Artwork Update

I have added some new additions to my Flickr. Thanks to a wonderful person I was able to acquire Photoshop once again. I have been doing some pinups for my portfolio. They are a mixture of some 2D and 3D artwork. Between adjusting lighting, posing people, composing the scene, smoothing and manually highlighting and shadowing in Photoshop it's a lot of work but well worth it!

Photography Update

I think my photos keep getting better. Mind you I am doing this with an iPhone! I took a little care in bringing out the colors in Photoshop, some of them were just so beautiful I didn't have to do anything to. I also uploaded larger images.

Botanical Gardens Visit July 6, 2010

Ahhhhh, the Rain!

After an 8 day heatwave rain never felt so good. On my way out to the laundromat I simply stood on my porch in the downpour not caring how soaked my clothing got! I was completely drenched... Good thing I had some towels with me!

Damien snapped this lovely shot with my iPhone. I blurred out a little of the background. You can see a little bit of my car in the background.

It's the Bird!

Recently we have re-inherited my husband's parrot. The house he was staying in in CT is being sold and the person that was taking care of him was unable to keep him where he was moving so the birdie is now back with us.

His name is Canyou (Canyou shut up?!). He is a large yellow nape amazon parrot. Apparently these guys are endangered so its impossible to buy them anymore. He LOVES to talk and is quite a character. He even has arguments with himself in male and female voices. I will grab a video of him sometime for you because it's just way too funny!

He has some very luxurious accomodations. We acquired a six foot parrot cage off Craig's list for an unbeatable price of $180. He's got some great toys that he has already been chewing into shreds and gets spoiled with lots of fresh local produce. I'd say he's been pretty happy, especially judging by his behavior.

Blast from the Past

I'm not sure how old this photo is but it's probably from when I was around the age of 18 or so. Yes, I used to have red hair. I can't believe how skinny I was back then! Over the years you acquire a bit of extra fluff. It really inspires me to get back into the shape I used to be when I was younger.

The photography is by a good friend photography Mark Edwards. He is probably the only man on this earth besides my husband that I trust to do photography of me.

Flickr Update

Huge update on my Flickr yesterday. I finally got around to uploading more of the screenshots I never got the chance to, primarily of my character Ziebzen. There are some shots of other people in there from INSILICO as well.

The photo that you are seeing above is one of the ones I submitted for the Elixir Beach Bash Modeling Contest. Wish me luck! I love the clothes that they make. Also, the artist Khorus Magne is the one that designed the skins that I wear on my avatar. They are all beautifully hand painted.

Reakt0r Playlist 06.27.2010

Eye Koto - Bitcrush
Zoar - The Passing of a Plague
Zeromancer - Neo geisha
Fair Sex - Cyberbite
Celldweller - Frozen
Blue Man Group - The Current feat. Gavin Rossdale
Gary Numan - Metal
Apoptygma Berzerk - All Tomorrow's Parties
Fear Factory - Remanufacture (Demanufacture)
Circle Of Dust - Chasm (Ver. 2.1.0)
Zeromancer - Chromebitch
Hexstatic - Robopop
Goldfrapp - Utopia (Remix by Plaid)
Brainbug - Nightmare (Sinister Strings Mix)
Apparat - Charlie's House [Apparat Remix] - Nathan Fake
Blue Man Group - Rods and Cones
Animekomix Club Mix - Quadraphiliac
Decoded Feedback - Technophoby (Extraction Remix)
Equinox - Binary Star
Male or Female - Woffer
AnalogX - Organic
Ali Love - Love Harder - Mighty Mouse Remix
Infected Mushroom - Vicious Delicious
Monolith - Machinebeats
Equinox - Electronic Dreams
Front 242 - Headhunter (Front Line Assembly Mix)
Crazy Rockerz - dance with my pants (club mix edit)
Feddle Le Grand - Put Your Hands Up For Detroit
Verano - popcorn (radio edit)
Basshunter - boten anna (instrumental)
Pulsedriver - whistle song (album version)
Floorfilla - Cyberdream (Radio Rip)
Dreamnation - Mission To Venus
Rob Mayth vs. Floorfilla - iPower
Deejay Digress - Extreme Elektroschock (Roland Kenzo Remix)
Verano - disc - o - tec
Groove Coverage - 21 Century Digital Girl (Banana Inc. Radio Edit)
Cascada - A Neverending Dream
Eiffel 65 - My Console (Playstation)
Utah Saints - Love Song
Eiffel65 - - TooMuchOfHeaven
B! Machine - Blue (Studio Live Mix)
DE-VISION - Dinner Without Grace
Technoir - Manifest (Beborn Beton Club Mix)Tristesse de la Lune - Time Is Moving [Remix by Panzer AG]
Assemblage 23 - Skin
The Nine - Control
Beborn Beton - Conspiracy
DE - VISION-DEVOLUTION (Digital Dream)
Synaesthesia - Dark core
Covenant - Still Life
Deus Ex - NYC Bar
Ancient Future - Ja Nam

Art Update

At the local Koi show one of my husband's pieces showed up on the leg of one of the members. It's always exciting to see our art pop up in different places, especially on people.



