More Pictures.....

Photography Class


I finished my second photography class on Weds and I feel a little frustrated. I have a pretty good understanding of how to use lighting, which pictures will turn out, and scouting good locations, BUT I feel lost after this class. The teacher goes over how to change the F stop, expanding the exposure, and how to meter for light. There are so many settings to use and adjust for each picture. I took some pictures the other day and I attempted to figure it out but I gave up and used the same settings I always do. I know it will get easier after I practice and I'll become a better photographer, but DAMN I wanna know now!

The people in my class make me laugh. I have one guy in there who realized he liked photography when he was at a Renaissance Festival. Now he travels around looking for Renaissance Festivals to take pictures at. Then another guy who I call the tech guy always asks these long drawn out technical questions that even confuses the teacher. I doubt he really knows what the hell he is talking about. He also said that he listens to pod casts by different photographers a couple of times a week. He is a weird dude. There are a couple of other people in the class that seem okay (well, besides the girl who only has one name, Desiree). I have to say I am the cool chick in class :) I don’t know if I have been the coolest person in class before! I should sit in the back of the class with my sunglasses on, chewing my gum loudly, while looking completely bored :)

Rain, damn it, rain!

So the meteorologists in Austin got my hopes up early in the week with the promise of heavy rain Wednesday-Friday this week. Yesterday it sprinkled for 15 minutes, not exactly what I call heavy rain. I have no idea why the news stations have commercials for all of their up to date (read- expensive!!) Doppler radar equipment when they can't even predict a little rain. If they had said on their news cast that there was a possibility of rain then I wouldn't be so mad. They described bad thunderstorms and heavy rain for the latter part of this week. What is a girl to do? A rain dance? We need rain! Our lawn is getting crispy!

Sick of paying high gas prices and think it is because of the war in Iraq? Read on….


Exxon's 2nd quarter earnings break records
09:55 AM CDT on Thursday, July 27, 2006
Associated Press

IRVING, Texas -- Exxon Mobil Corp. said Thursday it earned $10.36 billion in the second quarter, the second largest quarterly profit ever recorded by a publicly traded U.S. company.
The earnings figure was 36 percent above the profit it reported a year ago. High oil prices helped boost its revenue by 12 percent to a level just short of a quarterly record.
Exxon Mobil’s report comes a day after another large U.S. oil company, ConocoPhillips, said it earned more than $5 billion in the quarter and at a time when many drivers in the U.S. are paying $3 for a gallon of gas — increasing the likelihood of further political backlash in Washington.

Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest oil company by market capitalization, said earnings amounted to $1.72 per share in the April-June quarter compared with a profit of $7.64 billion, or $1.20 per share, a year ago.

The results topped Wall Street expectations but came in behind Exxon Mobil’s record profit of $10.71 billion set in the fourth quarter of 2005. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected the company to earn $1.64 per share. Revenue rose to $99.03 billion from $88.57 billion in the prior-year quarter. That was short of Exxon Mobil’s record third-quarter revenue of $100.72 billion — which also stands as record revenue generated by any U.S. public company ever in a single quarter.

Exxon Mobil said it spent $4.9 billion on capital and exploration projects during the quarter, up 8 percent from a year ago, while distributing $7.9 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases. Congress has been urging the big oil companies to put more of their profits toward boosting the supply of energy for consumers.

Exxon Mobil shares rose 82 cents to $67.42 in premarket trading.

Makeup Extravaganza!

There is a makeup extravaganza with Sandra Shapiro this Wednesday at 7:00pm at the Balcones Country Club. The event is hosted by Arbonne (http://www.arbonne.com/) and will be offering color consultations, beauty tips, door prizes and appetizers. My sister-in-law is an Arbonne representative and will give you $20 worth of makeup that you choose! I can't make it because of my photography class but I wanted to share with you guys!!! If you want to go, e-mail Jamie at jamie.gage@sbcglobal.net so you can make sure you get your FREE $20 worth of make-up!

Partying on the Party Barge

Yesterday was so much fun! It was Nick's 30th birthday and his sister threw him a party on a party barge on Lake Travis. The party barge was well stocked with a keg, margarita machine, and about 500 jello shots. Seriously, 500 jello shots in all different flavors! We had a great day of hanging out with friends, drinking, swimming, hamburgers, and munchies. We ran into a little of bad weather towards the end of the day, but the rain held off until we got off of the boat. The wind was pretty fierce on the lake, and one of the ropes keeping the boat attached to the shore broke free causing the boat to float onto the shore. It sounds worse than it was. Our boat driver, turned the engine on and straightened us out!!! We finished our day with dinner at Carols and Charlies. It was nice to have all of the friends together for the day!!

