J and Camellia Bushes at the Botanical Garden

If you are a girl,

have a girl ten or over, or are the husband of a girl, you should watch this video.  

Many of you know that I've started a photography business lately, and through that I've screened a lot of picture manipulation software, like Photoshop, Lightroom, etc...  The things a person can do to a digital image are endless.  I read a great photography book lately by a guy who did-and was now past- the Photoshop thing and was back to using film because he was disgusted at how fake imaging had become.  The art, he felt, was lost.  I use film and digital cameras.  I manipulate pictures.  I turn color into black and white.  I fade eye wrinkles in portraits.  I deepen the blues of the sky, and move shadows to more convenient places by manipulating exposure.  But this video, and the 5 minute one by Diet.com that is after it on Youtube, reminded me how dangerous Photoshop can be to our girls.  To me.  To my daughter. 

Please know that any model you see on the cover of a magazine has been seriously Photoshopped.  You can't look like that no matter how hard you try.  They pay people to sit all day and push buttons to make teeth whiter, eyes bluer, skin tighter, lips fuller, thighs slimmer and necks longer.  Yes, these buttons are there; I've experimented with them.  Photographers-be responsible.  There's little girls out there who aren't getting the message at home that God made them beautiful, in His image, and that inner beauty is eternal.  They're turning to our images for the definition of beauty, so let's at least give them something realistic to look at.

Beautiful J with his crayons

Our weekend away

My mom came into town, and Tim and I got a weekend away at the beach.  It was the first time we'd had away from kids for more than a few hours in four years.  We were long overdue for some kid-free time!  We swam in the waves, read books on the shore, went shopping, went to bed when we wanted and got up when we wanted.  It was lovely!

There's a consignment store I love in the beach town we frequent, and I was showing off my new green $2.00 shoes, but really it looks like I'm showing off my wonderful "tan" from the beach that day!  Obviously, it didn't hurt until the next morning!

Mom had a lot of fun with the kids while we were gone, and she can come back anytime and do it again!

Dad-this one's for you!  These houses were everywhere along the beach!