Because staying warm is for sane people

The last couple of days have been painfully cold outside. So cold in fact, that when I threw a cup of boiling water outside, it turned into snow instantly...

So what does a blogger do when the temp drops and the snow drifts just keep getting deeper?

Go outside and take photos of course!

I could only stand to be outside for a few moments at a time, so there are only two photos taken during the day, which are above. However, we had a lovely moon last night, and clear skies, so I went to take photos of the moonlight reflecting off the snow. I was pleasantly surprised at how lovely they came out!

If you would like to keep up with my photography, please feel free to like Isabella Grey Photography on Facebook!

Love and Lightning Bugs,
 

Winter Sculptures

It recently snowed here, couple that with the fact that I've been sick for a week, and you get me huddled in a fort of blankets and pillows for a ridiculous amount of time. Oh did I mention that the heater in my house doesn't really work either? We have one wall heater all the way at the back of the house, in the furthest room from the bedroom...so my days have been recently filled with long periods of huddling for warmth, and then quick dashes to another room to gt something, go the bed, etc. Not the funnest thing.

So today, I had to walk the two blocks to the post office to get a package. Since it may be my only outing for a few more days, I thought I would take some photos of the pretty icicles I encountered along the way. Enjoy!

And yes, my fingers almost froze off taking these. it's 15 degrees here, with a 10 mph wind...BRRR!

Love and Lightning Bugs,
 

Want to Play a Game?

Today, I have a game!

Now, it's nothing fancy in the slightest, but it will be fun, and a bit gross.

The rules are simple, just look at the images below, and try to guess what it's a picture of. Easy right? Maybe not...these are images taken with an Electron Microscope. Meaning that it could be anything bigger than a DNA strand....so good luck! The answer will be listed under each image, so no peeking!

 

A microcrack in a sheet of steel

A house dust mite (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus). Millions of dust mites inhabit the home, feeding on shed skin cells. They mainly live in furniture, and are usually harmless. However, their excrement and dead bodies may cause allergic reactions in susceptible people. Thought your house was clean didn't you?

 A human hair...with a split end. Yes ladies, this is what our split ends look like up close!

A Human artery, and blood cells that run through it. 

A human head louse, commonly called head lice, clinging to a hair.

The surface of a strawberry. 

Fimbriae of a Fallopian tube. These beautiful tissues gently cradle and sweep your egg to the Fallopian tube.

 Household dust which includes long hairs such as cat fur, twisted synthetic and woolen fibers, serrated insect scales, a pollen grain, plant and insect remains.

 Cigarette paper

Eyelash hairs growing from the surface of human skin. If you look closely at the base of some of the hairs, you can see the tail end of eyelash mites sticking out from the base. These mites live on almost everyone,  and feed off your dead skin cells. Best part? They don't poo!

 A clutch of unidentified butterfly eggs on a raspberry plant.

 Bacteria on the surface of a human tongue. Did you brush your tongue today?

 The nylon hooks and loops of velcro.

Toilet Paper!

 The head of a maggot of a bluebottle fly (Protophormia sp.) with tiny teeth-like fangs extending from its mouth. The maggots of this fly are used medicinally to clean wounds. The maggots are sterilised and placed in the wound, where they feed on dead tissue and leave healthy tissue untouched. Their saliva contains anti- bacterial chemicals which maintain sterility in the area. Maggots are used on ulcers and deep wounds away from organs or body cavities, most often being used to treat diabetic ulcers on the feet.

A human nerve ending.

Snowflakes 

Wan't that interesting? I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did...and remember, a little bit of gross and weird in your day never hurt anyone. It just makes life more interesting.

Love and Lightning Bugs,
 

All Hallows Eve: A Costume Express Review and Giveaway

It's almost time for my favorite holiday of the year; Halloween! Thanks to to the Pitch List and Costume Express, I'll be able to have a modest, and fanciful, costume to celebrate in. 

It seems like every Halloween, no matter where I spend it, I see an array of half-naked women and teens in glorified lingerie, calling it a costume. While I'm all for feeling sexy and having a good time, I have never been the type of girl to show off too much skin, not matter what occasion I may be celebrating. So when I went to look at a costume, I wasn't expecting to find too much that flattered my figure, and still offered a good amount of coverage. I looked all over the local stores in my area, and everything that I liked was either made of very poor quality materials, or was far more than I had budgeted, or both!

Thankfully, the wonderful ladies of the Pitch List helped me find an online company called Costume Express. Not only did I find a wonderful array of modest and pretty costumes, but tons of accessories, wigs, and decorations as well. After spending a good chunk of time looking through all the women's costumes, I finally narrowed it down to  two items. A circlet, and a blouse.

Since I have many other hobbies that require me to dress up in one way or another, I looked for something that could serve a dual purpose, and could be worn with other outfits I own. The blouse I picked out, the Medieval Lady Adult Blouse, was perfection! It was only $29.99, and it is extremely light and comfortable, with beautiful lace accents on the sleeves and color. It has shirring in the wrists and waist, so it fits almost all sizes, and even comes in a special plus size! It wasn't itchy at all, and  was long enough to hang to mid-thigh. It is very light, so it's a bit see-through. I wore a corset to cover myself, so that was no issue. If you don't have one, or something of the like to wear, a white tank top underneath will work just fine.

