Team-Up Thursday: Happy

I didn't have a lot of time this week to capture this week's theme since we only decided on it yesterday. Luckily, I had something in mind right away. I have always been an extremely happy person and all of my friends know it takes a heck of a lot to get me angry. When I was younger, I was one of those kids in school where everyone asked, "Are you OK?" if I looked remotely serious because it was so out-of-the-norm for me not to be laughing or smiling. Everyone thought it was appropriate that I had a smiley face collection because it matched my demeanor and they would always think of me when they saw one on their travels. Therefore, I thought I'd break out one of my mugs from the collection for this week's "happy" shot since it has always made me smile.

I love the vibrant colors in Jody's shot this week. My shot was initially bold, but I chose to tone down the colors and go for more of a "muted" look this week. Even though our shots are very different, it made me laugh that once again we angled our shots in the same direction; both slightly to the left.

Check out Megan and Melody to see more Theme Thursday shots.

Team-Up Thursday: Close-Up

Jody and I decided to go with the group theme this week: Close-Up. I must admit - I thought it was going to be really easy to capture a close-up shot, but it ended up being a bit of a challenge. Originally, I was thinking of taking a close-up of something with a lot of detail or texture. I took a few shots, but they were all indoor so I wasn't happy with the outcome. Since the weather has been so beautiful lately, I decided to pop on my macro lens and go outdoors to try to capture the beginning of Spring. You'd think with the warmer weather the past few days I'd find a blossom of something. I searched a couple nearby parks, but everything was still pretty lifeless. I couldn't even find a tulip breaking through the ground. Anyway, I did find some nice color in this little bush I found. I have no idea what type of plant it is (my plant/flower loving mom would be ashamed). But hey, cut me some slack...I'm a photographer, not a gardener! Haha

It looks like Jody and I were on the same wavelength this week because she also chose to step out into nature to snag her beautiful flower shot. I like how both of our photos are angled in the same direction again this week and are in the same color family (pink/red). By the very direct lighting, it looks like Jody's shot was taken more midday, whereas my shot was captured towards the evening.

Check out Megan and Melody to see more Theme Thursday shots.

Best Shot Monday: Getting Ready for Softball

Since the weather has been warming up a bit, we decided to play a little "catch" with Emily to warm up for her upcoming softball league. She is catching the ball so much better than last year, and you can tell by her expression in the photos that she is thrilled with her performance too!

For more Best Shot Monday pics, head over to Tracey's Blog

Team-Up Thursday: Sign

I had to laugh when I received Jody's picture this week because we had the same idea. Our theme this week was "sign." I tried to get Emily to sign "I Love You" and Tyler to sign "Peace." Easy task, right? Yeah, not so much - Haha! Emily did her part perfectly, but it was impossible to get both of their hands signing in the same shot. Tyler would wave his hand around, signing "Peace" for what seemed like an eternity. But, never fail...just as I would pick up the camera to get the shot, he's stop completely!! So I just thought it was funny how we both tried to think a little outside the box with our theme. Jody nailed a beautiful shot in her attempt. Who doesn't adore close-ups of little hands?

Since the signing didn't pan out, I decided to seek inspiration once again throughout the streets of Philadelphia while walking to the train home. After looking at hundreds on street signs, traffic signs and retail store signs, I decided to snap a shot of the Hard Rock Cafe sign. I just love how the musical-themed restaurant has a guitar-shaped sign - clever! I also decided to kick it up a notch by putting a cool preset on the photo while editing in Lightroom.



Check out Megan and Melody to see more Theme Thursday shots.

Best Shot Monday: Gaze

Finally a beautiful and rather "warm-ish" weekend. Everyone else in my family shed their coats and just had sweatshirts on while we were at the park, but I still had to wear my peacoat. I'm always cold! All of the snow we received a couple weeks ago is just about gone and the ground is a muddy mess. Emily and Tyler had a blast running around the baseball field at the park, watching their feet slowly sink in the ground. Emily pretended it was quicksand. The grass wasn't quite as muddy, so we practiced hitting and fielding a little with Emily since she signed up for a proper softball team that starts the end of April. By "proper" I mean that they don't use a Tee anymore to bat; the coach pitches to the girls. And I thought last year's games were long...haha! We'll see how it goes. Tyler was running around the park randomly as we were playing, picking up a ball here and there or kicking the soccer ball. I managed to capture a shot when a group of puppies across the field caught his attention enough to stop him in his tracks.

