Texture Tuesday - Red Wagons

The theme for Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday challenge today is Red. I took this photo of some red wagons when I went apple-picking.

And my layers:

Sorry, no time to stick around today. I forgot to schedule this post ahead of time like I usually do, so I had to pop over here quick to get my photo up. Back to work tasks now!

Edit Me & Macro Friday - 9.16.11

Disclaimer: This is not my photo. I did not take it.
Copyright belongs to the original photographer:
Kathryn from Our tiny BIG Life

SOOC:

My ACR edit:

And my final edit:

To get the vintage feel in ACR: increase warmth/fill light/brightness/vibrancy, slide tint to the left, and decrease contrast/exposure.

After that, I opened in PSE8 to run a high pass filter. I also added an artistic watercolor filter and a texture from My 4 Hens (one layer on overlay @ 30% and one layer on soft light @ 90%). Lastly, I used the CoffeeShop Web Color Block It action to add the color block.


And here is my photo for Macro Friday:

And an update on my life... ?

Sure, why not?!

Umm, let's see: I started traveling for work 2 days ago, although my body refuses to accept it. The long days, the hours spent in the car, the insane amount of coffee I am drinking, the increased pressure on my feet/hips/back from standing... I guess my 5th year of this lifestyle will be the hardest one to acclimate to. Don't get me wrong; it's still oodles of fun and I love it. It's just that transition period that's kicking me in the booty. I spent the past 10 months sitting in my comfy chair, in my little office, getting lazy. Now I have to get back in gear for 2 months of a completely different life. For those of you who don't get it, I mean life as a college admissions counselor. I plan on capturing 'A Day in My Life' at some point this fall, which will give you a much better understanding of it.

Speaking of fall, it's definitely starting here in southeastern New York. The leaves have already started changing color. I splurged at Old Navy the other day and bought myself a new fall jacket, just in time, too! The days are less humid; the nights are cooler. I'm ready to turn the AC off and throw open the windows, although Jon is not too keen on the idea. It seems that nerdy gamers don't enjoy fresh air like crazy hippies do.

Speaking of Jon, I love referring to him as "my husband" or "hubby." Looking at his ring makes my heart giggle. We are truly enjoying married life together! It took awhile to get to used to being married; however, now, we are embracing it. We're cooking-dinner-together, clothes-strewn-on-the-floor, lazy-Saturday-TV-on-dvd-marathons married. And we are planning to enjoy this period of lives as much as we can. For a certain period of time. Before changing it up with babies or houses or the like.

I know you all want to know, because that's what happens when people get married. Generally, they have babies and/or buy a house. And yes, we want babies and a house. Just not yet.

Well, that was kind of a lie. We love babies (and houses) and want them now. Except that we don't want them yet. So we're waiting. And while we kinda sorta have a plan for the future, we're more inclined to go with the flow for now. We want to see life has in store for us.


Oh wow, I just previewed this post and realized it's kinda long. I'll end it with just one more thing: I updated my 30 by 30 list! Go check it out.

i heart faces Challenge - In the Orchard

The theme this week for i♥faces is In the Orchard. I go apple picking with my family every October, and I always take lots of pictures. Here's a selfie of me climbing a tree standing firmly on the ground to pick apples.

Things I Love on Thursday - 10.7.10

I always want to share things with my fellow bloggers, so I try to mix them in with my regular posts. But I get so disorganized, and I can never remember what I have (or haven't) posted. So I am going to do what some other bloggers do and post it once a week. It'll be Things I Love on Thursday.



First up, we have some music. I am seriously loving the song Give A Little by Hanson. Really, I love all the tracks on their newest album, Shout It Out. I listen to it on repeat while driving for work. But this song, more than the others, has had me shimmying my hips and waving my arms as much as one can while trapped behind a seatbelt.

This video is just a photo slideshow, so you don't have to watch it. Just press play, keep reading the rest of the post, and try not to dance too wildly, especially if you're in a public place (like me, as I'm in B&N typing this up).



While you enjoy the music, you should go check out Mila's Daydreams, a blog in which a creative SAHM tries to imagine her daughter's dreams.

(Credit to Adele Enerson)

Now, I know that I gripe and complain often about New England weather. It's just too cold for me when it's not summer. And fall is my least favorite season. But sometimes, it's totally worth it. I mean, look at the colors in the photo below. I do so love New England autumns.



