Ok, so today's photo of the day is pretty special to me. My husband and I worked really hard on it. For the 2nd year in a row Christian told me that he wanted a Scooby Doo cake for his birthday. Since this is my newly found passion I was happy to oblige.
My husband likes to pitch in and help too, so it became a family project. I have to admit that he did a lot of work. He baked and stacked it and then got the green icing on it, very smoothly I might add. After that I got to work on all the fun additions. I have to say that I am really pleased with how it turned out and it was a lot of fun to make.
Most importantly Christian was thrilled! That was all that mattered. Happy Birthday baby.
Time for the Friday Fives again! Today is going to be my top 5 favorite Restaurants. Sadly, that will be easy since I really love to eat!!
1. Ruth's Chris Steakhouse Ok, the first thing I should say is YUM!!! I don't get to eat here often because it is so expensive, but it is by far the best meal on the planet.
2. The Genghis Grill This place is just amazing! What is so great is that it works for anyone's taste, even children. The pickiest person in the world could walk in and find something they like. The way it works is they bring you a bowl and tell you to fill it up. You go through the line and pick out which meats you want, then you throw on the veggies you like (if any), fruit, etc. Next stop is the sauce. You have about 16 different sauces to choose from. They even have small cups and spoons to allow you to taste them and figure out which one you prefer. You fill up your sauce and then proceed toward the grill. A man will ask you which starch you want: white rice, brown rice, noodles, etc. From that point they put your food on a HUGE round grill top and cook it with big wooden skewers. When it's done they bring it to your table. HOW COOL IS THAT!? You are guaranteed to go in and there and get a meal cooked the way you like it because you made it!
3. Any Japanese Hibachi restaurant It isn't just the atmosphere where the guys come in and cook in front of you, although that is lots of fun too. I just love the food! You always know it is fresh, from the meat to the vegetables. You get food and entertainment all wrapped up in one.
4. La Hacienda Honestly any AUTHENTIC Mexican restaurant will do, this is just one of my favorites! Bring on the fajitas and cheese dip! Yum!
5. Chick-Fil-A Ok, so I figured I couldn't make them all sit-down places. I do honestly LOVE Chick-fil-a though. To be fast food you can't beat it. The employees always bend over backwards to take care of us and it has a SOUND PROOF play room for the kids. My friends and I love to go there for play-dates because the kids can play (in the clean, dry, air-conditioned/heated) play room while the adults sit and enjoy "grown-up" conversation. Plus, they are never out of your sight. I can always look up and see where they are when they are playing. Then, they are allowed to trade in their toy for ice cream. AWESOME!
So, that's it! I am pretty simple when it comes to food. I don't like all the "fancy-dancy" places that focus more on how the food looks than how it tastes. Those are usually the places that give you enough to feed a squirrel but no more. You could say I am an American "Meat and Three" kind of girl. You won't find me eating anything I cannot pronounce or involving feta, brie, duck, etc.... you get the idea!
As for dislikes, here are a few:
1. Any deli or sandwich place. I know! Many people think this is strange, un-american, yada, yada, yada..... For as long as I can remember I have always disliked sandwiches. That doesn't mean I don't ever eat a sandwich, but the thought of going OUT only to eat a sandwich is crazy to me. People on a budget (like me) end up eating stuff like this at home a LOT. Why on earth would I want to go out and pay $4-$5 for a sandwich or soup??? I can do that at home for way less. When I leave home I want something yummy!
2.Chinese food This is a whole different beast than Japanese. I am never quite sure where it came from or exactly what it is..... scary just doesn't begin to cover it. Yuck!
3. Seafood or anything Cajun I have no idea why. This has always been something I cannot stomach or even stand to smell. When I was pregnant with Cameron it became worse. I could not walk down the aisle leading to the seafood counter at the grocery store without becoming physically sick. (Pregnancy does weird things to you!)
As for the cajun food, it is a little tricky. My husband is from New Orleans, so this was tough for him to get used to. Fortunately, when we go down to visit, most places have other (simpler) things on the menu. Thank Heavens!!!
Today's photo of the day is actually 2 photos! My husband has complained that I have teased him several times on here, like when I talked here about his muffin joke. So, I figured I owed him one! This will be a before and after....
This is Copper, my husband's dog. He is a bloodhound. He was about 3 months old in this picture. Cute, huh? He was such a sweet puppy, even though he chewed everything in sight. When he chewed on my china cabinet I was ready to kill him....
