Important to Know

I received some important information today via a short video that was emailed to me. I honestly do not understand how I managed to get through almost fifty years of life without this important "how to" tip. Watch it, and be enlightened!

High in Trial!!!

I am pinching myself! Today Acey and I went to the UKC obedience trial in Durham, and ... we won High in Trial from the Novice B class! I am just dumbfounded! I never, ever, even once gave a single THOUGHT to winning that honor! I am so happy!

Before and After

Glamour Rachel and Jake

Remember the black and white photograph I posted a couple of days ago of Rachel and Jake? Here is the same photo after being first altered in Portrait Professionals (highlighting added to Rachel's tips at her request.) :) Below is the same photograph, in color, giving Rachel a different eye color. Now I know why the models in magazines always look more perfect than life ... they've had just a wee bit of help!

New Software

Ned showed me a neat retouching software. Check out the differences in Rachel from the first photo, which is the original, and the second, which is retouched.

What I Did Today

100 pounds of Roma tomatoes.
50 pounds washed, cooked, cooled and drained.
25 pounds diced with mild chili peppers.
25 pounds diced plain, in the fridge, awaiting canning.
In boxes: the other 50 pounds.

As Annie sang,
"Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow ...."

Just Foolin' Around ....

Three Day Vacation

I have no idea why I named this blog Kinda Laid Back. Boy, is that a misnomer! Revved Up Fast would be more like it. My life is anything but laid back. Alas. Perhaps it was hopeful thinking?

After being bitten, rather badly, and for the first time in my life, a week ago, by a dog I was boarding (don't worry, he wasn't attacking me, I just idiotically got in the midst of a disgruntled discussion he was having with another dog) I was able to go away for a long weekend with the LOML (love of my life, my husband, Ned). We pretty much picked a place at random that sounded quiet and headed for the Southport, Oak Island area. We were so blessed in that choice! It felt as if we had stepped back into time thirty or forty years to a beach area that is NOT over commercialized, over croweded, or over touristed. It looks remarkably untouched by time. We dined the night before last at a seafood restaurant called Jones Seafood Family Owned and Operated since 1964 ... and as we sat there eating an excellent dinner, I looked around and realized that truly, there was nothing at all present in the room, the furnishings and decor, the waitresses' attire, the customers' attire, the dishes, etc. that dated the place. It was lost in the decades. It was like that everywhere. Few beachy franchises. Few new buildings ... small gift shops, fudge and ice cream stores and the like filled buildings previously devoted to other uses. It was at once delightfully shabby and incredibly family friendly and relaxed. You got the feeling people came there to spend time with one another, not to score on the action. So it was restful. Chilling. You felt the need to keep up, optimize, and screen out all falling away. It was just what a vacation was supposed to be, and we cannot wait to go back again.