2010-02-28 Whassup Baby Girl?

Went to a baby shower today! I like baby showers...more than I like wedding showers. Because at wedding showers, there is the embarrassing possibility that someone will give the bride a pair of crotchless panties in front of her mom and future mother-in-law.

Lots of cute things were given. Of course my gift is going to be returned. Sigh. I saw that she had registered for a Boppy and bought her one, but I noticed in some pictures she already had one. So I rushed to the store last night to exchange it. I got her the baby bath tub instead. Yeah. She already had that too. I'm like "Woman, update your registry!" I could have just given her the Boppy seeing as how she was going to return the next gift anway. Oh well. I hope she enjoys everything -- she's a sweet lady!

This is an awesome set of towels. This baby's bathroom is gonna be macked out!

2010-02-27 Please Enjoy Some Sugar

So tonight I went to a shindig on behalf of a charity I do some work for. It focuses on providing access to healthcare and education for pregnant women in order to reduce infant mortality and pre-term birth. Its a great org, but as with all non-profits, we need money! So a local gated community is doing a triathlon and donating some proceeds to us. I went to their kickoff party expecting some kind of buffet or appetizers, but when I got there, I found this:

Two eight-foot tables of dessert.

This picture doesnt event do it justice. It went around the corner and along the ledge as well. Holy mackerel.


When I walked in, a lady asked who I was and said "Oh we've been expecting you! Come in!" She brought me to a table with the other non-profit attending the event. I thought I would politely just ignore the food, as I've been trying to cut out the sugar, but nooooo. She brought me right over to the tables and said "Now, all our residents have been working really hard and made all these great desserts. Here's a plate and some napkins..." and she brought me to the beginning of the table. I sighed and dug in. What're you donna do? You can't be rude.

2010-02-26 Out for Lunch Part 2

Had another luncheon this week -- in Junior League we usually have a lunch during the year for any past presidents. I was the only one who was NOT as past president, but they invited me cuz I'm on board this year. One of our members has an awesome catering company in Fort Myers called The Flying Pig, and she catered it. Delish! Savory crepes and a salad! And for dessert, a medly of Whoopie Pies. Sometimes it sure is worth it to leave the house for lunch! : )

2010-02-25 City of Palms

Fort Myers is called the City of Palms. Here's why...they're everywhere. Along McGregor Blvd, in my neighborhood, there are more than 1800 lining the street for several miles. They make me happy and remind me it's a beautiful place to live.

2010-02-24 Out for Lunch Part 1

I've got a lot of "out of the office" time scheduled for my next few lunches this week. Today, I had my brows done at Browtopia and then stopped by the Post Office to mail my pal the dental floss that she longs for but cannot find in Cali. By the way, my brows were extra unruly today. One hair in particular was trying to make a break for it, but Brooke killed it.

She's moving to new digs in the downtown, so I did a drive by before hitting the PO.

Across the street from the PO is Centennial Park...it's a nice day today.



I wanted to bugger off to the park for the rest of the day, but conference calls await, and my ears just don't feel right if they're not attached to the other end of a phone for at least 6 hours per day.

2010-02-23 Crispers Council

I have my usual monthly Junior League meeting at a place called Crispers. They make an awesome salad called the Summer Salad, that is just sooooo good. It's lettuce, mandarin oranges, pecans, turkey, apples, and blue cheese crumbles. I like it with honey-lime dressing.

Anyway, it was a short meeting...two of my committee chairs we sidelined by childcare issues and another was felled by the creeping crud. So the last three of us did our business, and then got down the business of of our salads.

They had cool brushed stainless tables outside.

2010-02-22 Close Up

Nothing special...just a close up of my baby's face.

2010-02-21 Birthday Weekend Part 2

On to the next birthday! My friend Shamie turns 40 this weekend, too. We were supposed to be at Bonita Bill's, down at Fort Myers Beach, at 2pm.


But the beach traffic was awwwwwwwful. Must have delayed me another half hour. But it was OK, because I guess everyone was in similar traffic. We all descended on the party and dug into fresh shrimp and salads and an AWESOME champage punch. (Couldn't stop drinking the champagne punch!) Found a bunch of my friends there and we just talked and talked for a long time.

We couldn't stop looking at all the stuffed fish on the walls. Some were as tall as me!


Then we watched Shamie blow out the candles...


And then I drove away...wishing it was legal to chug champage punch in the car.

2010-02-20 Birthday Weekend Part 1

Well, it's the beginning of a busy birthday weekend. I've got two birthday parties to go to. Tonight was my friend Heather's 40th. We went to Bistro 41 with a bunch of people, followed by bowling at Gator Lanes.

I felt like I was coming down with something, but I hate to back out of an event when I've RSVPed. We had a great time. The restaurant was doing a 2 people for $41 deal where you get a salad, entree, bottle of wine and shared dessert. Pretty sweet deal! I had Asian Flank steak, which was delicious.

