Summer Shenanigans

Sutro Baths, San Francisco, CA

I saw a post by Ali Edwards and believe that there should always be a summer manifesto! Summer has always been a favorite time of year to me. Here's my list for Summer 2012:

1. Take a ride on a boat
2. Go to a garage sale
3. Night tour on Alcatraz Island
4. Kayak in the bay
5. Make gelato
6. Try making Uncle Pat's ice cream cake
7. Surf
8. Shoot film!
9. Go for a bike ride
10. Spend time outside
11. Visit the Library
12. Make something with beads
13. Paint my nails bright colors
14. Go swimming
15. Visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium
16. Dance!
17. Free Friday Night Concert at The Boardwalk
18. Go to a Water Park/Theme Park
19. Eat Ice Cream
20. Movie night in the Park (in 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?

26 Things

Before 27...

Here is my list of things that I'd like to do or try before I hit 27!

1. Make home made gelato
2. Learn Spanish
3. Sew something
4. Finish a mini album
5. Take self portraits
6. Bake more
7. Exercise
8. Pay off my car
9. Take a road trip
10. Visit Michelle in Canada :D
11. Go on a tour of Alcatraz
12. Find a different photo booth location
13. Enter in a photo contest
14. Get photo website together
15. Eat healthier
16. Spend lots of time on the beach
17. Sleep
18. Read my library books
19. Get a massage (maybe several)
20. See the Pixar Art show in Oakland
21. Save for my dream camera (currently Nikon D700)
22. Make a new friend
23. Visit the De Young Museum
24. Avoid buying any external/internal hard drives
25. Go on an adventure
26. Be more spontaneous

Mileage Check

I'll be celebrating 26 years in less than a month. I'll be the first to admit that I had forgotten about the list. Let's take a look to see what I still have to do!

25 Things Before 26

1. Travel yep!
2. brush up on my Spanish
3. design something cool yep!
4. learn to cook one meal
5. wear my glasses more yep!
6. continue to do less yep!
7. exercise heck yeah!
8. take a bookbinding class
9. save money yep!
10. take more pictures yep!
11. use my large format camera
12. finish sewing my portfolio
13. make glass beads
14. do more night photography yep!
15. sew something pretty
16. enter in a photo contest
17. simplify yep!
18. read yep!
19. give up soda sorta (cut back drastically)
20. go to the beach more often heck yeah!
21. get a website up with my portfolio
22. find a great gelataria on the peninsula yep!
23. be more carefree heck yeah!
24. eat lots of fruit yep!
25. buy a used car yep!

I still have about 35% of my list to blow through in the next 2.5 weeks. I think I can do it! Mostly ;) Have a great night.

Movies & Music now

Happy Friday! I've watched some fun and entertaining movies lately. Some of them are on the older side so I'm watching them from an adults perspective. I had seen some of them when they came out but my reaction is so different. I'm talking about Kindergarten Cop. Instead of focusing on the little kid whose father is a ob/gyn doctor, I decided that Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't all that cute when he was younger. I really enjoyed the story line and had completely forgotten most of it.
I watched Excess Baggage through Dan's On Demand and loved Alicia Silverstone. It seems that she was completely type cast. My parents rented Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and I'm guessing the movie was made so Matthew McConaughey could get paid to take off his shirt and be himself. It was mildly amusing and I'm so glad I didn't waste my money to see it in theaters. I must admit I loved he was a photographer shooting with a Nikon but I don't think it was an accurate portrayal of realistic income.Lisa loaned me the movie Observe and Report. I was warned ahead of time that it was a dark comedy but I don't think that prepared me enough. It was depressing and didn't really get "better" at any point. I suppose that was the purpose but considering Seth Rogen's track record with movies, this wasn't anywhere near his best.

I think dark comedies can be good, and Sunshine Cleaning pulled that off. I laughed a lot and it really makes you appreciate the life that you have. It did leave me wishing that they had explored more of a relationship with Amy Adams character & Clifton Collin's Jr. I really think there was more chemistry on screen then the writers saw.Vampire Diaries aired 7 weeks ago and I have been DVRing each episode. I found some time to catch up with the series this past weekend and I am completely hooked! I think the casting director did a much better job with the cast of Vampire Diaries, than the casting director for Twilight. Paul Wesley and Nina Dobrev are a beautiful onscreen couple and they make you feel their pain and anguish. I was disappointed that it was a rerun last night since I spent last weekend trying to catch up so I could watch this week. Any one else loving this new series?
I love the song Fireflies by Owl City and I'm considering purchasing the whole album. It sounds like from the 30 second snippets that it might be the same song over 14 times. It is very reminiscent of the Postal Service.My top 10 things right now:

1. Halloween decorations
2. planning hand made Xmas gifts
3. Vampire Diaries
4. Mashed potatoes
5. The song Fireflies by Owl City
6. car shopping
7. wearing my glasses
8. brown boots
9. shopping on etsy
10. celebrating birthdays

25

Yesterday I celebrated my 25th birthday. I have loads of pictures to share from this past weekend of celebrating but that will have to be shared later this week. I have quite a few hundred photos to wade through. Here is one from dessert last night (photo by my mom).
Here is my list for this year.

