A Concert and Fireworks

Here's a nice change of pace from the typical Fair shots I've been sharing lately...

Thursday night of the Fair was the Casting Crowns concert, with Sanctus Real as the opening act.



My photos of the concert were....um....awful.
But the concert itself was AMAZING!
Both bands sound exactly like they do on the radio...no funny business like with so many main stream pop stars. These guys and girls have serious talent!
And the place was packed! We all sang together, prayed together, and worshiped our Lord as a community.




And after the concert were the traditional Fair fireworks.
It's times like this that make me wish I were a planner and well organized.
I'd have brought in my tripod and gotten some fabulous shots.
Alas, I am not planner and I am rarely organized.

Flowers & Shells

I have no clue what this plant is.
Thanks to some smart ladies out there this has been identified as a portulaca, or moss rose.
It has not grown since we've lived here {until now that is} and I certainly did not plant it.
But it is popping up here and there throughout our little flower bed.
{I use the term 'flower bed' loosely...it's mostly dirt and mulch}
And I couldn't be happier! I love when nature plants pretty flowers for me...and ones that multiply at that!

 




We did plant this. It's a bloom on our bell pepper plant.
I imagine we'll get to eat this baby in...oh, October.






I've been wanting to do a minimalist-style sea shell shot {say that three times fast} but nothing I do is working how I want.
So these shells and sand have been sitting on our kitchen counter for about 2 weeks.
...within easy reach of Rowan.
She's been playing with the sand and shells on and off and yesterday I noticed this pretty little beach scene she threw together!

  

Little Bit o' Me

Ashley's self portraits are so darned inspiring.
So the other day I gave it a go.
...and now if I die tomorrow my kids will have ten whole photos to remember me by. ;)



Wow. I have waaaay more wrinkles and freckles than I thought!
In case you're wondering, my eyes really are that color.





This one's my favorite. I think it's the detail in my hair.
I used my 50mm for this shot - which you probably already know does not auto-focus with my camera body. It made it a bit more difficult to get these shots, but I love my 50!








Yes, I have tattoos.
And yes, that's plural.




Of course I must include one really out of focus shot...'cause that's how I roll.

I'm also linking up with Selfie Saturday in celebration of actually having guts to take these! :)

Summertime

...and the livin' is easy...




Aahhh, the summer sun....nice and scorching hot!









...but thankfully we have a sprinkler to cool off.
;)

 

Fluffy Towels & Pretty Irises

This is my grandparents' bathroom. It's painted a vintage carnation pink and my grandma even has mint green towels to complete the retro feel! I personally enjoy retro spaces, but what makes this even better for me is that my great grandma - this particular grandma's mom - also had a vintage carnation pink bathroom. It brings back such sweet and loving memories and I can only hope and pray when my own children are grown, they will have similarly fond memories of their great grandma.

I'm also linking this shot to Texture Thursday because of those towels...boy, were they super soft!!

 




And below is my entry for Pixel Perfect's Before & After:

Before:




After:







Step 1: Run PW's Boost action, merge visible
Step 2: Run PW's Heartland action, reduce opacity to 75%
Step 3: Increase saturation to +66, merge all and save

Fetching Water

Remember waaaay back when I said I'd be taking a step back from blogging? At the time I didn't realize that in bloggerland that essentially meant stepping off a cliff. Well, I've finally mustered the strength and made the grueling climb back to bloggerland...ok, so that last sentence was for effect only. There was no climbing involved.

My hope is that I can get back to the daily blogging schedule and photo challenge participation level I once was at, but I'm not going to make any promises. ...although I am on a roll...I've posted every single day in June! ;)

So, enough yappin'!
Today I'm participating in Texture Thursday for the first time ever with Audrey at The Daily Wyatt...

For this shot I have added a Kim Klassen texture and ran PW's Seventies action 1.5 times.