Quartely Top 5

I decided to join in with Amber at Click.Pray.Love, Sarah at NapTime MomTog, and Ashley at Ramblings and Photos to share what I think are the top 5 photos I've taken so far this year.  Without further ado, I present to you (in no particular order) (ok, I lied, in the order I've taken them this year since I'm anal like that)...

my mom and E during one of our many visits upstate over the last few months

my parents' cat, Gizmo.  I remember when we adopted her when I was in college and coming home to visit and snuggle this little kitten.  we named her Gizmo because she looked like a gremlin as a kitten.

to date one of my favorite photos of sweet e.

e and her daddy hanging out during a rest break on a long drive home from a weekend away

I can't believe I have a photo of my girl in a tank top from March, but this spring has been so mild so far, so there you have it!  This was from the other day on a trip to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.

xoxo
 

Names

I'm a pretty private person and have worked pretty hard to protect the identities of myself and my family online (yes, I realize having a blog is a contradiction of this!).  When Mama G posted the theme for this week's TAT, baby names, I knew I wanted to participate but I also recognize that I haven't revealed E's name.  I still don't have plans to, but I will explain how we decided on her name.

S and I both agreed on one thing when we started the name discussion--we wanted a name that was meaningful to our family.  We kept a running list of boy and girl names, but didn't seriously discuss anything until we found out we were having a girl.  At that point, we had our little list, and there was one name at the very top: Emma.  S's grandmother was named Emma, and it had long been a favorite of mine (and about every other girl out there).  But, it was (in our opinions) too darn popular.  I credit this to Friends, but whatever the case it seemed that pretty much every little girl out there was named Emma--and how could I blame their parents?  It's a beautiful, old-fashioned name.  So, we started talking about variations or even finding a name that started with the letter E in honor of S's grandma--which is how we settled on E's first name.  Her middle name, M, is after another family member: my great aunt Judy.  Her middle name is E's middle name, and I can't think of a more joyful, sincere, loving person to be named after.

I really hope (and can already see) that E takes on the characteristics of those she was named after: sweetness and happiness after S's grandmother, and a pure joy and love for life after my Aunt Judy.

How did you decide on names for your children?

xoxo
 

More

Lately, I've realized I've had this nagging feeling plaguing me. This feeling of needing more--more money, more photography equipment, more family time, more me time, more babies, more space.... I'm finding myself feeling so jealous so easily of others for the things they have, because I don't have them. It's pathetic, really, because it's made me put up a wall to my life and making me not appreciate those things that I do have. So, instead of wishing my life away for someone else's, I'm going to take a minute to be thankful for what I do have:

*A family who accepts me for who I am and who loves and supports me in any endeavor I'm embarking on.

*A baby who thinks all of my jokes are funny and that I'm pretty much the coolest person she's ever met, regardless of my ridiculous antics.

*A kitty who is otherwise known as my shadow and who will never turn down a snuggle.

*A husband who just might be more ridiculous than I am.

*A fantastic neighborhood to live in, near some good friends, the best playground and park, and yummy restaurants.

So whenever I'm feeling like I need "more", I'm going to check in with this post and remind myself that I do, indeed, have quite enough.

What are you thankful for?
xoxo

Another Edit

I decided to play around with the photo for the Edit Me Challenge again this week.  How'd I do?

Here's the original:

And here's my edit:

And here's what I did in Lightroom:

• Adjusted white balance to warm it up
• Brightened it up a smidge by increasing exposure
• Applied the Lily Blue Spring Color preset.  This gave the colors a richer tone.
• Applied Clickin' Moms Amber Preset.  This gave it a matte effect and desaturated some of the color.
• Then I messed around with the points in the Tone Curve.  I don't always like how matte presets make my photos look, so I usually do some adjusting.
• I really wanted the berries to pop, so I increased the saturation of the reds and oranges.
• Cropped to follow the Rule of Thirds.  I also wanted to keep that branch at the top of the frame because I liked how it drew my eye in towards the berries.
• Sharpened for web.

I played around with adding a texture to this in Photoshop, but ultimately didn't like the effect it was having on the photo so stuck with my Lightroom-only edit.  I really love how it turned out--the bokeh in the background almost has an oil-painting look about it.  Very pretty!


