On a Personal Note (and a small sample)

I am not sure how many people are left reading this but I just wanted to let you know that I found out this week my Grandmother has stage 4 cancer and has less than 6 months left to live. I will be flying out to see her in Montana the first week in September. I have learned 2 things this week 1) Cancer sucks---it tears apart families and breaks hearts. My father also died from cancer in Feb of 2008. 2) You really find out who the supportive people are in your life. I have had some really wonderful family members, co-workers and friends come around me in support during this difficult time. On the same note I have been also hurt be some people who have found out via e-mail or Facebook about the news and have said nothing--not even an "I'll pray for you and your family". My husband reminds me that they just might not know what to say but it's still hard. I am just trying to focus on the time i have left with my Grandma right now and having people to support me.

Having the photo editing software has been a good distraction during this hard time. The first picture is of Pretzel trying to get water off of the ac unit after a rainstorm. The second photo is of The Cheese Cave in one of the small towns I had to go to for work. Photo #3 illustrates one of my central locations in my job (besides my office) which would be my car. I added a black and white background with a photo booth frame. The last photo is of Mike and Pretzel taking a nap. I added a Green toned background.

Until next time,

Jackie

Playing Around

Hi All,

Here are the photos I have for you today. For those of you on Facebook you may see one or two of these each week. I am doing this to give the people who don't visit this blog a small taste of what I am up to (but not the whole Enchillada--they need to come to this site if they want to see that. I am also playing a bit with phone editing on some of the photos. Not all but I feel that part of a photographers work is working on photo enhancement. It's a skill I have been wanting to learn for a long time.

Onto my photos

1. The first photo is from Baja Sol (and inspired by Jeannie). This is my favorite place to eat and only tend to on special occasions. Tonight before book club I took the money I saved on shoes (I got two pairs for $13) and got a Shrimp Enchilada.
2. The second photo is of our neighbors cat Morrie. He likes to lay outside in the afternoon and get some sunlight. I am going to make a copy of this one and give it to our neighbor. She said he is getting old so it will be nice for her.
3. I took this one in the park where Mike and I like to take our dog Pretzel. I added a Vignette effect to it.
4. This is my favorite donut shop. I went there on the first day of my current job and it has been a fun occasional stop ever since. This photo is dedicated to my friend Dan, who is a Meteorologist. It was raining that day and we had had tornado's come through the Twin Cities the night before so I added the lightning effect just for him!

Hope you enjoyed. Good night!

-Jackie

My New Challenge

I really enjoyed doing the 368 New things a day challlenge. I enjoyed it so much so that I decided I wanted to undergo another 365+ day challenge. I have heard of others doing this so I am to......

I will be doing a 365+ photo a day challenge. I actually started on July 24th instead of my birthday, July 26th. Above are the first three photos: the first one is of the sunset from our balcony, the second is my friend Andy's Projector screen on which we Played my new Wii game of Trivial Pursuit, The third was a not so fun thing---I got bit by the neighbors dog early in the morning hours of my birthday. I decided to document this photo not to focus on the negative but because one year I know I will look back on it, laugh and say "What a nice Birthday Present"...

Stay tuned for more challenge photos as the year progresses.

-Jackie