Typewriter

NEWS:  I have about 100 blog readers a day!  Rad!  I dont know who you all are since I only have 20 followes but ... whatever.  I'm still excited!

So, I bought an old antique typewriter last summer at a garage sale for $5. I love it. It still has the ink ribbon and it works although the keys are so heavy that I type about 1 word per minute. Here's a little sample of a photo of my typewriter and how I turned it into my new LMR Photography Facebook Photo.

The original - a little blue (not the proper white balance)

Black and white, high contrast and a little cropping.

Smudged out the old type (not dark enough), added type layer with logo... Eh Voila!  The finished product!

What do you think?

The Sound of Music

This blog has become less of a photography blog and more of a lifestyle blog. I started this blog so that I could have another place (other than my website and Facebook) to reference things like photo-shoot-locations and the types of photo albums I offer.

I realized that there isn't any music on my blog and I'd like to start incorporating that. I've been in two bands. The first was called Victor Victoria.

• Brittny: a sassy, sultry, genius wrote our lyrics and sang them beautifully
• Rory: a skinny, silly red head wailed on the guitar
• Me: I sort-of pounded and tapped the drums, occasionally

Victor Victoria never actually wrote music. I guess you could say we were an experimental, go-with-the-flow jam band. We "jammed" a few times and played one show at my house. (I hate the word "jam" but there really isn't another synonymn). We even recorded some stuff on Brittny's 4-track. It was awesome yet shortlived. Rory moved and the band ended.

Then, last fall I started a new band with a lot of people who had no idea what they were doing. We called ourselves The Knuckledusters. It was fun. We haven't met in a while. I am on bass now and I'm taking lessons from my husband, who is a PRO! Being new musicians, I suggested we learn a cover so everyone threw their choice into a hat and we pulled out a very slow and easy one: Your Name Here by Straylight Run.

I am committed to it but I can't speak for everyone in the band. So, for now, I'll keep plucking away at one of the slowest songs ever written and hopefully keep learning some new skills. And, in the meantime, I'd like to add more music to the blog. Stay tuned! (music pun)

Easter Weekend

We graciously got the opportunity to go to Libby's family's vacation home this weekend. It was a 24-hour getaway with our community group, the people we share our lives with. We spent time on the beach in the SUN! We dug for geoducks but all we found were clams. We shared some great stories and talked about change. We played games, sang, and ate very well: Seafood boil, chocolates and candy, Tillamook ice cream, mango pancakes.... Mmm! We are all dying to go back! It was so peaceful and uplifting. Thanks to Andy and Ruthy for planning it and to Libby and her family for letting us use their awesome house!

This is the whole gang. We stopped at Fat Smitty's on the way to Sequim.

My sweetie, Dan, and me on the Puget Sound shore in Sequim, Washington.

Photo of the Day. 04/23/11. Dan and Ben buy and sell geoducks but have never dug one up. We spent a good hour or so trying to get one! We failed but we had fun doing it!

Dan and me - Geoduck diggin'! Photo courtesy of Ruthy.

Dan and Sam were sporting mustaches.

Photo by Dan Read.

Ruthy and Andy - being cute.

Libby's dress, rubber boots, cardigan, belt, glasses ... all so cute!

Seafood Boil: Crab legs, Crawdads, Shrimp, Clams, Potatoes, Corn, Lemons, Bread, Melted Butter, no plates, NAPKINS.

The highlight of the weekend!

I was ... just.... trying to help Libby get out...

Photo of the Day. 04/24/11. Beautiful Easter Morning. View from the yard at Libby's House.

After the 24-hour getaway, Dan and I drove down to see my mom and brother. My sisters were both unable to join us (and were missed terribly) and I'm not sure what my dad was doing. It was quiet and simple. We ate quiche and my mom's famous pudding delight. We watched Prince Charles and Princess Di's wedding and Wall-E. A short visit but it's always nice to see my mom. All in all a beautiful weekend and an amazing Easter!

Tacoma Style

I have a new friend, Libby, who has an amazing blog called Delightfully Tacky. On Monday, she invited me along to take photos of street style. She's new in Tacoma and needed some ideas for places to go in downtown. I, being a photographer and downtown-dweller, got invited to host! So sweet! However, I thought she meant we'd be taking photos of HER street style because she dresses really rad and about 70% of her blogs are outfit posts of her own styling. Nope. She wanted to take photos of other peoples' street style. Cool!