Different dog, huh? This is more what Copper looks like now. This was about 6 months ago. He will be 2 in July. This dog is ENORMOUS! He has since been moved to a pen in the backyard. He was just too big to have in the house, plus the kids and I are all allergic. I wouldn't have any furniture left and I would be sneezing all day! He is still cute, but my interaction with him is limited. My husband is training him as a search and rescue dog.
Ok guys, today I am going to keep it simple. It has been an extremely busy week this week! As you can see I am late getting this post up today. I promise to do better next time!
Today I am going to talk a little bit about color.
Sometimes people will ask me how I get certain colors to "pop" in a photograph. It can actually be pretty simple. Just keep in mind that it will depend on the photograph, but once you play with it a while you will get the hang of it.
So, pick your image, and let's say we want to enhance the grass. But, we do NOT want to enhance anything else.
First you will need to grab your tool that looks like a cowboy's lasso. This is actually called your "lasso tool." It works much like a pencil, only you are using your mouse. You will want to start tracing around the part of your image that you want to enhance. Click and hold while you draw around that entire area. DON'T LET GO! If you do you will have to start over..... Honestly, this part takes some practice so don't worry if you have to try more than once to get exactly the area that you want. If you mess up just right click and then click on "deselect" and start over.
So, once you have it outlined you can let go of your mouse and you should see that your area has been selected. Now, there are a couple of things we can do to it from here. The first will be the "saturation" or basically how much color it has. Look at the top of your screen and click on "Image", then scroll down to adjustments and then look for "Hue/Saturation." Once this is open you can play with it, turning the saturation up and down. Grass, for instance, should get greener or darker. When you are done with this just click OK.
Next we are going to click on "Image" and "Adjustments" again and look for "Brightness/Contrast" or Ctrl-B. Try turning up the brightness a little and then if you really want to make it a little more edgy you can play with the contrast. Depending on the image you are working with you will just need to play with it a bit until you get the desired effect.
When you are satisfied with all your adjustments you will want to right click with your mouse and scroll down to "Deselect." Then make sure to save your work. You are done! You will find that this is very useful, especially when part of your image may be a little darker than you wanted or you just want to give it that little extra something...... see how the grass is a little greener and a little more vibrant!
Look at all these Tulips! Aren't they beautiful! There were literally THOUSANDS of them! I took this last year in the garden area of The Biltmore.
I am very blessed to have some wonderful friends, who I take a trip with each year. This was where we went last year and had an amazing time.
If you have never visited The Biltmore, it is really something to see. The mansion is amazing on it's own, but the garden area is just breathtaking! I never imagined anything so beautiful. This is a location I highly recommend visiting!
I just love the look of spring and early summer. Everything is blooming and coming to life. Now is the time to make your appointments for family portraits!
Today's photo of the day is of the Green family, taken early last summer. What a lovely family. I really enjoyed working with them! Plus, when they arrived I noticed that the ladies were wearing the perfect color of pink. It matched the flowers in the rock garden by the bench. This shot turned out to be their favorite and now hangs in their home.
Wasn't today just beautiful in Nashville! I love days like today. We spent the entire day outside, working in the yard and just cleaning up a bit.
So, today's photo relates to that in a way.
This is Caitlyn. She is such a sweet, beautiful girl. Actually, she is my sister's niece. She comes to visit a couple of times a year and I am always thrilled to photograph her. She lets me try new stuff, which I LOVE to do.
So, last year I was dying to get a picture of my neighbor's flower bed. It is full of these gorgeous, purple Iris. So, I put Caitlyn right up beside it and I think it turned out great!
What does this have to do with today? Well, one of my many chores today was to plant some of these lovely flowers in my yard. They are not blooming and looking as great as my neighbors' just yet, but that will come. Until then I guess I will just continue to borrow hers....
Time for the Friday Fives again! Today is going to be my top 5 favorite Restaurants. Sadly, that will be easy since I really love to eat!! 
so 
you want to enhance. Click and hold while you draw around that entire area. DON'T LET GO! If you do you will have to start over..... Honestly, this part takes some practice so don't worry if you have to try more than once to get exactly the area that you want. If you mess up just right click and then click on "deselect" and start over.
and then look for "Hue/Saturation." Once this is open you can play with it, turning the saturation up and down. Grass, for instance, should get greener or darker. When you are done with this just click OK.
Look at all these Tulips! Aren't they beautiful! There were literally THOUSANDS of them! I took this last year in the garden area of The Biltmore. 
I just love the look of spring and early summer. Everything is blooming and coming to life. Now is the time to make your appointments for family portraits!
