Cinco De Mayo, Olé~!!!

Terry and I met with family for a Cinco De Mayo night out at El Rancho Restaurant.  Julie called me yesterday and we yapped it up for, oh, probably a couple hours!  Julie is my sister in law, married to Terry's brother, Nelson.  "We need to get together...."  is what we mention to each other and then time goes by and just never do.  :(  We enjoy visiting, laughing and talking and in the moment, we invariably say, "There is NO reason we don't get together for girl's day out."  I know yall can relate, huh?  Anyway, I was happy to hear from her when she called.   She mentioned that she and Nelson planned to go out to dinner at a local mexican restaurant, she asked if we would like to hop along.  Well, let me seeeeeee... OK! She didn't have to twist my arm too tight.  I called Terry and he was up for it as well.  Julie said that Ronnie and Tracie were going to come too.  Tracie is Terry's sister.  Plus, Julie's mom and daughter would be there along with another couple of friends.  So, I knew we were going to enjoy the evening of food and festive atmosphere.

Terry rushed straight home from work and showered and changed.  He called me when he arrived at the restaurant to see how much longer I would be.  He knew I was not far away doing the photoshoot with the gang.  (posted below)  I was right on his heels.  When we walked in, our irises had to adjust from coming out of the bright light and into the dimly lit restaurant.  My ears got an adjusment too.  We opened the door and..."la,la,la, La Bamba" sang the Mariachi Singers.  I thought I was walking into Mexico City as one of the music men was teaching a little girl some salsa moves. She was so cute.  Man, I wish I would have worn my flamenco skirt, shoes and scarf!  If so, I could have been a glamourous flamenco dancer in the spotlight!  Well, if not on stage, then in my own imagination. I really don't have flamenco dance attire nor do I know how.  But, I love that music and it sends me to that wonderful fantastic and romantic place in my spirit.  In my imagination, my neck was lengthned as my nose and chin are fashioned in that high and haughty posture of the flamenco dancer. I have my hands over my head, clapping out a syncopated rhythm to correspond with my dynamic foot stomps and heel taps.  Oh, and I must mention how I looooove swishing my bright flamenco skirt that creates sweeping and flambouyant circles around me most expressively in great fanfare. 

Ah, when we walked in, the sound and pulse of the music took me to Barcelona or some other exotic place.  I wonder if Terry thought he was the suave, sophistocated and courageous Matador of every spanish girl's dreams?   hmmmm... (big sigh goes here)

This is a self portrait from a while back.  I called myself Senora M.  She is my alter ego.

A Mother's Day gift from the kids :)

Below is the beautiful Allison, Ben, Adam and Calli.  Allison called last week to schedule a photo shoot for their mom for Mother's Day.  This was a wham bam project pulled together after school and work for Allison, Ben and Adam.  Calli had to leave from the photo shoot in order to go to work.  Remember, today was Cinco De Mayo.  I was due to meet with Terry and a big group at El Rancho's for dinner.  Even though we did have a short time together, I love the images that we created.

Brother and Sister, Allison and Ben are pictured above. 

Their Step brother and Step sister are Adam and Calli pictured below.   

Don't ya think Mom is going to flip? I'm pretty sure she will!

Slideshow, Maria & Andy's Wedding Day Memories

Here Maria is talking about her Bridal Session with a friend who attended her wedding.  It turned out so beautifully.  We used an easil that was provided by the Reception Hall to display Maria's 16x20 framed Bridal Portrait.This is Maria & Andy's Engagement Photo that was on display at the Reception Hall after the Wedding. Press play to watch a short slideshow of some of the photographs I captured on their Wedding Day.

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Day 101 of 365, Cup of Flour

Day 101 of 365,  Mom has been the historian and directory pictorial photographer for her church since she joined Riverside.   The church is wanting to publish an updated directory so she asked me to help her set up studio lighting in one of the classrooms.  Once the lighting is in place, the whole process goes pretty quickly as the members and their family come to have their pictures taken.   I did help her set up the lighting and we took test pics of each other to check for shadow and correct skin tones.  Some of those test pics are doozies.  Oh, my goodness.  I picked out a few 'choice' pics of her and told her they would be perfect for my blog.  :P   I had to rethink that idea because she said she was going to get my 'best' pics and post them.  I called her bluff because she doesn't have a blog.    I taunted her with , "Where ya gonna post mine?"  Promptly, she replied,  "Everywhere!"  whoa nelly!  She trumped my threat because all I could picture was my goofy pics posted on the corner grocery store window.  Uh, no thank you!  Did I say doozies?  Yeah,  what I meant to say was dooooo-zeeees!  So, too bad, no lighting test pics for the blog because the lighting test pics are in the Recycle Bin!

So, I will post my  Daily Photo Challenge.  Subject:  Uncooked Food. 

One heaping cup of Self Rising Flour. 

