Happy Halloween!

Ok, so maybe I'm a couple days late, but here is a Halloween video for your particular enjoyment. Welcome to November!

P.S. You should probably make it full screen because it's incredibly delightful. :)

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

We are aware that we're weird

I slept for nine hours last night. I woke up at noon. No, I am not sick. Just exhausted. Being a senior in college is not for the faint of heart. B and I slept on the couch cause we were too tired to get our sheets out of the dryer and put them back on the bed. And when you sleep on a feather bed without sheets, the feathers stick out and poke you in the night. It's true. I've woken up with an odd assortment of scratches to prove it.

Did you all have a fabulous Halloween? I know I did. Pictures of that to come soon. A little scary story for you. A few weeks ago Brade and I were perusing the Halloween aisle at a local Wallgreens when I came across a mask that looked something like this:

A devious plot began to form in my head.

So I donned this oh-so-scary mask and creeped around the corner towards my husband who was carefully contemplating a row of Halloween sweets. I got down really close to his ear and did my very best Darth Vader death rattle impression.

It took him a couple seconds to notice, but then he turned his head and let out a shriek. Truly, he was terrified. He may have nightmares for several weeks. Ah, sweet victory.

For those of you that are feeling sorry for him at this moment, you should know that he scares me at least ten times a week. Ok, so maybe it's more that I scare myself when I step on one of Bandit's squeaky toys on my way to the bathroom in the middle of the night, but hey, he was there!

So, don't feel too sorry for him.

Since it's now November and Christmas is on the brain-- officially-- I thought I would share with you a favorite holiday tradition Braden, Berlyn and I share. We loooove to go to Hobby Lobby and find the ugliest ornaments there. They really do have some truly horrendous ones. :)

The fuzzy pink poodle in the cup was a particular favorite of mine. :)

Berlyn liked the hippo wearing a boa.

Ok, so maybe this is not the most normal holiday tradition, but we sure get a huge kick out of it. And yes, we are aware that this tradition is weird. And that that we're weird. We know.

Speaking of weird, here's a lil' video of Berlyn and cousin Kate bowling. The grace. The athleticism. Have a happy week!

Britt

My Favorite face

This week at Love that Shot, the challenge is "your favorite faces." I was married just a little over a year ago and we don't have any kids yet, so this face is my whole world. He is my best friend and we constantly act like we're five. :)

I took this picture a few weeks ago when we were goofing around with markers. I love the catchlights in his eyes. It makes them sparkle. Right after this he fell asleep and I wrote a love note on his arm. :)

This was processed in Photoshop CS4 using Pioneer Woman's B&W Beauty and a little bit of selenium added from Totally Rad Actions.

Head on over to Love that Shot to check out all the other great entries. Have a happy week!

Britt

Dream Drive

It has always been a dream near and dear to my hubby lubby's heart to drive a Ferrari. He loves cars, and pretty much anything that goes Vrrrrrroooooom! He's such a boy.

Since I am the gift-giving-goddess of the world, I uncovered this little place in Colorado for him to fulfill this lifelong wish. I am such a good wife. Luckily for us, husbandman has an awesome auntie living in very close proximity to our destination, so we had a fun time staying with her and her fam for the weekend.

So we drove for hours to Colorado Springs to... drive for hours through the mountains near Denver and then... drove for hours to get home. It was a lo-hot of driving. Oh my dang! We did have a great time together though and the scenery was spectacular. Plus Brade has a humongo smile on his face the whole time which made the whole trip completely worth it.

Check out the vid I made of our Dream Drive. It's pretty shaky because, well, I was in a car most of the time. We got to drive a Ferrari, Corvette and this bizarre creation called the Ariel Atom. That's the one that looks like a go-kart and looks completely unsafe and totally not street-legal. It is. You just have to wear helmets to avoid getting bugs and rocks and other cars in your teeth. It was my personal favorite. It was like an amusement park ride. Check it out!

