Learning photography

I mentioned in an earlier post that I am taking up photography.  This comes as a big surprise to me.  My hubby is a fantastic photographer.  I have always been so very happy with my little TOTALLY AUTOMATIC camera.  But, I am practical for the most part, and I can see that it would fill a need in our photography business to have a second photographer.  So, here I go.  

Hubby got me a camera and tried to show me a few things.  I said "tried".  It's like he was speaking a completely different language.  Argh.  My son, who is also a fantastic photographer, gave me some very helpful advice.  He explained that "Dad" just knows too much about photography.  Hubby is old enough to have learned photography in the days of film and darkrooms.  My son suggested that I just set it to auto and take a bunch of pictures.  

The truth is that the camera intimidates me.  I think that just by holding it, I will be expected to know what I am doing.  It's huge.  And, it has so many buttons and dials.  Just too much.  

I decided that a beginner's class is what I needed.  I found one through the camera store and signed up.  I was really looking forward to it.  

The day before the class, hubby and I went up the mountains and I took these pictures.  I used auto settings except for a few times when hubby changed them.  I had no idea what he changed.  I would learn all of that the next day.  Right?

It was a beautiful day up country and I had a lot of fun taking pictures.

I'm always in hubby's pictures.  Now, he can be in some!

I love this old tree.  It's huge!  

The aspens turn yellow and orange.  We are hoping to go one more time before it's over.

It was so pretty.  Perfect weather.

This trip was not planned.  We were dropping of a rocker at my daughter's house and hubby just wanted to so up the road "a ways" and see if the tree's had changed.  We just kept going farther and farther.

And, the next thing we knew....we were in Lake Tahoe!  Hubby snapped this with my iphone.  He gets as flustered with my Iphone as I do with the camera.

We got there just in time to watch a beautiful sunset.

The next day, when I got to the class, I was the last to show up and the only seat available was right in the center front (intimidating!).  There were about twelve people.  About half had Cannon (like mine) and the other half, Nikon.  We spent the next three hours learning all the technical jargon that is photography.  In the very beginning the teacher told us that his goal was to get us all off the auto settings. Oh darn. 

The teachers were extremely patient and helpful.  They had a very simple booklet to follow and I took diligent notes.  

When I left, instead of feeling confident and knowledgeable, I felt overwhelmed and confused.  How was I going to remember all that stuff?  

Hubby asked me about the class.  I told him the truth.  I wasn't sure if I learned anything or not. (mostly NOT)  The next day, I asked him a question about my camera settings.  He started talking and turning dials as usual.  Only, this time, I knew what he was saying.  He has been saying these things all along.  F stop, shutter speed and so on.  And, now I knew what those words meant!  Hallelujah!  I guess I did learn something after all.

Broken Things

There is a broken heater by the back door that hubby will take to the dump.  I was looking at it and thinking "what a waste".  Why don't we fix things anymore?  I asked him this question and he said that it would cost more to fix something like that than to buy a new one.  I know that's true.  But, why?  I'm glad that things are affordable.  But, it sure seems to me that we throw away a lot of things.  My computer monitor stopped working.  I will have to get rid of the broken one.  Even if I wanted to get it fixed, I wouldn't even know who to call for something like that.  And, if I were able to find someone, it would cost more to fix it than to buy a new one.

I was trying to think of things that you would repair.  Cars. Major appliances?  Geez.  Are we the throw away society or what?  I've had 3 laptops and I still have the first two (that are broken).  I don't even know why I am keeping them.  If your camera breaks, will you try to get it fixed or buy a new one.  Mine is a very inexpensive one, so I'm sure I would have to replace it.  If your cellphone stops working, will you try to find someone to repair it or will you replace it?  My computer is running really slow lately.  That is one thing that still has repair shops.  I think I just need a tune up.  But the last time I took a computer to the shop, they told me it was dead.  Argh.

It wasn't always this way.  My Mother in Law keeps everything and will find a way to fix it if it breaks.  She still had a rotary phone until recently.  I don't think that you can even have one of those anymore, for compatibility reasons.

I seem  to remember there being more "repairmen" when I was a kid.  Do you remember the "lonely" repairman commercial for Maytag?

