Neato!

Thanks to Rebecca, I have found a new site to get tutorials for Photoshop. Jessica Sprague deals a lot with digital scrapbooking, something I haven't dared to try yet, but she also talks a lot about Photoshop. Lucky for me.

I've always wanted to know how to put color back into black & white photos... and now I do! Here's the one I did. What do you think? Does it look freaky? I just picked a photo that I knew his eyes really stood out in. I can't wait to try this on more pictures.

'Cause I ain't got nothin' to say...

Don't you love my grammar skillz? This has been floating around blogland, and since I don't really feel like I have anything interesting to say tonight, maybe I'll play along...

Where...

is your cell phone? In my purse
is your significant other? in bed, asleep
is your hair? on my head... duh!
is your mother? at home
is your father? at home
is one of your favorite things? my camera is sitting on the bill organizer in front of me
was your dream last night? I don't remember what I dreamt last night
can you get your favorite drink? just about any gas station or grocery store... Diet A&W Root Beer
are you right now? in the office
is your ex? married with kids
is your fear? in losing my husband or a child.
do you want to be in 6 years? staying home with Jonathan & sibling
were you last night? home
was the last place you drove? home from a playdate at the park
did you grow up? California, Missouri & Georgia
was the last place you ate? the living room
is (are) your TV(s)? living room, our bedroom & the office, yes we have too many tv's
are your pets? in my imagination I guess, we don't have any
is your computer? desktop in the office, laptop in the living room
is your mood? tired
is your oldest friend? probably at home in bed
is your car? the garage
is your wedding ring? on my finger
is your favorite store? I don't know if I can pick just one
is your favorite place to be in the summer? inside where there's air conditioning
was the last place you laughed? this afternoon... Jonathan was pulling the (not used) diapers out of the basket, opening them up & saying "eeewww". It was so funny!
was the last place you cried? at church on Easter, I think
are five places you go on the internet on a regular basis?
gwinnettareamommies.com
google reader
about a million blogs
mommy zone
myspace

Now you do it.... You know you don't have anything better to do! ;o)

progress report

Thanks to Photoshop I can make these *whatchamacallit's* where I put two photos on one page. (I obviously have no idea what it's called.) Anyway, I thought I'd put one together from before I joined WW & now. Most of the time when I look in the mirror I don't really see any difference in my body, but seeing these two pictures together helps. I still have a long way to go, but it feels good to see there's been progress made.

I could just kick myself...

This afternoon & evening we were at Chris' parents house while Chris & his dad changed the brakes on their Jeep & ours. It was really nice outside so Kaye, Jonathan & I sat out in the driveway while they worked. We had this tiger bubble maker that Chris' grandma bought & Jonathan was having a big time chasing the bubbles. Or as he says... bubbees! I'm totally going to buy one. Yes, it's the lazy way to do bubbles, but it will be great for the park.

While we were out there enjoying the weather & watching him play I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera. I would have been able to get some great shots of him just running around having a great time. At one point we were out there barefooted (is that right? Or should it just be barefoot???) & the bottoms of his feet were SO DIRTY! It would have made such a great scrapbook page, him out there playing & the bottoms of his dirty feet. You can bet I'll be dragging my camera back over there & letting him play in the driveway barefoot again to try and recreate it.

Tomorrow is the March for Babies event. It's a four mile walk, and I'm not really feeling prepared. I haven't been doing any sort of "training", but I'm hoping it won't be too bad. I'm walking with a few ladies from my moms group so we'll be able to chat. As far as I know there's no time limit so we can take our time. It starts at 10:00a. Maybe we'll finish before it gets too hot. Wish me luck!

Speaking of wishing me luck... I lost another 1.4 pounds at Weight Watchers this week! That puts my total lost at 33.4! If all goes well I should hit a big milestone next week... but I'll tell you about that later. ;o)

Well, I'd better get some rest for tomorrow. Since I was a slacker & didn't get any pictures today, I'll leave you with these from last year. He was such a chunky monkey!!!

Grey's is back!!!

A new episode of Grey's Anatomy is on right now! And I've planted my behind in front of the TV to partake of every. wonderful. second!

Family photos

Saturday we went back to our favorite portrait studio, Portrait Innovations. They always do such a great job there, though I didn't like our photographer as much this time as some we've had in the past. Our main purpose was to get Jonathan's 18 month pictures, but then we decided to get a family picture since it had been more than a year. Chris' dad wanted to get a picture of the 3 generations of "Manns", I think it turned out pretty good, don't you? As usual, it was difficult to choose which poses we wanted, so of course we came away with a HUGE amount of pictures. Now I just need to sit down & get them ready to mail. Maybe it can be my GOYBSPN project for the week.




I'm headed off to Weight Watchers in about an hour. Wish me luck. As usual I didn't do very well on Saturday. We'll see how it goes. I'll update later this afternoon...

Are you getting sick of this yet?

