a little east, a little west

Every time I shoot a little video with my iPhone, it seems I'll completely forget that I've taken it until weeks, possibly months later. Exhibit A: A spur-of-the-moment little video I shot way back in September, when the mister and I were still visiting family before the move to San Diego. Here we are in the Pennsylvania woods, with my all-knowing tour guide.

Man, I would make a terrible tour guide. I'm not the history buff that my husband is. I'd probably sound something like "I'm pretty sure there was a war fought here. An important one. And some people died. From battle wounds. Or syphilis."

Exhibit B: Another video I nearly forgot about, this time here on the west coast. This was from a few weeks ago, when we took a little stroll through Ocean Beach.


That pier we were on is amazing. Perfect for surfer-watching too. And it even has its own cafe! Pier food. Yum. Or maybe not yum? I haven't eaten there yet, so if any of you locals have tried it, let me know!

The (More Than) 52 Weeks Project

In July of 2010, I embarked on a new photo project where I aimed to take one creative self-portrait a week for one year. Fast forward one year and 6 months. Yep, I'm still trying to finish this damn project. Five more weeks to go. I can be the biggest procrastinator in the world sometimes. But on the bright side, I've done (in my humble opinion) some of my most creative work yet. Through my imagery, I've adopted a pet cloud, shrunken myself, blew up my head in a German field, and merged my face with my husband's face. Here's a quickie montage of some of my favorites.

in between / tea party for one / dress up

  forest creature / my better half / alien

untitled / portal / nesting

 So okay. It's 2012. Time to get my procrastinating butt in gear, and finish this project in a more timely manner. And not because I want to get this over with, but because I feel a renewed sense of inspiration and creativity. Like the other day, for example. I was doing laundry in the little shed behind my house, and I took a look around at all the dusty wooden shelves, and thought "I should totally shoot here! Why haven't I yet?" So I did.

You can read more about this image here on my flickr page, and you can see my entire set (thus far) here.

My goal is to finish this project in the exact same way that I started....full of creative energy, excitement, and purpose. Otherwise, what's the point?

Is anyone else doing a photography project this year? I'd love to see!

local gem // ocean beach is kind of magical

So what do you do when your husband is on vacation from work and it's 80 degrees outside? You both get in your car and drive to Ocean Beach for a bite to eat and a leisurely stroll. I love this place. It's got that 70's-beach-town-trapped-in-time vibe. We've been wanting to try out the burgers from Hodad's for a while, so we went there first. Totally worth the ten minute wait in line to get a table. Old license plates and music posters all over the walls. Delicious burgers. Huge portions. I was so busy scarfing down my food, I forgot to take a photo of it, but I did capture some of the decor.

Then we attempted to walk off the calories by browsing in a couple shops and walking the length of the fishing pier.

It was just one of those amazing surreal days where I got to walk around the beach in shorts weather, and in January! Even in Spain, it rarely got this warm this time of year. No hard feelings though Spain, I still love you.

home video // a new day, a new year

Between instagram and flickr, I've shared plenty of images of my new front yard, so apologies if it's getting old. Today, it's in video format at least. Just messing around with the 5D video function. Massive amount of leaves? Check. Playing voyeur on the cat? Check. Shaky camera-work? Check. Oh, and super sunny, super warm weather in January? God bless you San Diego.