Mikey won the video contest!!! I am so excited for him. He did a great job!
Now we will have a little extra cash to help out with the new little baby we will be having next March!
That's right! I am 2 months along... had a bit of a scare of having a miscarriage for a week or two, but everything seems to be moving along smoothly now. We are really excited to start a family. I have been watching reality nanny shows on T.V. to get tips on raising behaved children..haha.. This will be an adventure.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Andy and Lisa tie the knot!
Andy and Lisa got married a couple weeks ago and had a beautiful wedding. It was nice and sunny (and ridiculously hot), but really nice. The reception was great. The food was delicious and Mike and I had fun taking pictures.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Learning photoshop tricks
I decided I needed to learn some Photoshop skills to take my pictures to the next level. I need to continue to experiment with my camera to avoid too much Photoshop, but I love Bright colorful pictures.. almost to the point of them not looking real. I love the photographer Mark Tucker
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I also Love Tilt-Shift photography, but the lenses are really expensive. I learned this trick to fake it in Photoshop. I had to borrow some pictures from the internet to practice tilt-shift on because I didn't have any that would work very well. (you have to click on the after images to really see what the feature does).
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It gives the illusion that the images are miniature models... I love it!
I am looking forward to taking a bunch of pictures this weekend so I can create something of my own....
He creates his images with different lenses and cameras to get the effects, but some of the stuff can be done in Photoshop. I just like to learn different things to create different looks. The treatment I made to the following pictures is an HDRI edit. Mike let me in on this trick and it is pretty cool. It makes it possible for every element in your image to have just the right lighting.
Here are a few of my test edits with some of my old pictures:
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After
Here are a few of my test edits with some of my old pictures:
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I am looking forward to taking a bunch of pictures this weekend so I can create something of my own....
Monday, June 16, 2008
Mikey is alive!
It has been a pretty crazy week! On Tues Mike had been working and let me know it was a crazy day so he may be home a little late. I went ahead and made my self some dinner and waited for him to come home.
When it was about eight thirty and I still had not heard from him ( he usually calls before he heads home), I started getting a little worried that he had been in an accident. He rode his motorcycle to work that day and I always get a little nervous about that.... anyway, I convinced myself that he was fine and reminded myself I had not heard and ambulance (there is a hospital between the short distance of his work and our house). Just as I was telling myself not to worry I heard ambulances. Again, I just told myself no big deal, he is working late. I decided to do Yoga to keep myself busy. About 5 minutes into my Yoga video I got a phone call from the Emergency room at the UCLA hospital. They let me know Mike was doing ok, but He had been in a motorcycle accident... what does "ok" really mean when someone is in the ER from a motorcycle accident?
Apparently he could only remember one phone number and that was his parents. When the hospital called his parents his dad asked if they had called his wife. Apparently Mike had not told them he had a wife... His parents had to give them my phone number.
I did not want to imagine the worst, but to get a call like that after I had already had the thoughts of him crashing his motorcycle was a bit much. Not to mention we have only been married for 3 months.
I rushed to the hospital and found him in a hospital bed in the hallway of the ER. (something out of a movie). He had a neck brace on and could not move much. He seemed to be out of it. I asked him if he knew who I was and he stared at me for a second with a blank look ( kind of like an oh crap! I should know this) and then smiled and said Britney. I was relived by that. Andy, Peter and Lisa came which was really nice, and Andy and Peter gave him a blessing. I am really grateful for that!
I had to stay out of the way while he was in the hallway because there was not a lot of room so I had to just sit at his feet, holding his foot while workers in the hospital wandered around (what seemed to be a pretty unorganized and unsanitary hospital). Not exactly reassuring.
Once we could move into a room with 3 other patients about 45 minutes later I could sit by him and try to talk to him. He could not remember much. He did not know the day, the month or the year, much less what had happened. I kept asking him if he remembered that we were married and he could not remember. He thought we would be soon if we were not already:) but the fact that he did not have his wedding ring on kept throwing him off.
