Black Belt Scrapping

It's Always Something

I had a great day yesterday taking lots of pictures.  It was certainly a challenge, there are only so many places and different ways to pose people in a boardroom without making them look really silly. And then there's the people who just really don't want to have their pictures taken.  I understand that, I really do.  But like going to the dentist or paying your taxes, sometimes you just have to do it.

And speaking of taxes.....I got home yesterday to find a "love note" from the IRS in my mailbox.  Yes, one of my biggest irrational fears of all time has materialized ~ an IRS audit and a huge tax bill.  To say I was a bit freaked out would be an understatement.  After digging into our tax return for last year, it appears that one of the things that they're questioning is just going to need some documentation, but we also found that it looks like our tax preparer did indeed make a costly mistake.  Ugh!  I thought that's why we pay somebody to do our taxes for us. I always looked at that tax prep fee as a type of "insurance".  Well, we'll see how it all shakes out.  As much as I hate paying taxes, I don't have a problem paying what we truly owed.  I do have a problem paying a HUGE penalty and interest payment when it wasn't our fault in the first place. 

Thank goodness Andy was home when I opened that...had he not been home, I probably would have lost it right there!  Needless to say I feel like I've been hit by a truck today.  Even though I was totally exhausted when I went to bed, I didn't sleep a wink. 

So I'm off....off to work.  After work today I'll be trying to sort some of this out, and I have about 500 photos to process from yesterday.  I sure hope they can find a dozen or so good images out of the bunch.  I kind of like the silhouette above......

Lawyers on Film....

Long day for me today....I'm out of the house early, I have an all day photo shoot in a law firm downtown.  The funny thing is that we'll wrap it up down at the courthouse at the end of the day.  In all the years I've lived in Cincinnati, I'd never stepped foot into the county courthouse, and I've been there a LOT in the last few weeks.  Go figure.  Denny Crane!

Anyhow, it's a full day of commercial work/portfolio building. For months now, I've been considering branching out a bit from the commercial jobs that I do and starting to do more portraiture...you know, families, senior pics, babies and maternity.  People have been trying to talk me into doing it for a while now (especially right after the school photos get sent home....ugh!), but I've hesitated because it's the behind the scenes technology that makes my head spin.  It's not enough to have good equipment and know how to use it.  In these high tech days, to make a go of this type of photography, you really need a dedicated website, an online system for previewing proofs and ordering, credit card processing, etc.  But as they say, Rome wasn't built in a day and I've already had some great advice and guidance from some great pros around the country and I think I'm going to kick it off this spring. 

So if you're in the Greater Cincinnati area, I'll soon be running a spring "get on the calendar" special to hopefully jumpstart things!  I'm thinking that you'll get your sitting fee, some 5X7s, an 8X10 and wallets for one low price and the option to buy additional prints and/or a CD. 

I swear, this week has just been a total loss.  Shannon's been home sick with a stomach bug for two days and it's Thursday already!  Where does the time go?  I've been so swamped with stuff this week that I haven't made it to one taekwondo class.  Bad, bad, bad.  I"m testing in a month and I have to get back into the groove. I thought this week would be the week to get back to it, but it's not looking good.  Tonight we're going out to dinner celebrate Andy's birthday. I guess that leaves me tomorrow and Saturday.  Lame. 

Scrapping....I was pretty excited to see THIS yesterday.  Go figure!   And check out this fun contest with Lauren Reid's team.  Submit a layout using Lauren's projects and if you're the winner, the creative team will take your pics and put together an entire album for you...twenty pages scrapped just for you by the team!  Isn't that a cool prize?  Check out the details here.  The deadline is March 9th, so you've got plenty of time!

That's about it for now, I need to go pack my lunch and throw all of my junk in the car for my day in the big city ~ ha!

What Color Crayon Are You

I used to paint a lot of murals, especially in kids' rooms.  I haven't done that in a while, but I'm coming out of retirement for one more next week.  Shannon's home with that stomach bug, so I'm here today doing my sketches. I feel so rusty!

Anyhow, because I don't have much to report, here's a fun quiz that relates to colors and such. 

Sorry to be so boring today.  Let me know what color you are! 

