You Capture - Food

I haven't participated in You Capture in awhile. That makes me sad, but it's because I've so, so busy.

Busy baking cakes for 2 year old little princesses, among other things.

Head on over to Beth's for more food porn. I think I"ll probably gain 10 pounds just looking at them.

You Capture - Autumn

One morning last week, after I dropped BJ off for school carpool, I decided it was a perfect morning for a photoventure! The temperature was in the lower 40s and the sun was shining so perfectly. Autumn is absolutely my favorite time of year, for so many reasons. One of the main reasons is the wild flowers. These yellow beauties are EVERYWHERE!

And this tree? It's a cedar tree and I really want to hug it all day long. So lovely with all of it's yellow friends surrounding it in the early morning light.

And this amazing view? I get to see it everyday on my run. So peaceful.

Because it was so chilly that morning, the river was giving off some nice steam. In the morning light, it was so beautiful.

Finally, this spot is very special to me. I love to slow down as I pass by and take in the beauty of the view. Often times, I'll pull over and jump out with my camera just to snap a shot because, no matter what time of year, it's always so breathtaking.

Thank you Beth for choosing Autumn and encouraging us to take in it's beauty.

For more amazing Autumn Captures, head over to Beth's blog, I Should Be Folding Laundry. She's the bomb, I promise.

You Capture - Macro

This morning, the smell of fall was in the air, so Mia and I headed down the hill for some playtime. A spider made his beautiful home on our swingset, and I had a great time trying to capture it as it blew in the wind. Enjoy!

I'm not really sure if this qualifies as Macro, but I think it's pretty damn cool.

For more up close captures, head on over to Beth's. You really should be participating. Really. All the cool kids are doing it.

p.s. iPhoto on my new Mac makes me want to rip my hair out. For real. When I save photos I've edited in Photoshop, I try to import them to my iPhoto library, and it says they're already there, only they aren't. Anyone use iPhoto? Does anyone use it and like it? Should I just ditch it and download Picassa?

Oh here, is a preview of the shots I got of Mia. I seriously took almost 300 shots and now I'm going to play in Photoshop and learn how to edit! See you in about 3 years.

This one is SOOC. Look at that bokeh. LOVE!

You Capture - Never Before

We are suffering from a stage 4 drought in southwestern Texas. It's hot, it's dry, everything is dead. The river is lower than I've ever seen it. Lower than many of the old timers have ever seen it. No one really remembers it ever being this bad.

Last night I sat on my front porch trying to figure out what the heck I was going to capture for You Capture. Yeah, I'm a last minute kinda girl like that. So as I sat there, I realized that I've pretty much taken a photograph of everything I can think of. Kids. Check. Hills. Check. Dog. Check. Myself. Check. Rocks. Check. Trees. Check. Well, you get the picture. I was REALLY stumped. Beth is such a stupid jerk like that sometimes!

But then I noticed, off in the distance, a rumble of thunder. A flash of lightening. And I wondered, just wondered, if my capture wasn't right in front of me. So I grabbed my camera, not knowing what the heck I was doing, and put it in manual. I set my shutter speed really low, like 1/10 and who knows what my aperture was. Like I said, NO IDEA what I'm doing trying to shoot lightening in the dark. So, about 482 shots later, and about 476 of these:


And then I got a little of this:


And some of this:

And then this! WOW! I know, it's a tad out of focus because I had to put it on Manual because there was NOTHING to focus on in the pitch black.


When it started to rain, I retreated inside and downloaded my shots. Then the power went out. For real. It was 8:30 p.m. and it didn't come back on until after midnight. It rained all night long, and it's still raining, with no sign of letting up. So exciting!!!!

Thank you Beth for this challenge. I totally take back that stupid jerk comment. You're my sugarlips and you know it!

For more wonderful Never Before Seen captures, get your butts over to Beth's right now. I'm sure you won't be disappointed!

You Capture - Peace

This is my peace. My front porch. A comfy chair. The view of hills and big puffy white clouds. Silence. Gentle breezes. A slowly meandering deer looking for something to eat in my yard. Peace. Quiet. Heaven.

For more peace, head over to Beth's.

p.s. These are SOOC. Can you see the spots? There are spots on my photos. They are not on my monitor. What's causing them? HALP!

You Capture - You

Ohmygosh. It has been weeks upon weeks since I participated in You Capture. That makes me so sad, because I so look forward to seeing what everyone has captured and hearing what everyone has to say about my captures.

I wasn't going to participate this week, because frankly, I've been so busy. We just got home from a trip to Georgia and Tennessee, a trip that was on the coattails of my trip to Blogher. But I love this photo so much. And I love the moment it was snapped. I was with two great friends site seeing in Chicago on the Sunday after Blogher. We took a CRAZYASSTAXIRIDE down to Millennium Park so I could show my girls it's wonderous beauty. And the Bean.

