I'm an Auntie.

I know what you are thinking, those kids can't be related to you! And you'd be right. Do I love them any less? No.

Kerry has a niece and nephew that we don't see very often and they are teenagers, that says it all and there aren't any other kids on my side. If my cousins would get on that soon, a lot of Aunties would be happy. With our kids being older, it's not so cool to do what mom wants to do. So when my bff asks me if I want to hang out at the water park with her and her 2 kidlets, I go. And when they call me "Auntie Kelli" (or Ke-yee as the little ones says) I get a warm tingly feeling, and it's not because the big one wrapped her wet, warm self around my legs. It's my heart growing 3 sizes!The kids had a great time, I got soaked and I got a few pictures. Sadly, I don't have pictures like this of my kids. Those poor kids grew up in the day of film and parents who more often than not forgot to bring the camera or forgot to put film in it. Case in point, a trip to the PNE. We took so many pictures only to find out the unlimited roll was also an invisible roll.
I do have pictures like this of my kids, with similar un-happy faces due to the fact the camera is pointed in their direction. Only this isn't un-happy...

It's pure joy!

A great response to "Your camera takes such great pictures!"

Interesting blog post by a fellow photographer...here. I've had the occasional "I've got the same camera that you have, why don't my pictures look like yours?" or "You just hold the camera and push the button, why would I pay for that?" I'm not professing to be a pro or to know more about anything than anyone else, there's a lot I don't know about cameras, but I love taking pictures and I hope it shows in my work.

I'm really bummed. My far away friend, Jenn is getting married in Aug. and she asked me to shoot the wedding. I'm so touched that she would ask me and I'm so po'd that it's the same weekend as the Anime Convention. I love going to the convention, it's a feast for the eyes, both a good and bad meal. But I love weddings too. And I'm so happy for Jenn! I need a time machine!

Sunday was the grand opening of the Mountain Bike Skills park and we took Linus and my busted elbow dad down to check it out. The really neat part is that is really close to us. The sad part, Kerry and dad are too cautious (scared) to ride it.

Gallery reminder

If you want to see the rest of my photoshoots, like the baptism or May's wedding, don't forget to check them out in my smugmug gallery.

World Wide Photowalk

Yesterday was World Wide Photo Walk day. Anyone with any camera can go. We met at the Eldorado and wandered around inside and out taking pictures. I woke up late and didn't have my mojo or something. But I did get a few pictures. I took less than 70. This is on the putting green at Manteo Resort.I think out of the 70 pictures I took, 20 were of ducks.We had brunch afterwards and looked over our pictures, and talked camera talk. I got this picture because Kerry's favourite beer is Stella.
It was a nice walk, doing what I love to do the most, and it was really neat that out of the maybe 14 people that actually came, I knew 4 of them. I hope Derek, Marg, Marina, and Kelly got some great pictures, and so sorry that Terry couldn't make it. I think it would be neat to do something like this in the fall too.

I'm so excited to share that I sold a couple of mountain biking photos, and had one of my Pathfinder camp photos in the Girl Guide newsletter.

CS5!

I have been using a very old Photoshop 7 on the pc for a few years now. Not to be confused with PSE7, if there even is one of those. We're talking old, original PS7.

I got the go ahead to treat myself to a little CS5 for the Mac this week. And with the educational program, and huge savings, how could I not?

This is a re-do of little(10 lb) baby Kai. It took a lot of trial and error to even open the photo. One thing I can do is load actions.
Don't you just want to squeeze him?

So Lucky?

We had the pleasure of being invited to Cyclepath's staff party, probably had something to do with the fact my dad practically lives there and Kerry is his sidekick. We had a great afternoon of sun, lake, food, and laughter.

The guys, my dad on the unstable floaty thing in the middle, Kerry in front of standing Matt.

We had a great time, this little death trap was probably one of the reasons... a wooden ramp off the end of the wharf, into the lake, old rickety bikes with floatation devices (foam and empty beverage bottles) and lots of peer pressure.

Let's just say I did not marry Kerry for his grace!

This guy had the moves and some skill.

Right around this time a very skinny guy from Alberta starts going on and on about how beautiful it is here, how he went mountain biking, how he's spending the day on the lake, etc. and then he asks how long I've lived here. All.My.Life. He says "You are the luckiest person I know! You must love it, going snowboarding, skiing, boating, swimming..."

And that's where I say "I don't ski, snowboard, swim or boat" and I realize I'm the worst ambassador of Kelowna.

So when Eric says "Who's going on the boat next?" Kerry and I jumped in. Here's where I tell the story about the boat... I get motion sickness on boats, and as a kid (23) my dad had a boat and used to take us out in it (once), and he'd hit the wake and we'd fly up in the air(400 feet I believe) and then I'd cry and cry. And I have an irrational fear of sturgeon.

This is why Kerry's neck and shoulder are sore.

After Kerry and his friend fell off the 'tube', Leah, her son and I climbed on. I figured if this 3 yr. old was going to do it, and Eric said he'd go slow, then maybe I should become a better Kelownian.

As you can see, not a picture of happiness.

