capture2011 :: no. 111 :: 6.6.11 :: playing dress-up at target

this post at digital photography school offered some good tips for helping me get out of my photo rut. i took reason #1 to heart and brought my camera along today on my shopping trip to target.

i also mixed it up with a self portrait that is NOT my feet. :)

amy vs. the cement patio: round 1

fight! (street fighter, anyone? anyone?!)

this is our third summer in this house, and we are just now beginning to tackle some outdoor projects. we're slow, okay?

one of the things that has been on my list for a loooooonnnng time is to scrape the cement patio. what the heck am i talking about? this!

ohmygoodness what is that? it is carpet adhesive. strong, sticky carpet adhesive. and why is the carpet adhesive there, you might ask? who puts carpet on a cement pad? oh reader, you just ask the best questions. i'll show you.

lovely astroturf carpet. mmmm. beautiful.

i'm just going to tell you right now that round 1 definitely goes to the patio. i lost in a big way. i thought i could tag team it with this stuff. it has "easy" on the label. lies! all lies!

i spent the better part of a day scraping, scraping, scraping. sometimes down on my hands and knees with a putty knife. my heart was sinking as i realized this was going to take much, much longer than i had planned. i can't complain too much, though. neighbors came over to chat. and i love when that happens. and i got to be outside (this was a few weeks ago before it really started to get nice out). and i have a body that can work. these are all good things.

so even though at the end of the day the cement patio didn't look so great, that's okay. i'll come back for a round 2 eventually. and when it is nice and clean, maybe we'll have a dance party. a cement patio just begs for a dance party.

over and out! happy monday, everyone!

catching up on capture2011

i'm almost halfway through my capture2011 pictures, and lack of motivation is definitely setting in. i haven't been pushing myself to try new things, i admit. if "photographer's block" exists, i've got it. of course this was bound to happen, but i'll just keep going and hope motivation hits again.

yesterday, i needed three pictures to get to five for the week. instead of three back-to-back posts, i'm putting them all here. they all tell the story of how we spent our sunny saturday—shoveling the rocks out of our front beds so we can do some landscaping! woohoo!

no. 108 :: 6.4.11 :: pumped up

ben and i have done our fair share of physical labor when it comes our home. we have a few favorite "demo bands," and stone temple pilots is one of them. we listened to stp as we drove to get tools and the horse trailer from my parents-in-law.

no. 109 :: 6.4.11 :: sven

while down at the farm, we visited sven and the other horses. i love his bangs. horses are really beautiful creatures—they scare me a little bit.

no. 110 :: 6.4.11 :: the nitty gritty

this is what we worked on: digging out bush roots, matted brush, and rocks so we can start fresh. we spent most of the day loading the rocks into the horse trailer, and then we brought it back to the farm and dumped the rocks. i'd say we are slightly more than halfway done, and boy, are we sore this morning. but the day's work was so satisfying that we were both happy as clams last night—we ate some gluten-free pizza from nick n willy's and went to see a movie. it was a truly wonderful saturday, and we are excited to rest today!

capture2011 :: no. 107 :: 6.2.11 :: otis shower

yesterday, i helped throw a family baby shower for my sister-in-law, maggie. she likes the book otis so we gave the shower a tractor/farm theme. i didn't take many pictures, partly because i was just having too much fun.

on a related note: have i mentioned that there will be babies abounding in our families this year? maggie is due in august, christa in september, and lauren in november. ben and i are so excited about our nieces and nephews "in the oven!"

capture2011 :: no. 106 :: 6.1.11 :: more bloomers

no, not that kind, silly! more flowers in bloom. these lilies were a good price at the waltermart. i have them in a pot for now, and they are doing well.

we had tulips at our wedding, but these pink lilies were a close second. and man do they smell good!