heylucy

shoe obssession

I've been busy, but I'll be back with some fun sewing and knitting projects soon. I'm afraid that I must sheepishly admit to a slight shoe obssession, but have you seen all the cute sandals this season? I'm really not a shopper, I hate going to the mall, and I haven't been very fashionable the last few years. I just didn't want anyone thinking that I am a totally materialistic person. But...I have been obssessing over these shoes for the last few weeks. I have a Nordstrom gift card that would pay for them, but I also really need some new sandals. Also, I've now lost 20 lbs, and I'm going to need some new clothes soon. And they are a bit more expensive than I would normally buy. But gosh, they are so very cute. They didn't have my size when I first found them, but now they do.

 

What am I going to do? Please help me! It's a terrible dilemma!

extreme cuteness

I know there was a post full of cuteness a little while ago, but I'm about to up the ante. Don't worry though, I'll ease you into it. Remember my size 11 shoe dilemma? I'm happy to report that the cute shoe dry spell seems to be ending. I found some awfully cute shoes at Macy's on the clearance rack the other day. Macy's never has size 11 shoes. They do have a bit of a heel, but I don't care.

I don't exactly know what I'm going to wear them with. I could use some fashion advice. They look cute with jeans, but I don't have many opportunities to wear heels and jeans. I know that miss-matched colors are very stylish right now, I'm just not sure what colors to wear these with.

And now for the super cuteness. Are you ready? A few of the Buff Orpington hens went broody recently, and I thought I'd just let them set on some eggs and see what would happen. I got home Friday afternoon to a very worried looking Golden Retriever (he's the Mama Bear around here). Bear kept running over to the chicken coop, so I went to see if everything was okay, and as I got closer I heard the unmistakable cheeping of a baby chick. There were a couple already hatched and running around, and another one on it's way out of it's shell. Two more hatched this morning. I kept them with their mama for a little while:

But I've since moved them to their own box, with their own food and water. There are still a bunch of eggs left, and two hens sitting vigilantly, so I'll give them a few more days before I start shooing them out. The three older chicks are eating and drinking like crazy. The two new ones are still a bit wobbly, but they're pecking about, and growing stronger by the hour.

I'll set up the chick photography studio again this week, and get more pictures. It's so fun having a few babies again!

pictures of dogs

I promise this post isn't going to be only about dogs, but Keri said I could post a picture of Winston every day, if I wanted to, and odd dotty wanted to know more about the animal photography lecture I went to, and I aim to please. So first, here is Winston pouting again, because I'm not paying attention to him. That dog works himself into a frenzy when I get home from work every night. Actually, he gets nearly as excited to see me when we've been apart for five minutes. I can't even go to the bathroom in peace if he's in the house. Tomorrow I have to leave from work to go to my mother-in-law's house and won't be back until Friday. I'm a little worried about how he's going to handle that. I've been trying to figure out a way to bring him along, but I don't think his hyper-activeness will be appreciated since I'm going to take her in for cataract surgery, and he's never been there before. I'm sure he'll survive for two days, right?

As for animal photography, let me just start by saying that this is how most of my pet photos turn out.

It has it's own sort of charm, I guess.

Here are some things I learned (and some of these really apply to any kind of photography, and a lot of them are really just common sense):

1. Be patient! Don't expect to have a 15 or 20 minute photo session with your pet. In fact, just shoot for a minute or two at a time.

2. Let the animals get used to you and your camera. Just have your camera out and press the shutter a few times to get them used to the noise. This is helpful with especially shy or nervous animals, or animals who aren't used to cameras. If you want to shoot your pet in a particular area, hang out in that area with some treats or toys so that they become interested in that area on their own. Then, once they are comfortable there, start taking pictures!

3. Try to always work in natural light. Animals, even more so than people, get terrible red-eye when you use your flash. If you must use a flash, then an off-camera flash with a diffuser is the best option.

4. Get down at your pet's level. Trying to see things from their perspective makes for much more interesting shots. Also, try to capture their personality by photographing them doing what they do most. I've noticed that most of my photos of Lucy are taken when she comes to check out what I'm doing. I know cats are curious in general, but she always has to know what's going on. I don't have as many pictures of Petey, because he's either sleeping or zooming around, bouncing off the walls, which brings me to the next tip:

5. Learn how to shoot in 'Action' mode. Unless I want a bunch of pictures of a sleeping Petey, I'm going to have to learn how to do this.

6. Take lots and lots of pictures! You're sure to end up with a few good ones.

Any other ideas/tips would definitely be welcome, or links to your favorite pet photos. Please share in the comments!

