Winner, Pages, and Easter photos

Well I can't believe how quickly time is passing these days. It's hard to believe that it's practically May already. I have a ton to share! First, I want to announce the winner for the MME card kit. I used a random number generator and the winner is #2, MandieGirl! Congrats. Please contact me with your mailing address. Thanks to everyone who participated.

I fell in love with Cosmo Cricket's Snorkel line the moment I saw it at Everything Scrapp'n. I have been meaning to scrapbook my photos from my Kauai trip in 2003 since I began scrapbooking in 2006. This paper was just perfect for my photos. If you have any summer photos you've been waiting to scrap, this paper is for you! And I love how distressed it is. To see my full post, check the ES blog.

Onto the rest... I just found the time to look through these past two weeks of photos and pick a few favorites for a quick update. Easter weekend was my first weekend to borrow equipment from my job and I was very excited that a Nikon D700 was available for me to test. Look for separate posts on how I like the cameras I try in the future.

I was so excited that I drove straight to Sutro Baths to shoot before the sun went down. I was using a Nikon 70-200 VR f/2.8 lens for this shot and what a wonderful lens that is! I was so lucky that it was such a beautiful evening too. Later that night, Kelly came over to visit and we goofed off looking at photos from her birthday and catching up. It had been a while since we had seen each other. Of course, we were lucky to hang out for a bit the following day at Lynne's Easter party (Saturday). The food is always so delicious. Here is a photos of us taken by Dan.
After a short visit, Dan & I went to our second party for the day. We headed to San Francisco for a lovely dinner at a family friends house in San Francisco. I found a favorite new salad of mine. I can't remember what its called, but it is spinach, apple, and candied walnut. YUM! I was very happy to have Pellegrino too.
We held the Easter party at our house on Sunday. Zena made really fun and colorful jello jigglers and jello jelly beans. I love these!
I took a TON of photos and thought I'd just share food because that's what I really want to talk about. Valerie brought her niece's pastry chef friend who helped her bake INCREDIBLE bread. It was gone before you could say oh yum! The table was so bright and filled with food. I love documenting little things like that. The holiday was wonderful and relaxing. We were surrounded with many loved ones.
The rest of that week was a bit of a blur. We shipped out a record number of boxes at work. I scrapped when I had time (I've already shared). Dan & I went for a walk on the beach in search of beach glass. I got my car back from the transmission shop! I'm really happy to have it back. I had my first shoot for a house being listed on the market shortly. It was such an incredible house and a great experience.

Friday night I borrowed a Canon 50D and then drove to this great ladies' house:
Managed to take the whole night making these ATC's for the Scrap Gal monogram swap.
I pretended to scrap and we lazed around a bit. Kristi took this really fun photo of Dan & I taking a break.
Saturday night we went out to buy My Spanish Coach for my Nintendo DS and ended up having dinner here. I devoured their Apple Harvest Chicken salad. Here is a photo of my mom's ever growing backyard garden:On Sunday, Jenny & Ken stopped by to hang out and chat while I created a quick layout. It was so much fun, I laughed until I fell on the floor. We call Ken "Moses" and he tells such great stories.

Monday night was so pleasant due to the heat wave that my mom and I decided to go for a walk on the beach, and we ran into Jenny & Ken. We had fun trying to search for beach glass in the fading light. Dan met us there and we had a very summery night. Photo by my mom. ;)
I have more to share from last weekend, but that will have to be for another post. Happy Hump Day!

The January EBB Kit is here!

This month's kit includes the prettiest papers from the Fancy Pants Crush line. I had so much fun working with it! You can buy it here for $15.99.




Kyle sent me some pictures from the photo shoot I did with him and his siblings. He did the editing since it was so close to Christmas. This is my most favorite portrait I've ever taken. I have more posted on my flickr account.


Jenna, Jeff, Kelley, and I went to Chevy's for some Saturday night fun. We played a hot game of scrabble and spent some quality cousin time together.



Jenny stopped by my work on Sunday and it was so great to see her. We talked for about an hour and I'm hoping we'll be able to hang out more often now that my schedule has calmed down a bit. After work I drove over to Danville and played guitar hero 3 with Gabriella and Chesco.

I met Valerie at Barnes & Noble Monday evening to discuss our Wedding videography company. We're going to be shooting a wedding on Valentine's day in Jenner, Ca (2 hour drive north of SF). Dan met us for dinner at BJ's Brewery and then Valerie and i went shopping for jeans. And we actually found some that fit! I bought two pairs because its such a rare occasion. I'm loving my new Levi's.