'Cause I'm not. ;o) I promise I'll do a real post soon.

If you're adept at Photoshop... can you give me some suggestions on how to "tone down" the light on Jonathan's face in the edited picture? I only know how to work with the whole photo, not just parts of it.

Okay, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Now this is what I'm talkin' about...

trying again

Apparently the photos aren't showing up in my last post. ;o( Let me try again...

Hi, my name is Misti...

and I'm addicted to Photoshop Elements. I say again... I *heart* Pioneer Woman's Photography blog. I'm learning so much from her tutorials and I'm so excited to try her tips. Here's what I did with this photo:

SOOC (straight out of camera)

just some minor tweaking... auto contrast & hard light. Good, but not great.

Using her new PSE tutorial... a bunch of stuff I can't explain. Better, but WAY too light.

Again using the tutorial... even better, but is it light enough?

Thoughts?

I took Jonathan to get his hair cut today. He didn't cry at all; though he came pretty close at one point. We went to a different place near the Mall of Georgia called Pigtails & Crewcuts . I didn't take my camera, but I will next time; he looked so cute sitting in the little airplane chair. I had planned to take an "after" shot when we got home, but never got around to it. I know, I know... bad mommy. I'll get one tomorrow & post it ASAP.

Well, it's past my bedtime...

somethin' to do

I got this off of Piper's blog & thought it sounded fun...

1.Put your music player on shuffle.
2.Press forward for each question.
3.Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn’t make sense. NO CHEATING!4.Bold the questions and with the answers, give your own comments on how it relates to the questions.
5.Tag some people.

So... let's play! :)
1. How are you feeling today? Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton - With Bells On… ha!

2. Will you get far in your life? New Kids On the Block – Valentine Girl… what?

3. How do your friends see you? Bon Jovi – Livin’ on a Prayer… I guess that could mean they think I pray a lot?

4. Will you ever marry? Vince DiCola – Training Montage from Rocky… well I’m already married, I guess I’m training Chris! Or he’s training me? Hmmm.

5. What is the favorite theme of your best friend? Chris Tomlin – Holy is the Lord… true

6. What is the story of your life? Passion Worship Band – Grace Falls Down… true again, always blessed by God’s grace

7. How was it like in high school? John Travolta & Christopher Walken/Hairspray – You’re Timeless to Me… um, ok

8.How can you advance in life? Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton – Once Upon a Christmas… live every day like it’s Christmas?

9.What is the coolest thing about your friends? Queen Latifah – Big Blonde & Beautiful… hahahaha

10. What's in store for the weekend? Kristian Stanfill – Jesus Paid it All… church is on the list

11. What song describes you best? C+C Music Factory – Gonna Make You Sweat… LOL

12. How about your grandparents?
Zac Efron, Nikki Blonsky, etc/Hairspray – Without Love… well some of my grandparents this could apply to.

13. How is your life going? Hillsong – From the Inside Out… a great worship song, I’m blessed

14. What song will play at your funeral? Candi Pearson-Shelton – Sing to the King… I do love this song

15. How does the world see you? Kimberley Locke – Have You Ever Been in Love?.... well, yes

16. Will you have a happy life? Passion Worship Band – Famous One... I do

17. What do your friends really think about you? Radiant Worship – You Are Holy… I doubt it

18. Are there people that secretly want you? Brittany Snow/Hairspray – The New Girl in Town… ?

19. How to make myself happy? Chris Tomlin with Christy Nockels – Glorious… praising God

20. What should you do with your life? Passion Worship Band – How Great Thou Art… again, praising God


Our church started a new Beth Moore Bible study tonight called Stepping Up. I think it's going to be great & I can't wait to see what God's going to do in my life through it.

playing outside

Since it stays light longer now, I thought we'd take Jonathan outside to play for a bit this evening. It was quite a bit cooler than I had expected, so we were only out there about 15 minutes, but he seemed to have a good time. And of course I had to take some pictures...




Little man(n) turned 18 months old yesterday if you can believe it! We're on the downhill slide to 2 years old. Where has the time gone? Jonathan is such a joy to be around. He's a very busy little boy; he loves to dance & sing and he talks all. the. time! Although, most of the time we have no idea what he's saying. Since we have his well baby visit on Tuesday, and I know they'll ask, I started a list of all of the words he can say:

Mama
Daddy
Doggie
Cow
Meow
Birdie (that's a new one from today!)
Juice
Bana (banana)
Please
Thank You
Uh-Oh
Oh-No
Go
Yoyo (yogurt)
Cookie
Toot toot (like a train, with hand motions & everything!)
Ball
I'm not sure how to write it out but he can say he wants to brush his teeth

I know that there are more than these, but I can't think of them. He's got quite the vocabulary, don't you think?

