In The Fun Times

My sisters and I are the best of friends~ of course, we have our disagreements, and we're all different from each other, but boy we sure have fun together! Among our favorite things to do, we like to have long talks when it gets late at night. Solving problems, making up funny stories or reading them, sharing memories. It's fun to share your heart with sisters, even when they think you're crazy. I think they like me a lot though, because somehow I always end up being the one that's teased~ about everything. Becca seems to be especially creative when making up a story about me. But it's all good, and for the most part I think it's quite funny. :D

The other night we sat around and took a bunch of pictures with the skype camera on my computer...yeah, that was fun!

I enjoyed editing them too...I always like editing photos!

Jess and me...

We share a bedroom~ the three of us, and it's not all that big, so we think up things to entertain ourselves with....

Wonky, no? We had a real hoot with this one! *cheesy grin*

Retro anyone? (yes, this is how we really are!) :)

Um, trying to get a nice picture.... *winks*

But really, we love each other, and we'll always have these fun memories. I'm so thankful to God for my fun-to-be-around sisters, and enjoy them very much! We sing together, roughhouse, play music together, laugh, joke, and enjoy board games. Not to mention volley ball. We just had our first game yesterday, and it was so refreshing to get out of the house for some real activity. :D

What are some adorkable things you love to do with your sisters/brothers?

Ireland, That Beautiful Isle

Ireland. That gorgeous emerald isle, where heather grows on the moors, the skies are gray, and history has been preserved in the quaint villages and cottages.

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   Of all places in the world, I love Ireland. What's there not to like? The country is beautiful, the history amazing, and the culture is fascinating. Someday, I'm going to visit Ireland.
  I have always loved most everything Irish~ perhaps because I am Irish. My own great grandfather was born in Ireland. I can't help but think how I like being Irish.:)
  Some of my favorite aspects of their culture is, for one, the music. The music of Ireland is, in my opinion, some of the most haunting and beautiful! The most common/popular instruments used in Irish music are the fiddle, bodhran, various flutes, and the bagpipes.

I also love to hear Gaelic spoken~ it's one of the most beautiful  sounding languages. I would love to learn to speak it someday, but it's a complicated task. :)

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So who was 'St. Patrick'? Contrary to common thought, he was not Irish. He was actually stolen from his native land of Britain, and made to be a slave in Ireland  as a young man. After 7 or so years of slavery, he escaped Ireland, and sailed his way back home. Long story short, he ended up going back to Ireland as a Christian Missionary, (not Catholic), living the rest of his life there spreading the gospel. God's hand was surly upon him, and he did many great things for God. We were just listening to a radio drama of his story, and it's really remarkable! The drama will be available for listening for a week or two, so I'm including the links here. I think it's important to know who St. Patrick really was, and why that day is celebrated every year.

St. Patrick: A Heart Afire Pt. 1 of 2

St. Patrick: A Heart Afire Pt. 2

What do you love about Ireland?

The Assignments Of A Photography Class

I had mounds of fun going to those photography workshops, and I learned so much! It all just... made perfect sense. So I thought it'd be fun to share with you the results of my assignments from the classes.

The first set of classes I took were focused on 'camera basics'~ where I learned the basics about my DSLR functions. But I felt that the teacher did an excellent job, and that he covered a whole ton more than I thought could be included in the word 'basics'. :D But it was a wonderful workshop, and I feel very greatful that I was able to participate!

The first project was to take a few pictures using some of the automatic settings. I had many photos in my archives that I had taken already, so I just pulled a couple of those and took them to class.

Edited// exp. and saturation.

My favorite coffee cup. Edited// saturation.

So these photos turned out pretty nice, but I still edited them a lot to get them looking the way I wanted. Anyway, the next assignment was working with the Av mode~ aperture value. We also worked on setting a custom white balance and exposure compensation. That helped to take care of the need to adjust saturation and exp. which made a big difference. 

SOOC shot // Strait Out of Camera.

My little friend Becca :D Edited// exp. and saturation.

The next class project was getting some use out of the Tv mode~ Time Value. This is a fun setting to work with, because you can create so many awesome shots. Essentially, the mode allows you to choose a fast/slow shutter speed, so you can get really neat photos like this:

SOOC shot. 1/25 (which is pretty slow, but I compensated with using the flash.)

SOOC shot. 1/25 (with flash.)

SOOC shot. This is one of my very favorites!

We also worked on Focus Points. It's very important to know how to use focus points, because that will change the whole look and feel of your photo!

SOOC shot. I love the perspective of this photo, and the texture of the bark.

SOOC shot. The whole focus of this picture is different than the top. Points of Focus!!

So the second set of classes I attended, Intermediate to Advanced Photography, was very informative as well. Though it seemed that I already knew a lot of what the teacher was saying~ which was a bonus for me. :) This workshop wasn't so much about the different settings on a DSLR as it was about lighting, special effects, the composition of a good portrait, and a quick run through about how to use Photoshop and GIMP. We also went over what equipment is needful/useful.  I did learn quite a lot, and I'm glad I decided to go ahead and take these classes too. He didn't actually have us do much as far as taking pictures and bringing them to show the class. But I know now what equipment I need, and I'm going to start building up my skills and such. Very exciting, if you ask me!

Hope you enjoyed this!

~Dani Marie

On A Little Bit of Everything

  What an amazing, fast-paced 2 weeks it's been. That's all I can say. :)

  First off, we went through the house and did a total makeover~ painting, decorating, and taking care of the spring cleaning & all that jazz while we were at it. I did so enjoy working long hours with one of my very best friends (Mom!) making our home beautiful and clean. It's one of the things we can tackle together and have fun doing! Me and her, we make a good team.♥♥♥ Anyhow, we had some wonderful friends coming to visit from out of town, so we made that our deadline and set out to see how much we could accomplish before then. Everything came together so remarkably! Now, my bedroom is next... *triumphant look*
We ended up having such a nice visit with our friends~ we'll definitely have to do it again soon!!! :D

  So last night we went to a viewing of the documentary 'IndoctriNation'. Very educational and profound I might add (and VERY well done!). If you want to know more about the public school system and how it works, this is def. the thing for you! All you ever cared to know about the whole deal. And then you wonder, "why do we really homeschool? Just because our parents want us to be different, or...?" This will fuel your resolve to stay true to homeschooling!!! Posting the trailer...

IndoctriNation Trailer from IndoctriNation on Vimeo.

IndoctriNation (Official Site)

  Believe me, you want to see this! :D We even got to meet Colin Gunn, (who produced the whole thing) and got a signed copy of the doc. Yup, we is special hehehe.

***Heh, now the fun part! ***

  

  A few weeks back, my beautiful blogger-friend Lauren released a wonderful ebook that she wrote called 'A Beginner's Guide To Portrait Photography'. She is currently having a giveaway on her blog, and as an extra entry in entering the giveaway, I am posting about it here on my blog. Ok, so I REALLY want this book! If Lauren wrote it, it's sure to be spectacular!! Which is precisely why I am entering another giveaway of the same book on this lovely photography blog~ posting about that giveaway as an extra entry also. I very much encourage you to join in the fun if you would like to learn more about how to capture beautiful portraits. I really enjoy Lauren's style too, so that's a bonus for me.  I'm pretty excited!! :D Go join these giveaways!

  So that's how these last crazy weeks have been. Photography classes, violin lessons, painting everything in sight, cleaning, playing and the usual stuff. It's been fun! *winks*

Next up: 'The Assignments of A Photography Class'

Have a beautiful afternoon lovelies!!

~ Danielle Marie