French Roll Twist and Pin

sounds like food, doesn't it?

her second awesome video instalment, learn to do this:

if you missed my post about the first, it's here.

All Done.

the last two challenges:

Day 29: Black and white

Day 30: Self-portrait

is it normal to hate self-portaits this much?  that last one was really hard to post.  gross.  and that's the best one of the bunch!
and thus ends the 30 day photography challenge.  i like that it challenged me to pick up my camera and use it as well as try new and different things that i didn't know or wouldn't have thought of otherwise.  now it's your turn!

Don't They Smell Lovely?

Day 28: Flowers

Waiting For The Sun

there are 5 challenge photos today.  it wasn't that i didn't want to complete the challenges but i'm dead set on doing them in order and i had to wait until a day with sun before being able to take a sunflare photo.  no sun for at least 5 days, can you believe it?!  it's july, people!

Day 23: Sunflare

check it out - i'm holding the sun!

Day 24: Animal

does bubba the 15-year-old newt count as an animal or are reptiles not animals?  i always forget...

Day 25: Something pink

so many strangers comment on what cute boys we have and i just can't help being bothered by it.  what bothers me even more is the thought of dressing my little girl in head-to-toe pink just so people won't think she's a boy.  we broke down and bought the coolest bright pink shoes we could find, but the comments continued.  it's not that i don't like pink, i wear pink myself, i just don't like that she has to for unobservant people to figure out she's actually a female.  anyway, they just got too small, and i'm gonna miss them.  they looked good on her.  we searched high and low for shoes without gems, sparkles, flowers & butterflies recently and came up with nothing under $50, so we bought the same shoes as above only in black.  then we taught elliott that when he hears someone call molly a "he" to say, "she's a GIRL!"

Day 26: Close-up

i like those hairy little fellas.

Day 27: From a distance

yes, this was lazy, but i'm also excited about it because it shoes that from my porch i can see the flags of the great canadian superstore.  we are close enough to walk.  it takes 15 minutes from my door.  as a non-motor vehicle driver this makes me very happy!

I Love Hair

it's been 4 years since being a receptionist in a hair salon, and what i miss most (besides the amazing hairdressers i became friends with) are the oodles of current hair magazines i was able to peruse on slow days.  some came straight from suppliers with the new trends in cuts and colours, some were left by clients, some were bought by ourselves to add to the pile after we clipped what we wanted from them.  i miss seeing all those different styles every day, especially now that my hair is actually getting long enough to try some of the cute braids, ponytails and up-do's.

through pinterest i've been able to see hair photos and ideas without having to fork out $5.95 for a hairstyle magazine, and i recently stumbled upon this great blog full of easy hair-how-to's.  she even has an e-book you can buy online full of pictures of how to have a new cute hairstyle every day for 30 days.  i'm very tempted!

watch her first hair video!  i'm going to go try this one out, i believe it's called "the classic twist and pin" :)

and look how great some of these styles are!  genius.  i can't wait until my hair is a little longer so i can try more cute hair-do's!

- update -

i tried.  i did okay... right?  it looks cute from the front and sides, from the back it reminds me of a technique my mom used to use to make our hair curly when i was a kid...

3 things i've learned i need:

1. longer hair
2. wayyy more practice.  what took her one minute in the video took me about 10.  i don't really know how i'm suppose to secure those twists so easily with bobby pins...
3. brown bobby pins!  at least they'll camouflage a little more.

When I Say That Something...

...i wanna hold your hand.

Day 22: Hands

elliott's hands make my hands feel strong.
also, i need a manicure.

Another 4 At A Time

Day 18: Your shoes

Day 19: Something orange

what?  too obvious?  what can i say, i got lazy...

Day 20: Bokeh

this took some research.  bokeh?  what the heck?
apparently it means "blur".  i found a great tutorial on how to change the shape of the bokeh area (ie. blurry christmas lights that are heart shapes, etc.) but you need a camera with different lenses, my point-and-shoot didn't have the capabilities.  i was sad about this.  but i had an impromptu photo shoot with my molly while learning bokeh techniques that i will post to facebook :)

Day 21: Faceless self-portrait

me (faceless, of course), holding molly (pretty typical), standing in front of the kitchen sink (as a stay-at-home-mom/home-maker also pretty typical, though i do it way less than i used to since we got that shiny new contraption on the right called a dishwasher!  yay!)