I like clothes and style but I'm (obviously) not a fashion blogger or fashionista so I let Libby take the lead. Much to our dismay, 5:00 on a Monday in downtown is totally dead. Weird, right? Before we totally gave up on downtown Tacoma, I took her to the alleys on South 21st and I took photos of her outfit. I love the way they turned out!

We headed up to 6th Ave hoping to find some street-smart fashionistas. We only found two. Two girls outside House of Tattoo on 6th and Oakes. They were really fun. Love the Keds shoes, love the scarf and glasses. So cute!

Libby found some other kids to photograph a day or two later. Here is her blog post about Street Style. I'd love to all of a sudden be a lifestyle/fashion blogger but I'll stick to what I do best. Finding beauty in the little things. (I think that's what this blog is about....)

Weather you like it or not

According to Wikipedia, it's cloudy 201 days out of the year in the Seattle metropolitan area. We just broke a record for almost 30 days of precipitation (not 24/7). Needless to say, the rain is getting OLD and everyone is jonesin' for some sun! People get SO MAD around here about the weather. Part of me gets it while another part of me wants to scream, "MOVE SOMEWHERE ELSE IF YOU DONT LIKE THE WEATHER!!!!!!". Sorry. I know that's kind of rude but SERIOUSLY. It's always green, it's always cloudy, and it rains 9 months out of the year. Everybody knows it. Seattle/Tacoma are famous for many things but I'd say our rain and clouds are in the top 5 (along with Starbucks, Nirvana, mountains/trees, and glass art).
I'm not one to complain. At least I dont think I am...?? My mom never tollerated complaining. She lets us rant now that we're all grown ups but the woman had 4 kids so complaining was just forbidden. Can you IMAGINE 4 kids whining all the time? Ew. So, rather than complain about the weather, I choose to ignore it. I really do. I just shrug my shoulders and remind myself why I love it here. Here's how I manage to get through January/February/March/April/(and sometimes even May)'s bad weather:

• Open the curtains and let that little bit of light in!


• Turn the lights on in your house, the incandescent yellowy glow seems more like sunshine.


• Go to the gym.


• Eat fruit and veggies and summery foods!


• Go to the mall or the movies or other indoor places.


• This one is sort-of obvi... Wear hats and coats with hoods (by the way, REAL Washingtonians don't even OWN an umbrella!)


• Put on proper foot wear and go for a walk in the city or a hike in the mountains - it's not very cold here.


• Find a reason (or not) to throw a party! Hanging out with people you love is always a mood booster.


• Buy Tulips and pretty flowers! (I got these potted tulips this morning at Stadium Thriftway for $6.99)

Anyway, hang in there, friends! Summer will be here before you know it!!!

Obscure PotD

A lot of the more obscure Photos of the Day dont get blogged about but I think they deserve some attention, too! Even if there's no real story behind them. Here are a few of my favorite PotD from the past couple weeks.

Photo of the Day. 04/12/11. Dock Street/Murray Morgan Bridge.

Photo of the Day. 04/09/11. Classic Car show, Daffodil Parade, Pacific Ave. Photo of the Day. 03/11/11. Silhouette of a rosebud (from Dan ♥) in a glass jar that I dug up out of our old backyard.

Photo of the Day. 04/07/11. My most favorite cardigan! Ralph Lauren outlet in Chehalis - best place EVER.

WE DID IT!

WE DID IT!!! My team, RASCALS, ran 59 miles on Sunday, April 10th! Here we are, L-R: Jordan : legs 2 and 7, Lindsy (me!) : legs 5 & 9, Aaron : legs 1 & 6, Andy : legs 3 & 8, Rina : legs 4 & 10. Time: 8:55:00 Average speed: 9 min/mile This is Aaron finishing leg 1, tagging Jordan to start leg 2.

Our beautiful driver

Our great support team!

Mt. Si Ultra Relay -- Here's how it all went down... We got up at 4:30am. (I am not a morning person, at all!) We drove Dan's band van up to North Bend, past Snoqualmie. 8 people in a van (our friends, Sam and Dewey came for support) and a whole lotta Gatorade/snacks/ice/napping/eating/laughing/.... oh yeah, and running. It was cold and rainy the whole day but we had a blast nonetheless. I've never had a more mentally challenging race in my life!

