My Easter Sweetie

I have to brag. My daughter is gorgeous! Love love love her big brown eyes.

And the fact that she wore a dress without argument.

And let me put her hair in pig tails!

Photo by my sister in law, edited by me in Photoshop.

Photo and edits by me. 

Here are the before's:

Edisto Island 2011

It's been a little busy here the last week or so. After my last post we were getting packed up and ready for a 3 day weekend at Edisto Island. My in-laws rented a house for a week but due to time off from work and such we opted to just do a three day weekend. I typically use up most of my vacation during the summer. I took a week back in June and wanted to save the rest of my days for the Holidays and in case Sophie or I get sick. That's bound to happen and we aren't in the heart of sick season yet. Fingers crossed that we make it through at least until after my marathon.

When I arrived Thursday evening after work it was sunny and warm out.

When I woke up Friday morning it was cloudy, windy and cool.

Still I managed to get my 3 mile run that I missed on Thursday. I was a little bummed that the weather was so crappy but still determined to make the best of it. I did not want to be trapped in a house all day. We bundled up and went for a stroll on the beach and collected shells. Sophie manages to find the tiniest broken shells and she's so proud of them.

Sophie and Addison looking for sea shells.

Ready for a walk on this fine and cloudy day.

The sun was trying desperately to shine later in the afternoon so we sat outside in the sand for a bit till it was time to get my little heathen child to take a nap and then get ready for dinner.

Saturday morning was not much better but I was fine with this since I had an 11 mile long run to do. My in-laws watched Sophie while Ricky and I set out on the Island (Ricky with his bike). It was cool and windy, perfect running conditions if you ask me.

I felt pretty good overall, I started out a little rough because I had not slept well the night before but once I got to mile 4 and 5 I started to feel better and I guess got my 2nd wind. I ate some Sharkies and really have no idea if they work or not. At one point my stomach started to hurt and I just don't feel like I can eat stuff like that when I'm running. I wonder if good old candy will do the trick. I'm just not sure.

So 11.04 miles later and almost getting hit by a car I was done!

Finally after lunch the sun started to peak out ever so slightly. It was warmer too so I grabbed my bathing suit and we were out on the sand.

Sophie went down for a long nap (girl was tired!) and I got a good 3 hours in the sun to read a book. Bliss! Still a little cool but comfortable and relaxing.

Right before dinner we set up the camera and did some family pictures.

Then Sunday it was time to pack up, clean and head home. Weather still wasn't 100%, sun came out for a little while here and there but by the time we were ready to go it was cloudy, cool, and windy again.

Morning sunrise

Wish the weather would have been better but we had a good time overall. Looking forward to next year!

Return of the Pink Eye

Interesting title right? This weekend I contracted pink eye, only in my left eye. This is my 3rd time in less than a year getting pink eye. So to say I'm frustrated in an under statement because I had to throw out contacts and try to run with my glasses on (or run without and have everything be blurry sending me into a state of confusion).

Saturday morning was so nice and cool, I thoroughly enjoyed my run. It was only 6 miles but I wanted to run fast. Fast for me is not what some people would consider fast but that's OK.

I ended up doing 6.76 miles in 1:00:01. Since I run on the treadmill a lot I'm way faster on it because it keeps me going at a constant speed. On the road I speed up, slow down, have to stop for cars. I need to run more on the road but my weekdays just don't really allow that to happen. It is what it is sometimes.

The most important thing is I felt good!

After the run I got to try out my new (used) bike. I love it!! I haven't a bike in years! Well one that moves anyway. We road 6 miles on top of what I had just run. I feel so bad for Sophie. She wants to be a grown up so bad and ride a bike like a big girl. So she had to ride in the bike trailer but I promised her one day she'll have a big girl bike.

I finished out Week 3 with a total of 16 miles. It was nice to have a sort of leisure week.

This week starts long runs in the double digits. This morning was a rest day. I actually was going to get up and run but after yesterday's workout I decided I needed the rest day after all.

Yesterday's workout consisted of a 7 mile bike ride and then weights at the gym. I did about a 45 minute circuit train and was sweating big time after!! I felt great. Only bad thing was I still had to wear my glasses because my pink eye was a little worse (don't worry I didn't touch my eye at all so I don't feel I contaminated anything) and my glasses kept slipping off my nose.

I'm into week 4 of training and still feeling great!

Picture with my Sophie girl using the self timer. She kept wanting to take more pictures but this is one of the only one's that turned out well.

My Little Fall Fairy

Just wanted to share a quick picture of my adorable little fairy (minus her headband, of course). My mother in law took the picture and I just added a few edits and enhancements. She's too cute and I'm missing her right now as I'm at work and she's at school. TGIF!! 

Ocean Blue

Followed this tutorial on The Pioneer Woman http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/2008/04/blue-branch-step-by-step/ for my ocean photo below. It really helped bring out the blues in the water.

SOOC

Pretty blue ocean

Learning Photoshop

I'll say it again, I heart Photoshop Elements! I've learned a lot since I first installed it. I've installed a ton of actions from The Pioneer Woman and Coffee Shop Photography (who also have really good tutorials). I'm the kind of person who learns best if I just dive right in. I don't want to learn the basics first, I'll figure it out along the way. If I can't figure it out I Google it.

Here are some recent photos I edited. A few with actions and a few all by myself. I think the thing that's going to be the hardest is trying to figure out what the photo needs done to it, and not over editing. Sometimes the smallest change can do wonders for your photo's. At the same time, I still have a lot to learn with my camera, but PSE has a bunch of tools that can do what the camera did not.

