A Few Contests Sunday, Sep 30 2007

Anyone interested in a freebie?? you know I am!!

5 Minutes for Mom is hosting yet another fabulous giveaway: three lucky winners will get A Western Digital Passport External Hard Drive. The thought of losing all my precious pictures makes me sick, yet I don’t have a good backup system in place. I just copy pictures onto cds whenever I think about it, which isn’t nearly often enough. But with one of those groovy babies, I could rest easy. I really, really want to win this one!

A Blond Walks Into a Review is giving away a $100 gift certificate to Scimbaco. Oh my, wouldn’t I have fun spending that! So many gorgeous options, I don’t know how I’d chose….but I’d love the opportunity to make that difficult decision.

Here’s another compelling contest. Splat Designs is giving away a free custom blog design. A header that actually works the way it’s supposed to? Yup, I’m in!!

And finally, my favorite Crunchy Domestic Goddess is giving away an adorable Halloween-themed tshirt for the kiddo from Cute As a Bug. Now wouldn’t Nadia be cute in that!?

Okay, now get moving…deadlines are closing in and you know you wanna enter these contests, too!

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Okay, you win Sunday, Sep 30 2007

Well, aren’t you a curious bunch?! I wasn’t going to say more about my “stalker” for her own privacy, but apparently you all are dying of curiosity. It’d be fun to tease and taunt and see if I could get ya to just through hoops in order to find out, but what the heck, I’ll just tell you the story now. I got an e-mail from a regular reader saying “I think I’m your stalker.” It turns out it’s someone that does leave comments, and I read her blog, and most of my regular readers know her too. I just hadn’t realized she lived in Ohio. She explained that her little one specifically asks to see pictures of Nadia….and being a nice Mommy, she indulges that request. ) Ooooh, Nadia’s got a fan! And since the link to my blog is right below to one to her own blog, she sometimes accidentally clicks on it and closes immediately as soon as she realizes…explaining the brief visits. It made me laugh to learn the truth. Now that I think of it, I suppose I’ve been a “blog stalker” like that too! I must say I am relieved to know that my stalker is such a nice Mommy, not some weirdo leering at my baby. )

And that’s as much info as you’re going to get. Nope, I’m not going to tell you who the stalker/secret admirer is…you’re just going to have to wonder forever. Sorry for all the sleepless nights it will cause. ;o)

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Mystery Solved Saturday, Sep 29 2007

Okay, the mystery of my “secret admirer” has been solved. I know who it is and it’s all good. ROFL, it’s a very funny situation.

*waving to my stalker*

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Secret Admirer Friday, Sep 28 2007

I’ve been watching my blog stats on a couple different sites for a while now – not that my stats are anything that impressive, but it’s kinda fun. Anyway, I’ve noticed a trend that has me puzzled. I don’t know of any regular readers in Ohio, but apparently I have a secret admirer located there. I have more hits — up to 10 a day–originate from one particular town in Ohio than any other place and they’re all from the same person. Adding to the mystery, the visits only average 11 seconds. So I’m curious. Who is my secret admirer? If you’re out there, please drop me a line.

Tiffany, I know you’ve had a similar experience. Anyone else have any thoughts on mystery returning visitors?

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My dirty little secret Friday, Sep 28 2007

I bet you’re wondering why I posted a plain black rectangle on my blog. Well, that’s not just any ole’ black rectangle. I’m kinda embarrassed to admit this, but it’s actually the SOOC version of the second of yesterday’s Dreamland shots. Melody asked for “processing secrets,” and I love you all so much that I’m revealing my dirty little secret and admitting just how awful some of my photos are straight off the camera.

Yes, I am a heavy Photoshop (Elements 2.0) user. And while I really, really want to learn to properly expose pictures right off the bat (wow, just think of the time that would save in editting!!), it’s also kinda cool that it’s possible to save “bad” pictures through the miracle of editing software. Pictures like the one above aren’t destined for your computer’s recycle bin! Part of me feels like it’s “cheating” to rely on the software so much, but hey, it’s the final image that matters, not how it got there.

So I opened this dark image in Photoshop and let the program work it’s “auto correct” magic (which isn’t always so magical and can sometimes make your pictures look even worse, but since I’m lazy and it’s easier to do that than correct everything manually, I usually give that a try first…sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t). Anyway, this is what “auto correct” gave me.

And then I used a bunch of crazy filters and processing to get the final result. Don’t ask me what exactly I did, because I don’t know. I know it involved a gaussian blur overlay, a couple of different OptikVerve filters, some burning/dodging and noise reduction. I had a rough idea of the effect I was after, so I just played around with it until the image on the screen sort-kinda matched the one in my head. I tried to recreate it today and take note of the steps, but I couldn’t get the same results. So folks, this image is unique…the one and only…impossible to duplicate.

As long as I’m showing sleeping baby pictures, here are a couple more. In case you couldn’t tell, I totally LOVE sleeping baby pictures. I’ve recently developed and new ritual. Almost every night when the house is still and everyone but me sleeps, I creep into Nadia’s room to gaze at my sleeping beauty and snap of few pictures. Every night she’s sleeping in a different position, and sometimes it’s downright comical to see how she’s contorted her little body! Other times, she looks so peaceful and angelic that it takes my breath away. Sleeping pictures are probably my favorite kind of picture to take, because she actually holds still for the camera! I realized today that if I keep this up, this kid is going to have a HUGE collection of sleeping pictures by the time she starts kindergarten. LOL! But they make me happy so I’m going to keep doing it. I even created a “Sleep, my child” set on Flickr, and looking at all those images of my sleeping child makes me feel peaceful.

