Happy 10! Project: Plaid Christmas

Every year we send out holiday photo cards just like everyone else.  I have mixed feelings about this trend which has now become the norm.  I do love receiving photo cards and prefer them over the regular hallmark cards, but I can't help but to feel how impersonal Christmas cards have evolved as a result of this trend...which is a bit ironic.  The problem is that these cards are now being sent without any trace of human handwriting--not a simple line of hello or a well wish for the holidays...not even a signature many times.  Are we so busy that we can't be bothered, or perhaps this is the only natural progression in the age of technology and all the social media of today...as a result, we pick up a pen less and less and handwritten notes are becoming a thing of the past...sad, but true.

Well, so that's my pet peeve for today...now, onto this photoshoot!  We always have a blast with our annual holiday photo card session and we try our best to come up with some sort of a cohesive theme. This year, we decided to go all plaid (my favorite!), and I absolutely love how the pictures turned out. Here are a few of my favorite, some of which made it into the holiday card this year:

tired little pups...that's a wrap!

Happy 10! Project: Snowflakes & Lights

Can't believe Christmas is next week!  Things have been very hectic around here lately, and we also had a little scare with Jasper this week which just added to the stress--out of nowhere, he had a slight limp and just did not look his usual perky self.  The following couple of days were filled with anxiety and fear as we carefully monitored his every move.  Thankfully, it turned out to be nothing more than a minor muscle strain and he is pretty much back to normal, but this incident served as a sober reminder of my dogs' declining years and that I'll have to be prepared for things to come...

On a lighter and happier note, dogs and I had a lot of fun playing with Christmas lights in this photoshoot. Neither of them minded the light strings and kept them on even after the camera was put away!

he's starting to get grey eyebrows...sigh

snowflake hairpins!

I really love the simultaneous tilt here!

Happy 10! Project: Reindogs

December is the most festive time of the year and one photo session for the whole month just doesn't seem right, so I'm planning to do one a week.  So, the first one is the reindeer theme--done with couple of antler headbands I picked up for $1 each.  They're cheap, light, and the dogs looked absolutely adorable wearing it!

Thanksgiving Photoshoot Prep

I thought it would be a good idea to share some of the background preparation that goes into each photoshoot in my new project--if nothing else, it's a good way for me to document each step.  So, here are some details to last week's Thanksgiving session.

Once I decided on the theme, I set out to buy the pilgrims costumes online, but quickly realized that they're not that easy to come by and also quite costly.  I did however find a whole bunch of tutorials on how to make paper pilgrim's hat and bonnet for kids and that gave me an idea to make my own.  I knew that i wanted to substitute paper with fabric or something a bit more realistic and also more durable, so I had to get a little creative.  For Jasper's hat, I looked around the house for a suitable "top" and at the end decided on an empty cup ramen container.

what shall we use...

styrofoam cup was too small...

old Ikea pencil holder was a good size but a bit heavy...

ramen cup was the perfect size and weight!

I was tempted to eat the ramen first, but thought it best to keep it clean, so I put away the noodles in a ziplock bag for a later consumption.  For the brim of the hat, I simply used a cardboard box and cut out a circle in the middle about the same diameter as the ramen cup.

At this point, I took a trip to a local craft store and picked up a sheets of black, white and yellow felt. The rest of the project involved a lot of cutting and gluing of the felt onto the cup ramen and the cardboard template and then joining the two pieces together.  I used my hot gun for the job, but staples or double sided tape will probably work as well, and they also sell the felt sheets with the adhesive backing which I considered (but was too cheap to pay the additional $0.50).  The last step involved sewing on some spare black shoestrings I had lying around (why, I have no idea).  I didn't spend a whole lot of time or effort into making it all pretty and perfect since it's for a photoshoot, but I think it turned out pretty good and I definitely think it's better than using paper.