By the time we each got our wine bottles, and our fizzy water, the table looked like each of us was drinking our own bottle of wine. I couldn't even finish my half if I wanted to be able to drive home!



We then had a hoot bowling and listening to the awesome mix of bowling alley music, from Whitesnake to Salt n Pepa! And we stuffed our faces all over again with pizza. Good times!

2010-02-19 Twilight Market

I went to a new thing they're doing in town called the Twilight Market. Its in the courtyard of a local strip mall -- they have a band and a couple of restaurants and wine shops providing samples of food. Today they had a produce lady selling the cheapest produce EVER! I got a bag of citrus, 2 sweet potatoes, 2 peppers, mini-bananas, a grapefruit and a tangerine for $4.



One of the chefs was also going an ice sculpture with a chainsaw. I think it's a koala bear with wings.

2010-02-18 Itchy Pippy

The title of this post sounds potentially icky, but really it's just an excuse to showcase my beautiful baby dog. Pippin just came from from the groomer, and each time, he throws himself onto the carpet and just rolls around like a mental case.


I think he's trying to get his old smell back, and to get rid of the shampoo smell he comes home with. Either way, its hilarious.

Photography Class Summary--Best of Neets as Voted by Neets

After seeing the photos my fellow students thought were worth a prize, I realized my own judgment of my work is very different. Its entirely subjective of course, but I really wanted to try to look at all my pics objectively and decide which ones really meet the remit of the class: to take artistic photos which have interesting color, contrast, composition and creativitiy.

So here are the ones I just to be my best from the class (and these do not include photos that I didnt choose to bring to class):

Peaceful Tension
I do agree with my classmates that this is a good shot. It has the peace/tension thing I was discussing in the last post, but it's also really clear and the light was just right.


Dead Blue
I love the color from this blue gel. I feel like I'm being sucked into this one.


Arteries
It could be the color from the pink gel mixed with the deep pink of the plant, but this just reminds me of the human vascular system. Almost produces an "Ewwww" reaction from me sometimes.


Woven
We had to use objects like paper clips and rubber bands in unusual ways, and maybe I like this because I felt clever at having thought to weave the band into this plant. I like things that remind me I can be clever. It happens rarely.


Spaceballs
OK, I'm giving that a humorous name, but I do love the little space-like globules of color in this. I was torn between this one, and one I call "Grapes," but this one edged the other out.


Well, that's my top 5. For a beginner, it's not too bad, is it? I hope I can keep developing these skills. With the 365 Project, I plan to have a camera in hand every day, so there's nowhere to go but up! ; )

Photography Class Summary--Best of Neets as Voted by the Class

In our final class, we had a little "judging." Each week you were supposed to have brought in 5 of your best photos of the week. With only three of us in class, we had accumulated 105 photos, from which we each had to award photos (other than your own) 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Merit and Honorary prizes. It was incredibly difficult because they other ladies took some incredible shots. I feel sorry for real judges when they have so many awesome photos to choose from.

So, from 15 possible selections for awards, 6 of my photos were selected! YAY! Interestingly, only a couple are ones I would have chosen. While voting for the others' pictures, there were a couple of my own that I just loved, and secretly wished I could vote for, but you could not vote for your own, and I am a rule-follower at all times.

The real reason for the little award session was for the teacher to talk to us about the experience of entering shows. We talked about how to present the photo, how to select photos, and how different judges approach selecting the winners. Its really interesting. She's won a lot of prizes in juried and non-juried shows, and we saw a lot of her examples.

We also talked about how to select what kind of paper to print your photo on. We looked at the same pic in multiple paper types from canvas to glossy photo paper. This is probably the area I had the least knowledge of and found this part really cool.

Finally we talked about naming our photos. Something like 50% of the reason people buy a photo is due to the name the artist gave it. People are drawn to the picture, but sometimes they hear the name and the deal is sealed, because it just gives the viewer something to connect to.

So, without further ado, from lowest prize to highest prize, here are the ones that my fellows chose for prizes.

Merit

The Little Dude
I kept referring to this statue as "The Little Dude" throughout the evening. I love his little face, and somehow it just absorbs light. Beautiful little statue.


Creeping In
I don't know why they liked it but there's something creepy about this. As if the dark color is just creeping in to take over the pretty reds and pinks.


Honorary

The Clip
This was from our first assignment -- I think people responded to the symmetry. I just happened to get the clip to lay perfectly horizonally. One girl kept saying it looked like a monkey. I don't see it. I just nod and smile.


Suspension


2nd Place

Peaceful Tension
This is also one of the first assignments. I was so concerned that this leaf would break the tension at the water's surface and just fall to the bottom of the pond. At the same time, it looks peacful. It's peacefully tense.


