Thursday, June 24, 2010

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 creativeAnd 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?

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're welcome! They are fun, aren't they? I like #2 the best for this photo. I've been in the same creative slump, but I can't even blame being sick for it. Guess I just needed to chill for a while.

quiltingfool said...

I like the middle one best. To me, the coloring on the last one makesmyou look jaundiced. I like how your eyelashes "pop" on the middle one. So glad to have you back among the living! I've really missed your entertaining blogs. Welcome back!

Unknown said...

I LOVE PW's Actions! I still haven't mastered the Bring out the Eyes one yet... look at you go! Very cool! Of course, you being a digi scrapper, that stuff makes more sense to you than to me, I would guess. SO glad you are feeling better (starting to, at least)... Summer colds SUCK! Good to see you "back', feeling creative and bloggy. GO AWAY COLD! :)

Amy said...

Again it is the 'Seventies' Action that I LOVE of hers - always looks good if you ask me!
I haven't been to the gym in over two weeks now so you are streets ahead of me!

Kelly Miller said...

I hope you kick the cold, and soon. It's just not fair to have one during the summer.

scrappyjacky said...

Glad you're starting to feel better...amazing how bad a cold can make you feel.
Definately like the second one best....the last does have a bit of a strange colour I think.

Sian said...

So good to hear that you are starting to feel a bit better. Summer colds are miserable.

I think I like the middle one best too. The eyelashes look fantastic!

Rachel said...

Good to hear you're back. It's true that moms aren't allowed to get sick.

Last year I was pretty incapacitated by a bad kidney infection and my then 2 yr old was asking me for juice. I sadly sad, "Mommy can't get out of bed, honey. Mommy is sick." To which he promptly replied, "You NOT sick! You MOMMY!" Needless to say, he got his juice. lol :)

Hope you're feeling 100% soon.

Carrie said...

Glad you're feeling better. Great shots!

humel said...

Another vote for the middle one :-)

Lovely to see you blogging again - so sorry you've been poorly xx

Tammy Lee Bradley said...

Glad you are feeling better. I like the 3rd one. Hope to see you at Sunday Creative and Picture Summer.

Just curious but can you read that last post???? :)

Stay Healthy. Tam

Cheryl said...

I'm sorry you were so sick! You always have such a full plate - I'm tired just reading the list of classes you're signed up for. Your Boot Camp LOs are awesome. Love the Heavy Metal and Fluid pages. Glad you're feeling better.