Photo of the Week: Week 36

Anyone that knows me, knows that I'm a really good baker. My downfall is that my decorating skills are sub par. Case in point. I'm so bad at it, it's gotten to the point where I automatically warn people: It tastes better than it looks, I promise!

My sister-in-law, her twin brother, her mother and I have consecutive birthdays. When I found out that Michelle's mom would be in the city for her birthday, I decided we should all celebrate together. Last night, I whipped up some carrot cake cupcakes. I made the frosting as they cooled and mentally prepared myself to produce some ugly looking cupcakes.

But something strange happened.

They came out not ugly.

They actually look, dare I say, professional?

I don't know what's come over me, but those are the prettiest cupcakes I'll ever make.

Caturday

This is Addy refusing to make eye contact with me because she knows she's not supposed to sit on my clean laundry.

Happy Caturday!

fr EYE day

You're getting a two for one this week! If you look closely at the patterns, especially dark brown spots around the iris, you might notice that this is in fact the same eye. That's right, I finally bit the bullet and stepped in front of the lens to show you my own eye.

I've always known that my eyes will change color, but never expected to document it. I turned to Trainer Steve to take my pictures because he's also a photographer and this shot takes a steady hand.  Officially, I say my eyes are hazel. The first shot is my happy color: green. The second shot is my angry color: yellowish brown. Yes, I have mood eyes.

The angry eye color was the first shot Steve took and I was really surprised because I wasn't angry at him. Then I realized what had happened: the picture was taken after my workout at the gym. The adrenaline after a tough kettlebell workout does the same thing as someone making me mad. Pretty neat, huh? I brought my camera back in and asked Steve to take a picture of my eye before my workout. He was skeptical of my claim, but there's my proof.

I included the larger versions, but I think you get a better idea of the different colors when they are side by side. In case you were wondering, these are both my right eye and they were both shot in the same room, under the same lighting conditions. I did not enhance the colors in any way.

 Angry Audra

 Happy Audra

Now remember those contraction furrows in the eye I showed you several weeks back? Well, I've got them too. And just one more fun tidbit for you, the only other eye I've seen the horizontal bands in belongs to my cousin.

See, I told you I had special eyes!

Throwback Thursday

Mokoli'i, also known as Chinaman's hat, in Kāneʻohe Bay, Oahu

I can't believe it's been FIVE years since my friends and I vacationed in Hawaii! And, it only took me five years to scan the group picture from the Luau. (Sorry about that guys!)

I think we didn't like the photographer because Christian, Lisa and I all have balled up fists. I'm guessing I was probably trying to tell her to center us before I punch you in the face.

There were many memorable moments to the trip, but the craziest of them all is, without a doubt, when Christian was selected to dance on stage at the luau. Out of the hundreds of attendees, he was chosen. I remember hearing, "Hi, I'm Christian from Connecticut!" announced over the speakers and I dropped my drink and bolted to the stage with my camera.

After the performance, he was a celebrity. Everybody stopped to high five Christian from Connecticut.

Just think, guys, we're only five years away from our ten year reunion!

Remembering

We all watched his show at some point or other. Let's be honest: Who watched to see if he was going to get bit? As insane as his handling of wild animals was, the one thing that always struck me was the passion he had. Wacky and maybe just a little bit nuts, sure, but passionate all the same.

I can't believe it's already been six years since Steve Irwin passed away. I'm going to pop in my DVD of Collision Course when I get home from work tonight and remember all the good things about the man.

Photo of the Week: Week 35

I covered Kettlebell Daily's third annual Swing-a-thon for Remedy yesterday. Instead of taking the same old people swinging a kettlebell picture, I thought I'd mess around with some settings on my camera. I'm finally able to shoot HDR, high dynamic range, which is supposed to be used for scenic photography. The camera takes three pictures in a row and combines the results into a single frame. I wanted to see what it would do with people in motion, and it's pretty trippy.

That might be some of the coolest ghosting I've ever shot. Definitely need to play with this more!

Caturday: Guest Edition

I sat down with Reba over the weekend to do some glam shots. Don't let the attitude fool you; she's one of the nicest cats I know.

Happy Caturday!