more photoshop fun..

the past few digital photography classes i've had.. we've spent a little bit of time learning a technique.. but then the bulk of the class time has been spent just playing around with our own images.. which is always fun :) here are just a few that i've "worked" on.. i am planning on getting my best photographs printed out and giving them as Christmas presents.. so obviously you won't see those :)

my best friend is old :)

my best friend's actual birthday is september 23.. however.. her hubby planned out a surprise party for her that occurred yesterday :) she's so smart tho' that she knew that something was up -- she just didn't know what.. and she was shocked to find us all in her apartment waiting for her :)

i love this girl !!

so i learned something new.. she loves balloons !! i never knew this until yesterday.. yeah i know.. i'm a terrible best friend.. but now i know :)

haha this is a typical naomi's confused face :) hehe i love it !

blowin' out those candles.. haha when we brought them out to her.. she goes "omigosh do i have to blow them ALL out in one breath?" haha as if she couldn't do it :)

eating that delicious cheesecake autumn & myriam made..

chillin' out in their apartment..

i love autumn !! she's so beautiful and mature for her age.. its totally not fair :)

haha so we also learned that we're so stinkin' competitive :) we played.. 5 rounds of catch-phrase.. and argued over the results almost every game -- it was guys vs. girls and of course the girls won.. which the guys hotly contested.. we laughed so hard tho' while playing that half the time the person trying to describe the word couldn't do their job correctly =D

gotta love that look naomi's givin' her "huney" :)

noah.. who could never seem to get a word he knew and he'd always burst out with "what is this?!" haha

elliot.. who always seemed to get the easiest words ! lol not fair :)

esther.. who was crazy excited that it was her big sister's birthday :) she's so adorable..

and of course.. best friends being crazy together like usual :)

a walk around my yard

when most people are bored they watch a movie or play around on the internet.. when i'm bored.. i pick my camera up and take pictures..

photoshop

so today in my photoshop class.. i had worked ahead enough to play with some of my own images.. i don't know how i ever thought that i could edit photos before photoshop.. this program is AMAZING.. and i've barely begun to scratch the surface of the things that this program can do..

but anyway.. here are the 2 images i was playing with..

BEFORE:
not a bad shot.. but very dark..

AFTER:

BEFORE:
this is my favorite photo from naomi & paul's first dance.. but even tho' the lighting is really nice how it lands on her face.. the people and the door.. and especially that exit sign.. really bug me being in the background..

AFTER:
granted.. its wayy too much blurr.. but i thought it looked cool :) they definitely look like they're in their own little dream world.. happy as 2 people could possibly be..

double date

since my parents are away on a cruise this week.. it worked out that amy & emma were with a friend on sunday.. and ellen went with my grandma to a fashion show.. and so i was left with only 2 children to look after : ruby & steve..

so of course.. since there were only 3 of us we had the spend the afternoon wisely :) it started out at mcdonalds for lunch..

chowin' down..

yeah.. he's my favorite brother alright =D

then when we got home.. we played for a bit.. and then got down to some business of making cookies..

they were big helpers in wanting to do every single little step in the cookie baking process..

yes ladies.. i have him trained very well :)

haha but we had an awesome afternoon just the 3 of us.. it never ever works out that its just me and my 2 youngest siblings alone.. so we made the best of our time and had a ball =D

labor day weekend

this past labor day weekend.. i had the amazing opportunity to spend it with the abbey family (yeah.. the same family i spent the 4th of July with) =D we had so much fun.. and it was just an all around incredible weekend -- one that went WAYY too fast..

best friends <3 yeah.. she's gonna kill me for this one =P

this was actually taken on the way home.. and it is honestly shot out of the back window of paul & naomi's car.. i'm still in shock at how amazing it turned out !! gotta love my 18x zoom :)

random driving photo..

me & derrick =D wish he would've taken his glasses off.. but oh well.. next time..