What Color Crayon are You?

It's no surprise to me that this is my result:

You Are a Red Crayon

Your world is colored with bright, vivid, wild colors. You have a deep, complex personality - and you are always expressing something about yourself. Bold and dominant, you are a natural leader. You have an energy that is intense... and sometimes overwhelming. Your reaction to everything tends to be strong. You are the master of love-hate relationships. Your color wheel opposite is green. Green people are way too mellow to understand what drives your energy.

What Color Crayon Are You?

Recipe Tuesday - Chicken Noodle Soup

While it's not entirely healthy, after all, it's got pasta in it, it's good and good for you.  It seems that my homemade chicken noodle soup has become sought after with friends who are sick.  Of course, I'm always happy to make it for a family or friends in need. It's simple and good and with so many people out there who are down and out with this lousy flu bug, I thought I would share my recipe so that you can make it for your loved ones. 

There are really no measurements in this one, you can't screw it up.  Make sure to taste it to make sure you've got enough salt, it's the key.

Barb's Chicken Noodle Soup

2.5lbs. chicken parts (breasts and thighs with the bone....whatever you like!)
several carrots, peeled
two large onions, diced
several celery sticks, diced
chopped garlic
olive oil
kosher salt
1/2 fresh lemon
parsley (fresh or dried)
dill weed (optional)
bay leaves (optional)
red pepper flakes (optional)
1 large bag Kluski homestyle noodles

In a large stock pot, add olive oil and saute onions, garlic, and celery for about 5 minutes, until soft.  Add chicken to the pot, and cover the pot with water, several inches above the chicken.  Add additional stalks of celery that include the leaves.  You don't need to chop these, just toss them in.  Squeeze the juice of the lemon into the pot, then toss the lemon into the pot.  Add spices, pretty much anything you like.  My combo of a parsley, a bit of dill, bay leaves, and a few red pepper flakes works well. Add about a palm full of kosher salt.  Bring pot to a boil, cover the pot, and turn down the heat to simmer for an hour or two.  The longer the better. 

Remove the lemon, the long celery stalks, and the chicken from the pot.  Pull the meat off of the chicken bones and discard the bones and the skin.  Shred the chicken meat and add it back into the pot.  Taste the soup, it will probably need more salt, so add it as needed. Bring the soup back to a boil and add the noodles.  Cook until the noodles are al dente, then serve with a great bread and some butter. 

This soup will make anybody feel better!  I swear I make it once/week in the winter.  If you'd like, you can substitute brown rice or whole wheat noodles for the Kluski noodles if you'd like. It's all good.
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Ginger and I met Tina for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory yesterday to celebrate Miss T's birthday and holy cow we had fun.  We probably could have stayed there all afternoon without blinking an eye, it was so much fun.  And yeah, we all had dessert.  Shameful, but yummy too!

Stars on the Stage

Did you watch the Oscars last night?  I really wasn't into watching, but I haven't missed a show in probably twenty years so of course I had to tune it.  I totally tune in strictly for the fashion.  I have to say, I think the show was INCREDIBLY BORING. Jon Stewart was a total snoozer.  When making a half-baked joke about how Jack Nicholson might get somebody in the audience pregnant before the end of the show is the highlight of the laughs......  I miss Billy Crystal, he was always fun!

Anyhow, like I said, I love the fashion.  This year I thought overall the gowns were really beautiful and the hair was bad.  What's up with the "ponytail that's falling apart" look?  I get that look after taekwondo class and it's not good. 

Here's an example....Cameron Diaz.  Gorgeous chick, stunning dress, rat's nest hair.  But I guess when you're Cameron Diaz, it just doesn't matter. 

My faves of the night?  The usual ~ Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Garner, and Heidi Klum.  Did you know that Nicole Kidman was wearing 1400 carats worth of diamond. 1400 carats!  Jeez-ow!  And Jennifer Garner is just so gorgeous and normal.  I love that!   Then there's Heidi looking pretty great after three kids.  Man, she's so beautiful!

My pick for the worst of the night?  Tilda Swinton.  Horrid dress, bad hair, and it looks like she hasn't eaten in a year. The punk concentration camp look is NOT good. And how weird was she on stage?  Weird!

