Perspective

I love my friend Cary for a number of reasons. She is one of those people who truly loves to learn new things. She is the one who got me interested in photography. We love to talk shop and can easily get carried away trying to figure out how photo A turned out so awesome and photos X, Y and Z turned out so awful! So, as a special treat, while she was here we rented a fun lens - an 8mm fish-eye (think: super wide-angle so it distorts what it sees). Then we headed to South Congress, or SoCo as the cool kids call it. 

Trailor Park Eatery - apparently I'm pregnant and Cary is wearing a hoop skirt. Crazy lens.

Probably my fav of the day.

I was literally 2 inches from the brick corner of this building - you can see down both directions. Cary was shooting the tile work. I'm sure people walking by us thought we were super cool.

In a little market.

Cary is an experience "street photographer." According to Wikipedia street photography is: a non-formalized genre of photography that features subjects in candid situations within public places...

In other words - this is the goal:

Cary suggested starting with street performers - they don't think its weird for you to take their picture. Especially if you ask and throw a couple bills in the guitar case. Or in accordion. 

Didn't get any good ones of his face, but I sorta liked this one.

 Again, not a fan of my faces.

 And I think these guys were on to me. Can you say AWKWARD!?!

But seriously - if you sport a hat like that or have dreads like that, aren't you just asking for people to take your picture?

And you can't go to SoCo without photographing some ink. At least I can't.  

Wisper words of wisdom, let it be.

Not exactly the Gospel I believe in. But the tacos are pretty tasty.

Just trying something different.

And dangerous. Okay, not really. You know that iconic shot down Congress? Well, this isn't it. This is me standing in a cross-walk (don't worry, those cars are stopped).

The famous wall at Joe's isn't so great without fun folks in front of it. But, still expresses how I feel about my dear friend. Mushy but true.

Futbol Americano

Indulge my narcissism for a second - I am now a soccer mom. I drive a mini-van (still not quite over that) and now I have a child who plays soccer. So, it's official. Deep breath. Now - back to focusing on my precious son. Who plays soccer. (Making me the soccer mom.)

Outside of preschool and church stuff this is Owen's first extracurricular activity - making it our family's first. Owen is in the 4-5 year old division of the YMCA soccer dealio - with Bailey and Emmy. And Joel (Emmy's dad) is the coach - so its a pretty sweet set-up. Their first game was the week before Easter. I took 464 photos - that is not an exaggeration. I culled it down to about 150 and I'm not even showing you all of those, so you are welcome. (Incidentally - the 2nd game was last Saturday and I think I took 4 photos, which pretty much looked identical or weren't even as good as the ones from the first game, so I probably will just chill out and enjoy the games until the last one.)

Team huddle. GO PANTHERS!

Rebecca was all excited to be the cheerleader, but it was unseasonably cold and that worked against her enthusiasm.

Lining up for some practice shots - aka this is how you kick a ball.

Baller.

Now into the net!

Go #27!

Emmy charging ahead in the warm-up springs (it helped that she yelled Go!)

Soccer is dangerous for bystanders. Dahdo tripped over Owen

Usually there were about 10 little feet around the ball.

Right after Owen's first score! (For the other team. Shhh.)

Lining up 4 on 4.

Somehow he got away with the ball!

Score!

Can you see how proud he is?

Such good character building: Left - Bailey and Emmy having a little encouragement pow-w. Right - Emmy and a teammate getting over a bonk.

At least I am not alone...

Not only do the photos make our little athletes look far more athletic than they truly were (the truth hurts), but it makes the game look far more intense than it was.

Bailey in flight.

Emmy scoring with only 1 shoe.

Love this little father-son moment on the side-lines.

Sometimes its just as much fun to watch (and play with grown-up toys).

Good game, good game, good game, good game, good game, good game.

Parent tunnel for the victors - GO PANTHERS! (I say victors because we made it through the game with very few tears and mostly a lot of fun and good attitudes...they don't really keep score. Except Bailey - who in the car on the way home told me she scored 2 and 17 times.)

Enjoying their much-deserved Pirate's Booty and juice box.

Such fun friends! (Praying they don't eve realize their friendship isn't optional!)

GO PANTHERS!

The Amazing Mezgerini's

Rebecca is ALL ABOUT her "pretty stuff"...Recently, this ever-growing collection of books, toys, headbands, underwear and random articles of clothing, hoarded snack, found ribbons, favorite sarongs, etc. has made its giant home in the duplo wagon. Here she is with the kitty

WELCOME TO THE SHOW:

The other day, Rebecca did something I have been wanting to do for weeks - she made the wagon and all the pretty stuff inside DISAPEAR! Oooh, aaaah.

Initially, she would just shout a bunch of "magic words" through her magical paper towel roll and throw her sarong/blanket/cape over it - TA DA!

Then we got Owen and Daddy involved - and while Daddy held up the blanket, Owen pushed the cart into the hallway. (Rebecca was in the audience w/ me at this point - and she was truly amazed.) Side note - don't you love the matching poses and expressions on magician and trusty side-kick?

Then Owen and Rebecca tried Daddy's trick. It was equally as impressive this time around.

 

The Amazing Mezgerini's Hope you come again!!!

The Sciene Experiment

I think I've mentioned before that Owen got a microscope for Christmas (thanks Bee) and he LOVES it. He is truly his Nana's grandson (Franny is a retired science teacher). So...a few weeks ago we planned a little playdate with the Bailey and Emmy at Nana's house. Aunt Melissa contributed a bunch of slides she found from her teaching days, Owen's teacher Ms. Laurie contributed some (gross) stuff like a dried up lizard, wasps nest and pumpkin, and Nana had a container of (icky) pondwater - so we had a lot of NEW stuff to look at! 

The kids really did great. We tried to teach them lab etiquette about not moving the microscope around. Let's just say it was clearly the first science playdate we have had. Not many pictures - all hands were on deck. 

Katie helping Boone take a peak when they came to get Emmy.

Nana really enjoyed herself. Lifelong student.

Nana taught Owen how to draw what he had seen.

E & B enjoying a little snack in between slides.

Even for the non-teacher in me, this was a lot of fun. We'll definitely be doing things like it in the future.

I can count down on my fingers...

...the days until we move into our new house. Our move-in day is MONDAY. As in a week from today - April 15th. Which means that we are (I am?) officially in CRAZY mode, but I still had to get some updates in (see several new posts below).

But back to the house. Since the last update - we have lighting, a driveway, hardware, appliances and hardwood floors. Will try to get pics up before we move in...but each day it moves further down on my priority list. When are you going to come for a visit???