Evening Glow
We had fun using gels, and I really want to just put 10 different gels in my purse to have all the time. They just intensify the contrast of pictures in a really cool way.


Again, its interesting what others find compelling. Most of these were not my favorite shots...which brings me to the next posting...Best of Neets as Voted by Neets!

2010-02-17 Still-Life

For my final class, I'm bringing in still-lifes. I made a complete crap-bomb of the attempt in class because I just wasn't "feelin' it." But at home, I had all of my own personal knick-knacks to work with and it went a little better. But not much. The point of the exercise is to be able to pull together a scene and create a mood that the viewer can connect to.

Maybe I'm just not a still-life person. My little still-life here combines items I got in India with a little container of "stuff." I guess it's an acceptable grouping, but it's still not very evocative. I think I've found I'm better that the pure abstract stuff or at just taking pics of places. Dunno. Can't be good at everything, can I?

2010-02-16 Nothing Special

Nothing special today -- just a night out after the JL General Meeting. I cooked empanadas tonight hoping to win the "Top Chef" competition but got beat out by someone's delicious stuffed mushrooms.

But in a rare change, I'm in one of my photos of 2010. Enjoying drinks and $1 burgers with friends.

2010-02-15 Hair Product

At this salon, each stylist has a tiny little "altar" of product that they use on the clients. Do you remember that Clubman powder? Back in the day, the hairstylist would put it on a huge brush and remove all the hair from your neck and clothing. I loved how it smelled. I really wanted to pick up this lady's powder bottle and sniff deeply. But I was shy. Now I have to plot how to do this without anyone seeing me.

2010-02-14 Filled Heart

Yep. I normally ignore Valentine's Day. You sort of need a Valentine to really get into it.

But my friend decided to get reservations for a bunch of friends and called it "Single By Choice or By Chance!" All of her friends who are either Valentine-deficient,or whose Valentines are not available,got together for a great dinner. I drank a super pomegranate martini.

One of the women brought everyone a gift of a candy heart and mine was a Skittles heart. But I just happened to notice that they put "filled heart" on the front of it. Odd choice of words.

So that night on Valentine's Day, I had a filled heart. (And then I ate it.)

2010-02-13 Llamas and Tigers and Goats, oh my

It was a freaking beautiful day today. Seriously. It's one of those days when the sky is blue, the weather is crisp and it's the beginning of a long weekend! W00t!!

So in my random travels throughout the day, I had to throw myself across three lanes to get into the parking lot which featured a traveling petting zoo.

It was a random assortment of animals, and to be honest, I actually had to push down that little voice that says "Don't go in there! They may not be treating these animals humanely!" I mean I literally had a good angel on one shoulder and a bad angel on the other. And I think I let the bad angel cut the good angel's throat. (Is that bad?) Ugh. I feel guilty now.

Anyway, I walked through and took a few shots of animals behind bars.

First, a tiger. What? Yes, a tiger. I pretended he was "rescued" from an evil circus.


Then, I saw the cutest little goat. He was in a cage with a kangaroo. And that is not a lie.


Finally, I enjoyed watching this little child stand there while a goat got closer and closer to her ice cream. Yeah, I think he got it.


Sigh. I know its kooky, but I hope those animals are happy.

2010-02-12 Ice Cream Unsocial

It's Friday night and I'm kicking back with a little Ice Cream and Jimmy Fallon on TV.

This ice cream was good. I want to marry this ice cream.


Also it's my mommy's birthday! Mom rules!

2010-02-11 Budgets and Burgers

It was a loooooooong night. Went to a Junior League meeting about next year's budget. Lots of hard decisions. We literally were there for 5 hours trying to cut so that we didn't take money away from community service projects and just cut admin. Hard work.

On my way home, I tried a little of what my teacher calls "camera dancing." My teacher has gotten some really cool shots of lights while shaking the camera. When I passed McD's I thought two things...1. This would make a cool camera dance, and B. I could MURDER a burger. Its been HOURS since I last ate. But I didn't.

2010-02-10 Stuck

Boy I was still stuck today. I really tried, but nothing was happening at my photog class. No juices were flowing. My teacher tried and tried, but I was just not having it. The assignment for the night was to set up "scenes" to photograph still lifes. She brought an entire 6-ft table of knick-knacks, fabics and other stuff that we could use to set the scene. But everything I did was boring and stale. The teacher was so nice - she and another woman started making scenes for me to photograph by the end. She kept saying, "I know, I know, sometimes it's just not happening. This hapens to artists all the time!" All I could do is look at their scenes and wonder how they saw what I could not.

This is the one picture that made me happy today. I like his little face.

2010-02-09 Coin

I need some kind of Photoshop or something. I've been using Picnik, who partners with Flickr for photo editing. I haven't bought the Premium product but it does have some basic features, like this one, which is a "soften" and "matte" option. Subtle I guess, for this kind of photo, but it does a lot more than I've even tried yet.