The first leg was 4.9 miles. I was having trouble breathing. It was windy, too. However, it was flat and scenic so I ended up passing 3 people. That felt good! I finished at a 8:15 pace. My 2nd leg was 7.1 miles. UGH. It started out SO GOOD, slight downhill, frogs chirping, babbling brooks, moss covered trees... then I got to mile 4-ish? (there were NO mile markers!) The train got flat and straight and it started to rain. I was exhasuted. I'd see about a mile away some people and some orange cones and think, "there's the end! finish strong!" and as I got closer, much to my dismay, found that they were only road crossings. This happened three times. Do you know what that does to a person!?!? It was mental torture. Long story short, I finished my 2nd run at a 9 minute mile pace and collapsed in the van. Will I do it next year? During the 7.1 leg I would have said HAIL-to-the-NO but now I'm thinking I might do it again. It was fun, challenging, and I'm proud of myself.

Touch Ups

Here's a look at a self-portrait and a few variations. The first one is an unedited "original".

Just a little self-portrait I did with a new backdrop that is WAY too hipster. I've only used it once, on myself! Speaking of hipster, One of my photos (of me and some friends in the subway in Germany last year) is on this hipster website. So funny! I have no idea how it got on there. Vote for me! Happy Tuesday.

Health Update

Photo of the Day. 04/05/11.

The 8 little girls in the frilly dresses behind the supplements are our nieces. (Adi, Evah, Bam-Bam(Kaylen), Asher, Kendall, Karissa, Kealey, Leah) I'm not in a bloggy mood. I'm going to make this quick. I'm only writing this because I promised I would two weeks when I told you about my trip to the Naturopath. I took a ton of tests and yesterday I got the results and came home with a TON of supplements/remedies/medicines. There are a lot of weird things going on but nothing TOO major (like diabetes or hypothyroidism, thank God!). In short, my liver isn't absorbing nutrients or filtering toxins like it should. I eat really healthy but my Potassium, Lithium, Calcium, Chromium, Iron, and Magnesium and Sodium were all VERY LOW. She said my adrenals are shot. I didnt know what adrenals were so I looked it up. Basically, they are responsible for handling stress. I had the worst year last year. It's no surprise that I have stress-related body issues. The air in my intestines is likely due to eating some type of food that my body doesn't agree with, usually a carbohydrate like oats or rye. I have some digestive tablets that should help me digest this stuff (and get my waistline back to it's former size!). The supplement I'm most excited about is Lithium. Lithium, not like batteries or the anti-psychotic drug: Lithium carbonate, is a mineral we all need. My test showed that I have "0" of it. NONE. It helps with mood which would explain a whole lot! She said the Lithium would help me feel better within a day. I've taken it twice and I think she's right. YAY! I'm a huge advocate of the Naturopath. A "regular" M.D. would have probably prescribed me with an anti-depressant and told me to eat less fiber. This common-sense internal medicine gets to the root and makes more sense. Hopefully this will be my last health post for a long, long time because I'll just be normal again.

Feeling Dorky

Photo of the Day. 04/05/11. Dorky's Arcade is awesome!!! It's on Pacific Avenue and South 9th. Check it out! They have candy and 25 cent games, Win-Win.

Family Reunion

Asher, Joshua, Evah.

Photo of the Day. 03/31/11. My niece, Adi.

Evah and Asher's first record player experience!

Attack of the baby boy!

Almost a year ago, our lives as we knew them were flipped upside down and backwards. One of those factors was our only family here in Tacoma (Dan's brother, Josh; his wife, Rebecca; and their kids, Evah, Asher, Joshua, and Adi) went to YWAM campus in Hawaii. We didnt know if or when they'd ever be back but after about 6 months in Hawaii and 3 months in Sweden, they are back on the mainland for a few months before heading to South Africa! It was a fun surprise and we hope to see them again before they travel to the midwest.

It's hard that we dont have family in town anymore. My family is two hours away and Dan's family is in the midwest. Sometimes you don't know what you've got til it's gone. On the bright side, we've strengethed so many friendships in the past year and started creating our own family here in Tacoma. We'll miss these kiddos and don't know when we'll see them again but we'll be thinking about them always!