This is just the MOST fun site ever! Improv Everywhere causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has executed over 70 missions involving thousands of undercover agents. The group is based in New York City. Feels like being in school again, except the pranks are so sophisticated. I may just have to become an agent if I’m in NY during one of their pranks. Here’s a fun one: On a cold Saturday in New York City, the world’s largest train station came to a sudden halt. Over 200 Improv Everywhere Agents froze in place at the exact same second for five minutes in the Main Concourse of Grand Central Station. Over 500,000 people rush through Grand Central every day, but today, things slowed down just a bit as commuters and tourists alike stopped to notice what was happening around them. Look at how creative their poses are, and how NO ONE MOVES!!!

Since we will be building soon, I’m watching HGTV nonstop and reading all kinds of info on the internet related to appliances, flooring, etc….trying to make wise decisions related to quality versus design versus PRICE. One interesting tidbit I came across was a "consumer reports" synopsis that said that of all house paints (interior) tested, that the store brands did as well or better than the national brands, for much less $$$. Behr (Home Depot) was top rated, and even Walmart did very well! This has kind of been our experience, too. I used Walmart paint in our lower level in our other home and thought it went on very well & covered just as well as the Sherwin Williams I used before. Jim also said that Behr was the ONLY paint that lasted on our front porch for any length of time. Just thought I’d pass this along in case you are getting the itch to paint for Spring!

…and let me know when you are coming for a visit….

I know it’s hard to find things to do to entertain children without spending money or sending the wrong message – but THIS POST on a blog I discovered somewhere in my internet travels left me feeling very good. What a great way to spend time with your kids or friends, creating good feelings and allowing them to be creative at the same time! Not to mention getting outside, away from the tv/computer/video games, and NOT by a shopping mall or toy store! And if someone’s heart gets a little lighter because of it – all the better!

Hopefully spring will be here soon, but for those of you who still live in snow country (uh, NOT me, tee hee…daffodils & cherry trees are blooming here!) you probably haven’t seen the last of the white stuff. I love to take pictures of children playing in the snow, and I know you do too, so I thought I might give you  a big tip on how to get good colorful pictures in the snow. I’m going to use a picture that my friend Lisa sent me of her 3 very cute little boys:

Using her camera’s automatic settings, the snow is kind of gray & the image is dark. Why? Because cameras meter the whole scene and automatically adjust the overall exposure to a neutral gray. Most of the time that works pretty well for general pictures, say if this was taken in the summer in a field. In this case, the camera "saw" all the white snow and toned it down – but by doing that, it actually underexposed the image.

How can you get around this? Well, some of the newer cameras actually have a "beach" or "snow" setting on them, and that would help a lot. Or you can purposely overexpose the image by using your exposure compensation button (looks like +/-), or by shooting on manual mode & overexposing (what I do).

But when it’s already captured, you can also fix it in a photo adjustment program to make it look better. Here is how it looked after I played with it a little:

The best way is to get it right straight out of the camera. So, next time it snows, grab your camera & the sleds and have some fun practicing!

I’m pretty lazy when it comes to the whole green
movement, because we have never had recycling at our fingertips. However, I do feel mildly guilty about all of the plastic bags that I’m using. They say the average household blasts through a thousand a year – and they don’t degrade. I thought about making the switch to
reusable bags, but I can never seem to remember to take regular bags with me, let alone on an unexpected stop at the grocery store  or a department store. When I saw these on the Birds and Bills blog, I got inspired to order them from this website: Envirosax  I’ll keep them in my purse or car. They have cool designs – I got a set of 5 contemporary ones. They say each will hold about 2 plastic bags worth; should be more than enough for me.

If any of you look at other photography sites, especially wedding sites, you have surely noticed the big trend right now is adding textures to images. Textures are overlays that give a worn, scratched or vintage look to the  images. As any new "fad", they can be way overused…but done tastefully & with the right image, it can really add an artful look. I did an engagement shoot last weekend, and as I was working on the images it occurred to me that this series of umbrella shots may work really well with textures. I think they have a vintage look, suggesting longevity…perfect for an engagement. I’ll show you without – and with texture – and let me know how you feel about the look. If this is something that proves popular, I may start showing some of my portrait images with this treatment.
Without texture (don’t they look great? -

With texture (I hope you can see it on a small screen) -

And can you see this Storyboard as a huge canvas over a headboard?

We have had a GPS almost since they first came out, but it is cumbersome & inaccurate compared to the newer (& much cheaper!) ones, so we have been thinking about getting another. And, my cell phone contract will be up in the fall so I’ve been keeoing an eye on the new phones. Voila! I think I found the solution to both of my problems in one device:

To be introduced in the fall of 2008! Phone, camera, mp3 player, and top notch navigator – this may just be what I need. Read about it here: Nuvifone

After 5 years, my special photo-processing crt monitor bit the dust – and I was horrified to learn that you can only get LCD monitors now. Why is this bad? Well, because the LCD monitors are extremely bright & washed out, making my images that are calibrated to my monitor for printing at a pro lab look terrible. I have spent all week dialing in new settings to try to get it close to what I had. BUT – I can tell you this – if you have one of these monitors, turn the brightness and the contrast WAY down and you will be much happier with the way pictures look on your screen!