Some more photos of friends

Took some beautiful photos of some beautiful people today. 

We had a good time. My brother hunts with this guy and he loves how pretty our property is, so we did some exploring and took some fun photos. Our neighbor even let us use his property for a bit because they loved the way the barn looked.

Country Living Fair 2014

So I got to go with my mom to the Country Living Fair in ATL this weekend!

She is part of a group of ladies that goes camping together. Have you ever heard of the Sisters on the Fly? If you like camping you should look into them, they have so much fun!

My mom is the regional wrangler for SotF, and she was nominated to speak at a seminar held by GoRVing.com, along with a few other SotF from our area. 

Also I met the most wonderful group of guys here too. They are a band from New Jersey that the CLF invited to play at all their events this year. They play folksy type music, and their name is Thomas Wesley Stern and they are amazing!! My mom invited them to come play at the campgrounds for the SotF after the fair closed for the night. The ladies were having a Halloween campfire dinner and my mom was hoping the guys would come and play for them. 

Y'all, they did it! We had our own little private concert by the lake, at the base of Stone Mountain!!

Photos of friends

I got to be a real photographer today. I've never really advertised myself as a photographer, simply because all I ever had was a tiny point and shoot. Now that I have a beautiful DSLR from Canon, courtesy of my wonderful Hubs, I have been snapping that shutter more than ever! 

Today I met with a friend to help her get some family photos. The issue with being a photographer is that you can't take candid photos of yourself! So we worked out a little trade. I photograph her family, and she will return the favor for me. Hey, why not! We are both good photographers, and we get free photos!

Here are a few of my favorites from today. I am still learning about my new camera's buttons and functions. It even has its own filters you can apply!

Birthday hike

Its my birthday!

Yay me!

Hubs and I went hiking for my birthday. We went to Mt. Cheaha, the highest point it Alabama. There are lots of hiking trails to visit, but we chose the trail that loops around lake Chinabee. Its about halfway up the mountain, and at the entrance, there is a trail that leads away from the lake to a waterfall we like to visit during the summer. I've been there many times, and its never boring, but this time I wanted to go all the way around the lake. I knew there was a trail, but never got the opportunity to take it, so today was the day!

We packed water bottles and some snacks and took off. The lake has mostly level embankments on one side, so the first half of the hike was a breeze. When we came to a marshy spot and there were signs teaching you about the wildlife that lives there. On the other side of the marsh, we started a steady trek uphill.

The trail became more elevated than before, showing beautiful lake views. 

We found a split log bench and sat for a minute enjoying how quiet everything was. About the time we reached the opposite side of the lake from the parking area, we came to a dam. Something I never knew was there! I've been coming to this lake on this mountain since I was a kid, and never knew it was a lake because it was dammed up!

So we explored the dam, and a bit below it before we found the trail again. We kinda lost it for a bit there, LOL. Most of our hike was shaded at this point because the mountain was between us and the sun. We continued up the trail a bit, completing the loop around the lake. Now we just had to cross the creek, so we continued up the trail until we found a low point to cross without getting our shoes wet.

I took my new camera with me and got some nice macro photos of all the tiny woodland flowers.   

Slim down those DVDs!!

Do you have LOADS of DVDs? I did, or at least I felt like I did! I found out today I only have about 70! Felt like I had over 100! So, today I did something about it!

I have seen these DVD organizing sleeves on Pinterest, where all your DVDs are organized in a clear sleeve, and they fit in a shoebox!! So I went hunting online to find these things, and let me tell you they were either unavailable or super expensive. Yall know I'm not gonna pay that much, so I did some DIYing!

I went to Office Max! Surely they will have these sleeve things for cheap! Or something similar!

I found these guys for $6 each! I bought 4 sets of sleeves, and 2 binders that go with them. They are just regular sheet protectors! And guess what?! They fit DVD covers in them perfectly!!

So I set to it! I took each cover out of the case and folded it on the spine, just a little offset. Be sure to check the fit with your sleeves here. Once you've folded a few, you wont need to measure much anymore. Then the DVD went in the cover, and it all went in the sleeve.

