At the Piano {Video}

I don't know HOW LONG this project has been on my list of things to do!! I think I even added it to several lists. At first it probably started out on a nice little list back in December that said "Things to do over the break". That didn't happen. So it probably got moved to a list in January that said "This Week". Nope. February's list of "To Do This Month"?... It didn't happen then either.

I had this vision of recording myself playing "River Flows in You" and videoing different angles of me playing it... But it just wasn't happening. I think I did actually start/try to record the song probably 20 times though, but it just wasn't coming out right. I got so nervous at the thought of it actually being recorded, though so I had to keep "trying later".
I finally got it done last weekend! Whew! I guess it took me being sick-ish with a cold to get it done so that I could stay at home alone while my family was gone for the weekend. It's always so much easier to record stuff when no one is traipsing through the house and banging doors, too. (You know... I'm pretty sure my parents still don't know I made this video. Hmmm, I should show them now)

So I recorded me playing it with garageband. Then I played along with the sound from that file as I shot the different angles of the video with a tripod (and other silly methods that I come up with when a tripod won't work) :P

I could say that combining the audio and videos in iMovie was quite simple, and I guess it was... but I still spent several hours on it, just to make my playing match up with the sound.
But it was fun! And that's the only reason I do it.

River Flows in You by Yiruma - Piano Cover

-MarLeahJoy

What I'm Loving {Today}

I wasn't really planning on blogging today... at least I didn't have anything in mind. But when things are so good, my heart bubbles over and I have to share somewhere. So I'm just going to share what's making me happy today :)

[1] my open window with the breeze blowing my curtains [2] all the birds making noises outside [3] sunshine/natural light in my bedroom [4] getting laundry done with all the elements from 1, 2 and 3 ;) [5] wearing a super comfy hoodie *which is advertising US-made cars... whoops! I guess I need a VW one ;P [6] using my Lensbaby [7] plans for tomorrow: getting to visit an elderly woman 

-MarLeahJoy

Heirloom Seed Co.

Last night I suddenly remembered that I took a lot of pictures at the Heirloom Seed Co. earlier this month, and I haven't really done much with them. 

I decided to upload them to flickr instead of making a whole long post.

So you can hover over the image and click the right arrow to view what I took there at the farm.

We started out with a vegan meal at their restaurant, which was actually really good! Then we went down to another little building there in the "village" where they sold the best cinnamon rolls! We munched on those while we walked around and looked at the animals. After being in the seed store a while, I started to feel a little conspicuous with my camera when a worker made a comment to me (a nice one) and then asked if I had got any pictures of myself. "Well, no." So she took the picture of us three. Haha :) And when I realized that my mom and her friend were going to spending hours (literally) in the seed store I escaped outside to just walk around some more.

The very last panorama of these pictures was actually taken a little ways from Laura E. Wilder's house. Once again, my mom and her friend were doing something that really didn't interest me (going to the museum that was next to Laura's house). So I just took the car and drove the time away. :)

-MarLeahJoy

A Bit of Christmas Eve

This Christmas we were reveling in the fact that we weren't going to decorate. (Only after convincing ourselves that it wasn't really necessary and feeling slightly guilty for being so lazy.) But when it was decided that we would be "hosting" the Adams at our house this year Momma thought she had to decorate a little bit. So out come the pinecones and some lights and other winter things. Nothing big... but I must say that I started to feel the warm, fuzzy Christmas feelings all over again when I saw our house decorated a little bit. Now, obviously that isn't the true meaning of Christmas, though. In fact I just heard a really, really good message about Christmas -- "The Real Meaning" It's worth listening to in my opinion.

We tend to always celebrate with the Adams on Christmas Eve and then have our own family time on Christmas morning. We just do the typical... stuff-yourself-with-tons-of-food, exchange a present and play games together.

And ever since little Lacey was born, our Holiday gatherings are filled with so much more laughter and smiles! We all adore her so much!

We played Mad Gab :)

Here's one that I had today: "Easel Aid Ease Man"  >  "He's a lady's man"
It's so funny to watch someone saying all these stupid syllables over and over until something clicks. Then their face lights up and they shout out the exact same thing they've been saying all along -- just with a new meaning. Ha! 

Merry Christmas!

-MarLeahJoy

Flash from the Past {Personal}

I just love pictures so much... too much.

So I will share some cute ones from my past (hopefully you agree that they are cute, I mean, I'm not biased towards myself or anything, right?!) ;)

50's day dress up for 2nd grade :) My mom was always so good about sewing us the perfect outfits for these occasions.

Everything about this picture is perfect, and I will be forever grateful to my mom for capturing it on camera. I mean, it doesn't get more little-girlish than pig-tails, tippy-toes, and mouth gaping open ;)

Some how I really remember this day so vividly in my mind! Momma was working with the garden, and she had removed some of the elephant ear plants for some reason and I was so, so happy to get to use one as an umbrella. I held it proudly above my head back to the porch and I don't know how long I sat on the swing like that, but apparently long enough for someone to come take a picture of the happy girl.