25 Things Before 26

1. Travel
2. brush up on my Spanish
3. design something cool
4. learn to cook one meal
5. wear my glasses more
6. continue to do less
7. exercise
8. take a bookbinding class
9. save money
10. take more pictures
11. use my large format camera
12. finish sewing my portfolio
13. make glass beads
14. do more night photography
15. sew something pretty
16. enter in a photo contest
17. simplify
18. read
19. give up soda
20. go to the beach more often
21. get a website up with my portfolio
22. find a great gelataria on the peninsula
23. be more carefree
24. eat lots of fruit
25. buy a used car

Happy September!

My 25th Birthday is fast approaching. It's only one week away and I can't believe how fast this year has gone for me. Lets take a look at my list.

24 things to do before 25

• enter in photo contests
• take more classes yep
  
• re-learn Spanish on my way
  
• learn lightroom yep
  
• work on my animation yep!
  
• cook a real meal hmm, I still have a week to do this...
  
• bake of course!
• have fun exercising gotta love that Wii fit!
  
• be more adventurous back packing through Europe-definitely

• learn more about flash check
  
• and illustrator
  
• shoot more film, less digital yep
  
• organize my digital photos lightroom has definitely helped this matter
  
• scrap faster sometimes I do!
  
• learn to deal with the rain rode bike through the rain in Ireland & loved it!

• read more, watch less movies yep yep yep
  
• do less yep!
  
• simplify yep
  
• try new foods yep
  
• enjoy a quiet weekend yep
  
• go to the Academy of Sciences twice!

• re-use as much as possible I need to keep doing this always
  
• try temp work
  
• enjoy working yep!

Well, I think I did better than last years list. I look forward to still trying to work on the things I haven't done in these next few days. I am very excited that school has started up again. I missed my darkroom and photography classmates more than usual. Our community college cut the darkroom lab class this past summer due to budget problems. The best part is that Kristi is back to class!

My family has great plans for this coming holiday weekend and I'm bursting to share. My parents, Dan, and I will be celebrating in Fort Bragg. We plan to spend time at the beach and probably will find an antique store or two. I am so excited to have my birthday weekend off and I'm still trying to decide if I should do something else since its 1/4 of a century for me. ;D

Blog Award

Thanks Kristi!

Here are the rules: 1)Post 10 honest things about yourself and post the award on your blog. 2) Give this award to some people who follow your blog.

10 Honest things about me

1. I hate my toenails. Yep, I admit it. I don't paint them on a regular basis and I've never had a mani or a pedi. Oh the horror!
2. I love wrap around jewelry: bracelets and rings. Silver and platinum are my fave. Gold just looks funny on me.
3. I love the color triad Purple, Orange, and Green. I'm going on 6 years of loving this color combo.
4. I can't get enough beach glass. I get the biggest high from finding it, especially if its cobalt or aqua. And even better if friends or family are searching with me.
5. I talk way too much. And I know it. I think of it as a character trait.
6. I love to listen to audio books while I drive. Music is great too, but there's nothing like a good book. I try to read them before I listen to them.
7. I tan really well when I spend time in the sun. I haven't spent much time in the sun since my backing trip through Europe last Fall. I'm super bright white. :D
   
8. I am not a light packer. Even though I went to work today and plan to go to a birthday party after, I managed to pack three canvas bags of things I needed for today.
9. I enjoy writing lists. And crossing things off of lists. And reading lists. I even love combing lists together too.
10. I'm always drastically behind in editing my photos. I still need to go through my people photos from Europe. I got tired of editing and now I think its time to get back to it!

I tag anyone who reads this and wants to play along!

These things

Make me happy right now:

1. running into friends at the beach
2. meeting strangers and sharing a common interest
3. going on burrito runs with co-workers during lunch break
4. welcoming a new member to my extended family (my cousin's dog Ruby)
5. watching friends reruns with loved ones
6. finishing projects
7. meeting Kristi at Michael's for a quick walk through after work
8. eating fresh fruit
9. going for afternoon walks around the block
10. finding my balance

I wanted to share this photo of Dan that was taken by his mom, Zena, at his violin recital. He is finally finished with all 10 Suzuki books. I'm so proud of this graduate! I'll be back soon with LOTS of pictures when I've met a few more of my deadlines.

10 things right now

I'm still finding it difficult to balance out my life right now. And I think its okay, as long as I acknowledge it and try. I really admire Leo over at Zen Habits and really look forward to his inspiring posts. I feel like making a list today, so here goes. I'll be back with photos when I'm home. Oh, and school is out in two weeks, so my schedule will normalize a bit after then!