Moving on to a more real-life on stage experience, Friday night was the elementary school Talent Show and my daughter and husband were Act 1 out of 39!  They did great!  It takes a lot of guts to get up there and sing unaccompanied....no backup CD behind you.  There were a lot of acts lip-synching and dancing to High School Musical songs.  At least we were original.  I was able to catch a few good shots from the peanut gallery and I turned them into a layout this weekend.

My dynamic duo are already working on next year's performance.

That's about it for me, I need to wrap it up and get my buns to the office.  It's back to normal routine around here again, thank goodness!

Tomorrow, another tried and true recipe!

Things I Love

I promised you this one, so here goes.  It took me a few days to get it all together.  I hope you can find some inspiration, motivation, or just a few good laughs in here somewhere.  If you've got favorites of your own, please let me know, I'd love to hear about them!

One thing I'm NOT loving is snow and ice and we've been blasted again.  No school again today.  Sigh.

Photo Stuff 

For quite a while now I have wanted to do a compilation of things that I'm loving right now.  So...no time like the present, right?  Here goes!

Adobe Lightroom

First, a big shoutout to Sue for inspiring me to not give up and actually put my (third) trial download to use. It's revolutionary, seriously.  And for those who only use it to color correct your photos, I highly recommend learing to use the library functions.  They rock. 

Go here to download the trial version and give it a try. It's so easy to use and it's really fun too.  I promise you, it is! 

And speaking of photography, one of my resolutions this year is to really step up my photography. I'm currently reading The Moment it Clicks by Joe McNally.  Joe is one of the most sought-out photographers in the world, doing work for Life Magazine, National Geographic, etc.  His new book gives you very simple advice that is not only practical but brilliant and photographers of every level will be able to get something out of it.  In addition to the great information in this book, it's also stuffed with absolutely sensational photographs and it's written with a great deal of humor and sarcasm.  Fantastic!  Be sure to check out Joe's website so that you can see his fantastic portfolio.

One more comment about photography....I have become hooked on Scott Kelby's blog as well.  He's really funny, and needless to say, as the foremost expert in the world on Photoshop, you'll learn a lot as well as laugh.

A Little Shopping

Shannon and I went to Target on Sunday to spend the gift cards that she got for her birthday. One of the things she picked up is this:

It's Dream Life Designer's World.  Target didn't have it on their website, but I found it on Amazon. This is the perfect gift/toy for your Project Runway-Lovin, pre-teen, wannabe fashion designer. It's easy to hookup to your television, no fancy game system required, just plug it in and you're designing!  It's great, and very addicting. We won't talk about how much I like it! 

And speaking of Target, they have some KILLER cute shoes right now, and they're cheap (all about $11/pair this week).  I want all of these (I wish!).  Keep in mind that the photos do NOT do these cuties any justice.  They're all super cute.

Let's see, what's next......how about blogs?

Blogs and Online Goodness

I've been slow to hop on the popular blog bandwagon, but I finally checked in with the following blogs and now I'm hooked!  No offense to all of my friends with personal blogs...I love those and read them most every day. You know I love you, but here I'm going to list some of the MacDaddys that I've gotten hooked on.

Confessions of a Pioneer Woman and Pioneer Woman Cooks - Where has Ree been all of my life?  She likes to cook, she's a killer photographer, whiz with photoshop, and she's really funny. The chick can write. She's me, except she lives on a ranch, she's a redhead, she cooks with WAY more butter than I ever dare think about, and she's married to a cowboy (and her blog probably gets a bazzillion hits per day, as it deserves!).

Posy Gets Cozy - Meet Alicia Paulson. She's everything that's lovely and good about Martha Stewart without the attitude and the felony conviction. She's so crafty and her blog is always total eye candy. She makes just "whipping things up" so easy and you and I both know that it's not.

The Sartorialist - High fashion meets photography in this blog authored by a former NYC fashion designer turned Johnny-Shutterbug-On-The-Street.  Check out his slick eye for stylish people on the streets of NYC, Milan, Paris, etc. and be sure to read the comments!

