"Project MCP-13"

13, whats up with 13?  Why is it so unlucky?  Now that we are going into 2013 will it be unlucky too? Well, I did some looking and 13 is considered unlucky expecially in western cultures.  Why, one reason is because on Friday 13th in 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrest of the Knights Templar. That didn't end well at all.  It is said that a proper hangman's noose takes 13 turns to create, another bad ending, and finally there were 13 at the Last Supper.
     I don't think that 2013 will be unlucky, our family has exciting things happening this year and much like famous ball players, Alex Rodriguez, Yao Ming, or Dan Marino who all wear 13 on their jersey, I know that this year will be a lucky, wonderful and prosperous year.  It will start off like it always does for our family, we will be together watching the ball drop, then my awesome family will bring out my birthday presents.  We will dance and then go to sleep, just to wake up in the morning to hot coffee and the Rose Bowl Parade.  (I LOVE Parades)

     I chose to take a picture of a beautiful rosary that my son's sweet friend brought to me from the Vatican.  He had no clue that the rosary that he picked reminds me of my Grandmother's rosary that was "lost".  So how is that a representation of 13?  I have only the first 13 beads featured in the photo.
Happy New Year All!!

"Christmas Fun"

Man Cub and his new Kindle Fire

We had such a great holiday! Everybody's wishes came true on Christmas morning.  I was shocked however because we actually got to sleep in until 8:00 am!!  After all the stockings were emptied and the presents were opened Daddy made a huge breakfast and we settled in for the Disney World Christmas Parade.  For those of you that don't know I'm a Disney FanGirl, and a supporter of holiday parades : )  What Follows are pictures of our family unwrapping presents.  In addition to my pretty jewelry I got some new glass!  A Nikkor 35mm prime lens!! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.                                                                         

KK excited about her new clothes.

Itty Bitty loves her new clothes from Justice.

My new Jewelry from my favorite Hawaiian Jeweler  Na Hoku.

Motorcycle Man and his new Motorcycle Parts!

"The Adventures of Ginger Sprinkle Day 12"

On her last day at our house Sprink sat upon high in the chandelier in the front room.  I am confident that when she returns to the North Pole tonight to stay with Santa she will have great things to say about our family.  We will miss finding her every morning, but will look forward to her return next holiday season.  I'm sure over the "off season" she will think up lots of new places to hang out when she returns.  Itty Bitty hopes she returns with a pretty elf skirt.  So until next year So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehn,  Good-Bye.

"The Adventures of Ginger Sprinkle Day 11"

When we woke up this morning Gingy was tucked away in the bowl of my mixer, good thing we weren't baking today.  Tomorrow will be our last morning of finding Ms. Sprinkle, and I will miss our mornings of darting around the house to find her.  Hmmm... I wonder where we will find her.

"P52-Anticipation"

This is my first try with HDR photography, but thought it would be a great opportunity for beautiful colors.  Everyone is waiting and excited to see what all these beautiful presents hold.

The Adventures of Ginger Sprinkle days 8, 9, and 10

Well... I kinda fell down on the job on day 8, not sure why I didn't capture GS but she was up high on the buit-in bookshelf hiding in an artificial plant.  I do however have pictures to share of day 9 and 10 : )  Day 9 we found our lovely house elf  (funny Harry Potter reference inserted there) hiding in a fake tree that we have strung up with Christmas lights.  She has been enjoying hiding in the bushes lately.  On day 10 Ginger Sprinkle is above the dinner table sitting on the chandelier.  She can see alot from this vantage point.  I hope she sends good reports to the big SC momma wants a new water proof iPod to swim with, Daddy wants an iPad mini, the Man-Cub wants Halo 4, KK wants Uggs, and Itty Bitty wants a huge set of Lego friends. I guess we will see who has been naughty or nice.

"The Adventures of Ginger Sprinkle - Day 7"

 Today is a very special day!  It is Itty Bitty's 9th birthday! So in honor of her day Ginger Sprinkle left a small gift for her right below her hiding place.  As you can see from the first picture GS is perched high above me on our TV.  Picture 2 is a close up of her lofty position.  The third picture is of the cute necklace that was left for Itty Bitty.  She was SO excited that she got an elf written note, and a small gift.