 

xoxo
 

Quinoa "Mac" and Cheese

Ohhhh Pinterest, you strike gold again!  This Quinoa "Mac" and Cheese is the bomb diggity (mac in quotes because there's not any macaroni in it).

I modified the recipe a bit (as usual).  I left out the peppers, and added in spinach after I mixed the quinoa with the cheese, egg and milk.  Then once it was in the baking dish, I topped it with sliced tomatoes.  I didn't (regretfully) season it much as I cooked, leaving it a bit on the bland side.  I also didn't have any seasoning salt on hand, so maybe that would've added more flavor?  Anyways, next time I make this (because I will be making it again!), I'll be sure to be more liberal with the salt and pepper.  Oh, and E's reaction to it?  She was obsessed!  She asked for seconds and thirds, which she never ever does.  Definitely will be a repeat meal for us!

What are some of your favorite go-to meals?

xoxo

In Like A Lion

March is supposedly one of the harsher, more unpredictable months especially in NYC, but lately our weather has been divine.  I'm talking high-60s, low-70s, wear a t-shirt and play outside all day divine.  We've been spending our days at the playground and the park, which is E's favorite thing (and also why I haven't been posting as much on this-here blog...we just haven't been home!).

This car is her absolute favorite toy at the playground. As soon as she spots it, she runs over to it and tries to push the kid who's inevitably sitting in it out so she can ride.

I really wish I had a lens with a short enough focal length to capture her face while we were spinning. Priceless.

And on the occasional rainy day, E's #1 favorite toy (aside from playing with the Potato Heads) is her drum set.

What are your favorite spring-time activities?

xoxo
 

Tasty Thursday--Spinach Pesto Pasta and Green Beans

This meal can definitely be classified as a staple over in the Gatorette household.  It's super easy and really good for you, and obviously delicious!  This pesto is made without nuts, so it's a great alternative for those with nut allergies.  I suppose you could add in some pine nuts or walnuts to spice things up, but we haven't given E those yet so we're holding off on them for now.

You'll need:
1 bag of spinach
1 bag of green beans
half a block of Parmesan cheese, shredded
Olive Oil
a box of whole wheat pasta (your choice!  we like heartier ones like ziti or rigatoni since they hold the pesto better)
1 lemon
garlic powder (optional)
onion powder  (optional)
salt and pepper

Make the pasta according to the directions on the box (boil water.  pour in pasta.  cook.  drain.).  Meanwhile, in a food processor, chop up the cheese.  *Sidenote: I broke got rid of our cheese grater a few months ago, and have switched to using the food processor.  It's so much easier!* Then add in the spinach with a few drizzles of olive oil.  I have to do this part in batches because we have a small food processor, so it doesn't fit all of the spinach at once.  Every time I add in some spinach, I pour in a bit of olive oil.  Probably a couple tablespoons altogether?  That's it--your pesto is finished!

BUT your pasta is still cooking, and you have green beans to make!  Easy enough.  Chop off the little ends to the green beans.  Put a little olive oil in a saute pan and let it heat up a minute.  Then add your green beans.  If you're feeling crazy, season them with some garlic and onion powder.  Add a bit of salt and pepper, and then squeeze half of the lemon over the beans.  Let it all cook together and get all yummy.  But!  Don't let it cook too long, because you don't want soggy green beans (that's what she said.).  You'll see them change shades of green--when they get nice and bright, they're ready.

Ok.  You're almost done!  When the pasta is ready, drain it and mix in the pesto.  With the other half of the lemon (see previous paragraph!), squeeze it on the pasta and give it a stir.  I like to sprinkle a little bit more cheese on top to 1.) make it look pretty and 2.) because you can never have too much cheese!

Bon appetite!  And, as always, my apologies for the inexact (unexact?  nonexact?  we'll settle for inexact, since the spell checker isn't yelling at me for it...) measurements.  I make things up as I go (that's what she said)!

xoxo

Last Weekend

We had another busy little weekend upstate visiting friends and family!  E's becoming such a great traveler by car.  She'll play with her toys and read her books for a bit, then sleep for a couple hours.  Then we usually stop to eat and stretch our legs, and repeat!  She doesn't hate her car seat anymore, which is a plus, and we've discovered that as long as we bring elements of her sleep environment at home with us, she sleeps pretty decently while we're away.  We always make sure to bring her blankie (a trusty Aden & Anais Issie Blankie) so she has something to snuggle with, her sleeping music (the Fisher Price Rainforest Soother), and a blanket my mom made for her.  Seriously, having these familiar things help us make sure her routine is consistent and she really sleeps so much better!