It's amazing how much room those cases takes up!!

This is my after photo! Look at all that space! This shelf was full before I got started! FULL!! Now its just Dwayne's Xbox games and our Harry Potter DVD set thats left. The rest is compressed into those binders! How awesome!

Yes, these are the same shelving units that I had set up in our living room, that I decorated with burlap to "hide" our stuff. These units have been with me for years and are so awesome, I use them for everything!

Ta-da! All 70 something DVDs, taking up only 4" of space! Ahh! So nice, and NOT an eyesore, as well!

Ok, so now what do I do with the cases? Well, I had a few ideas in mind, but I'm so busy with other things right now I decided not to start a new project. (Dwayne felt my forehead when I said that, and I can't blame him at all!, LOL)

To the recycle they go!

SO, did I make you want to do this? Let me know if you do!

Mom's Birthday

Hello August!

My favorite month of the year.

The only month without a holiday. 

So we celebrate mine and my mom's birthdays as holidays!

Mom's birthday is at the beginning of the month, when the worlds longest yard sale takes place.

My birthday comes at the end of the month, right after school starts. I used to hate that because I could never have sleepover parties, everyone always needed to be ready for school the next day. (My birthday rarely fell on a weekend.) This weekend was mom's birthday cook out, and we had a fish fry! Let me tell you right now, those are rare events folks!

 We had everyone from the ranch come out and enjoy the gathering. 

Our newest family member got to enjoy her first fish fry right here on the farm!

(the baby blanket I made from here was for her)

We also went to the longest yard sale and junked around for a Few hours before coming home to eat at our favorite restaurant.

Here I gave mom her birthday gift I've been working on for what felt like forever!!

As you can see from her photo, she loved it. LOL 

Beach Time!

Well, before I talk about the beach and make you all want another vacation, let me go ahead and brag a bit on my new camera. So if you have been keeping up with my posts, you will remember my husband got me a camera for our anniversary. While I have been using it, not much is worth posting about. Flowers and such mostly.

Now, I do! We recently went to visit with my husband's side of the family for Father's Day. I took my camera because I'm a shutter bug and you never know when you will get a good photo.

Well, I did. And I love it! This is Hubs little sister, with smoke from the grill behind her. It made for a beautiful background! 

Here is the original photo, along with the one I tinkered with just a bit. I'm not one to over-edit a photo, it's just a bit tacky. (my opinion) Although this original was a bit too light and did require some work. (I was in manual mode, trying to get used to the camera)

I have placed my Mark on them simply because the Internet has mean people on it. Sad, I know. So, please, no lectures.

Ok, now that I have bragged on my camera, and shown you my beautiful lil sis, how about some beach photos!

We rode down to Pensacola Beach with my little brother and his new wife (remember he got married!!) And we left at about 4AM! Not my cuppa! Halfway there we stopped at (where else on a road trip) Waffle House! Here we took a selfie, haha! No makeup, and barely awake! Except for my brother, he is used to 4am and is weird anyway.

We are here! 

Yay, I can't feel my rear!

My Dad and his sisters were already here, and this is where we stayed. Huge!

We all decided that his side of the family needed a family reunion and this is what was chosen, a beach trip!

My fam has such good taste!

After tossing all our gear into the appropriate bedroom, we hit the sand. So hot! So nice!

The awning on the left is brand new for this trip, but the colorful one on the right has been my aunt and uncle's since they were high school sweeties! It's a trooper of a tent!

From left to right:

Dad's leg, Hubby, bro and his wife, and the guy in the hat is my uncle.

We had it made in the shade, I don't know why we got out in the water at all.

Oh, yeah, it felt amazing! Not too cold or warm, just right. And clear as could be too!

BOOBS!

My brother is so mean to my Hubs, but they get along just great together!

After some sandy shenanigans, Hubs decided it was time to try out some of the beach toys the house offered.

He liked it, but wake boarding was really wearing him out. My brother, Hubs, and my cousin all took turns on it. 

It was soo much fun watching them fall over and over!

