Out back

Cool sunset.

Laser

Stash staring down her arch-nemesis...the laser pointer.

Greenie

Susan was nice enough to let me use her awesome photography studio set-up to take some photos of my art. Many of my pictures are poor quality, low-res or just not as nice as I would like them to be. I brought over a bunch of paintings and we played with settings until we started getting some great photos. Check out my website in the next few weeks if you want to see the new photos. She has a VERY affectionate cat, nick-named Greenie. I got this photo of Greenie trying to do everything he could to get her attention.

Sun

I got this cool little sun decoration when Matt and I went to Zion last year.

Plant

I bought this plant two years ago when I moved in to my apartment. It started out barely hanging over the edges of the ceiling attached pot that it is in. Now, it is about six feet long and seems to be taking over the corner of my living room.

Softball

I went to see Matt play his first softball game on Monday! It was cold, but Rachel and I huddled up on the bleachers. The guys lost, but Matt played a good game, so I was quite proud of him.

Easter

Ah, Easter with my family. :-)

Eggs

Rachel and I dyed Easter eggs today! I am glad that she and I keep up holiday traditions. Rachel did some crazy cool ones. I did several cool ones and one very ugly one. I like this photo a lot.

Belt

I took a close-up of the belt Matt is working on right now. I think the leather looks pretty all dyed and oiled up.

Ungulates

I started a new painting tonight. I have no idea if it will be good, but I am doing something similar to my fish paintings, but with deer and antelope. I am going to call it, "Where the Deer and the Antelope Play," and thats about as far as my planning has gone. As you can tell.  PS...I left the big flash splotch on it so you could tell that the paint was wet.

Toys

Happy Birthday, Momma! I had my last photo class tonight. I took a photo of someone else's camera, which is very much like mine. After these classes, I leave with a wealth of knowledge and desire to buy new photography toys. My last class caused me to buy my 60D.

Berries

Here is a kind of weird photo of some strawberries.

Leather

Matt has become a leather working fool! :-) He made a belt recently with a friends tools, and it turned out so well he had several people ask him to make them one. He has been buying the supplies and making more. It is awesome, except for when he and I both have all our art supplies and leather supplies taking up the apartment at once. I am thinking we need a house before long.

Heron

Sorry I have been so slow to post! Busy week! This is a photo of a great blue heron from when we were driving around Saratoga looking at wedding locations. In short, Saratoga Inn was a total bust, but there is a guest ranch and new community center that look promising. I appreciate how my dad (and Matt too) stops the car and lets me bail out when I see some wildlife I want to photograph.

Ten Thousand Villages

I had to work at the gallery all day on Saturday, but Rachel was also volunteering at Ten Thousand Villages. We were able to carpool and have lunch together at the gallery. I was far less lonely than last time I went to FoCo for the day. I took this photo at Ten Thousand Villages while I waiting for Rachel to finish locking up.

Oil Lamp

I like this old oil-burning lamp that Matt brought when he moved in. When lit, it a very cool, old-timey light. Hmmm, maybe I should have lit it before taking the picture?

Graphite

Its been a long week and I haven't done any good sketching for awhile. So, I spent the evening with a glass of wine, some paper and my all-graphite pencils.

Class

Susan are on the second week of our three week photography class. The instructor let us hook up our cameras to his flash equipment to try to get a decent photo using each other as subjects. We had to keep out cameras on totally manual settings. I got this portrait of Susan.

Fan

Ever have one of those days where you have a blog that you need to post a photo to everyday and its 11 o'clock and night and you have no idea what to take a picture of? I actually ended up like this one...it has an interesting and unintended steampunk flavor to it.

Robin

I have seen a robin! It is officially Spring. That means it can't snow anymore, right? RIGHT?!

Beer

I took lots of photos today, but how could I not post the photo of Stash leaping out of a Pabst beer box?

Amigos

We had Matt's good friend Luke and his girlfriend Loren stay with us this weekend. They were on their way to Worland after spending seven months volunteering in South America. They got here around noon on Saturday and left Sunday morning. I have hung out with them before, but it was really nice to get to spend some time chatting and catching up. They were tired of sitting in the car, so we all went for a walk in the park, and I took a picture of Luke and Matt jabbering.

Merganser

I love when the park attracts some cool types of birds. I went for a walk with Rachel and spied a couple of my favorite kinds of ducks, red-headed mergansers. My dad used to call me a red-headed merganser when I started dying my hair red. As you can see, we do share a common hair/feather color.

Water

I tried something tonight that I saw in my class. This class is a step up from the last one I took... it is all about learning how to use light and flash in pictures. I mostly shoot wildlife and without flash, so this should be a great learning experience. I put a glass vase in a cooler, put up and LED light, and Rachel dripped ink into vase while I took pictures. I need some off camera flashes!

Tired

I have had a long day! I had a meeting at 7am, worked all day, then had a photography class from 6-9pm. Whew! I was so tired when I got home I didn't even get to try and of the new things I learned in my class. Can anyone tell what this is a photo of?

Honk

All the geese have paired off and laid their eggs, so they become very territorial and confrontational. The geese are constantly honking at each other and everyone walking through the park. This goose was running past me in pursuit of another goose that had offended it.

Halibut

Did I mention that Matt is the best cook ever? Because he is. We had some halibut steaks that we got on sale from King Soopers, and I figured we would just grill them. Instead, Matt took them and smeared a tiny bit of mayo on one side of each steak, some GPS (garlic, salt and pepper) and then stuck hashbrowns to the mayo-ed side. He quickly fried each steak with the hashbrown side down (pictured) to get them crispy, and then finished it in the oven. At the same time, he made a sweet balsamic vinegar reduction to drizzle on top. I can't even tell you how mind-blowingly good they were!!

Snow

Is it Spring yet?

Photos

My friend Susan just got a cool new lighting system set up in a spare room in her house. She takes portraits and is a very good photographer. I went over to try to help her set them up and see how it works. Her son, Adam, was happy to be the subject even though he didn't stay still for long.

Laramie

We had a very fun evening! Matt, Rachel Chris and I drove down to Laramie and had a sushi dinner with Anna and her boyfriend, Josh. Rachel, Anna and I have been friends since Jr. High, and we jabber a lot about the good old days. It was wonderful to see them! After dinner, we all went over to a bar on First street that supposedly has the oldest bar in WY. Good times. :-) This is Anna glancing at me...I was snapping photos in the dark interior and she spotted me.