On the Way to Tennessee

I'm going to try to post photos from tonight. Completely unedited - something I've never done before.
We stopped south of Atlanta to visit our brother-in-law and this is where we went for dinner.


We started out with a little soup. Kind of bland, but OK.

Then we moved onto some tasty salad. They brought us chopsticks with training wheels - for those of us who didn't know how to use them. This made it really easy.

The chef came to our table top and started getting everything ready. He started off cooking us up a big batch of fried rice. Which was delicious!

The whole fire thing was interesting! Not really sure if it had a point - other than being really neat!

Lots of tasty vegetables! Yummy! There was sooooo much food - I couldn't believe it!

Cookin' up the meat! The boys had shrimp, chicken, and steak. I had shrimp, chicken, and lobster! Yummo!

Said lobster :).

And we all dug in and ate until we were about sick - lol! Seriously!

This is my plate. And, no, I did not eat all of it. Maybe about half. It was excellent!

I can't believe I'm posting this without edits o.O

I tried to get Dale to do a picture with me. I was going to reach in and smooch him on the cheek just as the lady shot the picture, but Mark stepped in between us. I told him what I had planned on doing, so he did it instead! Boy! Was Dale surprised! LOL!

Tomorrow? Back on the road and heading on in to Tennessee and Kali. Can't wait!

Headed to Tennessee

Back on the road again this morning. This time Mark will be traveling with me instead of Kali.

Many of you know that Kali is interning with Communicators For Christ this summer (also known as Institute For Culturual Commmunicators.) For the past month, she and ten other teen interns have been in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, at the Moon's home preparing for tour. They will be traveling around the United States in a motorhome, and will be teaching communications classes at local conferences for the next 4 months. Target audience? Other teens. Although they will also be teaching coaches' classes for adults, as well.

This weekend is Commissioning Weekend for the families. Approximately 80 of us will descend upon the Moons tomorrow night for a fun-filled weekend with our kids, the team, and the Moon family. Many pictures to follow. Either here or on facebook :).

Please pray for us as we travel and please pray specifically for me on Sunday morning. During the commissioning program I will be giving a 5-minute charge to Kali, addressing what we hope for her on this tour and where we see her coming from and where we see her heading to. I'm going to cry. I just know it. I have it all written down. I told Mark I'd make a deal with another mom - that if she'd read mine, I'd read hers for her - lol! Should be interesting. Oh well. I'm sure I won't be the only one in tears.

400th Post - A Random Kind of Day

Kali is in Tennessee and Mark is in Georgia. I was a bit bored this morning, so I decided to ride into Gainesville to pick up some medicine. As I pulled up to the stop sign and out onto the highway, this beautiful deer loped across the street right in front of me.(She has a mouth full of leaves.)

I started to leave the house without my camera this morning. Then I decided to go back inside to get it. I never know what I'm going to see and wish - too late - that I had my camera.

I didn't really expect her to hang around, but I pulled off the side of the road anyway and turned on my hazard lights. Right on the beginning of a curve in the road - probably not the best place to stop. I reached into the back seat and brought my camera up front. I kept expecting the deer to run off, but she didn't. I got my camera out, powered down the front window and started shooting from the driver's seat. In the second shot above - she heard my camera and looked straight at me.

I clicked off about 12 shots and she was patient to pose and wait for me.

Then she took one last bite of leaves and ambled back across the highway and into the woods. I packed my camera back up and drove on down the highway.

When I drove into the next little town, I heard a train's whistle and the crossing arms went down right in front of me.

I didn't react fast enough or else I would have gotten a shot of the engine.

But I think these turned out pretty nice!

My dad collected Lionel train cars. He had some pretty elaborate tabletops set up with tracks and mountains, cities, rivers, and people, and of course with trains. He would have loved these photos. I wasn't really into photography when Dad was alive, but he would have loved how my lazy morning turned into some pretty awesome photos opps.

Amazing Grace - 7 Year Old Vocalist

Rhema Marvanne - 'Amazing Grace' REVISED 6/11 from Black Olive Media.com on Vimeo.

