How to Take Fun Homecoming Pictures!

Shooting Mode:  Av     Aperture:  F5.6       ISO:  Auto D+     Lens:  200mm       Focus:  Auto

My Goddaughter went to the Homecoming dance on Saturday with her girlfriends.  They all got dressed at 13700 and she asked me to take pictures of them.

I am not a photographer but I can play one on TV since I have groovy camera equipment.  I said yeah because I hadn't taken pictures in a while and hey...I couldn't mess it up too much ya know?

Taking pictures with a DSLR camera can be kind of daunting for people who are used to camera phones and point-and-click cameras.  This is why a lot of people with fancy cameras tend to shoot in straight auto mode.  Nothing is wrong with this...I guess...but just knowing the power your camera wields should make you want to do more with it.

Shooting Mode:  Av     Aperture:  F5.6       ISO:  Auto D+     Lens:  200mm       Focus:  Auto

The main thing I wanted to do with them is take some fun pictures that showed their personalities as well as some pictures that perfect young ladies should take.  There are so many duck lip / booty pictures shared by young women online these days that making sure we took some classy pictures was important to me.  They've since seen their pictures and I loved the reactions from them.

I took close-ups of each girl, mid-shots of each girl, full body pics of each girl and then small group pics and full group pics (some including their mothers).  It was a cloudy and overcast day so that was good.  Little known fact by novice photographers is that shooting on a cloudy day is actually ideal.  The sun can mess you up man!

Sunset was around 6:30pm so we walked out of the house at 5:45pm for almost perfect lighting.

This is a blooper pic of them almost falling down wearing heels in soft dirt (it rained the night before) on a hill!  LOL!  Who would take a picture of a group of poor girls about to fall?  That would be me!  LOL!

So, here are a few tips I've learned along the way by just doing it.  I have books and read photography sites but honestly...they are all snobby with the information.  They talk to you like you should know other stuff already.  They seriously need to know how to explain stuff mo'betta.

There is seriously so much more, of course, but that's pretty much all I did to take these pictures.  You can scour Pinterest for different poses and just keep a list of the shots you want to take.  Prepare for the super giggles from the girls because they are in super extra awesome mood.  LOL!  Have fun!!!!!!!

Share your tips too so we can all learn!

#SouthernGirl

Is this you too?

Steve Harvey is Not Finished FIXING Women!

I love watching "Family Feud" with Steve Harvey.  He is honestly so perfect in it.  I find myself HOWLING with laughter at his facial expressions sometimes.  Dude makes me weak.

Then...he does something to remind me, yet again, why I wish a cow would eat him.

Steve Harvey Launches A Site To Help Women 'Become More Dateable'

What say you?  You signing up?  You know...cuz you're single because you're someone BROKEN.

SIP:  Can I have a piece of him?  Please?

Me:  Not today bruh...not today. *sigh*

Could YOU Date Mr. Used-To-Be-Gay?

To my knowledge, no one I used to date came out of the closet later in life.  They went on to marry women and start families.  Not everyone can say that with sexuality in the South still being something hidden if you live what they consider an "alternate" lifestyle.  I know a couple who were both gay and decided to get married, adopt kids and be a family.  They are rumored to have side pieces but it's all uber discreet.  "Honey I'm going play racquetball."   "Excellent honey!  On Saturday I'm going shopping."

If it works for them...not my circus, not my monkeys.

Last night on the Viola Davis show, a young woman in law school found out that her fiance slid swords with one of her classmates when they were 16 at a prep/boarding school they both attended.  *BLINK*  The way it came out, all in public, outside in the open...would have made me jump crazy right then and there.  The first time it came up would have been a resolution to the conversation RAT.THERE.  Wouldn't have been no speculation.  I would have known EXACTLY what old boy meant when he said, "Looks like we have more in common than we thought."

Here's how that would have gone down with me:

EXT - PORCH OF HOUSE - DAY

Monnie and her fiance are hugging on the porch as her colleagues come out of the house.

MONNIE

Everyone, I'd like you to me my fiance Booty-Boo.  He's the governor's lacky.

VIOLA

Be late again and you fail.

CLASSMATE

Booty-Boo!  I miss you!  Come back to me!

BOOTY-BOO

It sure is nice to see you.  Now go 'head on now...

CLASSMATE

Looks like we have more in common than we thought.

MONNIE

What the fug you mean 'bout that?  Booty-Boo!  What the fug he mean?

BOOTY-BOO

Monnie we can talk about this later.  It was nothing.

MONNIE

Oh hell no!  You used to be gay?  I know your azz didn't!  Classmate!  What the hell!

CLASSMATE

Yeah...I had your man.

VIOLA

Da hell yall doing?  This is unprofessional!

