Mommy's Camera

Happy Monday everyone!

I'm a little late getting our Date up, but better late than never, right?

This week, is someone I've actually met IRL!! Everyone say 'hi' to Jamie, from "Mommy's Camera"!! I met Jamie about this time last year, at a certain party hosted by a certain blogger named "MckMama". It was good fun! Great food...lot's of talk...but, wait! Back to the date!!

Here's what Jamie has to say about her blog, "Mommy's Camera", which can be found under our "None of the Above" blog categories:

Mommy's Camera: Married mother of two girls and a 4-legged boy blogging about learning photography. Writes photography tutorials geared toward your average person with a point-and-shoot camera and photo editing tutorials using free photo editing software. On occasion writes a post about being a nurse. This blog is also the home of Blogger the frog. Follow him around the world!

She can do some amazing stuff with her point-and-shoot and her free editing software! (She's also a nurse...we're kindred spirits...or something!) ;)

Here are Jamie's answers to the interview questions:

If you were handed an open ended airline ticket...anywhere, any number of people, for any amount of time...where would you go, who would you bring, how long would you stay?

I would take all my best girlfriends (5 of them) and their families to Europe for a month. I'd also bring along a few nannies for the kids. We'd travel around Europe by train for the month.

What has been the greatest moment of your life so far?

I have two greatest moments: the birth of each of my girls.

How did you meet your spouse?

How I met hubby: I wanted to date his roommate! I had a bunch of classes in college with Roommate and so I hung out with him all the time. I wanted to date him but he hooked back up with his ex-girlfriend and broke my heart. Roommate felt bad so he started inviting Hubby where ever we went. Hubby and I ended up hooking up with a little push from Roommate. I ended up with the better of the two in the long run! Roommate, his wife, hubby, and I remain very good friends! We joke all the time about our "relationship".

And, here are Jamie's three favorite posts from, "Mommy's Camera":

Add/Remove Objects (Cloning) in Photos Using Gimp Free Editing Software...whoa. That's all I've gotta say. Whoa. Well, okay...if you are a photo lovin' mama who needs some help with cloning...you've gotta see what Jamie did with this photo! And, she makes it sound so easy!!

Color Curves in Photo Editing-A Basic Tutorial...an interesting tutorial on adjusting the color in your photos!

Make Your Own Photo Textures...I'm now convinced that Jamie is a photo-editing genius. Texture: Made easy!

Okay, friends!! Will you head on over to "Mommy's Camera" to pay Jamie a visit? Oh, and tell her Mama sent you! ;)

Our Imperfect Life

Hey everyone! Before this weeks gets crazy busy, I want to introduce our newest Date of the Week to you!

Debra is the author of "Our Imperfect Life", under our "Military Blogs" category! She is a mom, a military wife and seems like a great woman! This is what Debra has to say about her blog:

We are the typical husband, wife, 2 kids & 2 dogs family. But we are not so typical in that we are a military family living overseas. Please feel free to check come read about "Our Imperfect Life." God Bless!

Here is her "interview":

How did you meet your spouse?

We met February 7, 1997 at a mutual friend's bachelor party. No I was not entertainment! ha! But from that night on, we were inseparable. And the only thing that separates us now is the Navy.

What has been the greatest moment of your life so far?

Absolutely getting married and having our kids. But everyone says that. I will say that right now, being able to live in Japan. There are many things I do not like about living here but overall, it is an incredible experience!

What was the best job you’ve ever had?

I've only had 3 jobs (not including being a mom/housewife) life....Home Health Aide, Customer Service Rep for American Airlines and then a substitute teacher. Being a substitute teacher was by far my favorite!

Debra lists these links, as her favorite "Our Imperfect Life" posts:

Testimonial Tuesdays...a post in which Debra begins sharing her testimony.

That Dark Storm Cloud...a very transparent post about her struggles with depression.

Lately I Have Been Met With...a fun post filled with amazing photographs!

Well, friends...head on over to "Our Imperfect Life"...and tell Debra, Mama sent you! ;)

Adventures of a Single Mom

Well...turns out, that my brain farts. And, last week, I had a major one! I forgot to choose a date of the week...actually, I think that's not too bad, considering, in nearly 40 weeks (a pregnancy!!) this is the first time I forgot!

Will you forgive me?

This week, I'd like to introduce you to Jessica Si, author of Adventures of a Single Mom listed in our "Life Blogs" category! Here's what Jessica says about her blog:

My name is Laura, I'm 24 and a single mom to one crazy energetic four year old little boy. I'm dating the most amazing guy B and we are making the long distance relationship thing work for us! I work in Marketing for a small financial company and in short, I HATE my job! I love margaritas, dancing, moonlight walks on the beach and even if its painful, being woken up by a 4 year old jumping on you way before the sun rises.

And, here's what I asked Miss Jessica:

What would you say your “passion” is?

I would have to say my number one passion is my son, but thats pretty typical of most moms! Going outside of my family and friends - my passion would probably be event and party planning. I know it seems silly and more like a hobby, but I'm one of those girls that likes to PLAN. I've had my wedding planned since I was seven years old and not much has varried, well maybe the groom a few times ;)

I love to look at small details and have the big picture come to life when it is finally time for the event. I could make a living out of party planning if there was a calling for that sort of thing in my small hometown :)

When you were a teenager, what was the worst trouble you got into?

I didn't get into a lot of trouble when I was a teenager. I was pretty quiet and had a good group of friends to keep me straight. I think the biggest thing I ever got in trouble for was- oh this is soo embarassing- in 8th grade art class. I had this assignment to turn in and I should say that I'm horrible at art. I can't draw a straight line with a ruler and I can't draw a stick figure to save my life, my teacher scared me to death. I had attempted the project but I knew it was horrible. Apparently I forgot to put my name on the painting and it ended up in the "noname" bin. My teacher held two of them up and asked me which was mine; in reality neither of them were mine; but I didn't want to admit that so I picked the nice one and claimed it as mine. That was all fine and dandy until the REAL person claimed the same picture as theirs--oops. I think I had to appologize to the girl whose picture I "stole" and I missed our 8th grade awards assembly. Looking back on all of it; its kind of funny but at the time I was mortified.

What was the best job you’ve ever had?

I had the best job ever!! I started working at a small store in our mall called Wild Card. We sold lots of little things like Precious Moments and Boyds Bears and plates with cute sayings on them. It was my first job and I'm positive I learned more at the job then any of my other jobs, including my real life 9-5 job now. Other then cleaning and doing small tasks for the store I learned the importance of working with others in a close environment. I learned that not everyone is going to get along but as long as we work together we have to make it work. I also learned that the customer is always right- even when they are the BIGGEST idiots. I learned how to deal with being yelled at and talked rudely too and I"m greatful for learning all of those things at a young age. Granted I worked with a great group of girls who were all in high school and middle school and had a great time everday I went into work- but I did learn a lot and the endless supply of junk food our manager supplied wasn't that bad either ;)

Jessica lists these as her favorite "Adventures of a Single Mom" posts, and states, "My three favorite posts are probably the three sadest posts that I've written; but they are raw emotion from the heart."

Father's Day...A heartfelt letter to her son's absent father.

Maybe Someday...An emotionally vivid story about a brother she hasn't seen in 8 or 9 years.

My List...A story about her hometown (who knew Pittsburg was so beautiful!!), in which she claims Pittsburg has 2 seasons...winter and road construction--hey! That's what they say about MinneSOOOOta, too!!

Well friends, will you go pay Jessica a visit...and tell her Mama sent you?!