"Fwhello? Yesh, we are marshmallows today! Now, just let ush go play in the snow!" Haha

My Nanna would always supply us with snacks at camp (It was mostly because she wanted us to come visit her in her trailer, but we loved to visit her anyway). I think graham crackers were actually my all-time favorite, but vanilla wafers must have ranked up there pretty close for me to be doing this.


I just love childhood, and I love the memories :)
-MarLeahJoy

Colorado

These are some of the pictures I quickly lumped together and showed you 

in this post here, when I was still in Colorado. So here are the full images. :)

Garden of the Gods :)

I used my Lensbaby Edge 80 on this shot to give it a miniature look.

And I think this is my absolute favorite image I have taken with the Lensbaby yet. 

And I even taught my dad how to use the Lensbaby :)

So he took this one of us

And here again is the image I submitted into the landscape contest. You can vote for me if you have Facebook, and it will *maybe slightly* influence the judging, but the contest is not based on likes.

If you don't have Facebook, go on over and check out all the amazing entries anyway. Some of them are absolutely amazing! http://woobox.com/f4nhhw/vote/for/1292609 

I brought out my Double Glass optic, that I practically have never used since

the day I got my Lensbaby, and I think I actually kind of like it. 

It gives this zoom-y effect to every picture, so I doesn't work all the time, 

but I liked it for the tourist-y shots I got around town that day. 

All of the rest of the pictures in this post were taken using the Double Glass.

From PJ's Bistro. I was terribly, terribly sick at this point, but I was still

taking pictures ;P

Have a wonderful weekend!

-MarLeahJoy

Me + My Volk-ie

I enjoyed the evening so much, just driving my car around in the country while the sun was setting.

Actually, I was really been trying to take silhouettes. I don't really feel like I know very much about them, so I've been trying to experiment some. I've wanted to get one of my old Beetle, but I think I've decided I should try another subject, haha... It's not going as I imagined. :)

Nonetheless, I had fun.

Love my car! I am constantly terribly amazed that I got my dream car for my first car :)

-MarLeahJoy

Colorado Hike {Personal}

This was our last complete family vacation before my sister gets

married. One of our main purposes was to hike up 

and reach the meadow at the top of one of the mountains our cabin 

was nestled between.

I had experience severe altitude sickness the day before and was

awake throughout the night feeling horrible. But the Lord blessed and

I was feeling perfectly fine by 3am.... Fine enough to complete and 

submit my college homework by 7am and then go on the hike without

even taking a nap before. I was amazed at how normal I felt during the

whole day, just after being sick and running on a few hours of sleep!

Healthy buckwheat pancakes for breakfast before our 7 mile hike up

the mountain. I think we made a little too much, though ;)

The back door, looking out our cabin. 

By the way, I can definitely recommend this cabin to anyone.

We've been there four times now and love it!

...and some healthy greens :)

Leaving our cozy cabin in the morning to head out on the hike.

This is just the road you have to walk up before you hit the trail.

Ahhh... can you tell who she's missing ;)

:)

The bark on this root is so smooth after being tread over by so many people

Somehow I can never get away without a "feet picture". It must be a girl thing, because I know a photographer who hikes in Yosemite a lot, and she always posts at least one of her feet ;)

Or, maybe that's just the only part of ourself we can easily take a picture of. :)

Staying on the blue trail... that leads to the meadow.

Yep, this is a full-length selfie. Now I feel accomplished! lol

This was also the time Alyssa and I were "waiting" on the rest of our family to catch up with us...

Ehh... they never came. So we started to go back down the trail and didn't see them, so we went back up to another trail that lead to the town overlook to see if they went there...

(town over look) :)

Finally, we decided that we should just go back down the mountain and see if they were at the cabin, because we sure hadn't seen them pass us on the trail while we were waiting.

We get to the cabin, and no luck. We assume that they won't come down the mountain until they find us, so we start back up road to hike the mountain again. Remember: this is a 7 mile hike, ha! :P

Thankfully, Ranelle met us on the road. They had met someone on the trail that we had met, who told them that we had been heading down the trail. 

Long story short, while Alyssa and I were waiting on the rest of the family, they accidentally vered off the trail and travelled 30 min in that direction until they came back to the original trail.

So Alyssa and I never made it to the beautiful meadow like the rest of our family, but I expect to go back some day... so that's okay :)

Then we had some deer in our back "mountain" (right behind our cabin) that I chased around with my camera... I was using my Lensbaby Edge 80 (80mm) lens, so that gives you an idea of how close I was to them.

"Well, hello there!"

deer-tracks

As I was heading back down the mountain after chasing the deer, I saw this beautiful view of the back of our cabin, so I went back to change lenses to capture it. Ahh... to be there again!

The cozy little room I stayed in.

And a more complete view of the front of the cabin.

Since, I've been here several times in my life, I have these wonderful childhood memories of it (I think the first time, I might have been 6). And this porch was one of my favorite things about the cabin. We all just loved the bed-swing :)

Also, this cabin brings back so many memories of my grandma who passed away about 3 years ago.

She came with us here one time :) 

-MarLeahJoy