Rhema is 7 years old and she sings to glorify God. Rhema Marvanne was born in 2002, and lost her mother to ovarian cancer in 2008. Rhema lives in Texas and attends The Branch Church. Sit back and enjoy listening to this - and get your kleenex ready. You will be blessed!

You can check out Rhema's music on her website: www.rhemamarvanne.com.

Sam, Shannon - Here's Some More :)

I was talking with my nephew Sam on the cell phone today and he told me that he and his wife enjoyed the picture I posted of Cedar Key. (See my last post.) I laughed because I only had time to edit those two shots before my mom got sick and I had to leave home.

Well, I am home for the night and thought I'd post a few more. This is the street along the waterfront of Cedar Key. (Actually the street is shown in the next photo, but I am too tired to fix it.)

Many of the shops have closed up since we were last there. I was really disappointed.

There's always something incredible to see down by the waterfront.

This is my favorite place - hands down! I love Frog's Landing! The sign is a little worse for wear since our last trip, but nothing had changed with the menu!

The decorations are awesome and definitely in keeping with the area.

Except maybe for this guy - lol!

This is their staircase leading up to the second floor where Frog's is located. (Actually, I took this shot coming out - so it is the staircase leading down from Frog's to street level :).)

I love the colors . . .

. . . and all the lines. And the crab bisque! And the chicken/walnut/grape/raisin/pineapple/cranberry salad. Yummo!

Then there are other restaurants and empty buildings.


As you move along the waterline, you start to see places like this. Little houses dotting the waterways here and there. Fishing shacks - really not much more to them than that.

It was a calm day as you can tell by the reflections in the water.

And every once in awhile, you get the chance to see something incredible. Like this. Cedar Key - in the summer. It's the place to be.

This is also my You Capture post for this week. We were able to post photos of anything special to us. To see some more - just visit I Should Be Folding Laundry.

The Honeymoon Suite, Cedar Key

An unassuming building sitting out in the gulf at Cedar Key. Mark and I spent this past week being ... basically ... lazy. Mark fished and rode around in the boat. I floated in a swimming pool for hours on end. It was wonderful. When we rode down by the water, we stopped and visited this shack.

This building is lovingly referred to as The Honeymoon Suite by all the locals. It is the most painted building, the most painted tourist point of interest, the most painted oddity of Cedar Key. Its likeness graces t-shirts, post cards, book covers, painting for your living room, ceramic decorations for your bathroom, men's boxers, ladies nightshirts, kitchen towels, key fobs on key rings, tops of bottle cap openers, and probably many other things that I just didn't have an opportunity to witness - lol!. We've been watching this building slowly sink towards the water for several years now. I find it interesting that one of the windows still has its glass intact, while it looks like the main wall is slowing slipping through the bottom boards and heading for the water. Honeymoon Suite? Not for me. But, the price is definitely right :). Hopefully I'll be posting a few more shots from Cedar Key in the next day or so.

Photoshop Step-By-Step - Vintage

Thsi is my original photo of Kali and Rascal. I wanted to make it more vintage looking, more rustic, more old-timey. So I opened it in Photoshop.

Now it has the feel of "oldness" to it. To get this look, I used a program I purchased from mcpactions.com - you can visit Jodi's site and check out all her editing programs here. Here are the steps I used:

• open Frosted Memories;
• run the Old Red Barn action;
• run the Gold Locket action;
• run Golden Sunset action;
• run the Next Picasso action;
• lastly, run the Faded Edges - High action.

And this is your completed look. You can also find free actions online. Don't be afraid to play around with them and see what results you end up with. You can always delete and start over, or you might like the results and end up with a wonderful save :).

Wedding Shots I Never Blogged, Sorry

Alesha's gown was gorgeous!




Scott's first glimpse of Alesha in her wedding gown.











The groom's parents were not to be outdone in the kissing department - lol!

First dance as a couple :). It was really sweet to watch.

Dancing with her daddy.

Hugs from mom.


What a beautiful wedding! Thanks for asking me to celebrate your big day!