Grammy and D's. They relocated to the foothills of Tennessee a couple of years ago. And man does it make for a nice, beautiful, fun filled, affordable trip! WooHoo!!
I had one goal and one goal only for this trip. I wanted to take a hike. Not a baby hike. Not a Mt. Kilimanjaro hike. A hike that would be doable for the little women and push us a little physically as well. We did. It was awesome. It was probably a couple of miles. It got the heart rate up. And we all loved it! Loved it! Loved it!
We like to explore and boy is the area packed full of places to explore!

Day One:

We just went up Grammy & D's back hill. You see down there it is just a hill. Not in our hometown. It is a mini mountain! It was fun.
Ainzli just ran around. She is one busy girl. She tried to break limbs and destruct trees. You know, things she enjoys best.
Ms. Blue was on the hunt for moss and fungi.

Our treasures. 

That is what we call them. 

Treasures.

Ms. Blues work of art. 

Look at those sweet little delicate hands. 

So proper.:)

Day Two:


The hike. It was wonderful. I love my little women.:)

Ainzli and Grammy. 

Walking the trail. 

Ainzli can wear Grammy's shoes. 

Please tell me you remember how cool it was when you could

finally wear an adults shoes!?

I have never, not ever, seen a fungus like this. 

B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L!

These are my new leg warmers. 

They are the arms from a sweater I bought at Goodwill.

I saw the idea somewhere on the world wide web sometime ago.

I always think I will remember where I get ideas so I can credit them, but if it doesn't happen

within the hour it is hopeless!

By the way, I don't think everyone is sold on this total awesomeness :)

(My oldest daughter!)

Hmmmmm! 

Saw this at a hotdog joint.

I sent it to my husband.

Grammy/Ava and I tasted wine at the local winery.

Not too bad. 

The best part was the location.

Breathtaking!

Day Three:

A walk in Rogers Creek Valley. This church sits right around the bend from Grammy and D's. It is so peaceful. I joke that when we go visit I could sit on the couch the entire time. Not true, but I don't think I would have to leave the valley.

 This is funny. 

Especially now that I see it here.

I am wearing the other half of my leg warmer idea. 

Oh, Autumn:)

 

This is Rogers Creek. 

It also runs through Grammy and D's property.

We so like to play in and around the creek. 

In the creek happens in the summer.

If you are Ainzli it could happen year round!

Aaahhh. That was nice looking at all these pictures. Now I must get back in the groove.
Back to life.
Back to reality!

Autumn:)

Handy Photo Tuesday: A Template

Instagram is so much fun. I am loving the new update. It is much easier and seems to be a little faster (the shutter speed). There would be times I would get frustrated with "missing" the shot.
I have a little over 600 pictures/videos on my phone. It is my camera for most of the day to day shots. A "Handy" little point and shoot.
The other day I was going through some old pictures that Shannon's mom gave him. There have been quite a few different sizes of standard prints over the years. There was the 3x3 inch square. The 3x3 inch square with rounded edges. These two are from the late 70's and 80's. I do like the square. Now there is the standard 4x6 or 3.5x5, these have been the standard for quite sometime. Then there is the Polaroid. The lovely Polariod. The picture that comes directly out of your camera. Instantly. With an ok product. The best part for me is the cool size and border it produces.

The entire Polaroid print is 3.5 x 4.25. The white border on the three sides is about an 1/8 of an inch. The bottom is about 3/4 of an inch. The actual picture is about 3.15x3.15 inches.  I realize this is really boring information, but there is a point.
I am going to convert my Instagram photos into Polaroid like photos!!!! How totally cool. I am super excited. It is going to be kind of time consuming, but I just know that it will be worth it.