And for you non-dog people, I also like taking pictures of flowers:

I also have a healthy eating report! This picture is not super great, but this meal was pretty tasty:

It's Thai-style Halibut with Coconut Curry Broth, and it's from this book, which I mentioned before. It was super easy and delicious, and I will definitely be making it again. In fact, I think I'll make it tonight, but with vegetables instead of fish. Another favorite from the same book is Greek Style Stuffed Peppers, which we've made quite a few times, but using ground turkey instead of ground beef. I've also been making a healthier version of Shepherd's Pie, I'll share that recipe next time, if anyone is interested.

happiness

A little Spring, which is brightening my day:

I was playing with my aperture settings. I think I'll try again at a different setting.

I didn't feel like saying much in my last post, but I do want to sincerely thank you all for the kind words about Reggie. I know that all pet owners know how bad this sucks, and it helps to know that I'm not the only one who has ever had to go through this. It's been hard, because I realized that I had been grieving for the dog he once was for a long time, and I hated seeing him slowing down like he did. It's part of life, though, and it makes me appreciate the good times all the more. And this little punk is really helping:

I tried to work his fur into a faux-hawk, but it wasn't cooperating this morning. I never mentioned that I went to a Pet Photography workshop at the San Diego Humane Society a few weeks ago. It was taught by this lady, who takes some great animal photos. I learned a few things about taking pictures of animals, although I wish we had had a little longer, I think there is so much to know! Here is another animal (and people) photographer I've been enjoying lately.

In other news, I had a bit of a cold earlier this week, and stayed home from work. While I did sleep for many hours, I started feeling better in the late afternoon and decided that I needed to knit. I went to work on my Hanami stole, started oh so long ago, but it seems that my snot-addled brain just could not handle the lace and I made yet another mistake. Actually, snot-addled or not, my brain is just having a hard time with it. I don't know why I'm having such a hard time with this pattern, but it is seriously the most challenging knitting project I have ever attempted. I'm not giving up, but I need a few more days to work myself up to un-knit to find out where I went wrong. So I went foraging in my yarn basket, and on Knitty, and decided that a nice Spring scarf was in order. So I cast on the Lace Ribbon Scarf from the latest issue, and I'm really liking it. I'm using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn in the colorway Glenwood (that's the most accurate photo I could find). I actually like it better in this multicolor yarn than I thought I would, but I'd still like to have one in a solid color, maybe in a nice, drape-y linen yarn.

Now this lace I can handle, although it is going to need some serious blocking.

warm & cozy

I was nearly done with Lady Eleanor v2 when I had to drop it and make quilts instead. Now that I've had a few free evenings, I managed to get it all finished.

I'm still not crazy about this color way, but I don't hate it, either. It will get a lot of use, too, as my office has been freezing the past couple weeks.

Bear and Winston were helping me out with my knitting photo shoot.

Winston is even worse than Bear. He always has to be Right Next to Me, as illustrated here:

Despite the sadness this past week, there's been some fun stuff too, what with my birthday and a trip to Petco Park for a baseball game. I was quite lucky and got a new zoom lens for my camera, and tried it out at the game.

Action shot! I'm not much of a baseball fan, but it's always fun to go to the game, and it was lots of fun with my camera. 

a very good dog

Ten years ago, when I first met Mr. Heylucy, he introduced me to his kids-two cats and this little mutt. I think those three animals were a little bit like Darcy's Pemberley, you know how Elizabeth Bennett really starts to fall for him when she sees his house for the first time? I think that's what happened when I met Reggie and Gigi and Dune. A man with pets as great as these three had to be pretty great too.

Now 16, Reggie has been going downhill for a long time, and we've been preparing ourselves for this for the last few months. This morning Mr. Heylucy was finally ready to let his buddy go. And so we went to our vet's office and held him and petted him while he was quietly put to sleep. Even though we knew it was the right thing, it was so very hard. We'll have his ashes to bury with his buddies, Gigi and Dune. I hope he's with them now, and Gigi has thrown herself down in front of him like she used to, so he could lick her all over. We're gonna miss you Reggie Boinkie-Boink, our little surfer boy and tennis ball lover.

two quilts in one month

I did it. I'm kind of tired, but the two quilts are done and on their way to the publisher. Thanks mom for quilting the one with the crosses! I put the last stitch in the binding last night around midnight. But now I get to enjoy my day today, which is great, since it's My Birthday! I'm off to have a big messy hamburger and fries for lunch, because you can't eat healthy every day.

Winston was pouting this morning because I was taking pictures instead of paying attention to him.

