Loved Lunch!

Long over due, I finally put a banner up for my blog!

Had Kristi over to my house on Friday night. We made a guitar hero/rock band party of it with Jenna, Tiffany, Katrina, and Dan.

Saturday was a very busy day for me. I worked a half day at the store and then went to Brisbane for Maria & Ricky's wedding reception. I learned a valuable lesson. You can't be a photographer for one hour and then switch gears to being a guest at a party. I ended up working 5.5 hours, then leaving because I was completely exhausted from running all over.

Sunday was really special because Kristi, Sandy, Carrington, and Nick met me for lunch in Burlingame at the Crepevine. It was so great to meet Nick & Carrington. And of course I missed Sandy. And Kristi just rocks my world ;).

We ate outside since it was a beautiful day and Carrington was with us. Here's Sandy with some Carrington love.


The Whores on the street


Kisses!


I love to take pictures!


I stayed in last night and took it easy. Watched the movie Man of the Year with my parents and laughed a lot. I just love Robin Williams. Also enjoyed an incredible animation that I never heard of until I became an animation student. Go rent The Iron Giant. I know I'm an animation nerd but its incredible! I even watched it a second time to listen to the commentary and learned a lot of cool things too. Finally got to see Edward Scissorhands. LOVED IT! What a cool movie. Not at all what I was expecting. Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are incredible.

Wall*E

Wall*E is opening today in theaters! I am really excited because this story has been a concept since 1994 and its about time that Pixar made it. I doubt I'll be able to see it today, but you can bet that I'll do my best to see it with in the first week.


I shot real estate portraits on Wednesday. It was nice an overcast in Pacifica and unfortunately it was sunny when I arrive in Burlingame. Here is one of the photos that I took. You can see a few more here, but I won't be leaving them up for very long.


The weather hasn't been the best around here this past week. There have been a lot of fires caused by thunderstorms. Our air quality is so bad that they keep making announcements for people to stay inside if they have any respiratory problems. I've been dying to get out and ride my bike and exercise but I've got asthma and its not such a good idea right now. Let's hope that rain comes our way!

I bought my ticket to Europe! I'm flying into Germany in September and I'll be returning in November. Woohoo!

Dan & I went to see Get Smart last night. We knew that it didn't get the best reviews but we enjoyed it. I did have a hard time believing the whole Anne Hathaway/Steve Carrell match up. I love both of their work!

I know I said I'd post pictures of my mini album that I made at Kerry Lynn Yeary's class. The weather hasn't lent itself to taking decent photos so I'll just post the cover for now. More to come when lighting is less weird!

Espana!

I spent way too much time on flickr these past few days and I've been loving it. I call it research. ;) So today we're in Spain or Espana! Isn't it just gorgeous?


1. Barcelona Spain, 2. Hospital of Saint Paul, Barcelona, Spain, 3. Almudena, 4. Atocha....., 5. Fragmentos (Fragments), 6. Madrid. Palacio de Cristal del Retiro (vista invernal)., 7. HolyToledoBatman, 8. Lunas en Debod, 9. El Escorial - HDR, 10. Arena, 11. DESDE LA PICONERA, Playa de las Teresitas TENERIFE, 12. Esas montañas de Tenerife, 13. Paisaje Lunar, 14. Oasis, 15. Urban architecture (HDR), 16. Parc de la Cuitadella HDR, 17. The Journey - 4, 18. Coca castle, Castilla y Leon, 19. Museo Principe Felipe - Valencia, 20. Detrás del paisaje, 21. colores del verano, 22. Untitled, 23. Gijón, 24. Bolnuevo - Bolnuevo, Spain, 25. Water reservoir at Reales Alcazares, Sevilla, Spain, 26. gijon, northern spain, 27. Bridge in Seville, Spain, 28. Spain - Seville - Plaza de Espania, 29. Spain - Bilbao - Guggenheim, 30. Segovia, Spain, 31. Parque Natural del Hayedo de la Tejera Negra (Guadalajara - Spain), 32. Castle of Sagunto - Spain, 33. Playa de la Arnía (Cantabria - Spain), 34. Playa de Portio (Cantabria), 35. Puente nuevo de Ronda - Spain, 36. Cordoba Cathedral - The Mezquita - Spain

What have I been up to? A whole lot of pictures. This week my thing is editing and deleting just so I can take more. Like these beauties:

My friend Maria got married to her love Ricky yesterday and I was their photographer. They are having the reception on Saturday so I'll be taking lots more then too.


And here's the crew from high school. We had a lot of fun taking pictures.


I'm off to go shoot some portraits, so more later. Thanks for your fun comments. I always enjoy them. They brighten my day.

Bocce Ball

Happy Birthday Amy!