Anyway, (you can tell I’m tired with the way I’m rambling) I’ll leave you with a couple images from last night, and now I’m off to capture yet more pictures of the sleeping beauty. I wonder what position she’s in this time…

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Bonds of Love Thursday, Sep 27 2007

Nadia and I shared one of those special Mother-Daughter moments this evening.

I’m sure all parents understand what I mean. Those oh-so-precious and all-too-rare moments when time seems to stand still and the world fades away, leaving only you and your sweet child, bound together so intensely, so profoundly, it almost hurts. Your heart wells with pride and love and, for some inexplicable reason, a bit of melancholy longing. Gazing into the eyes of this beloved child, your child, you feel tiny thankful tears prick the back of your own eyes. This tiny person, so full of innocence and promise, looks back with total trust and adoration. It is truly overwhelming.

The last step of Nadia’s bedtime routine is playing on Mommy and Daddy’s bed for a while. She loves this, and the promise of “Mommy’s bed” spurs her through the rest of the routine. Usually we only snuggle and play for a few minutes, but tonight she was still full of energy and exuberance so we stayed there for over half an hour. Finally we found ourselves back in her room.

As I laid her down in the crib, the familiar sounds of her bedtime music surrounding us, her eyes never left mine. She lay on her back gazing up at me, a small smile curling her rosebud lips. I stroked her silky hair back from her face and began to softly sing my all-time favorite lullaby, “All Through the Night.” Quiet moments like this area rare for Nadia, but tonight she seemed to relish my loving gestures. She turned her face into my hand and giggled softly, eyes still locked with mine. After a few moments she began to sing with me, her sweet toddler voice joining mine. “La la la” she sang, and her eyes shone.

My heart melted. I was overcome with tenderness and a fierce protectiveness . All the frustrations from a day with a stubborn toddler vanished. This is the epitome of motherhood. I never knew I could love so deeply.

As I slipped from her bedroom a few moments later, her sleepy voice called after me.

“Love you, Mama” murmured my angel baby.

I love you too, my Nadia. I love you.

Sleep my Child, and peace attend thee

All through the night;

Guardian angels God will lend thee,

All through the night,

Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,

Hill and vale in slumber steeping,

I my loving vigil keeping,

All through the night.

While the moon her watch is keeping

All through the night

While the weary world is sleeping

All through the night

O’er thy spirit gently stealing

Visions of delight revealing

Breathes a pure and holy feeling

All through the night.

Love, to thee my thoughts are turning

All through the night,

All for thee my heart is yearning,

All through the night;

Though the night the light may sever,

Mother’s love is thine forever,

There’s a love that leaves thee never,

All through the night.

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Mommy’s View Wednesday, Sep 26 2007

Carrie’s Wordless Wednesday post today gave a glimpse of her girls from Mommy’s perspective. Aw, so sweet! Those shots reminded me of one I took just a few days ago…so of course I had to share mine, too. I’m just flabbergasted by how big Nadia looks from this perspective. Dang kid, won’t you stop growing for a while?! Please? I’m not ready yet to trade worries about your vegetable consumption for worries about boyfriends and all-nighers…but at the rate this is going, I guess I’d better get ready.

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Mommy’s View Wednesday, Sep 26 2007

Carrie’s Wordless Wednesday post today gave a glimpse of her girls from Mommy’s perspective. Aw, so sweet! Those shots reminded me of one I took just a few days ago…so of course I had to share mine, too. I’m just flabbergasted by how big Nadia looks from this perspective. Dang kid, won’t you stop growing for a while?! Please? I’m not ready yet to trade worries about your vegetable consumption for worries about boyfriends and all-nighers…but at the rate this is going, I guess I’d better get ready.

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Wordless Wednesday – Dreamland Wednesday, Sep 26 2007

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My new obsession Tuesday, Sep 25 2007

I have had a revelation about myself recently.

No, it’s nothing earth-shattering and thrilling, but it’s still pretty shocking to me.

Are you ready? Here goes:

I don’t hate all beer.

Until recently, I had never tasted a beer I liked. I had lumped them all into one “no thank you” category. Well, I’ve discovered I was wrong to do that. There are some good (to me) beers out there.

A couple weeks ago we were at a friends house for dinner. After we had all gorged ourselves on a smorgasbord of yummy foods, they pulled out fruit and Lambic for desert. I had never before heard of Lambic, but I took one look at the label, saw the word “beer” and declined. That’s when Vasily the Red (he shares the same name with my hubby, so they’re know as Vasily the Red and Vasily the Black – based on hair color!) said “I got this special for you, Christina. You have to try it, I promise you’ll like it.”

So I said okay, I’ll try it. But I just knew he was wrong and I wouldn’t like it. I mean, c’mon, I don’t like beer, and he knows that. Why’s he doing this to me?

And then I took the first sip.

And my world changed.

I DO like beer! Oh it was so good! It was rich and fruity and sweet with just a hint of that bitterness most beer has. The two Vasily’s gave me a mini education on my new-found love, but I’m afraid I’ll make a fool of myself and explain it wrong, so read here if you’re interested in it. ) Bust basically, it’s fermented once and then bottled with various types of fruits and undergoes a secondary fermentation. It comes in several different fruity flavors, including the cherry and peach I’ve had. But now I want to try them all!

Last weekend when my Vasily stopped at the liquor store for himself, he also got a bottle of peach Lamic for me. Oh yummy!

So Saturday evening I enjoyed sitting back, putting my feet up and relaxing with a glass of beer.

Me. With Beer. That still sounds funny to me. Even if it is a frufru beer that I sip from a brandy snifter.

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