Blog Buddies

Guess who I hung out with this week-end?

These two…

Yeah, it was as awesome as it sounds. 

Kim and I had met a couple of times before but this was my first time meeting Cindy.  She was brave enough to drive down from Minn-e-sota to spend the week-end with Kim and I in the Quad Cities.  I’m glad she did because we had lots of fun.  I feel like these two are friends from college or something.  Who knew blogging would lead to new real life friends?  Not this weirdo who previously thought everyone on the internet was a serial killer.  They are both great and it’s so nice to talk house stuff with people who are equally passionate about houses/DIY.

We were all horrible bloggers and didn’t photograph our adventures.  Seriously.  Bloggers without photos.  The shame. 

Friday night was an action packed evening at my house.  We made cookies, ate pizza, and talked….a lot.  And it was wonderful.  Ike put on quite the show…as expected.  On Saturday we spent the day thrifting, browsing, eating, and snuggling Kim’s pugs. 

Kim’s husband did take our only group photo after a long day on Saturday.  Lola didn’t think it was necessary for me to stand for this photo.  Or could I no longer stand from shopping so much.  I’ll let you decide.

What did I find on our adventures?  Not a lot but what I did find was beautiful.  Vintage Pyrex makes my heart go pitter-patter.  Pyrex is becoming a problem in my life.

These pieces will join others I received at Christmas…

The blog will be lame again this week because I have been neglecting my house and having fun without it.  BUT I have ideas a brewing, items on order, painting in progress.  Stick with me through the lame.  There will always be cute Ike pictures to get us through…

Was your week-end as awesome as mine?  Have you met fellow bloggers?  Are you up to meeting other bloggers?  Any fellow Pyrex addicts out there?

Monistat Chaffing Relief Powder Gel

By popular request, I will share with you the wonders of Monistat’s Chaffing Relief Powder Gel.  I never thought I’d be writing about a Monistat product on this blog.  But it’s happening.  Mom, be proud.

I first heard about this life changing product from my dear blog friend, Rachel.  You can read her little blurb about the product as a make-up primer by clicking right here.  I really like to be trusting of my blog friends but this just seemed crazy.  Crazy enough for the pharmacist in me to want to check it out further.

I headed on over to Amazon to read the reviews.  Great reviews as a make-up primer….and to prevent “chub rub” (note: not my term.  I took it directly from the reviews.)  This product contains dimethicone which is used in expensive make-up primers. The price was right at $5.99 for the tube.  I’ll try it.  Why not?  Please Amazon Prime two day ship that to me so I don’t have to purchase it in a store.  Thanks.  Store clerks do judge you.  I’m a pharmacist.  I know.

This stuff is incredible.  Seriously. 

Why do I love it so much?

• It comes out of the tube as a gel and then dries to a super soft powder finish.  Not sticky at all.  It is also scent free.
• It makes my face incredibly soft.  It’s crazy.  I like to pet my own face now.  Ike is jealous.
• It minimizes pores. 
• It works great as a primer.  I wear Bare Minerals make-up and this product helps my make-up go on smoother.  I also need to use less make-up.  Cost savings!
• I have a super sensitive face.  Any time I try something new, my face usually breaks out.  (Unfortunately, I’m a sucker for products…and a slow learner.)  My skin has actually improved during the month that I’ve worn this. (Way to jinx myself.)
• I normally have trouble with dry skin in the winter.  My face has stayed nice and moisturized since I began using it.  (I did, however, start using a new moisturizer around the same time.  It’s called Cerave…and I’m also in love with it.  I think the combo together has kept the face all nice and moist..but not too moist.  Isn’t moist a gross word?)
• Speaking of gross…this product is fun to freak people out with.  I made my mom try it.  She thought I was messing with her.  Until she put it on her face, loved it, and didn’t care if it was a Monistat product or not.  I also think it makes Nate all nervous.  Even better.
• You don’t need very to use very much of the gel.  I’ve been using mine 5-6 days per week and the tube looks like I’ve hardly touched it.

There you have it.  The day my blog went down the tube….when I wrote about a tube of Monistat.

Who’s going to try this interesting product or can you not get past the Monistat?  What’s your favorite beauty product? 

Guess who I’m hanging out with this week-end?  It may or may not be two awesome blog girls.  The suspense…

***I was in no way compensated for this post.  I just think the product is awesome and thought you might too!***

DSLR for Dummies- ISO

Let’s chat about ISO today.  Okay? Okay!

I first Googled ISO.  ISO stands for International Standards Organisation.  That’s helpful.

Nate………help!  SOS.  I’m falling asleep.

Nate informed me that ISO has to deal with shutter speed, lighting and “noise”.

In a DSLR camera, there is a sensor that receives the picture.  This sensor used to be film.  (Interesting.  I miss film.  Sort of.)  The invention of the digital camera was awesome for photography because previously your film determined your ISO.  Once you started a roll of film, you had to take all of your photos at that ISO.   Now we just do some button clicking magic and we have a new ISO whenever we want!

What exactly does ISO do?  ISO changes the light sensitivity of that sensor in the camera that is receiving the picture.

The lower the ISO, the less sensitive the sensor is to light.  The sensor gathers less light which may results in a longer time to take the photo (slower shutter speed).

How do you know determine what ISO to use?  Nate usually shoots in ISO ranges from 200-800.  He tells me that anything over 800 will result in more noticeable grain or “noise”.

So, why would you use anything over 800?  You are most concerned about ISO when you are in a low light setting.  In low light you will want a higher ISO because the higher ISO will give you a faster shutter speed.  The trade off with this faster shutter speed is the “noise”.
I asked Nate to give me some examples of situations and what ISO I should use…

High ISO:  An indoor basketball.  (There is probably poor lighting and that fast shutter speed will come in handy.)  Hand holding the camera at sunset.  (You will want the increased “noise” versus the blurry picture you will get with a low ISO.

Middle ISO:  Our house at night with the lights on/no natural light.  (He suggested ISO 800-1000)

Low ISO:  Outside on a sunny day.  Nature photography.  Sunset on a tripod.

The following photos are my ISO learning photos.  I am showing you my Picasa screen shot.  In the lower left corner, Picasa gives you the camera information.  Very helpful when writing these posts…

ISO 200  f/3.5  1/10s

ISO 400  f/3.5  1/15s

ISO 800  f/3.5  1/30s

ISO 1600  f/3.5  1/60s

ISO 3200  f/3.5  1/100s

What difference do you notice in the pictures?  (Other than the ISO 800 photo that is blurry due to operator error.)…..  Do you notice anything???..........I’ve got nothing.  It all looks the same to me.  Seriously Nate, are you just messing with me?

He first had me notice the shutter speed.  As you increase the ISO, the shutter speed increases.  I did notice this while taking the photos. 

He then had me zoom on in a little closer…

ISO 200

ISO 3200

Notice how the second photo is all dirty looking.  That’s the “noise” he kept talking about.  I might be getting it.


Summary:  Higher ISO = messy close up photo   Lower ISO = pretty and clean photo

What questions do you have about ISO?  We will answer those and the aperture questions this week-end.  Hopefully.  I’d also like to set up a Flickr group to force you all to practice now instead of putting it off.  Peer pressure!  I’ll keep you posted!