"Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it
is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of
course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want
to escape from these things." ~T. S. Eliot

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you
did, but people will NEVER forget how you make them feel ~ Maya Angelou

I've always been drawn to things that display class, glamour, and beauty

Song of the Day

September 27, 2008

A Lazy Saturday...


This is my little punk..she is the last one, she is our miracle, and we love her.


Ryleigh really does like Glamour, she loves to have her hair done, she loves to put on cool clothes, dress up and shoes...omg she love shoes she is so different from the first two that are grown.


My little punk also has a love for HATS and when she's not wearing them she puts them up on a rack that also holds other things that she loves.


Ryleigh is the apple of her daddy's eye, she is so sweet natured and just loves to love. She loves noggin and suggling with her blanket.


Here is the blanket of all time request from Ryleigh, she loves this quilt that I bought for her at a christmas craft show before I had her, I fell in love with it..but it has seen better days..but isn't that how it always goes..


Ryleigh also has the Dora Magical Castle that she got for christmas a couple of years ago.


My little punk must have a little country in her cause she loves the barn to, so these are the two things that never comes off of her dresser...I go insane sometimes! Ha!


Ryleigh has so many cars, and most of them are from the CARS MOVIE, she plays more with parking the car's in the house and the barn or just lines them up in front of the castle.






This is Rye's favorite picture of her and her Pa...she always looks at it and say's "I Love You, PA"

Ryleigh turned 6 in May and her brother Joshua left for Texas today and he was in such a hurry we didn't get the picture of the hug between him and Rye..I miss him already. Please keep him in your prayers..Thank You

September 20, 2008

20 Things I Love About Fall...

Melissa over at The Inspired Room wanted us to share 20 things we love about fall. Here is my list


1. Cooler weather
2. Pumpkin spice candels
3. Breaking out the sweaters
4. Getting the kid's costumes for Halloween
5. Carving pumpkins
6. Fall Festivals
7. Craft shows
8. The smell of hay on the hay rides.
9. Decorating in orange,red,yellow and brown
10. Making chili and soups
11. Making a fire in the fireplace
12. Flannel PJ's
13. Camping
14. Family gathering
15. Snuggling under the heavy comforter
16. Making Pumpkin and Apple pies
17. Cornstalks that decorate the front yard
18. Raking the leaves and then jumping in them with the kiddos
19. Making the list for Thanksgiving dinner
20. Having friends and family over for hot chocolate after a Hayride.

this spoke to my heart...

I love this group - Selah. I have no doubt that the Spirit just flows through their music and I believe that the members of this group live out the faith they sing. This video spoke to my heart today - hope it’ll speak to yours too.

This is how Heather had this posted on her blog today..It spoke to my heart also- hope you'll enjoy this video.

Parker


I got my grandson this weekend and he is on the move now, and just look at this face, he is such a cutie and really wants to know why grandma is behind that big machine...




He just woke up from a nap here.

He loves the blinds and looking outside..

Amber and Brett


Click to play Amber and Brett

September 18, 2008

Graditude: Awaking the Heart


Has this ever happened to you? You picked up a book and a sentence leaps off the page as if it had been written just for you. Or you hear a revelation in the lyrics of a song. Sometimes an angel seems to whisper in your ear.

This morning I relized that I am emotionally and physically exhasted from concentrating on things I want to buy but can't afford. I feel trapped in a vicious circle. The more I focus on lack of and what I couldn't have, the more depressed I get and the more I focus on lack of. At this moment I'm acknowledging the deep longing in my heart. What I really am hungry for is inner peace that the world can not take away.

As I read Laura's post today about "Gratitude", I began to relize that I had much more in my life to be grateful for. I felt humbled by my riches and regretted that I took for granted the abundance that already exists in my life. I started a list of things that I'm grateful for and once I started that list just keeps growing. Some of the things that I'm grateful for are my health, my wonderful husband, my 3 happy and health children, our home,our dog Jack who brings us companionship and joy, a pantry full of food, we are also blessed with wonderful family and friends that understands and deeply care about us.

