Monday, December 29, 2008

Macro Monday #9

I stumped ya! I stumped ya all! Okay, actually, a couple of people did correctly guess it, but no one that actually posted the answer as a comment. So, I'm calling it a win for the macro. *grin*

Last week's photo is actually of the speaker (or is it the microphone?) on my iPhone's butt.
Yes, iPhones have butts.




See? And yes, I got an iPhone. Blame my husband. Or Santa maybe. But whoever has the blame is, in fact, awesome since I am now addicted to the silly little thing.




How the heck did I ever live without an iPod? The iPhone is supposedly like an iPod Touch with a phone combined. And other stuff. Or something. It's the best thing ever if you're lazy and like to check your email while still in bed and not wanting to move yet. Yes. Yes, I am that lazy. It's a black one with a white case thingy on it. I bought myself a black case, but Dustin swiped it. I'm a little ashamed to admit that it's an attention grabber. We were out shopping last weekend and every time I answered it, people stared and one even asked questions. That was odd. I don't like drawing attention to myself, but being a redhead, well, I'm usually out of luck. Now I'm a redhead with an iPhone. I'm doomed.

Anyway, on to this week's photo! I'm quite certain that this one is much easier than last week's. It's quite possibly the easiest one yet, even.




Go on. Outsmart my macro. I know you can do it!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Boy's Best Friend


Did you have a merry Christmas? Ours was pretty sweet. We spent the day at my parents' house where we exchanged gifts and then I helped my mom cook dinner. We had dinner with Uncle Cracker (chiropractor, you remember) and his family. The cutie pie up there is my Boy Cousin hugging Trixie.

We brought the dogs with us, as they had not been to my parents' new house yet (packing up two dogs isn't all that fun!) and we didn't want to leave them home alone all day on Christmas! Yep, they are spoiled. Though not that spoiled, since this year they did not get any Christmas presents. We usually get them one. Trixie loves tearing up wrapping paper. She still got to tear up paper, so I'm not quite sure she missed the gift.

Trixie and Boy Cousin made fast friends. They had lots of fun playing tug of war. That dog NEEDS a kid to play with! Hopefully she'll still be playful when our kid is here and old enough to play. Baby Girl Cousin (the cute one that has a future in photography, you remember) didn't quite know what to make of the dogs. She seemed like she wanted to pet them, but then she'd touch them with just one finger, and only for a brief second. It was funny. Then she got really mad when Trixie licked her face. Can you blame her? I'd be mad too! Trixie is such a little nurturer. It's a shame she can't be a dog mommy... she'd be an excellent one.

I've got some gorgeous family, don't I? I'm glad we spent the evening with them. They're lots of fun!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

From me to you

Merry Christmas!

I hope you have a blessed day.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Macro Whatever #8

Once again I am late! I'm sorry. Yesterday was one of THOSE days. After an entire week of feeling more mentally stable than I have in months, yesterday and today I've felt awful. Oh well.

Anyway, last week's photo was as just about everyone guessed, broccoli. Organic broccoli, even. I am sooo proud of you all for knowing broccoli! Yay you for eating your veggies! (You do eat them, right? Not just recognize them? Hmm? Do I need to call your mothers?!)





Here is a photo for this week.




Ooooh. Aaaaah. It's an attention grabber for sure. Can you figure it out? Can you outsmart my macro? Have fun!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Front Pager

I was doing some Etsy shop work and logged out of one shop so I could sign into the other, and when the front page loaded, tadaaaa! Our little sterling silver bloom ring was -BAM- right there on the front page! This is a big deal, people! Our first time on the front page of Etsy.

Congrats to us! *grin*


Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Macro...

... Monday... Tuesday... Wednesday #7. Yes, Wednesday.

I'm so very sorry that this is two whole days late! You see, the past week has been crazy busy and I haven't had much time to think, much less take a macro photo and blog about it. I didn't even get a photo taken until late Monday night and fully intended to write up the post after, but got sidetracked. I worked all day Tuesday and, well, here we are. So there.

