Tulle Wreath

So I found A tutorial on how to make a Tulle Wreath.  I thought it was just too cute so I decided to make one.  I figured how hard could it be.  Well it really wasn't that bad.  The hardest part was cutting the Tulle, well what took the longest.  And I decided that it needed just a little something else so I added a "n" to it for Miss Nona.  I hope she likes it!

The first is without the flash, and the second one is with the flash.  You can see the sparkles better with the flash on.

I have materials to make a Christmas Wreath next.  I can't wait to see what that one is going to look like.

Thanks for looking.  And as soon as I have time, I will put up a tutorial if anyone is interested.

The View Keeps Getting Better

I have tried taking more pictures lately.  Especially since I hadn't picked up my camera in so long.  I would really love to take pictures every day, but I don't think that is possible right now.  So at least twice a week will be my goal.

As for Miss Nona, she is doing well.  She is just getting over an ear infection, while at the same time getting in her last set of molars.  We have lost several nights of sleep over these.  But thanks to good ole tylenol and motrin, she is doing better.  (Thank Goodness!)

Aaron is doing well.  He is still working at Four Corners and really likes it. Hopefully he will be there for a while.  He has also started writing music again.  I don't know how it is going as I try to let him do his thing, and not pester him.  As for me I am still a Perfusionist.  I love my job, and the guys I work with!  So I guess you could say we are all doing well.  Including Miss Dixie.  Of course she is doing well, she is still spoiled rotten.

So now on to the pictures.  I have taken several over the past few days.  And tonight I took my All Time Favorite:

I don't know how Aaron and I were blessed with such a beautiful child.  She was so funny when I went to take this picture.  I asked her to go and stand over there, so she walked right over to where I had pointed.  Then she turned around and said "Cheese."  It was just too cute.  She actually posed for this picture.  And I was lucky enough to capture it!

The next picture was a bit later.  She only wanted to pose for the first two pictures.  After that she was done.  After that she wandered around and finally went to lean up against the wall of the apartment complex and wait on her crazy photo-snapping Mother, and Miss Dixie.  So of course crazy Mommy took a few more pictures.  they turned out cute, but not like the first one.

so that is where we are right now.  Just hanging out, living life day by day.  Trying to enjoy every minute, and not let it pass us by.  She is growing up so fast and it seams like just yesterday she was just learning to walk.  Now she has and attitude, and knows exactly what she does and doesn't like.  One day Aaron and I will be added to that don't like list.  But until then I am going to soak up every minute of the Mommy and Daddy are better than sliced bread phase!

Shooting On Manual

Okay, so I got to borrow another lens.  And I must say, it is awesome!  It is a Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 zoom lens.  I am so jealous, and I want one.  But I am so thankful to have someone nice enough to just allow me to borrow Lenses like this.

So anyways, I spent a little time outside this afternoon.  After an emergency heart this A.M. I got home to take some pictures.  I am loving my camera!  I am now beginning to feel more comfortable with it, and I shot in Manual Mode today.  Which is exciting to me, only because I thought I would never be able to understand enough to do this.  But I think I did pretty well.

 I never thought I would enjoy taking pictures, but I really do like it.  I think what I like so much about it, is that if I mess up a picture, I just hit the delete button.  (Thank goodness for digital photography)  And if no one else likes my pictures well that's okay, they are just for me anyways.  I am not the greatest at composing a good picture, but every once in a while I get a lucky shot in there.  I almost feel like an artist, and I really don't have an artistic bone in my body.

I really am enjoying playing around with Manual.  I have complete control over the shot.  Today I was playing around with exposing the shot for the light and then re-composing the shot to include a lot of the shadowed area.    The effect was pretty cool!  I was also just shooting, just to shoot.  I actually got off a shot of the stairs leading up to our apartment.  It actually turned out to be a pretty cool picture.

Lots of Park Time

Okay, so I stink at this blogging thing, but that is nothing new.  I actually have some free time this evening, as Nona is in Nashville, and Aaron and I are in Birmingham.  So I figured my blog could use some attention.


So what have the Griffith's been up to?  So glad you asked.  Nona and I found a local dog park.  So on Saturdays we usually load ourselves, and Miss Dixie into the car and head over there.  Dixie loves it.  She doesn't have to be on a leash, she gets to sniff to her hearts content, and doesn't get yelled at to behave.  Nona loves it because she gets to see all the dogs.  Because of course Miss Dixie is not a dog, at least as far as Nona is concerned.