A Year Off - Chris writes about going a whole year without any frivolous spending.  I don't know that I could do it, but she and her family keep plugging along.  It's a great read and it makes you think.

Adobe Lightroom Killer Tips - Self explainatory!

Formerly Fat Running Guy - Jeff has lost nearly 200 pounds doing South Beach in the past two years. He's just a regular guy who started eating right and moving his body.  His journey is inspiring and remarkable.

Digiscrapping Tutorials -  Learn lots about digital scrapbooking here.  There's great stuff, no matter what kind of software you use.

The Smitten Kitchen - Food porn at it's very finest.  If you can't eat these mouth-watering creations due to diet, or the inability to cook, or whatever, at least tune in to drool.  It always makes me hungry!

Mosaic Maker - not a blog, but a site for creating quick photo mosaics for your layouts or for your blog.  Great stuff!

Go Fug Yourself - Basically the Glamour Magazine Do's and Don'ts page, but with funny commentary.  There are a LOT of fashion victims out there.

Mrs. Fussypants' Guide to Life - This lady is just down and out funny.  I wish I could say that I was her.

 

Finally, I could give you the link to our local county courthouse website, where you could check out the court dockets by date and by judge, but I have a feeling that I'm probably the only one interested in reading that, so I'll spare you that one.

Of course I could spend tons of time finding my scrap favorites, but I think I'll save that for next week! I hope you like my list!

 

Thank You For Your Service

My service at the courthouse is now done.

I was called into jury selection yesterday for an another interesting case ~ lots of forensics on that one ~ but I ended up being the next in line for the jury when they finalized it.  So I got released and now I've been released from service.  I admit that I'm kind of disappointed, it was going to be an interesting trial and I'm very curious to hear how it turns out.  Court resumes later this morning and part of me is really tempted to go back down there and watch the trial. 

Jury duty was a great experience for me.  I learned a lot and seeing a very different side of life that I'm not normally a part of was a good reality check.  If you think you have problems, spend a few days down at the courthouse.  There are people there who make my silly little worries seem very trivial.  Again, just another good opportunity to count my blessings. 

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Did you see the lunar eclipse last night?  It was pretty darned cool. I took that opportunity (while taping Project Runway, of course) to play around with my camera and see what I could capture. There wasn't much light out there, so I tried just about everything regarding aperture and shutter speed in my effort to capture that cool looking moon and it's two star pals.  I ended up getting about six shots that I'm really happy with.  This one is basically straight out of the camera, just resized and sharped for the web.

What do you think?

1/4 sec, f 1.8
85mm
no flash, no tripod

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While I was waiting to be called yesterday, I put together a blog entry of a bunch of my latest and greatest favorites right now.  I'm still working on it a bit, but tune in tomorrow for my list!

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Here's a last minute heads up here.  Lauren is having a huge sale over at Oscraps.  All of her stuff is on sale at bargain prices...you can get kits and great alphas for $1, so go check it out! 

Meanwhile, Back in the Halls of Justice....

It's another Juror Appreciation Day, which means it's Wednesday and Donut Day again.  Too bad I'm not a donut fan.

It's also snowing like hell again (of course) which means that school is closed.  I'm glad I made arrangements last night for Shannon in case the weather dudes were right and the snow hit as predicted. The snow was BAD out there today....REALLY bad! 

A commute that normally takes me about 20-25 minutes took an hour this morning.  I saw a few bad accidents on the way, that's never good. 

I grew up in Michigan where it snowed all of the time, so I learned to drive in it.  The problem here is that it's super hilly (unlike where I grew up) and the majority of Cincinnatians do NOT know how to drive in the snow.  You've got the white-knucklers who drive 2mph and the assholes in huge vehicles who still want to do 70mph.  Both kinds cause problems.  Anyways, I'm glad to be here now, that's for sure!

It's already been a fairly adventurous day and it's not even 9:00am yet.  I wonder what adventures await me today while I'm here at the courthouse.  If there's anything I've learned in the last two weeks, it's to expect the unexpected and don't ever try to guess what might happen. 

Now it's off to read boards, read this current copy of People that's sitting here, and wait for my name to be called.