Happy Birthday Tim! We celebrated Saturday by playing Bocce Ball in Livermore. It was 99 degrees outside so I was thrilled that the court was inside. There were a lot of people there and I was surprised at how many young people played the game.


We ate dinner and then headed back to the house for some poker, Wii, and dessert. Vicky took this photo of us outside in the backyard after it cooled down.


We didn't have the number 6 for Tim's cake. Dan thought it would be great to put 74-14 on the cake. Tim thought that was great!


Went to dinner last night at a cute restaurant in Woodside with a bunch of friends. I ordered tacos and got more than I bargained for. It was enough to feed 3 people!

I watched a lot of movies this past week. I love that Indiana Jones and the Last Crucade was corny and entertaining. I just love Sean Connery's character. I have become an even bigger fan of Tim Burton and his work after having seen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Incredible art direction and acting, as usual!


Jenna rented Fool's Gold and told me it wasn't good and not to watch it. I adore Matthew MacConaughey & Kate Hudson, so I did anyway, knowing that it wasn't that good. I enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Australia and the silly humor. I also saw Premonition. It was ok but probably won't watch it again.


Leo introduced me to a funny British tv show called Extras. It was so funny I watched the entire season in one sitting (only 6 episodes). I can't wait to see Season 2. They have the funniest cameos in each episode. I thought I had already seen the movie Fool's Rush In, but when I started it the other night I realized that I had not! I adore Matthew Perry and Salma Hayek in this cute story! And finally, I just finished watching The Bucket List and it was absolutely wonderful. By far the best movie I watched this week. Go out and rent it if you haven't seen it. I want to make a bucket list myself but I need to complete my list of 23 things before I turn 24 first.

I'm going through my digital photos and deleting some (26,000 is a bit much). I've already deleted 2,000 today. Back to editing.

Hey batter batter

My cousin Jeff & I went to a Giants game on Wednesday. Can you tell we were having fun?
We got to sit in the first row behind the Giant's dug out. We also had lunch at the club which was nice and air conditioned (its been hot lately).
I didn't use a telephoto lens either. We were that close to the players!
Castillo (3rd baseman) threw a pair of sunglasses up to Jeff. One of the arms was broken but easily fixable. Found they retail $100.
Five minutes after grabbing Castillo's sunglasses, Jeff scored a baseball. One of the players threw it to him. I wasn't paying close enough attention to know which player it was. Talk about lucky!
My sunburn was the souvenir that I am still savoring. Found that my mom had cut some of her aloe plant for me this morning. Have to go figure out how to use the real thing... I did wear sunscreen but I was too excited about the game that I missed some of my shoulder.

I finished up a mini that I made in Kerry Lynn Yeary's class back in February. It was so nice to finish it up. Blogger has a scheduled maintenance thing right now so I'll add photos in a little bit. Enjoy your weekend!

Mosaic Wednesday: Monaco!

Today is Monaco. Here are some of my favorite photos:


1. Vasarely - Monaco, 2. Monaco, 3. Monaco - Monte Carlo, 4. Monaco Monte Carlo - Railway Station, 5. Monaco, 6. catedral de monaco, 7. Monaco, 8. Musée Océanographique Monaco, 9. Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Monaco, 10. Water at Monaco / Água no porto de Mônaco, 11. mônaco, 12. + Monaco Harbour +, 13. Monaco: La Condamine, 14. Monaco lamps, 15. Monaco Olympiastadion, 16. Monaco-Ville

Dan surprised me with a really sweet gift the other night. I got home from watching a movie at his house to find he had gifted the One Republic CD that I've been wanting for quite a few months. The whole CD is great!


And finally, I'm really excited that Jessica designed a kit and will have to grab one before they fly off of Heather's shelf! Check it out here!

My Favorite Person!

Eric was a huge life saver today. Yes, he made my week. And he made it look so easy.


So I haven't been taking as many photos or spending as much time on the computer in the past week. A week ago Saturday, my hard drive wouldn't mount onto my laptop. I thought I needed to use a different cable but that didn't help. Neither did using my desktop, or any other cable for that matter. I contacted customer service and they had me purchase a new power cable which did nothing. At that point I was told my warranty was up and I couldn't be helped. So I talked to a few friends and found out that Eric might have a solution.

Picked up a new and larger hard drive on the way down to San Jose this afternoon. I would not recommend that you try this at home (if you are still covered by warranty.)


Milky Way out of its case and hooked up to Eric's laptop:


And my story has a happy ending. Eric was able to start it up out of the case and transfer all of my documents to my new hard drive!


Celebrated Father's Day with a bunch of my family at Vivace's in Belmont. All the brother's were there. I left my camera at Dan's father's house so I don't have any photos.

