Photo Scavenger Hunt

I had a wild weekend in San Francisco with some wonderfully fun people. We met at Buena Vista Park to begin with birthday festivities. We were surprised with a beautiful bag of goodies: sidewalk chalk, plastic tools for props, silly string, bags of candy, a dunny for a mascot, a pinwheel, play-dough, a disposable camera and a list of things that we needed to find and photograph for our scavenger hunt through the Haight.

 

There were four groups with 3-4 people in each group. Here is Marissa posing in front of a mural that is purple (two challenges in one photo).

 We had to meet a new friend, find out their name, birthday, occupation, and then get a photo of them with our mascot. We decided to jump in the photo just for fun. I loved how Finn's mom was dressed for her first visit to Haight Street! Jenna was so hungry that she kept on eating during the photo.

We were challenged to find a sign and act it out. Jenna is trying to "rent" Marissa for a little companionship.

 I gravitate toward any location that has a photo booth. I was ecstatic when Jenna & Marissa told me they had found one in Wasteland, a second hand clothing store. We spent far too much of our scavenger hunt time in the booth but it was totally worth it. We have 6 strips to scan and share later on!

The girls used pink play-dough and fashioned mustaches for one of the photos. This is my favorite from the day:

 Haight is a playground for tourists, locals, and people just looking for a good time. We had so much fun with the interactive signs.

 A beautiful mural backdrop for two girls about to take flight:

 

We had so much fun getting creative with the challenges. I am very inspired and am sure I will be doing something similar for my next birthday. To see more photos we took with my digital camera, check out my flickr set for the day. Click here to see the photos we took with the disposable camera for the photo scavenger hunt. They are definitely worth a look!

San Francisco Vintage Paper Fair

Kelly & I both enjoy scrapbooking and paper, so we went to the San Francisco Fair Grounds to check out the Vintage Paper Fair on a Sunday afternoon.

 

 We spent hours looking through all kinds of sheet music, playing cards, postcards, and checks. It was really fun to see vintage bottle caps, marbles, and other collectibles too.

Postcards were organized by category and location. I was amused that one of the booths had drawings on the dividers. The "Indian" divider had a drawing of an arrow. It makes perfect sense that the "gun" divider had a drawing that looked like a hair dryer. 

The paper fair attracted a wide variety of people. It was fun to see all the different booths and the collectors that ran them.

We had a great time looking through old ephemera and I look forward to May when the paper fair returns to San Francisco.

Right Now

10 Things I like right now...

1. Lemonade with mint leaves
2. Gelato
3. Driving with my windows down
4. Dresses
5. Reading before bed
6. Blasting music during my commute
7. Watching Arrested Development
8. Running on the beach
9. Dreaming about where to travel next
10. Stretching

What are you into right now?

Go Giants!

The San Francisco Giants made it to the play offs and I was lucky enough to go to the first game with some friends. We took the train into San Francisco, grabbed some snacks, and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Here is the view from the pier behind the ballpark:

 

Can you believe how amazing the seats were? We had first row seats. I haven't sat in the bleachers in a long time and the atmosphere was incredibly energetic! We talked to so many people and gave out high fives to everyone. It was the best game I have EVER gone to.  

I love this photo of the four of us. The usher and people in our section were very friendly and took lots of photos for me.

The characters sitting in our section photo bombed us a couple of times. :) I laughed so hard at some of the surprise memories captured.

We saw several people we knew at the game and had a few visitors since our seats were so great. The best part was that our team won! After that we headed to Tres Agaves to celebrate with a bunch of fans. We made a lot of friends, including on the train ride home. What a night!

Weekend recap

Last weekend was pretty spontaneous. Here's what I did:

• Grabbed cupcakes from Safeway for a quick surprise birthday celebration.
• Hung out with co-workers/new friends.
• Got my credit approved.
• Bought a car.

• Learned some funny things that my cousin and I have in common.
• Went to a bar in Alameda
• Had the most impromptu photo booth fun.

• Took photos in a bathroom that had colorful graffiti.