For Misty's bonnet, I thought about sewing together a real bonnet out of fabric, but I couldn't really find a template that was simple enough for me to even consider attempting on my limited sewing skills, and I really didn't want to make one out of paper, fearing it'll end up ripping and not lasting through the photoshoot.  Then, I found this tutorial which used a thin foam sheet (also found at a craft store) and that was perfect for my needs.  I followed the tutorial exactly and only had to modify it a bit (cutting it a little more in the back) to make it a better fit for a dog's head.  The foam material makes it more rigid but it keeps it's shape better, I thought.

All in all, this project only cost me $6 and couple hours of my time--not too bad!  Now onto the photos--you can see the actual photoshoot pictures in here.

Happy 10! Project: Pilgrim Dogs

I'm starting a new photo series project with my dogs.  Both Misty and Jasper are turning big 10 next year (gasp!), and I thought this would be a good way to celebrate their milestones.  I initially thought to start the project in January, but with Thanksgiving right around the corner, I couldn't think of a better and a more appropriate time! I'm truly thankful for having had these two in my life for the past 9 years...time flies so fast...makes me all sentimental.

Anyways...here are some of the photos.  They make a cute pilgrim couple, don't you think?

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Misty is not so impressed with the bonnet I made.

Jasper checking out my camera.

Home Renovation 2013: Part 2--Kitchen

The kitchen renovation was the biggest and probably the toughest of all the rooms due to its sheer size and due to so many different elements that needed to be addressed. It's a long, galley style kitchen (although on a wider side than most) with lots of dark wood cabinetry, dark green walls (originally) and not a lot of natural light. Overall, the tone was very calm and earthy, which isn't a bad thing, but a bit too heavy for our taste and definitely not happy enough for a room that we spend so much time in. So, when we first moved in 4 years ago, we tried to make the room brighter by painting over the moss green walls with a cheerful yellow color and although that was an improvement, it just never felt like it was enough of a change. Here are a few "before" pictures:

lots of wood and overall earthy feel.

even with yellow, feels a bit heavy and dark.

this is definitely a room that gets a lot of usage.

This kitchen renovation involved learning and doing lots of new things like painting the cabinets and putting up a tile backsplash...which meant watching a lot of YouTube videos and then, just going for it! The toughest decision before starting the project was whether to paint over the wood cabinets and we feared it'll turn out horrible, but it was too integral to achieving the whole look that we were after, so we decided to be brave and take that leap. It was also a challenge to live and try to cook in a state of constant mess for a good couple of weeks.  Here are a few "progress" shots: 

getting ready for a fresh coat of paint.

dining table turned work station where all the cabinet painting took place.

trying to contain chaos as much as possible.

subway tile backsplash made a huge visual impact.

Well, after many takeouts and after all the dust had cleared, we were extremely happy with the end result! The transformation was huge and we achieved exactly what we wanted, which was a bright and airy kitchen and now there's a perfect balance of function and aesthetics:

even on a dark rainy afternoon, kitchen feels so much brighter!

we left the top cabinet open to keep it airy and gave the space a new function of drink serving area.

functional and beautiful!

It's hard to cover all the little elements that went into this room in one post, so I'll try to break it down further later.  There are few things more I would like to add to the room down the road, like maybe some pendant lights, but for now it is done and we're enjoying it everyday!

Just a few last points to ponder...

1. Painting cabinets is perfectly doable.  For a professional finish, do use high quality primer, a good paint brush, a paint retarder, and above all else, take your time in each step!
2. Speaking of time, do plan to be without a functioning kitchen for 2-3 weeks!
3. Do plan on living with a complete mess for that same time...a huge challenge for the OCD.
4. Cutting tiles by hand-held tools like nippers and hacksaws is doable for a small job like this room, but it is very time consuming and not the easiest thing...I would probably invest in a cheap wet saw and learn to use it if I had to do it all over again.

Home Renovation 2013: Part 1--Guest Bathroom

Being the smallest room and most in need of an update, we started with the guest bathroom in March. It was the one room that always seemed a bit too plain and boring--nothing terribly wrong, but just lacking in personality. I don't have too many "before" and "progress" pictures as I'm terrible at remembering to grab that camera, but here's a few I did manage to capture:

just a plain bathroom...

builder grade oak vanity getting a paint job

after a coat of light grey color on top, the bottom half eventually got the beadboard wallpaper.

