Black Leather Jacket/CACHE, Glasses/ DOLCE & GABBANA, ring/ DAVID YURMAN COUTURE, bracelet/ BRIGHTON, bracelet/ TIFFANY & CO
BLACK WINTER CASUAL
MAC
SAN ANTONIO RIVERWALK LUXOR STYLE
San Antonio Riverwalk Luxor Style
My husband is not a huge fan of long road trips. In light of this, when he asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, I decided to abuse the opportunity at hand and request a San Antonio road trip!
I am a Christian. This does not mean that I see myself as a “Christ-like” being in any way… it simply means that I am a believer in God the Father and his son Jesus Christ, his purpose, the return and basically I try not to be evil because of such beliefs. Sometimes I get angry, I occasionally curse, but I do try really hard to forgive mean, hateful, crappy people. I study my Bible, I do not believe in man made religion, only Bible based, non-denominational churches.
I state all of the above only to say that my road trip request to San Antonio was for the purpose of visiting John Hagee’s Cornerstone Church with my husband. Twenty-five years ago, I remember that my Granny always had Hagee preaching on her TV when I would go visit, and my husband began watching him with me about 7 years ago. It’s long been a morning tradition with us to watch Pastor Hagee’s early morning weekday sermons on television as we’re getting ready for work, and we always planned on going together, in person…so this was my chance to make it happen!
We ended up deciding to stay at a Hotel on the river walk, so we could go to dinner and go hear some music the night before.
A cold front blew in that afternoon, and the temperature dropped to below 40 degrees. I grabbed my new hat purchased while in San Diego, so as to not be bothered with wet weather and wind blown hair. The coat from Cache, is the warmest one I own, and I grabbed it as a last minute thought when running out the door. It came in very handy. My boots were high and very warm, so I thought it would be fun to wear deep purple pleather shorts, with a turtle necked sweater for added warmth. (Yes, I am a rebel at heart, not a joiner, not much of a follower. It’s liberating. I do what I want.) So this was my kooky, fun, warm, birthday outfit. It’s who I am.
Our hotel was a recent remodel, located on the end, and the idea is to grab a taxi boat, to take down to the restaurant and music area of the river. It was a pleasant surprise to see a river boat going by our window the minute we got to our room. (I will include a future post on our hotel in the travel section of the site soon.)
After a fabulous dinner, we went to enjoy some music before catching a $5 taxi ride back to the hotel. Throughout the night, my husband was patient with me in the freezing cold, as I kept stopping to snap just the right photos of the river walk with different settings on my camera. I love the monet-like, painted look of some of my shots. We were so excited about going to church the next morning, that drinking and dancing the night away wasn’t really where our hearts were at, so we were not out very late, and headed back to the hotel by 11pm. (My how things have changed.)
I just have to share this part, because it’s a new year, and I’m keepin’ it real. I’m saying what I think, and I’m not going to suppress my opinions and display a false, neutral view point om issues I feel strongly about. So…
When we got back to the hotel, my husband clicks on the TV… which was on the Showtime channel. Help me Jesus…there was a 63 year old woman, correction – there was a completely naked 63 year old woman on the TV, explaining why she was using a young, male gigolo for sexual companionship and activity. OH MY. She almost made it sound sensible. Rational. However, the very graphic nude 63 year old body was too much for my husband and I to bear, so as the next scene was the woman and her gigolo kissing in the shower, my husband changed the channel.
Ugh. It’s official. Society has fallen. I don’t want to see my own naked body in broad daylight on Showtime, so why would I want to see anyone else’s? It was creepy, but it’s our fabulous, new dirty world.
The next morning, we were excited to go to church, hear Pastor John Hagee and his son Matthew Hagee preach the strongest Biblical message I’ve ever heard. It was an honor to get to attend service and praise God in the presence of such strong leaders.
Church was followed by a wonderful and romantic brunch, and this was literally the best birthday I’ve ever had. Peaceful. Low-key. Meaningful and deep. Oh, and food!