 

• Enjoyed burgers at Jeffrey's diner for lunch.

• Met Eric in Palo Alto for dinner.

 I have come out from under my research rock now that I have purchased my car. YAY! Hope your weekend was wonderful!

Happy Easter!

Hope you are having a great time if you are celebrating Easter. I'm enjoying my chocolate bunny while I share some eggs that we dyed yesterday. I have so much fun playing with Hambly silk screen rub ons. We used the mustaches & frames this time. Don't you just love super vibrant colored eggs? 

 

I'll leave you with these cute cupcakes that were at the party yesterday. Hoppy Easter!

Chosen!

We got the phone call this evening that the Pacifica Garden Club has selected our garden to be in their annual Pacifica Garden Club Tour that is held in May! Our whole family is very excited. Congrats to my Mom, the proud gardener!The potting shed where all the magic happens:
I will share my documentation through out this coming spring. Photos shown above were taken last May.

Hornblower Cruise

My work celebrated their 2 year anniversary back in May. Things were so hectic with employees on vacation and the overall busy season with our customers that we finally (late November) celebrated with a company wide Hornblower cruise in the San Francisco Bay. The brunch cruise left from Pier 3 at 11:30am.
We found it funny that Dan & Max were so well coordinated.
Brunch was great, but we had most fun goofing off and acting like tourists. I think we looked more like paparazzi than anything else.
Eva kindly took a photo of Dan & I as we passed by the interesting side of Alcatraz. Isn't hard to believe that I've never been to Alcatraz? I think I'll make it happen this coming summer for sure!
Dan was kind enough to capture the crew (minus Josh: traveling through Paris, oh darn) on our best behavior.
We took some goofier shots but I think the above photo looks much more professional. I'm so glad that Lisa organized this special day!

November Daily Photos Week 4

The last week of November went by the quickest. Here is a quick review of last week in photos:

Sunday, November 22, 2009:
I took the day off for BorrowLenses anniversary celebration. We took a 2 hour horn blower cruise in the San Francisco Bay. We had brunch and got to take lots of pictures while going under the Golden Gate Bridge and going around Alcatraz (closest I have ever been). Photo by Eva:
Monday, November 23, 2009:
After work I met up with Kristi, Jarid, Jason, Crystal, and Dan for dinner at BJ's brewery. First photo is by Dan.Tuesday, November 24, 2009:
I made a birthday card for my boss Max during my lunch break. I love getting crafty at work. I get to create and it relieves stress. A big plus: I talked with Allison Kreft Abad (of Hambly) on the phone too.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009:
I settled in for some more paper crafting when I got home on Wednesday. I started working on gift card holders and catching up on Vampire Diaries.
Thursday, November 26, 2009:
I slept in! I had a chance to begin the third book in the Vampire Diaries series and spend time with Jenna. Then I drove down the coast with my parents to Princeton where Mavericks Surf contest takes place. We scoured the waves for sea glass. I found beautiful shells but not much glass. It was a windy and beautiful day. We went to my Aunt's house for Thanksgiving dinner.Friday, November 27, 2009:
I spent most of the day scrapping and blogging. I did take a break in the evening to meet up with Dan's friends that were visiting from southern California. It was my first time to meet Mary & Mike even though they are both from Pacifica. We ate at the Olive garden and then played a very long but fun round of Apples to Apples.
Saturday, November 28, 2009:
It felt like a very weird Sunday. I worked most of the day at the Christmas store. Then I edited photos for a couple of hours. Drove in a car full of family to my Aunt & Uncle's to celebrate my grandmother's birthday. I was really happy to see the other side of my family and it felt like Thanksgiving Part II.
I can't believe its December 1st on Tuesday. I'm trying to finish up my December Daily foundation along with several other holiday projects. Hope you have a great beginning to December!

November Daily Photos Week 3

I'm back to share this past week's photos from the November photo challenge.