The other item I received, an Antiqued Gold and Black Circlet, fit perfectly! A circlet is a type of Celtic crown, generally worn by women. Today, most of them are no longer made of the silver and fine metals that they used to be, and are instead made of mostly chain. The Chain circlets have never fit my head right, and slip off. So I was very happy to see a bronze circlet, that was made of actual metal! It's twisted bronze wire all around, except for a small chain on the back to adjust the size. It stayed on my head very well, and was very comfortable. Unlike other circlets, it didn't turn my forehead green either. For only $12.99, it was a great deal.

Overall, I would highly recommend Costume Express to anyone looking for a fun costume, at an awesome price. Below, are some photos I took of myself wearing the blouse and circlet, enjoy!

 Do you love what you see? Then I have some great news for you, the Pitch List and Costume Express are offering a giveaway! One winner will win a  $100 costume code and another person will win a $50 Costume gift code. The giveaway will start on October 8th, so make sure to come back and enter!

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Love and Lightning Bugs,

Car Rides and Copyrights

You know me, I will take pictures of anything and everything if given the chance! Well, I was out and about the other evening, driving back from a long day of college classes, when a certain cloud formation caught my eye. I took out the camera, and snapped a photo, with the car driving at about 75 mph.

Thankfully Bastian drives the car for us.

I wasn't expecting too much when I uploaded the photo onto my computer...but boy was I wrong! Not only was the image crystal clear, but with only a slight tweak in the contrast, and the bottom cropped out, it came out looking like this!

Click on the image to enlarge it and look at it better if you like!

I love the colors in this image, and the way the shadows play across each other.

I also want to apologize in advance for having two watermarks on this image. I have recently found a few other sites using my photos without permission. They simply cropped out my blog watermark in the bottom of the photo, so now I will be putting my business watermark over the center of my images, as well as my blog watermark in the corners.

Again, I'm sorry for this, but photography and designing are the only thing keeping my head above water right now. Thievery is NOT going to be tolerated.

Love and Lightning Bugs,
 

Tintypes and Toddlers

For today's Shutterbug Saturday, I wanted to show you one my FAVORITE photos of myself and my favorite little friends. This was taken by Erin, over at For Him and My Family, at the Lamoni, IA reenactment last year. I'm dressed in one of my favorite impressions, a Confederate mounted Vivandiere, and holding her youngest, Fionna.

Now, I don't normally really like kids, but this little one, well...she's something special. A spitfire ball of destruction and curiosity, wrapped up an a whirlwind of attitude. I took the normal photo, and edited it to look like an old Tintype of the era. Which just makes this even more special to me.

Love and Lightning Bugs, 

The Charge

For today's Shutterbug Saturday, I wanted to show you all one of my favorite photos from the Blair Hill, Missouri Reenactment this past October.

There's just something about this shot, though I don't know what, that I simply love. The vibrant colors, the movement, the frenzy...it all just works so well here.

Love and Lightning Bugs,

The Fundraiser and the Dress

For today's Shutterbug Saturday, I wanted to share a photo of me that was taken by the very talented Ron McGinnis at a fund raiser last summer.

As some of you may, or may not know, I'm a Civil War Reenactress. The fundraiser was located outside of my home town of Springfield, Missouri, and was raising money for a fellow Reenactor who had lost everything in the Joplin tornado. I had invited as many photographers as I could think of, to get better press for the event and for our cause. Ron, who is in the same camera club as I, was kind enough to come out and take some photographs. This was one of the images he happened to catch of me. Funny enough, this image went on it's way and has now become a book cover.

Ron is truly a talented artist, and I can't thank him enough for this lovely photo.

Love and Lightning Bugs,

The Swear In

For today's Shutterbug Saturday, I wanted to share a photo I took last weekend, of my baby brother being sworn into the Air Force. 

Now, I have never been one that is in favor of the Military, and when he first told me that he was joining, I was outraged at him. But, even though I don't agree with what he's doing with his life, he's still my baby brother, and I still have to love and support him. So here he is; Eighteen, full of life, with the world on his shoulders now. He's the reason I was able to tell my Mother I'm a Pagan, and I'm hoping that one day he can share his own secrets with the world. But for now, I'll be doing what he's always done for me. Supporting and loving me, for being me. <3

Love and Lightning Bugs,

Birds of Fancy

Oh, I know it's been a while since I last did a Shutterbug Saturday, but now that Finals are over and College is out for the Summer, I'll be sure to do them again!

Today I wanted to talk about some of the amazing bird sculptures Bastian's Great Uncle makes in his spare time.

                   

He makes these fantastic sculptures out of random parts and items he find in his 'junkyard' of sorts. The amount of creativity and time that goes into these is amazing, and what's more amazing is he only does this fun! He never tries to make money, and usually gives away his creations to people he wants to have them. He's made everything from functioning carnival games to simple garage door ornaments. This particular bird is one out of five that sit on his front fence, welcoming people in.

Love and Lightning Bugs,