"Be silly. Be honest. Be kind." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happy weekend everyone!

Practice makes perfect... right?

So, I want to branch out a little with my skills. I have zero experience with studio lighting. And minimal with lighting in general. I would LOVE to have some Alien Bees and a backdrop in the future to set up if need be... or even in my loft. ;) But, that's down the road.

My mother has a jewelry business (still no website to linky-link to) and in order to get that moving, I need to take some pics of her work. But I have zero experience with jewelry photography!

This afternoon, after a lovely morning with Mz. Dini and a wedding couple (I can't WAIT!!!) I came home and played around with a cheapie little light box and some goofy lights.

It's hard! And I'm picky. I figure once I get the settings exactly right, it's probably a breeze, yeah?

This is the stuff of hers that I happen to have in MY collection. :)








Practice makes perfect... they're a little hot in spots. But sooner or later, we'll get my mom up and running!

Home Sweet Teeny, Tiny Home ::: Advice needed...

OK, so I'm using this low-key evening to post something I've been meaning to post forever... especially since I would love some input. =)

This is my silly, tiny little home here near the water on the Connecticut Shoreline. It's an old summer cottage, nothing fancy, and it's roughly 600 square feet. It's the perfect size with just a kitchen, living room, bedroom, second bedroom that is a giant walk-in closet/laundry room, bathroom and loft office. I bought it back in 2003 (and 2008.) ;)

I'm ALLLL about fun, bright, and colorful... as you will see. But I want to get rid of the green in all the photos in favor of some blue. A crisp cottagey, beachy blue... same idea of the lighter shade over the darker shade, separated by the white chair rail.

(I feel like I should do a slideshow...)

Outside in warmer weather... ahhhh...


What it looks like currently... siiiiiigh.


Lots of random shots of the living room from over the years.


From the galley kitchen




Kitchen










Alternating tread stair up to my office/loft (if I could make it a studio, I would, but I don't have the height)


The view down


Upstairs


Where my desk currently is... haha.


Before I loaded it up with crap...






And just for good measure, bedroom


And bathroom




I love it. It's cozy, it's wicked easy to clean, it forces me to try not to be a pack rat, it's cheap to heat and A/C, it's the perfect size for Grover and me, it's right near the water, cute little neighborhood, fenced in yard, huge deck, 15 minute commute to work, and close to town... given that I refinanced a few months ago, I should be here for a while. Doesn't get better than that!

So, the dilemma. Trying to find someone to paint this one room for me relatively inexpensively. Those of you following me on Twitter and Facebook can now see why I say it's labor intensive. That's all real wood paneling that has to be painted. ;) Here it was freshly painted 6 years ago. Been there, done that. It's time for a change. Everything that's green needs to be made blue. Any suggestions on color? I'm totally clueless on what color to use, and I'm terrified to go with one and have it look awful. I have a brown leather sofa in the living room now, along with brown and blue pillows.


Hope I didn't bore you all too much. I've been debating hosting a Painting Party as many of you have poked me about just doing that and have even volunteered... (crazy people!!!!) but I don't think we could all FIT. =) Hehehe! Pizza and beer for everyone!!! And cookies!!! And everyone takes a wood slat! Hahaha... I just think it would be pretty close quarters. I could be wrong... =D

So if you have any friends who are painters, or can recommend someone I should call, feel free to share. I'm open to all suggestions! =)

A wee bit more snow...

Not much going on around here. I think I talked myself out in my last post. =) Thanks to everyone who read it...

Woke up to a wee bit more snow this morning. I love that we've all gotten so hammered this winter that a couple of inches now are a joke.





Have a great weekend, everyone!!!

Best Birthday Ever!!!

Bear with me, I have a lot to catch up on... I'm coming off my recent birthday extravaganza high - an enormously fun 5 day event. And it was so worth it because my last birthday was pretty craptastic. ;) This is the prime of my life and I'm enjoying it, old age be damned!!!

I wish I had photos of everything but I made a promise to myself... NO CAMERA. =) You know how painful that was. And it pained me to use my Blackberry in desperation, but sometimes the moment called for it.)

It started with the sweetest birthday party at my office, complete with Cold Stone Creamery cake. Midnight Delight, for the record. I am so lucky to have such wonderful co-workers and work in such a great place.


It moved to partying all night at Stash's to Sugar, wearing a hot pink feather birthday tiara looking like a dork, free drinks, free birthday desserts, and time spent with wonderful friends.

Followed by a DELICIOUS lobster lunch on the water at Dock & Dine with my parents... you were delicious, Larry.


Complete with some sinful mint chocolate chip cake from Take the Cake!!!


Then there was the visit from my best friend on her way through from NJ to Boston for some shopping, gabbing, drinking and gorging at Chip's Pub and of course, the requisite Carvel Cake.


Then there was dinner and drinks with a bunch of Vegas scofflaws at First & Last Tavern...

(Photo courtesy of Robert Norman and a waitress who bravely shot this group of crazies.)

And you can never escape being tagged on Facebook when out to dinner with photographers and their iPhones...

(Photo courtesy of Cronin Photography)

Who managed to surprise me with the YUMMIEST birthday dessert... and they sing WELL for a bunch of shutterbugs. =)

(Photo courtesy of Robin Dini)

And it was all capped off with the weekly tradition of good food, good beer, and good laughs with friends, and my favorite Shiny Lapel Trio at the Gris.

And because this event needs a photo to accompany it, I'm going to swipe one of my dear friend Kim's photos from their website because they are just too much fun. =)

(Photo courtesy of KTphoto.net)

To even give them a plug, they'll be on CBS morning news tomorrow morning (Friday) with Scott Haney. Try to catch it if you can!

And some thing that truly made this particular birthday special... TECHNOLOGY. More birthday messages than I can count on Facebook. Emails. Ecards. Tweets. Message board posts. Text messages. Cards with music in them. I was giddy with every single note I received.

I have not had this much fun in AGES. And I'm POOPED! =)

Thank you everyone... I love you all. XOXO

"Life is to be fortified by many friendships. To love and to be loved is the greatest happiness of existence." -Sydney Smith

My beautiful flowers from a wonderful friend. :)









And to zoom out a bit to see what I really put such pretty flowers in... my favorite vase on earth. Purchased when I was living in London years ago, at a kooky little shop in Covent Garden. =D

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Just a big smooch to all my loyal blog readers. =) Thank you all for always checking in on me.



XOXO!

Julia

Arooooooooooo!!!!!!

The crazies have been out in full force everywhere thanks to this. (Wish I could have gotten better shots but I haven't ordered my 70-200 yet!) ;)





And in the spirit of outtakes, this was a sneeze... (In my defense, it was cold and I was standing out there in my jammies and slippers.)

"Outtakes"

I've been purging a lot of crap from my harddrives this weekend and I always get a kick out of the stuff I bypassed the first go 'round. The "outtakes" so to speak.

Everyone always tells me how impressed with Grover they are. How tolerant he is. How he works the camera so well. Well, I admit, there is a lot of patience on MY part... I don't always get "the" shot, and if I do, I rarely get it the first time. =)

For example...

The quintessential Grover vs. Rubber Duckie shot


CHOMP!!!


Ahhh... my peaceful little flower.


Whoops. I woke the beast.


Rawr!!!


My sweet little boy.


Such a tortured soul, isn't he?


=) He really IS so very tolerant. He's just a riot to shoot. I have way too many photos of him. I've had him since he was 11 weeks old and he will be turning 8 in March. And suffice it to say, my first digital photos are from the day I brought him home. So that's 8 years of "outtakes" that I can't bare to part with. Yikes!