Holiday moods....

Can you believe it's almost time again....gosh I swear this years go by faster and faster!

..................... by tanya777 featuring AFTERSHOCK

Items in this set:

AFTERSHOCK top, 40 GBP

Oli.co.uk jacket, 60 GBP

Kurt Geiger shoes, 220 GBP

Trashchicvirtual.com.br bag, 24.900 BRL

Jenni Kayne earrings, $2,500

DREAMS by tanya777 featuring Pedro Garcia shoes

Items in this set:

One Vintage blouse, $1,350

Nikkograff.centerblog.net top

Pedro Garcia shoes, 160 GBP

Miss Selfridge accessories, 4 GBP

Graphicshunt.com accessories

PARIS 3 by tanya777 featuring Cargo

Items in this set:

Cargo dress, 238 GBP

Nikkograff.centerblog.net top

Mare2.com flats, 995 EUR

Perfecthandbags.co.uk bag, 30 GBP

Fantasyjewelrybox.com necklace, $50

ALL YOU CAN DO IS BE READY FOR THE GOOD by tanya777 featuring Lipsy

Items in this set:

Lipsy dress, 60 GBP

TopShop outerwear, 75 GBP

Aldoshoes.com shoes, $90

Nike bag, $160

Luisaviaroma.com bracelet, 1.844 EUR

... by tanya777 featuring Disney Couture jewelry

Items in this set:

Vintage-clothes.cz dress, 217 EUR

Zappos.com shoes, $59

Betty Jackson. Black shoulder bag, 60 GBP

Monica Vinader necklace, $150

Dsquared2 bracelet, 169 EUR

beautiful mind by tanya777 featuring Josie shoes

Items in this set:

Cpboutique.com top, $68

Shop.hm.com skirt

Josie shoes, $110

Marquis & Camus necklace, $525

Lucky Brand belt, $69

I FELL SO LONELY WHITOUT YOU by tanya777 featuring BCBG flats

Items in this set:

