Film...

...Noir

So continuing on our one a month themed selfies, My girl D aug's blog
and I decided on a film noir look.

*Them sure are some red lips you can't see!  

What a glamorous time film seemed to be in those days. Wouldn't it be fun to be transported back in time, just for a bit to live it for a little bit?

I processed them just a bit different.

Now, My baby and I are gonna sit and veg out on the couch & watch Puss in Boots! 

Happy Snapping!

xo

Kelly

The original...

...blackberry!

*Ok~blackberries but that's semantics!

 This is an exciting debut for me...

...drumroll please...

I upgraded from my 50mm1.8 to a 1.4 and these are the first photos. She is one hot mama! From everything I've read, my little 1.8 outlived her life span. She should have died a long time ago. I figured, by the time I sent the lens to Canon to get re-calibrated, I could buy an upgrade...so I did. 

There is a bit of a learning curve but so far I'm very happy with the results.

I love the vintage look!

1st day of spring break....yippee!

Happy Snapping!

xo

Kelly

So long...

...SUCKA!!

*Oh yeah~Au Revoir, Adios, Sayonara, Auf Wiedersehen, Ba Bye (evil grin & waving!)

10 years...10 YEARS of ruined shirts, sweaters, & delicates. Ten years of yelling, cursing, crying, and angry e-mails to the manufacturer who was no help at all. Well why would they? They GOT our money. Yeah well, pffffffft to you! We bought an energy/water saver washing machine, TRYING to do the right thing. We believed (still do) in saving our precious resources AND with the rising cost of water & power, watching our pennies. BUT, this....this machine would leave dirt in the drum & all through the clothes after the spray/rinse cycle, leaving me, to TAKE the load of clothes out, CLEAN the dirt & RE-WASH the clothes, sometimes twice! Oh and bleach stories? Don't EVEN get me started. Poor Frankie, if he was home and this happened, ew wee...he got an earful. He'd so calmly ask did I want a new one. I always said no, hung my head in defeat because I really don't spend money-especially on appliances. But a few days ago-it happened! She crapped out...BIG time!! I tried really hard to contain myself...REALLY hard! I did good though, I was humble...right babe? :-)

Oh and the lipstick? I went out, found the cheapest red I could find and planted one for a proper farewell!

**Hello Beautiful...

...with your sleek, easy to control knobs & your gentle, quiet nature. You and I are going to get along JUST fine!

I think I'm in love!

hee hee

I'm such a nerd!

Happy Snapping!

xo

Kelly

P.S. I swear...some guy just knocked on the door, saw the machine sitting behind our gate and wanted to know if we were getting rid of it...

HELL YEAH WE'RE GETTING RID OF IT!

The End

TT-In the...

...Pink!

* woo hoo-I love this time of year when everything is waking up from their winter slumber!

And I'm "tickled pink"  that there are only 2 more days of work & we're on spring break. Austin will be busy pretty much all week with his filmmaking class. I love this time to be at home, get recharged, relax, and just chill!

Happy Snapping!

xo

Kelly

Chicken Soup...

...for the soul.

I've heard that this allergy season is the worst in 30 years. I could be the poster child. I am miserable when my allergies kick in & I pretty much live on ClaritinD. Yesterday, I woke up with the water works and I don't know about you, but I can't tell if the onset is allergies or a cold anymore. At any rate, I wasn't feeling great & the only thing I want to eat when I don't feel good is chicken soup. After work, I pulled out my pressure cooker- dumped all the ingredients in, made some matzo balls-Boom...Instant feel good...from the tip of my head to the bottom of my toes. I swear, it's a cure all!

Remember those Gluten Free Double Cherry Streusel Bars I made?

We're talking MAJOR streusel! These are were so dang delicious! 

This is so random, but Wednesday I was driving home from dropping Austin off at a meeting & it's that time of day where you are driving straight into the sun. It's insane & blinding and I can't believe there aren't more accidents....especially when the driver is snapping random pictures...shhhhh! 