He would ask the same things over and over....
Mikey: "What Happened?"
Me: "You were in a motorcycle accident."
Mikey: "That sucks. Did someone turn left in front of me?"
Me: "I think so"
Mikey: "Figures. Idiots......How long have I been in her?"
Me: "about 4 hours"
2 second later we would repeat the same 7 lines. This went on for about an hour or two....
He then started saying:
Mikey: " I dream about you"
Me: "what do you dream"
Mikey "that you are here in the hospital with me"
Me: "oh yeah?"
Mikey: "I love you... give me a kiss on my lips"
mixed with the above questions and the following:
Mikey: "are we married?"
Me : "yes"
Mikey: "then were is my ring?"
Me: "the hospital has it"
Mikey: "I love you...give me a kiss on my lips"
At one point I asked him if he could remember all of his siblings and he named them of fine.. Then I asked if he could remember my dads name.. He said he could picture him, but could not remember his name.... then I asked if he remembered my mom... He thought for a while and then looked at me and asked if that was a trick question... I laughed.. and told him she had passed away so he didn't know her, but it was funny he asked me that way.
This went on from about 11pm to 3am until he was sent to a room once they knew he was going to be ok. His cat scans came back saying everything was ok.. there were no major problems, just some bruising and stitches on his foot.
We spent the night there just to be sure and by the time he woke up in the morning his memory was back to normal minus very little recollection of the day before and nothing about the accident. He has been recovering at home .. had to use a walker for a few days before getting enough strength back, but he should be back to work tomorrow.
We are just really lucky it was not worse than it was! I don't know what I would have done if it would have been worse. I am lucky to have him! He is the BEST!
Here are a few pictures of the incident... His bike is no longer... It will be missed, but I am thinking it is for the best.
When it was about eight thirty and I still had not heard from him ( he usually calls before he heads home), I started getting a little worried that he had been in an accident. He rode his motorcycle to work that day and I always get a little nervous about that.... anyway, I convinced myself that he was fine and reminded myself I had not heard and ambulance (there is a hospital between the short distance of his work and our house). Just as I was telling myself not to worry I heard ambulances. Again, I just told myself no big deal, he is working late. I decided to do Yoga to keep myself busy. About 5 minutes into my Yoga video I got a phone call from the Emergency room at the UCLA hospital. They let me know Mike was doing ok, but He had been in a motorcycle accident... what does "ok" really mean when someone is in the ER from a motorcycle accident?
Apparently he could only remember one phone number and that was his parents. When the hospital called his parents his dad asked if they had called his wife. Apparently Mike had not told them he had a wife... His parents had to give them my phone number.
I did not want to imagine the worst, but to get a call like that after I had already had the thoughts of him crashing his motorcycle was a bit much. Not to mention we have only been married for 3 months.
I rushed to the hospital and found him in a hospital bed in the hallway of the ER. (something out of a movie). He had a neck brace on and could not move much. He seemed to be out of it. I asked him if he knew who I was and he stared at me for a second with a blank look ( kind of like an oh crap! I should know this) and then smiled and said Britney. I was relived by that. Andy, Peter and Lisa came which was really nice, and Andy and Peter gave him a blessing. I am really grateful for that!
I had to stay out of the way while he was in the hallway because there was not a lot of room so I had to just sit at his feet, holding his foot while workers in the hospital wandered around (what seemed to be a pretty unorganized and unsanitary hospital). Not exactly reassuring.
Once we could move into a room with 3 other patients about 45 minutes later I could sit by him and try to talk to him. He could not remember much. He did not know the day, the month or the year, much less what had happened. I kept asking him if he remembered that we were married and he could not remember. He thought we would be soon if we were not already:) but the fact that he did not have his wedding ring on kept throwing him off.
He would ask the same things over and over....
Mikey: "What Happened?"
