Funny Friendly Friday #2

Welcome to the 2nd installment of Funny Friday and Friendly Friday!

Let's begin with Funny Friday:

1) Digger having fun with words: "What you think about that? But bu bink about bat?"

Me: "Put pu pink about Pat?"

Digger: "Put pu pink about Joe?"

FYI- Joe is Pat's husband- his great aunt and uncle. :D

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2) Brandon and I playing at the park.

Me: "You want to go see the creek now?"

Digger: "No way dude."

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3) Remember last Funny Friday (two weeks ago, see here)? I said I had a funny picture about how I found Brandon's toys one day? Well, I found them! Here it is:

Yep, just like that. Boys...gotta love 'em!

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And now on to Friendly Friday!


My featured blogger this week is ...

SUPERMOM! As I mentioned last week, Alysha (aka Supermom), is my inspiration for Friendly Friday. She has a weekly Friend Finding Friday that I try to participate in! She picks a random follower each week to feature. I've found some great blogs through her! She is also an amazing photographer! She hosts Wordish Wednesday, which is a chance to share our lives through pictures, with a lot, a little, or no words at all! She also has many other daily entries- such as A Single Mother's Daybook, which I love. It's a little peek into her world and her personality. And if that is not enough, she has lots of fun stories and giveaways!

Not that she needs my help to get followers, but I still want to give her a shout out! Her blog is great and I know she works hard at it! Go check her out!

Remember the rules:

1) Follow me!

2) Follow featured blogger!

3) Link back to me, using my button if you can!

4) Make sure to link up in the linky tool below, so others can find your blog easily!

HAVE FUN!! So if you have a blog, link up below! Everyone is welcome!

<a href="http://www.nikkibloglife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="When You Wish Upon A Star" src="http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e267/psychick1/BlueStar-1.gif" /></a>

Hope it's a great Friday for you! See you next week!

Nicole

Better Photos-Week 1-Aperture

Well, I've been unmotivated to...well, do anything. Usually, photography will be the one thing I can make myself do, but lately, not even that. But I found something fun to do!


12 Weeks To Better Photos.


Sounds good, right?


I'm the first to admit, I'm only a beginner. I've got lots and lots (and LOTS) to learn about photography. I think this will be a great way to do that.


Looking through some blogs, I found a link to this photography course. Sponsored by Mark and Joanna @ Two Peas in a Bucket , there are articles that teach you about different photography skills-aperture, ISO, light, composition, portraits, landscapes, etc. At the end is a suggestion , or challenge, on how to use these new skills and try them out with your camera.


I figured I would use this as an opportunity to improve my skills and continue to share my "journey of chasing dreams." I will share what I've learned and the pictures that result. I will do my best to incorporate weekly photo challenges in with the weekly lesson topics.


Week 1- Aperture.


What I learned:
Aperture or f/stop refers to the opening of the lens. The wider the opening, the more light that is let into the lens. This means that if the lens is wide open, fewer things will be in focus. An f/stop number can range from f/1.2 up to f/22 in some cases. The smaller the f/stop number, the wider the lens. To redefine, the smaller the f/stop number, the fewer things will be in focus.


I also learned from other sources: Bokeh-In photography, bokeh is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image.  Bokeh occurs for parts of the scene that lie outside the depth of field. Photographers sometimes deliberately use a shallow focus technique to create images with prominent out-of-focus regions (definition from wikipedia, see link for examples).


The challenge:
The challenge was to pick a subject. Using the Aperture Priority (A or Av)  setting. Change the aperture to the lowest setting available, a middle setting, and the highest setting and see the results.

Now that this challenge is complete, I see how much more I have to learn. These pictures are not the greatest, but the authors do remind you that this is a new skill and will take time to master. This was a difficult concept for me lol. The photos do show a difference and I did learn from them, and that is what is most important.

Under each picture is the settings that I used. Remember that all photos were shot in Aperture Priority Mode (Av) and that the ISO is automatically set by camera. So, with much anxiety, here's my pics.

Macro, f/3.5, ISO 400

Macro, f/5.0, ISO 400

Macro, f/8.0, ISO 400

ISO 80

Macro, ISO 80

I had a great time with this lesson! I learned a lot! I encourage anyone interested in learning photography to join me in this 12 week program. Please let me know you are doing it and send me pics or links to your blog! I also really NEED and appreciate feedback. Please share your HONEST, preferably kind, critiques of my photos and how I did. Any advice on ways to improve is also much appreciated!

And on a totally unrelated subject. You Capture's theme this week is Pink.

PINK?

Are you kidding me?


I'm surrounded by BLUE!?


It's house of boys and I'm not that girly. So...pink...hmm...

Well, I collected a bunch of stuff that is pink. There honestly is not that much to pick from. I decided no one really wanted to look at pictures of Benadryl or Pepto Bismol. So this is what you get. I tried!

