Shots From Yesterday

My best friend Lindsay, as I'm sure you've heard me mention her before...she's the one with the killer Bruschetta Pasta Salad Recipe, well she invited us yesterday to go play at her house for a bit. And Aunty Lindsay's house has the BEST in-ground pool. Except yesterday mother nature decided to laugh in our faces and provide us with one hell of a thunderstorm.

After a couple hours of waiting she must have felt our severe depression emanating from the house so she decided to throw us a break and give us a few hours of sun.

The pool was gorgeous and warm and just what we needed.

Aunty Lindsay's house ALSO has some seriously amazing french doors to the outside which shed some ridiculously awesome light...so naturally I had my camera one me to take a couple ton of pictures.

More to come :)

The Power of Editing

It's honestly amazing how much a little editing can change ANY picture.

So just as an example this is a picture I took long ago on a trip to Aruba (my most favoritest place in the whole universe, Disney World aside). Now this picture was not taken with my DSLR, it was taken with a little run of the mill digital camera about 7 years ago.

This was the picture I took:

I used to think this picture was unbelievable ....Now...7 years later take a little editing to it and Voila:

The colors are richer and far more vibrant.

Now this would be a standard edit for me. I like to make things look spectacular, but not so spectacular they look like they aren't believable or realistic.

Say for example this picture that boyfriend took on the way to work:

Now this picture as nice as it is needs some serious editing. First off, I couldn't stand the street lights and I wanted to boost that color, but this time I wanted to do so in an out-of-this-world fantastic way. Well THIS is the product I got from my cropping and editing:

Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am. Now is this picture realistic? Well maybe not...but look at those COLORS.

This is a picture I took last night of the sun setting because it was this gorgeous red color. Thank heavens for boyfriend because I'm not even sure I would have even noticed it. Here is the original:

This is after a little editing because I was 1. pissed off the picture didn't accurately display truly amazing the colors were and 2. because I edit almost every single picture even if it's just the tiniest bit.

Honestly I'm still not happy with the results but there is definitely a significant difference between the first and second picture.

Here is one of the recent pictures I took of bug Before:

And after:

I always love bringing extra attention to her eyes and smoothing out her skin just a bit and the editing program I use has a filter that has changed my life forever it just adds this dreamy, wonderfully tranquil, soft, perfect-for-babies look. Ugh.

SO that's just a little about what I do, share with me your favorite methods of editing :)

The Hunt

So the house hunt has started.

Boyfriend and I have been waiting for this moment for a verrrrry long time now.

But there is an issue...of course...because if you've been reading my blog for even a little while you'll know NOTHING is ever easy for me.

The biggest issue has been deciding whether to rent or buy.

Shouldn't be that difficult of an issue right?

Wrong...so so wrong.

So allow me to explain what the hell is going on and to anyone who can give me any semblance of advice I will love you forever.

The problem with renting? Well it's just that...it's renting. It's expensive, it will be difficult to save for a house while paying rent, it's smaller than a house (obviously) but the biggest part about it, is it's going to be practically impossible to find a place that will accept a dog AND a baby.

The second you mention you have a dog (nevermind a BIGGISH dog) you may as well have told them you're an effing serial murderer.

First of all, not only is my bumpy EXTREMELY well behaved, she's middle aged, and a golden retriever...one of the most mellow, friendly, loving breeds of dog on earth. Well, apparently my adorable, sleeps-20-hours-a-day fluffball is not rental friendly. And well lezbehonest, I'd rather live on the street then give up my girl so that is just not an option. No way, no how.

And then there's bug. Which means the place would also need to be "lead free", which seriously limits the little to no options even further.

But generally speaking I feel as though renting is always the smarter way to go before purchasing because buying a house is kiiiiinda a big deal.

Well now in regards to purchasing a home... it's a much more permanent option, which given it was in the right location, that definitely would be a non-issue, however it is certainly something to consider. We would need to get qualified and deal with getting approved for a loan, and then on top of that finding a house that is in our price range that isn't in complete and utter disrepair.

And to top it off all four of the houses that I found online and asked the realtor to view were ALL under contract, even though two of them were listed as "newly listed". The websites can't take the time to just put that the sale is pending on the house? For that to happen to me 4 different times...to the only 4 houses I've asked about? Like...what the actual fuck.

So please excuse me whilst I bang my head against the wall and try to sort this crazy out.

I've about lost it (more so than normal).... And could really really use some advice.

If anybody has any advice or expertise it would be very much appreciated.. and in the meantime...i'll be here...just ya know...bangin my head against the wall.