New Look!

So, what I have I been up to lately? LEARNING, CREATING, DESIGNING - a lot! It has been such a wonderful experience to get to do what interests me, and I am just overflowing with joy. I cannot tell you (unless you have done it) how truly satisfying and oh-so-rewarding it as been for me to spend hours and hours and hours doing the things that I love to do (all of the thanks going to my wonderfully supportive husband, of course). I am studying, learning, and testing the heck out of Photoshop CS4 to enhance my photos and my designs (I am humbly working on THREE wedding invitations!), learning [gradually] CSS and HTML so that I can make our blog uber cute :) and begin to tackle my very first real website, and dabbling in digital scrapbooking. I'm tellin' ya - this gal isn't sleeping in until noon and shopping all day, oh no, I am working my tail off and loving it all the way...

So I hope you noticed some of my new tricks turned into reality via our new blog look. I love how much more personal it is and am very excited about it. I am sure it will change a bit more as I learn more cool features to add. If you want a new blog look, let me know! I am still in the eager stages of this endeavor and hope to maybe get into the biz, making cute headings, backgrounds, etc. for small change - so hit me up soon! I will offer my services temporarily as I learn :)

I am also getting to really explore another one of my passions, and perhaps the greatest of all my passions - Photography! I got a new lens (as you can see in the previous post) and LOVE it. Really, truly LOVE it! Problem - I have been researching other photo-takers' sites and seeing what equipment they use for their beautiful shots and it is making me yearn for bigger, better [more expensive] lenses. But, there is time for that...eventually...hopefully. Start saving my nickels!

My next endeavor is jazzing up my Chelsea Davis Designs blog and working on a new one for all that girlie stuff [recipes, fab finds, and more] that I am sure Troy doesn't exactly want his name tagged to :) I will let you guys know when they are complete!

Let's Park It!

I usually try not to post too frequently, mostly because I dont have too much going on to blog about, but we went to the park today with Troy's sister and her friend Maranda so that I could test out my new lens. It probably wasn't the best time of day for snapping photographs since the sun was bright and often in Jackson's eyes, but I think that I got some good test runs in with the new lens, if I do say so myself, and I just had to post them (since I promised Linds and Maranda that I would). These boys are just too freaking cute!

I just had to sneak one in here of my guy. He can kid around with the best of 'em!

Texas Coast Getaway

We had a very fun MLK weekend, to say the least! We spent the weekend in Port Aransas at Troy's dad and Carolyn's new condo; my parents flew down on Friday and Troy and I went to pick them up. My sister was also in town with her friend and we all had a blast.


The drive in wasn't bad but it rained a bit and the wind - oh boy! It was crazy windy on Friday. But, the weird weather made for some interesting snapshots (I will indulge you in only one - the rays of sunshine piercing through the clouds onto the mirky waters):

Saturday was still pretty cold - the 40s and 50s - but my dad and Troy still decided to fish a bit after they watched the Saints game (woo hoo - go Saints!). I just took pictures from the condo as we bid them farewell...

We had a seafood feast that night though (thanks to the fish market!) and had a great time hanging out with everyone. My dad cooked stuffed crab with an etoufee (?) sauce, boiled shrimp, and crab legs, I made a yummy salad, and Troy did his traditional 'Davis potatoes'. We finished with my homemade cherry cheesecake and were absolutely stuffed. Thank God it was too cold for swimsuits because that definitely would have been bad....real bad.

I should have known that Sunday was going to be a fantastic day (even after our Cowboys got completely destroyed by the Vikings...dang Brett Favre). Troy woke me up at 6-something to watch the sunrise and it was beautiful! The entire coastline was ablaze. I pulled out my camera to snap these vivid shots:

Later that day, we all went out for a boat ride to see if the fishies were biting. On our way out, the dolphins seemed to be very interested in us! Check out how close they got to our boat! It was the craziest thing I have ever seen. They followed us for miles, lead our boat, did tricks off in the distance, splashed around... my mom was going nuts (and so was Tess)!

We ventured out to some flats to see if my dad and Troy could catch some fish, but they weren't biting, so we decided to go check out some of the fancy coastal houses and maybe find a beach to dock on for a bit. After I snagged a few pics and Tess got to experience water for the first time (she LOVED it by the way!), we started to head back to the condo for dinner. It was a really nice day and we all had a great [chilly] time.