Tmfas.com dress

BCBG flats, $85

Clarashandbagboutique.com bag

Nordstrom.com necklace, $150

Monsoon, 8 GBP

~~~ by tanya777 featuring Fontanelli bags

Items in this set:

Fanpop.com dress

Jimmy Choo shoes, $780

Fontanelli bag, $515

Irene Neuwirth earrings, $1,540

Purepearls.com accessories, $285

ETERNITY by tanya777 featuring Roberto Cavalli accessories

Items in this set:

Tmfas.com dress

Lillybee shoes, $195

Chloé bag, $1,250

Roberto Cavalli necklace, 515 EUR

Maurizio Pecoraro bracelet, 464 EUR

Are you ready?

Belle of the Ball

I've been around town taking lots of photos, catching up with old friends...but missing my computer. I'm learning to use my phone for everything...how adaptable we become lol. I stopped by the NY Library and found this beautiful gal in the entranceway the other day. I will upload a couple of more photos, but again the connection is too slow right now...nothing like technology eh? Oh, and yes her dress is made of fresh flowers and she had 2 adorable poodles next to her which i wouldn't fit in the shot.

101010

Thanks everyone for stopping by and your thoughts! I feel like I'm battling odds these days...sometimes! My computer's crashed, and I don't know if I'll salvage any of my photos...so of course I'm trying to find something to do with myself. I do everything on my computer these days! Hopefully I won't have to live too long without! I really miss blogging.

I shot this with my blackberry, it's the only way I can upload anything at the moment. We had a lovely day yesterday at a street fair a block from church! The weather was perfect...for fall...although that always brings me to think of 9/11 because just 2 days before it happened the skyline was stunningly on a perfect fall day. Unfortunately it's just something I never forget!

But yesterday was fun, I took the photo for 101010. Was it a special day for you?

Abandoned Love

Hi folks,

Just thought I'd leave a note seeing as you're asking...I'm so sorry I haven't been around this neck of the woods lately....but everything's good for now and I'm in the city taking care of business at the moment and don't have contact with the real world (I use the computers at the library, but I swear I'm entering Fort Knox.

I will be back, hopefully soon....before they have to put me in rehab for the withdrawals lol.

Just Doing the Happy Dance - Watery B&W Wednesday

He made explore on flickr...something to add to his resume!

made explore at flickr!

Almost Over

The weather's been so wonderful...I hope it continues. Our beach days were so wonderful...even though we didn't go on vacation, it almost seemed like we were away. It's such a wonderful place to forget about everything, and just let the wind and surf carry you away. What did you do this summer?

One more week to go....

Summer's almost over........boohoo......20 more days left....and we have one more week left on school break. Can't say I'm happy about that....but the house is suffering growing pains in the cluttered corner department. I'm not going to show you a photo of those....and I'm sure you're relieved....but all six of my children are in school this year for the full day....so it's just me and the littlest guy....and he's good at digging...so that will keep us busy until baking season ;)

It's still hot here over 90 again all week...it's been a crazy hot summer, and we've been at the beach most of it....if you'd like to catchup on photos you'll see them on my 365 blog & flickr.

This was taken at the waterpark....it was not my idea....but all my girls were away at camp and Grandmas and my oldest son was also at football camp....so my 2 other boys had me all to themselves....and we had so much fun...they were really great.

Oh...and if you're interest the August Photo Hunt Challenge is up if you want to check all the entrants...take a peek.

Before and After

A few of my friends over at Flickr asked me how I edited a photo that I posted today. I couldn't find the original...but as I was delving thru my files I found this photo, so I used the same process. Make a duplicate of the original photo, and use the glassian blur on this layer. Adjust the blur, opacity and colour. If you use a slight blur it will give you a glow but stay sharp. If you're using PSE you can use the eraser tool as I did on the tips of the photo on Flickr. I could've used this for the hosta in this photo but I was editing in Microsoft Picture it, which is quicker but doesn't have that tool.

To see more before and after editing stop by Pixel Perfect.

I must apologize for not returning visits all week, it's been raining and I can't get a connection, so I'll have to stop by tonight and catch up! I'm also looking for a new camera...I'm using an olympus p&s but hubby mentioned he would be me and slr...he bribed me, but I'm ok with that lol. So can anyone recommend a decent enough low end Canon or Nikon they like. I do a lot of macro & shoot mostly outdoors.

Macro Monday

Theme Thursday - Before and After

2 snaps from the waterpark and a little easy editing in Microsoft Picture It.

This is has to be my favourite photo of Carter!

At Theme Thursday this week’s theme is “children”! Create something with a child or children this week! Use collage images, rubber stamps, fancy paper , embellishments or any other art supply to make your creation! Digital art is also welcome! Interpret this theme any way you like! You can create an ATC, tag, 4 x 4, card, skinny or whatever you fancy!

Mosaic Monday

Some of my recent photos, the colours were looking so beautiful together i decided to to collage them.

1. lilac, 2. peace, 3. take me away, 4. after the rain, 5. dragonfly, 6. withering heights, 7. Hint of Hosta, 8. sprinkles, 9. cosmos

Wordless Wednesday - Under....or Over?

If you run...

I always thought he was running away from me....

but now I know.

Getting Back to Regular Schedule....and Sundays in My City

