Project 365 - Photo of the Day - May 31, 2008

Since Joel and my anniversary is June 1, we decided to go to a fancy-schmancy hotel for one night. Of course, I had won a contest back in November of 2007 and it was a one-night stay at the Pier 66 Hyatt Regency in Fort Lauderdale, complete with two spa treatments, dinner and wine for two and a luxurious hotel suite!

It truly was a special occasion. Not only was I pampered with an hour-long facial, but that was followed by an hour-long Swedish massage!! I, of course had to complete the spa treatment with the sauna and a stinging shower. Then I met Joel at the pool where we just sat, had a beer and people-watched!

Later that evening the Executive Chef of the hotel AND the food and beverage manager came to our suite (and it was quite a suite complete with a separate bedroom, a kitchen, a dining room with a table that sat about 12, a living room with chairs, couches, tables, flat screen TV, two Lanais and a separate bathroom with marble tile and a double shower head.

So they came to our suite with tons of cooking equipment and went out on the Lanai and cooked us a seven course meal! Each course had its own bottle of wine -- Champagne, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Malbec, and on and on!! Needless to say, the alcohol went to my brain, but I remember every detail. The food was wonderful, but if you watch shows like "Top Chef" you realize that each course is almost thimble-sized. I was wondering if I would get full, but I did!!

These photos were taken on the property of the hotel.


Joel and I went up to the top floor of Pier 66 to see if we could see the Space Shuttle take off. We couldn't but the views were magnificent of the Port, of the beach and of stuff in general. This is a view of the famous pointed roof of the tower.



I am sure that on the ground this boat was large but from up high it looked like a toy to me.



And I am a sucker for the deep blue sky when we have it. Now that we are headed into the heat and humidity of the summer, the sky usually changes to a lighter blue and usually lots of clouds. But this day was perfectly clear and not too hot. This was the roof of the building where our suite was in.

If you want to see more photos from our weekend, you can click here.

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - May 29, 2008

Today was all about Rachel.



I just caught her in this first photo in her bathroom talking to Joel about installing a water saving device in her shower.



Newton was sniffing Rachel's face and I thought it was cute.



And in this photo Rachel was concentrating on a homework problem.

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - May 26, 2008 - Part II

After my heavenly morning on the lake with Ronnie, I headed home to upload my photos. My sleepy children FINALLY got up at 11 a.m. and wanted to do something. So I made the suggestion of Long Key Park which is one of the new nature centers that opened up in West Broward across the street from Flamingo Gardens.

Rachel was all for it and Adina could barely get out of bed! But we finally got on the road by noon and we got ourselves Subway sandwiches and brought them with us to the park. We wandered the nature paths and looked for a bench, but the park is so new they haven't had the time to install any yet. So we plopped down on the path and just ate there . . . of course making sure that we threw all of our garbage away in the trash can! I still have a little parks and recreation in my blood!

These photos are a combination of Long Key Park and Flamingo Gardens. We went over there to get some fresh squeezed juice and ended up with lots of fun peacock photos (I swear the peacock was posing for me and shaking his feathers at me!!) and then discovered this really cool "secret garden" complete with a wooden gliding chair in a gazebo. I won't attempt to describe each photo, because I am too lazy today, but we really did have a good time. My girls really are troopers and they oblige their mom's photography adventures!

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - May 26, 2008

The girls were sleeping, Joel left for work, the sun was up and I went out with my camera. I was very surprised at the cool temperature that hit me. It is late May and still cool. How odd, but luckily for me I knew that I wouldn't be shvitzing while I was out taking photos!

So as I turned the bend behind my neighbor's house he called me over and I plopped down on the chair and he brought me a cup of coffee. How could I refuse? The breeze was strong off of the lake and these are the photos that I snapped for the two hours that I sat there with him while we chatted about life.



This is the view from the back of Ronnie and Lori's house. It is heavenly. It would have been nice to live on the lake, but there wasn't a house available when we bought here 18 years ago.