Watched a few movies since my last movie post. I really enjoyed watching Indiana Jones & The Raiders of the Lost Ark. I was so excited to recognize Kipu Falls (Kauai, Hawaii) in the opening sequence with the natives and their bow & arrows. I had the pleasure of hiking to Kipu Falls back in July 2003 and had no idea that it was in the movie!


I loved the art direction and the thought that went into Dr Suess' The Cat in the Hat. I don't know where I was when that came out. Mike Myers is perfect for the Cat in the Hat! I watched to French films that my co-workers had suggested back in May. They were very different but well done. One was The City of Lost Children, and the other was Delicatessen. Delicatessen is very much like Sweeny Todd in the story. The movies are very nightmarish.


I enjoyed seeing American Beauty. What an incredible story line. If you haven't seen it, this is the one that I highly recommend that you check out. I couldn't get it out of my head for hours!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's day to all the Dad's out there! I hope my dad is relaxing on the couch a little today. He works so hard. We're going out to dinner with the family in Belmont later today.

There are a few Happy Birthday's in order as well. Happy Birthday to my grandma. She turned 83 yesterday. Here is a simple little card that I made.


Happy Birthday to Vicky who celebrated on Thursday. And to Cathy on Friday! June is a very busy month.

I had Friday off. It felt like the weekend and I loved it! It has been beautiful here all week and the fog started to come in. It stayed off shore for most the day. Kelly & I shopped at Joann's and I bought some yummy puff paint. I'm so addicted to those little guys. They have the best tips too!

Then we walked to the end of the beach and Kelly spotted a starfish. We had fun sifting for beach glass. I found out that I am an excellent beach glass finder!



Had a great time yesterday. After I got off work, I took BART to Walnut Creek where Dan whisked me off to visit my grandma for her birthday celebration. My aunt, uncle, and cousin Kelley were there. We played scrabble and I lost but I put up a pretty good fight.

Then we drove to Danville to celebrate Vicky's birthday. We had fun washing their car since it was so pretty outside. Dinner was great and we talked about their upcoming trip to Washington DC.

I read a lot of my travel book for London while riding BART back home. I'm even more excited since I'm almost done with the first of my stack of travel books! Planning to make another visit to the library tomorrow and do some scrapping. Have a great rest of the weekend!

Mosaic Wednesday: Switzerland

I love to look at photos. They are so incredibly inspiring and motivating to me. So here are some of my favorites photos of Switzerland found on flickr. For those of you curious on how to make a mosaic, check out Big Huge Labs. So here are some places I dream of visiting some day:


1. Bern, Switzerland, 2. Switzerland, Fribourg, 3. Blausee, Kandersteg, Switzerland, 4. Luzern Switzerland, 5. Switzerland, Vaud, 6. Switzerland Ste Gallens, 7. Switzerland , Golden panorama,lake, 8. Giessbach - Switzerland, 9. Taleggliseewli (E Sustenpass, Switzerland), 10. Postcard From Switzerland, 11. Thun, Switzerland, 12. Aerial map, Switzerland - 4-2, 13. Bern, Switzerland, 14. The Eiger at twilight, Switzerland (Color), 15. Verbier, Switzerland, 16. Lausanne, Switzerland, 17. Water wheels ...(Vallorbe) city in Switzerland, 18. Ascona, Ticino, Switzerland, 19. Switzerland, Geneva Lake, 20. Visp (Switzerland) - Old Town, 21. St. Moritz - Switzerland, 22. Lago di Robiei - Switzerland, 23. Lago Maggiore, Switzerland, 24. Switzerland, vineyards, 25. 2007.05.15 Zurich Switzerland, 26. Interlaken Switzerland, 27. Pastoral Switzerland, 28. Wasserturm, Switzerland, 29. Luzern - Switzerland, 30. Matterhorn (14,693 feet) and Zermatt,

I felt like making a list, so here are my current faves:

1. Riding my bike
2. Trips to the Library
3. Sherbet "Ice cream"
4. Reading travel books
5. Flickr
6. Gatorade
7. Walks along the beach
8. Visiting with friends & family
9. Kung Fu Panda
10. Stamping


Saw Kung Fu Panda last night and laughed a lot. It is definitely one of those movies that makes you feel good afterwards. I love when movies have such great messages in them. If you can't make it to the theater, be sure to rent it when it comes out. And if you do go to the theater, stay for the clip at the end.

Scrapjacked: Lisa Fisa

Went to Kristi's on Friday for scrapping and Rock Band night. I actually completed a whole layout while I was there. Here is my scrapjack of Lisa Fisa. Another layout I did using the April Dozen's kit.



Kristi is always so wonderful to have us over. We are so sad that she'll be moving away but at least its not too far away. We also got to meet Scott who is a total sweetheart!


