FASHION CHALLENGE FRIDAY

Ta Da!

It's Friday and the Salsa challenge is on again.

So, here's how it went down. We came home from school, had a snack and we were about to head off for the park when I said "hey sweetie, wanna try on some clothes - I'll take your picture and then we can go" and she was off. I said she could pick anything and this is what she came up with. Dahlia is SUCH a girlie girl. At first I cringed a little when she whipped out a new skirt I had just bought (at Walmart), still in the bag. It was frilly so it worked for her. I was pretty impressed that she put matching pink tights under to "finish" off the look. And, of course, the hat. Had to have the hat! But notice - no shoes again. If I didn't remind her to put shoes on she would walk out the door everyday barefoot.

And then, all I did was turn on my camera and she began this parade of poses. I said absolutely nothing (and if you know me well, that must be hard to believe because I have had to work VERY hard for pictures from my little sweetie - most times I got growled at!) and each time I would click she would change her pose and wait for the next click. (I almost said "who are you, and what have you done with my daughter?")

Ok, I know i'm duplicating this photo, I tried to delete it and my computer froze so I'm leaving it right there 'cause I don't know what to do and I'm not starting this whole post over again...........'k?

and let's add some props....

can't you almost hear her crying "Iiiyyya!"

...almost losing the skirt!

Now, this is when I said "Ok honey, I think we've got enough". She feigned exhaustion like she had spent a lot of energy and the show was finally over.

So when my little darlin' asked for a piece of chocolate - how could I refuse?

Check out the look on her face! She ain't growling now.

....and...um........don't be shy. Talk to me.

Dress up time

Finally getting to practice with my new camera. I have no idea (yet) what I'm doing but I love the fact I can see every little teeny weeny eyebrow hair ('cause I love every one of them).

I needed a model for my photography course assignment this week so I asked Dahlia to be my "model". I explained she needed to follow my instructions and be very still. She seemed into it so I went farther and asked if I could hire her and she said "sure - 2 dollars" . It's a deal! After I took the shots I needed (and no I won't be showing them!) I suggested some dress-up time and she obliged readily. (For some background perspective - this is a kid who did anything but oblige any camera coming toward her - so we've come a long way baby!)

So, here's my darling, gorgeous, can't get enough of that face, daughter. I think Double Happiness and the Tongginator inspired me today. They recently posted some gorgeous shots of their darlings all dolled up.

...and lovin on Zizi.

Some Easter shots. This is the last time Dahlia will have to hunt for eggs by herself. Next year she can show her little mei mei all her tricks. Sigh...........

Happy Easter!!

FASHION CHALLENGE FRIDAY

Dahlia got this adorable outfit from her BF (Angel) for her birthday recently and has asked me if she could wear it........oh....a million times so when I said "go crazy kid, pick anything you want to wear" she grabbed this outfit and began to hug it and dance around. (She does love her BF.) Incidentally, when Dahlia opened this prezzie I quickly added "where's mine?"

Had to add this one too. Even though it was cold and rainy all week, she can't wait for little skirts and bare legs.
That's my girl!

PS. I should have added - this is a challenge begun by Salsa in China. What fun!

Flashback - Disney trip Nov. 2008

Dahlia's dream came true - she met her Princesses !!

....and a few favorite fairies

Interestingly, Dahlia was about to say - "but Mom..?" when Ariel looked at her and said "haven't I seen you before?" And I quickly added "oh yes, yesterday, but you were a mermaid then - now you have your legs!" (Whew, good save.)

Anybody else notice the absolute glow on Dahlia's face? (The only one more excited to meet them was....um....er.......her mother ;-)

Snow memories March 09 - now that Spring is finally here!

A few weeks ago we finally got Daddy to take a break and after a yummy brunch at a very traditional Quebec ritual - the Sugar Shack - where the sun was warm with a heavy hint of spring in the air - we then headed up north (about an hour & a half drive) to Mount Tremblant.

We arrived at our condo where Dahlia did the monkey thing as we unpacked. This was a quickie 2 day thing but nonetheless still had to bring Zizi (the cat) and all her paraphernalia.

Incidentally, this is the same place where Natasha Richardson had her skiing accident just the week-end before. How very sad - especially for her 2 boys. Just tragic!


If you have never been here - it is like being transported to a Swiss village.

Dahlia smooshing with Zizi. Note the neon eyes. Oddly, I don't have a setting (that I know of) to eliminate freaky eyes.