This is Rocky (hey, I didn't name him!). He was peeking around the tree to see if it was okay to take a peanut from the bird house.



This is just one of the many Blue Jays that stopped by to have peanuts. I loved the way I froze the motion of his wings as he was landing.

























I love the way squirrels can eat upside down!



I liked this photo because of the way the sun was hitting the feathers, the colors are much brighter in this shot.



This guy was sitting on Ronnie's chair when Ronnie got up for a moment to refill my coffee cup.



This guy was a hungry one, he came back at least ten times!




Okay, so I finally got up out of my chair to try to focus on this gigantic spider web!

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - May 24, 2008

So Jose gave me his Speedlight SB-400 flash for the Nikon camera since he bought a new one online the other day. I was so excited but didn't have much of a chance to start playing with it. I really do not like flash photography, but this flash helps the photos look more real, good skin tone and less flat, of course depending on the angle, how close you are to the subject and how you angle the flash to your subject. These photos are just me playing around with those elements.



This first photo was taken in the living room. I wanted to see what would happen with bright backlight and a dark room. I took several of these photos and angled the flash several ways and this one was halfway pointing to the ceiling.



Again, with this shot, I took about ten different shots with the flash in different positions. Some were very flat but this one had the most warmth and depth.
























This photo was difficult because I was balancing dangerously on the edge of the tub's metal track that the sliding glass door moves on while I was holding on with one hand and the camera in the other hand and trying different angles. Candace was more lit than Adina in this composition. I also wanted to shoot from as high up as I could to give the feeling that we were peering into a private scene.



This photo was equally as difficult because I was laying down on my back with the top of my head flush against the tub with my feet up in the air against the wall balancing myself so that I could achieve this low angle. I didn't want the girls to appear to notice my existence. They were so busy doing pedicures that I think that they really didn't notice me.



And this last photo was taken as Rachel and I were putting the finishing touches on our hair and make up as we were getting ready to go out to a graduation party for our friend's son. I really tried to make this work with the flash, but it is hard in mirror. Rachel was ready to kill me after the twentieth photo!!

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - May 23, 2008

Thursday Rachel had to work at the Museum of Discovery and Science. There was a special event for families to come and see the new exhibit on frogs and a new IMAX film about the weird phenomenon off the coast of Eastern Africa about sardines that come onto the shores with the cold currents of winter. There are actually so many sardines that from the air looking down (which they LOVE to do in 3D IMAX films so that you can get a little queasy) it looks like an oil slick! They are so thick that it looks completely black.

Well, I couldn't take my camera into the museum and I didn't want to get asked to put my cell phone away so I didn't even try to take photos in the traveling exhibit, however, I managed to snap this one photo of a really, really HUGE lobster. It is hard to tell how big it is from this photo, but it would feed many people!

I met the girls at the museum at 5 p.m. It was a really, really hot and humid afternoon and it looked like it was going to pour at any second as I was walking down the block from my office to the museum. By the time I got to the museum I was sweating like a pig and my nice straight hair was flying in all different directions, so of course, I ended up pulling it all up in a ponytail.

Rachel and her girlfriend, Pearl, had to work (Rachel with the frog shaped cookies and green frosting and M&Ms as eyes and Pearl with the frog Origami). Adina and I walked around the museum until the film started and then we walked around until the girls were finished working. It had rained while we were in the museum and had stopped when we were leaving so we decided to get tacos at my favorite place before we got back in the car to go home. It turned out to be a very nice evening . . . a girls night out . . . we didn't get home until 10:30 p.m. and I had to go to work the next day, but that was really okay, because I went straight to sleep.

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - May 21, 2008

My neighborhood is like a nature preserve! Today I made Adina take a walk with me after work and school. I had a very long day of budget stuff and I needed to clear my head. And, I wanted company along the way. I told Adina to take her camera but she didn't really get inspired. She was amazed at how many creatures live in our very own backyard!

I also use the RAW feature on my camera today because I never have and one of my employees promised to teach me stuff on Photoshop. I tried to edit these photos but I am not very adept at it yet but these are my attempts.