Happy B'day, pumpkin! Tante Ima loves you!!

Digging through my files I found these pictures of beautiful niece of mine whom I once constantly babysat and diaper-changed when she was little. Though I knew all along she would be a heartbreaker one day, boy was I still surprised to see her all grown-up now, turning into a beautiful girl (in-and-out)!! Gosh, where did that cute little girl go?

The last time I saw her was on my wedding day [more than 7 years ago!!] and now look what those years have done to my (once little) niece!!









I must add (baca: pamer dikit yaaaa...) not only I did the photography, but the dress, accessories and make-up were also done by me... hehehe... ngirit gitu lah ceritanya.

All photos taken with natural light (gotta love those catchlights, baby!!)

Nothing's more irritating than awakened from a restless sleep just to find ima-razzi's camera right in front of my nose and not to mention that my just-woke-up, irritated looks is all over the net in less than 24 hours later. See what kind of auntie I have to deal with? -- Little Ivy about me!

This place is really magical to me. This is the very top of the hospital where my husband was hospitalized for two years. The doctors there never gave up on him no matter how thin the chance was!

... this is what your reaction is gonna be:



The above picture was taken from the true occurrence. This is the look my husband's got when trying to  hand a ten-thousand-rupiah bill to this little fellow. He looked up at him like this! His widened-eyed shocking expression is just priceless!!

My husband must have been the first white monkey (or maybe albino monkey?) he had ever seen in his life. Well, welcome to the club, brother, I'm still shocked myself!!

This week's Picture Perfect: Around The World quite intrigues me because I love to see different places. So I decided to jump right in and share the uniqueness around me.

Since I live in Bay Area, California, one of the most sought-after spots we have here beside Golden Gate is, of course, the infamous former maximum security prison: ALCATRAZ, so here it is:

Canon EOS 20D, Canon EF 28-105mm F/4-5.6 USM, Hoya Polarizer
Focal length: 35mm @ 1/100sec F/5.6 ISO100, Flash OFF, Handheld

You can check more pictures I captured of Bay Area HERE. Enjoy!

I look forward to the rythm of the rain, to the deafening sound of the thunder, to the blinding flare of lightning... if that's the only way to see the rainbows afterward.



Happy New everyone!!

Saturday (3-Nov-07) was a beautiful day, we went for a ride and stopped by at a couple of places to take some fall foliage shots. It was warm and sunny so we let the car windows and sunroof opened. The wild wind made my hair badly tangled. Brushing tangled dry hair had never been my option. It took too much work, losing too much hair and not to mention too much pain to bear!

So, just before bed time, I took a shower, washed my hair, brushed it and let it dry naturally (never used hair dryer). It was the easiest, smoothest way to untangle my fine hair. I remember my mother told me (when I was a child) not to wash my hair at night because it always made me sick the following morning. But I thought it was just a superstitious myth planted on a child's mind (forgive me, mother.). I should have known better (that a mother knows her child best!).

One starless night and a restless sleep later, I woke up with swollen eyes, burning throat, runny nose, high fever and stiff neck. My body ached from head to toe. WTF? It couldn't be just from a night time hairwashing! Whatever it was, it successfully knocked me out. So I spent these last couple of days in bed, accompanied with antibiotics, these pills and those pills. Sucks!

Mother, I should have listened to you.

The day was nice and warm enough to go out and have a little ride. Driving [aimlessly] around the country side of Northern California, we found a lot of old barns by which I have always been fascinated. But one in particular have drawn us to set up our camera gears and got a few shots of it. Here's one that my husband took of me:

Today, at the parking lot of a county library, I witnessed 'someone' got mugged, I couldn't get to see the face of the assailant (let alone his license plate number!). All I got to see was his yellow beak!! I was too scared to move as I believed the assailant was armed. What a witness should do?

I've been a little bit under the weather lately, not much energy to do what I wanted to do, but somehow - well, accidentally - managed to get a POTD (Picture Of The Day). It's obviously not a great shot, but rather entertaining... as well as disturbing!! Still, it's worth carrying that big white lens around!!

Although some poeple told me that my voice sounded so young, sometimes child-like, I never thought it was that bad until...

One beautiful day, my home phone rang. I picked it up. The caller ID showed "Unknown Name. Unknown Number." which often indicated a call from overseas. With no doubt in my mind, I pushed the "TALK" button.

     Me: "Hello?"

     The Caller: "Hello there, sweetie, is your mommy home?"

     Me: ?&^%$#*!?@&^!!!

That was a telemarker!! Arrrggggghhh....

This year is the shortest summer ever! We roughly only had a couple of weeks of hot days, the weather has not been friendly since early of this year, it's the "earthquake weather" they say. It never even got summer over the coast, the tide has always been high. Storm warnings have been sent out, the dark clouds keep hanging above us (see the below picture taken today, it's been like that these last few days!).

But I don't complain! I love stormy weather... I miss the sound of the thunder, the rythm of the heavy rain and the lightning. I'm enjoying the current weather (heck, who needs summer anyway? my tan remains even on winter! *sombong.com*).

This is in response to a request from some friends on a couple of forums who wanted to know how I created this portrait. I am NOT, in anyway, an expert in Photoshop, so I'm not trying to teach you here (who the heck am I to teach you anyway? you're probably a better Phoshopper than I am!), but simply to share the technique I used to this portrait in particular.

Please bear with me, I am BAD, I mean very BAD, on doing explaination, so feel free to ask if you have any question. Oh, I forgot to mention that I used Photoshop CS2. 

1. Open the image you want to convert (BW picture is preferable, but if it's color then you have to convert it to BW first). Here I used a picture of my beautiful niece, Tammy (Thanks for being my model, Tammy!!)
   