Below is my template. It will be a 3.5x5 inch print. Here I can get a print for .19! In Photoshop, I am  dragging my Instagram shot onto this template. Adjusting it with free transform. I put the edges of the file inside the red lines. In Photoshop the red lines are just guides. Here, for the example, I actually painted them in. If you would be interested in the "real" template just let me know. I would be more than happy to email it to you. The bottom black rectangle is the part I will have to cut off once I have the prints. I then save it. And poof, a Polaroid in the making. It will be time consuming. I am sure I could look hard enough and find a print place that would do it all for me. But here's the thing: I have to do it on the budget. You know? Maybe you don't know. Lucky you!:)

Here are a couple of examples. The top and two sides are nicely inside the invisible guides. So the white around the edge will be perfect. The bottom will need to be trimmed. I will do this with my slide cutter. Not sure if that is the correct name, but that's what I call it.

When all is said and done they will be up on a shelf in a little wooden crate like box. Easily accessed by growing little women. Just another little way to have our day to day's on hand for years to come.
Oh yes. And by the way. If you know of somewhere on the far edges of the beautiful world wide web of a Polaroid making place please let me know. I would check it out in a heartbeat.!

Autumn:)

Handy Photo Tuesday: NHRA Edition

We went. I was giddy. We were able to see and do things that I had only seen other people do from the outside of the ropes. Thank you Sandvik and Brevini Wind!:) What an experience.

For those of you who do not know what NHRA stands for: National Hot Rod Association.
Basically it is for people who like to go fast. We are talking super fast.
For example, going 300 miles per hour in one quarter mile. Woohoo!!!!
It's awesome. It's an experience. It's something that gets in your blood.

We sat in the stands. 

Ear plugs in. 

Watching the first round of qualifiers for the day.

These particular cars are in the "Top Fuel" class.

 

After watching the racing for awhile we headed to one of the four VIP Tents for DSR (Don Schumacher Racing). We had lunch. On either side of the tent were the race cars, drivers, and the semi trailers they use as their garages at the races. It amazes me how they set all of this up for just a weekend, but they seem so permanent.

Our guide for the day came up to us and asked if we wanted a tour. I said, "absolutely." Not really knowing exactly what that meant. We get up and he walks us right through the doorway that goes directly to the cars, drivers, and their trailers. I could not believe it!

 Shannon and I. 

Standing directly beside the body of 

Matt Hagan's Funny Car. 

"Funny Car" is another class of drag racing.

 Matt Hagan and myself. 

He is up and coming. 

Very nice man. Told us his back story. 

Showed us all the in's and out's of the car.

We were shown his clutch and they told me no pictures.

Guess I look like a spy for another team!

Ron Capps and myself.

I just know my sister is coveting this picture!

He is not up and coming.

He's There!

If you know drag racing. You know Ron Capps. 

Shannon asked me what the best part of the day was.
I told him, hands down, seeing every aspect of the inside of their trailers.
These are complete garages on wheels.
Anything you can think of to get one of these high tech machines on the track competitively,
is in these trailers.
The crew can change the complete working systems on one of these cars in less than an hour.
It is truly amazing.
The trailers are completely hooked together with very large doorways.
These particular ones below are four wide.
Oh yeah and they are spotless. Completely spotless. Crazy!

These are the guys I hung 

out with for the day.

Me. 

Being Me. 

Which can be just down right goofy.

In this picture we are inside part of Don Schumacher's personal trailer.

This gentleman owns four of these cars. 

He is pretty much "the man".

The shoes were good. 

Love them.

I cannot wait to break them totally in.

Yes. It has to be posted to have a shirt and shoes on.

I noticed the further into the day we got

the less shirts I saw.

He could have taken anyone. 

He took me.

I love him. 

Autumn:)

Handy Photo Tuesday

This "Handy" Photo Tuesday is dedicated to my little Stella Macaroni. She was five on June 15th. She is the bestest dog in whole wide world. Yes, she is.  She is definitely one loved canine:)!