In Love With Light

As a photographer, I am always looking for that perfect moment with the perfect light that makes a photograph extraordinary. Today I am sharing a photo I took recently in response to a challenge on Love That Shot: to make a photograph extraordinary using light.

I took this shot in a field simply because the sun was setting and at such a great angle. I placed my subject between me and the sun and got down on the ground (literally lying on the ground, in the mud I might add) and tilted my camera just a little until I could see the rays of light peeking around her head. One thing that is important to remember when shooting a silhouette like this one is to meter for the sky (shoot in manual if you can so you can control this) and not the subject. Never use a flash for this kind of shot because it won't work for a silhouette.

Let me know what you think of this one. Do you love the sun flare as much as I do?

Britt

I Heart Faces Photojournalism Challenge

The I Heart Faces photo challenge this week is photojournalism. The definition of Photojournalism for the sake of this challenge is: Using an image (or images) to tell a story.

These are photos from my grandfather's recent funeral. He was in the Navy for a number of years, and so he was honored with a 21 gun salute. It was a cool experience. So here is my entry for this week (if you click on the picture you can see it full size).

REMEMBERING GRANDPA...

Hope you have a great week!

Britt

Magic Surrounds Me...

Hello friends.

I actually don't know if anyone actually ever reads this blog, but if you do, I consider you a friend (unless you're a weird, creepy internet-stalker type, but even then I'm sure we could share a few laughs).

So... I am not sure if any of you are aware of this, but I have been struggling a lot for the past couple of years-- with a big, heaping platter of things. In fact, it has just been very recently that I feel I have reduced that platter to a manageable-sized dinner plate. I'm not trying to throw a pity party. I'm just trying to explain "the change" I have gone through recently (oh my dang I just read that and it sounds like I had plastic surgery or something. No that's not it!). I just had a truckload of icky dumped on me and I'm to the point where I finally have most of it off and I can begin rebuilding.

I had no idea what a toll these trial-ridden years had taken on me until now. I feel like they changed so much of who I am and how I have been living my life. I have lost a little and gained a little too. I am stronger and tougher, but with that toughness has come a little bit of pessimism that wasn't there before. I've cried enough tears to fill an ocean it seems and in that pain, a little part of me died, or at least because incredibly ill and possibly bed-ridden.

Well now I'm sitting here enjoying the first rays of morning peeking through my window and I'm taking a huge optimistic breath. I am going after that little part of myself that I lost. I am bringing me back. I'm going to enjoy life again and every precious moment that it brings my way. Even though it's Monday and we usually don't get along very well, I don't mind. :) I am going to take the bad with the good and make it into something extraordinary. It's not always going to be perfect. More like perfectly imperfect. To quote one of my favorite songs from the TV series One Tree Hill, "... and if I cry a little, die a little, at least I know I lived..." I am going to enjoy the magic all around me. I am going to be inspired. And I am going to live.

In keeping with my new, fresh and blindingly radiant outlook on life, I am going to turn this Monday into a "day of inspiration." So this is what is inspiring me today:

I am obsessed with Harry Potter. I love it way more than I believe is acceptable for a grown adult to love a children's series. I cried when the first book came out because I was twelve and already too old to be accepted into Hogwarts.

Magic surrounds me...

Yes, I actually do have this note on my light switch. Even if I can't magically make my wand glow, I think Muggle inventions like light bulbs are pretty awesome.

My brother took this photo yesterday in downtown Salt Lake. City Hall is the source of this Monday's day of inspiration because I think it looks just like Hogwarts.

See? This is the one in Orlando. Brade and I saw it being built on our honeymoon and have vowed to return. Learn all about it here. But don't blame me if it makes you really, really excited. It is my heart's dearest desire to live there for at least seven years and complete my magical education. I wonder if Universal Studios has an openings for deranged fans...

Harry Potter inspires me to believe in the magic that surrounds me and to see the world in all its wonder. Enjoy the precious gift life brings. Have a happy week!

Britt