SIX SHOTS: DECEMBER, TWO THOUSAND and FOURTEEN
1. MERRY CHRISTMAS MAKEUP
Since I work in cosmetics, I like to photograph makeup colors and techniques, but it’s an art! It’s not the same thing as a “selfie” in that you are photographing the colors of the nails, lippies, or shadows.
2. RICH GIRL NECKLACE
I decided to work on my up close shots, and loved how this blingy rich girl necklace photo came out, complete with glitter nails and studded collar! Nails are another thing that’s really hard to photograph well with out plenty of practice!
3. KS TENNIS USA
Since I am the “S” in KSTENNISUSA.COM (or so I am told) I help out with various media work. My husband loves teaching tennis and takes it very seriously, so I had fun trying to capture his persona and work ethic in some new shots I took for the new website launch! He helps me with so much and is a true friend, so it’s always great when I can help him to grow his passion!
4. AVENTUS
There are some men’s fragrances that I absolutely adore, and when I took a photo of Aventus by House of Creed, I loved the way it turned out, although it was just a camera phone shot! The crazy silver and black glitter nails looked appropriate with the packaging, and the article on my Top 5 Men’s Fragrances can be seen here!
5. BLACK WINTER SUNDAY
One of the very few fashion posts I did in December was Black Winter Sunday. Any time my husband snaps a photo in which he actually focuses, is a rare and pleasant thing. :0 It’s worth mentioning that this is a real outfit, that I really wore, when I really had some place to go. I will say, that hats are more for ease to me than for glamour. The girl in front of me in church, who had hair extensions crash and burn because it was so humid, wet and cold…probably wished she was cool enough for a hat. Just sayin.
6. MAKEUP ARTIST
I think of makeup artistry is an art form. A lot of us have made the product searches and trials a bit of a hobby, as well as a career. Photographing makeup is harder than it looks! I mainly use my Instagram account for fragrance, cosmetics, decor tidbits and such. It’s so much faster to post a fun lip color pic here and there on Instagram. You know what though? I think it’s creepy when the last 8 photos on a person’s Instagram account, are all of their own face, so I do try to keep my own makeup shots to a minimum. Plus, I’m old and I have a sleepy eye when I’m tired. Unless you are a Krisspy or Amrezy level of a makeup artist…it’s probably best to filter in something other than your own face. Just sayin.
BLACK WINTER SUNDAY
ACCIDENTALLY RETRO
SENIOR GLAM TEXAS STYLE
A little over a week ago, I was able to catch up with my beautiful (and sweet and smart) cousin Samantha to do a fun glam senior photo shoot so I’m sharing some of the shots here!
She is more of a “sporty spice” type of girl so it was fun to do her hair and makeup for this session. (Of course, she abruptly wiped off the red lip color the minute we were done!) However, for that hour, she let me play and take as many photos as I wanted, and I had a blast!
Fun senior photos that are based on a theme are a really big deal with most people having to scout for various picturesque locations. In our case, we didn’t have to go any further than her family farm. I thought it would be the perfect place for her Senior shots, using one of the old barns on her grandfather’s farm as a backdrop.
One of the things I notice every time I do make up for people who will be taking photos, is that they are always surprised how much work it takes even to get a “natural” look. Photos usually wash away any natural definition your face may have, so you have to add a bit of color and contour back in. Of course, it usually doesn’t all show up, it just protects you from getting washed away!
Photography is something I enjoy working on because it’s an opportunity to be creative. You can check out some more photos and make up I’ve done on the PHOTOGRAPHY by LUXOR page of this blog!
I try not to use any photo shop effects. The last thing you want is to show someone your photo and have them say, “Is that you?” I believe in being the best you possible, but I’ve seen so much photo shop that people don’t resemble themselves at all. To me, that’s just cartoonery. (A word from my personal dictionary.)
I hope you enjoy the pictures and feel free to leave comments!