"The Adventures of Ginger Sprinkle Day 6"

After a relaxing day in the marshmallow bubble bath Ginger Sprinkle has moved to a new place to observe our awesome family, our dog Bosley's Christmas stocking hanging from the mantle.

"The Adventures of Ginger Sprinkle - Day 5"

 Itty Bitty could not believe her eyes when she woke up this morning and saw that Ginger Sprinkle got into our bag of mini marshmallows and decided to take a bath in them.  She is really relaxing and comfortable!

"The Adventures of Ginger Sprinkle - Day 4"

Today Ginger Sprinkle was a bit harder to find.  We finally found her hiding in the front room up in the window.  She is sitting behind the curtain rod and in the window casing.  This is a wonderful place to watch what is going on in our household and even look around outside.  Only a few more days until Christmas, I think 4/5th of our family got a good report to Santa last night so hopefully today Santa gets a 100% nice report.

Ginger Sprinkle Day 3

Today Itty Bitty found Ginger Sprinkle straight away.  She was sitting in the bill pay area above our computer with one of our French Horn ornaments.  She must have been playing Christmas Music this morning when we were still sleeping.  Wonder where she will end up tomorrow.

Introducing Ginger Sprinkle!

 Our family has finally gotten our own elf on the shelf.  Ginger Sprinkle appeared yesterday morning, and Itty Bitty went crazy with happiness.  When she showed up she was just sitting on the shelf hanging out with our AFLAC duck dressed like a reindeer.  This morning when we work up Ginger Sprinkle made her way to the tree to hand out with Yoda, a ballerina, and Marie for Aristocats.  What we didn't expect was that she would hand underwear on the tree.  On top of the underwear she left a candy wrapper.  I wonder where she's going to end up tomorrow.

My Favorite Ornament

Picking my favorite ornament was so hard!  I have so many that are special to me, but settled on my Cinderella ornament that lights up.  This is special on so many levels, each year Santa brings us all a new ornament in our stocking.  Sometimes they are random sometimes they are themed.  This was a theme year, shortly after we all got Disney themed ornaments our children found out that their big Christmas present was a 4 day stay at Disney World, followed directly by a 5 day Bahamas Cruise on the Disney Magic.  We were leaving in 3 days.
On another level this ornament reminds me of my sweet prince of a husband, who takes me out to waltz.

"Project MCP - First Signs of Christmas"

Choir of Quackers : )

     At our house Christmas is a big big deal, we have a tradition for everything.  One of the many is to gather all of our Aflac ducks in a row (pun intended), add in our new duck for this year and then find clever places to display our flock throughout the house.  These are the first decorations that get put up.  Each one of the kids has a favorite duck.  In the picture we have 9 duckies, I think my favorite is the Christmas Tree.
     This weekend we will get out all of the ornaments that are special to us, spread them on the floor and decorate our tree while we listen to Christmas music, and drink wassail or egg nog.  To go with our drinks we always lay out an assortment of decorated cookies, themed peeps, and chocolates.  We all LOVE this tradition.

"P52-Food"

     Food, Food, Food... We had so much food for Thanksgiving! Turkey, Ham, 2 stuffings, Corn Soufflé, Mashed Potatoes, Brussel Sprouts, Sweet Potato Soufflé, Green Bean Casserole, Apple Pie, 2 Pumpkin Pies, and finally a Chocolate pie.  Holy Cow!  I took a few pictures but we were all really busy eating.  I did take a picture of my beautiful Apple Pie after it came out of the oven all crispy and sweet smelling with my pie bird poking out of the top.
     We were all excited that my sister who is a Marine was able to come as well as my parents.  After dinner we watched the Cowboys get beat by the Redskins which did not make my sister happy.

I LOVED Candy Rush!  It's like Mario Cart meets Candy Land!

