Merry Christmas! from Madi

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Donnie and I got together with Teen, Danny, and Madi last night at their house for dinner and Jenga.  This shot of Madi was taken in their kitchen, and the background clutter was too distracting, so I grabbed Madi out of it.  Here's the original:

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I got that dress earlier in the day at my favorite store in Fuquay-Varina...Guardian Angel Thrift.  Gotta love a $3 dress!  They raise funds for Alzheimer's Research.  It's a great group of people and lots of fun stuff over there.

Teen and I had bought Madi a sleeveless red dress at JCP earlier in the week.  It wasn't very expensive either, and last night Madi had fun modeling both dresses for me and of course letting me take pics. Here's the other dress:

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Dinner was great, time with friends was special, and on the one month anniversary of my surgery I was able to dance with Madi in the kitchen.  It was a good night.

Here's the chocolate cake I made (my kitchen):

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The bundt pan was a gift from my girl friend Debbie last Christmas.  It's one of those fancy ones with Christmas trees and a train around the bottom rim.  The roses came from Food Lion.  Sometimes I go in in the morning, and they are giving away for FREE their expired flowers.  My lucky day!  It's as if they made that red and white bouquet just for me!

BTW, we got to 31 levels on Jenga!!!

One more shot of the roses that I almost posted as  my POTD:

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I didn't like that one outer loose petal.

My pictures at Teen's house:

She has more up than I do in my house!

And...Donnie taking abuse at my house:-)  He's such a good sport!

Every time he visits the boys want him to wrestle!

The World in a Globe

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I had a few minutes to spare yesterday morning while waiting to head out shopping for the day with Madi's mom, Christine.  Last week, she decorated the Japanese Maple in her front yard with silver and blue ornament balls, and I'd been studying the light on them for days as I picked up or dropped off Madi from school.  Teen said she'd picked out and put up the blue ones in honor of me for all the years I had blue lights and ornaments on my indoor Christmas tree.  That was very sweet.  At any point, I started firing off shots of the balls from various locations in the garden, and I thought the shot I chose as my POTD and the shot below were pretty neat!

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I also took this neat berry shot at the edge of a neighbor's yard yesterday.  The berries are on a pyracantha shrub.

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Shopping was fun, not too crowded, and we saw Breaking Dawn Part I from the Twilight Saga at the movie theater as well.

The Light Wheel Goes Round and Round

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It was near bedtime for the boys, and I realized that I didn't have a POTD yet.  I asked them if they'd like to make light movement pictures with me, and showed them the light wheel I thought we'd use.  We picked this up at the Museum of Life and Science over the summer thinking we'd use it for a photo shoot.  The kids were thrilled to finally be breaking it out.

I really like many of the shots I took being a girl that enjoys bold colors, abstract patterns, and the use of movement in many of her shots.  But, when I saw Johnny's face lit up from the wheel, and Johnny did too, I decided I'd try to bring out the best in one from that series.

Here's the original.  I worked to bring out the reflection in his eye and to remove the light line on his face which distracted me.  I filtered the shot and used Color Efex Pro to lighten the area over his face.  I darkened the shadows and then used another full frame light shot to make a frame.  I'd like a tad more smile in his cheek and for him to be more left in the frame, but otherwise it's what I'd hoped for.

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This is not exactly the one we have, this one has lights on both ends, but it's very similar.

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The background used in the POTD.

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Johnny's mask.

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Joey called this one DNA.

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To me this one looks like a Slinky.

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Maybe this is a Stargate.

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Up and down, in and out, zig zag,  fast and slow...many different patterns can be created.

Princess Leia

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Just a little fooling around in PSE with a picture of a light fixture taken at the NC Museum of Art, a picture of  Madi taken Halloween night this year, and a picture of an R2-D2 lifesize model taken at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham last year.  It's missing something, well a lot.  I just thought when I saw the light picture that it was begging to have someone inserted in the scene.  I set out to find the right picture of the right someone and didn't have the luck I wanted and thought I'd try the Madi shot and then one thing led to another.  I did put a drop shadow on Madi and R2-D2 to help convey the reality of it.

