Taking a hiatus

First, let's all wish the hubby a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Like fine wine, he gets better with time! I know that's cheesy, but it's true, with time comes life experience and wisdom…and wine does taste good with cheese! We're going to our very favorite authentic Szechuan restaurant. Mmm....our favorite dish is the "husband and wife".

I've been giving blogging platforms a lot of thought lately. Even though Blogger has served me well, hosting my site for free (I had to pay for my own domain), I've had issues with it.

Technology-free kids?

Thanks for everyone's well-wishes for J's health. We went to the doc on Monday. Good news was his ear infection was clearing up. Bad news was he also had hand-foot-mouth disease, which is a nasty form of a cold that includes a rash and blisters in his mouth. No wonder he kept saying "ouchy" when he ate! Poor guy! Good news is that he's almost back to 100%! Bad news is Mommy caught his nasty cold. Good news is she spent half of Monday and all day Tuesday in bed with Nyquil, so she's feeling much better today! Thanks again, everyone! Now, onto today's post...

I'll be the first to admit that it's our own fault. To soothe our infant, we'd bounce him on the exercise ball in front of the TV. He'd be soothed by the bouncing and mesmerized by the moving pictures. On weekends, when he got bored and we were tired, we'd sit in front of the computer watching YouTube videos of The Wiggles or Sesame Street.

Shooting in harsh sunlight

Thanks for all the suggestions on last week's photography post on self-portraits. Some great advice were: use a 2-second timer so that after the remote click, you have time to pose and hide the remote // shoot in continuous mode, of course! // let hubby take the pictures ;). Hehe. Thanks again!

Today's the FIRST DAY OF SUMMER! You've probably already heard the advice to stay out of the sun between 10am and 2pm. The sun is at its highest, which means you'll be exposed to more UV, I think. Well, this post isn't about sun-safety even though I subscribe to the "say yes to sunscreen" mantra. No, this post is about my challenges when photographing in harsh sunlight. I often shoot around 10am because that's just the time our son and I head out the door on weekends.

Say no to just like

I've done it so many times. The click of a "like" on Facebook, on a blog post, on Instagram, etc. It's so easy. It's so fast. But after some thought, I'm starting to say no to just "like". Read on for my three reasons:

<a href="http://www.expandng.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-a7bstOrpD10/T9n1XYkRwhI/AAAAAAAAGWU/pFTEIxLmjUA/s800/say_no_to_just_likes.png" width="150" title="Say no to just likes with expandng.com">

What we've been up to

Hope everyone had great weekend! Our son's daycare was closed on Friday for in-service in preparation for the "summer program" to start on Monday. Unfortunately, he didn't get to fully enjoy it because he had an ear infection :(. He hasn't had one since he was an infant. Thankfully, he doesn't need ear drops like he did as an infant, just antibiotics by mouth.

Simple Sunday: Outdoors

Welcome to Simple Sunday where I link up with Rebecca from Simple as That.

Beach-ready pastels

Sandy A La Mode is a blog I read regularly. She has a beautifully-designed blog, is a beautiful lil' lady, and has a cute boy named Austin. She recently introduced a style-finder site called Fashionspace. At first, it looks like ShopStyle, except through Fashionspace, clicks from a post equal commissions. Anyways, she teamed up with another blogger for ModCloth giveaway, for which she'd pick a winner with her favorite "Pastels" board.

Friday Fun Questions

A few weeks ago, I tagged a few people to answer some random questions, and asked them to post some random questions.

The good months of parenting

First, thanks for all the encouragement on yesterday's post on self-portraits. Maybe I'll practice more with all the great momentum! During our son's (J) first 20 months (he's 22-mo now), I had a LOT to complain, er seek advice, about. Choosing an infant formula that sat well with our son (1,2,3,4, and 5). Getting him to sleep through the night, where was DreamyBabies when I needed it? Debates on middle-of-the-night feedings. Why does this baby complain so much? More recently, I've been complaining about discipline issues for throwing food, not getting in the carseat, and mis-use of the stroller. Finally, the latest parenting hurdle was trying to get our toddler to eat. Thanks for all your advice -- it's helped us overcome each hurdle!

Self-portraits

I decided in May to make an effort to get in front of the camera. The hubby found an old tripod in his parents house (score!), and I bought an inexpensive remote (referral link). Before I show you the results, let me say that it was a CHALLENGE. Setting up the tripod, positioning the camera, getting anything in focus, getting the remote to work, and getting a good composition, etc. was SO HARD. For those of you who use a tripod and/or remote/timer regularly and get good shots, I seriously TIP MY HAT to you! TIP MY HAT to you!

Canon T1i | Manual | 50mm | ISO 3200 | f/3.5 | 1/125 sec

Time to blog

On Laura's guest post, a reader (Henry) commented: I really respect people with blogs and how they have something creative to write and asks:

Reader question: How do you find the time to take pictures and blog?

Why create a Facebook fanpage?

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Before I created a Facebook fanpage (Expandng Blog) (would love it if you "liked" it!), I provided a link from this blog to my personal Facebook page. But it wasn't working out, so here are 4 reasons I created a Facebook fanpage.

Simple Sunday: Best friends

Welcome to Simple Sunday where I link up with Rebecca from Simple as That.

Father's Day Gifts under $50

I don't usually post anything on Saturdays, but since I had so much fun putting together a list of Mother's Day gifts for under $50, I thought I'd take a stab at a list of Father's Day gifts.

Cutting onions

Is it me, or do many "western" recipes call for onions? It's like the scallion, used in a lot of "eastern" recipes, of the west.

Remember the little things

This post was inspired by Jennie at My 3 Ring Circus. She posted these hilarious snapshots of the things her kids have left around the house. Seriously, click over there and tell me that the pretzel on a paper towel in the freezer and a pool stick in a towel rack aren't hilarious. Jennie reminded me that when our kid(s) grow up, move out, and the house can finally be neat and organized, I might actually miss the mess!

Black & white photography

When I first started converting photographs to black & white (b/w), it was mostly an attempt to conceal background clutter or whatever mess was on my 22-mo (J) shirt (or face) at the time ;). As I read more about b/w photography, I'm learning that really great b/w photographs are more than just an action in photo editing software.

She learns

I’m so happy to have one of my “BBBs” (see what that stands for in her post!) guest-post for me today. I joined Blogelina’s Facebook “Blogging Buddy Groups” and Laura was there. Her blog wasn’t even officially up yet, but I knew I wanted to support her right away. From her blog I knew she was a crafty and loved sharing recipes. But through our interaction, I’ve also learned that she has a HUGE heart. And reading her post below, I’ve also learned that is quite FUNNY too! Read on to see what Laura’s learned about blogging, what she wants to learn, and what she wish she knew before she started blogging.

*Laura is a mom of two kids, two dogs and one cat and blogs at World of Laura B.*

Simple Sunday: Lil gymnast

Welcome to Simple Sunday where I link up with Rebecca from Simple as That.

Finding family-friendly accommodations

Happy Friday, everyone! Summer's coming up, isn't it? How fast it is approaching! If everything goes as planned, we will spend a week in Rehoboth Beach (RHB) (any recommendation for activities are appreciated!). When planning for this trip, the biggest task was finding a place to stay. We had two choices -- hotel or rental condo/home.