life lately + christmas!

Two blog posts in a month? I'm on a roll! But my horrible blogging consistently aside, here are some rad life things I've been a part of the past month:

// After a looong hiatus of not participating in any Collaborative Thread events (see: twins), I, along with a couple friends, went to their speed-dating-for-creatives event last month. It was hosted at the beautiful Moniker General store, and I loved the format because it forced me to talk to more than just two people (I'm so shy at these things). I met tons of awesome women in all different kinds of fields, and I even met a fellow Virginian :)

The girls I rolled with: Summer has her own personal chef business, and Leah of Tiger + Ox

// I'm one of those people who can only handle about two holiday parties during December, and then I just want to retreat under a blanket until the second week of January. But I'm really glad I went to my husband's work holiday party this year! I offered to take portraits at the event photobooth-style, and it. Was. A. Hit. My ambitious endeavor of gluing 600 sequins to foam boards totally paid off, and bonus: my sister-in-law was visiting too, so she attended the party with us! So I got to shoot lots of great portraits such as these:

// The twins' second Christmas! This time with all the wrapping paper and bows their little hearts could want! We didn't want to go too crazy with buying gifts this year, which was a good thing, since most of their presents came from two sets of very generous grandparents :)

I will never get tired of seeing cute kids in Christmas jammies :)

fox & wren // their first christmas

Merry Everything from my family to yours :)

portraits // new year's eve 2013

Yes, the month of January is already half-over, but it's not too late to share some rad photos I took on new year's eve, right? Some friends of mine were hosting a new year's eve party at their place, so naturally I wanted to take over a wall in their house and set up a little backdrop area to take portraits of everyone's beautiful faces. I got a little overzealous at the Party City store, but it was worth it, because that wall ended up looking pretty dang festive.

Here are some of my favorites!

 This was so much fun. Everyone was photogenic and just let loose, and weren't afraid to get a little silly. Which makes the best photos, in my opinion. Also, adult beverages help. A lot.

AND! I shot so many photos that night (453 to be exact), that I decided to put them all together in a quickie time-lapse video for funsies.

a message from the resident cat

My cat hates a lot of things, but having this on top of her head surely makes the top of the list.

The hardest part of taking this photo? Getting her ears through the holes. Sometimes there's nothing more unmovable than flattened cat ears.

adios 2012!

Today is Christmas Eve, and I have grand plans to watch the entire fifth season of Mad Men, snuggle with the kittah, and Skype with the Mister.

This year has had its share of good fortune and sucky deployments (the latter is still on-going), so I'm trying to stay positive for the most part. Going through the holidays while your other half is thousands of miles away for several months at at time is tough, but I've been fortunate to meet great people here in San Diego who not only let me occasionally vent about the aforementioned sucky deployment, but remind me how much I really do love living in this city.

So here is my official sign-off for 2012! I'll see you guys next year :)

Happy Birthday 'Merica!

This is my first 4th of July on American soil in over three years, and I can't wait to celebrate it with friends at a local bbq in my neighborhood.

I took these photobooth-style photos last year at a party, when I was still living in Spain, and it's fun to revisit such awesome memories. You can see the whole batch of photos from that day right here on my flickr page.

Happy 'Merica Day everyone!

flashback // Spanish feria

Sometime last week, a friend on my facebook feed who still lives in Spain mentioned going to the local feria, and bam....I started missing Spain again. I know at some point, I'm going to have to stop with all the España posts, because obviously, I live here now, and the whole point of this blog is to share my new adventures in California, but dang, it's hard sometimes.

Back to feria though. It's basically the country's week-long party held a couple weeks after their Easter Holy Week, and in my humble opinion, it's full of the best parts of Spanish culture: Sevillana dancing, sherry, tapas, friends, huge jugs of rebujitos, dancing your little butts off, and those delicious chocolate buñuelos.

Here are some photos I took at last year's feria in Puerto de Santa Maria (taken with my Diana Mini film camera).

