Always, Alli

Goodness, time flies, doesn’t it?

The five days at my Grandma’s house was a good time, getting to help her go through some of her stuff and get a little family history lesson at the same time. Since I was busy enjoying time with Grandma and peeking at family history, I took a small blog break.

While I enjoyed helping Grandma, I really took pleasure in seeing some of the tidbits of family history. Grandma showed me this box of sewing samples made by my Great-Grandma Lynch.

Inside was a correspondence course of Household Engineering from 1915. We had a fun time giggling over the pictures and suggestions on how to organize a kitchen.

I was also able to figure out where I got the shutterbug gene from- it must come from the Lynch side of the family. I mean, we all knew my Great Aunt Margery is a certified shutterbug. But really, Grandma has tons of pictures of everything, so she must be one too. And when I found Great-Grandma Lynch’s photo album I just knew, I was looking at where I come from.

This is one of the pictures from the album, probably my favorite. It is my dad, his brothers, and little sister.

Of course, I think going through other people’s stuff and helping them get organized is a lot easier than working on your own house, which is why my dining room table is currently covered. But, I’m really happy I was able to spend the time being with Grandma.

I was really excited to go to Saturday’s Auburn game mainly because I got to use my new camera for the first time in a sports setting. I knew I would get some good Auburn Elvis pictures, but I’m not a one trick pony. I like getting a feel of everything going on.

Out of the entire set of non-Elvis pictures I think this is my favorite:

I think it captures pageantry and spirit.

One of my favorite parts of the pregame experience is when the eagle flies down the field to the war cry of “Waaaaaaaaaaar Eagle!” And I was so excited to have my new camera in order to get the entire flight. However, since it was an “All Orange” game, the back drop of the fans dressed in orange shirts wasn’t so great for seeing the actual bird in the pictures.

And of my Elvis pictures, you should check out Auburn Elvis rolling Toomer’s Corner. We had a lot of fun.

We are going to next weekend’s game, where my challenge will be to get different pictures, so my flickr sets don’t look exactly the same, except for the challenging team’s jerseys.

Technorati Tags: Auburn, football, best shot Monday, digital photography

Today I am inventing Blogging Tapas. I have no idea if anyone else has ever called it this, so if there is proof they did it before me, I bow to their master mind. Otherwise, I plant my flag on this term. Feel free to use it, just remember I did it first.

Tapas is the name of a wide variety of appetizers in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or warm (such as puntillitas, which are battered, fried baby squid).

In the United States and the United Kingdom, tapas have evolved into an entire cuisine. In these countries, patrons of tapas restaurants can order many different tapas and combine them to make a full meal.

Blogging Tapas: Combining several blog bullets to create a full blog post.

~I’m getting a tad weary of having one car. Juggling our lives to make sure D gets to work and I get the errands done is wearing on us. And if we have only one car, I probably won’t make it to BlogHer Nashville in October. Which makes me sad because Miss Zoot is speaking and I would probably get to meet Fussypants. Anyone want to carpool?

~I am starting to look longingly at other lenses for my camera. I don’t have as much control as I want over my picture taking with my current lenses (I can’t control the aperature) and if I am running around with the 18-55 mm, I really want the VR on it as well. I love VR (vibration reduction) on my 55-200, and think I will be happier with the VR on the 18-55. Anyone wanna spot me $180? Or give me an early birthday present? (I’ll be asking for this lens for Christmas.)

~I’m really getting excited about my Orlando trip next month. I get to meet Deb and Marisa for the first time. I’ll see Cass, Colleen, Drew, Ashley, Ted, Lisa, and lots of others I met in Las Vegas last year.

~Food cravings are my personal hot topic right now. Yesterday it was Panera’s french onion soup I was craving. Then yesterday I ate an entire cucumber because I was craving fresh veggies. This kid is so different than Fuller. With Fuller I was constantly craving spicy food.

~Friday our family leaves for a weekend at the lake. Saturday, D and I will head to Auburn for the first football game of the season. And then on Tuesday Fuller and I will be at my Grandmother’s for the rest of the week. Should be fun all around.

~I’ve been making a mental list of things we will need for this baby. We borrowed a lot for Fuller, so we have some gaps to fill. Fortunately, since we have been through this once, we know what we really need and don’t. Of course, there are some things I would just like to have, just because. Soon the mental list needs to become a wish list of some sort.

So, blogging tapas it was. And now I don’t feel really guilty about not fleshing these things out into several entries. Hope it was filling for you.

Well, I finally figured out the remote on my Nikon D40. And as you can see, it came in really handy so I could take this picture AND keep eating, a skill all pregnant women/ bloggers need to perfect.

As mentioned before, I am making my way out of the first trimester haze and made it into a more productive second trimester. To add to the excitement, my hunger has been amplified (as shown above) AND I have been feeling the little bits of butterflies inside my belly bump, letting me know there is indeed life inside of me.

Feeling this baby now is a bit earlier than when I felt sure I knew I was feeling Fuller. I think because I know what to expect, I know what I am feeling. The first time I knew for sure I was getting kicked by the kid now known as Fuller, I was seeing the movie Troy. Now I just feel little flutters every now and then, but it excites me just the same.

February can’t get here soon enough!

To check out other self portraits for Sunday, head over to Cass’s blog. She’s got them rounded up in her comments.

I’m not really happy with this picture, but if you saw my other pictures, well, this is the best one.

I need experiment more with my DSLR to get the remote to work on it. I can’t seem to get the self timer to work with the auto focus and it is getting frustrating. And I am so used to my Canon’s flip out LCD screen to help with the framing, I need to just practice more with the DSLR.

I also need to remember to clean my glasses before taking these pictures (I’m amazed I can see), and mop up the oil from my face. Pregnancy is screwing with my face now, which was not a challenge when I was pregnant with Fuller. But then again, someone at church did tell me today I was glowing. I bit my tongue and just told them thanks, but really the glow is coming from the excess oil I seem to be generating.

Any other Self Portraits out there? Head over to Cass’s and see some for yourself!

Technorati Tags: Self Portrait Sunday, digital photography

We took Fuller to a comic book illustration class on Saturday. Damon planned how to get our three year old through the class and I took pictures. When Damon told Fuller he would get to write his name Fuller immediately lit up.

I love this picture. The color, the hands, the writing… it is very dear to me.

Got a Best Shot to share? Put it on your blog, leave a comment on Tracey’s blog, and check out some of the others!

Technorati Tags: Best Shot Monday, hands, writing