So many people are all about recycling and protecting the environment.  But, I don't hear a lot about the sheer amount of things that we get rid of.  Surely this is filling up some landfill somewhere.

What if we started fixing broken things again.

What if things were made to last.

What if.

I'm not an artist

My husband can draw anything.  I'm always amazed by this talent.  My kids can all draw also.  Hubby's family are all artists.  But, not me.  I always say that I can't even draw stick people.  Well, that has changed.  Lately I've been drawing a LOT of stick people.  

Last week at my birthday party, we were all sitting around chatting.  One of my kids started talking about this fun game on the Iphone.  Before long, five of us had our Iphones out and were playing this game with each other.  Imagine all of us sitting in my living room glued to our phones and laughing!  That is the modern world folks!  

The object of the game, Drawsomething, is to draw something and the other person guesses what it is.  It can be pretty hilarious!  You can play with people you know or strangers.  

My daughter posted this drawing she made on her Facebook page:

It's a butcher.  I asked her why she would murder a bunny.  She said it was because she couldn't draw a cow.  Lol.  

My son could not get over this drawing.  It was one of my first ones.  I ask you, how does one "draw" a "fart"?  Once you get the word assigned, you have to follow through.  I kept telling him that "I" thought it was obvious!

Once you get going, it's really fun. My son in law drew this one:

Did you guess "sky"?  

I drew this one for him:

Golf cart.  Obvious...right?

I was on the phone with my son and I couldn't figure one out (with a stranger).  He told me to text it to him.  He had to instruct me (of course), to take a picture of it and how to text it.  I learned two new things there! Alas, he could not guess either.  

Yeah.  I could not figure this out.  First of all, where is the "drawing".  We all think words are a last resort (but I would rather use the words than lose the points).  The answer ended up being "glee". 

We are drawing with only our finger.  More points gets you more colors.  What did we all do before having this technology?  Is it a waste of time?  Maybe, but, for me, I love that little connection when one of my kids plays a game with me.  They are so busy with their lives, it just feels nice to know that in that moment....we were connected.  

And, it's made me draw.  I am no better now than I was when I started, but I have learned a little bit more about getting my point across without words.  Yesterday I was explaining a project that I need hubby to help me with.  He asked if I could draw in on a piece of paper.  In the past, this would have caused me trepidation.  Not now, I just whipped out the paper and proceeded to draw it out.  It's not art.  But, he knew what I wanted.  Thank you Draw Something....for making me a reluctant (and not very good) artist. 

The Princess Phone

I want one of these!!  

This one sold for only $12!

When I was a little girl, my mom had a Princess phone beside her bed.  It was adorable.  I'm pretty sure hers was blue.  

And, she had it on a nifty little stand just like this one. 

Back then, so many people had the exact same phone.  And, the exact same stand.  

Today there are so many more choices.  

With all the modern technology and the great phones we have these days, why aren't they cuter?

 

We all choose different decor themes, I like cottage and shabby, my daughter likes bohemian and modern.  But, our phone are almost the same.  What?  How does that work? Why aren't there more decorative phones available?  When you talked on a Princess phone you felt like a princess.  

This is my current phone. It speaks the number or name of the person who is calling, it can take a message, it can show me the phone number of who is calling or a history of who called, it has a list of commonly dialed numbers and soooo much more.  BUT..... What do you feel like on this phone?

Here are a few vintage ads for Princess phones....don't they make you want one right now?

If I do find a vintage Princess phone, will it even work?  Can you still use a rotary phone any more?

Appreciating technology...or being frustrated by it?

I'm writing this blog post from my laptop.  That should be amazing, right?  But, no.  I am frustrated because my main computer has some kind of issue with the internet and it's running really slow.   This frustrates me.  I just want it to WORK.  I told my husband that it was a slow as dial up. Who even remembers "dial up" anymore?  Remember that series of sounds that you would hear as the computer connected to the internet?  And, I remember being amazed by the internet.  In the beginning, it didn't matter that it was slow, because that was all we knew.  And, it was so cool to even have an internet connection.