Me: "You were in a motorcycle accident."
Mikey: "That sucks. Did someone turn left in front of me?"
Me: "I think so"
Mikey: "Figures. Idiots......How long have I been in her?"
Me: "about 4 hours"
2 second later we would repeat the same 7 lines. This went on for about an hour or two....
He then started saying:
Mikey: " I dream about you"
Me: "what do you dream"
Mikey "that you are here in the hospital with me"
Me: "oh yeah?"
Mikey: "I love you... give me a kiss on my lips"
mixed with the above questions and the following:
Mikey: "are we married?"
Me : "yes"
Mikey: "then were is my ring?"
Me: "the hospital has it"
Mikey: "I love you...give me a kiss on my lips"
At one point I asked him if he could remember all of his siblings and he named them of fine.. Then I asked if he could remember my dads name.. He said he could picture him, but could not remember his name.... then I asked if he remembered my mom... He thought for a while and then looked at me and asked if that was a trick question... I laughed.. and told him she had passed away so he didn't know her, but it was funny he asked me that way.
This went on from about 11pm to 3am until he was sent to a room once they knew he was going to be ok. His cat scans came back saying everything was ok.. there were no major problems, just some bruising and stitches on his foot.
We spent the night there just to be sure and by the time he woke up in the morning his memory was back to normal minus very little recollection of the day before and nothing about the accident. He has been recovering at home .. had to use a walker for a few days before getting enough strength back, but he should be back to work tomorrow.
We are just really lucky it was not worse than it was! I don't know what I would have done if it would have been worse. I am lucky to have him! He is the BEST!
Here are a few pictures of the incident... His bike is no longer... It will be missed, but I am thinking it is for the best.
We got his bike back today.. It cost about $500 to get it back and there is not much left to salvage. It was a cool motorcycle :(
Mikey and his walker 
Gross bruise on his leg from were we are assuming he hit his handle bars
branded with a 211
stitches ..yuck
Gross bruise on his leg from were we are assuming he hit his handle bars
branded with a 211
stitches ..yuck
Lunch with Aimee and Lilly
Today Mike and I met up with Aimee for lunch. It was fun to catch up and spend a little time with her. Hopefully we will get together more often since she lives pretty close by. It would be nice to hang out with an old Utah friend again... Lilly is a really cute baby.. makes me want one even more :)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
House Makeover!
Mike and I have been married for just over two months now and the house is getting closer to feeling like home. I had to take some before pictures of Mike and Andy's place to fully appreciate the changes made. It has been really fun putting it all together with Mikey.
The biggest change is the living room area.
And here are the after pictures
We had everything repainted which made the biggest difference. We didn't have a lot of furniture pieces to work with that went together, but I like a more eclectic look anyway...
I wanted to find some colorful pillows to add to the sofa because it was so plain and when we started looking for some I realized how expensive they are. Why are they so ridiculously overpriced!? Luckily, mike and I found these really cool dish towels in all these bright colors at Anthropologie and figured we could make our own pillows. I just folded some in half and back stitched them with embroidery thread to make the small ones. And then we found some that had similar patterns to make a front and a back for the bigger pillows. I just recycled the batting from old ugly pillows and got some new filler for some.
It was fun to make them, super cheap and they turned out pretty well.
Homemade pillows
The Kitchen got a bit of a makeover as well. Mostly just color and I am still hoping to change out the gross linoleum for some inexpensive tile...
Kitchen Before
The other rooms are not entirely finished. Our bedroom is coming along and the guest room/office is slowly getting organized.. but this is what I have to show for now:
The biggest change is the living room area.
This is the before picture
And here are the after pictures
We had everything repainted which made the biggest difference. We didn't have a lot of furniture pieces to work with that went together, but I like a more eclectic look anyway...
