My Strange Addiction

I have to admit something. I'm addicted. No, not to cigs or alcohol (although I do enjoy my margaritas!) Y'all have got to know I'm too much of a goody-two-shoes for the cigs. And no, I don't eat toilet paper or have a sex-doll wife (if that statement seems weird to you, you obviously haven't seen the "My Strange Addiction" show)

No, I'm addicted to Red Mango.

Have you heard of it? It's fantastic.

The first time John and I went, we hated it. I don't remember what kind I got but I remember John got vanilla and it was so weird! We vowed never to return and got on with our lives. And then, for some reason, fate intervened and we went back. Don't know why. Don't know how. It was only about a week later and from that point on, we were hooked. 

My order there is pretty classic - always chocolate mixed with some other fruity flavor. Fav has got to be raspberry but they got rid of that (BOO!) so now I alternate between a few different choices. Last night I got chocolate and strawberry and it was PEE-YOUR-PANTS-GOOD! Here's a snapshot of mine before I devoured it.

We went with some of John's friends, Brad and Garrett. They were first-timers and unfortunately felt the same way we felt about it the first time. At least, that's the message I got when I saw Garrett sneakily throw half of his away. GASP! How could he?!?! Next time he will fall in love.

Sidenote: I LOVE MY CAMERA!!!!

Red Mango is really different - it's not your average ice-cream place. First of all, it's frozen yogurt that actually tastes like yogurt. The chocolate was a little weird at first because it has that strange tang afterwards. That's why I pair it with the fruit. It has a nice zing. 

Photo by Garrett. Empty cup by Kati.

Can't wait to go back for more! Especially with this ridiculously hot Arkansas weather! I feel like I'm freaking melting!

So what about you? What's your strange addiction?

Take a Shot!

John and I decided it'd be a good idea to go on a little excursion with the new cam. Most photographers suggest going out in the evening, right before the sun sets. So, we headed out around 7:30 or so. I live right by the river here in LR, and it made the perfect backdrop for some great shots. 

By the way, isn't my guy the cutest? 

On our way, we ran into Ella's frienemy Stella. I say frienemy because they get super excited to see each other but usually end up biting each other's heads off. Weird. Too bad, too, because they have rhyming names which would be a little more enjoyable if we weren't constantly pulling them off of each other. 

And of course, I've got to show the cutest dog on the block. EB! She's the bomb-diggity (when she isn't busy barking at the computer at a photo of herself. Weirdo).

Somehow along the way I convinced John to sit on the grass and "just play with the dog...you know, don't look at me but pretend I'm not here..."

He went with it and I got a few shots that I like a lot. I'd probably have a ton more except my hands are a little overwhelmed between focusing (which most of these pictures have problems with), and making sure the exposure is correct. Thank goodness for photoshop!

And last but not least, a good one of John with our crazy dog. Be prepared to see many more pictures of the two of them. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Taking the Plunge

Well, I did it. I bought a camera. Meet my new friend.




Ain't she a beauty? I can't believe I bought her (yes, she is a she. Name undetermined at this point). My heart was racing as I handed over my card on Saturday afternoon to make the final purchase. I ended up buying the kit even though I hear the lens in the kit usually sucks. I also bought a sweet 50 mm/1.4 lens which I LO-HOVE to death so far. Here are a few shots we've taken with this baby:

How about a sweet shot of yours truly bright n' early? Lovin' the eyebrow that's still a little crooked from an encounter with the pillows.

Photo by John

Oh, and I made dinner tonight for the boys. John and his two friends Brad and Garrett. Garrett is a photography genious and helped me out a little with the new cam. He also ended up taking some pics of my food. Love him!

Photo by Garrett Houston. Food by me.

Photo by Garrett Houston. Food by Shake n' Bake. Delish!

 Afterwards, we headed out for a little adventure.

I think this is my favorite one from the day. Don't know why.

Anyway, I gotta get to work on some freelance stuff (I'm writing this on Sunday night even though it's posting Monday morning) but I couldn't wait to give y'all a sneak peek! I think this blog's gonna be a lot more fun from this point out. Stay tuned - already got Tuesday's post ready to go!

Fix It Friday

It's that time again. Here's the original:

Before

And here's the same photo after I altered in in Photoshop.