Then usually on Sundays Aaron, Nona, and I all head to Veteran's Park to play.  Nona loves the playground.  There are a certain set of swings that she loves.  She also loves to walk up the steps and go down the slide, all by herself.  I think the all by herself is the part she loves the most!  

Nona is also becoming such a big girl.  Thursday her toddler rails came in so I put them on her bed.  And Thursday night was the first night she slept in a big girl bed.  She did really well.  She didn't get up until 6:30 on Friday morning.  Of course aaron and I are very lucky in the fact that she pretty much puts herself to bed.  We will ask if it is time for night night kisses.  If it is, she will give her kisses and walk to her crib and wait to be put in.  Last night she walked to her "big girl bed", and climbed right in.  I was so proud!

So this weekend she is up in nashville staying with my parents.  And she is going to sleep in a toddler bed up there as well.  I think this weekend is going to be harder for Mommy and Daddy, then it is for Ladybug!  Of course a weekend to ourselves is nice, the only problem is that I am on call.  

Fourth of July Weekend

So we went to my Mom and Dad's for the weekend of the Fourth.  It was so nice to get away and have a mini vacation.  And of course I had to take a few pictures.  I am so loving this new hobby.  Especially since one of my coworkers let me borrow one of his lenses! A Nikon 105mm f2.8 ED-IF AF-S VR micro-nikkor lens. It was awesome, and now I want one!!!!!  But alas it will have to wait until I hit the lotto!  So here are a few of the pics.

The first on I love, it is Nona and Frazier, checking each other out.  And if you actually know what Frazier looks like now days, this photo does wonders for him!  Poor guy has bad arthritis and doesn't look so great anymore.  But here he almost looks like a spring chicken.

Normally I can't stand spiders, but I just had to test out this lens.  Now it is not the greatest picture, but considering I am still a novice and learning, I don't think it is terrible.  It looks better in full screen on my computer.  But you can still get the gist of it.  I really wan't even standing that close.  It looks like the lens is almost touching the little guy.  And he was pretty little.  When I got home from work the other night there was a huge garden spider building a web under the steps up to the apartment.  I wish I had gone in and gotten my camera, but alas I was just way too tired!

This little guy is one of the flowers sitting on my Mom's front porch.  If you can actually zoom in on it a little bit you can see the center of the flower.  It is a shame that to post pictures on a blog you have to compress them to jpegs.  The RAW file is beautiful, you can even see the fine hairs on the green leaves.  Again this lens is amazing, and I would love to have one!  I am so jealous, but at least I do have someone who is willing to let me borrow it!

I guess that is all for now.  I hope that everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July Weekend and didn't have too much trouble going back to work!

What's Goin' On

That's the Question.  Not much has changed since my last post.  Nona has gotten bigger, of course.  And she has learned a few new things.  Including telling us yes or no, when she does or doesn't want something.  Which has been helpful, most of the time.  As Aaron learned today, just because she says she doesn't want to eat doesn't mean she isn't hungry.  She has also learned to say thank you, and is doing very well at realizing when she needs to say it.  She has also learned to sign please.

She has become a very independent little person.  I don't know where she got that from, well okay, she got it from me.  She is also a real girly girl.  She loves to wear bracelets and necklaces.  She also wants to put on makeup when I am doing mine.  That doesn't happen very often, but she still wants to wear it.    Now I really don't know where she got this girly thing from, I am so not girly!!

So that is pretty much it, I think.  It's late and my noggin isn't working all that well right now.  It is so neat though, to look at her and see a little lady standing there instead of a baby.  Kind-of makes me sad, but not really.  I love the way she interacts now and can communicate better.

Nona's Closeup

So here we are and it is almost Mother's Day.  And for Mother's Day Nona, Aaron, and I are going to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens for a picture taking morning.  I am so excited!  I can't wait to go.  We have only been there once with Aaron's parents and it has been about two years.  I am trying to decide what dress to put her in and I think I have the perfect one picked out.  But you will just have to wait till I post the pictures!

I did take some pictures the other day, while Aaron and I took Dixie outside.  They turned out really well if you ask me.  Of course my camera takes such beautiful pictures, and of course having a beautiful subject doesn't hurt either.  Also I have started using Aperture to edit my pictures and it is so easy to use,  So here are a few pictures to wet you palate.  If you would like to see the rest they are in my Mobile Me Gallery.