One good thing about fall is hot apple cider. I mean, apples in general are pretty tasty, and I love picking them. But the new hot cider from DD is just divine.

Cold weather is coming quickly, so I have been getting out my sweaters and winter clothing. I have to dress in business clothing for work, and my wardrobe has been a bit lacking in that area lately, especially because most of my winter clothes are from college. But who has enough money to buy a new wardrobe these days?? Certainly not me. Luckily, Old Navy has these wonderful sales going on. I got 2 skirts, 2 sweaters, and some socks, all for just under $100. I love saving money!

I'm hoping to splurge a bit soon and get these adorable sweater boots.



That's all I have for today. Let me know if you love the same things as I do!

Catching Up...

I had 700+ unread posts in my Google Reader. It has taken me 4 days (since I didn't do any reading on Saturday) to get it down to just 5 unread posts. I haven't really been commenting much, but I do hope to get back to regular commenting within a few days. So, I AM reading, even if you don't hear from me.

The reason I didn't do any reading on Saturday is that Jon and I had our engagement party. It was a backyard barbecue at my parents' house with a beachy theme. It was so nice to have all of my bridesmaids together, since one of them is my cousin that lives in NJ and I only get to see her 2-3 times a year. It was a wonderful day full of love and laughter. I wish I could have an engagement party every weekend! I never shared our engagement photos, so here are my favorites:









As I've mentioned before, I travel A LOT for work. I cover the entire state of Connecticut on my own, as well as the western half of Massachusetts. My territory has been expanded this year to include Rhode Island and New Hampshire, and my MA area was shifted further east. I start going out on the road on September 13th, and I don't end until Thanksgiving. Depending on how many events I am attending, and the internet at my hotels, blog posts from me will be either very often, or few and far between. I kinda went cold turkey on memes and photo challenges. Remember when I used to enter 7 or 8 a week? Well, I haven't entered one in almost 2 weeks! It certainly has been hard to avoid them, but I need to get used to it. Those 11 weeks of travel will be here before I know it, and I certainly won't have as much time at my computer as I do now.



1. If you could host a Reality TV show, which one would it be? Big Brother! I watched that show when it first started. I don't anymore, but it's the most interesting show to me. Or America's Next Top Model. ANTM marathons are perfect for lazy days.

2. Do you put your seatbelt on before or after you start the car? Usually after, but sometimes I get distracted and try to start driving before I even take my keys out of my purse.

3. Shave or hair removal cream? The hair removal creams all smell just awful, so I'll stick with shaving for now... Until I can get it all laser-removed!

4. What's your favorite feature in a house? New-ish appliances and updated bathrooms.

5. What is your favorite "Fall" scent? Wood smoke.

6. What tv show are you looking forward to seeing the most this Fall?? In the fall, I watch Family Guy and Hoarding: Buried Alive, and ANTM (if it's a new cycle).

7. Personal Shopper or Personal Chef? Chef. I can shop just fine on my own, THANKYOUVERYMUCH.

8. What is the first word that comes to mind when you think of "Fall"? Leaves changing colors.... Oops, that's 3 words. Sooo, just 'leaves.'

YouCapture - Sky

YouCapture is run by Beth over at I Should Be Folding Laundry,
and this week's theme is sky.


Winter sky

Spring sky

Summer sky

Fall sky





And now, a bit about writing. I tried out NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November of last year. This a challenge of sorts in which everyone writes a 50,000 word (175 pages) novel in 30 days. I was very confident that I would be able to get it done. I started off writing everyday, sometimes more than the planned ~1,670 words per day. After about a week, I faltered. I tripped over the plot, the characters ran away, and suddenly, I was left with just a quiet setting, no rising action and no climax in sight. I stopped. Even after I took a few days off to simply look around, maybe find some hidden conflict, I couldn't get back on track.

I ended up with just over 12,700 words. Wow, I am horrible at this whole "meeting a goal" thing. I guess traveling for work made me busier than I thought.

Life goes on.

Now, I am gearing up to participate in the same event, only run by different people. This one is called BuNoWriMo (Burrow Novel Writing Month). Same goal - 50,000 words in 30 days. I was going to simply continue the first novel, but I've been reading through it. As much as I want to finish it, I feel like pushing myself to write it when I'm not ready, is just going to make it worse. I'd rather go back to it when I'm ready, and when it's ready for me. Until then, I've got several other ideas. I just have to pick which one I want to write!