I wanted to find some colorful pillows to add to the sofa because it was so plain and when we started looking for some I realized how expensive they are. Why are they so ridiculously overpriced!? Luckily, mike and I found these really cool dish towels in all these bright colors at Anthropologie and figured we could make our own pillows. I just folded some in half and back stitched them with embroidery thread to make the small ones. And then we found some that had similar patterns to make a front and a back for the bigger pillows. I just recycled the batting from old ugly pillows and got some new filler for some.
It was fun to make them, super cheap and they turned out pretty well.
Homemade pillows
The Kitchen got a bit of a makeover as well. Mostly just color and I am still hoping to change out the gross linoleum for some inexpensive tile...
Kitchen Before
Kitchen after
The other rooms are not entirely finished. Our bedroom is coming along and the guest room/office is slowly getting organized.. but this is what I have to show for now:
Bathroom before
Bathroom after (different one but gives you the idea)
Bedroom before
Bedroom after
It has been pretty fun and I am excited to finish the rest!
Bathroom after (different one but gives you the idea)
Bedroom before
Bedroom after
It has been pretty fun and I am excited to finish the rest!
The Presets concert
Mike and I went to see The Presets last night and it was a fun show. They have some great dancing tunes! They are kind of a techno group, but so fun.Mike and I had gone to another concert a few weeks ago and the opening band was some techno group, but the sound was TERRIBLE. It was a huge mess of noise with random screaming here and there. Last night we were appreciating how The Presets have mastered their sound so it makes sense.... YAY for talented musicians!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Superhero test
I found this link on one of Mikes old blogs... Pretty funny
My results:
You are: Green Lantern
Hot-headed. You have strong
will power and a good imagination.
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz
My results:
You are: Green Lantern
Hot-headed. You have strong
will power and a good imagination.
| Green Lantern | 85% | |
| Superman | 80% | |
| Robin | 75% | |
| Wonder Woman | 65% | |
| Supergirl | 60% | |
| The Flash | 45% | |
| Spider-Man | 40% | |
| Hulk | 40% | |
| Iron Man | 40% | |
| Batman | 15% | |
| Catwoman | 0% |
Speed Racer
So Mikey spent the better part of last year living in Germany, doing animation for the new movie Speed Racer. He was really excited to be able to work on the movie because he loved the cartoon.
It opened in theaters last weekend so we went to see it with a bunch of friends. I thought the animation was great!
It is too bad that there are so many bad reviews circulating around because I think it is worth seeing, at least to see Mikes animation in the movie :)... Most of his work is the Fuji Race.. He animated all of the cars in that race. He also did some other clips in other races.
All in all.. it is fun to watch.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Photography
I purchased a Canon digital SLR last year to test out my photography skills and start a new hobby.
Turns out I love to take pictures!
I took one class just to learn the basics and I have been testing it out....
It helps that Mikey is great at photography and he can help me with little hints along the way.
I have found it is hard to stay enthused about it all the time, as with anything, but it is not long before I miss "trying" to be artistic and pick my camera up again.
I compiled a bunch of some of my favorite pictures over the year on my flickr account.
Here are my top 13 favorites
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
I still have a lot to learn, but I am excited to look back on my pictures to see if I have progressed. The pictures posted are in order according to time so maybe I have improved a little over the course of a year.
My sister started taking classes as well and I feel like I need some lessons from her already! Look at these two great pictures she took...
Turns out I love to take pictures!
I took one class just to learn the basics and I have been testing it out....
It helps that Mikey is great at photography and he can help me with little hints along the way.
I have found it is hard to stay enthused about it all the time, as with anything, but it is not long before I miss "trying" to be artistic and pick my camera up again.
I compiled a bunch of some of my favorite pictures over the year on my flickr account.
Here are my top 13 favorites
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
I still have a lot to learn, but I am excited to look back on my pictures to see if I have progressed. The pictures posted are in order according to time so maybe I have improved a little over the course of a year.
My sister started taking classes as well and I feel like I need some lessons from her already! Look at these two great pictures she took...
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