Our rural phone company had DSL before some of the major cities in our area.  Wow.  That high speed connection literally changed our lives.  We used to have to drive to deliver large files that we can now just upload via the internet.  So, when things aren't working the way I want them to, why would I be frustrated?  Why wouldn't I just be grateful for all of the wonderful things that technology has made possible in my life?

If my computer doesn't work, I can switch to my laptop.  I can check my email on MY PHONE!  I can go online with my Iphone.  I have never been more in touch with the world that I am at this very moment.  And, I need that capability to find out what my Facebook friends are up to, play words with friends and other trivial things.  I need to  check the headlines to see what's happening.  Why do I NEED this?    I guess I don't.  But, I have become accustomed to it.  And, I like it.  And, I need to find out what the heck is wrong with my computer.  

This guy says it all.  It's comedian C.K. Louis on Conan O'Brien, talking about how "everything is amazing and nobody's happy".   I laugh every time I watch it.  Enjoy:

Best Friends and Business Partners

What a day!  I had a presentation scheduled for my business partner (and dear friend), Cheryl, but it was cancelled.  Or so we thought.  She called me to find out if I still had the day open because we had 13 people signed up for our presentation!  I said of course!   


I am the kind of person who likes to be prepared for things.  But, I can wing it when I need to.  As I was driving to the bay area, I was feeling pretty unsure about what I was going to do for this presentation. It was a long drive, so I called my dear friend Emily (also my business partner) and as we were talking about our business, I let her know about the presentation.  I said how much I wished I had ordered the latest company flip chart so I would have something to follow.  She said she had one and as her house was on the way (about half way), I stopped and picked it up.  Wasn't that nice of her?  

I was already running late, and even though stopping at Emily's only took a few minutes, I had no time to spare.

I have lived in the country long enough to consider myself a country girl, but I have always felt that the "city girl" is still in here too.  Except when it comes to TRAFFIC.  Ugh.  What a pain.  Up here in the mountains, "traffic" is getting behind someone driving too slow.  So, I found myself feeling stressed with all the city traffic and I decided to double check my directions with my hubby.  So I called him.  Now, I know that I could have entered the location in my Iphone and it would have directed me.  But, I didn't.  I surely didn't want to fiddle with my phone while driving!  So, I called him.  

As I got closer to my freeway change, I thought I should be in the right lane.  But, hubby assured me that I should go straight.  I started getting upset and saying that I thought I was now going the wrong way.  I said the name of the freeway and direction, he said YES.  So, I trusted him.


Wrong.  Shouldn't have done that.  The next thing I know, I am heading on to the Bay Bridge.  I couldn't see any way to turn around or get off.  I was so frustrated!  So, I got in the far right lane and quickly realized that I was in a bus only lane with NO way out!  I felt like such a country bumpkin at this point.  I even passed a police car and wondered if he was going to pull me over.  I would have just had a melt down if he had done this. 

Of course, hubby was getting a piece of my mind at this point.  It WAS all his fault after all.  So, I told him NO MORE directions.  I was able to exit on a island before getting all the way across the bay and after touring said island, I was able to get back on the bridge and on my way.  


Eventually I got to Cheryl's and we did our presentation.  It was a huge success, we had almost double the original amount of guests and they loved what we had to say and stayed after for over an hour to ask questions.  


Cheryl was so nice to me for coming out to do the speaking for her, she even gave me a present!  She knows that I love to sew and bought me this cute pin cushion.  How cute is this??!! 

And, she also gave me a box of my FAVORITE chocolates, IsaDelights in milk chocolate from our company Isagenix.  

We topped it all off with a nice meal.

I stopped back by Emily's on the way home to give her back her flip chart, which was a godsend!  And, we had a nice visit.   She even showed me some of her favorite blogs that she follows.  Which reminded me that I first met Emily from my own blog here at Lulu's Cottage.


It was a fun day and I was reminded how much fun it is to be in business for myself, but not BY myself.  I am so blessed to be in business with dear friends and we have a LOT of fun.  


The moral of this story is....don't ask my hubby for directions, unless you want to get lost!  

I want these curtains I found on Pinterest!

