Sometimes, I Take Nifty Photos

I have been taking pictures with a digital camera for about 7 years now.  I would say the first 4 of them were, oh hey! look at that! *click* for composition/thought behind them.  Over the last few years I have been trying to get that "eye" for a shot and play with the camera a little bit more.  Sometimes I am successful and when I am not, who cares?  It's digital! 

The turning point in my photography was inspired by my co-workers in Marietta who explained basic composition (rule of thirds) and shared some of their finer work by displaying it on the walls in their office.  That was where I figured, hey, if I am going to take pictures, why not try to make them look good?  So I have dabbled on my own for a while now and have had decent success.  For Christmas I got a book called the Better Photo Guide.  Let's see what new tricks it can teach me.  In the meantime, here's some of the funner ones I noticed while going through my photos on my computer.

Wedding bells hanging from a chandelier

Attempt to get the tree reflection on the purse, couldn't figure out how to get me out :)

Outer Banks Sunset

Munich, possibly my current favorite photo

Another attempt at artsy in the castles, I think if I had gotten closer, it would have looked different

Bacharach, Germany - view from the top of the town

Julia hiding in the pumpkin patch

Flowers

Mother Nature

One of the better photos of the Golden Gate Bridge I captured

Perspective of how tall a redwood is

Beach Walk at the Outer Banks

UVA Basketball

Yesterday Rob and I spent the day in Charlottesville with friends eating at places like LittleJohn's and St. Maarten's and watching UVA basketball.  The only other college basketball game I have ever attended was an exhibition game last year at Syracuse.  Up until that point, I didn't understand why people were so into March Madness.  Now I know better, but I just don't have the time to watch it all.

In some ways this game was much like the one we watched at Syracuse, the same colors were in the stands, Rob was there, and our understanding of the game going in was pretty much the same as last time.  The colors actually threw me for a loop and I had to concentrate more on the chants to make sure I wasn't saying, "Let's Go Orange" instead of "Let's go Wahoos".  The Diehl's were kind enough to explain some of the rules and happenings on the court we did not quite get. That was kind of nice and I feel slightly less ignorant about the game.

What was probably the biggest difference was that UVA was playing Virginia Tech, their rivals.  I haven't been to a UVA/Tech game of anything before or for that matter, any other game where a team was playing a rival.  It's a different game atmosphere, but at least this one wasn't hostile.  :P  There were fans cheering loudly on both sides, but thankfully, not to much hater chants.  It was a close game and neither team was really doing their best which probably aided in keeping the game close.  I have been told this is not normal and most times UVA doesn't play this well.  I was thankful for the way it turned out though.

In a perfect world, I would like to get to a game or two every now and then, but my general apathy about sports will probably stand in my way.  Honestly, a better bet is if friends decide they want to do and suggest we go with them.  :)  Maybe I will start by just trying to watch some basketball on TV.  That might be an easier for now. 

Project Update

A couple of weekend ago I purchased the material needed to begin my creative project I post about a while back.  I found almost half of my fabric in the remnants bin which was a pleasant surprise.  I love 1/2 off fabric and I really only needed small amounts anyway.  It worked out well and in some cases I have left over fabric for future projects.

I got out my rough sketches and started to put things together.  I have to say that the up front thinking allowed me to go through to cut and putting together process much easier with much less troubles and re-dos. So I present my Valentine's Day inspired creation.

The top part, unfinished

Completed "front"

Completed "back"

I am quite pleased with how the whole thing turned out and am proud of myself for making my own pattern AND it was actually pretty good!  I hope to do placemats for other holidays as well, but as Rob would like to point out, I have to actually put the binding on the other 5 placemats from this set before I should move on.  :-)  Details, details. 

Short Sales

Not unlike the 80s hit, Star Search, we are looking for a unique shining "star" (aka- home) that dazzles us and makes us happy.  This process seems easy to those hanging on the outside, but has proven to be quite a complicated thing.  The good news?  We are no longer in 2005 where people are snapping up properties at $50K over their market value a minute after they hit the market.  It's definitely a buyers market, so we are on the right side of the coin there.  So what does a buyers market get you?  Generally it would imply that buyers can have their "pick of the litter", but in this case the litter has many runts and is kind of on the small side. 

Because banks were handing out loans like idiots to idiots buying properties at $50K+ over their true market value thinking "there's no place to go but up!" (it had been for a few years), we are now in a bit of a pickle and short sales are the new fad.  This past weekend we got quite the education on what a short sale really is. 

Short sales?  Why the name sounds like it would be painless and quick!  In reality it's quite the opposite.  The short in short sales mean the buyer is short on their loan from what they took out to buy the place and what they are trying to sell the place for today.  Let's look at an example shall we?