MONNIE

Viola...check yo' wig...I need to handle this shit RAT.NAH!  This mofo used to be gay and I have a hoity-toity dress that is the cost of my meal plan for 3 years.

VIOLA

Oh...used-to-be gay huh?  Girl...handle that.  You gotta be wise about who you marry.  I married this White dude who be tipping out and well...

See...couldn't be me.  Idda kept his ring, bought me some wine and went to my people and laid low for a minute while he got his ish out my house so my heart didn't break completely to pieces.  I'm of the mind that people who are gay are gay.  You're not going to be in a relationship with me mad because you couldn't be who you really are.  You'll start taking ish out on me that ain't got nothing to do with me.  I'd be like, "Honey, you want to go out to eat?" And you're all, "Leave me alone!  You're ugly!   Do something with yourself!"

*BLINK*

I know someone who married someone who used-to-be-gay.  She didn't know and he had to keep coming up with new reasons why he couldn't um...erra...perform.  He made her so insecure, she shrunk and became this old mousy looking woman.  When it finally came out she was furious he tried to "put that ish on me Ricky Bobby!"  She probably still in therapy for the job he did to her.  

Like...I know of men who are cheating who pick fights with their wives so they can tip out mad so just imagine.  

That said, what would YOU have done in her situation?  Could you marry a man who neglected to tell you of a homosexual experience he had and then you found out about?  Do you think men can have homosexual experiences and not be gay?  

Deodorizing Home of Dog Smells

Hard-knock Life

Yall know I love my doggie but sometimes he stinks.  He can't help it.  He's a dog and he doesn't get bathed daily.  To combat his dog stink (or burned bacon stink, or salmon cooking stink, or burned popcorn stink) I do simple stuff.

1.  Bowl of vinegar - A bowl of plain white vinegar absorbs odor perfectly.  Just sit it in the middle of the room needing to be de-funk-ti-fied and let it sit for a few hours or overnight. (I currently have a bowl of vinegar under the chest of drawers in our room right by his bed.)  

2.  Spray bottle of vinegar  -  Keep a spray bottle of vinegar handy for rugs that the dogs frequently lay on.  This can also be used on carpets.  Don't saturate the rugs and carpet...just spray a light mist over them.

3.  Arm & Hammer Baking Soda - I keep 2lb boxes of these on hand.  During deep cleaning day I sprinkle all over rugs and carpets and just let it sit while the rest of the house is being cleaned.  By the time it's time to vacuum, lingering odors have been absorbed.  Ever so often I notice my vacuum has a weird smell so I just dump a 1/2 cup of baking soda on a rug and vacuum it up and let it sit in the vacuum after I've cleaned the filter.  Works every time.  No more after-vacuum weird smell.  

4.  Lysol - I walk throughout the house every few days spraying Lysol above my head.  I hit every room starting with my bathroom and weaving in and out of rooms until I hit the basement bathroom.  I even do the closets.  I use the Lysol in the yellow can.  Why?  Because that's the Lysol my mommy used.  LOL!  I only have a different fragrance if they didn't have the yellow can at the store.  I have to get a new can of Lysol every 3 weeks or so.  $5 well worth it.  The other sprays don't do it for me.  I need to get clinical with it.  LOL!  

5.  When company is coming over, I go for something nice smelling so I use my wax / oil electric warmer by the door and a candle elsewhere.

Fleur-De-Lis Oil Warmer

I love using essential oils in the warmer because you can pretty much create your own scents.  I get real creative with it too.  Lavender, cedarwood, orange, grapefruit, etc. all mixed up together.  All you need is about 15 drops of any combination and you get an awesome smell good going.  Do that about 15 minutes before company arrives and they will always walk through the door saying, "Ooooh, it smells good in here!"  The only thing that smells better?  A slow cooking roast.  LOL!  If you have a roast in the oven...do nada else.  The roast brings all the boys and girls to the yard.  LOL!  I have had neighbors knock on the door to ask what I'm cooking when a slow cooking roast is in the oven.

6.  Mr. Clean wipe down. - At least once a week I put Mr. Clean and hot water in the sink and use it to wipe down the countertops, cabinets, appliances and walls.  You have to when you have a pet.  Jaru gets on my last nerve with his drool shake and that must be banished even if I don't see it.  He brushes up against the walls and scratches and whatnot so yeah...gotta be clean.

7.  Vacuum AT LEAST twice a week in the areas Jaru kicks it most.  His hair and dander can stack up pretty quickly.  

Oh...and that pillow?  It's his.  All humans who visit know this.  It has a removable cover and gets washed often because he posts up on it on the regular!  LOL!  It is indeed a lot of work but it's worth it for him.  Humph.

Do you have a doggie?  What do YOU do to keep doggie smells at bay?