goodbye little friend

Yesterday Dan and I went to visit a litter of new five week old Corgi puppies and spent two hours playing with four baby pups and five or six grown Corgis.  It was so wonderful.  As we drove home I was remembering when my family got Little Bit.  She was one of the puppies from my horse barn's Jack Russel's first litter.  She was born during a horse show in one of the stalls.  I remember peeking into the stall between classes.  They named her Little Bit because she was all white with only one little brown spot on her face.  We took Little Bit home to, "just try it out."  She never left.  A couple years later the barn's Jack had another litter and we got Pansy, Little Bit's younger sister.  We lost Pansy a few years ago after she got Glaucoma.  On Saturday my parents made the decision to put down Little Bit.  It was strange to have just returned from playing with brand new puppies, and been remembering Little Bit in her young years, to find out that she was gone.  She was one of the best dogs I'll probably ever know.  Athletic, brilliant, happy.  She came with me on my trip around the country and got to run around the edge of the Grand Canyon, boat with me on Lake Mead, run along the Atlantic on Tybee Island's beaches.  Little Bit.  Bitsy Doodle.  Doodle Dog.  Little Doodle.  LB.  She loved playing with her blue ball.  We couldn't say "ball" without her ears perking up and getting excited, so we started referring to them as blue "spheres".  You could throw that ball endlessly.  If you didn't stop, she'd probably have run herself to death.  Her ears never did fold the right way.  When you threw the ball into fresh, deep snow, she's chase after it bounding through the deep snow like a gazelle, burying her nose into the snow, snorting away the snow until she found it and ran back to you with a faceful of snow, but triumphant.  She loved being involved and would insist on riding in the front seat, regardless of what mode of transportation.  Snowmachine? Perched in front, paws on the handles.  JetSki? Same. Car?  Driver's side shoved between my dad and the side window.  That window was covered with wet nose marks.  She even wanted to be in the front seat when we flew, but we forced her to sit on the copilot's lap.  Canadian Geese used to come every year and poop all over our yard and if we said, "Geese!" LB would run down, barking, and shoo them away.

It's amazing to me how much companionship a little dog can provide.  They come to you when you are crying and nuzzle their way into your arms.  They have a constant smile on their faces.  They  love you so much they can't help but come up and lick your face. I love that there are programs that bring dogs to hospitals to soothe patients, because I can't think of anything more healing than petting a happy dog.  I am sad that Bitsy is gone, but glad that she is no longer suffering.  And though it is sad to see a companion pass away, I do hope that Dan and I get to bring home a dogfriend someday soon.

 
I did a post a couple years ago about the adventures of Little Bit with more pictures (some of the same) of her adventurous little white self, if you want to see more of her.

bella pop photography course giveaway

Hello fine people of the internet!  Today I've got a fun giveaway for you today from Bella Pop!  Bella Pop was started by Brandy, a wedding photographer turned photography teacher, who shares her expertise through Bella Pop.  Bella Pop features tons of photography tips and tutorials, from how to find good light, to how to clean your DSLR, as well as photography courses for beginners, novices, and beyond!  Today we're here to giveaway one of Bella Pop's awesome photography courses to one lucky winner!  The winner gets to pick their choice of course, either the Hello Photo! 2 week crash course or the Snap Happy! one on one lessons.  If you're wanting to get better at photography or get feedback on your photos, this would be a great giveaway to enter!  Bella Pop also has lots of other fun courses you can purchase, as well as tons of free helpful content, so go check them out!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FEATURED SPONSOR // skyline nail art diy from of corgis and cocktails

Hi everyone!  I hope you're having a lovely Saturday!  Today I'm here to share with you my featured sponsor this month, the amazing Katherine who runs Of Corgis and Cocktails.  Corgis and Cocktails?  Two of my favorite things!  Seriously though, I'm super jealous of Katherine's adorable Corgi, Teemo.  Katherine is clearly a girl after my own heart, not only does she love Corgi's and Cocktails, she also loves remixing and is a big believer that style is about expressing your creative self in a visual way on the daily through clothing.  Booyah.  She's also great with DIY projects and the like, so she's here today to bring you guys something fun that you can do yourself... a fun nail art DIY!  My nails are tiny little things that don't get to grow out to a length that's worthy of painting due to rock climbing, so I don't get to do fun nail art, but I always see fun nail art on Pinterest that makes me wish I could!  I hope you guys enjoy Katherine's nail art DIY!  Katherine? Take it away!

Well hello readers of Delightfully Tacky! My name is Katherine, and I am the girl behind Of Corgis & Cocktails, a fun blog about a lot of things. You'll find me traveling the east coast in cute dresses, photographing my two adorable pups, and crafting yummy recipes over there. This post focuses on something I really love to do - nail art. Growing up, I began drawing on my nails and other neighborhood girls - everything from little fishes to bears. Thirteen years after, I'm still drawing scenes and graphics on them. I wanted to share something that didn't necessarily require a steady hand and a toothpick, so I decided this skyline at dusk idea would be the perfect starter.

You'll need to gather a few things : a pale blue nail polish(Essie in boxer shorts), a royal blue nail polish (Essie in in the cab-ana), a pure black nail polish, a clear top coat, scissors,  masking or painter's tape, and a foam sponge of some sort. I use foam brushes from the craft store I pick up with coupons whenever I can. Optionally, you can use a pale cream or yellow to add on lights to the buildings at the end.

You only need a bit of your sponge - so cut off just enough to cover your largest nail (presumably the thumb).

1 - Paint your nail with the pale blue nail polish. Use two coats. Allow to dry. I often paint this shade a day before.


2 - Paint the sponge 1/3rd of the way with the pale blue nail polish. Paint the rest with the royal blue.