I also have a story called Residual Data that I have been working on. I've been doing some 3d photo pieces to go along with the story. I've uploaded them into a new album on my Flickr.

Flickr Update

So I absolutely love doing photography in SecondLife! I have a hoard of wonderful screenshots I never really got to upload as my copy of Photoshop has been down for the count. Life is hell without Photoshop. In the meantime I grabbed myself a copy of Photoshop Elements 8 to tide me over until I can afford the full blown version.

I updated my SL avatar's Flickr page and uploaded a bunch of photography. You can really capture some gorgeous images that really are works of art. Whatever you can imagine you can do! The best part is you can pose the models how you like and they sit still.

Kitchen Overhaul Part 2

Not bad for a day's work! The old sink was probably a 60-70 pound metal basin that was bolted into the wall. My husband had to call on the help of our friend Steve to assist. They were working on it all day yesterday. We utilized the old bottom cabinets but moved them forward and closer to the North wall by the windows to fit the counter top better.

The funniest part about this is that the sink is the same exact one from my childhood that I grew up with. The faucet had been in storage and is the same exact one my parents used to have but still works wonderfully. I think the date on the warranty papers was 1985. Talk about a blast from the past! It just proves that Delta makes good faucet hardware! As you can see it still looks brand new. I was so excited I had to get some dishes done. You don't realize how wonderful the little things are in life until they are gone--like a sink that doesn't clog constantly and is not rusting.

Lastly, we hooked up the ice maker and water filter on the fridge and I have to tell you it it a fantastic thing to have! The thing is such a luxury! It makes ice cubes, crushed ice and has a water fountain--all filtered! I had a nice tall glass of lemonade with crushed ice and boy, was it refreshing.

There is still much more work that needs to be done but we are tackling it slowly. Right now everything is in disarray in the kitchen. If things go well we may tackle the counter by the windows too!

Photos Added :Erie County Botanical Gardens

Erie County Botanical Gardens Album

Kitchen Overhaul

Unfortunately, I live in a very old house right now and of course old houses mean lots of renovation and maintenance. The faucet had been constantly leaking on the kitchen sink for a very long time and we figured that it was time to put in a new counter and sink.

Here is a picture of the old one:



As you can see the cabinets are very antique. I just love the linoleum on the counter top! Some of which you can see we peeled up. I have no intentions of replacing the ones up top but the ones on the bottom definitely need an overhaul. I cleaned out the entire area with my son yesterday and the hubby went to work at dismantling them. We got a fairly good deal on a counter top and some sink hardware. Luckily we happened to have a nice stainless steel double basin sink hanging around as we had originally intended on using it for another renovation that never happened.

This house is only temporary, thank goodness so we're not going to pour too much money into the job. We just need something convenient and functional for now.

STEAKLOBSTER!

Every time my husband and I passed this restaurant called Captain's we always laughed because they have a sign out front advertising "STEAK LOBSTER". Apparently the "&" sign so there is now something we refer to as steaklobsters. Just imagine a big juicy steak made out of lobster meat--without the shell. Mmmmmm.... So, anyway it was good for a giggle.

For my birthday I had requested lobster for dinner but unfortunately my family ended up going to a restaurant with no lobster. Mind you, the food there was excellent! I wasn't complaining one bit. So, last night I put my foot down and said, "Damn it, I want lobster!" I haven't had one in ages.

We discovered a really great place called The Viking Lobster Company. The place looked like a house with a neon "OPEN" sign on it but we were in for a wonderful surprise. It was very cozy, well decorated, and the food was extraordinary!

This is Charlie. He is a 5 pound lobster that we shared. He was delicious. This was probably the best lobster I have ever had! The meat was perfectly tender, sweet, and flavorful. We started off with a salad and soup that was to die for. The soup was a zesty, sweet portuguese style chowder and the salad had a house made creamy clam dressing which was to die for.

This place is definitely a repeat performance! ★★★★★

First Post

Wowie! So I finally got around to getting a blog up. This first post is a test.