I've been playing scrabble a lot lately for practice. I played my grandma after a week of playing about 4 games and we both saw a big improvement. She still beat me by a landslide so I still have a ways to go!

I got this in the mail yesterday and laughed my head off. Why shouldn't I change my spelling to Mi Cha and still pronounce my name Michelle?



My next post will be my 100th post so be sure to check back for a RAK and some other fun stuff!

This is Friends week

I am addicted to Flickr. I love to leave positive comments for people and I get so inspired by seeing through many different perspectives. It makes me want to travel so much more!

Thursday night Dan and I went to Lisa's new house for home made pizza. It was absolutely delicious!


Lisa was a wonderful hostess. I loved how they decorated the house. The living room was my favorite because of all the colors. All of Lisa's room mates are a blast!


Yesterday I planned to finish my wire wrapped necklace with Kelly. Jenna thought she was coming over to scrapbook so she got all of her stuff out (second time to scrap).


Jenny called me and said she was Pacifica, so she joined in the creativity. I was so happy that I'm seeing nearly all of my local girlfriends in the same week. Incredible!

I love taking photos as everyone already knows. Jenny likes to draw so I gave her my art journal. Nothing wrong with having a guest artist in it, right? :)

Kelly finished her necklace and we are so proud of how beautiful it turned out. I think she's a great model!

I finished mine as well. I took the picture here at work and the lighting is not great, but I was too excited about it and wanted to share. I feel like I've grown in jewelry making now that I have learned how to wire wrap. I also expanded my color choices and feel great about them. The focal bead is a piece I made with a blowtorch (lampwork) last year. I was so happy when the class instructor on Monday complemented it!

some fun stuff

Some garden glass from my mom's backyard:
Dan and I went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on Monday. The special effects amazed me. I would love to read the book, but I think I'll wait until it becomes available at the library. I added a lot more photos to my flickr account and joined a group that requires me to take self portraits every day for a year. Here is my first one taken in my backyard.And here is one from last night. I'm learning how to use a flash!
I met some friends for a quick bite at a Salvadorian restaurant in the Mission. I tried papusas for the first time and I loved them. Found a brightly painted house that I couldn't pass up using as a great background.

The Poetic Cole and Laughing Jenny
I'm happy that I was able to list some of my textbooks and sell them so quickly. I still have a few left, but I'm thrilled to have the space back. I drove Virginia to the airport today and ran a million errands. Looking forward to working on a little something tomorrow after work. Oh how I love to play!

I've taken 959 photos since Monday

Thanks for all the great comments! I feel so loved. Kristi is wearing some BBQ contraption that allows you to flip burgers without being burned or feeling the intense heat of the grill.

What a whirlwind this week had been. Jenna's childhood friend Autumn came to visit from Las Vegas. She brought her 1 1/2 year old son Conner with her. He's become obsessed with opening and closing doors.

We celebrated my cousin Dominique's 20th birthday in Redwood City on Monday night.

My Uncle Pat makes the best "cake" ever. It is the most delicious desert I've ever had. The bottom is a thick layer of crushed Oreo cookie , then vanilla ice cream, an amazing chocolate and caramel hardened goo, and then whipped cream. It is really special to my family since my Uncle Pat only makes it once a year.

My cousin Christina is going to be a senior in high school this coming August so I was preparing her for all the poses they make you do for yearbook. Got this cute photo of her. She's growing up into a beautiful young woman!








I remembered to bring a camera to Danville to capture some fun jumping moments on the new trampoline. Next time I'll remember to wear something that doesn't blend in with the background! This pose reminds me of one of those wooden models that is used to sketch gesture drawings.




I took Jenna, Autumn, and Conner to the San Francisco Zoo on Wednesday. We were so lucky to have such beautiful weather. Conner's favorites were the lemurs and the penguins. We had a blast shopping in the gift shop. I even found a patch!












These are such cute shoes I couldn't help photographing them for my art journal. Skulls are so popular right now.













Autumn and Conner are leaving today. I know I'll miss his laughter in our house. Autumn asked me to take a few photos of her with Conner since she has so few. I certainly did take a few!







I saw Jenny for a brief time yesterday. We tried to fit in a quick shoot before she had to meet her family for dinner.



We arrived at the Pulgas Water Temple in San Carlos only 40 minutes before it closed. The lighting was not so great since it closes at 4pm, but I did enjoy introducing something new to Jenny. I definitely want to try a photo shoot there during early March when the sun sets earlier in the day.


I'm off to clean for our new house guest from Texas. My Aunt Virginia will be staying for two nights and I want to spiff up my room a bit for her. More photos to come!