I've been hearing about Pinterest for a while.  But, what I kept hearing people say is how much time they were spending on Pinterest.  Well, I certainly don't need one more time stealer!  But, I finally took a look at it.  

First you have to request an invitation and they make you wait a few days before they will accept you.  I guess that is supposed to make it seem exclusive.  Smart marketing.  

Well, I love Pinerest!!  All these years, whenever I liked something on the internet, I saved a picture to my computer or tried to bookmark it.  But, when I want to find said photo, I can hardly ever figure out where I put it!  Now, with Pinterest, it's saved in one place.  It's an online bulletin board of all your favorite things.

And....you can look at other people's Pinterest boards and see what their favorite things are and save those on your own boards too (it's called "repinning").

I found this great picture on Pinterest by searching for home offices in aqua blue.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE these curtains.  I wish I could find them!  I'm on a mission!  I want something bold and fun, just like these.

How fun it is to look at all the wonderful pictures that people have "pinned".  I can see what a great tool it can be too.  I can ask my daughter to pin her favorite pictures as she starts to plan her baby nursery and I will know what she has in mind.  The uses are endless!

They even have an ap for Pinterest for the Iphone.  I got it on mine and I haven't used it yet.  Maybe today!

There has been some talk in the news about copy right infringement on these boards and I can see how that can be a problem.  I'm married to a professional photographer and I know that he would not want to have his work shared without permission.  But, how do you police something like that?  It's so big.  

For myself, I learned how to watermark my own pictures and that way people can see that I am ok with them sharing my pictures.  After all, if they see my watermark, it will take them here to Lulu's Cottage.  If everyone would watermark their images, it would be easier for us to know if they mind if we share.  The following photo has my watermark on it.  (it's really hubby's picture, he is welcome to sue me for copyright infringement if he wants to! )

One thing I like about Pinterest is that you can pin something from the internet and it will retain the original link that it came from.  So, that protects the image owner and sends them more traffic to their website.  The copyright problems come in where someone like me has saved an image to my computer and can't remember where it came from.  I'm trying to avoid doing that.  

If you would like to connect with me on Pinterest, I would love that!  I'm just getting started.  I have a new link to my account on the right side of my blog.  If you are not already on Pinterest, get your account and start pinning!  You will love it!!  It's a great idea.

My favorite beverage

I just spilled my FULL glass of my favorite beverage on my DESK.  

  

Yep.  Got it on my keyboard, a little on my phone.  It got on my "to do list" and just made a mess.  I jumped up and tried to rescue as much as I could.  

And, that's when I realized how glad I am that my favorite beverage is ......WATER!  

 

This situation could have been a sticky mess.  It could have been a smelly mess.  But, all I had to do was blot it up and dry everything off, then good as new.

I didn't always like water.  In fact, I can remember a time when I NEVER drank water.  When I was little I used to drink milk, kool aid, juice and soda (we called it soda pop).  Water, YUCK.  

When became a bonified grown up, I started reading about healthy eating choices and I kept coming across information that led me to believe that water was the best choice.  

I'm sure that I could find a bunch of studies and reports to share with you about why water is so good for you, but for me it's just common sense.  Water is natural, so it's natural for us to drink it.  If I drink lots of water, I'm not hungry all the time (a huge bonus!).  Water washes the outside of our bodies, I think it does the same thing to the inside.  In fact, it was when I discovered nutritional cleansing by Isagenix that I really started to enjoy (and crave) water.  (read my thoughts about cleansing here.)

Water is good.

It's free.  You don't have to "make it" or mix it.  You don't have to open a can or wonder if it's spoiled.  No calories. No sugar.  No salt.  Unless you buy the bottled water that has actually gone to the trouble to add those things to it.  Why would they do that?  Yuck. 

I like to filter my water.  Actually, I have two filters (is that overkill?).  My filtered waters tastes better than any other water I've had.  I like to pour out water in a water bottle and fill it with my own clean water.  

It makes me feel good to drink water.  I try to get in the recommended amount, which is half your body weight in ounces.  Or 8 glasses, that's good too.  

Yes.  I do drink other things. Yes, I do enjoy a glass of wine sometimes.  But, my go to drink, is water.  How about you?