After

What I did:

• Opened in Photoshop

• Adjustment Layer > Levels - brought out the darks

• Adjustment Layer > Curves - brightened the foreground. Then I deleted the background from this layer so that I still had the vibrant red of the farmhouse in the background

• Adjustment Layer > Warming filter, opacity 30%

• Adjustment Layer > Vibrant up 20% or so

I think that's all I did to it! Have a good Friday!

I think I'm going to the camera store today - should be fun. Who knows what will happen there!

My Last 5 Pins

Time for you to check out what I've been checking out!

1) Football chocolate dipped strawberries. How cute! And, how totally easy to do yourself! Great idea for a tailgate this fall.

Shari's Berries

2) Photography tutorials. Okay, so the next 3 or 4 would be this, but I figure y'all get the point. I want a camera, I've been researching, yada-yada-yada. This photo's not that great, it's the link that I'm pinning here!

Lil Blue Boo

3) Moving along to the next non-photography-tutorial pin is this. HOW ADORABLE! What a great way to show someone why you love them! Could be great for kids or for the boy :)

Kiki Creates

4) What more can I say? The pictures speaks louder than words. And those words are HECK YES.

Better Homes & Gardens

5) And finally, a big calendar that you write birthdays, trips, and SALES on (so that you know when to shop for stuff!) Brilliant.

320 Sycamore

Living Room Part Dos

Hello all you avid blog-followers of mine. How ya doin' today? Have a good fourth? I did!

Today I wanted to share with you a little upgrade I made to the living room a few weeks ago. Here's a reminder of what it used to look like:

This picture makes me want to barf. UGH! It's like the fireplace is a magnet and everything
scooched across the room to be near it. Bad design. Or bad outcome. Bad whatever. 

When I moved into my apartment, I decided that mounting the TV above the fireplace would be a great idea. I soon discovered that this wasn't necesarily the case. Mainly because none of my accessories (like, I don't know, my DVD player or my cable box) had anywhere to sit! You can see that I had the DVD player sitting on the desk to the left of the TV - I couldn't even use the remote though because it wouldn't face forward (the cord was too short). And the cable box had no choice but to sit on the desk chair, which was pulled out in front of the fireplace.

All in all, it wasn't really doing it for me.

So when I went to Dallas for a wedding, I decided to make a pit-stop in Ikea. The mothership. And I bought this:

I had done some research for solutions to my problem, found this online, done the measurements, and decided that this would work best for me. I was going to cover up the fireplace. 

GASP!!!

HUH?!?

SAY WHAAA???

YOU CAN'T COVER UP A FIREPLACE!!!!

Oh yes, I can. And I did.

The night of our return I put John to work assembling my new Besta friend. Hehe :)

What a great boyfriend!

And I know you're dying to see the after. Right? Well, I'm not that mean kind of blogger who makes you wait until tomorrow.  Although it's not a bad idea because I haven't thought of tomorrow's post yet. 

Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Hope you caught my Scarlett quote. If not, please disregard this photo.

So much better!!! My heart is happy.

Here's my new TV station. I love it. Or rather, I LO-HOVE it. Read aloud if you don't understand this chica's lingo.

You know, I lost the fireplace with this but I gained SO MUCH MORE! (Plus, let's be honest. Would I ever use the fireplace? Probably not. Would I even know how? Probably not) I now have a tv stand that looks good and provides me plenty of storage. All of my accessories have a home now and I think it really ties the entire room together. Plus, I love that I have a place for my awesome $50 vase.

Here's a breakdown of my prices:

Vase - $50 from Bella Boutique in Little Rock, AR

Flowers - (all fake!) $2.50 each on sale from Pier 1 (total $6)

TV Stand - $160 from Ikea

Frames - $20 each from Ikea ($40 total)

Paintings - FO FREE (I did them myself!)

Lamp on the right - $20 from Ikea

Please ignore my drinking glass. Should have moved it. That was dumb.

Thanks for visiting. Come back soon!

Fix it Friday

So, there's going to be a new post every Friday called Fix It Friday. It's a blog theme for photographers who are fans of the site I Heart Faces. Basically, every Friday they post a photo, unedited (also known as SOOC - straight out of camera) and let their readers download it and fix it themselves! Since I'm still waiting on a camera, I figured this would be a fun exercise to participate in every Friday. So, without further ado, here is the photo for today!

BEFORE

AFTER

Have a good 4th of July weekend!