 

Had to Share

I was playing with a editing program the other night and I figured out how to selectively single out a color.  I was so excited.  I love it when professional photographers do this and I figured it out!  Anyways that is all I have to say and here is the picture that I took.  I turned it into a black and white all except for Nona's eyes as you can see.  I just love the way it turned out.  I thought I wouldn't have time to play around with editing software.  But I have been using Aperture and it is so easy.  It has been really easy to figure out.  I have only trialed it for a month and I love it. 

Well that is all of the update for right now, not much of an update, but I just had to share!

A Trip to the Zoo and Easter

There's a what behind me?

Okay so I haven't updated this blog in a while.  So here is my attempt at an update.

We finally made it to The Birmingham Zoo.  I'm pretty sure that Nona had a good time.  She learned what a lion says and got to see them.  We also got to see an elephant fairly close up.  You can see in the picture to the right.

DO NOT PUT ME DOWN!!

We also went to the petting zoo while we were there.  Nona did not like that part of the zoo at all.  She did not want to touch the animals and she wouldn't let Daddy put her down.  So all in all I think the zoo was a success.  

Nona has now learned what a dog says... woof woof. I would download a video but blogger is being difficult today. And apparently almost all animals say woof woof, except for the cow and the lion.  Nona can also now point out her nose, mouth, and feet.  We are working on eyes.  She says MaMa and DaDa, sometimes.  Whenever she says a new word she usually just says it once, and then figures I proved I know how to say it, why do I have to say it again.  She is definitely keeping us on our toes, and laughing all the time.

So I tried to take some easter pics of her with my new camera.  And I got a few good ones. 

 

The picture in the middle was taken in my "studio."  Okay I don't have a studio, but I tried to make one.  I think it was okay for a first try.  The ones outside turned out much better!!  Thank goodness the Easter Bunny didn't go all out with the candy, Mommy and Daddy would have been in trouble if he had.  But the Easter Bunny did bring some Mega Blocks.  She has loved playing with them and they keep her entertained for about 15 minutes at a time.  This week at daycare she is having her picture taken on Wednesday, or tomorrow.  I am really hoping that we get a few good pictures this time.  We will see as soon as they come back in.

So that is all that is going on right now.  Life is going by way too fast and I really wish I could slow it down just a little bit!  But at least I'll always have the pictures to remember it by.  There are more pics of the Zoo and Easter.  Go check them out.

At The Playground

So we decided to take Miss Nona out to the playground beside our apartment a few afternoons ago.  And of course we took Miss Dixie as well.  And I took the camera, Nona is going to think the camera is a part of my body.  Anyways I took a ton of shots outside.  I loved it!  It was so much easier to take pictures outside than inside.  Natural light is so much better!

I am getting better at using my camera and understanding some of the settings.  I took a few pictures and now looking back I wish I had changed the focus point on a few and taken the picture.  But I am learning.  Just something to remember for in the future.  We did have a good time playing though, well Nona played, I took pictures, Dixie sniffed EVERYTHING, and Daddy just watched it all.

So I just had to post a few of my pictures.  I tried my hand a little bit at landscape pictures.  I found that I am much better at taking pictures of my delightful daughter, and handsome husband.  But I think I will keep trying.

I have been reading a few books trying to get some more ideas on how to use my camera.  I am looking at a few different websites, just to get a few creative ideas.  I am still unsure if I will end up taking a class or not.  Right now I am leaning towards no, but we shall see in the future.  I do pretty well learning on my own with most things.  And besides practice makes perfect and I am definitely willing to practice this craft and I am determined to succeed at it.  

So now I will leave you with this.  If you would like to go and check out more of our playground adventures go check out my Mobile Me Gallery:  At the Playground

March....

I know that this month isn't over yet, but that's okay.  If I don't write it down now, I won't remember later what happened at the first of the month.  So here goes:

We found out that little Miss Nona Leigh loves to sing.  She was holding her baby doll the other night and I asked her to sing to her baby and rock her.  Well she did and it was just too cute!  Just watch and see what happens.

