New Blog

Hi Everyone! I have a new blog! www.ps-travelblog.com My new blog is a travel blog that helps you gather vacation ideas. Each post highlights a new location and gives an example week agenda and a budget. I would love if everyone could send the link to their friends and family. I am trying to gather support so that I can make the move towards being a part time blogger! I will also have a friends and family page where you can check out pictures of Matteo! I will be sending the password out by email.

Loving the World Cup!

As most of you know, I am a soccer fan. So I really love when the world cup rolls around every four years. And, this year it is even better, because now I have two teams to cheer for!

Viva Chile! Go USA!

USA: The United States has started off the tournament with a lucky tie against England. Tomorrow they will play Slovenia and then on the 23rd Algeria. England should have been their toughest match, so I believe that the U.S. has a good chance of advancing.

Chile: Chile started off very strong, with a win this morning against Honduras. They played amazing, and if they continue to play like this, I project that they will win the bracket and make it to at least the quarter finals. Chile will play Switzerland on the 21st and Spain on the 25th.

And finally, I forgot to mention I am not the only world cup fan at my house. You can't believe how much Matteo likes soccer!! Every time the stadium gets noisy, he screams "GOOOOAAAALL" I love it!

Soccer is on @ the Herane Household

Matteo the Star!

Matteo had a very exciting day today. Today, Parents Magazine shot pictures of Matteo for their September issue! It was his first professional photo shoot ever, and he behaved like an angel for the entire 4 hour shoot. I actually think he had lots of fun- 4 hours of lots of attention and praise, and all for looking cute and playing nicely with the cool toys they had on the set. It was a very enjoyable experience and I am really glad that Matteo had the chance to participate in this!


In closing, all of you Matteo fan's should subscribe today to Parent's magazine so that you can see his pictures in the September issue!

A Quick Grammar Lesson....

I am always forgetting the difference between affect and effect. However, I found this really cute cartoon online to help me remember. I though I would go ahead and share :) Maybe some of you run into this same problem!


On another note, I know I haven't posted in a while! But I promise to put up at least 2 new Matteo related posts this week!

Better Photography: Lesson 7

This weeks lesson was on close up shots. I don't have a lens with a macro, so I simply set my camera to the macro setting. For this lesson, I took pictures of a bouquet of flowers that friends brought me last weekend. While I took the pictures indoors, I did so in the morning- a time when I have lots of natural light because my windows face east. I also tried out both my 18-70 mm lens and my 50 mm low aperture lens. I personally like the way the pictures came out with my 50 mm lens. (Actually, I love this picture. I think the colors are great!) I felt that the pictures became too blurry when I tried to get close with my 35 - 70 lens. I posted my favorite from each set below!

35 -70 lens @ 35 mm

50mm lens

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

The Best Restuarant in Miami

I want to preface this post by saying that this restaurant (unfortunately) is not cheap. And if you are in a rush, you should choose to go some where else, because service here is at a European pace. But, if you live in Miami and have a little extra cash to spend on a hot date, or if you come to Miami to visit, I have found a restaurant that is definitely worth its weight in gold. I promise, that if you sit back, relax, and order a pisco sour, this is one dinner you will not forget.

The Gran Inka- Peruvian Cuisine

Mario and I started our meal with a pisco sour each (if you have not tried these, you should, they are a Chilean/ Peruvian tradition) and a fish ceviche. Then I ordered shrimps and scallops al limon and Mario ordered the Fillet Mignon in a Roquefort cheese and mushroom sauce (this dish was divine). We also shared a bottle of pinot noir. For dessert, we finished off with Delicia de Lucuma. Lucuma is a fruit unique to Peru, Chile, and Argentina and has a very unique flavor. I wish I could put into words how good this dessert was!

Pisco Sour

And what was the bill for all this godly food? $120. Not bad when you consider we order aperitifs and a bottle of wine!

Better Photography: Lesson 6

Lesson six taught how to use natural light indoors. It recommended trying a variety of techniques. The first was to place the subject in front of a window or glass door and then standing parallel to the light to take the picture. This technique uses direct light. When using this strategy, it is important to be aware of dark shadows caused by the light. I like the way Matteo looks warm in these pictures, and he is framed by the dark shadows. I also wanted to post a picture of what happened when I forgot about the shadow :)

Direct Light Pictures

I forgot to pay attention to the way the shadow was cast in this picture.

