It's Bella's Birthday!

Today marks another big day in the Johnston family as we celebrate Bella’s 3rd birthday. I guess this means that in dog years old Beans is official legal today. She and I will celebrate by knocking back a couple of six-packs and enjoying a nice meaty beef rib bone or two! Or maybe she can have the rib and I’ll drink a beer to commemorate the occasion for her. Either way, we are happy to say that this very important and extremely goofy member of our family is celebrating her birthday today and we are all celebrating a little bit with her. Although I’ve read that for certain dogs, three marks the beginning of adulthood and the end of adolescence, I don’t see any change in her yet. That’s just fine by us. We’ll definitely settle for the same unflappably happy, curious goof that bounds through our lives in her unique carefree and often hilarious way. Enjoy some candid shots of moments in life with Bella, the Beans. Happy 3rd Birthday, Girl!

If I just lay here. Would you lie with me and just forget the world...

Mom, seriously! Can I have five minutes to myself? So here's the way this works, you put something in front of my face, and I eat it. No questions asked. If I get sick from it, you get to clean it up. Capiche?

Do I look like an idiot in this?!? I mean, I feel like an idiot! Do I look like one?

Bella, Warrior Princess

(10 points if you noticed before I pointed it out but, how many legs do I have again?)

Momma, I'm all ready for school but, I'm a little worried because I don't have a backpack like the other kids. No pants either.

Sometimes, the bone is soo good and the belly is full so you just... accidentally...fall...zzzzzzzzzzzz...

Hmmm, this looks like an opportunity to demonstrate how much I dislike water touching any part of my beautiful self.

Hey do you guys hear that? There is a plastic bag way up in that tree and the wind is making it go flap, flap, flap so fast that it sounds like brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! I have got to tell you, that is really fascinating to me!

Mmmm, cat poop! Or as I prefer to call it, kitty bon-bons.

Oh there's Mommy up there! I love Mommy! I'm not gonna walk over there to her! I'm gonna run! I love to run! It is sunny! I love the sun! When I run and it is sunny and I see Mommy, I smile! I love smiling! Maybe Mommy needs a kiss?

kickin' it old school...

I'm taking a photography class at CTC this semester. In this class we are required to use a manual 35mm FILM camera. Yes really, manual film camera! To my surprise, manual cameras and film still exist…weird. For this class, we can only use black and white film. So, my photography teacher not only requires that we use this camera, with the black and white film, but also that we develop our own film, in a dark room. Very old school, am I right? I guess I like the idea of learning how to develop film, but at the same time I’m scared of the process. If you ruin the film (and several students have done so already) then you’ll never know what you might have captured on that roll. As for the camera itself, I’m totally frightened of it! I’ve had it for about a month now and I’ve only used it twice. I feel like I’m being disloyal to my poor digital, plus I’m just not comfortable with the manual. So far I have taken exactly 21 pictures with the manual and every time I snap a picture, I look at the back of the camera at the non-existent LCD monitor (picture preview) to see how the picture looks. Of course there’s no LCD monitor…it’s a film camera, Olivia, hello! It’s really scary when you know you can’t look at the picture you just took, that it’s on film and there is nothing you can do about it if it doesn’t look good. My first project is due on Thursday. I have three more pictures to take on my roll before I head to the dark room to develop it…I’m procrastinating. I’ve seen the way some of my fellow student’s film turned out and it wasn’t pretty! Lots of pictures were totally ruined. My friend lost all but 4 on her roll of 24! Yikes! The 21 pictures that I have taken so far where: three of our cat Tex, and 18 of the lake at mom and dad Johnston’s house. We’ll see how they turn out and if I’m not totally embarrassed, I’ll share them here once I’m done…that is if they survive the developing process! My digital has been a little neglected, but not too much. I still take it everywhere and choose it over the film camera every time! Surprisingly for me, I only took around ten pictures over our busy weekend. My Grandma, parents, sister and nephew came to our house for dinner on Sunday and I took most of that then…

~Madi helping us with dinner ~ being goofy. I love it.

~Can't you just tell that everyone was having a blast?!?! They were watching "Bit Boss" on Animal Planet...awesome show by the way!

I caught a rare moment between the cats (they were actually laying near each other) and had to take a picture…

Then yesterday, while at Mom and Dad Johnston’s lake, to take pictures with the manual, I took a few with my digital.

~a beautiful Blue Heron

I have a new love of bird houses. This one is in Mom and Dad Johnston's yard and is always occupied.

Hopefully, I will have a few pictures from my manual camera to share soon. Wish me luck! Happy Hump Day!