The Spanish women get dolled up in the most gorgeous Sevillana dresses, and for them, it's a huge deal. Many will get them custom-made like, months in advance. Even pushing a stroller, that woman looks super classy. In fact, I barely even notice the stroller.

The best part of feria? A delicious pitcher of rebujito (a dry sherry mixed with Sprite). There I am, holding my prize. The second best part of feria? Walking anywhere you want with your pitcher of rebujito, because this isn't America where they section off a drinking-only zone because they think we can't handle ourselves (I'm looking at you, Cinco de Mayo festival in Old Town).

Pardon the blurriness, but I do love this photo. It's a group of little girls (and maybe a boy or two) dancing a traditional Sevillana dance. Yep. They get in on the feria action too, and they kill it.

Feria's motto should be: "You won't leave hungry." And if you come to feria on a full stomach, you're an idiot, cause sometimes things just taste better served fried and under a tent.

Amigos buying tickets for a ride. Adult-friendly rides. Rides that were set up within a day. Perfectly safe.

No, it's not a Tron movie. Just that perfectly safe ride I was talking about.

Speaking of rides, here's what several seconds of bumper cars looks like to a camera lens.

Do you like cheap shopping? I do. And feria has cheap shopping. Mostly clothes and bags and jewelry. Lots of jewelry. Granted, every bracelet I bought from feria broke after about a year, but that's okay, cause it was only 2 euros.

Double-exposure/blurry goodness. But I actually love it like that, cause it kind of embodies what feria was like for me. Chaotic, crowded, dusty, bright lights, and just damn FUN.

happy friday!

Uno: I have a feeling it's gonna be a rad weekend....tomorrow the Mister and I are heading to Old Town for Cinco de Mayo festivities, cause there's no way I'm living in this city and letting such a holiday pass me by. No sir.

Dos: And on Sunday, I'm doing a shoot for Pacific Magazine, photographing a local artist in her studio. Should be good times!

Tres: Annnd, not to get too ahead of myself, but I'm in the process of organizing a collaborative model shoot with a few other photographers in the area, and I couldn't be more stoked/excited/all-those-other-feel-good-words. Yay!

What are your plans for this weekend? I wanna know!

Merry Christmas! (and a look back!)

I guess I ended up doing a holiday portrait with the hubby after all. I call this the Ugly-Sweaters-Faux-Facial-Hair-And-Disgruntled-Cat holiday edition! How ridiculous are we. And kitty's face makes me laugh so hard. She couldn't have timed that any better.

This year has been phenomenal. Here are some of my favorite events/trips/moments that I was fortunate enough to experience this year.

My first photography fashion shoot in London.

An alternative Easter Sunday.

Photographing a beautiful family in a wheat field.

Wandering the Juderia in Córdoba, Spain.

Coffee dates and beach days with a fellow photografriend.

An ode to summer. And good friends.

And of course, sharing it all with the man you see above, wearing his fake beard and fake mustache, and holding a cranky cat. He is my rock.

Happy Holidays everyone! (actually, more like 'Happy Holidays to the two people who read this blog!') Let's get excited for 2012, shall we?

this time last year...

...the mister and I were taking silly-holiday-portraits-with-santa-hats-and-fake-snow. So much fun. So worth all the fake snow we kept finding around the house for the next two months.

I'm a little bummed this year though, because I really, really meant to do another Christmas-y portrait with the hubby. And not only that, but my goal was to have them done, say, by mid-November, so I could make Christmas cards out of them and mail them out. Crap. So not gonna happen this year.

But Christmas 2012, you better watch out. I'm gonna be all over it.

 

 

 

I know it looks like we're in the middle of nowhere in these photos, but we were actually quite close to civilization. The mister and I drove just outside of Las Vegas to visit some family for Thanksgiving, and we are literally in their backyard in these images.

It kind of blew my mind. The landscape there is so very different than anything I've ever seen before. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Do I love it? No. Do I hate it? No. Do I want to capture it on camera? Ohhh yes.