I know, seriously adorable, right?

Our son recently got a puppy too. This gorgeous Australian Shepard, Louie…and to make things even crazier…his roommate got a Chesapeake Bay retriever, Hudson.

That’s going to be one crazy apartment, isn’t it?

Anyway, we were all about puppy playdates this month. And belly rubs…and playing tug-a-war with our other puppy, Maggie.

No, I didn’t get much accomplished this month except puppies…why do you ask??

Could you resist this face??

Hop over to  Los Angeles Photographer, Amy Shertzer and see what she has been up to this month, then click along out blog circle and see what this month held in store for all our friends in our Ten on Ten group.

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is
to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.
~  Marcus Aurelius

Carpe Diem

When I was growing up, I was never a morning person. I’d fight for every second of sleep I could wrestle from the morning. But my father? He is, was, and probably has been a morning person since the day he was born.

I’d stumble down to the breakfast table with my dad sitting cheerfully in his chair eating his breakfast. He’d say something bright and chipper to me. Quite often it was Carpe Diem–seize the day. I’d say some typical snide teenager remark back at him, “sure, whatever.”

Now that I’m all grown up–no really–I love the mornings. I get up early. I love to see the morning sky slowly color up with pinks and yellows as the sun rises. I love to get my cup of coffee and watch the birds out the windows of my office. I love to watch the morning sun paint the flowers and leaves with a delicate warm light.

Shockingly, I do love to carpe diem.

Okay, I confess–I’m still not much of a talker until I’ve had a cup of coffee or two, but I do love my early mornings.

(I had a hard time deciding on which photograph to use. Loved them both, but the first one shows the morning sun and shadows and I just love that. But I’m posting my second choice, just because. Taken with my lensbaby lens.)

Enjoy the other great Fine Art Friday photographs by hopping around our blog circle. Visit Story of Life Photography, NJ, fine art friday

This is the first time in about 10 years that my lilac bush has bloomed. It met with an unfortunate tree cutting down incident about 10 years ago…we moved what was left of the bush and it never bloomed again. Each year in spring, I eagerly await for it to bloom. Year after year, I am so disappointed. Each year I wrote about my eager anticipation and eventual disappointment at my personal blog, Wine on the Keyboard.

Finally, this year, after almost giving up hope, she bloomed!! Isn’t she beautiful?? So, of course, I chose to capture the beauty of a lilac bloom for our Fine Art Friday this month. Jump over to Story of Life Photography Fine Art Photography, Northern NJ to see what Dalia came up with this month for our Fine Art challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

I had a hard time deciding between that photo and the next one, because in my mind I wanted it to be two glasses…since my husband and I love to sit out on the deck and have a martini in the summer. But I was drawn to those small splash bubbles in the single glass, so went with that. Here is my two glass take on the martini splash. (And, yes, we have those two little cute single shakers for our martinis)

I did like how the lemon twist shows better in this photo than the first one.

I also tried red wine, but never really got one that did it for me. I think if I used a smaller glass it would have swirled into it better…but it bugs me when I see red wine served in a small wine glass…not my fault that I’m a wine glass snob. My sister owns a wine shop in St. Louis…

I also had it one one of our wrought iron tables and the top wasn’t exactly level and it was driving me crazy! But I wasn’t about to be splashing red wine around on a nice tabletop!

Yes, I did notice that all my splash attempts involved alcohol….hm. Well my husband and I had a nice afternoon “cleaning up” the photography set ups!

Jump over to Stacey Siegal | Longboat Key Photographer and see what she came up with for her splash photo challenge this month!

So, I’m tired of the endless gray days of the midwest winter. Had a chance to go see my parents in sunny Palm Desert for a quick visit. Ah. Sunshine. Warm weather. And did I mention sunshine? So, to break those winter blues for you…I present you with my Fine Art photo for this month.

ESCAPE

I just love the colors. The clouds in the sky. Oh, and did I mention the sunshine? Loved to see the tall palm trees just scrape the sky and the clouds. Sigh.

Oh, this was my second choice for this month. Loved this little coyote guy that sat at the edge of the patio.

HOWLING AT THE MOON

Have fun seeing what each person in the group came up with! Jump on over to Story of Life Photgraphy a fabulous photographer in Bergen County NJ see her Fine Art Friday.

I can’t believe how yummy it is! I slice it in half lengthwise, place it sliced side down in a glass pan with a bit of water and bake it in the oven for about 45-60 minutes. Then just scoop/scrap out the “meat” of the squash with a fork. Makes wonderful “spaghetti” noodles. Here it is with a marinara and sausage sauce. It has a wonderful nutty flavor and texture.

I also made the squash up and then heated the “spaghetti” noodles in a bit of olive oil and italian spices. Splashed on a bit of balsamic vinegar. That was excellent too. My new favorite veggie. Spaghetti Squash.

As an aside, my camera was in the repair center to get the focus fixed on it…hopefully… I used my backup Canon 40D on these photos and once I got my groove back with it, I will say the old girl still does me proud. A bit weak in the higher ISO department, but I still love that camera. I did have to steal it back from my husband though. He’s been using it. Oops!

