Laundry/Bath Re-no Inspiration

It's been raining non-stop in Omaha for the last week or so. I think in one night alone we got something like four inches. That's fantastic and all, but eventually the ground stops absorbing the rain and it ends up elsewhere. Like in our basements.

Our retaining wall started losing mud last weekend. Well, the end of the retaining wall slopes towards the house - more specifically the basement door - so the mud followed. Unfortunately, the door doesn't have a threshold under it (no particular reason why) and all the mud ended up in our basement. This weekend my dad is coming over and we're installing a threshold, adjusting the door so it doesn't stick anymore, and replacing the lock and deadbolt.

This has me all amped up to start doing work on the house. You know, all the stuff we said we were going to fix when we moved in and then never started on. I'm assuming everyone has one of these lists... I hope. Make me feel better and say that you do.

One of the big things we want to correct is the fact that the house only has one bathroom. All the plumbing is in the laundry room for the second bathroom, but there aren't any fixtures. Actually that's not true. There's a toilet in the laundry room which I have used exactly once since living in the house. It's the most horrifying looking toilet in the world. It's clean, I know because I've cleaned it... but it doesn't look clean. It's dingy and green and freaky.

At first we wanted to put up a wall to separate the bathroom from the laundry room, but I think that's going to make the bathroom too small. It might also block access to the heater and water-heater. Instead now I think we're going to go with something like this:



This is pretty much the layout of our room. We have white machines and large white storage cabinets in the laundry room so this is almost exactly what I want our room to look like. I found some affordable and stylish fixtures at (where else) IKEA that would work great since there isn't a ton of space between the washing machine and the wall.



They also have some cool red room dividers that I'd like to get to hide the heater units from view.

Assuming that the plumbing in the room is good and doesn't need major work, I'm thinking that we might be able to fix up the whole room for less than $700. Not too bad! My only concern is that it won't be considered an actual bath when we eventually sell the house. We're counting on this to help add some value since we currently only have one bathroom. I read that adding a second bath to a one bath home can add as much as 20% to the value of the house. I don't expect that much, but I'd like to see something for our efforts. Does anyone know about the technicalities of what is considered a bathroom?

Fake Wedding Portraits!

So what exactly are you supposed to do when you want to start photographing weddings but have no portfolio work available to ensure brides that you won't eff up their wedding?

You get some recently married friends to put their wedding clothes back on and you take them out to a park on a Monday night. Instant fake wedding portraits! See more at my photography blog.

Girl's Night Skinny Dip

I went to a "girl's night" slumber party at my gay boyfriend & his husband's house on Saturday. Matt asked me what we do on these girl's nights. I told him, "Stereotypical stuff. Drink margaritas, eat a ton of garbage that we shouldn't eat, talk smack (kidding), watch chick flicks, etc."

And we did. They made margarita's with sherbet (YUMM!) and some crazy good stuffed jalapenos. We sat outside and talked for four hours. Then, we watched First Wives Club, possibly the best grown-up chick movie ever. I love it so much that I forgive Diane Keaton for her inability to be anyone besides Annie Hall in it.

My contribution to girl's night was a bean dip that I made up, sort of a four layer bean dip. The boys are dieting in preparation for a trip to Miami so I tried to bring something half-way slimming to the fatty-fat-fat buffet table. Ignore the fact that is was eaten on chips...

Four Layer Skinny Dip
*no picture exists because it was devoured like crack*

1 can of fat free refried beans (I think I used Ortega)
1 to 1 1/2 cups of low fat or fat free sour cream
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 cup pico de gallo (1 large tomato, 1/4 white onion, fresh cilantro, lime, jalapeno, salt)
1 avocado

Spread the can of refried beans into the bottom of a dish. (I used an 8x8 dish.) Mix the sour cream and 1/2 of the pack of taco seasoning together, spread over the beans. Next spread the pico de gallo over the sour cream - be sure to leave out about 2 tbsp. Mash up the avocado with the leftover pico de gallo to make guacamole. Drop the glob of guacamole in the middle of the dish and you're done! (Instead of regular chips, you could serve it with baked tortilla chip or pita bread.)

Then, I negated my efforts by making dark chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter filling.



It was so very worth it though. I planned on doing a three mile run on Sunday so I made sure to eat one for every mile.