Nick jumping off the top of the party barge

Jim wearing some funky sun glasses. Thank god he was just borrowing them.

There were two full coolers of jello shots

Most of the people on the party barge. The Capitan took the picture, and it is a little blurry.

First jello shot of the day :)

Jim and I floating in the water

Enoch, Nick, Tyson, Jim, Matt, Mike and John

Nick, Tomhave, and Lindsey

1….2…..3….. SMILE!!

I took my first photography class on Wednesday! I felt like such a student because it was on the UT campus. I remembered the good ol’days when I would walk around the ASU campus checkin out the hot guys, eating whatever junk food was available(and not gaining weight), and then trying to figure out if I wanted to go to class or the pool :). But I digress, the photography class is on Wednesdays for six weeks. Although I have been taking pictures for years I have never taken a class so I thought it would be a good idea to actually learn the terms and technical side of taking pictures. The first class was a good introduction to the class but I didn’t really learn anything new, but according to the syllabus, the upcoming weeks should be very interesting. I am looking forward to showing some of my pictures to the teacher for her to critique!!! Let’s home I learn some new techniques to improve my photography skills because if I don’t, I’m going to be pissed that I am missing So You Think You Can Dance because of this class!! :)~

This is for the ladies who are a tad bit mischievous (which is most of you)!!

Rebuilding Naw'lins




I’m glad to see that Mr. Jolie (aka Brad Pitt) has turned his attention to the United States. He is urging New Orleans to build environmentally friendly homes and businesses in the city and the parishes that surround the city. I applaud the generosity and effort to make changes in third world countries by the hottest people on earth (Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt) but I have always wished they would look to their own country to support and make changes. I hope that New Orleans will benefit from the work that Brad Pitt and Global Green USA is doing for the city! I for one can’t wait to get back to New Orleans so I can drink my bloody mary from an outside patio and enjoy people watching!

Do you have what it takes to be a Survivor contestant?

I thought I would pass along some information in case any of you want to live on an island with a ton of bugs biting the crap out of you, eating lizards for lunch and dinner while hoping your arm pit hair isn't sticking out since you haven't shaved in a month.

It's that time of year again, and we are fully in the process of casting for the next season of Survivor on CBS. Some of you have contacted me because you know people who are interested in being on the show, so I wanted to send an e-mail letting you know the best way to go about having them apply. Also, if you know anyone that you think would be a great contestant, ask them if they would be interested! We are always on the look out for attractive people, people with big personalities, people with interesting jobs, or people who are just unique in their own way or big Survivor fans. If you can think of anyone who you believe should apply, have them contact me and I can give them more information. The only rules are that they must be age 21 or over, and they must be a US Citizen with a US Passport (or eligible to apply for a US passport). I also can't accept applications from people who have already applied for this season. If you know someone who should apply, please have them send me an e-mail at Erika@erikashay.com telling me a little about themselves and why they would like to apply. I will get back to them with further information. We are on a time-sensitive deadline, so if you know someone, contact them ASAP and have them get in touch with me right away. Have a great day and hope everyone is happy and healthy!

Best, Erika

Chicken Croquette Recipe

My mom introduced me to a dish called Chicken Croquettes a couple of years ago and they have become one of my favorites. I haven't seen them in Austin restaurants, but they are on most menu's on the east coast. They are very tasty and a great way to use leftover chicken. I have used Ranch and a chicken gravy as a dipping sauce. Traditionally, the croquette is fried but this is a baked version (trying to control the size of my ass :) ). Enjoy!

5 tablespoons butter or margarine, divided
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 cups finely chopped cooked chicken
1 1/4 cups fine dry bread crumbs, divided
3 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley or 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

PREPARATION:
Directions for chicken croquettes In a medium saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter or margarine over medium heat. Add flour and cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes without browning. Gradually whisk in milk and broth; cook, stirring constantly, until smooth and thickened.
Remove from heat; let cool 5 to 10 minutes. In large bowl, combine chicken, 1 cup bread crumbs, parsley, salt and eggs. Mix well. Pour in sauce, blend well. Cover and chill for about 2 hours. Preheat oven to 350°. Combine Parmesan cheese and remaining 1/4 cup bread crumbs in a shallow dish. Shape chicken croquettes mixture into 2 1/2-inch balls, then roll to form oval shapes; makes about 8. Roll shaped croquettes in bread crumb mixture. Arrange in a greased 13x9x2-inch baking dish. Melt remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and drizzle over chicken croquettes. Bake chicken croquettes 30 minutes until golden brown.