For more Best Shot Monday pics, head over to Tracey's Blog

100th Day Celebration

After being cancelled twice due to all of the snow we recently got, Emily finally had her "100th day" celebration at school. I had never heard of such a celebration, but I didn't ask and just went with the flow. Emily had to decorate a T-Shirt with 100 objects to represent the 100 school days they've had so far. I thought it was a crazy regional thing, but I've read other blogs that talked about it as well so I guess it's done all over - who knew? Anyway, my mom came down to visit last month so I gave this task to her so she could have a little creative bonding time with Emily. Below is a picture of what they ended up with after all the gluing, sewing, etc.

The shirt isn't the only highlight of this picture, though. Notice the little "tuft" of hair in the middle of Emily's hairline. No, that's not extra-long "baby hair"; that's the result of Emily taking a pair of scissors at her after-school program and cutting her hair. I asked her, "Why on earth would you cut your hair, Emily?" She answered, perfectly calmly, "Because it keeps going in my face." Logical, right? I could have strangled her! Now she keeps complaining that "it looks weird when I wear a headband" and "the kids are going to laugh at me." I just keep nicely reminding her that she is the one who cut it. I'm going to call the hairdresser to see what can be done, but I'm sure we'll end up having to get bangs cut all around (or "fringe" as my British hubby calls it). She's never had bangs before, so who knows how it will turn out. To make things worse, Emily is the flower girl in a wedding coming up May 1st. There's never a dull moment...

Team-Up Thursday: Walk

I'm finally participating in my first Team-Up Thursday after Megan paired me up with Jody out in Iowa. It's been fun getting to know her a little and I look forward to all of our posts together.

I had a hard time with this week's suggested "walk" theme. I originally intended of thinking of a new theme until I got an email from Jody, telling me that her little girl just started walking. How perfect of a theme is that for capturing those little baby feet! You can't deny capturing moments like that.

Anyway, I ventured out into the streets of downtown Philadelphia after work, trying to capture some feet/legs in motion. For some reason I pictured the Beatles walking across Abbey Road when I thought of this theme. I tried to snap several shots of people walking across the crosswalk, but either their strides were off, there were annoying background distractions or...this sounds so silly...they had unappealing shoes. Haha! So, although I didn't get my Abbey Road shot, I managed to take an angled shot of some lady in mid-stride with some cool boots! Jody's picture is just precious and I thought it was neat how both of our pictures were "walking" in the same direction. They paired together well!



Check out Megan and Melody to see more Theme Thursday shots.

Best Shot Monday: Bounce Party

This past weekend we went to a birthday party at "Bounce U" in Allentown. Emily was a little cautious a couple years ago when she went to her first party at one of these places. She was probably around 2 or 3 years old and the slides were HUGE in comparison to the slides at the park. It took us until almost the end of the party to get her to try to go down one.
Tyler on the other hand, has always been fearless. He went to his first bounce party last year right after he turned 1. He was still too young to go on the big slides by himself, but he just loved going down them with my husband. He turned 2 this past December and was more than ready to try the big slides this past weekend - SOLO. Before I could catch him, he was already climbing up the little square steps leading up to the huge slide. I was a little nervous at first but then thought, What's the worst thing that could happen? He could fall back off the steps and land on the big puffy pillow-like base at the bottom. Everything is padded at this place! He struggled to get up at first with his tiny little legs, but made it to the top and flew down the slide sideways - laughing! Emily just stared at him coming down, astonished! One of the slides required them to come down in a potato sack, so Emily would help Tyler since he couldn't manage climbing up and holding the sack at the same time. As you can see below, they had a blast!

For more Best Shot Monday pics, head over to Tracey's Blog