10 things right now

1. Summer clothes: definitely time to go shopping!
2. Air Conditioning
3. Bright colors
4. Frozen drinks
5. Salads
6. Mini albums: this and this have really inspired me today.
7. New prints
8. Pro camera gear
9. relaxing
10. Hambly wall decals!!!

A New Addition

EBB Creations just got in their Fancy Pants shipment. I can't wait for my order to arrive! Broke my stash diet. Oops. :)

Celebrated Jenna & Dad's birthday with the family in Redwood City on Sunday. Met Kenny's beautiful husky pup Nika. We love her eyes!


My cousins Ryan, Dominique, Nika, Kenny (Dom's beau), McKenna, Jenna, and Christina hanging out in the backyard.


I was completely spoiled last night. Dan made his amazing burritos last night for dinner. It was such a fun surprise. We watched Coyote Ugly and then Love Actually. We didn't feel like watching something new, that way I could scrap a little.

Took Grandma out to pick up a stained class lamp today. Then met Kelly at the theater to see The Other Boyeln Girl. I enjoyed the movie but wouldn't suggest eating anything during it. Both Natalie Portman & Scarlett Johansson acted wonderfully. Definitely a rental though.


Kristi tagged me. I'm not following the rules because I like breaking them. :) If you want to be, consider yourself tagged!

Rules:
* Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
* Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
* Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I own a pair of ice skates because I wanted to be a professional ice skater when I was younger.
2. I could eat breakfast for any meal, no matter what time it is.
3. My favorite class in high school was sewing.
4. I'm directionally challenged.
5. I'm really organized in a very chaotic way.
6. I was always asked if I played basketball as I was growing up because I was nearly 5'9" by 9th grade.
7.I listen to all kinds of music. Some of my favorites are Paramore, Frank Sinatra, and Enya.

Speaking of music, I found out today that the Matches are releasing their new CD on March 18th! You can catch their new tunes here.

Mileage check

I'm half way to 24 and I just wanted to see how much I've completed from my list.

23 Things to do before 24

1. sew my own purse
2. relax in the sun yesiree!
   
3. do more night photography
4. use my large format camera in progress
   
5. stay in touch with college friends check
   
6. design my own scrapbook line
7. make a design team check
   
8. organize Mom's negatives
9. make time for myself in progress
   
10. complete my animation thesis
11. introduce more color into my life check
    
12. finish sewing my portfolio
13. buy pants that fit me check
    
14. drink more water in progress
    
15. enjoy my home town check
    
16. watch old movies check
    
17. make glass beads again
18. travel check
    
19. volunteer in progress
    
20. learn to cook some how I doubt that baking cupcakes counts...
    
21. exercise check
    
22. save money check
    
23. find a job in progress
    
24. be more carefree in progress
    

I still have some pretty major things to do in the next 6 months. Hope I can get er done!

Thursday night lab with Maureen was incredible! We learned how to do Polaroid transfers. There are two variations from this process. The first one is to expose an image (positive or negative) onto Polaroid film (669), boil the emulsion off, and then coax it onto a sheet of watercolor paper, while in water. Here is my favorite example. I just love how distressed the edges are.


The alternative way to make a Polaroid transfer is to expose the Polaroid film, cut off the chemical pack, open the exposure before it develops and place it face down on watercolor paper. Apply pressure for a short time to let it finish exposing. Slowly peel back and then you have this:
The film was expired so I got the neat cyan effect on the edges!


Did out annual Bennihana's trip with Jenny, Andrew, and Dan on Friday night. We had to wait an hour to be seated but at least we went to Burlingame instead of Japantown! We had some entertaining people seated across from us. It was like having our own reality show unfolding before our eyes. If you weren't watching but listening it sounded as though our neighbors should have been throwing $1's at their cook. No pictures since the birthday girl asked me to leave the camera at home. :)

Jenny & I talked about how badly I wanted some cute stationary and she suggested I check out Daiso at Serramonte. What a blast that was! I think I went a little overboard since I haven't been able to shop much lately! Aren't they cute?


Took BART to the Yerba Buena Ice Skating Rink in San Francisco to meet up with some friends from SFSU Animation. My heart sings when I'm with them! Amy is the incredible girl who organizes our monthly get togethers. She likes to call them Social Squitten's for some reason. Amy & Eric chilling on the ice:

The lovely Betty & Tyler ice skating beautifully.



One of the very few pictures of my with ice skates!



Kate showed up near the end of ice skating. I had planned to go back home and work on minimizing deadlines but I just had to hang out a bit longer! The whole group moved the fun to Buca di Beppo at 5th & Howard. I swear the people multiplied by the time we got there! Our table was a huge banquet size with about 20 people. We had so much fun catching up and meeting new friends.