When I look at my life as a whole I relize that I am a very rich woman. My personal net worth couldn't possibly be dertermined by the size of my checking account. It dosent' matter how I become aware of this all that matter is that I am aware and nothing can compare to an afternoon lunch with an old friend or being home when the school bus pulls up by the drive way, or I sit on the phone for 3 hours with a friend that really matters to me.

Thank you Laura for making my heart be grateful for the things that I need to be grateful for and humbling myself to understand it.

Newfoundland Dogs

I was on Laura Novak Photography blog the other day and she did a shoot of a family and their Newfoundland. These dogs are not only huge but they are so smart and they are trained for rescue. Newfoundlands are bred for water rescue and actually have webbed feet, thereby are instinctively attracted to water. The French National Federation for Seaborne Rescue Dogs and the French National School for the Training of Rescue Dogs for Disaster still use Newfoundlands in extreme weather.

I Love big dogs, but I don't think I could afford to feed it. Ha! Here's a video of them in action.

September 16, 2008

Josh is Going to Texas....

My son came home yesterday and said "I'm going to help out in Texas". "What?" "Ya, someone at PJ's church works for FEMA and they need help and their paying and I know your the one going to have a hard time with this, so is it ok"? My son is asking me if it's ok, I know that it sounds weird and he's 19 but He's my boy and we have a great relationship and Yes I'm going to miss him, and Yes I'm going to worry like a mad woman, and Yes I'm going to cry, and YES, YES,YES....My son is venturing away from home it's almost like he going into the miltary or something but I'm so very proud of him that he wants to do this, and that he is going to help the people in Texas that need help.

Please keep Josh and his friends in your thoughts and prayer.

Amber and Brett

I am finally done with the editing the pictures of the wedding I had on August 16, I know I'm a little slow but things happen. Here are some of my favorites of the wedding and will be doing another shoot of the happy couple but I believe it'll be after FOOTBALL SEASON...Brett works the games so keep checking back because if I get that oppurtunity were taking it to Hudson Beach and some inbetween places.

Here are my favorites from the wedding





























There is more to come, I've been having to resize them so blogger will let me put them up...urr!

September 14, 2008

Please vote for The Inspired Room

No pressure or anything, but I think this site deserves to win a Love! This Site Award from DivineCaroline, so please, vote soon! You can also still nominate your favorite sites.

September 10, 2008

Secrets of Adulthood






By doing a little bit each day, you can get a lot accomplished.
People don’t notice your mistakes and flaws as much as you think.
It's nice to have plenty of money.
Most decisions don't require extensive research.
Try not to let yourself get too hungry.
Even if you think they are fake holidays, it's nice to celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day.
If you can't find something, clean up.
The days are long, but the years are short.
Someplace, keep an empty shelf.
Turning the computer on and off a few times often fixes a glitch.
It's okay to ask for help.
You can choose what you do; you can't choose what you LIKE to do.
Happiness doesn't always make you feel happy.
What you do EVERY DAY matters more than what you do ONCE IN A WHILE.
You don't have to be good at everything.
Soap and water removes most stains.
It's important to be nice to EVERYONE.
You know as much as most people.
Over-the-counter medicines are very effective.
Eat better, eat less, exercise more.
What's fun for other people may not be fun for you--and vice versa.
People actually prefer that you buy wedding gifts off their registry.
Houseplants and photo albums are a lot of trouble.
If you're not failing, you're not trying hard enough.
No deposit, no return.

**from the Happiness Project.

September 09, 2008

I am....

I AM … a planner.
I WANT… nothing, I have what I need...God in my life, family who loves me, friends that understand me.
I KEEP … a written journal.
I WISH I COULD … spend more time with my parents.
I HATE … that I don't finish a craft project.
I FEAR … being judged.
I HEAR … quiteness.
I DON’T THINK … money makes you happy, it helps, but not truly happy.
I REGRET … alot of things.
I LOVE … God, my family, my life.
I AM NOT … patient.
I DANCE … when there is good music on.
I SING … every chance I get..hehe
I NEVER … pass air in front of my husband or anyone.
I RARELY … use our 2nd bathroom.
I CRY WHEN I WATCH … Officer and a gentleman...
I AM NOT ALWAYS … on time.
I HATE THAT … were in Iraq.
I’M CONFUSED ABOUT … a lot of things.
I NEED … to start walking in the evenings again.
I SHOULD … eat my vegetables and pray more often!

