Honey, I'm Home.....

And so glad to be back in the blogging world!  Well, it has been another week.  And I still have a cold.  I know this is my body's way of telling me to slow down and take a little breather. Ok, a honkin' BIG ass breather.  Unfortunately, the body's logic is a bit faulty. Because, as we all know, moms don't get sick time.  And with as crazy as things have been at work lately - well, no sick time there either.  Even though I have felt like crap, I worked, cooked, and did laundry and shopping through it all.  Admittedly, I didn't do much else. I haven't picked up a camera in two weeks. TWO weeks people!  I didn't go to the gym for a full ten days. I didn't finish Creative Boot Camp.  In fact, I didn't do anything creative.  And I was too tired to care!  I did spend time chilling in front of the television. What a waste. 

Well guess what body? You suck.  Every single stinkin' thing that was on my "to do" list two weeks ago before you shut me down is STILL THERE... waiting for me. mocking me.   So thanks so much for the "rest" - NOT! 

Thankfully, I am finally starting to feel better. Better enough even to go to the gym. I finally made it out on Tuesday. And you know, when you've been away for ten days... well, the body seems to think you've never exercised before. Like ever. It wants to start back at square one. No such thing as picking up where you left off!  Today I managed 27 minutes on the elliptical and 10 on the bike, with a total of 360 calories burned. That felt like a major accomplishment.

And now I'm starting to feel the creative fever creeping back into my bones, my marrow, my soul. I'm ready to feel alive again. I'm ready to unleash my inner artist and let her tell my body where to go. (Of course I mean that in the nicest way, right?  Unless you know me well enough to feel the sarcasm dripping from my tongue.)  Today I downloaded actions for PSE8 from Pioneer Woman.  Thanks for the link Karen!  And then I went through a tutorial on installing them and managed to get it right the first time.  Sweet!  Then I played.  Here's my results:

I know you've seen this photo before, but I haven't taken any new pictures, remember?  And I needed something to play with!  So, this is my original photo, after I cropped it close, desaturated the color and then brought back color to the eyes.  Which I thought was pretty good and have used for a couple of things.

Photo #1 with Pioneer Woman's "Lovely" and "Bring Out the Eyes" actions applied. And sharpening of the eyelashes.  I love how this brightens and softens skin tone and really makes the eye pop.

Photo #2 with Pioneer Woman's "Seventies" action added on top.

It felt so good to finally "play" again.  So, which is your favorite???  And what are those eyes telling you?