Using Presets & Burning in Lightroom

This picture is cute, yes. But, let’s make it cuter.

Using Lightroom, I first made a copy of the photo so that I could mess with it by going to the “Photo” tab and clicking, “create virtual copy”.

I then used the Lightroom Preset, “Creative-Cold Tone”. But if you’ll notice, the sand and the concrete barrier are too bright.

 

I clicked on the “Adjustment Brush”, chose the “-” sign on “brightness”.

 

I increased my brush size to 16, decreased the feather to 75 and the flow to 97. I then “brushed” over the bright spots on the photograph.

 

After decreasing the brightness to -113, the sand and the concrete was now at the correct exposure to match the rest of the picture.

 

Here’s the final picture. Those kids are too dang cute.

Maxwell and his Tongue

This is Maxwell. He is all boy. He goes 100 miles per hour, or none at all.
He may look innocent, but if you are perhaps wearing a swishy skirt while preparing dinner, he may just try to climb aforementioned swishy skirt to get to you, the chicken or whatever else has caught his interest at the moment.

He may do a drive-by “catting”, which requires his paw, your leg and a lot of speed. Or he may just decide to meow incessantly while winding his way in and out of your feet up until the point you accidentally step on his already broken tail. That is our Maxwell.

 

This is also Maxwell, but at 0 miles per hour. He fell asleep apparently mid-lick. He has no clue my shutter is snapping millimeters away from his fuzzy and slightly orange face.

 

I must have taken 15 shots of this scene, never awakening “0 m.p.h Max”. This moment in time was such a reprieve from his normal antics that I dared not awaken him.

 

Bianca, sunning herself quietly, thanked me profusely-as any cat does with a tiny flick of her tail and squinty eyes.
The house was quiet for almost five minutes.

Sesame Almond Chicken

One of my very favorite dinners I must attribute to my mother’s geniusness. She is the brain behind many of the meals I prepare for Biceps. In all seriousness, my mom pretty much wrote the book on being awesome.

Sesame Almond Chicken is so simple–both in preparation and in the ingredients needed–that anyone, even your sweet husband when you don’t feel like cooking, can make it.
Or your teenage son that’s recently been grounded for being late for his curfew (I don’t have one of these, just remembering what my brother’s used to do).
Or your friend that says, “I don’t know how to cook!” with a voice that emulates Grover from Sesame Street.

But don’t confuse this meal’s simplicity for tastelessness. The chicken is tender and moist because it’s encrusted with bread crumbs, it’s flavorful due to the slightly cooked almonds and sesame seeds and it’s just oh so stinkin’ tasty.

 

Here’s what you’ll need to make your very own Sesame Almond Chicken:
(Serves 4-Preheat oven to 350, grease a 9 x 13 casserole dish)
4 Chicken Breast, remove any fat
1 Package of Whole Wheat or Plain Ritz crackers
1 TBsp Sesame Seeds
1 Cup of Sliced Almonds
1/2 Cup, or one stick, of melted Butter

Gently crush your crackers while they are still in the package. Don’t get too crazy, lest you burst the package and crackers go everywhere.

Measure one cup of sliced almonds.

 

Pour both the almonds and crackers in a large mixing bowl. Add the 1 TBsp of Sesame Seeds.

 

Pour the melted butter in the bowl.

 

Stir the cracker crumb mixture completely.

 

Place one breast of chicken at a time in the mixing bowl and completely cover each breast with the cracker crumb mixture.

 

I usually cover one side, place the breast in the casserole dish and then cover the other side with more cracker crumb mixture using my fingers.

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until the center is no longer pink. There is no need to cover the chicken or to flip it during cooking. Just leave it alone and go read a book.
Or hug your husband. Or take your dog for a walk….come back and enjoy!

A Bug’s Death

Throughout our years of touring, we have witnessed many a death. We must claim responsibility for single-handedly removing these flourishing lives from this earth. This day we turn our hearts from seeing these deaths as merely a nuisance that must be scrubbed off at the next truck stop, to wondering-“Just who was that bug?”.
We have decided to honor the squished victims and ask, who were they, where were they trying to go and why did they choose to fly into our windshield?

This bug for example-he was very watery. Was this a water bug? And just what is a water bug? This well-hydrated victim probably shouldn’t have left the pond, but with what I suppose was a great thirst for life, decided to explore the world and got squished.

 

Major Mustard. This may not have been his name, but I believe this bug defected from Germany where he was was part of some militant army he did not approve of. He enjoyed wienerschnitzel loaded with lots of mustard and flying. He was a good bug.

 

And you-were you a wasp? Then I have no regrets, because I was recently stung by a wasp and it really hurt. If you weren’t a wasp, then I’m sorry. I guess, even if you were a wasp, you probably weren’t the wasp that stung me. Of course you could have stung someone else so I have avenged their wrongful stinging. I’m not sure how I feel about you.

 

A Haiku for you, winged bug.

Oh, little winged bug
How glisteny are your wings?
Sleep, sleep, death on glass

 

These two bugs came to us simultaneously, so I’m assuming they were a couple. Perhaps they were flying hand in hand, or maybe it was hand in hand in hand, since they are insects and have six legs. But I don’t really know how bug relationships work. Do they hold hands? And if so, just one hand, or all hands on one side?
There was so much about them that we didn’t know, but one thing I’m fairly certain of, they seemed to be in love. It’s quite romantic, actually.