September 07, 2008

Shooting In Raw

I've had a lot of question about shooting in raw from family and some friends that have just gotten their camera and looking to do better and I always say."Shoot in Raw" and they always ask "WHY" so her is a blurb that I found in PhotoAnswers.


Shooting in RAW means that you will always have a full-resolution “negative” of your original image.

Such is not the case when you shoot in JPEG, where you lose a bit of information from the photo each time you make a correction/edit.

Shooting in RAW also gives you so much more flexibility when it comes to adjusting your photos; probably my favorite feature is the ability to adjust exposure after you’ve shot the photo.

In other words, if you don’t get the exposure (lighting) quite right when you take the shot, you can darken or lighten it after the fact.

There are limitations to this, of course: you can’t shoot a photo in the dark, then turn it into a perfectly exposed shot afterward. But within a few f-stops, you can wriggle yourself out of a lot of jams.


Hope this helps, if not let me know or check out this site that I found..Lots of interesting stuff..

Contre-Jour.."against the light"

So today I decided to take on an assignment, seeing that I'm not going to Tami's today and after getting my pedicure it has inspired me somehow..plus I need something different to adjust my creativeness, if that makes sense. But on DPS they had an assignment and, well here it is take note...



***Latest Assignment: Contre-jour (27 Aug - 10 Sep)
Contre-jour is a french term meaning "against the light". Take a photo that exploits lighting and plays with under and over-exposed areas to dramatic effect - in other words, the opposite of HDR approaches, which try to compress the range of contrast.



Here is an example I took in Santiago de Compostela when I visited back in March:



Because my challenge is lighting I thought I'd fight it and do something about it and work with this lighting stuff...have no clue, I do join as many groups as I can on Flickr and Facebook but I'm going to beat this bad boy...Lighting and natural lighting is so beautiful if you get it right so the more I practice the better I'll be on a whole and then just keep getting better and better and better, I'm sure you get my point!!!


So I'm going to do some searching around and see what I can find around here so off I go and hopefully the next time I post I'll have what I need and then next weeks assignment is early part of the day, sunrises, work commutes, breakfast, etc. Shots for morning should be from between 3 September and 17 September.

Go ahead do the assignment it'll challenge you as a photographer and get better and better!

September 01, 2008

Turn The Page

I grew up in a small town in Michigan, barely enough people to have a football team, but the town managed to have a small school and about 1600 attending and that was K-12.

Going thru elementary the memory that always come back to me is when we use to wait on the band room steps before the bell would ring and sometimes we would even play a game of tag and the boy that carried the drum set with him home and back to school everyday..he was the hottest boy in 5th grade..Larry Fisk.

Then in high school the memories that come back to me are many and far too many details but I guess the memories that I'm most fond of is when we all gathered around either the front furnace thingy or the one by the bathrooms...we would all gather there and here comes Mr. Wayer making us break it up or Mr. Hendricks just had to look at us and we'd know that it would be time to move on.

When we were in home room just before lunch we would always pick on Mr. Hornack til his veins on his neck popped out or his face was so red he'd do this weird shaking of his head and act like a dadgum retart.

We found out at graduation that he was done being a homeroom teacher because the class of 1980 dang near killed him! He also had some fond memories of us like when as a class we pulled together when it was time for us to work on the homecoming parade floats or when we had to put together the senior class of "79" Prom night, together he said "each and everyone of us played as a team player" and he was "proud of us'.

Also growing up in a small town, you just don't get to the big city much but when you did you either went Shopping, to a Concert, or a Party out at Tony Gall's house on friday nights after the football games.

The memories I could go on and on but I know I'd pretty much bore you and lordy me I don't want to do that.

I don't know if I'm really tapping into my authentic self or what but music is playing an important role in my life right now and when I search thru my memory bank, the good memories, the ones I want to hold on to forever are in there and most of all my love for music and playing it. I also came to love Bob Segar, Journey, REO Speedwagon, Loverboy, Queen, and Pink Floyd..... lordy are class song was "Another Brick in the Wall".