Jump over to Tiffany Dahle from Develop to see what she came up with for this month’s Food Photography Challenge.

Quite often I’ll go looking for props that the colors coordinate. Just love those white bowls with the cute little teal bowties on them!

I also look for matching napkins, towels, or fabric to go with a color I pick out. I admit, I have a thing for crochet edged towels.

Even better when the colors I pick out work well together! I also use that feed sack cloth shown here under the yellow towel for many of my more rustic shots. Very versatile.

I’m always on the lookout for simple white dishes. Sometimes a food just demands a simple dish that doesn’t compete with the colors of the food. Oh, and the cute red tasting spoon? 75 cents at Pier One. They have them in white too.

I love the unusual shape of this white bowl with the small cut out circle in it. The little bowls are used to show different ingredients. The white bowls were from the clearance area at TJMaxx. The cute white plates with the pale green edging? Well, I just loved them, so they came home with me. Haven’t used them on a shoot yet.

I found this tea towel (yes, with the crochet edge) and my husband spied this white platter with the black edging. He’s getting pretty good about my numerous antiquing trips. I shared about one of our antiquing trips on this post.  Oh, the tiny milk bottle was from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Isn’t it adorable?

I love finding antique silverware. Mismatched. A few pieces matching. Whatever catches my eye. Love the texture of this crocheted doily. Always looking for simple layers and textures to add to my food photography shots.

Just a few of my recent food photography props that I found. It’s all about the thrill of the hunt for me too. I don’t spend much money on the props. If they are expensive I lose all “thrill” of the shopping expedition. While I’m not much of a mall shopper or clothes shopper…point me in the direction of an antique mall or flea market and I’m your woman!

Anyway, I give you THE JOURNEY

As a surprisingly apropos photo…this is what we saw as my husband and I headed out. We decided to go antiquing…a past time we both enjoy. We weren’t sure which direction we were heading, or which antique mall we were going to. This intersection decided for us.

We drove about an hour or so south of St. Louis to St. Mary’s Antique mall in, you guessed it, St. Mary’s. It’s in an old school and huge and always has the most interesting things.

I was looking for some interesting food photography props for the monthly food photography and styling challenge group I’m in. Here are just a few of my finds:

Such a great time. Then we headed back north to St. Genevieve to eat in one of our favorite places- a cute little restaurant, The Anvil. Look at their amazing wooden bar across the length of the restaurant.

They serve the coldest beer there. The. Coldest.

But my favorite? Their onion rings! So delicious!!

I know! Don’t they just make you want to drive to St. Genevieve right now and dive into a plate of onion rings? So yummy.

We headed back out driving, chatting and watching the scenery.

I absolutely love our slow, wandering, antiquing, road trip days.

(It was hard to pick just 10 photos from the day!) Hope you enjoyed seeing a glimpse of our life!

Hop over to Rachel Noah’s blog to see her 10 on 10. She’s a friend an fabulous Vancouver WA photographer.

I believe in pink.
I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner.
I believe in kissing, kissing a lot.
I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong.
I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls.
I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.
~ Audrey Hepburn

FINE ART FRIDAY

Fine Art Photography: “photographs that are created in accordance with the creative vision of the photographer as artist” according to the wikipedia definition.

I joined a group of talented photographers who are hoping to expand our horizons and travel away from our portrait businesses for awhile each month and capture a fine art image. Each month, on the last Friday of the month, we’ll post our vision of a fine art photo. We’ll explore different types of photography and take time to capture an image that is just for us.

Take a look at what the talented Tracy Tisdale, a Pensacola FL Photographer came up with for our Fine Art Challenge this month. Click on through the blog circle and see some amazing images. Thanks for joining us!

I shot these in natural light on a day when the sun kept going in and out, darting and dodging behind the clouds. Settings on my camera that were correct at the time, quickly changed to wrong in a blink of an eye. Settings for this shot were 1/100, f 5.0 with my 100mm macro, and ISO 1000. Love how my camera handles the higher ISOs.

Here is a pull back shot of my setup.

This is simply my desk in my office with a white foam board behind the fruit…held up by some clamps I stole borrowed from my husband’s woodworking shop. The window is directly behind me with the sun coming in at an angle.

I first tried for a bright sunlight making-lemonade-in-the-summer feel. (Even though it’s the dead of winter here in the midwest.) I never could get the exact feel I was going for with harsh sunlight shadows and bright yellow lemons.

One of my many rejects:

It also bugged me that I didn’t notice that the slice in front had a crazy smashed in side to it. Changed that up later in my shoot.

Anyway, not one to let all those sliced up lemons go to waste…I rewarded myself at the end of my shoot with this yummy beer:

Be sure and check out what the other photographers in our Monthly Food Photography Challenge came up with. Visit Stacey Siegal, a Longboat Key Photographer, to see her take on our challenge.