At least someone is riding it...

This shot always makes me snicker. If you have trouble seeing why, you can click on the photo to make it bigger... and then check out who thought he might get away with my bike!
I bought this bike from Katie... uhhh... before she moved away... uhhh... was that already two years ago? Is that right?
Okay... yeah... as the title indicates, I'm glad someone is getting some use out of it. I really thought I'd ride it! I did!! And I haven't.
This is the part where I hang my head in shame.

I even bought a bike rack for my car several months after I bought the bike so that I couldn't use that as an excuse.
I think it's still in the box in my hall closet...
I'm still hanging my head in shame.

So... I have a goal.
I am going to ride that bike!
It might need air in the tires first...
They say you never forget how to ride a bike, right? Because it's been awhile...
lol.

Wish me luck! I hope I don't fall on my head!!

I made the finals!!!!!

Hey guys!

Thank you SO MUCH for helping me win Day Two of Scarlett's contest! I've made it into the finals because of each of you! Now the voting continues for the top three... and I'm one of them!
Please help me one last time...
Go to www.scarlettlillian.net to vote for Tracy in the finalists.

Thanks again guys... I REALLY appreciate it!!

ps. If you know anyone else with a computer who wouldn't mind taking a couple minutes to vote, please let them know about this. I'll need all the help I can get!

I know this blog is perfect...

but have you seen Furrie Fotographie?
I need YOUR help!
It could really use some work and I'd love to have professionals do it!

So tomorrow morning Scarlett will be posting several photos. It's a week long ordeal... one group of photos was voted on today and that winner will go to the finals as will tomorrow and Wednesday's winners. Then everyone will vote again between those three photos.

Please, PLEASE go to Scarlett's website (http://www.scarlettlillian.net/) at some point tomorrow and vote for my photo! I'll be the one standing behind the sign with big curly hair and Professor (one of my dogs) will be standing next to me in a tie! His sign reads "I Want to Spend a Say With Rhett" which is Scarlett's poodle! It'll be one of the shots from the previous post!
AND, if you don't mind, please get everyone you know to vote too... forward this email to as many people as you can! I need all the help I can get! : )

I'll let you know if I make the final three... and I'll be begging for your votes again! Thanks in advance!!!
Tracy

Here's the website again! www.scarlettlillian.net

I want to spend a day with Scarlett!

My wedding photographer and now friend is having a contest!
So Chris and I spent a couple days working on my sign... more Chris than me... but I think it came out fantastic! The shoes are glittery in case you can't tell in the photo:

And then we made one for Professor too:


You can't see my crazy makeup in the photos as well so I made sure to get one close up:

And here are the photos I submitted. Only three will be chosen for voting... and I doubt I make it that far considering the sheer volume of entries she will get... but I had fun anyway!
These two were taken out on Baymeadows Road... I had people honking at me... and I was mortified that I looked like a hooker! lol...
Professor looks like a gentleman in his tie though!



And these were taken back by my apartment... We actually made a gif animation out of 23 shots and it's hilarious to see me wiggling around and making faces... but we can't figure out how to make it save correctly... it's going way too fast even though we slowed down the frames. If I ever get it worked out, I'll try to post it!

I think Scarlett is posting the top three tomorrow... so make sure to visit HERE and vote for your favorite!

Hi. My name is Tracy and

I'm a chocoholic.

: )

Tonight I went to Chocoholics Anonymous at Publix. It was so fun... and even though I think some of my friends missed out, I'm glad that Rhonda and I were the only two that decided to go because we got to share our table with two fun other people, Heather and Lynn! I told Heather all about Furrie Fotographie and I'm hoping she'll let me practice with her grey tabby kitty!

Anyway, here are a couple pictures of the yummy desserts! It was a demonstration class so I didn't actually make anything there... but now I have the recipes!
This flourless chocolate cake with strawberry lime salsa was deeeelish!

And the smores brownies were super yum too! I've made these before but I think this time it was better... probably because I didn't slave over it myself! ; )
This shot is actually Heather's piece... she got the one with the fun marshmallows:


Mmmm... it was all gooooey!

And I had my first glass of cream sherry... I loved it! So I bought a bottle:

Apparently Uni thinks she might like a taste of it too!