Being a diy project and being the cheap frugal people that we are, our goal was to spend as little as possible while improving its overall visual appeal, which meant pretty much everything stayed--the builder grade vanity, the floor, the tiles.  After doing a lot of research for ideas and pinning on Pinterest for inspiration, I set out to give the room a cosmetic makeover.

One of the first and the toughest hurdle to cross was the removal of the ugly, oversized builder-grade mirror. Now, It would've been so much easier to just put a frame around it as I've seen done by many in similar situations with great results, but unfortunately ours had a quirky little design flaw of an existing outlet embedded within the mirror (with a matching mirror outlet cover!) and adding a frame would've made it only even that much uglier.  Who does that anyways?  My guess would be that the last contractor wasn't thinking when he ordered the mirror and forgot about the little outlet.

All taped up and ready to go! Note the odd embedded outlet within the mirror.

After doing a quick look around the web and deciding it to be a doable job, I first took some time protecting the mirror in case of a shatter, by putting a clear Contact vinyl sheet all over and then some duct tape on top for an extra measure of precaution.  It took some 40 minutes of careful prying with a crowbar to free the mirror away from the wall.  It probably took a lot longer than necessary as I spent the first 30 minutes of it experimenting and trying to figure out how much force to apply and basically just trying to get comfortable working with a giant slab of glass that can decide to shatter any minute and send me to the ER.  However, once I figured out a method that worked for the first corner, the rest started to follow pretty quickly after that point and when it finally all came off, it was the biggest relief and a huge sense of empowerment!

yay, it's off!

The rest of the renovation was a lot easier...relatively speaking. After a lot of trips to the local hardware store and after many hours of painting, wall-papering, and some carpentry work later, it finally all came together, and when it did, we were quite happy with the end result and with the choices we've made.

painting the vanity dark set the color scheme for the whole room and balanced out all the whites & neutrals.

elevating the shower curtain made a huge visual impact.

beadboard wallpaper with a chair rail turned out awesome.

what replaced the once ugly giant mirror...and look, we now have a normal outlet!

The bathroom is still not quite completed as is evident by the blank picture frame in the photo above.  There's still some final decorating touches to be had in order to pull the room together, and I'll probably update this post when it's all said and done, but for now, we are quite pleased with the transformation!

Home Renovation 2013: The Intro

We spent a good chunk of this year sprucing up our house. It all started one weekend in March when we decided that we need more "projects" to keep us busy. So, what started out as one little project quickly took on a life of its own and here we are after 5 months, we have managed to work on the guest bathroom, the kitchen, the dining room, the office, the front sitting room, the backyard, and the front porch...and we're not quite done yet!  Now, what started out as "we" quickly turned into mostly "I", which sounds like a bit of a rotten deal, but it actually was a really good thing for me, timing wise.

My mom passed away suddenly in January of last year and I spent all of 2012 pretty much like a walking zombie. It's all a big fog and I honestly can't tell you what I did most of that year.  Then, after the first year memorial this past January, I was in serious need of something to keep me preoccupied, to give me a purpose...to keep living.  So, this renovation project turned out to be a therapy of some sort for me--sometimes it helped me to remember and reflect and I would have crying sessions in between all the painting, cutting and drilling, but most of the time, it helped me to just forget...

Things are winding down now and most of the tools and paint brushes have been put away, so I think this is a good time to look back and jot a few things down while still fresh in my memory.  So, on to Part 1...the guest bathroom!

Instant mood picker-upper

It's Friday!  I should be in a much better mood, but I'm not...maybe it's the crappy weather we've been having. On mornings like this, I spend a few minutes (ok, sometimes a lot!) browsing through the Animals category on Pinterest...instant therapy!  How can you not feel better looking at those bundles of cuteness?  Here's just a quick sample of it (obviously, I do not own any of these images).