The next exercise was to place yourself between the subject and the window. This allows you to soften the light a little, and to catch the glare of the light in eyes of the subject. It makes for a twinkle in the eye!

My Garden

This year, I planted my first ever vegetable and spice garden and boy, has it blossomed. I have lots of parsley, basil, cilantro, mint and oregano. I also planted tomatoes, bell peppers and jalapenos. I am yet to see any bell peppers (although the plants look quite healthy), but I have nice big tomatoes and even a few jalapenos. Check out the pictures and then I'll tell you all about the lessons I have learned.


Now for the lessons I have learned.

1. Respect the space! The plants come with instructions on how far apart to plant them, and you should follow the instructions even if the plants look really small when you are putting them in the ground. I didn't do this, and now all of my plants have grown together.
2. Dig a hole. In other words, don't just dump a bunch of dirt on top of the existing grass, because the grass will grow through! In my garden, I have plants that have all grown intertwined and with grass in the middle.

Needless to say, my garden is not the most organized, but it is bearing nice big plants and vegetables. Next year I will do a better job planting it neatly :)

Babies are Funny

Babies are funny... You can spend all the money you want on pretty toys, but what are their favorite things to play with? Boxes, tupperware, pots and pans, and in Matteo's case- the plunger!

My Little Plumber :)

Gymnastics

I am sure I have already mentioned this, but Matteo has started gymnastics classes! He has been going 2x per week for about 3 weeks now, and he is loving it. Today his daddy took him, and his grandma went with them to take some pictures. Check them out! Notice how Matteo has already mastered the somersault :)

Better Photography: Lesson 5

Photography lesson 5 focused on picture composition. While a lot of artistic composition is innate, there are some simple rules that you can follow to improve the composition of your photos. I ran out of time to take pictures for all of the rules, so for this lesson I used both new pictures and scavenged through old pictures (some I took, some others took) to demonstrate each lesson.

Rule #1: Keep it simple. Avoid Background Distractions.

My parents in Rome.

It is hard to concentrate on my parents in the first picture because of all the background distractions. Meanwhile, the interesting but non-distracting background in the second picture, makes for an aesthetically pleasing photo.

Rule *2: Follow the rule of thirds. This rule states that your eyes are naturally drawn to 1/3 up or over in a photo.

Monster Matteo :)

This is one of my favorite pictures of Matteo. Because it follows the rule of thirds (Mattteo and Guinness being place 1/3 of the way up the frame), your eyes are first drawn to Matteo and his facial expression. Then, at second glance, you catch the mess that he has managed to make.

Rule #3: Keep an eye on the horizon. Position the horizon 2/3 up the photo if you want to focus on the foreground and 1/3 up if you want to focus on the background (ex. a nice sunset).

A Windy Afternoon @ Fort Lauderdale Beach

Rule #4: Frame your subject.

In these two pictures, I used patterned backgrounds to frame Matteo. If you think about it, this is what photo studios do when you go to get your picture taken.

In contrast to the other two pictures, I used the foreground to frame Matteo in this picture.

Rule #5: Fill the frame.

Evelyn's 1st B-Day

Filling the frame made all the difference in this picture.

Rule #6: Try a new perspective. Ex: Turn your camera the other way.

Southern Chile

By turning the camera vertical, I was able to capture the dramatic background.

Mother's Day Weekend

Mother's Day weekend was really nice. Saturday morning, Matteo and I went to his gymnastics class and he mastered the somersault! Then in the afternoon we went to a birthday party for our friend Evelyn, who turned 1. Check out the picture below of her smearing cake all over her face- this is always the highlight of the 1 year old celebrations. Saturday night, Mario and I had a date and we went to see "En Sus Ojos" or "In Their Eyes". It was probably the best movie I have seen in a year, and I would highly recommend that you go see it if you get a chance. While a bit violent the picture, the story line is very thought provoking.

Evelyn Enjoys Her 1st Birthday!

Sunday, our little family ventured out to a local water park. The park was really nice, and had a nice big toddler area. Matteo had the time of his life, and particularly enjoyed the water slide. As you can see in the pictures, his smile stretched from ear to ear.

Matteo's 1st Trip Down A Water Slide

Matteo has become so comfortable in the water, that it is both frightening and exciting. He loves to stand on the steps and stick his head under the water and see how long he can hold is breath. I have really been concentrating on teaching him to float on his back, but this is tricky because he is convinced he knows how to swim on his stomach (which is not really the case!) I hope that by the end of the summer he can learn to swim; it would make me feel a lot better about living in Florida where there is water everywhere.

