Friday, October 9, 2009

Fairy Bella and an Eviction Notice

I've been getting obsessed with PhotoShoping and photography lately and one of the blogs I follow- I heart Faces - had a tutorial on how to put a little fantasy into your photos. I had a blast making Bella into a fairy. In fact, I got a little over zealous with the glitter brushes and stars I found on Obsidian Dawn as you might have noticed. Thanks for the awesome tutorial Amanda!

Besides photo excitement, Bella has just been through the flu for the first time. That was a rough 3-4 days for her, for me, for Ryan, and the neighbors- I'm sure. She seems to be making up for her long winded bout of orneriness by sleeping a couple extra hours in the day today and yesterday. Thank you Bella.

On Tuesday night we were served an eviction notice. Apparently the automatic payment we set up with our useless bank didn't get sent. I couldn't sleep all night. We never dreamed, not in a million years, that we would get evicted for not paying rent. We are responsible people and we pay our obligations, thank you very much. The next morning I rushed into the leasing office to explain that our bank had some kind of malfunction. I took deep breaths to keep the tears from my eyes as I gave her our sob story. Yes I included the fact that our little girl has had the flu and anything else that I thought would bring on a little sympathy. When she said it was okay, and we didn't even have to pay the 150$ late fee I cried anyway and blamed it on the pregnancy. She felt really bad and offered me her FiberOne bar. I thought about taking it.

So, we are still at the same address, Bella is not sick any more, and I am having a blast editing photos.

8 comments:

Amy said...

That is so scary! Both the flu and the eviction notice! I am glad everything is better, and the photo is adorable! I hope you blow it up and hang it in her room.

Cecilia said...

I thought it was adorable too. I would be happy to tell you how to do it with pictures of Keith. LOL!

Sunset Stanley said...

I'm glad Bella is feeling better! And I'm really glad you got the eviction notice all worked out so you don't have to move away from your new apartment. And happy you don't have to pay the $150 late fee. That's outrageous!

Have you discovered Picnik.com? I probably shouldn't admit it because of the whole graphic designer thing and I should just use Photoshop, blah blah blah..but I really like it!

Livia said...

Wow, I need to stop more often and read your cute blog!
There are so many things I should comment on but I don't want to write a story so, I will comment on the fact I am extremely happy for your pregnancy. Congratulations!!!
I am due Feb 19 :)I can't wait!

Jason and Jami Thomson said...

You know...there's nothing wrong with playing the pregnancy card-especially in scary situations like that! I'm glad it's all fixed and little cutie's feeling better :)

It was so fun to hang out and dinner was delicious!! We'll have to have yall over to our place next time!! :)

Jami

Lani said...

Cute picture! Maybe someday I'll get around to trying something like that. Glad to hear the eviction thing worked out well for you guys, how scary! I don't think I could have held back the tears as well you did, especially pregnant!

The Badlands is National Park southeast of us. We went with Juli and Rich Kennard, I know they met at Weber and I think they are from Bountiful or Ogden, I'm not sure. Let me know if you guys are related, that would be kinda crazy!

Jason and Jami Thomson said...

You did get a picture of the cake didn't you? HA! That was so hilarious! Of COURSE we're not scared to come over!!! Kids will be kids-that was totally normal. What happened before and all that drama was definitely NOT normal-it was a crazy child not being watched, and out of control! You know we love yall!!!! :) :)

Unknown said...

Hi Cecilia,

I found your site through Amanda's with her tutorial at I heart faces.com. My husband and I just bought Photoshop CS4 but it was a key code we had to enter to utilize it that night (it was either that or wait for the arrival of the software, and I just couldn't wait to try this fantasy tutorial work.). I read on your comment to Amanda that you haven't bought Photoshop yet because you felt overwhelmed, well I've had it now for about 3 weeks and still don't know how to follow this tutorial. I asked on I Heart Faces in the discussions of Photoshop CS4 will do the same fantasy photo's like Amanda's tutorial shared, and Angie (one of the co-founders of I Heart Faces) replied with "Yes, CS4 will do this and SO much more), but I still can't figure it out. I still don't know what all of the tools and layering does because nothing was sent to me in a manual or instructions about the tools. I have Googled some of the tools but with 2 kids at home it takes SUPER long to Google that tool and then try to practice it out...it's taking me FOREVER and I still can't figure it out. So I'm wondering since you mentioned you haven't gotten Photoshop yet, I'm assuming you have now, so how did you learn how to do this so easily or did you get Photoshop Elements that follows Amanda's tutorial all the way. With our Photoshop CS4 it doesn't work the same as Elements so I can't apply all her steps. Did you take a class for Photoshop or like I was asking did you buy Elements? Just wondering because I want an easier way to figure this 'fantasy' idea out because I think it is so adorable and I spend so much time playing and editing even just regular portraits with touch ups so I can imagine how long I would be on my laptop if I learned how to use this tutorial from Amanda but for CS4....any suggestions.

Sorry for writing so long...and oh your Bella fantasy photo of her on top of the blower is awesome...so amazing! Love it!

And so sorry about your scare about the eviction notice. That would scare the h*ll out of me as well. But so glad she was understanding; sounds like God stepped in! That's so funny that she offered her Fiber bar as a 'fix all' for your fears and worries (not to mention tears). How scary to say the least. I hope you gave that bank a piece of your mind for the fear they caused your family!

Do you use Scrapblog from some of the further down photo's I see on your site. I use them too and love them and doing all kinds of other things with whatever I can fine online for free like Picnik and even Photobucket editing tools. I still am trying to work my way through Photoshop CS4 but I might have to purchase a book 'Photoshop CS4 for Dummies' or something. :D Or I can pay for a class but I since I stay home full time with my 4 year old who won't start Kindergarten for 2 more years (his birthday fell after the cut off date so he'll be 6 when he actually begins K.) well this makes it super hard for me to find a place that teaches these classes and my husband works a lot of nights so I can't go to any type of night school either since the only two main baby sitters I trust are my husbands parents, my husband, and my sister. But even so I can't ask them to watch them on a routine basis because they all have hard work jobs themselves. I may have to figure out a schedule and possibly use all of them for different days so they don't feel overwhelmed by the job.

Okay....I promise I'm done now.

Blessings my friend and nice to 'meet' you!

Sarah Cecilia