3 - With the pale blue part of the sponge at the top of your nail, lightly press down the sponge on the nail for the ombre effect. The first nail press very lightly, but by the end, you will use more pressure. I generally only refill my sponge with paint once. Allow to dry.


4 - Take a stretch of tape and begin cutting small blocks and building shapes into it. I simply made them up as I went along. Then, cut your tape to fit each nail.

5 - Place a piece of tape onto each nail. If using masking tape, you may want to press the tape against your skin or a piece of fabric first to help it not stick to the nail. Press the tape firmly onto each nail so there are no gaps. Paint over the nail - as sloppy as you want! You can always clean up your nails with nail polish remover and a q-tip afterwards! Or, usually the extra nail polish comes off in the shower the next morning if you are feeling a bit lazy ;)

6 -  Once the black is dry, use a paint pen or toothpick dipped in yellow / cream nail polish to add small windows to your skyline. This is totally optional. Paint with a clear coat and allow to dry.

This was a huge hit with my friends and perfect for sipping local beers while overlooking my hometown's lovely skyline. That's a lot of steps, I know, but I promise the techniques are easy! If you are feeling a bit overwhelmed, try just doing the ombre effect by following steps 1-3 or simply the skyline effect by following steps 1 then 4-7. If you are interested in more nail art tutorials from my blog - you can click here to see them!

Q + A // what's your post processing routine?

I don't do a ton of post processing on my photos.  I like my photos to have a pretty natural look.  In the past I've tended towards more vintage-y feeling processing, but these days I like to make my photos look as natural as possible.  As far as software goes, I currently use Photoshop CS5 along with some Totally Rad actions* for most of my post processing, but I just got Lightroom and I want to start playing around with VSCO presets and figure out that crazy animal.   I've  been using Photoshop pretty exclusively for about a decade, with some Illustrator and InDesign thrown in there for various jobs and projects, but I've never used Lightroom, so I'm excited to dive in.  I hear it's amazing so I'm looking forward to seeing how it works.  Images on the blog are taken with a Canon 6D with a 50mm f/1.4 lens, and images taken before March 2013 were taken with a Canon T2i with the same lens.

I begin by transferring my photos from the camera to the computer and then proceed to cull out all the ones that I know I won't be using- blurry shots, out of focus shots, shots where I have a stupid look on my face, etc.  Once I've cut out all the ones I know I won't be using, I go back through and look for the ones that really stand out and I start dragging those into photoshop.  I like to limit my outfit photos to about 5-7 photos per post, simply because I don't feel like you guys need 15 photos of me in the same outfit.  5-7 gives me enough photos to show different poses, do detail shots, and get some variety in there.  For food posts I usually do 4-6.


As far as what I actually do to photos in photoshop, I like to keep it as minimal as possible.  I want my photos to look like they came straight out of the camera, and on a good day I only have to resize my photos and save them and I'm good to go!  But usually I have to do some tweaking to get my photos to where I'd like them to be.  Sometimes this means doing some color correction.  I shoot with auto white balance, and usually the camera is good at figuring out what white balance to use, but occasionally it's a bit off, so I'll correct for that.  I usually like to kick up the contrast and brightness a bit.  I like to use Totally Rad's Punch Out and/or Clarify actions for my photos if they need a bit of a boost, and I usually dial them back a lot.  The nice thing about actions is that you can go in and edit how strongly each element acts, so I usually play around and get it looking just right.  Sometimes I give my photos a bit of a touch of a matte look, because, you know... it's like "in" these days.  Haha.  No I like how it looks, but not always.  It depends on the photo set and how I want it to look.


I personally find too much post processing to be a bit distracting.  I prefer clean, crisp photos that don't look like they've been ran through 5 instagram filters.  When it comes to post processing, my philosophy is to try and get it as right as possible straight out of the camera, and then if I need to make a couple tweaks to color or contrast to make the photo look its best, then I'll do it.  The less time I have to edit my photos in post, the more time I have to write and come up with other fun stuff to share on the blog.

Do I think post processing is necessary to create beautiful images?  No.  But it can definitely help, especially if you're a beginner and still figuring out how to make all the settings on your camera work (which can be daunting).  You can fix exposure errors, white balance errors, and even photoshop out trash cans in the background if you want!  Ultimately a photographer's goal should be to do as much in camera as possible to create the perfect image, but the beauty of digital is that we do have the option of editing in photoshop.

*an "action" is basically a set of filters you apply to a photo.  So when you apply a specific action, it takes adds a set of filters and/or edits to your photo automatically, and you can then go in and edit how much of those filters you want to show.  So the Clarify action I use frequently ups the brightness and contrast a certain amount, which I can then adjust manually to suit the photo.  For more info on actions, click here.

Want more photography help?  Check out these photography related posts:  My Cameras (I've since acquired a Canon 6D which I'm hoping to review after using it a bit more), Should I invest in a great camera body, or great lenses?, and Tips for taking your own outfit photos.

going for a spin

Lately we've been having some good stretches of sun, which has meant lots of work on the house, but has also meant I'm itching to get my bikes in shape for riding!  Yes, bikes.  After our bikes were stolen, I got this red bike out of storage, but then I found a cute vintage bike at Goodwill and couldn't resist it.  It needed a bit of work, but it looked great and was the perfect little bike.  I'll miss riding fixed gear, since both of these are geared bikes, but I'm so looking forward to just riding again!  And now our bikes will be safer inside a locked garage, rather than having to keep them tied up on the porch.  It was so disappointing having our bikes stolen just a week and a half before moving to a house with a garage, but so it goes.  Hopefully by this weekend my bikes will be good to go!

dress/courtesy of modcloth :: cardigan/thrifted :: shoes/minnetonka