I just really like the pink glow on the card in the back. Pretty :)

And yea, I know, it was just Easter. But I had to work Easter, so all those pretty pink eggs and pink Easter dresses...yea, I didn't see them. But Dada did catch a lovely shot of something pink on Easter Sunday. His skills are so much improved :)

Thanks Dada!

Hope you had a blessed Easter and let's make it a great week! Also make sure to check out more pink at the You Capture link below and other great Wednesday blogs!

Nicole
  
 P.S. Sorry I could not get the dandelion photos to work in a collage! And I can't make the collages any bigger because of blog size. I hope you can still see what I accomplished!

Two Peas In A Bucket



You Capture

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

Linky Loving Friend Finding Friday!

First of all, let me apologize for being MIA this week. My days off have been busy. Then when I wasn't busy, I was sick. And then when I wasn't sick, I was busy catching up. I had this blog prepared in advance, so that's basically the only reason I'm posting today! I'll be back to regularly scheduled blogging next week!

Ok, so I've decided to host a link up! I know I'm not a big time, well-known blogger, but I'm hoping that this will bring some new people to the blog and hopefully get my featured bloggers some attention as well!

Following the lead of Supermom, Alysha (link below), I will share a new blogger with you weekly. Every Friday (hopefully lol), I will feature a blogger that I follow. Also, as Alysha says, there are rules, because there has to be rules!

1) I ask that you follow me (if you aren't already)!

2) Then go check out my featured blogger and follow them!

3) Post my button or a link back to this post in your post for the day!

4) Lastly, make sure to link your blog below. This will help me find new blogs to read too (greedily licking lips)! As well as promote your blog to some new people! Excitement! And please leave a comment!

AND NOW...onto the featured blog! If you like discovering new recipes, finding craft ideas, getting home decor ideas, or just catching up with a busy wedding planning blogger- HunnyBee Blog is the place to get the buzz!

The HunnyBee blogger, Katie, I know in real life. We have recently found a connection through blogging. We give each other tips, share websites or blogs we enjoy or find helpful, and just help each other in blog creation and promotion.


And on that promotional note, I want to give her blog some attention! I know she works hard on it and puts a lot of effort into it. I feel like she deserves more attention! She keeps me motivated to post my blog AT LEAST every week. She usually posts once a week, but wants to do more. I'm convinced if she had more followers and more comments, that she would be motivated to do more as well. Aren't we all motivated by our followers and the attention our blog gets?


My favorite thing about Katie's blog is her craft ideas. I'm crafty at some things, but totally uncreative in others. Katie has posted some really cute crafts that are easy and fun! They are also ideas I would never come up with myself!

I also enjoy her recipes. They are usually pretty easy and some I've never even considered before! And that's always great fun!

The other thing about Katie's blog is she keeps it real. She's a normal girl like you and me and she's found an avenue for sharing things she enjoys with all of us! And I want to support that!


Please check out her blog. Follow her. Comment on her posts. Provide her with some feedback or advice on how to make her blog even better! Give the girl some love! Let her know you found her from this post as well.

Katie and I in the pre-blogging days

If you found this post informative or helpful, or if you'd like to see more posts like this, please let me know below! If you love the HunnyBee Blog, let me know that too! Also, I need a name for this Friday event. I suppose I can stick with Friendly Friday, but it doesn't seem that creative lol. Any suggestions?

Have a great Friday! Grab my button below and link up! See you next week!

<a href="http://www.nikkibloglife.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="When You Wish Upon A Star" src="http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e267/psychick1/BlueStar-1.gif" /></a>

Nicole

A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out.  ~Grace Pulpit

Funny Friday

1) Digger watching the old 1960's Batman movie, followed by playing with his Batman toys. I overhear him:

"Holy Pepperoni!"

Those of you old enough to remember the old Batman with Adam West and Burt Ward...you remember Robin's favorite sayings. "Holy heart failure!" for example, when Robin thinks Batman has exploded with a bomb he was trying to throw into the water. I guess Brandon made up his own too! Could it be because of the pepperoni pizza from the night before? :)


2) Digger running around the house pretending to be a zombie.

"I'm a crawler. Don't shoot me until you link up the teleporter!"

Perhaps only you Black Ops fans (or non-fans that have to deal with it in the house) will get this one. But Dada and I laughed out loud! We've had too many video games in the house this week due to the older boys being here. And "Bubba" is always yelling about crawlers and teleporters! Just remember, the little ones are ALWAYS listening!

3) I had a really funny picture of how I found Brandon's toys one day. But I can't find it. I'm not sure if that's funny or annoying. LOL 

The motivation for this Funny Friday blog post is brought to you by Martin Mommy. She gives us little funny stories from her world each week. I love it! Always cute and memorable moments from her kids and life! Since it is Friend Finding Friday, I thought I'd give her a little shout out! She's an old friend of mine from high school. She's a stay at home mom of five kids. And her blog is fabulous! She's given me lots of inspiration for my blog- photo challenges, link parties, kid products, other great blogs! She's also provided lots of great tips and info that are great for busy moms. I still have no idea how she does it! I can barely manage with my one little guy! Anyway, she has a little something for everyone! Homeschooling, photography, product reviews, family life. I really encourage you to click the link below and go check her out! I also encourage you to check out her inspiration for Funny Friday, Curious Georgi, also linked below.

