Fireworks Triptych

Oops, didn’t mean to drop off the face of the earth like that. My computer crapped out on me a couple weeks ago. After trying to pinpoint the issue to a specific piece of hardware (and subsequently reinstalling Windows about a million times, ugh), I finally wound up having to get a new computer. The extra cost sucks, but on the bright side, my new computer is much faster and photoshop runs a lot better now.

I still have tons of photos from May and June to post, but I wanted to go ahead and post my fireworks photos from Sunday night. I’ve never tried photographing fireworks before and didn’t really have any idea what I was doing, but I still like how these turned out. I followed the tips here pretty closely, using “bulb” mode, though I don’t have a remote release yet.

Since we’ve never been to the fireworks here, I had no idea where they would be coming from so we just sat in the same direction as everyone else. Unfortunately, everyone was wrong! Turns out there were a bunch of tall tress right in front of where they shot the fireworks off. The bigger fireworks went above the trees, but it was still pretty annoying. I learned my lesson for next year: Get there earlier! Also, we need to buy some of those fold-up camping chairs because sitting on the ground and trying to maneuver a tripod is really uncomfortable. Still, it was a fun night and not as much of a parking/traffic hassle as some city fireworks shows I’ve been to. I’m already looking forward to next year!

More photos from our trip up to Skyline Drive. I actually found I was more interested in the sights on the way up the mountain, than I was with the views from the top. Brandon and I just couldn’t believe people still lived in some of the houses we passed. Many were literally on the side of the mountain, the driveways to their houses looked almost vertical. Anyway, when we did get up there, the views were beautiful, but because the trees didn’t have leaves yet, it was fairly brown and drab all around. That wound up lending itself well to black and white photos, but I can’t wait to go up there when the trees fill out and see what a difference it makes.

93/365 - April 3, 2010

Last weekend we drove up to Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. I didn’t realize we lived so close, but it’s only about half an hour away. We wound up getting an annual pass, so we’ll definitely be going back a lot.

Finding this waterfall was a big surprise. Most of the stops on Skyline Drive are overlooks with a view of the valley below, but this stop was called the Naked Creek Overlook and it just looked like a big field surrounded by woods. I figured there must be something to look at or else what’s the point, right? So I walked down and down and down the field and I started hearing water, so I walked toward that sound. Finally I saw a creek deeper in the woods and I started walking toward that. I saw a little waterfall in the creek and Brandon said, “Are you going to take a picture of the waterfall” and I said, “It’s pretty small…” and he said, “Not that one, that one”, pointing to this big one way up the hill that I hadn’t even noticed. At that point we very distinctly heard a bear roaring off in the distance! I couldn’t pass up taking pictures of this waterfall, bear or no bear, so we hiked up to it.

It was still very much in winter-mode up there, very few leaves on the trees, no flowers, etc. I want to go back in a few weeks when things start blooming. I bet it’s stunning.

90/365 - March 31, 2010

I decided I really wanted to grown my own fresh herbs because I’m tired of throwing away wilted leftovers from the grocery store. But I also challenged myself to actually grow them from seeds as opposed to buying the full grown plant. I started with basil, thyme, cilantro and parsley. I was sooo happy when these little basil sprouts came up! So far the basil is growing the best. The parsley looked like it wasn’t growing but has recently had a bunch of sprouts. The cilantro was doing the best at first, but I think I either over or under watered it and now the sprouts don’t look too great. The thyme isn’t doing much yet. 2 out of 4 ain’t bad, I’m just happy I got anything to grow at all.

86/365 - March 27, 2010

We took another trip down to Scholtzskysville this past weekend. It’s becoming a fairly regular thing mostly so we can go see movies at a theater that doesn’t suck. I really don’t understand how this little suburb outside of Richmond actually has a real IMAX movie theater while all the theaters in Charlottesville are still stuck in 1980. Oh well, it’s not that long of a drive and we get to go to Schlotzsky’s so I don’t mind.

60/365 - March 1, 2010

I’ve decided to give up on January resolutions completely. At least ones having to do with losing/weight exercising. The weight thing never works out because while I usually do well in January, February comes along and there’s Valentine’s Day, Mardi Gras and my birthday and I don’t want to eat well for those holidays. I want cake, dammit! So any good I did in January is lost in February. The constant snow and freezing temperatures also kept me from being able to go walking, which is the only exercise that I enjoy doing.

March is the perfect time for resolutions, though. The weather is improving and there aren’t any big holidays so I don’t have the excuse to eat bad stuff. So I decided to start over with my resolutions as of March 1st. I’m mainly going to focus on getting back to daily walking. I’ve made great strides in improving my diet over the last few years and we hardly eat out anymore so I feel like if I could just get back into a regular exercise routine that I would start losing weight again as opposed to plateauing like I have been since last summer.

Of course, the day after I decided all this it snowed again! I’m hoping that’s the last of it. I’m ready for Spring to get here.

53/365 - February 22, 2010

I tried dying my hair red again, but as usual it didn’t really work. This brand actually worked better than other ones I’ve tried. In the light, the top of my head looks pretty red, but if I’m not standing under a direct light it looks dark brown like normal. I’m going to have to go to a salon if I really want to do this, but I hate salons and I’m scared I’ll look ridiculous and it’ll be a big waste of money. I’ve always wanted to have red hair, though so I’m going to do it sometime this year. I want to try red hair before I turn 30!

51/365 - February 20, 2010

Last Saturday was my birthday and I couldn’t resist making some cupcakes. If you’re looking for a good yellow cake recipe, I highly recommend this one from Smitten Kitchen. It is truly the best birthday cake. I’ve tried about a billion yellow cake recipes over the years and I’ve always found them to be bland and/or dry, but these cupcakes were perfect. The frosting was also the best homemade frosting I’ve ever had. I gave up on homemade frosting a long time ago because it was always such a pain to make (at least before I had my stand mixer) and would get dried out and inedible. But this fudge frosting is light, fluffy and very chocolatey just like the kind you buy at the grocery store and it didn’t dry out at all. I’ve been eating these cupcakes all week long and the last one was just as good as the first.

48/365 - February 17, 2010

47/365 - February 16, 2010

I made a king cake for Mardi Gras. When I was a kid and we lived on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, I used to have a king cake for my birthday since it’s usually so close to Mardi Gras. A couple of years ago I decided I wanted to start this tradition up again, so I ordered one online, only to get ripped off when I paid for but never received it. So I decided I was just going to make one myself! And now that’s my new tradition.

They’re supposed to be in a ring/oval, but I made mine in more a long braid this year. Next time I’ll probably go back to the ring as it was a bit too thick and wound up having a spot in the middle that was undercooked. But otherwise it was yummy.

It made me think about why I only make it once a year. It’s basically just a big cinnamon roll, so you could make it anytime and have it for breakfast. I decorated it with the Mardi Gras colors, but you could put any color of sugar or just top it with the icing and use no sugar at all. If you’re interested in the recipe, I posted it last year on my food blog.