Fantastic Fridays

Today is absolutely Gorgeous with a capital "G"--the sun is out, the wind is keeping it breezy, not a cloud in the sky! We went outside to work on my Flickr 52 Weeks For Dogs Challenge, which was to capture one of Stella's smiles, a near impossible feat sometimes. She always looks so serious.

Rufus, OTOH, loves to smile, especially after a tasty snack of grass clippings.

Oh, hai!



Ooooh this ball tastes so good.



Ever since Rufus got, er, snippered, he's been obsessed with balls. It's the only thing he fetches consistently. I caught him thinking wishfully about balls.

Oh, balls. I missez you.



bwah hahaha! That makes me laugh!



He's lost his family jewels...priceless!



To get a real StellaSmile, I bringded out da COOKIEZ!



Uh, Rufus, I think you forgot something. (note the ball in background)

You bringded out da COOKIEZ, lady! Here I come!!!



I can haz cookiez?



Plz?



Then I got the Cookiez Stare Of Death until I relented and gave her what she wanted.



But...but...it's so LITTLE!



She eated her cookiez anyway, and got all old-person-missing-her-dentures on me.



Hey, Stella, did you leave any for me?

Up Close & Personal

This week was a bit hectic for me. I was a wee bit sick at the beginning of it, ants laid siege to my kitchen in the middle of it (shudder), and I'm pumped to do landscaping at the end of it. And now, for the dogs.

Rufus tried to help me get rid of the ants this week by sniffing them to death. Not so great for his sinuses.



Did I get one stuck up there, mom? Can you see it?



And if Rufus gets a booger check, Stella wants one, too.



Rufus has requested that I show you his picture of his rollover. He is quite proud of it, and an exuberant roller-over-er. In fact, he usually does the first half of his rollover in midair as he is throwing himself down onto the ground.



Yay for sunshine finally :)

This Easter, Watch Out For Posers!

They can be very sneakyz lying in the grass and all, ready to pounce.



They will steal your Easter eggz and your groovy little yellow Easter bucket and say it's theirs.



What...you think this basket is YOURS? Psh! I dare you to try to come over here and take it. Just try.



So this Easter, make sure your Easter bunny is real.



I leave you with a rose from Andykins. (And it wasn't even from messing up!)

Pretty Little Angel Eyes

This entry was semi-inspired by Crazy Coulee and Little Lacey's blog.

Before.



After I auto corrected white balance & increased the levels.



After I duplicated the layer, desaturated new layer, added layer mask (white), and painted Stella's eye black.



After I added a filter (artistic->softglow)



I put the coolest one first, because I'm still trying to get the second set right. This second image was also shot from the hip.

Before.



After I desaturated the image, added a new (transparent) layer, and painted Stella's eye blue with a round brush. I also changed the layer settings to "burn."



I highly recommend GIMP. It rocks. Yeah.

Sticky Situation

Every day, I learn something about my dogs. Today, it was the extent to which Rufus LOVES sticks.

ZOMG MOM I FOUND A STICK!



Sticks give Rufus super-hero-flying powers.



Sticks make Rufus look like he is high (on life, of course).



Dun dun dun...



You lookin at my stick?



It's mine. Go get your own (so I can steal it from you)



I said "my stick!"


(Rufus, I do not condone violence.)

This week's 52 Weeks For Dogs Challenge on Flickr was to shoot from the hip. It was a blast, I tell you! You should definitely try it sometime.



And as always, Stella gives me the best come-on-lady-are-you-serious expressions ever.



You want to see my sexy face? Do I get a stick?



And now, for a little shameless self-promotion. I started a new blog because I felt like I was imposing on Stella&Roo's space by putting up wedding pictures. This is my StellaStar Photography blog where I will post non-doggy picturage from now on. With captions, of course.

In other news, Rufus has officially learned "roll over" and "high five." Roofy, you do mommy proud.

Ps. Does anyone know if dogs should not eat sticks? I'm thinking that some trees are probably poisonous to dogs, and I'm almost positive I caught Roo actually eating the stick. I can teach him not to eat the stick, if it's bad for him...