New Soccer Shirts

Soccer_04 24 08_0162 edited, originally uploaded by queenshakenbake.

Last night the girls had their first soccer practice of 2008. They wore their red shirts from a previous year and after the practice, which they did an awesome job at, they got juice boxes and their new blue shirts. They are the Bulldogs. Go Bulldogs.

If you want to see some more soccer photos, visit my Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/queenshakenbake/

King of the Jungle

King of the Jungle, originally uploaded by queenshakenbake.

I was playing around with my PW Actions on this photo from Luke's and my zoo visit. Isn't he beautiful?

Last night I went to the girls' first soccer practice of the season. This is their 3rd season "playing" soccer. I think this is going to be a good year. They were right in there participating in the drills and they have a fantastic coach--Mike. He ran them through drills and took time to explain everything to them. They both showed a lot of interest and Grandpa saw Mia throw an elbow into Cailey trying to get control of the ball. Cailey really paid attention to what Coach Mike was saying and was probably one of the better ball dribblers on her team. I'll post some pictures tonight. Not a tear in sight!

I got an Email from nephew James last night with a link to his Flickr page. His lovely wife Lindsey recently purchased him a Nikon D80 camera. Check out his pictures.

City Jewel: Gray's Lake

The picture/poster above was done for the Bubble Gum Challenge over at Digital Candy, in which we were to use an ad as our inspiration. This month's ad was from my favorite store--Target:


I used pictures I had taken at Gray's Lake, which is probably the number one spot to go in Des Moines. I made it look more like a poster to promote the lake.

Grapes

Grapes, originally uploaded by queenshakenbake.

Hee is an "after" processing photo. The original was pretty great, but the actions really made this one POP.

Napa Valley Grapes

napa valley grapes copy, originally uploaded by queenshakenbake.

My favorite blogger--Pioneer Woman--posted a FREE set of actions on her site and I have been having so much fun playing around with them. The picture above will become one of my favorite beverages, but for now were just hanging around getting fat and juicy. The picture on top is SOOC and the one on bottom is after I ran fresh and colorful, boost, and quick edge burn.

Pioneer Woman Action Set 1

flower girls times 2 copy, originally uploaded by queenshakenbake.

The fantastic Pioneer Woman has created a set of free actions available on her site. The top picture is SOOC (straight out of camera) and the one on the bottom I've ran a couple of her actions on it.

Another Weekend is Over

Been a busy weekend. Started out with an exciting event on Friday. My Grandson got a casting call for an upcoming movie to be shot in Iowa: Paradise starring Ellen Page from Juno and Cillian Murphy who was in The Girl With The Pearl Earring and Batman Returns. We have our fingers crossed he gets selected for the role of 2-year-old Jack Ellen Page's character's son. For more information, visit "The Adventures of Cailey, Mia, and Luke" or Variety.com

Met up with Carrie, David, and grandchildren at Costco yesterday. Can't believe it has been over six weeks since we were there last. That is some kind of record. We drove the girls home with us and they took Luke and a brand new 47" tv home with them. DH and I had already eaten lunch but we joined them at Cheesecake Factory where I had a Peach Bellini (YUM YUM) while they ate and a slice of chocolate cake, which I shared with Luke and the girls. It was fun talking to Cailey about my favorite book, Misty (see previous post). Their kindergarten teacher has read them the book and showed them the movie and brought pictures she had taken of the island. It was fun talking books with my 6-year-old granddaughter.

Today I spent my morning scrapping and then we went shopping again. Later tonight I went and walked around Gray's Lake (I love that place).

Here is the layout I worked on this morning as part of a template challenge at digitalcandy.ca:


Supplies used include Template by Chrissy W; GDS_Buds_N_Bloom kit; and DMI_bitsy_spiral brush

My Favorite Reading Material as a Child

As long as I can remember, I have always LOVED to read. As a child, I started out reading (I believe) every one of the Bobsey Twins books. I know I read every one of the Little Women series books. I was big into series. Another series I really loved were the non-fiction series about Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry.

I have always loved horses and always dreamed of having my own horse. That is probably one reason I am so hooked on Confessions of the Pioneer Woman.

Anyway, back to Misty, the pony on which the book was based. Misty of Chincoteague is the title of a 1947 children's book by American author Marguerite Henry, based on the true story of a Chincoteague Pony named Misty. Set on the coastal island of that name, the book tells the story of the Beebe family and their efforts to raise a pony born to a wild horse. The book won the Newbery Honor. Wikipedia Misty and her foal Stormy have been preserved and are on display at the Beebes' home. Sequels to this book include:

Stormy, Misty's Foal
Sea Star: Orphan of Chincoteague
A Pictorial Life Story of Misty
Misty's Twilight

These books brought me so much pleasure and transported me to the Chincoteague Island off the coast of Virginia.

Hanging out at home

Well it has been awhile since I've posted. Not much happening around here. I have done some scrapping this weekend for a couple challenges over at ScrapGirls.

For the Friday sketch challenge, I created the following layout:


For the Saturday Color Challenge, I scrapped this page from my visit to the zoo with Luke:


The journaling tells a cute story about Luke and the monkey that bit his toes. It wasn't really a monkey and it didn't really bit his toes--didn't even come close to him. It was a cool March day and after the class we participated in, we decided to tour the zoo. There was an enclosure and inside the enclosure was a building for some monkeys. Because of the temperature, the monkeys were in the building making LOTS of noise. Luke kept wanting to know what the noise was and I told him it was some monkeys inside the building. He wanted to go inside the building to see the monkeys. Awhile later, on our way out, we passed by the bird exhibit and a peacock had his tail feathers spread. It was beautiful and I was taking some pictures through the fence. Then I decided we would go into the area so I could take pictures without shooting through the fence. We were probably 25 feet away from him. I'm shooting away with Luke standing right next to me. Then the peacock, which was evidently flirting with an ostrich, hissed at us so I decided it was time to leave. Later that afternoon Luke was telling his father all about the monkey that bit his toes, the monkeys in the building were loud and they bit my toes. I kept assuring my son-in-law that although the monkeys were in a building and were very loud, we did not go see them and Luke's toes were not bitten. Later when my daughter came over, Luke and I were showing her the pictures I had taken and when I got to the peacock, he informed his mother that that monkey bit his toes. We told him it was not a monkey but a peacock, but he insisted it was a monkey. A few days later I asked Luke tell his Uncle Jeremy about our visit to the zoo. Luke said he saw a peacock but that he calls it a monkey. What a boy!

I've also been scrapping some 4" x 6" inch brag books for the grandchildren.