Idiot A bought home at $450K, Home was really worth $425K, Idiot Bank gave them loan anyway.  Five years later, home is now worth $400K and Idiot A still owes the Idiot Bank $430K.  They are "short" $30K of the value of their home.  They probably could continue to make the payments, but they are forever going to play catch up for the losses (assuming we will not get another boom like our last one).  For many, it's just not worth it.  For a while many sellers weren't willing to own up to this idea that their home wasn't worth what they paid and so there was a huge disparity in the market.  Buyers weren't going to buy at those prices and sellers weren't willing to take a loss.  So the sellers held out, but their options did not improve and now the drift in the amount the are "short" has probably increased. 

There are short sales all over the place, but the problem with going this option is that you and the seller can't just come to an agreement.  By having a short sale the seller is essentially asking for the bank to forgive the difference and allow them to just sell the house for a loss.  They don't get a foreclosure on their record and the banks still gets money (although not all of it).  Unfortunately, the banks have come under a lot of scrutiny and so this process has been complicated.  They have to agree to the purchase price, but often times they are slow to respond, could change their mind, and of course, the seller is more than likely emotionally on edge considering it means their finances are more than likely in ruin.  So you as the buyer, who is just looking for a good deal and wants to make everyone happy by making the purchase can quite often become angry with waiting on people and how much they change their minds while being on this emotional roller coaster. 

For those of you who know me, you know this is a bad wrong idea.  So this narrows our "litter" drastically.  On a listing of 30 homes, half are short sales, another handful are out of our real range commute wise, another handful are just on the upper edge of the budget we aren't ready to really consider, and that leaves you with less than a dozen that may or may not work.  Did I mention that what you may consider buying is usually snapped up by people who are probably 3 months further down the process than we are?  Many of the "good ones" are snatched up within the month. 

Right now it feels like we are getting to the buffet late and we are picking through everyones half chewed on leftovers.  I am sure once we get going and understand how this process really works and see what our money will buy us, it will be easier to jump on properties.  For the time being, I am just happy I figured out short sales are something to stay away from.  So we will see how this goes as our home buying journey has begun!!

I am a Warrior!

It all began on a whim.  Amanda asked me if I wanted to tag along with her to a yoga class.  She had been doing classes during lunch at work for free, but really liked the lady and was going to check her out in a studio on Sundays as well.  What the hell?  Why not?

I still remember that first yoga class with Vicki and her encouraging words and sense of extreme ease with the poses she was flowing in and out of.  I felt extremely silly in some of the poses myself and did that self conscious check around the room to make sure everyone else looked like I did.  Check.  I also remember watching her do some of these poses of which I did not have the strength to do.  It looked like magic to me.  How as someone possibly bend their body like that?

There was something though that grabbed a hold of me.  I think that whole seeing is believing thing might have had some weight.  Vicki was genuine and real and inspiring.  So I went back.  And have been practicing since.  There was a lull in there, but generally this has been true.  I remember seeing Vicki doing some amazing poses during my time with her.  I thought, someday if I can do half of what she can I am going to be awesome.  I made some amazing progress while I practiced with her, but I still had (and still have) a lot of room to grow.

One of the poses I saw her do early on that I thought was magic was Warrior III.  For those that have no idea what the looks like, see the picture below for guidance.

The Yoga Journal provides some insight on one way to get into this pose (not any method I have been shown) in case you are interested in trying.  My first attempt at Warrior III was less than glamorous.  My straight standing leg was barely not bent and my extended legs and arms were at 45 degree angles.  But Vicki's words of encouragement, "Go where you can go today.  It maybe is only half way and that's great.  It's whatever pose is perfect for where you are at today."  She always encouraged us to try a little bit more if we could handle it.  Just to get used to us pushing ourselves beyond our comfort zone to broaden our yoga experience. 

For a while now my Warrior III pose has had the leg extended fully and the arms out in front, but with the elbows bent, never fully extended.  So last night I gave myself a "pep talk".  "Straighten your stinking arms, you can do this!  You just did side plank (another magic pose I saw when done for the first time in front of me) for like a minute, you arms are strong enough!"  So I stuck them out there and I have to say, it was pretty freaken amazing.  It's clearly a personal achievement and one you might be asking yourself, so what?  But I am really excited and since it's my blog, I can decide what I share.  :P  I did it again tonight just to make sure I wasn't dreaming.  I still rock.

So now I have another pose I can claim under my belt.  Maybe someday I will be able to do (and hold) the full boat pose.  There's always some new goal you can make with yourself in yoga.  Always.  And that's why I love it.