She absolutely loves to go anywhere with us. You say "bye-bye" and it is all over. She plays ball. Soccer ball that is. She can carry a ball on her snout across our front yard. She is the neighborhood greeter. Everyone knows her. Our next door neighbor makes her and another dog their own treats. Makes me wonder why in the heck she would want to come home! But, she does.

Her ears are huge! They are always standing erect. 

She is a very well marked B.T. (Boston Terrier!)

Instagram with Inkwell filter.

You say her name and she tilts her head in the cutest way.

I am telling you, she could be in a commercial!

Instagram with Earlybird filter.

Oh my goodness. This one is my favorite!

"Let me in with you, Lillie! Please!Please!"

She loves to get up on the side of the bathtub.

She would get in if we would let her.

She likes to take a bath.

She will also lick the outside of the bathtub.

Makes us nuts!

It's a super annoying sound!

Instagram with Lomo-fi filter.

Autumn:)

Handy Photo Tuesday

Well, I don't have anything that consistantly reoccurs on this blog. This could be the one!
I have been thoroughly enjoying the iPhone camera. Again, it is wonderful.
So when the little women got home today I wanted to capture, without a whole lot of fuss, what they are doing. Sometimes with my "big" camera I try to get the "perfect" shot (whatever the heck that is!) and just end up annoying them. So with the phone, that tends to not happen.

Here's what I got today:

Immediately, after walking in the front door, we gather at the breakfast bar for a quick chat.

Love it. 

Love it.
Love it.

Ms. Blue then quickly goes to her bedroom. Shuts the door completely. Enters her extravagant world of make believe. Her imagination is infinite. After a bit she emerges. She then sits at the homework table to doodle.

 Lillie doodles. She doodles well. Very geometric doodles.

Instagram with the X-Pro ll filter

Ainzli places everything in her room. She gets her papers out and brings them to me. She is very good about that. I then tell her she can play outside for a bit with a friend. I mention getting in the pool. She takes me up on it with haste!

Ainzli floats. Beautifully floats.

Instagram with the Hefe filter.

Hope you like my "handy" photos:)


Autumn:)

Handy Photo Tuesday

I love having a phone (Handy: that is what the Europeans call their cell phones. "Handies") that you can take good pictures with. It truly has made my want/need for a point-&-shoot obsolete. I don't tend to download the pictures with any sort of urgency, but I needed to share some of them here.
I love looking through my camera roll and laughing at some of the pictures or videos that Ms. Blue has taken. She will take 5 videos in a row of just her feet/face/hand/floor. The funny thing is, I will hear myself in the background talking. I think I sound so odd on video, let alone on video I don't know is being taken.
I will have to be honest, I have heard myself yelling. That was the worst. I sound like that? No, not me? Yes, you Autumn! Dang it! Blasted videos!
I love the camera on the iPhone. It takes great pictures. Decent timing (I mean the delay you can get with a not so fast camera. You know what I mean, when you totally miss the shot!). Nice zoom. Easily switches back between camera and video. I have also downloaded Instagram. It has great filters on it. They are so fun to play with. My only complaint is that the pictures are always square. I love square pictures. I also really like having the options of not having square pictures. So here are a few of my faves.

One day this past spring Ms. Blue and I played at the park. The grass was so green and beautiful. These little white flowers were everywhere. 

This is an Instagram photo with no filter. 

Ainzli snapped this picture at Lillie's piano lesson. I just love it. So simple, but what a story. 

Instagram with the Inkwell filter.

 This is the only photo posted straight from the iPhone camera. They have very nice resolution. They are true 4x6 sizes. Color stays very true. I would expect nothing less from an Apple product!:)

 This shot is from the top of the Eiffel Tower at Kings Island. It was about 8'oclock at night, so I was not sure how well it would come out. I think it looks nice. 

Instagram with the Hefe filter.

 Manhole cover. Found after leaving Ribfest. I call this one "selfish".

Simple. Great Composition. Like. Love. 

Instagram with the X-pro II filter

Happy Tuesday!

Autumn:)