Hope you are having a fabulous weekend!

Happy Snapping!

xo

Kelly

Today's color is...

...RED

From Passion to anger. Red is such a strong emotional color that it has been linked to physical effects such as raising your blood pressure.

But not these guys. Nope-they've got antioxidants & anti-aging properties. 

Why am I not eating these by the bushels? Note to self...eat more strawberries!

Not these though...no....these'll make you sick, I'm assuming. Not even birds eat them-

Red is a sign for warnings and/or impending danger.

Red is big in Japan.

Meet "Gingie" the red haired hummingbird. He seems to be the head honcho around the "watering hole"

these days! Did you know that only 1-2% of the human population has red hair? Mine has to come from a box! But I do have traces of natural red in my hair.

Oh, the things you learn blog hopping!

TGIF my friends! Thanks for stopping by for this full week of COLOR .

Happy Snapping!

xo

Kelly

Today's color is...

...Blue

Blue skies smiling at me...

Here's a useless fact-1 out of 6 people have blue eyes...or 10% of the population.

Austin didn't think I was really taking picture...BOO-YA buddy boy!

This is the epitome of California...

Cloudless, blue skies...

A perfect day for flying.

Did you miss Pink yesterday?

Today's color is...
Happy Snapping!

xo

Kelly

Today's color is...

...PINK

* I was never a pink girlie girl growing up. It hasn't been until very recently that I would even give it a 2nd look. But I'm thinking I could REALLY learn to love it!

Pink delicious-ness!

My Wellies!!

I made gluten free Double Cherry Streusel Bars...

OMG delicious!

Now...this is from my archives because I had no time for a new selfie with my pink wig and tu-tu!

Yeah...I think I'm lovin' this whole pink thing!

Happy Snapping!

xo

Kelly

Today's color is...

...YELLOW

     *What? Doesn't everyone have a  rubber duck sporting a feather boa? Hmmm?!

              

I LOVE buttons!

Spring is in the air!!!

Yesterday was 

A week full...

Don't go just yet...It's B&W e-dition Texture Tuesday over at Kim Klassen cafe -

I used her Organic texture.

Hope you are having a fabulous day!

Happy Snapping!

xo

Kelly

I can see clearly now...

...the rain has gone.

* I LOVE the moment a storm clears out. All the trees and plants are bathed and cleared of dust and the sky is smog free...even if it's for a little while.  I love to fill my lungs with all that crisp, clean air.

Happy Snapping

xo

Kelly

The rain, rain, rain...

...came down, down, down...

* Happy St. Patty's Day friends! I've waited ALL week for my rainy day Saturday and I'm even listening to this...

The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down - YouTube

Ohh C'mon now...you know you love a little Pooh Bear on a rainy day!

I've also waited to work on my b&w photo assignments for  

Black & White photos draw me in almost faster than anything in color. They are so full of mystery and depth. I tend to find when I go to edit, a lot more detail comes out.

*When I was playing with different conversion, I found that I liked the the PSE conversion INFRARED. I've never used it before but I liked what it did.  I shot this with full diffused rainy day light, ISO 1000, f2.2, 1/60, applied some great scratch textures and it fit my mood on this blustery day. I tend to like the distressed look too for added drama.

* Hope you enjoy your day! Think I'm going to bake something.....!
P.S. If you are visiting from BL & have a Flickr acct.,  I'm not on Flickr anymore. I'm sorry I can't comment on your work. But please know I am looking!

Happy Snapping!

xo

Kelly

March 16...

...St. Patrick's Day Eve!

* I have something that is so flippin' easy to make it's just ridiculous! AND-it's applicable to any holiday.

Ok...

~Square Pretzels (I used Snyder's Snaps)

~Hershey's Hugs

~M&M's

Heat over to 200*

Place desired amount of pretzels on cookie sheet covered w/parchment paper.

Place a kiss atop each pretzel.

Pop in the oven for 4-5 minutes...the Kisses will look shiny.