My First Circus

As the title might imply, I went to my very first circus this weekend. Is that kind of pathetic? My parents never took my sister and me as kids. Then by the time I got old enough to realize how creepy they really were I lost interest in ever going. A family friend bought us tickets though, so I kind of had to go.

Was the circus creepy? Yes, yes it was. The acrobatics were like watching a low-rent, heartless Cirque De Soleil show.



Some of the performers weren't very good, and they were all a little dead behind the eyes. Can I blame them though? They work in a traveling circus. That's got to be one of the strangest professions in the world. I also really, really hated watching the tigers. I feel so bad for those poor animals. They spend their lives stuck in cages, (alternating between the back of a truck and an arena) being yelled at by some Russian dude. I'm pretty sure that isn't exactly what nature had planned for them.

I also felt bad for the elephants, but I enjoyed watching them. Mostly because they loved taking dumps while they should be acting majestically.



You know who else loved watching the elephants poop? Harry.



It was great seeing my niece and nephew have so much fun (and sugar). Glad I'm not the one who had to take them home... Before the show Harry kept saying he wanted to go to the "kirkus" to see the "elements." He saw those elements alright...

And then here's this last picture because I thought it was cool. I was looking at it and it reminded me of an old school photo of the circus, so I photoshopped it til its last breathe.

Prepare To Be Jealous

Go ahead and prep yourself for the most awesome thing ever.

My new vintage luggage set:



I bid on this at our monthly junk sale at work. Initially I lost the bid, which was shocking. My exact reaction was, "Who the hell would have outbid me on that ugly luggage?" But when I went to pick up a chair that I won (it spent a previous life in a doctor's office and is rad) the guy informed me that I could have it if I still wanted it.

Yes. Please.



Apparently the winning bidder thought she was bidding on something else. Or she bid on the luggage for someone else and they were completely horrified at their friend's evident lack of taste and declined to take it home... Something like that. All I know is that it belongs to me now.



The large case was still in the original box. I don't know if it's been used more than a couple times. All three pieces are in great condition. I almost don't want to use them, they're just too perfect.

Oh and P.S. I took those pictures in my freaky lit dining room at night and they turned out fantastic due to my newfangled ability at actually photograph things crisply without sticking them directly in sunlight.

Understanding Exposure

Throughout the course of this photography quest I've been on for the last six months, I've struggled a lot with trying to figure out how to shoot in full manual mode. Or at least what is considered full manual mode on a DSLR. I'm fairly certain that I would earn a big FAIL if I tried shooting with a film SLR.

Depending on who you talk to, some photographers say that shooting in M really isn't that big of a deal and others say it's the only way to go. Regardless of who's right, I still couldn't completely understand it. As a major anal retentive learner, I had to figure it out whether or not I would ever use it. I understood the concept of it - needing to set the ISO, shutter speed and aperture to all create perfection together - but I was hopeless at actually making it happen. I've been shooting in A and P for the last four months, ignoring the M.

But then, the clouds parted, I heard the angels sing, and the hand of God blessed me with the knowledge I was missing. AKA, I finally read this book: Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition).

I read it and I couldn't believe how utterly freaking easy it was to figure out! For the love!!! Everyone who wants to learn how to use a DSLR should read this book. It goes on to explain a lot more than just manual shooting too. So far it's the most valuable resource I've found for demystifying the magic of digital photography.

Work Work Work - Bring It!

Yesterday I posted a shameless self-promotion everywhere. I put it on my blog and Facebook. Jen also put it on her Facebook and Cat put it on TheNest. Out of that I got five inquiries about weddings, a one-year child shoot, a possible family shoot, someone asking for pictures of his new recording studio, and a job designing a logo.

Daaaaaaang.

I'm still offering to do weddings this summer for el cheapo if anybody knows anybody.

I finished editing Sarah's senior pics last night. I need to print off some copy to include with her disk. Price sheets, package lists in case she needs anything else, release forms, etc. Then, done and done. Job complete. I'm really hoping to get a few references out of it. I had a lot of fun doing senior pictures. If memory serves me correctly, teenagers are solely concerned with looking cool so if I tell them that a picture is going to look "cool" they'll go with it and not question me. Plus kids aren't jaded to the Old Market scene and they think it's hip to go take pictures down there. I want to find a really carefree, artsy type teen who will be down with like standing in an alley and getting all moody and edgy. Parent's wishes be damned, that kid will look cool.