Keep Calm - Keep Your Sanity

For the past 3 - 4 weeks I have been working ridiculously long hours that I can't even think straight anymore.

As in 12:00 midnight, 1am, 2am. Seriously.

The other morning my boss phoned and gave me yet ANOTHER deadline for 1 October and I almost lost it.

I was so upset, that I could feel the anxiety squeezing my heart.

That night I had a scary realisation: If I died that night and Peter asks me at the Gates of Heaven if I died happy, my honest answer would be no.

I haven't spoken to my brother or his wife in ages to hear the latest news about my nephew. (my Squishy is in hospital for a week with pneumonia)

I have hardly spoken to or seen my friends. 

I haven't watched/stalked/listened to One Direction (see, this is getting serious)

I am currently have 29 days worth of work and only 6 days in which to do it. I cannot work past 2am. and even after 3 weeks, I think that has to stop as well.

Last weekend, my parents and I went for lunch at a beautiful place called Blandford Manor. Beautiful old Manor house with a restaurant/pub who's tables surround a calm lake complete with 4 geese and 2 goslings.

It was a gorgeous Spring day sitting in the sun relaxing and snapping away with my camera. In summer this place is sure to be gorgeous.

Mom took a turn with the camera and after making me pose like a model, is convinced she can be a photographer! 

We had lots of laughs posing and taking fun photos. The sun thought it was doing me a favour and kept creeping into my photos. (I wanted sun flare last time, not now!!)

Sunburnt, tired, but happy. It really is about the small things in life sometimes isnt it?

Old ways are more fun

Recently I decided to "turn over a new leaf" and behave myself.... by that I mean:
Don't get involved with the wrong men boys.

It lasted for a while... but my life was boring.

I broke that rule.

It was worth it.

I am finally healed from my operation (aside from some rear end numbness thanks to the nerve damage from the injection)
I need to book the appointment with the specialist to remove the gland as I do not want to go through the same drama as I did in June after a few nights of Hot Wild Sex.

For now all is working well, but that can change suddenly.

I am glad I broke the rule, it was for the right reasons.

It made me happy.
No-one will get hurt.

Win-win.

For now.

T & C in the Park

Anticipating a trip to Zoo Lake for a bit of a walk and relaxing day out in the sun, I fetched Tee from the Gautrain station and off we went.... Only to realise that turning "left" was an impossibility.

Eventually we did what any intelligent girls would do - and stopped and asked the problem. Turns out the ANNUAL Jazz festival was taking place today and we had picked that one day to visit Zoo Lake.

Change of plans and off we went to Melrose Arch shopping centre for some brunch and a bit of flower shopping.

We then made our way to a park we had never even heard of and got down to some serious photography practice. (for me... Tee was my model)

I wanted to experiment with Sun Flares as I have been reading alot about how tricky this form of photography is.

After a bunch of test shots, I began to figure it out and snapped some decent shots.

Then we started messing about as usual and got a few comical shots too! 

2 hours later, wind-swept and weary, we made our way back to the station and headed off home.

I promise not to bore you, but here are a few of the shots I snapped today and yesterday. (The graininess is purely because I reduced them alot in size, otherwise they take foreeeeeeever to download) These were all my favourites and I just couldn't whittle it down any more than these 17!

Thank you to Tee for not complaining too much - I will make a willing model out of you yet!

Action in motion except the people in the middle!

How beautiful are the shimmery petals?

So natural!

Love this one!

Love the halo of sunlight

Who knew the wind would help me so much for nice shots!

Trying something new

This was fun

The silliness starts!

Ying and Yang?

These hats were an awesome buy!

Giggling over something!

See no Evil, Hear no Evil and... SPEAK no Evil (fitting for us both)

Love the washed out background

Tulip Season - September Break

Spring is in the air and I cannot wait for the nights when I can sit in my lounge with my doors wide open.
I have enjoyed the snuggling under a blanket on the couch, but the cobwebs need to be cleared now.

Tee & I have a weekend break planned in September to a little town called Belfast to see the Tulips.

I last went in 2004, so I am looking forward to seeing them again.

The drive is approximately 3 hours and we will be staying in a tented chalet. I am looking forward to the break away as well as the chance to play with my camera some more!

Tee and I also need another break together - we were last on holiday in March (Cape Town) the time has flown this year!

Getting the Hang of it

I bought my new camera last week.
Best decision I made!

I have already been able to take photos I never was able to before.
I just have to practice and get used to the various Aperture and exposure settings and I will be fine. My favourite is being able to choose various focal points instead of all 9 at the same time. Gives me so much more freedom!

I am looking forward to using the orange tones to capture a sunset as well as some beautiful landscapes.

For now I have focused (no pun intended) on my close ups and various focal points.

One problem having such a nice camera: I now have so many choices for 1 photo! (Warm, Vivid, Vibrant, romantic soft tones etc etc etc)

I went easy on the girls over the weekend, but I really need a model for portrait practising, I have some nice ideas for poses and want to try them out. The cat has been more than patient with me, but now I need a human!

I do ask forgiveness for the next couple of weeks, I hope I wont bore you too much with Photography talk!

For now, I will shut up and let you have a look at some of my test shots as well as a really nice photo of my girls.