It was bitterly cold and we're not skiers (so why do we have a condo on Mt Tremblant? Good question.) But we are "let's tumble down this hill" kinda people and the shrieks and squeals of a 6 year old are priceless. So, even though mama had a nasty cold and only wore a spring coat (what!) I couldn't miss any of the hill sliding. So we found this nice little hill away from the skiers. Daddy caught her about halfway down most times as I was a little concerned with some rather large boulders near the bottom. So then I say "Hey Daddy - go to the top with her and push her down at this angle and I'll make sure she doesn't veer off toward those rather large boulders (can you tell what's comin next?) Dahlia is suddently speeding down the hill in completely the wrong direction - heading directly toward said boulders. Mama had no choice but to take a flying leap to stop her and I managed to but I, as a result, have picked up momentum myself and given the angle of the hill with which this momentum was taking place and adding the gravity factor, I opted to continue this momentum in a tuck and roll position. (I omitted a small detail - I just had knee surgery at the end of 08 and had just finished 4 months of physio - but I digress.)

My finger over the lens may have been when I realized she was way too far over. Interestingly - I don't remember what I did with the camera when she came flying down!

All was well in the end - oh - except I developed pneumonia (first time ever) probably due to my choice of coat!!

Back to the condo and then home.

The one good thing about having pneumonia (huh?) is I got to spend the whole past week either in bed, doing puzzles after school with D, or at my computer so I got to read back in the archives of my favorite bloggers and was reminded, once again, what a great group of people we have been blessed to know or know about.

(Always looking for that silver.)

Look what Mama got !!!

No.......not this little piece of cr......p (oops, did I say that?).

This little.................is responible for so much frustration, lost moments in time, fuzzy memories (and frankly....I don't need any added help there ;) and, did I mention FRUSTRATION?

The shutter speed (or lag) is so ssslllllllllllloooooooooowwwwwwww that said subject was bound to move, thus rendering any settings moot. Now, to be fair, perhaps dropping this little..........may have caused some of the problem but returning it to Sony only drew blanks as they said it was in perfect order. Yeah, right! My little Kodak Easyshare (before this one) took lovely pictures but I could hardly see what I was taking with a, what seemed to be, 2 cm screen so I upgraded to lots of pixels (useless) and a 3 in LCD screen. Ahh...bliss - now I can see my crappy pictures SO much clearer.

So, what's a girl to do? Pull out my hair, whine and plead for an early b-day present (really early as I just had a birthday) or just go out and buy one myself?

So.........that's what I did. And.......I didn't mess around either!

Voila!

Mama's new toy!

Now, all I have to do is.........learn how to use it. Easy peasy, right?

So, last week I went to LLLoseau for a 4 hour course on "learning the body of a D300". Now the workshop had only about 5 men and me - all with the same camera but not necessarily on the same playing field. When the intructor began to talk about aperatures I quickly (ever eager to learn a new word) asked "what's an aperature?", the audible groan emitted from my fellow workshoppers confirmed to me just how steep this learning curve would be. But, I plugged on. During a break, a kindly gentleman (actually looked a little like Santa Clause - said he was a pro but just couldn't be bothered to read the manual) gently touched my arm and said, and I quote - "You're very charming (this was the set-up) BUT, what are you doing with a camera like this? - you could take as good a picture with a point and shoot" (WHAAAATT?)

Need I elaborate on what I WOULD have liked to have said to him? I just smiled somewhat sweetly (I was raised properly after all) and turned around and steeled my resolve to learn this thing if it kills me!!!!!! (Don't say I CAN'T do something - oh yeah, just watch me!)

So, I have a plan.

Susan (from our journey to mei mei) was sweet enough to link me to an on-line company who give all sorts of photography courses (she's taken them and it really shows in her work) and I begin a 4 week course next week with Tony Sweet. It's through betterphotos.com and I'm quite pumped.

First, I have to really learn how this baby works and then I can get a little creative. I'm really looking forward to seeing the tiny little hairs on my darling Dahlia's upper lip as well as finally re-doing by art pictures (which are pathetically poor, I know, you don't have to tell me, I have eyes :) And of course, getting some great shots of baby sister...........very soon!

So.........wish me luck!

PS. Ummm.....er.....I just read over this latest post and the thought "spoiled brat" came quickly to mind (and I wasn't thinking about Dahlia). It's mama who needs the time-out here. Let me just say that I am grateful for any camera and the time and opportunities to take pictures - period. Anything over and above that is bonus.

OK, so I'm getting off the naughty mat now ;)