Sunday, November 15, 2009
I met Econ Eric, a friend of Jenna's, and spent time dancing with the family in the living room. I love impromptu dance parties. I edited some photos and uploaded them to facebook. The tagging box cracks me up.
Monday, November 16, 2009
I was making some birthday cards for my co workers and left this mess on my bed. Its a pretty common sight around here these days. Tuesday, November 17, 2009
I photographed the Millbrae Bart station after work. I desperately needed to print something for my photo class since we only have 2 more classes before finals. I had a blast shooting Black & White film at night. Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Josh from the advertising department offered to do a Starbuck's run. A bunch of us placed our orders on Vin's desk with post its. Thom was writing all kinds of silly requests, so I captured Vin playing with some of the post its.Thursday, November 19, 2009
Kristi picked up pizza and came over to scrap after work. We started working on the foundation of our December Daily albums. Can't wait to work on this more this coming week!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Celebrated Kent's birthday by picking up delicious cupcakes form Mazetti's Bakery here in Pacifica. he had fun playing with his food before eating it.I did go see New Moon on Friday as well. I arranged for Kristi to buy the tickets nearly a month in advance. Kelly, Jenna, Laura, mom, Kristi & I had so much fun. I wasn't a fan of the young screaming girls. Next time I'll go during school hours... I loved that special FX were so much better. It was apparent that the budget was a lot better this time around. You won't be disappointed if you see it.

Saturday, November 21, 2009
I wasn't feeling 100% so Dan & I decided to stay home and make delicious burritos instead of going out to ice skate with some friends. I'm still going to try going ice skating, just a little later on this season. Dan makes the best chicken burritos and I have become expert can opener and bean stirrer. I think I might move up to cutting the meat next. Ick!
This coming week is going to be busy, then I'll get a few days off for the holiday. Hope you and yours have a happy one!

Arata's Pumpkin Farm

Thanks for participating in the blog hop. We had so much fun and had a great turn out. Congrats to our winner Carmen!

Last weekend I threw a somewhat impromptu gathering together in Half Moon Bay at the Arata Pumpkin Farm. I've been really curious about stopping whenever I drive by and 'tis the season for awesome pumpkins! This one is especially cool because they have a hay maze on 2 acres of land with an artistic Ape figure that begs you to stop from the highway.

My photos are hardly the best. I got stuck with a Nikon 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 lens and I will admit I was disappointed since I've been spoiled by always shooting f/2.8 lenses, sometimes even faster than that! Here is a group shot I took, while waiting for a few more friends to arrive.I originally thought they had pumpkin launching but it turns out that a farm nearby used to have that before they shut down. Ah well, we made our own fun. Kristi & I bartered with one of the people working there and they gave us $1 off the hay maze since we had a large group. It wouldn't be a party without Jenna & Marissa!
We were told that it would take 30-45 minutes to find our way through the maze. I thought we were coming back out through the entrance but it turns out that when you have 2 acres, the only place to fit an exit is right next the entrance. :D Our group of 16 got separated along the way and then partially re-mashed back together again.
I convinced several friends to climb on this tractor for some very posed photos. We are a very silly group.
I like this photo that Kristi Lewis snapped of me:We wandered through the pumpkin farm and snapped lots of goofy photos. I think this is the only serious photo taken at all that day. Another favorite shot by Kristi using Marlon's brand new Canon 7D! Doesn't it look like we should be starting a band? Or maybe a reality tv show? It looks very promotional.The big group met back up to go through the haunted barn before heading off for some warm food. Some people are still missing from this photo because they were off grabbing hot dogs and various other things right outside of the photographic frame. Shame on them. I think one of them told me they were allergic to photography. It will not work with me!
Here is a very posed photo that I think Abe took, maybe Marlon? Sandy offered up her camera. We suffered from severe red eye that I conveniently removed. I think I might just print up the original for some vampire scrap pages coming to a theater soon. I went through the haunted barn twice since its better when you don't run through it. I was a little jumpy the first time. And the second time I guess. The fewer people that go in the better it is. Too bad I love big groups. I'm so glad that Sandy and her gang drove all the way from Sacramento for our outing. I hope to make this an annual thing. I'm still waiting on a few friends photos before I start scrapping up a storm.