I’m over here today …

That is all.

Have a great weekend!! xo

I love seeing all of the entries this week … kid-tossing galore!! And I thought of loads of images to use. But in the end, I decided to go with something a little different.

Emma was riding on her tricycle, and I was using the handle to help push her, so technically, I was standing & shooting over her head.

Get it?

See this week’s other entries right here (and go on and enter while you’re at it).

It’s been forever since I entered an I Heart Faces contest, but I feel like Emma gets all the attention around these parts, and we actually have two other girls that no one ever hears about.

That’s right … when this baby arrives, Ken will be the lone dude among 5 girls. And loving every second of it, I’m sure. Until the teenage years.

Yikes.

Anyway, I’ve been cleaning out my Lightroom archives lately, and I found this picture of Macey (our black lab / boxer mix) that seriously cracks me up …

Oh yeah, she totally brought all of that dead grass into the house with her.

Now, wag your little tail on over to I Heart Faces to see more Pets pictures and/or add yours!

a. I’m fixing a photo over here today for I Heart Faces. If you’re looking to work on your editing skills or get ideas on how to repair digital photos that need a little tweaking, then Fix-It Friday is a great place to start!

b. I need some ideas for tutorials to post on I Heart Faces. I know I still need to write up the “create and save a brush in Photoshop” post to complete my easy Photoshop brush watermark series, but is there anything else I do that you want to know about?

c. It’s Fence Friday!

I know I’ve posted about this before … but it bears repeating. It’s something I can definitely hear again and again.

Do you find yourself sometimes getting blah about taking pictures? Find yourself a group on Flickr or a Creativity Bootcamp or a weekly You Capture or all of the above!

I recently hit a slump. A big one. I pretty much just quit taking pictures for a while. A lot of it had to do with morning sickness early in pregnancy … I got out of the habit of taking my camera on walks or in my car or just around the house. But there are always creative outlets out there waiting to help get you back in the game.

And don’t forget to jump in front of the camera every once in a while!!

And to be honest with you, sometimes when I’m creatively dried up (it happens!) then I just go to Flickr and browse. I often find a photo (or two or forty-eight) that inspires me.

d. I’ve got an idea for a weekly post that I think is going to be a lot of fun, but the only thing holding me back is some pesky CSS issues that I have to work through. That’s computer talk for “stupid coding crap.” And lately, my poor husband has been working day and night and early morning and all weekend. So if I can grab him for a few minutes to walk me through this CSS issue, I’ll start that up.

Okay, my coffee’s cold and Emma is jonesing to go for a walk around the neighborhood (i.e., to the playground). Have a great weekend!!

I’m fixing over at I Heart Faces today (finally!!) – if you have any specific questions about my “Fix” just let me know in the comments.

editing programs used:

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2

Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0

What’s come over me!?!?

For those who missed the creating a watermark using Photoshop brushes tutorial on here, I posted it over on I Heart Faces today. And I’ll be finishing up the follow-up tutorial (how to SAVE a brush so you can use it again and again) in the next couple of days.

So have you heard about the I Heart Faces Photowalk Across America on Saturday, June 5, 2010?

Yes, that’s right. I am grabbing my camera and heading down to Columbia to lead one of the 20 photowalks around the country. And I am SO excited!!

Even if you’re not an I Heart Faces follower, you can still attend. Anyone can come (as long as you are 13 and older).

We’re going to meet at the Columbia Museum of Art on Main Street at 9:00am, walk down and around the State Building and then head over to the USC Horseshoe.

And then we’ll all grab some lunch so we can chat and get to know each other better.

Right now, we don’t have a lunch destination because I actually live in Greenville, and I’m not sure what’s in Columbia that’s good and quiet enough for us to be able to talk without yelling.

So if any of you live in Columbia or know of a good eating place that’s right around the Horseshoe, please let me know! I’ll do my best to do some online research or get down there over the next couple of weeks to pick a place if I don’t get any suggestions.

Also, I’ll be spending the night in Columbia that Friday night, so if you want to meet up for breakfast beforehand, please comment here or email me!

If you’re interested, please head on over to the registration page and sign up!

Cost: $5 per person
(plus the small fee that Eventbrite charges)
(Ages 13 and up only please)

Not only will you have the opportunity to ask me a million questions that I’ll probably have to Google on my Blackberry while we’re there, you’ll have the chance of winning some pretty great prizes!!

And if you are going, please comment here and also put this button on your blog so I can get to know you better before we get there.

<a href="http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/p/i-heart-faces-photo-walk.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.kidnappedbysuburbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/IHeartFacesPhotowalkJune5th.jpg" border="0" alt="photowalk"></a>

Visit I Heart Faces for registration links for the other photo walk cities: Austin, Texas; Bisbee, Arizona; Boise, Idaho; Chicago, Illinois; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Atlanta, Georgia; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; Las Vegas, Nevada; Louisville, Kentucky; Chaska, Minnesota; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Orange County, California; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Sacramento, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; Seattle, Washington; and Washington, D.C.

A terribly underexposed (photographer’s worst nightmare) & rather busy backgrounded picture of Emma is up for Fix-It Friday at I Heart Faces this week. Join in on the fun!

I’m trying to get around to see everyone’s edits, but there are so many already that I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it.

Thank you for working on my photo!!

Interested in learning more about photography? Want to get everything you can out of your camera? Well, I’m throwing out a challenge over here today.

It was actually a good reminder for myself since I wrote it a few weeks ago and was already getting blah about my photography this year.

Let me also just throw out a blanket apology – for not posting much here, for not posting comments on your blogs, for not being as active on Twitter.

Bottom line? I’m pooped.

Emma has been a little more clingy than usual lately, and it’s taking a lot out of me on a daily basis. I just can’t sit at the computer much without her needing me to do something with her. She’s very needy, very much bored with everything she owns.

Just today, I spent a good 10 minutes getting paints out for her to play with, spreading paper on the floor, getting a cup of rinse water and a towel for drying – and then she painted for, oh, about 4 minutes. And then I cleaned up.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not complaining about her. Just stating the facts of our life right now. She’s two. And she wants to experiment with new things every day. And my job is to take care of her needs. And we’re dealing with it and getting through it. Eventually, we’ll get our groove back, but for now, she needs me more than I need to be online.

I Heart Faces … my heart smiles whenever I type it. It was started a year ago by two amazing bloggers & photographers, and it has grown by leaps and bounds since then. They are celebrating with a gorgeous new design – check it out when you get a chance! I am absolutely honored to be a part of it.

This week, they are asking for our best face photo from December 2009 / January 2010. Basically, it’s a way to show where we are in our photography right now.

For me, it was an easy decision …

I absolutely LOVE this picture. It’s pure joy … happiness … bliss. Everything she is to me. Go check out the other entries here and then go ahead and enter while you’re over there.