Lemons and Lemonade
So. I had this cute dress from Gwynnie Bee. Black cotton/poly knit with real embroidery all down the front, v-neck, lil cap sleeves. Very Johnny Was-esque. Very summer boho.
I thought, I’ll Do A Shoot On the Little Beach. I’ll pose by the colorful kayaks and sit in my chair and splash in the water at sunset – it will be wonderful.
It was not wonderful.
It was a Big Fat Fail.
First off, the ^&$%! bugs! Those little beach gnats that fly around your face and eyes and get in your mouth and nose and ears and hair and you can’t help but try to swat them away even though you know it’s useless. You’re outnumbered. They’re Going to Get You.
Then, my poor tender feet that have not been barefoot (other than in the shower, literally) for two years cuz chemo neuropathy and painful heels. The north shore (where I am) beaches are rocky. Rocky with shards of glass, I’m sure. My poor feet feel like they’ve been torn to shreds.
But I kept going, glass, gnats and all…into the water IT’LL BE SO CUTE! I’LL SPLASH WATER AT THE CAMERA! The glass rocks were even in the water. And I sunk down with every step…and pulled something in my lower back as I was trying to get out of the water (there was slight descent IN, so an incline OUT). I had to use the tripod as a walking cane just to get up the small incline back up the beach.
And between bright sun, sunglasses and %*(^%$!! gnats, it was hard to really see the display on the back of the camera but I had faith that I was getting SOMETHING.
Finally, I was like ENOUGH and started ouch ouch ouching back towards the car.
Got home, dripping with sweat, the apartment is dripping with sweat…and loaded the pictures onto the computer.
Not. One. Picture. In. Focus. And this is not my usual “Oh I don’t mind if it’s a little soft.” This is I AM OUT OF FOCUS IN EVERY SHOT. I’m fuzzy like a plush Pusheen.
Sigh.
Fail.
So what do we do when we fail?? We dust ourselves off. We take a cold shower to wash the gnats out of our hair. We get a nice glass of icy iced tea even though it’s late and we know we’ll have to get up in the middle of the night to pee. And we make the best of it.
An hour ago I had NO CLUE what I was going to write about tonight. And now I have a story. I had an experience and I have a story.
Lemons and lemonade, my friends. Lemons and lemonade.
What I’m Wearing
- Caite Embroidered Zoe Dress, size 3x. Via Gwynnie Bee. I don’t see it available anywhere else online, but this site carries a lot of cute items in that brand in both plus and straight sizes
No one to blame for these photos but me.
No affiliate links here, folks.
Sarah
Love the dress on you! Super pretty. I was cracking up at the OOF photos. And the gnats are hideous and ruin every outdoor activity for the past 2 weeks!!
bettyewp
Do they have a season? Will they be gone soon??
Lin
Never mind! On a positive note, the dress is gorgeous and looks fabulous on you, a keeper I think!
bettyewp
Thank you, Lin. It was an easy dress to wear and if it had been $30 instead of $100 I would have gone for it!
Lin
Yep, I can understand that! Perhaps you’ll be lucky and find it on sale at some point, it was sooo pretty!
Clover
You’ve got it—-lemons & lemonade. And that’s the key to it all, really. 🙂
The photos are lovely, you are lovely, and the dress is fab!
bettyewp
Thanks, Clover!
Iris
Sorry about the gnats and your feet, but the pictures are still cute, and I love the dress.
Grace & Peace,Iris
http://www.IrisOriginalsRamblings.com
bettyewp
Thanks. Once I got my feet off the horrors of the ground and into the car I was able to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all 🙂
Melissa
I giggled throughout reading your post. Thank you! It’s always nice to know the backstory behind photo adventures. I’m not the only one with high hopes and epic fails it seems. Haha
Love your dress! 🙂
Tina von Tinaspinkfriday
Oh Bettye you madeca wonderful lemonade 🙂 You look beautiful in this beach dress. No matter about your out of fokus pics. I see you 🙂
Gnats? On the beach? uah
XOXO tina
jodie filogomo
Hey…I always joke that the out of focus photos make me look 10 years younger!! I’m glad it’s not just us that it happens to. And that’s with a guy behind the camera….LOL!!
Let’s just talk about how fabulous that dress is on you Bettye. The embroidery, the length…it’s all perfect. So who cares about the camera focus..:)
OXOX
Jodie
Debbie from Illinois
Love the dress, especially love your attitude. 🍋👍🏻❤️
Linda
You look great in that dress, it is ideal for summer…. minus the #$!#! bugs and other nuisances. It was a funny story : )
Emma Peach
How frustrating for you! We all have “those” days though – I recently tried to do my own photos and had to get my daughter to reshoot them. I don’t have a remote and the camera only has a 2 or 5 second timer so it’s pretty useless. The dress is fabulous Bettye, I love the embroidery!
Emma xxx
http://www.style-splash.com
Ruth Josey
Oh my goodness! I just followed the link from your 7/26 post to have a look at this one (the dress looks gorgeous on you, by the way – even out of focus). I laughed the whole way through! I’m so glad you decided to write about it and post. The colorful kayaks are a perfect…uh…backdrop? (I mean, they’re what’s in focus). It was a great try. I’m getting a good camera for my birthday and I have no idea at this point how to focus on the background and blur myself, but that’s one trick I’ll need to learn for sure 😛
Ruth
http://www.VogueFauxReal.com