Yesterday I went scrapping with the girls. We reserved the common room in Rebecca's mom's apartment building and it was quite lovely. I wasn't too productive; I only did two pages, one of which I had A LOT of help from Rebecca & Jenni. Rebecca & I had a great time playing with Laurel's camera; we had a little photo shoot. I have to admit that I'm quite afraid of some of the pictures that might show up on other people's blogs. I'll just put this out there.... I have not so flattering photos too, and I'm not afraid to use them!

Well, I'm pretty tired, so I think I'll just head on out... until next time!

yes, it's 1:00am

and I'm messing around on the computer. I drank caffeine this evening... big mistake! I'm tired, but I can't get my brain to shut off; talk about frustrating. So, here I sit, surfing the net & playing around on PhotoShop Elements. I took this picture back in January & love it, but the color seemed off. What do you think? Do you like the edited one better? Can you tell the difference?

Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC) - I totally swiped that from Pioneer Woman Photography. Does it make me sound all official?

Edited in PSE.

Be honest... can you tell a difference? Is there something else I should do to it? I really, really need to take a class. A couple of classes actually; one in digital photography and one in PSE. Though, I do plan to buy this book, and just found this one, which I'd like to get sometime too. I don't have any grand aspirations of becoming a professional photographer, but I'd like to be able to take great pictures... and how to edit them properly if they don't turn out right.

Also, in my late night early morning internet perusal I found this fantastic bag. I've been on the lookout for a new bag to use when we're out & about. The diaper bag is really too big at this point since I don't need to carry so much stuff anymore. We can pretty much get away with a couple of diapers, sippy cup & snack. Not to mention my stuff of course. I found a bag that I already had, but it's just not quite working out. It's hard to maneuver things in & out of, which is kind of a pain. Anywho, I saw this bag & my heart went pitter patter. I'll have to see if I can check it out in person. If it won't suit our needs it doesn't matter how cute it is.

Well, I'm going to try again to meet Mr. Sandman this evening... it's been fun hangin' with ya!

a blessing and a curse

As you all know I'm obsessed with reading blogs. I could spend all day online reading about other people's lives. A couple of months ago I started using an online service called Google Reader, which "watches" your favorite blogs, websites, etc., and lets you know when they've been updated. Where I used to spend an inordinate amount of time each night going to each blog & checking to see if there was a new post, I can now just go to my Google Reader page & visit only the updated pages. Therin lies the blessing.

Here comes the curse. Another great feature of Google Reader is that it provides a list of blogs that it "thinks" you would enjoy based on your current subscriptions. My list of blogs to read has grown by leaps & bounds. So, while I may not spend as much time going from blog to blog, I probably now spend the same amount of time reading only the updated ones. It's so facsinating taking a glimpse into someone elses life.

Saturday was great fun. Chris and I slept in (if you call 8:30 sleeping in) and just took our time getting ready for the day. He ran out & picked up breakfast; Dunkin Donuts for me and Waffle House for himself. After a quick trip to WalMart for a few groceries we headed out to the Mall of Georgia. I had bought this dress online at Old Navy but it was too big. (That's a good thing, right?) We took it back to that location thinking they had a plus size section; they don't. So, we just got the cash back for it and I'll have to shop elsewhere. I really need a couple of things for church; I don't want to spend too much money in the hopes I'll need new clothes again soon. We ate lunch in the food court (craziness on Saturday) and then went to Barnes & Noble to browse and kill some time before we had to be at the bowling alley.

There wasn't much to hold our interest there, so we took a trip to LifeWay Christian Store to check out the Bibles. At the time I hadn't been able to find mine (it has since been located, thank God) and was going to be in need of one as I'll be starting a new Bible Study at church on the 16th.

After that we went ahead to the bowling alley, even though we were going to be quite early. We sat in the car for a bit playing games on our iPods until we saw the Sunday School teacher arrive, then went to meet him. Besides us and the teachers only one other couple came. We had a great time and everyone was impressed with Chris' bowling skills. He's quite the bowler, I tell ya. They even mentioned in class the next day. After bowling we all went to dinner at Applebee's which took next to forever. The food & company was good, so we were still able to have a good time. I felt kind of bad for Chris' parents though, by the time we were able to pick Jonathan up it was 9:15 & they'd had him for more than 24 hours. I know they enjoyed him, but he's a very busy little boy and I'm sure he wore them out.

Sunday was pretty low key. Church, lunch and home. We all napped & just sat around. I have to admit it was kind of nice.

Well, now that I've bored you to death with a play-by-play of our weekend... I'll leave you with these pictures from last week. I edited them a little in PSE, which I'm totally loving BTW.

Doesn't he look like he has a secret or something in this one?

Those eyes!

What do you think...

of my new banner? I was reading Nicole's creative blog, Life Was Her Canvas, and decided to try the PhotoShop banner tutorial.

I still need to do some tweaking, but I like the way it turned out.

Jonathan stayed at Chris' parent's house last night, so we're off for a day of leisure. I have to take a dress back to Old Navy, then we're going bowling with the Sunday School class we visited last week.

Hope y'all have a great day!