I went walking along the beach playing with my camera and found some guys having some fun in the shallow waves. 

This guy was really good!

A few nights before the trip was over, my brother suggested some beer pong. My Dad, me, Hubs, and Bro all played a round or two, but the battle really started between Hubs and Bro.

They stayed up for a few hours longer than everyone else because my brother simply would not accept defeat.

My Hubs loves this game and is really good at it, and the best part was he didn't tell my brother that!

The rest of our trip was about the same, tanning and swimming at the beach. Dining out, and grilling. Just chilling at the beach house.

The day we left, my aunt had planned for me to take some photos of the family. So we all grouped up in various places and smiled.

.

Right after I said that was enough, everyone went back inside and changed back into beach wear to soak up the last rays we could before leaving.

And that's our little vacation with my dad's side of the family. It was so nice to spend some quality time with some of the family members you don't get to see as often. The beach wasn't that bad either!

More Classes!

So we had our 3rd crochet class today, and let me tell you; the young girl (who is a lefty) really took off with her skills! She used the cheat sheets I gave her and really got moving on an infinity scarf! Go girl! She made a special trip to her nearest Hobby Lobby (about an hr away) and bought her own hooks and yarn in different sizes so she can make even more things! I'm so happy to have given someone else the knowledge of a fun new skill!

That's all today folks, I just had to share, I'm so stoked!

A little progress goes a long way

I taught myself to crochet shortly before starting this blog. You can see my first project in a previous post of mine, Catching Up to Christmas. A small scarf that I made and remade until I learned the stitch. Back then I only knew a few stitches thanks to YouTube. Now I have taught myself so much more. I know all the basic stitches, a few combinations, and I can finally read patterns and diagrams!

I should have posted this before my I Taught Crochet Classes post, cause I know y'all are all thinking 'she taught those people without knowing it herself!'

No, I just haven't gotten around to posting a lot about my crocheting. This is mostly a craft and DIY blog. But then, I guess crochet is a craft you DIY, right?

Well, now you are getting that. I have been working on a blanket for my mom's birthday for about a year now. It's been one of those on-and-off projects that keeps getting set aside.

A photo posted by Emily Bishop (@emilybishop14) on Jan 17, 2014 at 3:40pm PST

I stopped working on it for a few months so I could make a baby blanket for my niece. I mentioned her in my post, What's Up?

Axle is always wanting to help me with my crocheting.

A photo posted by Emily Bishop (@emilybishop14) on Nov 24, 2013 at 11:48pm PST

A photo posted by Emily Bishop (@emilybishop14) on Nov 24, 2013 at 11:54pm PST

Once I finished and delivered the baby blanket I was able to get back to my mom's blanket. I'm finally able to start joining them all together now! All 216 squares of them! Here they all are ready to be joined.

A photo posted by Emily Bishop (@emilybishop14) on Apr 21, 2014 at 2:28pm PDT

Now, my mom knew I was making her this blanket. Heck, I've been making squares everywhere I went. How could she not know? So when the day came to start joining them, I told her she couldn't see the rest of the process. It would spoil the ending. So I invited her to come and see the pile before I started joining them.

This is what she did...

"Oh, they are so soft! And cuddly! I just want to bury myself in them!"

And that's exactly what she did! And I got a photo of it!

A photo posted by Emily Bishop (@emilybishop14) on Apr 21, 2014 at 2:50pm PDT

All you can see is the top of her head and ponytail. She just laid on my bed and covered her face with them! We both got a good laugh out of that.

Here you can see my joining method. Its just a simple slip stitch, but it works beautifully!

Axle really enjoyed this blanket. He was always either on it, or under it. And occasionally he wrapped himself up in it!

A photo posted by Emily Bishop (@emilybishop14) on Jun 11, 2014 at 10:08am PDT

So, now comes the worst part of crocheting. For me anyways, it's the weaving in the ends!

I still have a long way to go with this blanket, but I'm well on my way to being finished with it. Once these dreaded tails are gone, I can start the border. Then a wash, and I can give it to my mom for her birthday!