So good to get back to my Blogger! My connection seems to have stabilized, I have been online consistently for almost a week yah! Also, I don't know how many of you use Blogger Draft...but they changed their program at bit. To post images at first a box came up with every image on your Picasa Account. Well that was a lot of images, and with a slow connection nothing was loading. Now they've reigned that problem in for us slow connecters and I can once again just upload one photo from my computer.

I've spent some time on my photo blogs these past weeks and have just started The August Break and am uploading to Flickr. I like it over there because I don't have to wait for pages to load...but I've missed visiting all your wonderful blogs. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up this week!

Today my photo was taken at Jones Beach, actually 2 days ago...but we'll be going this afternoon. The price is $16 to go to the beach here...but a season pass is just $65...so it's quite reasonable. One of the many things, mind you...being a large family, the cost of an outing usually starts around $70, that's just for the admissions. The last trip to the museum which was about 3 years ago, we went with some other friends and their 5 children and the entrance alone for all of us was $270. That was without drinks and food, gas into the city, parking cost etc.

My nephews and Sister In Law visited us from Georgia last week and with this very hot weather we're having, we spent most of the time at the beach. Here's a typical picture of the crew...seriously I had to bribe my life away to get these guys to do this...but it took so long, the sun had almost set...and we missed one, lol.

I posted lots of beach pics on my 365 blog this week. Well, I thought I was going to up load photos...but now I'm getting an icon saying server rejected?????what the ?????Blogger! Oh well, if you want to check out photos.,...yo'll have to head on over to WORDPRESS hahum...and check them out!

Before and After

I have just started using a very old version of Photoshop Elements my Mum sent me recently...unfortunately I didn't save all the steps. This is a very basic edit and very easy. The flower is selected (traced with the mouse) and cut out so there is no longer a background and the textures added (these are Shadowhouse). It's kinda funny that this is the only photo I took of this flower because it was too windy, but ended up making for a good picture.

Click on the photo to see full effect. If you would like complete tutorials, stop by my photo blog and you'll find lots of links in the sidebar.

Sweet Shot Tuesday

Surf's Up - Theme Thursday

All elements my own

Texture by Sharon Pruitt

A Flower for You!

My youngest daughter loves to pick flowers to give to me, she used to pick them everyday. They brighten my heart so much more than store bought flowers....just like her!

Before and After

I still use Microsoft Picture It to edit a lot of my photos, I just can't seem to get past the ease of the program.

Textures Amy Locurto

Etsy Favs

I haven't been able to upload photos during the couple of times a week I can catch a connection...thus the lack of posts...I'm still around though, mostly at the beach...catching up with family...if you'd like to see recent photos I am able to post onto my 365 blog with wordpress here and there, you can catch a glimpse of the action there :)

Thrift Shop Find

J Crew linen dress included in the $5 grab bag at the thrift shop.

Unfortunately it's a size 2 so it will fit my daughter.

Renovation update.

We've been busy in our kitchen the past few weeks. Our appliances were on their last legs as it was 15 years ago when my MIL redid her kitchen. We initially wanted a 36' Viking stove with the grill, but it was priced at over $10,000 with the hood. Knowing we needed to buy a larger refrigerator which would be expensive, we contemplated the 5 Star which was around $2,500. Of course these were just our initial picks, we didn't know when the time came what we'd actually get.

With the refinancing on hold at the moment, the appliances still needed to be replaced, so we thought we may find something reasonably priced to use until the new kitchen happened. Hubby was drawn to an ad on Craigs List for appliances in the Bronx and went to check it out. We actually went to look at a Kenmore refrigerator, but this guy had everything, including all the high end brands. Our new Viking stove was obviously well used but in very good condition, apart from 2 missing grates. The top plates had been recoated but could be replaced in the future. Our cost $500, and exactly what we wanted. Granted there are perks to living in a big city.

Old Stove

 New Stove

We had to cut 6" off the counter, but it was space that wasn't really being used as the dishwasher and dishrack are there. Our big pots and pans look small on it, I couldn't use these together on the old stove. Now storage is a probem, we lost the pantry area with the demo and with the refrigerator, I have no storage for the cooking & baking things...I'm still trying to find a space here and there where they'll be out of the way.

Wordless Wednesday - Tiptoe

Storm Catching - Macro Monday

It started pouring on Thursday and we hoped for a break from the very hot weather we've been having the past 2 weeks...but not so. I thought the kids had gone outside to splash in the rain and thought I'd catch a shot or two. Luckily the kids were inside, well...all but one who followed me out. When I realized no-one was out...I headed for home...I didn't get far when I realized it had started hailing. I was under the neighbours dogwood tree where I often stand to wait for the bus when it rains...it gives coverage unless it's raining very hard.

Just as I started shooting a my head felt a sharp pain, and as I scrambled for safety my thumb on my camera was bruised and Nathanael came racing towards me.

I yelled at him to get inside, but it was too late, he only made it 10 ft to our driveway, and found shelter, crying and afraid. Luckily it didn't last too long, a few minutes the sun was out and everything was steaming again.