Ricky and our nephew Garrett in Florida 2 years ago

Butterscotch Vintage Action from Coffee Shop Photography

SOOC - straight out of camera

Bold Pop from Coffee Shop Photograhpy

SOOC

Did this one all by myself!!

For the hydrangea I decided I liked the colors (I'm a big fan of bright colors) and I wanted them to pop out a little bit more. So I adjusted the hue/saturation, bumped up the green, yellow, magenta, and red. Sharpened it a little, added some contrast, darkend the background (using the burn tool) and blurred the background slightly. Lastly I added a bit of a yellow tint. And ta-da!

Have to admit I'm pretty excited about it.

Sneak Peak

Here's a sneak peak from the photo session we had with Lee at Crescent Moon Photography last week. We went to Boone Hall Plantation in Mt. Pleasant. BEAUTIFUL!! I'd never been there before and the road leading from the entrance is lined with these beautiful, big, oak trees. There's the main house in the center. Off to the side there is a horse stable. We took some pictures all over and even had one of the horses walk up to us. Sophie wasn't sure what to think. She did very well, all she wanted to do was walk.

Yes, it was like a million degrees out and we were a sweaty mess by the very end, but from what I see so far, they're going to turn out awesome. Except the one below of me. That was taken towards the end and my hair is drenched and plastered to my neck.

My favorite so far. She actually wore her bow for most of the shoot.

See? Sweaty!!

The rest of the pictures should be on their website next week or so. Very excited to see them!! Just hope I don't look this bad in all of them. I think some of the pictures we took at the beginning will be good, before I started sweating like a man.

But my little girl looks so adorable and that's what matters the most. This was mostly a photo shoot of her, for her 1st year portraits. We wanted some taken of the three of us since we don't have many pictures of the three of us. I'm usually the one with the camera.  

Sophie update: Walking all over the place!! Preferred method of transportation is still crawling but I think walking is slowly winning her over. She waves hi and bye, mostly bye, even when you're not going anywhere. Laughing all the time, when she's not screaming. Still screams when it's diaper changing time. HATES getting her diaper rash cream put on but it's necessary. She'll learn to get over it. She's getting so big so fast! 

I'm in love with Photoshop Elements

I just recently purchased Photoshop Elements 7.0 on eBay for a great deal!! I am in love. This is exactly what I was looking for. There are so many cool free things out there to apply to photoshop it's not even funny.

I've stumbled upon Actions for Photoshop. They are pre-made photo edits that you can install into Photoshop and then apply them to your photo when you're editing. Some may call it cheating, I call it being resourceful when you don't have a lot of time on your hands. I will eventually learn how to create my own layers and photo edits in Photoshop, but for now I'm just getting to know my new friend and all it can do for my pictures. I downloaded a bunch from The Pioneer Woman and Coffee Shop Photography.

So here's a few photos that I've recently edited.

Original Image

Autumn Glow Action from Coffee Shop Photography

Colorized Action from Pioneer Woman

Sun Kissed Action from Coffee Shop Photography

Warmer Action from Pionner Woman

I don't remember where I downloaded the following Action from.... I stumbled upon it somewhere on the web. It's called Dreamy Sepia.

Original

Original

That's all I have for now, there will be more soon. I have so many ideas running through this head of mine!

Eating with a Spoon

I had to share these recent photos of Sophie feeding herself with a spoon. The good news is she is interested and eager to feed herself with the spoon. The bad news, well I guess it's not really bad news, she makes a MESS!! But it's cute so it's OK.

Yum, yogurt!

And that is how Sophie eats yogurt.

This next set of pictures were taken on Saturday. We drove to Georgetown for the Yarborough Family Reunion (that would be Ricky's side of the family). We did some swimming in the pool, met some family members that we'd never met before, ate some food, and then drove home. We had fun and can't wait for next year.

In the pool with Daddy

I had to post this because they look so much alike in this picture

And last butt not least :)

4th of July and some Sophie

Happy belated 4th of July! I finally downloaded some pictures from my camera last night and wanted to share. We had a pretty good 4th of July. Saturday Ricky had to go to Clover, SC for a Memorial Service for his Uncle who passed away. Sophie and I spent the day hanging out at home (with a short run to Target).

Sunday Ricky and I got a rare opportunity to take our boat out for the day while my in-laws watched Sophie. This was a much needed day and we enjoyed it!! We love Sophie and want to spend as much time as possible with her, but sometimes we just need some time together, as all parents do.

So after our day on the boat we grilled chicken, ate, and put a very tired little girl to bed. Ricky and I watched some fireworks in the neighborhood, and then a tired mommy went to bed.

Monday we took Sophie to the beach and she's loving it more and more each time we go.

Getting ready to head out!

Not crowded at all, the way I like it!

Captain Ricky

Anchored and enjoying the day

So just an update that Sophie is doing awesome. After her 6th ear infection last month we finally have an appointment with the ENT (ear, nose, and throat) doctor on July 16th. They're going to take a look and see what's going on in there. I'm not opposed to tubes at all, quite honestly I'm tired of putting her on antibiotics. If tubes are going to make her feel better then let's do it!

Sophie is walking!! Well sort of. She can stand on her own and take a few steps, but would rather crawl because she knows how to do this better than walking. We give her TONS of encouragement so she'll work it out in her own time. The important thing is she's learning and taking more steps each day. She does really well when we're not paying attention, but the minute we notice, she decides that she doesn't want to walk anymore. Crazy girl!

Wylie being nosey

Taco's and lima beans - Yum!

Hmm...interesting place for her lima beans

food has been dumped and now she licks the plate

Standing!!

and getting into things!