Unfortunately (as you can tell) this was really the only day I took a lot of pictures, and me, my sis, and Garret didn't make a single one :( but I did seem to get way too many pictures of our cute pup (of course) so here are some of my faves:

On the boat, wind in her, um, ears?

Checking out the beach (she had a shell in her mouth every time I saw her!)

Waiting for Troy to stop fishing and pet her!

I hope everyone had a great MLK weekend, and that you all got to enjoy a long weekend like we did!

Project 365

So I was chatting with my friend Sarah last week about this thing that a lot of bloggers are doing, called Project 365. Project 365 is where you take a picture a day for one whole year, whether you use a point and shoot, your camera phone, or jazzy SLR. It not only gives you a unique look at your year [in photos], but it is also supposed to help us 'photogs' become more comfortable and more daring with our camera and its capabilities. It definitely sparked our interest and though I am not sure if Sarah actually gave into the temptation--experimenting with aperature and shutter speed, contrast and zoom--but I decided to give it a whirl. I have not started posting my photos via blog (yet) so until then, my daily snapshots will reside safely in my Project 365 folder on my computer. Here is a preview of some that I have taken so far:

DAY 11

DAY 9

DAY 8

DAY 7

DAY 6

**Note that today's photo - Day 11 - is of Tess 'shaking'. She learned how to shake with us this week :) So smart....

Viva la Vida!

The atomic number of manganese... The size of the full roster on a major league baseball team... A freeway that runs from New Mexico to Wyoming...The number of cents in a quarter... Quarter of a century....

That's right! As of yesterday, I have officially turned the big 2-5. I must say, it is not as bad as I thought it would be. But, for the first time in a very long time, I feel like I am taking charge and gaining some perspective on who I want to be, what I want to do, and how I want to live. About a month ago, I decided (we decided) that it was finally time to take some time and get focused. So, that is what I am doing and boy, it has already started to pay off. More details later... (if you don't know already)


So, I think that all things considered, I had the absolute best birthday. It started with a flood of messages from friends and loved ones sharing birthday wishes (thank you!) followed by a yummy lunch with Troy at one of our favorite lunch spots, Cafe Bistro at Nordstrom in the Galleria. I usually go for their killer shrimp salad but decided to forego the norm - hey, it's my birthday! So I ordered braised beef short ribs with sauteed shitake mushrooms over creamy cheddar polenta (yuuuum). Troy surprised me with a slice of paradise chocolate cake for dessert and I slipped happily into food heaven. The pictures say it all...

Since I was already at Nordstrom, well it only made sense to do a bit of shopping! I got a few great deals - a pair of jeans and a cropped sweater wrap - and headed to Toni and Guy for a birthday haircut. After my new 'do, I went home to get ready for dinner. Troy met me there with one of my favorite flowers (definitely the best smelling) - Lillies. There were 25, one for each year!

Dinner was at one of my (our) favorite places, Rioja, a Spanish restaurant near our old apartment. It reminds us of Spain and the food is the most comparable to Spanish cuisine that we have tasted in the states. Since we don't go there much now that we have moved to Katy, I felt it fitting to celebrate my birthday there with good food, sinful sangria and some great friends.

Lindsey, Taylor, Blake, Patrick, Erin, Troy, Me, Amanda, Whit, Allison, Louise, Lori, Jacob, Sarah and Matt.

Rioja

Patrick & Erin's Paella

Whitney and Me

Early birds, waiting for the guests to arrive

Happy Birthday to me! (flourless chocolate cake)

Dinner was really nice and everyone got to order some delicious food. Check out Sarah's blog for more photos from the celebration, including a great shot of everyone toasting, thanks to my amazing and thoughtful sister who (from Austin) called the restaurant and ordered a bottle of champagne for the table to toast my big day. I love her so much!

It really was a wonderful birthday and as we drove home that night I truly felt so thankful for the love that surrounds me. I have some wonderful friends, a very thoughtful and loving family that I am sure I do not deserve, a husband who spoils me beyond belief, and another great year ahead of me.