And a random not related to the evening shot... I know it's not quite sharp enough but I thought the way the boy and girl cardinals were posed was kinda neat! I love my bird feeder!

I know I still haven't posted the photos from my trip to Fort Myers but I wanted to get these up! I'll post the others asap!

oh and ps...

In case some of you are wondering where the photos of the golden retreivers are... the shoot got postponed because my coworker (the owner) had a death in the family. We'll be rescheduling asap.
However, I am working on a blog for Furrie Fotographie. And my sister has been working on the website!
Plus the workshop in September is really happening for me! I reserved a room at a haunted hotel (which is also an old theatre) and now I gotta get my plane ticket too!
Whew... lots going on! I can't wait!
: )

Back!

I went down to Fort Myers for the weekend... for the first time since I moved away four years ago! My parents kept the condo I bought when I lived there so they were down for the week and I decided to make the (boring) drive down to see them.
I was sad that the weather was so awful though. I had been really looking forward to going to the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge with my new camera. Alas, it was raining and way too dark even if it had stopped. *sigh*
But I really enjoyed my visit anyway... and I'll definitely have to make the trip again.
I'll post a few of the photos I managed to take soon!

Vote for me!!!

http://hgw.typepad.com/trendycamerastraps/2008/08/it-is-time-to-vote.html

The bottom two are mine...
but I do love those polka dotted shoes! : )

Is this thing on?

Sorry... this is just me trying to figure out how to make my photos bigger. The top one I uploaded to Blogger and the bottom I uploaded from Photobucket... but they are the same size. I thought it had worked on the previous "test" post but I'm not sure if the photos were just different sizes to begin with. That's why I used the same one for this test. Hmmm...
But it works for Corinna.
I'll have to play some more...

Test, test...

Apple in a bag...

I'm going to be submitting this, among other photos, to Trendy Camera Straps' first giveaway contest! We'll see if any of my shots get picked for voting. If so, I expect all of you to go vote for me!
Posting this here makes me even more aware that I need to figure out how to use Blogspot so that my images are big. Anyone know how to do this?
Anyway...
Isn't Apple cute?!?!?!

Here's another photo I'm probably going to submit: I'm a shoe hooker so, trust me, there are tons more! I have three other pairs that I have shots of... and two or three others that I think I'll work on tonight. The submission deadline is Thursday!

Oh, and I ordered a Shootsac last week... and a Giddy cover! I'm really hoping I can use it on my shoot with the Goldens this weekend! Yippee!

More kitties

Cats are hard for me... I'm trying to practice though. I think I just need a better lens. I hate using the built in flash on my camera... it bounces off their eyes and looks horrid. I really just need the 580EX flash with a diffuser but I don't have $500 to spend on it right now. Hopefully soon...
So anyway, these are a few recent ones...

This is Tigger. She's a riot... she loves to tease you by coming over and rubbing a bit on your hands, but as soon as you try to pet her... WHAP! She smacks you as hard as she can with her paws. It sounds mean but it's really kinda amusing... only because she has no claws.
When I emailed this one to her mom, she replied that it was the best photo she'd ever seen of Tigger... who always closes her eyes for pictures! : )
Because of the forementioned dilemma, I set the camera on the floor to get this shot. I couldn't handhold the camera at the slow shutter speed but I didn't want to use the flash.

This is Tigger with the flash. I attempted to work on the eyes in photoshop though because they were all crazy blown. I thought it looked much better but I'd still rather just not need the flash... or be able to bounce the flash.

And this is Deuce. He's a giant sweetie pie... no smackage from him!
He loved sitting on my lap and getting lovin'. I left with more fur on me than I think he had on him! : )
In case the towels behind him didn't give it away, I took this in the bathroom. There was a huge window in there that let in just enough light that if I didn't breathe, I could get a shot without a flash. Whew.

I have so much to learn... and I'm really looking forward to practicing.

Furrie Fotographie

I bought my domain name!!!
Woohoo!
Now I need to figure out the rest of it... and my sister is going to help me build my website because she's an IT guru!
: )

And I got my registration paperwork for the pet photography workshop I am going to in September. I can't wait to fill it all out and send in my deposit this weekend! Woohoo! I keep up with Jamie's photography on Cowbelly's blog and she is amazing. I can't wait to learn from her!

