From drab to fab!

I know I probably shared this picture from my trip to San Diego before, but I was doing some photo editing the other day and was re-editing some pictures from my trip with some new presets that I had downloaded and I really liked how this one turned out, so I thought I would share it.

SOOC (straight out of camera) is really drab and dull… First edit done shortly after my return from San Diego and probably the one I shared the first time around. Looks better than the SOOC, but still kind of dull. And then… Even brighter edit done with a new preset that I downloaded. I love the vibrancy the the last picture. The colors pop out so much more and the water looks really cool. I realize that I have ‘blown’ the sky and even some of the bridge in this edit, but I’m not going for ‘perfection’, I’m going for what I like. And… Ashley likey, haha! Especially in contrast to the SOOC.

We haven’t done much around our house this week. The weather has been pretty wonky so it has been hard to get outside. Ayden had his first non family babysitter and he loves the girls that are watching him. Actually, I think he likes their younger brother more since he is pretty close to Ayden’s age. I love that he loves it. He enjoyed his time over there so much this week that he’s been asking when he can go back which is a good thing, I assume, lol. My only qualm is that my friend wouldn’t let me pay her daughters what I thought was reasonable. She said it was too much, so I conceited and paid what she thought was a better price. Saved me money and I wasn’t going to continue to argue with her about it.

On Wednesday I was able to get together with my three friends from school and their kiddos. It was the first time in a LONG time that all four of us were able to make it and I was so happy. The weather was great and we met at the park so the kids could play. Although, we decided that next time we were going to forgo the kids and have it just be a mom’s night out. Hehe! I really love my friends and appreciate them SO much!

I didn’t think I would ever feel at home in Point, but my friends have really helped. And the fact these three friends all have kids, it helps to have someone else who understands what you are going through. I mean, I have friends who don’t have kids as well, but sometimes I find that we are on different wave lengths. Actually, this has happened repeated in the last year or so with someone I used to call my best friend. We have different goals in life and I find it hard to relate to her sometimes, as I’m sure she finds it hard to relate to me. But I’ve been trying to not let it get to me right now.

On Monday starts my summer semester. Not really looking forward to it because I have hearing aid duty bright and early on Monday morning and then again on Thursday, along with my first time back to clinic. I’m actually kind of sort of looking forward to that though because it has been about five or six weeks. And really, shouldn’t I be looking forward to it because I’m going to be doing this for the REST OF MY LIFE. Let’s hope so anyways, nine years of college better not be for nothing, lol!

I’m sure it will make the rest of the summer fly by though!

Have I mentioned that I loved Ayden’s speech teacher at his old school?! Well, I did (and still do). She sent us a packet in the mail of things we can do with Ayden over the summer to keep his speech skills up to par and that he doesn’t regress over the summer. LOVE her! That was really nice of her. I had mentioned it at our last meeting, but that was almost a month or so ago and I had thought that she had forgotten about it, but apparently not. So happy!

Jay and I are on book 15 in the Magic Treehouse Series that we are reading to Ayden. There are over 40 books and I love that we are still reading them to Ayden. I honestly didn’t think that this would continue for very long, however, we are still going strong. Two chapters each night (well most nights), Jay and I switch on and off, and Ayden really enjoys finding out what is going to happen next. Actually, I think Jay enjoys the books more than I do because he actually goes back and flips through the pages to see what he missed during the night that I read. Haha! Today I went and bought the rest of the books that we didn’t have to get us to book 30. My friend’s son had a bunch that he was no longer reading that she gave to me. It was SUPER nice of her.

Ayden currently wants a race car birthday party for his 6th birthday. I have a few invitation ideas in mind. Might stop over at Michael’s Arts and Crafts store tomorrow to see if they have some of the stuff that I am looking for. I don’t plan on going too all out for it since the majority of the people at the party will be adults, but a few decorations and cute invitations will be nice. My poor boy, turning six and not even having a friends birthday party. Lol, its hard with his birthday being in the summer because I don’t know any of his friend’s addresses from school to invite them, much less their parents, but its only six. Maybe next year. Who knows, and besides, he doesn’t really care yet.

Ready for a relaxing day tomorrow, only hoping that the weather is nice so we can get outside for a bit of it…

CIAO! LOVE ME!