Posts from ‘September, 2009’

Today we hiked to Devil’s Postpile and hung out for a bit. My photography got cut short because Little A fell and bit his tongue. He’s ok – it looked worse than it really was because of the blood in his mouth. Poor baby! I thought it might hurt him to eat with a cut on his tongue but apparently that isn’t the case. LOL   Anyway, we may end up returning to Devil’s Postpile for a take two.

I don’t have the ability to crop, adjust levels or even take out dustspots of my photos without Photoshop and I really don’t want to deal with this while I’m on vacation anyway.  Also, because I’m a perfectionist and don’t want to post anything I consider mediocre, I will not post any photos until I return early next week. I’ll just do a big photo dump at that time.  TTFN!

Today we visited Mary Lake and Convict Lake.  It was a nice, mellow day filled with lots of gorgeous scenery.  We stayed pretty close to  our “home away from home” and had a relaxing day.  We also realized the ski lifts are just around the corner from our condo so this must be prime real estate when there’s snow here.  This is the perfect place to have a relaxing family vacation because there’s no one around right now and our condo was a great deal.   It’s been really nice to cook all our meals in as well.  I think I always want to stay in a condo for my vacations, if possible.

This was shot at Mary Lake where we had a nice picnic and saw some deer.

This is Convict Lake right after the sun dipped below the mountain peak.

Me and Little A at Lake Mary today.

We made it to our condo and boy is it lovely. It’s tastefully decorated like a mountain cottage but not overdone–no forest green, pine trees or Smokey the Bear!  It’s a gorgeous two bedroom with a view of the pool and golf course that we got for a steal because it’s the low season.   There are lots of alpine wildflowers everywhere and our dog Miles is loving it!  I suppose the only drawback is they are draining the pool and winterizing the place.  No big deal for us though as the jacuzzi is still going.  I’m already wishing we didn’t have to come home. 

We’ve practically got the whole place to ourselves….reminds us of that movie The Shining, like how they check into a winter resort all by themselves.  The difference is it’s not scary here and the hubby isn’t going to go insane.  And there will be no “redrum” on the mirror.  LOL

All of the below photos are “as is” as I don’t have Photoshop with me.  This will be a good test of my ability to take a good photo that’s ready for posting.  It is so hard not being able to crop or at least take away dirt marks from my Cybershot’s  dirty lens.

En route to Mammoth Lakes.  Happy dog!

Yummy raspberries…our afternoon snack.

No pool–winterizing for the upcoming season.

We decided to take off on a last minute road trip. I spent the day finding us a condo rental, getting the car serviced and everyone packed. We took off at 8:30pm with our SUV packed to the brim (roof included). Two year olds require a lot of stuff–stroller, pack n play, backpack carrier etc…not to mention we decided to bring our dog Miles who is totally stoked!

This photo was shot with my iPhone somewhere along the 395 while we were stuck behind a truck. We stopped in Ridgecrest for the night where Little A decided he didn’t want to go back to sleep and kept us up until 3am.

Our final destination is Mammoth Lakes which we will use as our base for visiting Mono Lake, Devils Postpile and Yosemite. Let’s hope we get more sleep on our second night!

P.S. Day 95 will be posted when I return.

Today we went to a going away party for Kasey, Shaun & Jasper to send them off to Portland.  We spent the day at the park and the weather was really nice (not too hot).  I’m noticing some signs of autumn coming.  I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’m welcoming this cooler weather.  I’m also getting very excited for Halloween.  I’ve already got Little A’s costume too.  I do hope to make one more trip to the beach before it gets too cold and that Kasey and Jasper will have the time to join us before they move.

Longing to join the soccer game

The sycamore trees across the street from our house (Fall is coming)

Since I’ve been posting a lot of portraits latey I’ve been wanting to try some more experimental photography.  Here are a few abstracts.

I love this photo even though it is slightly out of focus.  Their eyes are the same shade of blue.  Oh, how I love them!

The above photo is of our crazy Frisbee dog Miles.  Yeah, he’s looking a bit on the older side but I swear he still acts like he’s young and spunky.  This photo just cracks me up because it is just classic Miles.  He means business when it comes to playing fetch.  That used to be Little A’s soccer ball but it’s more like a few scraps of shredded leather now.  They never last long with Miles around.

Now that I’ve finished up with my photography portfolio class my work has not ended.  I still need to work on the final draft of my book and rework a few things in it before I unveil it.  Of course, there never really is a final draft because I could always keep working on it forever, but at some point I’ve got to call it done and move on.  If I stay true to the “Marketing Plan” we had to turn into our instructor, I also have to try to promote my work to be displayed at coffeehouses.  This is the part that scares me the most because I have no idea how to do that and don’t know if I’d be any good at marketing myself and my work.  There is so much fear that goes along with art.  (sigh)

 I’ve thought about taking another class but I think I need a little break so I can do some more of my own self-study.  I’d like to try pinhole photography.  I also have two rolls of Kodachrome 64 film that my friend April sent to me.  I’d like to try one roll in my Blackbird, Fly and the other in my Canon AE1 (this is the camera my Dad gave to me and the one he used to take photos of me when I was little…um yeah, it’s really old!).   Anyway, I think it will be nice to get back to more shooting with film cameras and experimenting once I have more time and energy to do so. 

Can you believe I’m still recovering from staying up late for 2-3 weeks straight working on my book?  I’ve been a bit of a vegetable this past week.  I need to get back into doing yoga more often so I have more energy.  Hmm, maybe I’ll join Deanna with Boot Camp.  Waking up before sunset doesn’t sound fun at all though….

Today we went on a playdate to Sea World.  It had been a long time since we’d gone there together since we’ve avoided it all summer long.  Now that school is back in the crowds are gone and we had the place to ourselves again.  Despite how tired I was I ended having a great time.  The kiddos all had a great time playing together in the Garden of Discovery and in the Bay of Play.  It was sad thinking this might be our last time to go there with Kasey and Jasper since they are moving to Portland in just a few weeks.  I’m very sad about this and I hate it when people move away from here. 

Tonight was my class photography exhibition.  I think I can say it was a huge success since my instructor said mine was the “Best in Show.”  Wow!  Thank you to everyone who helped me with my project and all of you who came out tonight to support me.  I have so many reasons to be beaming from ear to ear! 

Afterwards, I went out with Deanna and Kasey for some celebratory cocktails afterwards.  I tried to take a snapshot of the three of us in the bathroom mirror, which wasn’t that successful but I still like the photo.  A woman in the bathroom offered to take our photo when she saw us trying to take a photo in the mirror.  We must’ve looked really funny.  Here’s the photo she took.