Last week I got inspired by the work of photoshop retouching artist Amy Dresser. After a little research and a few tutorials, I'm trying to flex my retouching muscles. I think the key to portrait retouching is knowing when to stop. So, for now, I'm approaching the task from an "enhancing reality" perspective. Here's a before and after pic taken of Lyn on my iPhone at Thai Orchid in Portland.

New nephew Ty

If I had my new camera, this is what it would look like. Unfortunately, I do not have the camera yet. It's supposed to ship in December. We really hope everything stays on schedule because we're planning on taking the camera with us to Rwanda and Scotland in January. Oh yeah, did we mention that we are going back to Rwanda with a long layover in Scotland? Anyone have tips on places to visit or places to stay in Scotland?

Found at a dollar store while shopping for Christmas trees.

Ah, the holidays. We went tree hunting last night with the Markles. We found this cute little fella' that you see above. The Markles bought two trees. One was a 6' noble fir. The other tree went through a saw mill and came out as a square dining room table and a set of matching chairs. Nice find.