Sneak Peak: Johnny & Karen

This past Saturday I braved a cold that's been leaving me practically paralyzed with tiredness to take pictures of Johnny and Karen. This sweet couple are friends of a friend and fun to be around. Plus Johnny can be credited with the awesome highlights in my hair!

I've been taking a couple different Photoshop classes with Lynda.com and have been LOVING them! If you want to learn any kind of software, I seriously recommend this website. Right now I'm taking the Photoshop CS3 for Digital Photographers class by Chris Orwig and even though I'm still covering a lot of basic stuff (just finishing up how to use Bridge!) I'm still learning a lot of amazing stuff. Like who knew Bridge had these amazing Batch and Image Processers that basically allowed me to convert this photos to black and white and resize them to web-size in a few very short steps! I'm was so stooked, I decided to post this sneak peak.

That and these three photos, taken in succession, seriously put a smile on to my face. I hope they do the same for you!

Carb-less meals and balsamic vinegar dressing

Since returning from America two to three kilograms heavier, Mr. C and I (well really mostly I) decided to make some diet changes. The most practical one was to cut out carbs (breads, rice, noodles) as much as possible from the evening meal. I've also been on a bit of a salad craze, so we've been eating a lot of salads lately. Most of the time it's cooked chicken with vegetables (green pepper and onion also cooked) and a vinegar-based dressing. I've even gotten adventurous and made my own balsamic vinegar dressing which is simply divine. The recipe for that is:

Lisa's Balsamic Vinegar Recipe
equal portions balsamic vinegar and olive oil, so for the sake of this recipe, let's say 3 Tablespoons.
1 Tablespoon fancy mustard, like dijon (I have key lime mustard from the Mustard Museum in Mount Horeb, WI ... anyway)
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 garlic clove finely chopped, or even better, minced
salt and black pepper to taste (try 1/2 t salt and 1/4 t black pepper)

Then stir it until the oil and vinegar have combined. The mustard actually helps this process, so y0u should be left with a nice, thick sauce. Enjoy!

My inspiration for this recipe is from here.

PLEASE, please, please let me know what other ideas you have for a carbohydrate-free meal!

Below: shrimp salad w/ homemade balsamic vinegar dressing

A personal post

I've been learning a lot of things lately. God's been working in great and wonderful ways. And I in turn have been made humble ~ by my own selfishness and resistance to change. In some ways I feel a little like I've had a boxing match with life and have been thrown down on the mat. And I'm waiting for God to pick me up.

So here's what I've been learning lately:

• Loving your hard to love people is really hard. We had this lesson in the Friday bible study (Matthew 5 and Luke 6) and I was being taught while teaching it. I'm familiar with the verses, especially this one: Matthew 5: ³⁸"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.^" ³⁹But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. ⁴⁰And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. ⁴¹If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. But on Friday I learned that two of these three examples are talking about situations where someone actually is reasonable in demanding something thing of you, but you give them more in return. I'm not good at doing that. Instead I tend to focus on strictly what's required of me. To put it simply, I need to extend grace to others, especially when I feel like I've already been nice enough to them.
• Cappuccino is driving Mr. C and I crazy. And I've finally given up. For the longest time, we just kinda "lived" with this situation because I was reluctant to throw in the flag and declare surrender. But she's simply more than we can handle. Now that I've finally begun to tell people about our desperation, we're getting some help. A dog handler will be coming to our house on Saturday, and I have high hopes! We hope at least she can become more "bearable" before finding a new home for her, which our goal ultimately is.
• I've been learning color correction in Photoshop. Yep, from Lynda.com. It's pretty cool ~ and in depth. That's what I'm doing in my evenings, instead of doing things like ... watch TV. (We had the teens group from my church over to test the TV out last Saturday ... it still works.)
• I've been learning to smile, and show interest in others, and never criticize or complain ... and many other lessons from the classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People. This is the self-help book before there was even a self-help genre. And it's so much better than any other self-help book I've ever read. It was written in the 1930s and I feel like I'm learning history from all of Dale Carnegie's great examples. I look forward to each new thing Dale's going to teach me, but he's having me read each chapter twice ... it's like one of his rules or something.
• I've been learning to be more supportive of my husband. Because he really needs my support. And because I need to learn how to be a better wife. I'm happy to have no fantasies about perfect marriages. We have a working marriage and I wouldn't have it any other way. Because I need to become a better person.

That's all for now. And about being on the mat. It feels REALLY good. Let me be weak so God can be strong.

And I've been wanting to share this picture for awhile, so even though it's not related to this post, it makes me happy so here you go. My brother Jacob took this. Awesome, eh? :)

Family: Jacob and Stephanie, Mason, Jada and Keleigh

I'm actually really sad to be wrapping up this series of family portaits. I really enjoyed taking these photos and going through them again. I love my family, and sincerely hope they love this portraits as well.

The railway ended up being a consistent theme throughout all the pictures. Maybe because a railway runs through my parent's farm, or simply because I love the travel themes ~ or the linear lines ~ I kept on bringing family back to the railroad. On the last shoot, the one with Jacob and Stephanie's family, we were scolded by a railroad employee and showed off the railroad. What a bummer! Peter and I didn't end up getting pictures on it ... you'll notice where the abrupt ending in railroad pictures takes place. :)

Below is Jacob and Stephanie and my three adorable neices and nephew Mason, Jada and Keleigh. This family wins out simply on their combined adorableness. :)

Here you go! Love, sis









A lot of fun happens when kids get around corn ...


















Every kid should grow up knowing their parents love each other :)

Family: Rob and Heidi

Taking pictures for your sister and brother-in-law is nervewracking. Yes, Heidi, I admit I was nervous. And that's hard for an older sister to admit. But there you go, I was nervous. So I sure hope you like these photos. And if you don't, well I'm in Taiwan so it won't be too easy to hit me! :)

Love, your big sister: Lisa

Family: the Parents

My dad insisted on taking a photo in front of his combine. That's all I have to say.



Luckily, I got my way a couple times.
... I don't think mom ever gets her way ...





Mom and Dad ~ I love you. I hope you love these pictures!

My weekend

This weekend I took pictures for a friend's wedding. It was a lot of fun. Here's a sneak preview of it all. :)