Pizza with potato chips on it...? I heard it was yummy. I wasn't up for that adventure. Maybe some other time. ;)


Kate and I at dinner!


It's such a small world. Chris works with Kristi at IGN! He was a really entertaining guy to sit across from at dinner. At one point the waiters brought these huge canned peppers to our table. Clearly their to hold the pizza!!!!! It looks average in Chris's hands but that's because he's 6'6"!

I'm enjoying my weekend and I hope you are too!

Winter CHA 2008, gallery show, and rock climbing, oh my!

I submitted a layout to Scrapping the Music challenge #6 and it was chosen for the slide show Show some lovin! I've been tagged a lot lately and those are towards the bottom of my very long post. Today is my 60th post here on my blog!

I've been super busy since the DT announcement. I will post what I've been up to when I get the OK from EBB. I am really excited about going to Winter CHA in February! I've decided to set a goal and plan to have my product line designed and displayed at Winter CHA 2009! For those of you non-scrappers, Winter CHA is a convention where all the scrapbook stores go to view new products and order. Basically a bunch of really talented designers go and show off their newest stuff!

Lisa is such an inspiring artist in my life. Lisa and her friends, Jackie, Jesse, and Ashanta decided to set their house up as an art gallery and threw an amazing show Thursday evening. Here they are with DJ Foolish Genius.


I was totally surprised and thrilled that our color photo professor Arthur Takayama came to the event. We had a mini Photo Club Reunion. From left to right: Cindy, Lisa, Arthur, and me! Lisa's cross processed and double exposed photos are behind us. Cross processing means you take photos with slide film and process it in negative film chemicals. It is also considered cross processed if negative film is developed in slide film chemicals.



There is so much incredible eye candy in this house. Check out the couch support! No working cameras were hurt for this couch leg.


I celebrated Amy's birthday at Mission Cliff's this afternoon and I managed to fulfilled a dream of mine. I have always wanted to go to a rock climbing venue and never had anyone daring enough to go with. I tried climbing the full size rock shown below and it was way too hard for me. I got about half way and then thought I was slipping. I have a slight fear of heights but am completely addicted to adrenaline, so I was able to overlook that.


I successfully reached the top of the "kids" rock which was half the size. Here I am with Romero's sister, Carol, who is visiting from Brazil, while studying abroad for 6 months.

I am so honored that I've been tagged three times since my last post. Rachel, Cathy, Misty, and Melissa all want to know more. ;) I have already filled out the fours survey but I think a lot of people missed that because it was posted right before my big "retreat" post. I'll fill in anything else that I can. I'll add some other random facts to make up for it.

10 random facts about me:

• I love to organize.
• I got into photography because my grandparents were into it.
  
• I've worked at Christmas by the Cove for 8 years.
• I should buy stock in Kleenex because of my allergies.
• I started wearing glasses when I was 8 years old. I got contacts at age 15.
• Everyone I know tells me I'm an old soul.
  
• My favorite state in the U.S. (outside of California) is Arizona. I love Sedona and the Grand Canyon. I stayed at The Wigwam Resort and fell in love with their pool. It was so hot that they drove us to our rooms in golf carts!
  
• I went to Tijuana with my family for the day when I was 8 years old. I recall that the cabs didn't have seat belts and didn't stop at the stop signs. People were at the public bathrooms selling toilet paper and some guy "helped" us cross the street and begged for money.
• I traveled a lot in the west coast because my dad was a traveling salesman for hospital product companies.
  
• One day I was swimming in a pool at a hotel in Anaheim and a little kid asked what my dad did for a living. I told them "My daddy sells binders." I didn't understand that they were medical charts so that's what I called them.
  

Here are the Fours.....

Movies I Could Watch Over & Over
1. Hitch
2. Any Harry Potter film
3. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
4. Mrs. Doubtfire

TV Shows I Watch:
1. Home Improvement reruns
2. What Not To Wear
3. Orange County Choppers (Dan loves this show)

Favorite Foods:
1. Fruit
2. Zucchini Pancakes (the only way I eat zucchini)

Favorite Colors:
1. Purple
2. Turquoise
3. Pink
4. Red

Places I'd Love to Be Now:
1. Lunch
2. Scrapbooking
3. Taking photos
4. working on the Christmas store's website

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) - Ursula Volvo
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) - Cookies n' Cream Oreo
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) -MJAC
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) - Purple White Bengal Tiger
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) -Jeanne San Francisco (pronounced Jean, french spelling)
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) -Jac Mi
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) - The Turquoise Dr Pepper
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) - Henry Charles
9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy) - Coolwater Snickers
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) - Jeanne Joseph
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) - Freeman Fresno
12. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) - Christmas Sunflower
13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) - Grape Dress shirty
14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) - Special K Palm Tree
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) - The Photography Cloud Tour