I may or may not have a Macro Monday up for the next two weeks, since it's the holidays and all. At the very least, I will try to tell you what this week's photo is. Who knows, maybe I'll put new ones up both weeks. Just don't hold me to it, mmmmkay?

Alrighty then, with that out of the way, let's get on to the good stuff.

No one really guessed last week's photos. The three closest were Heidi with "some underwater creature", Jeanie with "underwater adventures with Jacques Cousteau's son", and Mrs. Smith with "shell for a hermit crab".

It's not a crab, but it's an underwater creature for sure, and I imagine Jacques Cousteau saw his fair share of them, though I'm not sure about his son. Did he have a son? Did the son go scuba diving? Did he happen to see...

... a starfish?

Because if he did, then he might have just been able to correctly guess the photos. Though probably not, because dang, they DO kind of look like dog toys don't they?!




I forgot to get a shot of the whole thing, so you'll just have to take my word for it. The first one is the top of the starfish, and the last two are of the side and bottom. Interesting creatures, those starfish.

Here is this week's photo:




What is it? I don't know! Oh wait, yes I do. I took it. But do you know? Can you outsmart my macro? Good luck!

P.S... we finally got a new, more-than-$15-piece-of-turd-tripod. It's awesome. Buh-bye, camera shake. See ya!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Font Problems

I need help picking a font for metal alphabet stamps. They will be for stamping jewelry pieces.

These are my top two choices. What do you think?

Freehand 591
Murray Hill Bold

I really like Freehand, but some of the letters are a little different in size than others. Like compare the capitol "H" and "F". If it weren't for that, the decision would be made! I like Murray Hill Bold, but I think it might be a little fancy pants for me.

Unfortunately they don't make one titled "Crystal's Most Bestest Font EvAR".

Monday, December 08, 2008

Macro Monday #6

Good afternoon! Macro Monday is getting busier and busier... last week our participation was great! Let's keep it up! *grin*

No one guessed correctly though. I thought it was a little easier than it was. But my husband didn't even realize what it was, and he knew I took that photo. Oops. Sorry!

Anyway, last week's photo was of a tortilla chip:



And a not so close up shot:





Ahhh, it all makes sense now, doesn't it? The greasy mole was my favorite guess. That's exactly what it looked like to me. *giggle*

I'm afraid that this week's photo may be even harder! But who knows, maybe someone will figure it out. To give you a better chance, I'll give you three photos. Same thing, different part/angle.






Can you outsmart my macro? Have fun and good luck!

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Raffle with a cause

MckMama over at my charming kids is holding a mega raffle. She's giving away a sweet Canon XSi DSLR package. The raffle proceeds go to benefit three wonderful organizations. Go check it out here.

If you decide to participate, God bless you and good luck. :)

Randomosity

I guess I haven't rambled in a while. Truth is, I haven't had a lot to say. I'm definitely in a funk these days. Call it depression, call it the blues, call it a funk, dreary, the blahs, whatever you want to call it I have it. All I want to do is sleep. I cry at the drop of a hat. Or the whack of a hammer...

*I hit the heck out of my finger yesterday. I was cutting some discs for an order, and the big, heavy duty mallet landed on my finger instead of the punch. Hardened steel + big, heavy duty mallet + lots of force = OUUUUCHHH!!! Although what I said was far less polite than ouch.

*I tried to take a photo of my poor finger, as it is quite bruised, but for some reason the bruises really don't come out on the photo. It's weird. It looks ugly. And it still hurts.

*Arnica cream does not help when you whack your finger that hard.

*Crying for ten minutes straight while calling your finger very ugly names does not help either.

*Icing it while crying and calling it ugly names does very little in the way of comfort too.

*Typing hurts. Though yesterday I could not use it at all, so I guess hurt is somewhat of an improvement.

*Our flooring project is almost complete.

*Well, kinda. All of the flooring is down, and now we're trying to put the baseboards back on.