     In addition to Thanksgiving Day we have all had the week off from school, which we needed!  On Tuesday we went and saw Wreck It Ralph, ate Sushi, and had a good time at the Community Pool.  Wreck It Ralph was SO SO Cute!! If you haven't seen it, it is worth the movie price
 : )

     Finally, I want to say a big GO TIGERS!  Our High School Football Team is in the third round of the playoffs.  Although, I don't have football players I have Band-O's and they are excited about performing their half-time show "one more time".
     Happy Thanksgiving All!

"Project MCP-Low Light"

This week is low light, so my cute Thanksgiving scarecrow was the subject.  I sat my camera on a very very slow shutter with the timer on and on top of a tripod.

"Edit Me Challenge-The Artsy Girl Connection"

After

Before

This week the challenge is from Marilyn at The Artsy Girl Connection.  The original picture is beautiful of the canoes just seemed like they belonged on a cool vintage t-shirt.  So I adjusted the layers to give the image a more vintage feel.  I then found a vintage t-shirt image on line.  The first layer was the t-shirt the second layer is the image.  I added the second layer as on overlay.  I didn't like how harsh the edges of the image looked so I chose the eraser with a large splatter pattern to soften the edges a bit.  Of course no vintage "T" is complete without a cool logo or saying.  I chose to add the text "Paddle Shasta Lake"

"Little Adventures Flip Flop Edit Challenge - November #1"

After

This is my first time linking up with Little Adventures Flip Flop Edit Challenge.  I always love her edits with the "Edit Me Challenge" so I thought I'd link up.  I decided to just do a clean, simple edit on this cool bird at Disney World.  I cropped the picture then adjusted the levels.  Mostly I ran an unsharp mask to bring out the eye of the bird in the picture and showcase the pretty blue.  Just for fun, and because I'm such a Disney Geek I added a "hidden Mickey" to my edit.  can you find it?  If you are not familiar with hidden Mickey's they are the iconic Mickey shaped heads that are hidden all over the parks.  My family has a great time searching through the "Kingdom" and even on the cruise ship looking for them.  You can even get an awesome book to accompany you on your search.  Hope you love the edit the original is great.  Leave a comment if you find Mickey : )

Before

"P52-Halloween"

I found these lights at Publix the other day ~ on sale ~ : ) and decided to pick them up since our Halloween decor is lacking. The lights are strung up on our mantle along with a garland of fall leaves.  The smiling Jack-O-Lanterns make me smile too. Happy Halloween, tomorrow starts Christmas music on the morning ride to school, and thoughts of ham cooking, apple and pumpkin pie baking, green bean casserole, and sweet potato soufflé!!

"Halloween Party"

     Last weekend we hosted a Halloween party for Itty Bitty and some of her friends. We had such a great time and a good turn out to boot.  We played "pass the pumpkin" (hot potato with a small pumpkin) Halloween Freeze Dance, had a wrap the mummy relay using toilet paper rolls, made Halloween crafts, drank bubbly steamy punch, and decorated cupcakes.

     Itty Bitty is posing with her freshly decorated cupcakes.  To make the cupcake decorating bar happen we baked the cupcakes that morning.  Right before the decorating began we sat out bowls with frosting, frosting bags with piping tips, sour gummie worms, mini M&M's, smashed oreos for dirt, Halloween Picks, chocolate chips, and mini marshmallows.

     The girls had so much fun decorating they all had to have their pictures taken with their cupcakes.  I almost made a large cake decorated for Halloween but this was so much more fun and entertaining.  Their favorite was the piping bags and tips.

"Favorite Team Bento- GO DAWGS"

UGA GO DAWGS Bento!

The theme for this weeks is Favorite Team Bento.  So of course I chose to make a Georgia Bulldogs bento- GO Dawgs Sick Em' woof woof woof!  The bottom layer of this bento is filled with broccoli that represents the hedges at the stadium with a bagel and Georgia "G" on it with red, white, and black.  In the top layer of my bento is more broccoli, a hard boiled egg made to look like a football, cherry tomato and a UGA the bulldog on top of twice baked potatoes.  UGA is made out of cheese, bologna, and black olives.

"Bento #10"

This bento was for Itty-Bitty for lunch.  It contains basil pasta salad, a cute potsticker with black olive face, heart strawberry, grapes, and creamed corn.