Baby Kenzie is here!!! Krista and Jeff are parents! :)


Krista had her baby, Kenzie, on Friday night! Courtney and I went to visit today and everybody is doing great! Krista looks fantastic!! She does not look like a woman who just gave birth! Little Kenzie was mostly sleeping while we were there, but she is such a cute little girl! Here are some pictures:

Out on the town - Celebrity Sighting


A few of us met up at the Mean Eyed Cat for drinks on Saturday night. I haven't been to that bar, and really liked it! It was very small on the inside, but they had an outdoor section with lots of seating. We didn't have to yell over music or get bumped a million times which was very nice! While we were there Quentin Taratino came in with some friends. I took some pictures without being totally in his face :) The pictures I took were from across the bar and I tried to be all stealth, but I'm sure he noticed the flash :) He is in town filming a movie called Grind House (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462322/). There was no mistaking him, he looks the same in person as he does in movies.


Tomhave, Jim and I

Not a great picture, but I was zooming in

I was going to fix the red eyes, but it seemed fitting for him :)

Just because he makes horror movies

Damn bartender got in the way of my picture :)

Inside of the Mean Eyed Cat. I was trying to get pictures of Quentin Taratino, but he took FOREVER at the juke box. I waited over 15 minutes for him to turn around. I gave up and went back outside.

Hmmmm,,, I can think of a couple of girls that might have done something like this...... :)

Woman arrested after calling 911 asking for 'cute' deputy
Associated Press Jul. 14, 2006 07:10 AM

ALOHA, Ore. - A woman who called 911 to get "the cutest cop I've seen" sent back to her home got a date all right - a court date.The same sheriff's deputy arrested her on charges of misuse of the emergency dispatch system.Washington County Sheriff's Sgt. David Thompson told KGW-TV of Portland it all started with a noise complaint called in last month by neighbors of Lorna Jeanne Dudash. The deputy sent to check on the complaint knocked on her door, then left.

Thompson said Dudash then called 911, asking that the "cutie pie" deputy return."He's the cutest cop I've seen in a long time. I just want to know his name," Dudash told the dispatcher. "Heck, it doesn't come very often a good man comes to your doorstep."After listening to some more, followed by a bit of silence, the dispatcher asked again why Dudash needed the deputy to return."Honey, I'm just going to be honest with you, OK? I just thought he was cute. I'm 45 years old and I'd just like to meet him again, but I don't know how to go about doing that without calling 911," she said."I know this is absolutely not in any way, shape or form an emergency, but if you would give the officer my phone number and ask him to come back, would you mind?"The deputy returned, verified that there was no emergency and arrested her for misusing the 911 system, an offense punishable by a fine of up to several thousand dollars and a year in jail.Thompson said Thursday it was the first case he knew of in which someone called the emergency line for such a personal reason."That's taking up valuable time from dispatchers who could be taking true emergency calls," he said.

A good friend of mine, Lisha, started her own business of making beautiful personalized note cards, address labels, and gift tags. She made some for Jim and I when we were married and I received compliments on them from everybody I sent them to! I wanted to post her website so you can check it out!!!

http://www.swaknotes.com/index.htm

Jim and I went to see Superman last night. It wasn't our original choice but Pirates of the Caribbean was sold out. I thought Superman was really good. I wasn't excited about seeing Superman (not sure why) but I left the theater happy! Brandon Routh, who plays Superman, did a really good job and really looks like a young Christopher Reeves. There were a couple of sections in the movie where Superman looked like he was "photoshopped" into the movie, but overall Superman looked good in his blue and red body suit! I would give this movie 3.75 out of 5 stars!!

Barton Creek Mall News

Just thought I would share some information.....

• Foley's is have a lot of sales! There are lots of 50% off signs across the store!
• J Crew opened about 2-3 weeks ago
• Sephora will be opening soon! (I heard a rumor it is going to be this weekend, but not sure)
• We now have an Aldo Shoe store. I wasn't familiar with this brand but they have some cool shoes

Here are some pictures from our trip to Vegas a couple of weeks ago! We had such a great time! We went to Vegas for our friends, Sarah and Orly, wedding. I was also their photographer for the wedding! These pictures are a bit fuzzy, but I'll fix them when I get home!

Picture of Cesars

Sarah(the bride), Orly(the groom), Me and Jim

Jim and I at Maggiano's

HA! I look a little like a professional photographer!

Getting shots from a little guy on a bar

Sarah and I at the Roulette table,,, I was actually winning here!

Enjoying my drink!