Recipe Tuesday ~ Balsamic Glazed Chicken & Mock Mashed Potatoes

Here's a tried-and-true, go-to chicken dish that's easy, fast, good, and good for you.  I serve this with mock mashed potatoes (that's cauliflower, baby!).  Don't knock it until you try it!  I probably make these mock potatoes at least twice/week.  The photo is from Giada on Food Network, but the recipes are both mine.

Balsamic Glazed Chicken

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup chicken stock
2/3 cup balsamic vinegar (use a good one!)
1 tablespoon honey
4 tablespoons green onion tops, thinly sliced

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, turning and sprinkling pepper equally on each side of chicken, about 10 minutes or until slightly brown on all sides.
Remove chicken from pan and drain off any excess oil. Add the chopped garlic to the skillet and saute over medium heat for 2 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and slowly add the chicken stock, scraping to dissolve any bits clinging to bottom of pan. Increase heat to medium-high; add vinegar and honey and rapidly boil for 3 minutes to reduce liquid to one cup. Return chicken to pan; reduce heat to medium. Cook, turning, about 30 minutes or until liquid thickens and becomes a dark mahogany glaze and chicken is done.

Mock Mashed Potatoes

1 medium head cauliflower
1 tablespoon reduced fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/8 teaspoon straight chicken base or bullion (may substitute 1/2 teaspoon salt)
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh or dry chives, for garnish
1 tablespoons butter substitute

Set a stockpot of water to boil over high heat.
Clean and cut cauliflower into small pieces. Cook in boiling water for about 6 minutes, or until well done. Drain well and do not let the cauliflower cool.  In a food processor, puree the hot cauliflower with the cream cheese, Parmesan, garlic, chicken base, butter substitute, and pepper until almost smooth.

A Regular Day

Well, it's almost a regular day.  Since it's President's Day, I have the day off of jury duty, but since I don't have jury duty, it's a regular day at the office for me.  It actually worked out well, it was good to check in and catch up on everything. 

Not much to report here today.  We had a pretty lazy weekend, which is always nice.  I got a bunch of scrapping done, including some assignments for a new digital scrapbooking book that BHG Scrapbooks, Etc. is releasing this summer (I think).  I got that all done, so I just have to mail it off this afternoon and hopefully get it approved.

My assignment was using text as design elements.  I know that these two layouts that I did for the Stand Up and Scrap contest were pretty popular, so while I'm not submitting these, I used them style-wise as inspiration.

These three are some of my favorite layouts EVER!  I'm hoping that I'll be as happy with the one I'm working on as I am with these.  I have this idea of what I want to do in my head, but making it happen in Photoshop is a whole 'nother story.  Can you tell I like black and white?  Guess what my color scheme is for the one that's in progress?

It's back to South Beach for me again today.  I've been bad for the last two weeks and that's got to stop NOW.  Thank goodness the evil Red Velvet Cake is no more.  I'll have another healthy recipe up on the blog tomorrow as usual, so be sure to check back.

My family says that I'm famous for worthless trivia, so here's a bit to brighten your Monday.  Did you know that this week....

• This past Saturday was National Do A Grouch A Favor Day (did you do a grouch a favor?)
• Yesterday (Feb 17th) is National Random Act of Kindness Day
• Today is not only President's Day, but also National Battery Day (it keeps going and going...)
• Tomorrow (Feb 19th) is National Chocolate Mint Day
• Wednesday (Feb 20th) is Cherry Pie Day (for you Jan!), Hoodie Hoo Day (where evidently people go out at noon, wave their hands in the air and yell Hoodie-Hoo. Who knew?), and Love Your Pet Day
• Thursday (Feb 21st) is National Card Reading Day
• Friday (Feb 22nd) is Walking the Dog Day, Be Humble Day, and International World Thinking Day
• Saturday (Feb 23rd) is International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day and National Tennis Day
• Sunday (Feb 24th) is National Tortilla Chip Day

Now THAT is my kind of holiday.  Who cares about dead presidents when you can be eating a bag of Tostitos and salsa?  I bet if George Washington was here with me, he'd agree!

Off to update the photo blog...don't forget to check in!