I just thought of something.  Remember that old commercial where the lady had been goofing off all day and then she realized the family would soon be home for dinner?  She hustles to fix something fast and easy then before serving it, she threw a little flour in her own face.  That is a pretty good idea if you ask me.  I might need to try that one.  When our kids were little, my former sister-in-law and I would either 'run the roads' or talk on the phone all day.  So, just before our husbands came home, we would run dump some strong smelling cleaner like pine-sol in the toilet right before they walked in.  Hey, this works girls.  You gotta try it.  Your hubby will walk in, take a big whiff and say, "I can tell you've been cleaning all day!"  :)shhhhhh...Ancient Chinese Secret! 

Day 100 of 365, Old Gourd Birdhouse

Uploaded for Our Daily Challenge, Subject: Something in your neighbor's yard, April 19, 2010

OK, I had not done the challenge and it was 10 pm. I put my rubber boots on and tromped across my yard into the neighbor's yard. There is a crepe myrtle tree that is close to our property line and I happened to notice this thingamajig hanging down. I could tell that it had the shape of a gourd so I pointed my camera at it. I was really hoping that it was not a nest of killer bees. That thought really went through my head because I literally could not see. My eyes had probably not adjusted to the dark and the only available light was coming faintly from my neighbor's little porch light. I snapped the pic and in the lcd viewer, I saw this decrepit, cracked up, paint peeling, probably long forgotten little gourd birdhouse hanging from the tiny branch. There you go. I will have to call this my challenge shot "from my neighbor's yard."

photo recipe: 50mm f 5.6 iso 800 2 sec exposure, accessory flash

Do I sound smart like I knew what I was doing? Actually, I put my camera in the night scene mode and held the shutter until I forced it to release and fired the flash. Then, I was outa there! I was scared a wild cat was going to jump out of the bushes and claw my face off. Why does one's imagination go crazy in the dark of night?

update:  I posted this to my flickr site.  I was cracking up laughing at some of the responses.  Some said I was very brave and dedicated to the challenge.  One called me a prowler!  heheee.  One lady told me that it looked like an ugly baby!  lol!!!!  Yeah, we like to keep it real!  I wrote back and told her I agreed.  I thought it looks like an ugly baby but it was my baby so I had to keep it.  :)  I love my photog flickr buddies.  They make me laugh all the time.

Kayla and Trevor

Here are a few cute pics of Kayla and Trevor that I captured today.

Day 96 of 365, Vehicle Troubles...

Day 96 of 365, Yesterday, Karmyn got in her car, started it up and backed out of the driveway and realized she couldn't steer the vehicle.  She used my car to drive to school.  Terry has been working long hours so I didn't want to bother him with vehicle trouble.   This morning, I decided to go see Darren Carrol, owner of Watson Auto Parts.  I knew that Darren would check to see if I simply needed to replenish the steering fluid.  Well, Darren walked out to my car and said, "There is your problem right there."  He was pointing to a belt that was hanging loosely under my car.  So, I was in the right place.  I purchased the belt.  After I checked out, I walked back to ask Darren another question.  I needed to know if I would be able to drive the car back home.  He looked up from his reference books and saw the man standing behind me.  He asked the man, "Hey, ya wanna make some money?"  I looked around and I saw a man in a striped work shirt with the name, Ronnie, on the patch.  He smiled and took the belt and I showed him where I was parked.  He started working on installing the new belt while I sat on the curb watching.   He had routed the belt but did not have the tools that he really needed to set the tension.  So, he told me to wheel around and drive across the street to Tommy's Automotive. 

Tommy was nice enough to let Ronnie borrow a couple tools.  That darned tension must have been tough!  I saw both of them tugging on the tools but they decided they needed a little more leverage.  So, they called in reinforcement.  See the guy with the Muscle Milk cap?  They laughed and called him out to give them some assistance.  I heard them tell him to '...lean on it...'   Woops, there it is!  Belt on and we were back in business! 

 Hanging around them for just the little bit of time reminded me of old days.  When Terry and I were dating, I used to love to be around his gear head buddies.  They loved their muscle cars, old cars and 4 wheel drives.  Even though I didn't know what they were talking about when they talked 'shop', It would tickle me just to hear their stories.  They would get so excited as they bounced their stories (usually dangerous) back and forth.  I can say it was never dull when we hung out with the fellas.  They didn't have a 'lick 'o sense' as we say in the south.  All of Terry's buddies were wild and crazy.  I bet they have calmed down now as adults in the real world.  But, I guarantee if we all got together today, those old stories would come back up again.  And, we would all go right back to that time of freedom and invincibility.

What reminded me today of the old gang about these guys was how they laughed and worked together.  I can tell that they put their all into whatever they do.  It is so nice to see people who enjoy life.  Tommy has a race car.  I asked him where he raced as the wheels in my mind were turning. 

 I have never photographed race cars before.....

hmmmm.....could be something I would like to try.  :)

If I ever need some Automotive work, I know who I can call. 

 I can all Tommy (see his phone number above)

or Ronnie Sibley at 225-573-3133.