Forest Elf

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I noticed this elf flying through the woods in a vacant lot in Donnie's neighborhood.  I don't have any details on him.  Is he magical?  Did he originate from the imagination of a child?  Is he meant to ward people off?  Or, is he maybe a festive symbol from a party or something.  What do you think?

I fussed with the texture on the facial area a bit and then applied a face brush I got from here.  I also used Color Efex Pro to alter the colors.  I treated myself to that for Christmas.  I waited since last Black Friday for them to discount it again and decided I wasn't letting it pass me by again this year.  I wish I could have gotten the full package and Silver Efex Pro too.  Maybe another year.

Here's the original:

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I didn't take any other pics yesterday.  We're warm but cloudy.

Friends and Holiday Traditions

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Madi and her mom Christine were able to hook up with me and the boys yesterday to go to Wal-Mart to see Santa again and then to go to Crabtree Valley Mall.  The main destination there was Build-A-Bear; it's a holiday tradition at this point.  The kids each get a 'bear' and we also put a bear in the Toys for Tots bin.

My POTD is a collage of most of  the shots we took while visiting Santa at Wal-Mart.  When we arrived at the store, Santa was going on break.  That was unexpected.  However, let's just say that everyone at the local Wal-Mart knows me and the kids, and Santa was more than happy to put his suit back on and pose with J&J&M.  Santa had asked yesterday where Madi was, and it didn't seem right to be taking those pictures without her.  So, with a few winks and nods I distracted the kids while Santa got ready.  Besides the joy the kids bring to me, it's always great to see them bring a smile to others too.  Thanks for the pictures Santa and for cutting your lunch a bit short for us.  That felt like Christmas magic at work to me...

The next collage is made up from the pictures we took at Build-A-Bear.  Joey picked out Alvin the Chipmunk.  Johnny got Erik from Happy Feet.  Madi picked out a fennec fox.  We also bought a bear to put in the Toys for Tots bin.  I'd like for the kids to develop not only a joy in receiving gifts but also a joy in giving gifts to others.

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I got this really nice picture of Teen with the kids at the Penny Road Happyland Christmas Lights show on the way home too.

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It's one of those cases, though, where the cell phone did a better job than I know how to do with my real camera.  (Teen, the picture that has Johnny in it that was better didn't get uploaded to FB.)

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A shot of a small ferris wheel.

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Lastly, I don't get in two many pictures, and I usually don't like how I look when I do get in them, but here's a shot of Madi and I taken at her house yesterday.

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No one is happy that it's Monday and time to go back to school.  But, we're in the home stretch now!

Happy Holidays!

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The boys and I were out and about yesterday doing tons of stuff.  Most of my pics were just happy smiling faces.  On the first Saturday of each month, Home Depot has their Kids Workshop project and the Fuquay-Varina branch of the Wake County Library has a reading program, See Spot Read, where therapy dogs come in for kids to read to them.  The boys love to do both of those activities, and the timing is just right for us to make it to both and have fun.  Memories are made and hopefully character is built.

We saw Santa at Home Depot and at Wal-Mart!

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And, we saw Ruby at the library.

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This is how many books Santa Joe carried out of the library today!

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Most days he reads a chapter book with 60+ pages. Sometimes more than 100.  I'm very proud of him.  Right now, Geronimo Stilton is one of his favorite series.

I really, really, really want a good shot of these large ornaments at Bath and Body Works.  I tried for the second time yeserday to get one with minimal luck.  I share the one as my POTD but am not happy with it.  Thanks to the sales people for ignoring me and my camera:-)

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At Michael's craft store, I was in love with these mirrored and silver glass items!  If only I had real light and more time to actually take a few real shots of these items...

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We also saw the movie Arthur Christmas which I thoroughly enjoyed and drove past and stopped at the light show just off Penny Road.

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Off today to see Santa at WM again this time with Madi and then I think risk going to a mall:-)