*Well, "we" meaning my dad. And sometimes I watch. Nail guns scare me. Hello, I can't even use a mallet without killing a finger.

*Dustin and I are shopping around for a camcorder. I'm thinking about video blogging. I don't know about that though. I mean, your expectations of me are so high... I'm not sure how many times I can say "yo" and "fart in your general direction" on camera. Either way, we need a camcorder to catch those precious moments that are sure to come... such as baby's first booger bubble.

*There will be no baby booger bubbles if I never finish revising and mailing the four extra copies of our scrapbook. It should have been done a month ago. Yet, it's not.

*I'm rethinking this whole parenting thing. I'm thinking I'm not cut out to be a mom. I don't want to do it anymore. I'm going to be a horrible mom. Please don't tell me how great I'll be because I won't believe it. This is why the revised scrapbook is not sent. Mental block. I may never finish it.

*I bought a Beco Butterfly and I'm not sure I like it. It says it fits from 4'11", but I'm 5' and it does not fit right. Too bad. I was excited about it.

*I am now sold out of cuff bracelets at the moment. This is a good thing.

*I'm tired of my house being a torn up mess. I have a Sam's size package of toilet paper in my living room. There's just something not right about that.

*I was supposed to get a new tripod today, but UPS sucks and is running behind so it won't be here until Monday. The macro is too much for my $15 Amazon.com tripod and me no likey the camera shake. Me also no likey the small amount of noise I get from shooting at 800 ISO. So, I ordered a Manfrotto tripod with a ball head. It's supposedly rock solid and can support enough weight to last me through any camera upgrade I might want to throw at it.

*I'm so thankful that my second Etsy shop (jewelry supplies) is paying for my newfound photography addiction. Because it does.not.end. and it's a 'spensive addiction, yo. My shugah daddy can't buy me everything.

*Speaking of shugah daddy (gosh, I hope you all know that's a silly joke), he just got an iPhone (merry Christmas, hon) and now thinks I need one.

*It's his fault (love you, hon) that I'm now addicted to YouTube. It all started with watching phone reviews, trying to decide which cellphone to buy. I do need a new cellphone, I just do not need an iPhone. Who needs GPS when you're never far from home?

"iPhone... where is mom & dad's house?"
"Right down the road, idiot."
"Oh. Ok... where is the health food store?"
"Just a little further down the road, gosh!"


See? Who needs that? Sassy, those iPhones.

*I think he's winning, because despite the fact that I don't need GPS or an iPhone, he has somehow brainwashed me into wanting one.

*I now feel strange talking about all the expensive electronics in our lives. We've never before bought expensive electronics. This is new. In fact, before the past couple years, we've never bought expensive ANYthing. We're blessed with hubby man earning a really good salary and my business endeavors paying for my silly little hobbies right now. I know it will all end with the introduction of children (formula's 'spensive, yo). (That's the second "yo" that you would not have gotten were I video blogging.)

*I do not want to be a mom that yells. Last week I yelled at my parents' little diva dog. Does that mean I will yell at my little diva kids? I can't do this.

*I still hate the monstrous crib of hideousness, but I think I'm too tired to care.

*That's all.

Friday, December 05, 2008

Only in Texas


Good to know, people. Good to know.




I don't think I want to know.

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Vanity


"Do these feathers make my butt look big?"

Monday, December 01, 2008

Macro Monday #5

I'm running a little late on this tonight. Sorry about that. Being sick set me behind for work and I'm scrambling to play catch up and get orders ready for the mail tomorrow.

Wowee, y'all done good on last week's photos. Bethany, Sandy, Karen, Sandra P., Erin, Nicole, Mrs. Smith, The Rock Chick, and Jen all guessed wood of some sort.

You would all be right! They are photos of pieces of driftwood we found at the bay.




Now, on to this week's photo!



What is it? Do you think you know? Can you outsmart my macro?

If you'd like to participate on your own blog with a close-up photo, let me know! I'd love to play along. *grin*

Good luck and have fun!