The 10 iPhone Photo Challenge!

Not going to lie: I'm really excited for this goal to be completed!

While searching all over Pinterest (what else would I be doing?!) I came across these lovely ladies and their awesome website: A Beautiful Mess!

 

While poking around the site, I came across the 10 iPhone Photo Challenge, and it goes a little somethang like this:

1. use blur effect
2. add sun flare
3. use 2 filters
4. use the timer for a self portrait
5. take 10 photos in one day
6. take a silhoette photo
7. create a filter with your sunglasses
8. add fonts to a photo
9. make a collage with a theme
10. create a message (cut letters out of magazine or something)

So cheers ya'll & off I go to picture it up!

Word of the Day 9/26/2012

Interrobang (noun) : a punctuation mark ‽ designed for use especially at the end of an exclamatory rhetorical question

Examples: The essay was peppered with interrobangs and exclamation points, communicating—intentionally or not—an incredulity and outrage that didn't feel very hospitable. "Inevitably, however, you'll cheat on the Period with the Ampersand, Semi-Colon, or possibly the Interrobang." — From an article by Jen Doll in the Atlantic Wire, August 21, 2012

Did You Know?: Most punctuation marks have been around for centuries, but not the interrobang: it's a product of the 1960s. The mark gets its name from the punctuation that it is intended to combine. "Interro" is from "interrogation point," the technical name for the question mark, and "bang" is printers' slang for the exclamation point. The interrobang is not commonly used—its absence from standard keyboards can explain its paucity in print perhaps just as well as its paucity in print can explain its absence from standard keyboards. Most writers who want to communicate what the interrobang communicates continue to do as they did before the advent of the mark, throwing in !? or ?! as they feel so moved.

Word of the Day 9/25/2012

Hypothecate (verb) : to make an assumption for the sake of argument : hypothesize

Examples: The students hypothecated that plants under observation would have different reactions when exposed to artificial light versus natural light. "'Can someone hypothecate where Scotland and Yorkshire would rank in the medal table?' says Marie Meyer." — From the (London) Guardian's Olympics 2012 live blog, August 5, 2012

Did You Know?: "Hypothecate" is a controversial word. It has existed as a synonym of "hypothesize" since 1906, showing up primarily in scientific and linguistic sources, but usage commentators have long criticized it. It is sometimes perceived as a mistaken use of another "hypothecate," one meaning "to pledge as security without title or possession." Both "hypothecate" homographs—and "hypothesize" too—derive ultimately from the Greek "hypotithenai" ("to put under," "to suppose," or "to deposit as a pledge"), but each entered English by a different route. The hypothesizing "hypothecate" is a legitimate (albeit uncommon) word in its own right, not a misuse of its homograph. If you want to avoid the controversy altogether, however, you can stick with the more common "hypothesize."

Little "Fist" Fish Marshmallow Pops

Little "Fist" Marshmallow Pops!

 

 

  My dear friend Annette and her boyfriend Tom had recently lost their goldfish Fist. And while searching the amazing site that is Pinterest, I came across this DIY Goldfish Marshmallow Pops from See Vanessa Craft. So because of their loss, I made these pops and took them to our Tuesday night rehearsal for all of us guard-girls (and coaches) to enjoy and remember the little fish. Recipe adapted from See Vanessa Craft:  

Ingredients:
1 bag light blue chocolate melts (I use Wilton's Candy Melts)
1 – 10.5 ounce bag large marshmallows
1 box graham cracker crumbs (I just used the cheap grocery-store brand and only used like 4 crackers)
1 – 6.6 ounce bag cheddar goldfish (I had a huge Costco size box so I had plenty)
Large white pearl nonpareils
Plenty lollipop sticks (about 20 or more)

Instructions:
 

1: Melt blue chocolate melts according to package. I use Wilton's Chocolate Pro Electric Chocolate Melter, it makes keeping the melts warm and not over done. A lot of bakers recommend placing chocolate in a microwavable bowl and melting in 30 second increments, mixing in between. Do not over-melt or the chocolate will be difficult to work with.