Lets see, Nona Leigh has also learned to sign more.  It is so funny to watch her doing it.  I'll have to try and get a video of her doing it one night at dinner time.  Nona Leigh also had her 15 month appointment near the middle of the month.  Well she was 21.5 lbs, and 31" tall.  Her height has slowed down a little bit, she is only in the 75th percentile now.  Whereas before she was in the 95th percentile.  I am hoping this is only a momentary lapse in growth and that she won't get the short genes on my side of the family!  Come on tall genes!!

Aaron has had a great month as well.  He has been working at Hobby Lobby since November of 2010.  Well he has wanted to leave since the day he took the job, so he was applying for jobs left and right.  Well one of them contacted him and he starts next Monday.  He is so excited and so ready to be done with Hobby Lobby!  And hopefully he can teach a few lessons on the side.  No students yet, but if you know any drummers looking for a great teacher, send them our way!

Now for me, saved the best for last!  Well okay Nona's the best but this really has to do with her.  So my MIL got a new camera a few weeks ago and I have been looking at her pictures and getting more and more jealous.  Well I talked to a co-worker, and he had me sold after looking at the pictures he had taken. Well I came home and that evening talked to Aaron, and we decided to take the leap into the world of Dslr cameras.  I am so happy that we did.  It is a lot of fun to have so much control over your photographs.  And the quality of these photos is incredible!  I have only played around with it, but I have taken quite a few great pictures.

The picture above of just Nona and the one to the left of just Aaron were "lucky" shots, that actually turned out really nice.  I tweaked the picture of Aaron a bit and did a sepia coloring on it.  The first picture in my post was a shot I actually meant to take.  I just thought it was so cute.  You can tell that Nona Leigh loves her daddy!

So that is pretty much what has happened up to this point.  We have been a busy little family, and hopefully it will stay that way.  And there will definitely be more pictures in the future!!

If you want to check out the rest of my pictures that I've taken so far, check out my Mobile Me.

February....

Was a blur of a month.  And a lot of firsts for Nona.  She went on her first 10 hour car trip to Pennsylvania.  She got to meet the rest of my Mother's family, even though it wasn't under the most pleasant of circumstances.  My Grandmother had passed away after her battle with cancer.  Don't be sad, she is now with her Lord and Savior, and no longer suffering.  It was great to see family that I hadn't seen in a long time though!  And if you are wondering Nona did fantastic in the car.  Mainly because we traveled between the hours of 6pm to 2am.  Yes I am aware of the fact that is not 10 hours, but we met an ice storm on the way up, and took a shorter route on the way back.  She is such a laid back little girl that Aaron and I are afraid to have another one just for the simple fact that he/she will come out and you will be able to see the horns.  And they won't be holding up a halo.

Anyways, I digress.  On the way up to PA, I got a phone call.  A leak in the water heater in our house in TN had occurred and water was all over the first floor of the house.  Thank goodness no one was living in the house, and we had no furniture in the house.  And I thank God, every chance I get, that our real-estate agent went to the house when she did.  Otherwise we would be in even worse shape.  Well we are now in the process of getting the house "renovated" and "upgraded".  Aaron and I decided that while we are getting a lot of things fixed we should upgrade a few things to hopefully help sell the house quicker once we can get it back on the market.  As renovations go along hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures.  And on the same note as the house we are very lucky that my Father has been able to help us every step of the way.  He has been involved in just about every aspect of construction.  And therefore is really able to help us get things going with our contractor!!
 
And now something that made me laugh this month.  When my Grandma's obituary was posted in the paper, the picture of her was from when she graduated nursing school.  I got the link from one of my aunts.  So when I clicked on it I was a bit shocked, because this is what I saw:

Needless to say if anyone has seen my mother, she looks almost identical to this.  And if you know anything about me, you will know that I have always been known as "Little Debbie".  (For those of you who don't know me, Debbie is my mother and I look just like her.)  Well I let Aaron see this picture and I asked him, who does this look like.  He said wow your mom looks  just like her.  I then said to him, "Well now you know you know what I am going to look like when I am 80."  The look on his face was priceless!  

And another thing that made me laugh, in the obituary my great-grandmother's name was listed as Nora.  Well most of you who read this blog know that my daughter is named after my great-grandmother.  My mom saw the name Nora and said they got her name wrong.  My dad looks at her and says well what is it supposed to be?  My mom couldn't help but laugh and say your grand-daughter has the same name.  I love my dad, but he is a goofball sometimes.

Well I guess I have bored you enough with this extremely long post.  I'll get some March posts going soon!!

Ashley G.