"Edit Me Challenge 10.10.12"

This week the Edit Challenge is from Rebecca at Rebecca Curtis Photography.  This picture was already so adorable I decided to just do a simple edit.  I first cropped the photo to focus in on the cute little girl.  I then sharpened and ran the action Perfect Photo 3 from coffeeshopblogs.  I tinkered with all the presets until I got my final edit.

After

Before

"P52-Sports"

Band is a sport right ?!? We we practice 5-6 days a week for several hours at a time, we compete against others at band competitions, and we always have pride in what we do.  I think this is a sport indeed.  So for my sports picture I have another band shot.  I know everybody is going to get tired of my band-o's but don't fret only another month of band season.  (LOL)  My picture is showing off our band a competition during one of their sets.  They are playing Party Rock and the Drum Major is doing a dance.  I liked the shot because it is showing lots of action at once. We did well at competition, all 1's and one 2.  Hope you like my shot.

"Edit Me Challenge- 10-03"

After

This picture started out beautiful so it was hard to decide what to do to it.  My first thought was to really make the picture vibrant and what I would see when I close my eyes, but as I looked at the photo it made me think of a book I read recently called Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm.  The book is set during the Great Depression in Key West, Fl.  Several things happen throughout the story but near the end the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 sweeps through the Keys.  Many other things happen during the course of the story, which includes pirates, but I don't want to give anything away : )  This picture shows what I think the newspapers of the time would have published in the newspaper around the country.

Cover: Amazon.com

Before

"P52-Collections"

This is a collection of the most awesome Mellophone players in the state.  Three is a collection, right?  2/3's of this collection belong to my family : )  Fall is such a great time during the year, so much fun so many football games and my favorite, band competitions.  Happy Fall!

"P52 - Bird or Flying"

My interpretation of the theme this week is bit different.  I chose to "fly" down the road on the back of a motorcycle.  This picture was taken this morning with my iPhone 4s (not springing for a new 5)  This weekend has been absolutely beautiful so we took advantage of the weather and took off for a ride.  As you can see we were really flying too fast because we were on a small country road.

"Edit Me Challenge - Ferris Wheel"

After

Before

The Edit Me Challenge this week is from Sarah's Camera.  She submitted a cool ferris wheel picture for us to edit.  I chose to make a sunrise/sunset feeling for the photo.  I started by adjusting the levels on the photo, and sharpening.  I then did a color balance layer and played with the sliders for each option until I had the color effect I wanted.  This reminded me of a time we were riding the ferris wheel at dusk, with the cooler air hitting us as we enjoyed our ride.

"Edit Me Challenge - Beach Sunset"

After

The picture for this week is from Stephanie of Behind the Camera and Dreaming.  The beachy sunset was already so pretty it was hard to decide what to do.  I decided that I wanted a panoramic feel with dramatic colors in the sky.  I first cropped to get a more panoramic feel, with a long width and a short height.  Next I sharpened and adjusted the levels.  Finally, I added a warmth layer and changed it to multiply at 100%.  I finally played around with the curves a bit on the warmth layer until I got just the right richness in the blue and oranges.  I would love to visit this beach at sunset.

Before

"P52-First Day of School"

First Day of School 2012

First Day of School 2012

First Day of School 2009

 The First Day of School is always bittersweet.  It's always nice to see the kiddos growing up and becoming more responsible but it's sad to see the kiddos growing up.  Pictured here are a fresh new 3rd grader, Junior in high school, and 8th Grader *sigh*.  Yes, Mr. Mann is not wearing shoes and has crazy tan lines on his feet from band camp.  He never has his shoes on when he gets ready and is always running out the door to catch the bus with his shoes in his hands. We have been in school now for four weeks and when most people are starting school we are getting progress reports.  As you can see when we get up and get ready it is still o'dark thirty.  Below is a picture of the kids when KK was starting 5th grade, Itty Bitty was a new Kindergartner, and Mr. Mann was in the 8th grade.  Wow time flies.  Not technically a great photo but great for memories sake. This first day of school photo is a tradition in our family.  I hope everyone else has/had a great first day of school.