Those weather combinations do not make for good camping.

Anyway, this was also our first camp outing with our dogs, so we just went somewhere thirty minutes away.

The best part about this park is that it has a lot of nice walking trails. And even better is this…

A waterfall! It is in a valley so the temperatures are nice and cool, and it is quite peaceful. Magical really.

I could spend all day down there!

Even with there being people around almost always, it is still a peaceful place.

The dogs did pretty well climbing down into the valley. The stairs were pretty steep, basically just random flat boulders placed to create a path down the hill side. The first time we ever hiked it I forgot to bring tennis shoes so I was stuck sliding around in my flip-flops. Not fun!

The woods also open up to a walking trail alongside the stream. Not a lot of people chose to walk the path so it is a really nice, and quiet hike with plenty of areas to explore.

Surprisingly, the trail later opens up to this gorgeous field full of butterflies and other small critters before going back into the woods. How gorgeous can one trail be?!

After some adventures at the dog beach (Ernie got beat up by a girl pup) and grabbing some ice cream, we headed back to our campsite. For being the last site available, it was actually really nice. I was worried it would be the worst one. But it was nestled in-between some trees and actually pretty private.

It was a good weekend. Hopefully we will be able to have more camping adventures soon!

This is what happened last time.

He ripped up a few paper shopping bags.

And he made sure he did a good job.

Other things they have done?

Maggie has ate spatulas, knocked a glass off the counter and shattered it all over, goes through the garbage religiously (even ones with just paper), and eats things off of the counter.

Since Ernie is smaller and can’t get on the counter or in the garbage – but trust me he would if he could – he has done other things. Like eat the bug spray and assisted in eating an entire container of cat treats, including the lid.

Just when you think the house is dog proof, they prove us wrong.

Anyone want two rotten dogs?

I put together a pack of 16 free bokeh textures for you all to enjoy. Just head on over to the Themes/Resources page to download!

To give you an example of how to use them, I used it on one of my latest photos:

It adds a nice dynamic/texture to a photo. The only thing I ask is that you do not claim the textures as your own and if you use it somewhere it would be nice to be credited.

I hope you enjoy them!

I also made a new design for myself. The other one grew old fast and I wanted something not as bright.

We will see how long this one lasts.

Starting off, the update on my laptop.

I will say that I am never buying a Sony Vaio again. I only owned it for a year and a half and guess what? It is dead. DEAD.

Since the hard drive was all screwed up and Windows basically killed itself, I thought I would reformat the hard drive. I saved my files on Wednesday, after I spent $37.00 on a hard drive recovery program, so I really had nothing to lose. Since I had Solaris on me at the time, I was just going to install that first to make sure that the drive still worked before I went out and spent way too much money on Windows 7.

Well it all went through, but upon doing an update to the new operating system, my laptop started making a lot of noise. Almost like the DVD drive was working over time.

Then. Nothing. It turned off and wouldn’t turn back on. The motherboard died.

Insert explicit language here.

So. I had to go out and buy a new computer since I needed it to go into work the next day.

I had enough with Windows and all of its nonsense so I just bought a MacBook Pro.

The only problem now is that Adobe has the worst customer service ever and won’t transfer my license for CS4 over to a mac license because “they no longer have CS4 stocked in their warehouse to make sure they have enough room for CS5.”

Bullshit.

One: I just need the license not a DVD. Two: The box is like half an inch thick, not like it’s the size of a refrigerator.

And Three: I am pretty much sure that they just want me to buy CS5. But I’m not buying it people.

Anywho. New MacBook Pro = Love. Although I do, sad to say, miss a few PC features. Like the delete vs. backspace keys, the home and end key, and the uniqueness of how the program windows look (such as AIM and MSN). And I can’t use my favorite CSS editor now.

Oh well, moving on. Sorry.

End useless rant.

Yesterday we had the weirdest weather ever. It has been raining pretty much every day for the last few weeks and last night was no exception. Except it decided to storm with clearish skies. It was odd.

But look at the pretty rainbow! I did a poor job at capturing its magnificence but you get the idea. It was the best full rainbow I have seen.

A few seconds after I took this lightning shot across the sky. It was crazy.

But today we finally had a beautiful day. And what better way to end this post than by showing you my two crazy dogs.

They are special.

I applaud you for making it this far. Thank you.

I actually consider it the cats’ bed because they are always on it, as you will see from the photos below.

Since I am very indecisive on most things, I went back and forth between a few sets. I found one I really liked at Target that was on sale, but they didn’t have any in Full size. I even looked online for it and had no luck.

After a few days of pouting, I decided to get the original one I had decided on from Wal-mart. Except, they had an even cuter one. What really made my decision was the cute throw pillows.

Too cute.

Cute little pillow, no?

But I think it brightens up the room very well and the room doesn’t look as small now.

I think Hunter is enjoying it the most.

It cost me $45. Which isn’t bad, but I have never taken a computer in before since my Dad always fixes them. The only reason I took it in was because he is always busy and I thought a part would need to be ordered and it is impossible to find Sony parts!

So I am mad that I spent $45 for nothing. The only reason there were corrupt files was because the damn thing kept freezing and you needed to hold the power button to turn it off. Oy. I should have mentioned to him that there would be corrupt parts and that was not the problem.

So anyway, I got it back. I used it for work on Thursday. Then Friday it wanted to install 18 updates for Windows. Then it froze on the updates. I let it sit there forever and finally gave up because it wasn’t going to magically unfreeze. Now, I am assuming because it froze in the middle of updates, I can’t even get Windows or Safe Mode to load. It just sits on a black screen.

Sooo, I am annoyed. I will have to create a boot disk I suppose. Hopefully I will have time to fix it before Monday.

So frustrating.

Anyway, I made this layout several weeks ago on my laptop and decided to back it up just in case. Good thing I did so I can actually post it! Go download it!

I also made a fix to the Spring & Summer theme. It corrects bullets in posts. So if you downloaded it, please re-download.

I am picking up my laptop, hopefully fixed, after work today so I should be able to get back to getting things done and updating this blog!

Matt and I have been busy around the house as well. Fixing things up here and there. I will have pictures of those things as well.

Also some new WordPress themes are in the make. One should be up this week.

Hold tight. I will be back soon!

We got there at about 8:30 a.m. and got done at about 10:30 p.m.

It was a full day of photographing.

The bride had an idea to shoot some pictures out in the middle of nowhere in a park. It was a gorgeous place that I had never been to before and it was perfect for a photo shoot. There were a lot of different textures that worked well as backdrops.

The one problem was getting there.

They had rented two limousines from a nearby town. The problem was that both of the limos were in pretty bad shape. One was missing the front grill and the insides were not nice at all. Wires were hanging down from the ceiling and the seats were all tore up.

They took the chance anyway and off we went. Matt noticed that the limo that the bride and groom were in was smoking a bit and the wheels were wobbling.

We got a few miles out of town and were almost to the location when we dodged something in the middle of the road and then we saw a tire from the limo rolling away.

The wheel was only connected by one lugnut (we didn’t know that beforehand) and it snapped in half! So the limo skidded across the road and into the ditch.

No one was hurt and it didn’t skid very far. But imagine if we were going any faster. It could have been a disaster!

Needless to say, the groom was not happy and sent the limos away.

I can’t believe that a company would send limos in that kind of shape to their clients!

No one, except the bride who was so great through all of this, wanted to take photos after that. So I was lucky that I got the shots that I did.

At least they will have a story to tell twenty years down the road. And hopefully be able to laugh about it!

Enjoy

Here is a picture of our backyard before. See the two pine trees? Those are now gone. Matt and our neighbor sawed them down.