Remove from oven & place an M&M on top of each Kiss & gently press down until Kiss spreads.

Cool in the fridge for 20 minutes...

Booya....Snacks fit for a hoard!

I told ya that was easy...Have I ever lied to you!!??

Happy Snapping!

xo

Kelly

Signs...

...of Spring

*I'm holding my breath because the internet has been all weird and this is the first opportunity to be able to post. I'm typing fast & furious before GooGle decides to flip out on me!

The Shutter Sisters - home are talking about signs of Spring and it's so abundant here. I love it. Not only are the trees starting to sprout but the scents of the season are sublime.

It's also texture Tuesday over at Kim Klassen cafe - 

....mmmmm~My Lavender! 

AND over at 

we're doing a little experimenting with b&w, which I personally am drawn into. As much as I love vibrant colors, there's something mysterious about a photograph with black and white and shades of grey.

Happy Snapping

xo

Kelly

March 11...

...Clock

* Ok, so which one are you...the ones that hate springing forward and losing an hour sleep or you don't mind losing the hour because it stays lighter longer?

Personally, I'm the latter. I'm a morning person so the extra hour of lost sleep doesn't really affect me. I am not a night owl and happy to get to bed earlier so I don't lose any more sleep than I already do. What with ambulance sirens wailing, wild animal noises, pee breaks, covers on, covers off-yada, yada, yada...

In other news...

I've decided after a hard battle of wits among myself, that I can no longer do the monthly challenge. It's fun and I enjoy it but it's too much of a time commitment & the thing is, I don't feel it's contributing to my personal goal this year. It's really me stalling...I need a swift kick in the butt. I feel like I'm going in circles grasping at fluff and not seeing a clear path to set my feet on to start traveling. I don't know which direction to go. It's easy when you have someone that goes ahead of you & you can follow in the their footsteps but it's just me...trudging along....alone, to make or break it in the world of photography.
Time...I need more of it...

oh yeah....

now we do!

Happy Snapping

xo

Kelly

March 9...

...Music

* Where would we be if we didn't have music in our lives? It would not be a place I would want to spend one minute in. The first album I knew how to sing, verbatim was My Name Is Barbara by none other than Barbara Streisand...I was 5!

 I have been known to break out in song AND dance any place that music is playing (or not!)-often times at the shock and horror of my children! I can't sing worth a beans-so when we break out the karaoke machine (uh yes...we really have one!) I don't sound half bad after those few glasses of wine...the more I sip, the better I sound! :-)

This is Austin's 1st acoustic. The child taught himself how to play. He owns 2 electric guitars, that he saved up for, and he can rock it!  He plays to the band Trivium. Even though I'm not crazy about some of the lyrics, (which  he does apologize for) the music is fantastic. And really, because Austin is such a good kid, music is not the battle I choose to fight.

I feel music is just one part of how express yourself and does not define who you are. 

So get down and boogie this weekend my friends! Let the good times roll...

Happy Snapping!

xo

Kelly Kardos

March 8...

...Dream

*Pretty simple today. I couldn't connect with my inner muse-she MUST be taking the day off! I know we all have dreams-staying healthy as we grow older, our children being successful, winning the lottery...you know, Those kinds of dreams.

But then I got to thinking...HOW do you dream? Do you dream in color, b&w, whimsy or nonsensical. Have your dreams come true? Do you look for meanings in your dreams? Do you believe your dreams are trying to tell you something? Do you dream & then you HAVE to tell someone just in case it comes true?

I'll tell you, I dream in full color. Yes, I've dreamt things and have actually seen what I've dreamt in the newspaper the next morning, in clear detail~(thank goodness it hasn't happened very often) I don't have nightmares often(thank goodness for that too) And to save you from reading-YES to everything else!

I'd love to hear how YOU dream.

*It's a two-fer Thursday. This is an assignment for . I've layered Kim's Veil texture to this. I can't tell you what all I did cause I did and re-did it several times till I got it right. I'm telling...My muse was NO help today!

Happy Snapping!

xo

Kelly