Saturday was Robert's 40th Birthday party at the Waterbar on the Embarcadero. They had the party upstairs on the terrace. It was a beautiful day.


I was pleasantly surprised to find scrapbooking supplies at the party. They had us write down some memories on the pages. We also took pictures with Robert and they will be placed where the index card is on the page.


I always get compliments on my lens hood bracelet! I didn't really need it since I used a flash most of the time.


Here is the party minus Dan & I (aka photographers). Isn't that view just beautiful? That is the bay bridge.

Bling: Its a good thing

Scrap Mojo Challenge #16 is up. The challenge is to incorporate Martha Stewart's catch phrase "It's a good thing" into your project and use a stamp. We have a very talent new mojo girl Marcia & a great guest designer Nat! Be sure to check it out.

My neighbors came over right after a storm and started playing with my sister's joke presents that I gave to her for Christmas. I love this dozens kit!


Went to Mel's with Dan for dinner. It was delicious. Edited a wedding video with the lovely Valerie into the late hours of the night. Off to work before I play some more!

Lithuania!

I thought it would be cool to do an image search on the countries that I'd like to learn more about. My first place I chose was Lithuania. Why? No one ever talks about it and I want to know if it would be a cool place to check out. So I decided to make a mosaic of beautiful images from flickr.


1. Saint Ann Cathedral Vilnius Lithuania, 2. Vilnius in Lithuania, 3. Holocaust memorial Lithuania, 4. Lithuania, 5. Druskininkai, Lithuania, 6. Vilnius - Lithuania, 7. Lithuania LT-5122 received 03-11-2008, 8. I've lost my head, 9. Vilnius, Lithuania, 10. an autumn day in lithuania, 11. Autumn in Lithuania, 12. {Lithuania} CNV00021, 13. {Lithuania} CNV00014, 14. Trakai Castle, Lithuania, 15. Lithuania_010, 16. Nida Wood (Lithuania)

Since The Holiday is one of my favorite movies, I thought about home exchange. Unfortunately, I don't have a whole house to exchange. But its cool to know that it actually exists. If I was wealthy I'd stay here in Positano.

Movies, grad party, sneak peek, and some fun news

Ok, so I'm finally admitting that I am sick. I thought it was super bad allergies since my only symptoms were sneezing. Today I started coughing. I'm counting down the days to when the constant tea drinking ends.


I've been staying in and watching a lot of movies. Loved the movie Mad Money. I adore all of the actresses & actors in that movie. Its great entertainment. Saw Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. I love Kate Winslet & Jim Carrey but it was a little far out there for me. Finally watched a DVD of The Golden Compass that my mom bought a few months ago. It was pretty cool but insanely hard to follow. It seems like you really need to read the book to understand what's going on because they left so much out. I was really happy that I watched Stranger than Fiction. I adore Emma Thompson & Will Ferrell did an incredible job with this straight character. He can act! I really liked the art direction for the movie too.


I gave in and saw Transformers. I heard mixed reviews & knowing that Shia LeBouf was in it I didn't have great expectations for the movie. I thought the special FX were pretty cool and the story line was almost believable. I had fun talking to my friend in the air force afterwards. And, my most favorite, was The Fountain. Thanks to the guys at DR, my Netflix list is infinitely longer. OK, so these are movies that I've watched over a 3 week period and just forgot to mention. But go rent some of them!

Saturday was my cousin Christina's Graduation/18th Birthday party. She had a Hawaiian theme party. I loved her table decorations.


There were so many people there it was hard to navigate. This is just the friends of the family table!


It was a fun afternoon with some great food and desserts. Christina will be attending the University of Hawaii: West Oahu this coming fall, so her cake was in the shape of a pineapple. She's going to get a ton of visitors while she's there!


I was asked to take photos my dad with his three brothers. It had been two years since I took the last photo. From left to right (and youngest to oldest): Uncle Pat, Uncle Paul, Uncle Kevin, my dad Mike:


Jessica came over to my house after I got off work yesterday. Our neighbor Luis came over as well and we had lots of Pizza. We had fun catching up while I worked on page for the next Scrap Mojo challenge. Here is my sneak:


And finally, something that I have been keeping quiet for a little too long if you ask me...


My sister Jenna is going to study abroad in London for fall semester (Sept.-Dec.) and I'm planning to go with her. We've always talked about traveling through Europe together and I am going to do my best make it happen. I have a lot to work out since I'm not going through school. So if you live over there and want to get together, I'd love that!

Today I spent most of my time watching the travel channel and picking up some books I ordered from the library. Also found out that one of our cousins is a Consul General at the U.S. Embassy in Hamburg, Germany! All I have planned is to stay for the whole three months (or as long as my savings will allow) and to take as many photos as possible. So that's my exciting news!