Baptism

Other than weddings and funerals, I haven't been to church since my grandparents took me from toddler to teen. I know I wasn't baptized, and the church is now long gone. The Japanese United Church, very small, lots of elderly people, Sunday school, service in English and Japanese.
So when I was asked to shoot K's baptism, I was very nervous. I was also told by Amy that lightening won't strike in the church, so I was safe.
It was pretty hot, poor baby had lots of layers on, but she was a trooper and we managed to get a few shots of her while she was happy.
Here's a sneak peek.
Dad, Dwayne Mollin swining K. to help cool her off. If you ever need an mc/dj for an event, he's awesome. I've mentioned him before, possibly when ranting and raving about Karla and Vince's Most Funnest Wedding. He was one of the reasons the wedding was such a blast.
I'm very thankful to have been included in this special day!

I've been very dilligent, walked with Karla every day except Saturday and Sunday, for a whole week, and I'm down 2.4 lbs.

Word of the day!

This is last summer's Scrabble photo. But Kerry is no less bothered by this year's game. When we are really bored, we pull the game out. I'm a bit competitive..."What's my score now?" before every other turn I take.

Today we played with 9 letters each. I put down HOOPSTER on the end of his CLOUD, to make CLOUDS. I landed on 2 triple word boxes, and used more than 7 letters, this netted me 193 points and a loud "I'm done, what's the point now?" from Kerry. I only had about 150 points before that and was just a little behind him.

It wasn't even an 'in your face' win. I felt bad.

We took a drive to the church today where I have my photo shoot tomorrow. A bit nervous. It's a nice location, but the church may be dark in the taking photo sense of darkness. I can't use flash and probably wouldn't if I could, I haven't started my flash class yet. I've got my outfit picked out, my hair cut, and coloured. (this was an adventure as my hairdresser had to cancel due to family problems, now my hair is super short, cute but way shorter than normal.)

And then we have a big beach party to go to. Geez, I wish I drank! I can't think of anything that would be more entertaining than me, drinking, in the sun, after a photo shoot.

Shooting a dog in full sun.

Always one for photo ops, I suggested we take Mr. Tubbs out for some frisbee throwing. He's been upgraded from a bucket to an actual frisbee. The bucket got run over by an over zealous Kerry and his lawn mower. Linus is not a 'jump in the air' kind of frisbee catcher like Sally is. He's more a "let it hit the ground and roll" catcher. He's also lost 5 lbs. in 3 months! He's been working on it. Getting out more, eating more veggies, and snacking less.

Taking pictures in full sun, no shade and facing a low in the sky sun made for some interesting shots.

Awwww....cuties in the grass.

And then the one in the fur coat decided the shade I made was bigger, so he plopped down beside me. Notice the folded back tongue. It's how he rolls.

Then back to dad, he doesn't complain about dog breath like I do.

And the weightloss train has hit a snag. Karla and I are walking every.day. No matter that it's noon and it's 400 degrees out, we are determined. But today, we both have shoe issues, my heal has a blister, and one of my toe is missing flesh. Her baby toe has been sore for 2 days. We are walking tomorrow but have thoughts of taking turns pulling eachother in my Harley Davidson wagon. I'm down 1.1 lb. I think it was the fat that melted off me today.

Yosemitebear Mountain Giant Double Rainbow 1-8-10

Seriously, this guy is hilarious! Maybe he smoked something beforehand but either way...it's pretty cute. Not sure if he's crying or laughing...What does this mean?

Enter this...

Contest

After entering the last contest, and not sharing it, and then having everyone that entered win a Black Rapid strap, I got a bit of grief.

Go watch the video, he's funny.

Oh, dear...I'm negligent.

So this is Karla. If you are my friend on Facebook, you will know about her.

She's my 'across the road' neighbour. She's been there for as long as we can remember. 12 yrs. ago, when we moved in, she would have been 10 or so years old. We hardly knew she existed. I think she did some kind of dance, was a Girl Guide (sold us million boxes of cookies), and had a sheltie. (photo courtesy of Karla's facebook gallery)
Then she grew up. And got engaged. She started needing help with crafty things, I took her and Binnie's engagement photos, she's photogenic, we went to their super funnest wedding. She's super cute. Every one in my family says so, she's got nice eyes, they are those fake coloured ones, but aren't fake. She's smart in things I don't understand. And she's kind of funny. She makes up her own knock knock jokes.
And so I have to tell you now, because she told me I forgot to mention her in the ole daily blogging, that Karla and I are walking. Every day now for 1 whole day. We are also going to make healthy choices and eat better.

I feel skinnier already.

Who knew we had neat neighbours on the other side of the road?

Next week, I'll blog about Uncle Binnie.

What we did...

during the 4 days we had summer.
I made donuts from scratch. They were light and delicious. Super easy too. But then we all stunk like we'd been deepfried. We did some yard work and then swam afterwards to cool off.

We got the stink eye.

And whatever it is that he's doing.

I played "How close can you get to a dog and his log?"

This might be good for some people.

But I was on a mission.

I made it this close. I kept my eye on that log, he's been known to club me with it.

And this time, I didn't lay in dog pee.

In other news...