So I give you, me:

And me and my hookers:

These kinda cover the weeks I've missed, right? Black and white, and friends :)

For more fantastic captures, head on over to Beth's. NOW.

You Capture - Photographer's Choice

This week Beth let us pick our subjects for You Capture, and to be honest, I had no idea what to capture.

One afternoon, my camera and I were sitting on the front porch enjoying the view, when I realized my subject for this week, was right there. Do you remember those little baby birds living on my front porch? The swallows I posted a great shot of a few weeks back, for Family? Okay, click here to refresh your memory. I'll wait, don't worry. Okay, so those baby birds grew so fast and before I knew it, they were venturing out on their first flights. This week.

I spent lots of time outside capturing the 5 baby birds sitting on the power line, stretching their wings and fluttering around. Then entire time, two of the baby birds always stayed together. Always. They practically sat on top of each other on the line, and always dove and glided together. The whole time, all I could think about were James and Jake, Beth's sweet angels. It made me happy, but it also made me so sad, because I know how much my dear friend Beth aches for her boys. Every.single.day. That ache will never go away, not ever, and there's nothing I can do, but remember them and honor them as often as I can.

So today, my You Capture post is dedicated to James and Jake. I love you, Beth.

Please be sure to stop by Beth's blog and check out what everyone else captured this week. And give her a little extra love while you're there, k. I'll punch you if you don't.

You Capture - Summer

Ahhh, Summer. Hot. Sunny. Wet. Wild. Endless. Fun. Bright. Colorful. Hot. Hot. Hot.

Yes, summer is upon us here in Texas. Every day this week has been 100+. Right now, it's 101.9. That's hot. We try to beat the heat by either staying inside with the A/C working overtime, by heading to the beach for vacation, or to the river for the day. Here are some shots from our past Summer week.

my boy on the beach

hill country sunset butterfly on lantana beautiful weed
drinking in the sunshine

For more summer captures, go one over to Beth's. Her's are the BEST this week!!!

You Capture - Nature

Beth's assignment for You Capture this week was Nature. I am surrounded by nature every single day. I chose this bristle thistle as my subject this week. It is technically a weed, but so beautiful. The stem and foliage are so full of thorns, you don't want to get too close or it might bite you. Butterflies flock to them, bees wallow in them, even hummingbirds think they're sweet. Bristle thistles are one of our "wild flowers."

No time to edit, so these are SOOC. Shot in manual mode!

For more wonderful Nature captures, head on over to I Should Be Folding Laundry! You won't be disappointed!

I am going on a true photoventure this weekend with a group of photographers, so hopefully I'll find some Emotion captures for next week!

You Capture - Feel

This week was tough. I thought it over and my interpretation is how *I* feel toay. My best friend Lisa is visiting this week, and it makes me feel so happy!

This picture makes me feel so happy. My children and Lisa's children feel love for each other (most of the time), and I think it shows.

To see more Feel Captures, head on over to I Should Be Folding Laundry.

You Capture - Family

This Barn Swallow nest has been on our porch since we bought our house. Many people knock them down because they think the swallows are a nuisance. I totally disagree. Watching these birds year after year has brought my family so much pleasure!



Every March, the birds return from their migration to South America, feather up the nest, and get down to the bid'ness of laying some eggs. Did you know that barn swallows are monogamous? When the eggs are in the nest, one of the parents is always there keeping them warm. The other is within sight, catching bugs. After the babies hatch, both parents spend their entire days catching bugs and feeding them. At night, they both return to the nest and sleep beak to beak on top of the babies.

I've spent many days and evenings on my front porch watching in awe.

Once the babies are old enough, they'll sit on the edge of the nest and stretch their wings. And soon, they start to venture from the nest. I always make sure to watch closely for the signs of their first flight. It's truly amazing.

The best part? They have 2 broods each summer!

You can see the mama sticking her head in the babies mouth! Everytime one of the parents return to the nest, all the babies sit up tall with wide-open mouths!

Nighty night, little babies!

For more Family captures, head on over to I Should Be Folding Laundry!

You Capture - Sweet

ng.

I didn't have much time to focus on this week's challenge set for by Beth @ I Should Be Folding Laundry, because I was out of town and then just busy, busy, busy. And distracted.


So I went back through the pictures I've taken this past week and found the epitomy of SWEET! Okay, so I found a couple of sweet shots, but this one is my favorite, non-offspring shots!
And of course, the token shot of my sweeter than sweet kiddos. Love them and their sweet smiles!
For more wonderful, SWEET shots, head on over to I Should Be Folding Laundry!

Oh, for those of you wondering what that one shot was in last week's Color challenge, here's another angle of it to give you some perspective!

You Capture - Color

Beth's assignment for You Capture this week was COLOR!

I've been out of town this week, in Houston for my son's school trip. We vistied many museums, Nasa, and a few other places. These are some of the colors I captured.

I'll be home tomorrow and will check out everyone's You Captures! I can hardly wait to see all the colors!!