I'm thinking about making this a regular Friday thing. Sharing a blogger that I enjoy with you. Might even make it a linky thing. What do you guys think? Would you like to find a new blogger each week?  Leave me your thoughts in the comments!

As always, thanks for stopping by! See you next week!

Nicole

Update

Just letting you know I'm making some changes around here! You can see there's a new header up there! It's not a final, finished product, but it's pretty close to where I want it. Leave me some feedback about it!

I'm also hunting for a new background. I've found some good sites, but haven't found quite what I'm looking for. I want to find something to tie into the theme, When You Wish Upon A Star. If you know of any good sites or have suggestions, send them my way!

Lastly, I want to change my button. Not sure what I want yet, but I'm sure I'll figure it out!

Hope you are all having a good week! Happy Thursday!

Nicole

P.S. Big thanks to this blog, that has helped me tremendously with designing my blog. If you need ideas or help, go check out her Blog Editing link.

WW- You Capture-Smile

So a fairly easy challenge this week. Or so I thought, HA! Yea...it's one of those, 'a watched pot never boils' kind of things. I want him to smile, so he won't. You know how it goes. All the same, it was fun trying to catch it! And eventually, it paid off.

The moment for these photos was spontaneous. Digger (aka Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Green Lantern) was playing with his Superhero toys. This is always great fun and usually leads to a smile. He had a bad guy and and a good guy and they were fighting, of course.

Robin vs. Mr. Freeze

Taking these kinds of photos, leads you to recognize. There are many different kinds of smiles!

A "I'm having fun smile"

We call this his "Chucky face" or evil smile.

A "laughing smile"

A "I'm not gonna smile smile"

A "ok, I'll smile Mom, fake smile"

A "sweet smile"

I know these make ME smile. Happy Smiling Wednesday folks! Have a great week!

If you've got some time, I'd also love your feedback on my macro photos from yesterday's post here.

Head on over to You Capture for more smiles.

You Capture

And check the other links for more fun Wednesday pictures and blogs!

Nicole

I've never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful. ~Author Unknown

Smiling is infectious,

You can catch it like the flu.
Someone smiled at me today,
And I started smiling too.
~Author Unknown


A laugh is a smile that bursts.  ~Mary H. Waldrip
 
Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.  ~Mother Teresa
 
You're never fully dressed without a smile. ~Martin Charnin



If you love quotes as much as me-check out www.quotegarden.com. It's where I find all my quotes! There are tons of quotes, neatly separated into categories! You can also check out my quote page here, to see all the quotes I've used in my blog!

Macro Photography

Happy Tuesday everyone!


I wasn't going to post today, but once I took a look at these pics on the big screen, I got excited! I think they turned out really good! They were not that impressive on the camera viewer, but on the big screen I was in for a nice surprise.


Today's topic will be macro! "Macro photography is close-up photography of usually very small objects. (via wikipedia)." I've been working on this skill for awhile. It's still kind of hit or miss for me. Any tips from more experienced folks is much appreciated! However, the below photos turned out really well. I'm very happy with the results! Hope you like caterpillars!


These first two shots are a little of the back story. The inspiration for these pics came from the first photo. This has happened to me once before at the house I grew up in. Has anyone else experienced this before?

We have a caterpillar takeover! These little critters were all over this tree in our front yard. I easily count twelve and that was just one part of the tree!

This second photo was the other inspiration. Digger used to hold caterpillars with no problem. Now that he's a little older, he's gotten a little chicken about it. 

It took much encouragement, but he finally did it!

Now to the macro photos! I'm really happy with them!

I really like this one. This fat little guy was just hanging out on a little stick all by himself, just waiting for me to snap a picture, I'm sure. :)

This little guy/girl (how do you know the difference? anyone know?) stuck around for a long time. Quite fiesty!

This one is my favorite! Love the detail, the color, the sunshine! If I had to pick my 'sweet shot', this would be it!

I like this one a lot too! I wish the face was a little clearer, but overall pretty good!

For those of you new to macro photography, most cameras come with a macro setting (the little flower). Set your camera to this mode and zoom in close! My camera also lets me know if I'm zoomed in TOO CLOSE to use macro. I'm certainly no expert at this technique. All I can advise is try different things and keep practicing! I would also recommend at first practicing with still objects and then go on to moving things, such as caterpillars!

I'm entering these photos as a late entry in Macro Monday at Lisa's Chaos and also Sweet Shot Tuesdays at My3BoyBarians (links below).

 

Have a great week!

Nicole