dreaming

yeah that's me.  I look tall in this shot wohoooo well I am not only 5'1"   but thought it was fun  and most certainly not the pinup girl in the first shot.  loved how they put that only posted in the hood of the car.

crater lake, oregon

that's mom and me at crater lake our first stop in the park.  yep a little windy that day.  the island in the background is wizard island.



crater lake is the deepest lake in the united states.  Its the bluest and believed to be the purest lake. Feed only from snow fall and melting snow from the crater sides because no lakes flow into it.

lovelock - a short story

we have driven past lovelock dozens of times since living in Washington state.  we have family in Nevada so we have driven that route many times.  This time we said lets stop.  the full story of lovelock is here.  the short story is a Chinese custom of locking ones love on a never ending chain. (incidentally we are not Chinese contrary to junk mail)




I picked up a lock before leaving reno so that we could add it to the locks.



there are many stories on these chain links.


so behind the courthouse in a little town we have our lock.  we have been married 24 years this july and hope to celebrate many many more years.



and since I couldn't take a picture with one hand with my regular camera a shot from my phone to prove it really was us there.



so next time you are passing lovelock why not stop in and put your lock on the chain.  or maybe you know of another place like this I am sure there are many.

Walking in sunshine

Woohoo sunshine came to Spokane Saturday. Self portrait of me waliking / running in downtown Spokane Saturday. Did almost 7 miles. Woohoo half way to a half marathon and halfway to my big race.


Walking in sunshine is one of my top ten songs what is one of yours???


http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-W6m6nUNaiI

scream

one of the exhibitions at the sci-fi museum was the scream booth.  and yes it is exactly as it sounds you sit in a booth and at a prompt you scream and it takes your picture.  one of the 4 pictures can be uploaded to flicker which is where this one came from



and outside the booth they run on a display for a short while.





by the way yes I can scream pretty good when I want to   haha it was fun ... at least for me.

colored reflection

hubby took this picture of me.  it is me reflected in the explore music project (EMP) museum in seattle

ink

well I finally did it.  after almost 4 years of thinking about and trying to figure out what I wanted I got inked.
why the mouse?  well its my nickname and some other symbolic meanings as well that I wont go into.

I know some of you might not like the idea of a tattoo or have strong personal opinions on them but it is a personal decision and I am happy with it and that is all that matters.  They aren't for everyone and I respect that.  A tattoo should always be something that is thought out and I will tell you I went through at least a dozen ideas before coming to this one.  I wore printed designs on different parts of my body for hours to get a feel for where I wanted it as well.

this is going to be one of my longest posts but didn't want to break it up.  Here are a few shots from the session:
Buck from Birdseye tattoo did an awesome job on the shading and drawing the design just how I wanted it. I was impressed with how clean the studio was and the care he put in prepping everything for me.  being my first tattoo I picked someone that I knew had done some good work and had good references from several people.

 

stencil on took 3 times to get it just right:


black outline done:


black shading done.  LOVE the shading.  the glare is from some vaseline to help keep the area moist.


almost done completed shot right before putting on the bandage is at top of post.


2nd day size comparison with the quarter in the photo sorry a bit blurry.


2nd day placement comparison perfect for me on the inside it wont be seen unless I really want to show it straight on you only see a hint of something.

p52 self portrait

last weeks challenge (yeah behind) and I struggled with this because I had a bad week and didn't feel like taking my own picture  so i bit the bullet and shot one today  

pretty much straight from the camera except a little cropping

am I the only one that feels younger then they look?  I look at myself sometimes and wonder who is that?  one thing I know I really need to dye my hair again hahaha  hmmm what color this time? 

my story

  

my story

that's me in all my glory at work  Not to bad for a cell phone picture  First off I will have you note the pants they are green and the rest is brown   That is what I get for getting dressed in the dark and hubby never noticed as I walked out the door that way.  what does that show you well, I suppose I could have gone home and changed, at least at lunch, but NO stayed and worked even told others what I did  just how I am if you can't laugh at yourself then life is just no fun  It shows I make mistakes, lots of them at times, and sometimes I don't learn from them, yes this has happened before 