I also have a time set up for next weekend to take pictures of my co-worker's two golden retrievers. They are gorgeous and will be fabulous practice... especially since they are incredibly hyper. It will be fun to play with them and attempt to wear them out just a wee bit before getting started with the camera.
Plus, I gotta figure out how to put together an online portfolio before the workshop!

Lots going on...
hope all is well with each of you!

YAY!

I have a logo!!! My husband is AWESOME! Friggin' AWESOME!
Seriously, Chris is an amazing artist so I asked him to draw something for me... and he was inspired last night... I LOVE it!!!!
But I was advised not to post it just yet until I find out if I need to copyright it. I'm not sure how all that works... but I can't wait to show you guys. I've been putting it on photos this morning just to see how it looks. Chris might have a heart attack because he says it's not done yet... but I'm impressed by his ability to take the ideas I had and make them look so fabulous on paper!
Hee hee...
I'm giddy!

recycled... envelopes!

So I always save the Sunday comics to use to make my bows... or to use as wrapping paper. Now I've discovered a NEW way to use my comics...
I ordered an envelope making kit that comes with templates and directions for different sizes. I'm so excited!!
Plus I've been thinking about making photo cards too. I figure I have a million photos that could work for that purpose... plus once I get my photography business off and running, I could make them for clients... with their fur-babies on them!

And speaking of my pet photography... well, I'll tell you soon! ; )

My sister is grumpy

that I haven't posted photos from the honeymoon that include me or Chris...
This is our favorite place to eat breakfast:

Dance off!

I love "So You Think You Can Dance" and I'm very excited that the finale this season will include a dance off between Robert Muraine and Phillip Chbeeb!!

Robert made it to Vegas but then took himself out of the competition... he felt he wasn't a partner dancer and that's what the show is all about, at least until the end when just one person wins. I don't know if he would have made it into the show or not but I sure wish he would have tried. Ah well. They had him on a couple weeks back and Nigel (grumpily) challenged him to dance against Phillip, another popper who auditioned but didn't make it into the show. They announced this week that it will be happening on the finale! Yay!

Here's a dance from the show that I loved. : ) Mia Michaels always choreographs amazing pieces.

honeymoon post #2

I bought a bag of sunflower seeds for the birds hanging around our cabin... but this cute little chipmunk found them one morning!
(I know the shots are kinda far away but I didn't want to scare him... you can click on the small photo to see it bigger...)


Hee hee... look at his fat little cheeks!

Oops, he saw me... and off he ran!

Don't tell Uni...

but I made a new little friend on the honeymoon:

Look at these lil paws...
Ha ha! She's almost as bendy as me!










She was the sweetest thing... all rubby and would sit on my lap for ages while I sat in the rocking chair on the porch. She had three or four siblings/buddies but they were skittish and all ran away when they saw me. They didn't know what they were missing with all the pettin!

So, I took lots of photos of various animals on the trip. This is blog post number one. More to come!! : )

I'm back and

I wish I could dance.

I know that sounds strange. And it has nothing to do with my honeymoon at all. It's the TV show that I got sucked into halfway through the season last season and have been watching all of this season.
So You Think You Can Dance.
I love it.
I miss dance.
I took ballet, tap, and jazz for 14 years. Yes. 14.
But it's been ages now... and I have a love/hate relationship with dance shows. I love this one though. LOVE it. And hate it a little because I'm too old to be on it. Or try to be on it. Or really to do that kind of dancing anymore. I know, I'm only 33... but I used up my allotment of knee usage already. They creak. Seriously. When I go up the three flights of stairs home, they make noise. But I was a catcher for many years (still am on occasion) and all that dance didn't help either.

Anyway, I DVR the show every week and I'm slightly behind. I watched two weeks ago's shows last night... and you better believe I'll be watching last week's shows in the next couple days.
And yesterday I emailed a dance company in town to get information... they offer an adult ballet class. I still have my pointe shoes!
Maybe I can dance.
Again.



ps. I'll write about my honeymoon later. : )