Enjoy, and happy Friday!

PEN E-P3 First Impressions

I've been drooling over considering the micro 4/3 camera system for several years now and last week I finally pulled the trigger and now am a happy new convert...maybe. I'm sure I'll have much more to say about it in the next few weeks, but I have to say that my initial thought only after a few days is, 'this could be the game changer for me and my dslr...'

Deciding to take the leap was perhaps the easy part, as selecting which of the micro 4/3 cameras to go with proved to be a more difficult task and I spent a lot of time on the internet reading numerous reviews and opinions.  Before anything else, I already made up my mind not to go with the latest and the newest model of any brand since I really couldn't afford the price tag anyways, and I was really okay going with one previous model down.  This being my first introduction to the mirrorless system and not knowing to what extent it'll play into my photography needs, I set my budget around $300.

The first micro 4/3 camera that I fell in love with back in 2009 was the Panasonic Lumix GF1, so for me, the Lumix GF3 seemed like the obvious choice. However, the more I did my research, the more I started leaning towards the Olympus PEN line.  Without going too much into detail, I ended up choosing the PEN E-P3, mainly because it appeared to allow for more manual control and customization than the GF3, and for the inclusion of the hotshoe which would allow me the option of adding an external flash, should I ever need to. Plus, I really loved the vintage look and feel of the Olympus over the more "cute" look of the Lumix GF3, although the white version of it did look pretty sweet. I also did not choose the smaller, and the cheaper, PEN E-PL3 for roughly the same reasons mentioned above regarding more user controls, but maybe more importantly because it lacked the touch screen capability.  However, it does have one function that I do find very appealing, and that is the tilt screen.  This is one of the upgrades you'll find on the newest PEN E-P5 model, but its asking price is waaaa~y over my budget!  The only other option that was near my comfort zone as far as the asking price goes, was the PEN E-PL5, which has the better, newer sensor, and the touch screen which also articulates, but still with fewer manual controls.  In all reviews and by all accounts, the E-PL5 is definitely the better camera of the two, but it was still close to $200 more than the E-P3 at the time of writing...perhaps it might be the the one I'll upgrade to in the future when the prices come down even further...we'll see.

There are ton of images of the PEN E-P3 out there already, so I'll just share a few:

I absolutely love the vintage look of the PEN E-P3!

it's got a nice solid feel to it, but even for my tiny hand, it's very easy to handle.

included 14-42mm kit lens next to my DSLR 18-55mm lens.

I can't get over how tiny it is!

Had I been willing to spend another $100, I would've gotten the silver version which has a fabulous retro vibe, but I'm still quite happy with the classic all black version.  I know some people do not care for the chrome line detailing, but I personally like it!  It's subtle but still adds a nice little accent to its all black body.

Here are some test shots I've taken on the first couple of days, taken with the 14-42mm kit lens, all JPEGs straight out of the camera, no edits:

@14mm, f/3.5, ISO 2000

@30mm, f/4.8, ISO 320

@14mm, f/3.5, ISO 200

@28mm, f/11, ISO 1250

So far, what I'm noticing the most about the camera is just how fast and accurate the autofocus is, even in low light situation.  From what I understand, this is lens dependent as much and that the speed does drop a bit going to other lenses with older technology.  I'll have to wait and see just how much slower until I get the Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 pancake lens, but for now, it's blazing fast!  And, call me crazy, but I think the quality looks to be on par with my old, but trusted DSLR, the Nikon D40x...too soon to conclude for now.  One thing the PEN E-P3 does have over my Nikon is its touch screen capability to both focus and to shoot.  It's as intuitive as taking photos with a smartphone--just touch on the screen where you want to focus and you also have the option of firing the shutter just by touch.  For those that have the newest and the baddest DSLR with a touch screen capability already in place, this may not seem like a big deal, but it's definitely something new for me and my old D40x and a wow! factor, for sure.

I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say as I get to know my new toy equipment in time, but already I'm extremely impressed with it.  So far, so good!