Here's an inverse color effect.

2010-02-08 Off Week

Boy, I am having a really off week on photgraphy. Everything I try to set up doesn't quite work. Our teacher wanted us to use a CD and a flashlight to create light effects in water (and try to use a beveled glass). I needed about 4 more arms to complete this assignment, and it turned out awful. I just sort of ended up taking a picture of the CD through the glass.

2010-02-07 River of Grass Redux

Driving home after the Black Eyed Peas concert on Sunday was a sleepy affair. I needed more sleep! But I made the trip ok. I thought it was really interesting when I got up to the toll booth, a flock of mixes birds where just wandering around the toll booth, so that when you drove up, the had to move to the side. People were kind of staying back waiting for the birds to move.



There were "brown birds" and "black birds" -- dunno what they were, but they seemed to work together well. I don't know what they wanted. Do people throw food out on the road? I thought it might be like a mini-episode of "The Birds" but they were calm and cool.

2010-02-06 The Peas

Went to the Black Eyed Peas concert on Saturday night at the American Airlines Arena in Miami.

Boom Boom Pow! Holy Cow!

It was so good. We were on the floor, which was a blessing and a curse because it was general admission, which means we had no seats and had to get there early to find a place to stand. We ended up right in front of the stage. We were like two feet away from them at any given point. Awesome. But my feet were killing me by the end of the night but standing in one spot from 6:00 to 11:30. I can walk for a long time, but standing for a long time is tough on me.

Anyhoo...Fergie is officially my hero. She is so ridiculously talented, I've developed a major girl-crush on her awesomeness. I would love to have her singing talent and her altheticism! She really gets the crowd going, and it made me wonder if the rest of the band is all like, "Hey, look at me!"

Here is a crappy, shaky cell phone shot.


Their outfits were really awesome -- super space-agey.

This is a YouTube Video which was about the same as the position we were in, but on the other side of a large center ramp:


It was awesome. I just love the group and enjoyed the crap out of that concert.

2010-02-05 Vacation...Planned!

My vacation for the year is now planned. Does this give you a clue?



I've been wanting to plan a special trip for my 40th year of life. A friend of mine and I both turn 40 this year and we said we'd really celebrate by visiting some place amazing. We finally settled on Paris and Rome and as of today, the plans are done! 4 night in Paris and 4 in Rome. It's going to be great.

I have been to Paris, but it was a 48-hour whirlwind and I barely saw everything I wanted to see, from the outside. Didn't get in the Louvre; didn't get up the Eiffel Tower. But now, I plan to savor every morsel, both literally and figuratively. And Rome has always been on my to-do list...the Vatican especially. I literally want to just spend hours in there. Your suggestions for sightseeing are welcome! : )

2010-02-04 Gel Macro

I'm still a little stuck on gels. I'm kind of fascinated with how they can change the mood of a photo. These are some fake flowers in a burgundy color that look kind of dead and weird with a blue gel.

2010-02-03 Gel-lo

I'm off to photog class tonight with some lovely gel shots from the week. I took this one today and it's my favorite.



I had hoped to do some more shots with the sun and sunlight, but it was an enormously grey week here, with lots of rain. But I would like to explore that idea in the summertime. Here are my selected shots for the week. (I love the one that says "Red" but IS blue.)

2010-02-02 Hit the Pole

My Juni0r League's office is now located next to a po1e-dancing studio.

Yes. There are places where you, if you woke up one morning and said "I feel like buying clear heels and a g-string," could go for lessons or "exercise" classes which utilize the pole. It's always hilarious to go to the office and hear the hard-thumping disco beat while you're having a Board meeting about projects to feed hungry children! I love slyly peeking through the gaps in the window to see ten 20-, 30- and 40-somethings dancing around to Flo-Rida. You can practically read the thought-bubbles over their heads, thinking, "I hope my boyfriend/husband likes this tonight!"

And then last night as I walked by I realized that my dreams had come true. Now there really IS a place I can order all my pole dancing supplies locally. Whew. Saves me a lot on shipping...

2010-02-01 Red and Blue

I'm still experimenting with gels. I have a print of a red wine bottle which is labeled "Red" so I thought I would put a blue gel over it and take a picture. I like the contrast between the gel color and the word red.

Super Behind!

This post is not about my super behind. HA!

It's about *being* super behind.

Too damn much to do, and sadly I've hardly had time to update my global statuses anywhere, let alone here. Was out of town all weekend and will be again next weekend (Black Eyed Peas concert in Miami! Wha-What?)

But, do not be sad. I haven't given up my photo quest. I've been taking pics every day and will post like a mental patient as soon as I get enough time to do that.

I will.
I will.
I will. I will. I will.

I will.