He's a little smartypants, though. We've been training almost every day, and he's very good at sitting. Down is a little harder, and stay is the hardest of all. He's starting to understand 'Shake', and will give me his paw about half the time when I tell him to shake. I got a book of dog tricks, so we're going to work on learning lots of fun tricks.

music to quilt by

I have entered phase two of my new healthy living plan. That's right...exercise. It wasn't easy to find an activity that I enjoyed doing, that I could fit into my day, and that wouldn't involve spending large quantities of money, but I finally figured it out. I'm going swimming a few times a week, on my lunch hour, at a nearby rec center pool. Before now there were occasional walks, and visits to the tiny gym at work to use the elliptical machine, and I even use the stairs rather than the  elevator a few times a day, but I knew it wasn't nearly enough. So now I've gone to the swimming pool several times, and it feels really good. The only thing is that I am so very tired at the end of the day. I thought exercise was supposed to energize you, when does that start happening?

I'm going to pretend that these are my reward for exercising and eating better, even though I ordered them weeks ago, and they were on back order. They just arrived, and they're just as cute as I thought they would be:

See how big my feet are? Still, with art by Camilla on them, they look pretty cute.

Quilting continues in earnest, and I thought I'd share some of the music I'm enjoying right now, to get me through. I love the new Rogue Wave album, particularly this song (I couldn't embed this one, so you have to click the link).

I can't get enough of this song, and the video is so great too:

Here's a conversation between me and my brother:
"Have you seen the video for (some random song, I don't remember now)?
"Oh yeah, that was really good, I found it on youtube.
"Wouldn't it be so cool if there was a TV channel that played nothing but music videos all day?
Melancholy silence as we remember what MTV used to be like.

This song is for all of you peeps who still have snow on the ground. I really, really hope Spring gets to you soon. "Hello blackbird, hello starling, winter's over, be my darling!"

I think this is now my favorite Bright Eyes song. It was recommended to me by my 3 year old niece, who has the best taste in music. We should start a music column somewhere and call it "Mimi's Picks". I'll have to talk to her about that.

My favorite verse:

So the doc came with his black bag
I said you know doc I don't feel swell
If you had a blue bag I think I'd get well
So he came right back with a blue sack
He said will this do?
I said why not, yeah

The whole thing is so clever, just watch it, please.

you can't handle the cute

First of all, some extreme cuteness, I hope you can handle it:
 
Friday was a Holiday, so I took Winston to the vet for all his shots and then we went to dog beach. Winston was a little overwhelmed by it all, and I think he was probably not 100% after all the vaccinations (I think he had 3, including a rattlesnake vaccine), so he spent most of the time like this:

That's my knee his head is resting on. Oh well, it was a beautiful day, and it's always fun to go there and watch all the dogs running around and having fun. Afterward, we went to the dog wash. Winston is not fond of baths, but we made it through and then went to a dog-friendly place for lunch. He got a lot of compliments for his good behavior.

I've also been feverishly working on quilts, and I just might make it in time, thanks to my mom who is helping out by doing all the hand-quilting of one quilt, while I do the other. There may even be pictures in a week or so.

I also thought I'd try coloring some Easter eggs. Here's what you get when you start out with brown and blue eggs:

I like how the speckles came through on the yellow-y egg. Now I just have to figure out what to do with a dozen hard boiled eggs. I love deviled eggs, but there's only two of us, I don't think we can eat 24 deviled eggs.

One last bit of cuteness:

Lucy always has to get involved when I take the camera out.

I'm pretty sure I'm not going to have much time for writing the rest of the week, but I'll try and post a few photos here and there. Happy Spring!   

the super gigantic never-ending to-do list

Does your to-do list ever get completely out of control? Mine seems to have developed a mind of its own, but I'm showing it who's boss and whipping it into shape, although I may soon collapse from exhaustion. I may be exaggerating a little, but still, sheesh, I have a lot to do right now. I even had to add 'clip fingernails' to the list, because I kept forgetting and I just don't do long nails, and they were getting annoying.

I did take a little time out for a couple nice activities, however. First of all, I took some pictures of the ornamental plum trees at our post office, which are currently fully in bloom. I think I'm going to send one of these to my sister for this week's Photoshop picture, and see what she comes up with. I played around a little with giving it a cross-processing effect, which I kind of like.

Before:

After:

I like them both. The sky was so brilliantly blue this morning, it was just perfect for taking pictures.

I also needed to make an Easter bunny egg cozy, because I didn't have one.

The pattern is from an Yvestown/Cherry Menlove collaboration. I used a felted angora sweater, which I thought was apprpriate. And notice the egg cup matches Yvonne's (from a previous Christmas swap). My bunny is quite startled by the fact that he has an entire egg inside him.

You can see more bunnies in the Flickr pool.

So now, for the rest of the month I have to buckle down and finish two quilts for a new book from Lark. I was just looking at their website, and the one with my little yo-yo quilt is coming out soon and it looks really good.  Two quilts in one month? No problem. Heh.