   
   
   I changed the name from "BACKGROUND" to "Layer 0" by double clicking it. This is just my bad habit, you don't have to do it if you don't want to.
   
   
2. Duplicate "Layer 0" (Ctrl J for Windows, Command J for Mac) and I named it as "Layer 1" (this is optional, you don't have to change it if you don't want to). Then change the blending mode to "SCREEN"
   
   
   
   This creates a very bright image, don't worry, we'll adjust it later on.
   
   
3. Now, add a layer mask to "Layer 1" by clicking the third icon from the left on the bottom of Layers Window. This will add a white box to "Layer 1".
   
   
   
   
4. With the layer mask active (indicated by a frame surrounded the white box),
   
   
   
   click "Brush Tool" on Tools Panel or simply click B on your keyboard.
   
   Choose a soft-edged brush (here I used 0% hardness). Diameter of brush depends on how big the area you are going to brush. Use big brush for large area and use smaller one for small areas.
   
   
   
   NOTE: Although it should be default, make sure your foregound is black and background is white or simply click D on your keyboard.
   
   Adjust the opacity of the brush to your liking (how dark you want it to be). For this portrait, I changed the opacity of the brush to 25%.
   
   
   
   
5. Then start painting the area that you want it to stay dark, usually hair, eye brows, eye lashes, lips, etc. (see higlighted area)
   
   
   
   
   
   You CAN skip Step 3 through 5 if you prefer doing some burning and dodging on the duplicate layer (Remember to always leave the orginial image alone in case you do some mistakes in the process).
   
   My personal preference is to always use Layer Mask for safer step. This way I can always do the "undo".
   
   
6. Next, create a new CURVES adjustment layer by clicking Layer -> New Adjusment Layer -> Curves.
   
   
   
   Then move the line on the curves until you find the image you desire. Make sure the "PREVIEW" box is checked to see an instant result.
   
   
   
   The result from Step 1 through Step 6 is:
   
   
   
   
7. You can stop at Step 6 if you're happy with the result, but I was NOT. I wanted to add a tone to it. So I created a new layer by clicking the second icon from the right on Layers window.
   
   
   
   And named it "Layer 2"
   
   
   
   
8. Change the foreground color to the color of your choice, here I used color code #b84d16.
   
   
   
   Then click the "Paint Bucket Tool" on tools panel or simply click G on your keyboard and choose "Paint Bucket Tool"
   
   
   
   
9. 'Pour' the paint to Layer 2 and change the blending option to overlay.
   
   
   
   
10. Final step, adjust the opacity to your liking. For this picture, I am happy with 35% opacity.
    
    
    
    Final result:
    
    
    
    

Kalo lagi niat ngirit, ada aja gangguannya ya... dasar gw gak kuat iman, nyengirlah si devil... tapi gimana dong, pas iseng, ternyata gw dapet barang yang udah lama gw incer dengan harga $110 cheaper dan available (malah orangnya mo nganterin ke tempat gw segala) padahal ini barang termasuk most wanted!! waduh... gimana dong ya? tolong... tolong...

I should have posted this earlier than today *sigh*. Sorry about that.

Anyway, I just want to thank you for birthday wishes I received (a lot) through emails, PMs, forums, testimonial, cards and phone calls. You'll never know how much it means to me!! Thank you sooo very much!!

Love,
Ima

These images forwarded by my mother (in-law) to me. I don't usually like forwarding emails to anyone, but I think this one is quite entertaining. Unfortunately, no credits given to the photographer(s) nor creator(s)... so if any of you knows, please let me know so I can give proper credits to them or remove them from my site, whichever they prefer.

Thanks and enjoy!!

To muslim brothers and sisters, we wish you a happy and blessed Ied. Minal Aidin Wal Faidzin.

To all of you (muslims and non-muslims), we humbly apologize for things we have said, written and done that might have hurt you(r feelings).

May this Ied bring us health, wealth and peace on earth. Amien.

-- The Finnegans --

Hari ini pas lagi ngobrol ngalor ngidul, tiba-tiba kita inget peristiwa memalukan beberapa tahun lalu waktu kita masih tinggal di Jakarta.

Waktu itu kantor kita kan deketan, si Bob di Kuningan dan gw di Sudirman (yang ke arah Thamrin), jadi kita sering makan siang bareng. Ceritanya waktu itu kita sepakat makan siang di Wisma KOTA BNI 46 Sudirman (see the picture), located within walking distance from my office. Yang pernah ke sana pasti tau Food Court di lantai 3. Dari lantai dasar ke lantai 3 enggak ada elevator waktu itu, yang ada cuma escalator (tangga jalan).

Eniwei, seperti biasa pas jam makan siang crowded banget tuh gedung, pas di escalator, gw gandengan tangan laki gw, sambil gak berhenti nyerocos, mata gw lihat kiri kanan. Pas udah nyampe di lantai 3, gw belok kiri, tapi laki gw maunya belok kanan... lho kok gak kompak sih? Pan udah sepakat mau ke Resto Bali (yang ada di sebelah kiri escalator).

Pas gw nengok, ternyata yang gw gandeng bukan si Bob, sodara-sodara... tapi bapak-bapak tua, yang kebetulan pake baju hampir sama... sementara si Bob di belakang kita nahan ketawa... whoaaaaaaa.... mo marah gak sehhh? Ternyata dari lantai dasar sampe lantai 3 gw gandeng lakinya orang bo... Pas gw ngeh, si Bob dan bapak-bapak itu ketawa ngakak!! Oalah...

Semoga tidak akan ada lagi bencana...

Semoga tidak akan ada lagi perpecahan...

Semoga TUHAN melindungi dan memberkati seluruh bangsa INDONESIA...

AMIEN.

(Doa tulus anak bangsa di negeri rantau)