Delicious Treats and Exiting the Comfort Zone...sort of.

It has been one busy week! I went out for a girls day with my mom on Monday, shopping at South Center mall (which was quite disappointing--do President's Day sales not exist anymore?!) and then had lunch at Claim Jumper....YUM! We seem to always end up getting the Frisco burger and onion rings every time we go, we also got some calamari as an appetizer but since it took about 15 minutes for anyone to come take a drink order the calamari was free! I'm pretty sure it tasted better because of that! ; )

The school week was short but jam packed with things I had to do! Two chem labs, a genetics lab, and LOTS of reading--glad it is over! Friday night I got to talk to my photographer friend and overall he thinks I've done some great work with the pictures I have taken, but definitely need to work on some of the finer technical elements of taking photos...which I knew. I needed some objective criticism! I am really excited about learning all the things I'm not really familiar with. He gave me a little "assignment" to do this weekend, which I feel like I have royally failed so far : P  He forbid me from using my zoom lenses so I'm stuck with my fixed 50mm lens and doesn't want me to use the auto setting for the shutter speed/aperture--all manual and my feet are my zoom : )  I went and walked around UW and Union Station in downtown Tacoma, but before taking pictures I wanted to grab something to eat, decided on Subway and discovered that they have a new cookie flavor--Raspberry Cheesecake!!!!!! They were SO good, I'm going to have to keep myself from going there just to get cookies!

Now, the goal of the outing was to get pictures of people.......and that was terrifying to me! He reassured me that there was nothing "illegal" about taking pictures of strangers because they are in a public area. Understood....if I had my zoom lens I would be all for it! But a 50mm? Ugh. That means I have to get somewhat close to get the effects I wanted, and that is completely outside my comfort zone! Despite the fact that it was FREEZING outside and therefore weren't a whole lot of people out because of that, I managed to get a few but they are far from glamorous.....

Just not feelin' them.....but making them better requires stepping outside my box, and apparently mine is a rather large, Costco size box ; )

Later that night I took Cody, his roommate Jeff, and my good friend Brent out to The Rock (LOVE that place!!)...I took the opportunity to take a few more people shots of the boys with my new restrictions. I quickly discovered a 50mm is not good for taking pictures of people at the table with you, so I was the girl standing in the middle of the bar snapping shots, but I was okay with that : )  Brent was the one I got the good shots of, Cody hates pictures and I think he sends those vibes to the camera so I can't get good ones of him *lol*

This one is blurry, but I kinda like it...

Hanging out with Cody's sister's family tonight...maybe I can catch some good ones of Joey if he'll stay in one place : ) I guess I'll be visiting downtown a few more times this week--here's to hoping I can break open that box!

This Thing Called Life

I never thought that I would be the kind of person to start a blog...mostly because those I think would care about what I have to say I talk to on a regular basis : ) But, here I am, with my first blog post! I was going to make this a photo blog to display my work, but I found a free website to do that for me for now  (Check it out! Link on the right..)...though let's be honest, pictures are something that I absolutely love and my thoughts would not be complete without them!

I live a wonderful and blessed life filled with the best friends and biggest, craziest, beautiful, and absolutely amazing family that a girl could ask for....but I am busy busy busy!! A full load at PLU and an on-call position at St. Joe's is enough to keep me at a pretty fast pace. I try to find time to relax and lounge around every now and then, but these days that comes with a price that usually involves homework procrastination!

2010 for me ended in a wonderful way with a trip to the Big Apple! It was my third trip out there, and my boyfriend, Cody, was able to come with us this time so I was pretty excited about that. There were a total of 10 people and we all had a great time. I was hoping for snow while we were there (it makes for sweet pictures!) but I'm glad we were graced with the presence of blue, sunny and clear skies the whole trip because it was COLD! This time around I didn't go to any plays, but I did take a ride to the top of Rockefeller Center--twice in fact. Once was in the afternoon with my dad and brother, and the other was at sunset so that I could capture that city skyline at night. I love that city so so much--the food, the noises, the scenery--but I don't think that I could live there. I lost count of how many gyros I ate in 3 days, and I will never again make the mistake of wearing heels around the city, but all in all it was an amazing trip with the dads, brother, boyfriend, and step sisters! 

So far, 2011 has gotten off to a great start! I didn't make a resolution this year--why? Because I never keep them. All of the things I would make a resolution of are things that I should be doing all the time, not just because it's a new year. Exercise is something that I try very hard to keep up with, but after a long night of homework or work work, I simply don't want to get out of bed in the morning : ) Keeping a positive attitude about life in general and not sweating the small stuff are also things I try to make a regular thought process.

I took a children's literature class for J-Term and it was one of the best classes I have ever been a part of! The specific topic was picture books....I know what you're thinking--seriously? A college course on picture books?! Seriously! You would be surprised to learn how much goes into the production of those wonderful teaching tools for children (and big children too! : ) ) I learned to appreciate them as artwork, not just as a cute book with simple words and few sentences. The teacher was SO passionate about the subject which made the class that much more fun. Our final project was to make a picture book of our own (no test!! : D) and I jumped on making mine in the first week. I decided on an alphabet book for my boyfriend's nephew, Joey, and to compose the entire book of photos that I have taken of the things he knows and loves. I have never had so much fun working on a project for school! Here's a small sample of some of the cover and some of the pages..I absolutely love how it turned out!

January also brought a small break before spring semester started and with that a week in Tulsa, OK with my Dad, brother and extended family....though the extended family got neglected thanks to the TONS of snow the area got while I was there! We were stuck inside for a couple days due to the foot of snow blocking the garage doors. Two of the five vehicles were able to get out of the driveway and one of those was occupied at the ranch most of the time. The other was my brother's SUV that, after we took it over, was our freedom from cabin fever! A lot of places closed for a few days, and WalMart was so packed you would have thought the world was coming to an end! : P We spent a lot of time at the bowling alley--it's not far from the house and my brother works there so it's *free*--and played some dominoes and cards while "snowed in". The time inside also gave me an excuse to solidify a logo and get a website going to display my photography. I also made a Facebook page to start posting my pictures to. My dad and I did make the trek out to Coweta, picked up my aunt, uncle, and cousin, and took my grandma out for lunch for her birthday! It was an interesting car ride on Highway 51 through the snow/ice with 6 people in a 5 person car, but what's living if you aren't living on the edge right? hehe Overall it was a good trip and I can't wait to go back this summer to see the whole fam : )

February, so far, has brought on the start of spring semester of my "senior" year at PLU...I've taking classes at colleges since 2005, so if there was such a thing as a super super super super super senior, that would be me! ; ) Organic chemistry II, Genetics, Economic and Cultural Botany, and beginning golf are what I have in store for me until June. I am really liking genetics, botany is somewhat interesting (but plants aren't really my thing). Organic chemistry....now there is a hate-hate relationship for ya! There is just something about this darn class that just does not gel with my brain, it is beyond frustrating. I have a different teacher for it than last semester and as of right now understand what we are doing so I am keeping my head up and hoping for a great semester and a boost to my overall GPA at the end!

I also had a chance meeting at a local Starbucks with a commercial photographer with whom I was able to share my site for his input on my photos, and he also offered to be a mentor of sorts for my hobby to help me learn the many things that I still need to learn about my camera and elements of photography...super excited about that!! : D I have some photo shoots to look forward to in the near future so I'm hoping he can give me some instruction before then, but we shall see...

Now back to my regularly scheduled homework.. : )