Double Trouble

Three posts in one day. What?!?! Yea, I know, but these pictures where too cute not to post.

Matteo and His Best Bud, Nathan

A lot of good that fence did!

DIY- A New Table

This weekend, Mario and I got to work on the re-design of downstairs. We kicked the project of by building ourselves a new kitchen table! Now everyone thought we were crazy, but the table turned out great, and costs less than $100 in supplies (although going to Home Depot costs us another $200 because we found all kinds of other stuff to buy :) ) But even with the extra purchases, it beats the price tag on purchasing an almost identical table from west elm .


As you can see in the pictures, we still have to varnish the table and build the bench to go with it.

And then, to break the table in and to finish off the weekend on a high note, we got together with for a bar-b-que with the neighbors (we lucked out in the neighbor category- they're great!)

Summer is here!

Here in South Florida, Summer actually started a few weeks ago. But now I can say, it is definitely here to stay! How do I know?? Our pool already feels like bath water :\ But hey, I don't mind, I LOVE summer! It means longer days, bar-b-ques with friends, and lots and lots of pool and beach. Here are some pictures of Matteo kicking off the summer in style!

Making Over Downstairs

Project Summary: Since I have started blogging, I have also started following a few other blogs. One of my favorites is Young House Love. One of the things that they do that I love, is create mood boards to help people solve their design dilemmas. I thought this was a great way idea, and I decided to make my own mood board for our downstairs .

Before Pictures of Downstairs

The Mood Board

The walls: Currently, the kitchen is painted a color called Florida Mango. I like the color, but I find it overwhelming on so much wall. I was looking for a nice brown pallete, that would match well with the orange. I want to paint the small downstairs bathroom the mango color, and the rest of downstairs a mix of dark and light brown. The following is a color template suggested by Behr.


The other thing that we would like to do is put up chair rails on the walls. Since we have such high ceilings, this will help to divide the space. It will also dress up the room quite a bit.

Wish List: Large area rug, new dining table, bench for table, coat rack for wall, storage bench for shoes, coffee table, new pendant lights, new flush ceiling lights

All with a budget of a $1000?!?!?! That's right! We will purchase the rug and the blinds, but everything else we will be building ourselves! Our plans will come from my other favorite blog- Knock- Off Wood!

Thanks to Knock-Off Wood and Young House Love!

Better Photography: Lesson 4

For this lesson, I was supposed to use my flash outside on a cloudy day, to improve the lighting of the shot. But living in South Florida, I am so used to taking pictures when it is sunny out, that I keep forgeting to take my camera out on those cloudy days. Instead, I tried to do the same thing, when the sun was going down, but there was still lots of light outside. The picture in the previous post was one of the successes I had with this. Here it is next to a shot I took without the flash, so that you can compare. In my opinion, the flash helped to eliminate dark shadows, as well as freeze my fast moving subject :)

One note about these pictures: My subject was not cooperating so well! I guess I will learn tricks to overcome this when I get to the lesson on portraits!

Matteo is WAY to big!

Matteo is growing up SO fast- just way too fast. Next week he will be 18 months old. He already thinks he is a big boy, refusing to give us kisses in front of friends and saying bye-bye to run off and play. We are having to be very careful these days, as he is opening doors and escaping from the house! I took this picture earlier this week, as I chased him as he tried to run away!

More news about Matteo! He started gymnastics classes this week :) I know I am biased, but my kid is sooo cute and already such a little athlete. :)

New Lense for My Camera

As many of you know, I have been doing these online photography classes. One of the lessons I enjoyed the most was the first lesson on aperture. I really love photography with sharp foregrounds and blurry backgrounds. And now I have a new lens that does exactly this! It is a Sony 50mm f/1.8 SAM DT Lens like the one in the picture below.


Check out some of the cool pictures I took of Matteo and some flowers. Notice how blurred the backgrounds are! I put some recent pictures of Matteo that I took at the beach, so that you can compare the pictures taken with this new lens to the ones taken with a standard lens.

Better Photography Week 3

This was my favorite class so far. The lesson was about the color of white, and how to measure the light and then adjust your cameras white balance manually. You can really see the difference in the picture below. Basically, with this little trick, you can take a picture inside at night, and make it look like it was taken outside in the middle of the day! The first picture in each set was taken using the automatic white balance, the second with the tungsten setting, and the in the third I set the white balance manually (after measuring the light).