I'm putting it out there. I want to lose 10 lbs. If you have some weight you want to lose, why not start now? I'm moving more. Watching what I eat, including more veggies, more fruit, less potato chips. And drinking more water, without Crystal Lite, I think that was the culprit for my stomach issues.

Ghetto Hamster Deluxe - very funny ad

Black Rapid Rocks!!!

I don't even know how I found this site... Photosister. But I did. And LaRae talked about and had a video for the Black Rapid RS-W1 camera strap. The first strap made just for woman. I entered her contest. I friended her on Facebook like the contest said to do, I don't just friend any old thing either. She's very informative. Very cute and friendly. I told Kerry if I didn't win, I wanted the strap for my birthday. The local store didn't know what it was when I called to ask when they were getting the strap in.

And I didn't win. No, someone else was lucky enough to win. But Black Rapid is such an awesome company, and LaRae did such an awesome job promoting the strap that BR said everyone that entered the contest is getting a strap!!! How is that for awesomeness!

I'm so freakin' excited. I've discovered my camera is too heavy for my weak stick neck, and this will save me! (I know, I shouldn't put all my faith in a camera strap)

It's here!

I bought this off another photographer. She'd hardly used it, imagine my surprise when it came in the original packaging this morning!
We are going to get along just fine! Me and my shootsac.

Pleased with Pleats.

I finally got the last of the fabric on Monday and got busy with my pattern today. It's not perfect, but I made it, and it looks better than I thought it would considering I didn't fully understand the pleating process and then it dawned on me. It's lightly padded, which makes it better for carrying my camera, which is why I needed a new purse anyways. Only thing 'wrong' with it is that I would have liked a strap that went across my body but it seems that cute patterns and long straps don't go together right now.

I discovered I could go to Danier Leather in the mall and buy a leather purse for less than it cost me to make this!
I haven't had a Slurpee in a while, imagine my surprise when I was the Farmville cups!
Orange and Berry Pomegranate! Very good.

Another Monday

I know you are thinking that I've posted this picture before, but I haven't. These are beets, the other's were beans. Some people eat beet tops. I worry that if I eat the tops, the bottoms will suffer. I just can't do it. These little suckers will soon be big enough and I've already decided they will be sacrificed for the great good...deep fried zucchini.

This thing will grow up and tell his grandpups that he was so poor all he had to play with was an old bucket.

And a gnarly root from a tree.

As poor as he is, he still managed to pose for a few shots for me. No one else will.

And then he got back to his usual goofy self.

I'd throw the bucket, he'd get it, and dip it in the pool and then give it to me, after doing this for 2 times, he'd get in the pool too. And then we'd do it again.

He's not so great with the verbal commands, "It's to your right, not my right!" and I'm not so good with throwing the bucket.

But we manage alright. He gets exercise, I get to practice with my camera.

I swear I will have some kind of scrapbooking/cardmaking related post this week.

Lessons in Lighting

We've been trying to get out and do a bit more lately. Tv show choices are at an all time low. We decided to go out riding/shooting on Friday night. At 8 pm. Who does that? The sun was just going behind some clouds, it was very sunny out. By the time we got to the top of the hill, the sun decided it wasn't coming back out.

Kerry rode and I took some pictures, but I had to have them at a super high ISO. Embracing the grain did not come easy because I know what awesome light looks like in this area.

I walked and grumbled, but not too much, I had used mosquito repellent on 99% of my body and was feeling pretty good.

I saw this beetle, Kerry said he'd seen lots of them, they are called Mountain Beetles. I asked how he knew that, he said because they are found in the mountains. {Insert head slap here}

First time over the log, he bailed, I did get pictures but they were not very good.

It was around this time that the 1% of my body that didn't get mosquito repellent got bit. My cheek, under my camera. Instant swelling. We left shortly afterwards. I did brighten up most of the pictures.

This morning, Kerry woke me up to tell me he was taking mutt one and two out for a ride. I knew he'd be taking it easy so I said I'd go too. Besides, I've got to work my legs for our trip.

Right off the bat, Linus jumped a section of bushes that were hiding dead branches. He probably jumped about 6 feet which is amazing considering his girth. He hit the branches when he landed and this caused him to go off balance and he landed on his side infront of me on the trail with a loud thud. Got up and ran some more.

The lighting was a bit better but not much. The weather was bad, kind of rainy, very dark, and cold. Perfect for dogs. Perfect for riders. Not so perfect for photos. Overcast is good, dark and dismal is bad. On this jump, trail, trick, whatever, Sally hit the bottom and her legs gave out and she landed on her belly and face and bounced right back up as if nothing happened, I'd lay there for days afterwards.

I always think of the Lord of the Ring when we go to this area, must be something to do with Middle Earth.

The guys did tricks, while the girls took the easy way.

Kerry using this as a learning experience for the dogs, should they ever get lost, Linus knows the way now. Sally could care less, she's never getting lost.

Run, Forest, Run. Shortly after this, I got a face full of dust because a certain boy dog doesn't have any depth perception while running and if I hadn't jumped up I would have been road kill.

And then we stopped here so we could have breakfast and a doggy timbit for both dogs.