2: Place lollipop sticks in marshmallows. Dip marshmallows into the chocolate. Tap excess chocolate off the marshmallow.

3: Before the chocolate dries, dip the bottom in graham cracker crumbs. Add a goldfish and 2-3 white pearl nonpareils.

4: Allow to dry and then enjoy! If you are making this a day in advance, make sure to place your pops in an air tight container or cover with saran wrap so they don’t go stale.


RIP Fist-Fist fish

Word of the Day 9/24/2012

Kitsch (noun)
1 : something that appeals to popular or lowbrow taste and is often of poor quality
2 : a tacky or lowbrow quality or condition

Examples: The "country store" seemed to sell mostly cheaply made kitsch and other tacky memorabilia. "Across the board there was a welcome absence of kitsch." — From a review by Guy Trebay in The New York Times, June 28, 2012

Did You Know?: "The fashionable clothing label ... kicked off the revival last June..., putting its models in Miranda-inspired swimsuits and marching them through a gantlet of 50 tons of bananas," writes Mac Margolis in Newsweek International (January 2006) of a fabulously kitschy gala commemoration for the late Brazilian singer and actress Carmen Miranda. Since we borrowed "kitsch" from German in the 1920s, it has been our word for things in the realm of popular culture that dangle, like car mirror dice, precariously close to tackiness. But although things that can be described with "kitsch" and the related adjective "kitschy" are clearly not fine art, they may appeal to certain tastes—some folks delight in velvet paintings, plastic flamingos, dashboard hula dancers, and Carmen Miranda revivals!

Word of the Day 8/24/2012

Never-Never Land (noun) : an ideal or imaginary place

Examples: Lester seems to think he lives in some kind of never-never land where people don't have to accept responsibility for their actions. "China's pride of ownership is all too familiar to most Taiwanese, who are constantly bombarded by Beijing's assertions that they live in a political never-never land, lacking all the elementary accouterments of statehood." — From an Associated Press article by Annie Huang, February 16, 2012

Did You Know?: The phrase "never-never land" is linked to Peter Pan, although it did not originate with that creation of the Scottish playwright Sir James Barrie. In Barrie's original 1904 play, Peter befriends the real-world children of the Darling family and spirits them off for a visit to Never Land, where children can fly and never have to become adults. Then, in his 1908 sequel When Wendy Grew Up, Barrie changed the name to Never Never Land, and subsequent versions of the earlier play incorporated that change. People had been using "never-never land" for a place that was overly idealistic or romantic since at least 1900, but the influence of Peter Pan on the word's popularity and staying-power cannot be discounted.

*Ok, I knew this one... but I love how it's in Merriam-Webster's dictionary!!*

Word of the Day 8/13/2012

A-Go-Go (adjective)
1 : of, relating to, or being a disco or the music or dances performed there : go-go
2 : being in a whirl of motion
3 : being up-to-date — often used postpositively

Examples: The shop is chock-full of the latest in fashionable home decor—it's decorating trends a-go-go. "All of the major plot points are either utterly predictable or thoroughly explained by one of the characters, and that becomes kind of a drag after a while. Nonetheless, there's tons of suspense, monsters-a-go-go and strong performances from the whole cast." — From a film review by Alonso Duralde on thewrap.com, June 4, 2012

Did You Know?: The English word "a-go-go" has two functions. It's an adjective, as we've defined it above, but it's also a noun referring to a nightclub for dancing to popular music—that is, a disco. Both the noun and the first meaning of the adjective betray the word's origins: it's from the name of a Parisian discotheque—the Whisky à Gogo, which translates to "whiskey galore." The French club, which opened in 1947 or possibly 1948, predated the American discos that have also used the name, but the American versions undoubtedly had much to do with spreading the term "a-go-go" in English: the most famous of these, the still-operating Whisky a Go Go on Los Angeles' Sunset Strip, opened in 1964, the year before our earliest evidence of the generic use of either the noun or the adjective "a-go-go."