Any how a little about me  I am a 46 year old working mom of a 21 year old  Not sure how time crept up so fast but it did  I think sometimes my head doesn't realize I am suppose to be an adult  I work full time in a legal office with the title of accounting clerk but really its more like jack of all trades but I pay the bills and maintain a database most of the time  

In my spare time I have fallen back in love with pictures  I don't always take a good picture but I keep trying  I have improved over the last few years and each year my scrapbooks get bigger  or that could be that I have a digital camera and don't know when to stop taking pictures when I do take pictures   Because I am at work all day it is usually  the weekend when I catch up taking pictures especially in the winter when I leave in the dark and get home in the dark  I don't ever plan to get rich with taking pictures just want to improve on what I take mostly  

I also like to make cards and use rubber stamps for that  I have another blog for that and just recently started it back up again  I recently started walking 1/2 marathons I know crazy right but once you start it gets a little addictive  I love to try new things, yoga is on the list for this year  love my dog and frequent model for my pictures a westie named Duncan   and if I had more time and money my favorite thing is to travel  ANYWHERE

so that is a little tid bit on me looking forward to meeting everyone in the beyond the layers class 

merry christmas from the lok's

from our family to yours I hope you have had a merry weekend and many cheers to the new year fast approaching.

sitting among the plants

i love how the lights light up this plant






i don't put pictures of myself on here much because I prefer the other side of the camera but hubby insisted it be taken so I will put it up here.

the tortoise and the hare

several desert tortoise were at the visitor center in red rock.




and since I didn't actually see any live ones here is the hare sculpture at the visitor center in red rock canyon.  it made me smile



and this made my husband laugh at me

july 2, 1988

the year we were married. Happy anniversary Dave I love you more now then I loved you then. 

Here are a few retro pictures.  Not that great they are pictures of photographs I have in an albulm  we don't have many pictures of our wedding and the ones we do have are not in the best of shape. 



my oh my were we thinner 23 years ago. 



i say after that turn about is fair play






and me at age 22 almost 23 .

using texture on faces

something I have wondered if it would work and over at kim klassen's last week she talked about.  I used her golden texture on our picture here and it worked wonders for the darkness.  originally my husband took this of me and my son but it lacked brightness so I added the color and then used a coffee shop frame and background paper to do the rest. still not happy with the picture but I will take what I can get since I don't get to see my son much



this is what the orignal looked like

15 me playing with the new remote

Had only a few moments to play with the new wireless remote so took a couple really bad out of focus but had to try the new toy fixed. I was by myself so couldn't get the focus set up right but oh well you get the point.


my husband loved this one best of all.

137/365 May 17

Hmm well looks like I forgot to re-size the picture of the our destination today. This is me in the King Arthur chair at the King Arthur Flour company in Vermont. Fun trip. I am not a huge baker/cooker but it was a great destination and I even bought a few things to make at home. We had lunch on the property and even visited a stamp store on our way home. Imagine that. lol

120/365 April 30

well first off this is a lousy picture. I love my blackberry curve but it takes horrible pictures. This is the new office puppy. Ok not office puppy but one of our attorney's has a new westie. And everyone knows how much I love a westie. Bonnie here is a bundle of energy and is a Duncan in the making (you have seen him in my previous posts). I know you haven't seen my mug shot in a while so thought I would through this in for a twofer.

114/365 april 24

wow its been a great few days of sun I know that wont last so headed for a walk while listening to some toons

110/365 april 20

Ugh feel like crud today you can see by my eyes that I have some sort of allergy stuff going on. But needed a little sunshine so sat outside for a bit. have to grab it when you can

106/365 april 16, 2009

it was a rare sunny day and I could actually go out in SHORT sleeves. camera phones suck have I ever mentioned that??