All this talk of water has made me thirsty!

Old people and computers

When I say "old people", I mean no disrespect.  My definition of "old people" is people who are older than ME.  And, that pool is shrinking smaller and smaller.  When it comes to computers, anyone younger than me pretty much grew up with them.  Not me.  I remember learning to type on a selectric (remember those?). 

Remember "white out"?  Oh my gosh, how I love those little 'white out' rollers they have now.  Like magic.  When we learned to use "white out", it was a globby  mess that could ruin your entire paper.  And, then they came out with those little 'white out' papers that you could backspace over your error and erase, but you had to have everything positioned perfectly and even then it didn't always work out. 

When I was learning to type in night school, our teacher talked about the future and "word processors" (what the heck were those?).  It was an unknown.  I digress.

My mom "texted" me this morning.  Only it was on my home phone.  The phone rang and I heard it and thought 8am, "who's dead"?  Did you see that movie with Cher?  What was the name of that movie?  Hold on while I go on my phone and find out....  "Moonstruck" (wow she was only in 18 movies...thought it was more than that). 

So, Olympia Dukasis (her mom in the movie) is asleep and they wake her up to tell her that the Cher character was engaged, and the first words out of her mouth were "who's dead?!".  When ever someone in my family calls at an odd hour, I can hear her voice saying that.  Ok Ok, back to the text.  Of course you can't send a text to a home phone (land line).  But, I got it just the same.  It was in the voice of the computer lady.  That same voice that you always hear.  Is she a real person, that voice?  I really want to know that. 

The voice said "I just upgraded my phone and I hope you can give me some tips on texting".  Isn't that weird?  I'm not really much of a texter.  Mostly just with my kids who DO text.  The younger they are the more they text.  You see to THEM, I'M "old people".   

My Mother with an upgraded phone.  What will she do with it?  I, myself, wouldn't know a fraction of what I know about my phone without my dear daughter.  She tells me all the latest aps and how to use it.  Snap!  Of course, my Mom went to her source....just like I do.  Only it's me.  I'm the daughter who knows all the latest tech stuff.  Not!  But, I probably know more than someone older.  I'll have to tell her about all the stuff my daughter has shared with me.

Do you YELL on the cellphone?

I'm going to admit it.  I YELL on the cellphone.  Side track....did you know that typing in ALL capital letters is considered YELLING?  It's true.

Yelling.  I don't know why I do it.  I guess I just want to make sure that the person I'm talking to can hear me.  My kids tell me to stop, but I just go right back to it without thinking.  Yes, I have a blue tooth earpiece.  But, tell me, how can I be heard from this little thing that is hooked to my ear?  That doesn't seem to be anywhere near my mouth. 

me and my bff connie

My best friend YELLS on her cell phone too.  And her kids tell her not to also.  I tell her that I don't mind if she does and she returns the favor.  

When I am in the grocery store, I'm embarrassed to talk on a cell phone.  I wouldn't want anyone thinking that I'm talking to myself (heaven forbid).  Yes, I spend waaaay too much energy worrying about what other people, even strangers will think of me!)  

Have you ever dialed some one while in public and when they answer you say (loudly of course) HELLO!  And then some random stranger around you thinks that you have just decided to greet them and, in fact, does not know how to react? 

I always think that even if I have my earpiece on in public I should hold my phone in my hand, where everyone can see it and KNOW that I am talking on it.  This talking on my phone in public is an exception to my YELLING habit.   In public, I whisper. Is there a way to "type" a whisper? I'll have to ask a younger person....they will know.

And while I'm on the subject of cell phones, have you ever had someone (my kids) dial you accidentally and not even know it?  I've gotten messages that are of their phone jiggling around in their purse or pocket for long periods of time.  I try to listen for a while to see if I will hear something interesting....something they would not want me to know.  But, alas, from the pocket or purse all voices are garbled.  I think my son calls it "butt" dialing.  I get it. I just don't say that word, well mostly I don't say it. 

It's just funny to me that technology just keeps racing on, faster and faster.  I LOVE it and still it seems hard to keep up sometimes.