Anways, enough about that...how about some pictures from our trip??

She spotted daddy!

Swinging with her grandma and grandpa

found some pretty light during one of our stops on the trip back home

pretty sunset

We've gone upstate to see my family once a month since December--that's 4 months in a row!  Crazytown.  My parents have been so happy about it, but all that traveling is exhausting!  We're happy to have a break from all that driving for a little bit now.

What did you do last weekend?  Did it involve 7 hours (8, if you count the standstill traffic we sat in because of an accident in New Jersey) in the car with a toddler?

xoxo
 

The Park

We've been enjoying some lovely spring weather the past few days!  I don't know how it happened (global warming), but we really lucked out with such a mild winter and such an early start to spring.  Knowing the East coast, though, the cold weather will be back next week, but as for now we're relishing every minute of it outside!

One of the things I love most about where we live is the fact that there's a playground across the street, and a huge park just a short walk from our building.  I definitely see many a-spring and summer day spent there in our future!

Cheeseball

this ball is a distraction from pulling up the grass & random twigs and eating them.

Got it!  Victory is hers.

windswept

What are your favorite outdoor activities?

xoxo
 

E's New BFFs

E has a couple of new BFFs.  Care to meet them?

Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, I'd like you to meet the Gatorette and Me readers.

On the recommendation of a speech pathologist friend (hi, E!), we got Mr. Potato Head for E.  He can help her learn body parts, how to take turns, and putting things "on" and taking things "off".  Very exciting stuff, here!  Sidenote (but related!)--she loves these guys!  She especially enjoys putting the glasses on them, and then shoving them onto my face.

So, if we have Mr. Potato Head, then why would we also need the Mrs., you ask?  Two reasons: 1.) I never had Mr. Potato Head (or Mrs.) growing up, and it was one toy that I always wished we had.  A girl's gotta relive her childhood somehow, right?!  and 2.) I keep having this vision of Toy Story now that we have the Potato Heads--that E's toys obviously must come to life whenever we're not around (I'm looking at you, singing Elmo.).  So it would be so so so sad for Mr. Potato Head, when he comes to life when we leave the apartment or go to bed, if he were without his lovely wife!

And there you have it, folks--my weirdness in a nutshell.  Isn't E lucky to have such a nutty mom?

xoxo
 

Edit Me!

I decided to join in on the Edit Me Challenge this week.  I think it's always a good thing to practice your photo editing skills, and it was fun working on a picture that wasn't of my sweet E!

Here's the original.  How cute is this little guy?!

 

And here's my edit:

In Lightroom, I did some basic adjustments to white balance and exposure.  Then I ran the Early Edition preset from Clickin' Moms Paparazzi Presets.  Early Edition is one of my favorite presets for pictures of babies.  It adds such a bright softness to the picture!  It was looking a little "blah" to me still, so I opened it up in Photoshop CS5 and ran My Four Hen's Curly Joe action from her Blended set with the opacity brought waaaay down. Then I went back into LR (which I'm more comfortable working with) and played around a bit more with the tone curve to deepen the shadows a tad.  I used the adjustment brush to brighten his skin a bit, smooth the skin on his face, and brighten/add a touch of contrast to his eyes.  I added a slight vignette to make him pop out of the background a bit, and that was that!

I thought this image would have a nice, classic feel in black and white, so I converted it for fun.  Starting with my finished color image, I used Clickin' Moms Nickel preset from their Film Art Preset Collection.  It was way too light and blah, so I tweaked it by taking away the grain, darkening up the darks and shadows using the tone curve, and darkening the vignette.  Voila!

I think the most important thing to remember when using presets and actions is that it's OK to adjust them--you should be doing that!  They're not going to look perfect on every single picture, and will usually need a bit of finessing to get it just right.


xoxo