A year to remember.

2010. You've come and gone. It's been on helluva year with you. I know most people are recapping this past year but I'm a bit too lazy for that. All I gotta say is that I had a good run this past year and I'm definitely looking forward to 2011. I'm starting the year off with a new job and new goals and dreams. Here's looking at you baby!

Too busy to do any shooting.

I'm getting my last few days of work done. Thursday is my last day at my job. I'm very happy about leaving. But until then, I just gotta suck it up and keep trucking and telling myself:

Two more days... just two. more. days!

I call "success" on Christmas Day

Our first gingerbread house
Christmas came and went. I always get bummed out that Christmas has passed. It means 364 more days until next year. I'm gonna miss all the Christmas music that they play 24/7 on the radio, all the lights hung up every where, and the holiday cheer that everyone seems to adopt. This is definitely my favorite time of year and I'm gonna be looking forward to next year... no matter how far away it is :)

Christmas was great this year. Nice sit down lunch at the father-in-law's house and then dinner at the mom's house. I was actually more stuffed than I was at Thanksgiving. There were lots of presents and family and friends. It was nice to get out. Even though I always complain about having to see the family, it was a treat bonding with everyone.

Now on to New Years!!

wake up, wake up, it's Christmas Eve!!

I got 2 film cameras and loads of film yesterday which means happy shootings to me this weekend :)

is there no decency in the world?

I feel really lost right now. I feel like the world has let me down. I feel betrayed.

It's unbelievable what goes on in the world. Good, hardworking people lose their jobs for nothing, while lazy, hardly hardworking folk are left to soak up the glory. I can't believe that someone who I once respected would go so low to back-stab someone close to me. I feel disgusted. There are no other words.

It's so... wrong. The world is unfair. That is not new information. But when it is disguised in seemingly civilized people, then you know the world is fucked up.

I don't know what to think.

Winter wonderland of "snow"

Korean BBQ - revisited

Here's 2 snapshots of me, in all my glory, enjoying some delicious Korean BBQ that I blogged about here. Check out ALL. THAT. FOOD. I think we only ate about half of the meats and most of the side dishes were only tasted once. I think in the future we need to be less gluttonous when we're ordering the food ;)


I rocked that panda hat :)

I love my Tuesdays!

Hello gorgeous!
One of the great things about working in the healthcare industry are the hours. I work 12 hour shifts, 3 days a week. This means I'm off Tuesdays and Fridays (hello 3 day weekend... every weekend!). Now I'm not gonna lie, working 12 hours is definitely draining, physically and mentally. Usually by the 3rd day I'm a complete and utter wreck. It also kinda sucks that I go to and from work when it's pitch black outside. My whole day is spent indoors. But hey, in the end, I love that I have 2 extra days off to do whatever I please. Like last night, when I stayed up until 2am and didn't wake up until 10am this morning. Sleeping in rocks my socks.

So today I was planning on going out to Hermann Park to take some pictures... but after realizing I slept in a little too late, I decided against it. I had too much shit to do and I already spent the better part of the morning sleeping. I had to run a few errands, including picking up a few plants for my aquarium. I wanted Mr. and Mrs. Bubbles to have a nice home so there's a few new additions to the tank today. Hopefully the plants will do well and start growing nicely in the tank.

Craving fulfilled :)

The hubby took me to eat some Korean BBQ for the first time a few weeks ago. I wasn't expecting too much except how awesome it was to cook our own meats at the table (hell yea!). Little did I know that that night would alter my cravings into a whole new system. It was that night that got me hooked on Korean BBQ. I can't believe I'd gone 25 years without EVER having eaten Korean BBQ. The food was amazing, life changing. It was since then that I've had a constant craving for some Korean BBQ. And tonight, I was definitely satisfied.

We ordered the variety platter. There was 4 different types of meat that we cooked and they were all delicious. There's this dip that's to die for. It has a nutty flavor and it goes great with the beef. I wish I knew what it was because that was heaven on earth. But unfortunately, there aren't too many pictures because I was too busy being a pig :/

I've found a new food obsession. Thanks a lot Korea.

It's the little things in life...

One of the best thing to come out of winter is drinking hot chocolate with loads and loads of marshmallows :) I'm one of those freaks who constantly add more marshmallows when the others in my drink have melted. I think one time I gave myself such a huge sugar rush from adding like half a bag of marshmallows into my hot cocoa. It was great!

So last night I made some hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls to go along with the relaxing I was about to do. It definitely felt great being able to kick my legs up on the couch, pig out on cinnamon rolls, and watch tv. Nothing beats it.



Today I did something I never do... I went out and bought fresh flowers. I was in a "domesticated wife" mood, I guess. I wanted some baby's breath but the store didn't have any. So I settled on some flowers that were actually used in my wedding a few months back. I wish there was a farmer's market or something by the house so that I can keep buying flowers from local florists and not have to pay out my butt at some franchise store. Oh well, having the flowers sitting on my desk makes me happy. I feel good about life every time I look at them. It's the little things in life that brings a smile to my face. Thank god for weekends ;)

Well, I did it!!

I spent the better part of yesterday using the Nikon EM. I was trying to get as comfortable as possible with it using some cheap film that I bought. I wanted to do all my trial and errors before I started using the more expensive films that I have lying around. So how was my experience? It was pretty fun actually. I had a great time shooting manual and getting back to basics with photography. Film definitely makes you think twice about your composition and the subject. I like that challenge... it brought me back to the good old days of shooting manual metering and focus with my D40.

I got my film developed this morning and was so excited to come back an hour later to check on the results. The pictures turned out... different than I thought it would. I'm not sure if it's because of the low light, the film, or the camera (maybe even ME, gasp!) but I wasn't too pleased with the results. Most of the pictures were slightly out of focus. I'm not sure if I was to blame but I gotta say that focusing on this camera is a major challenge. There's a part of the viewfinder that is shaded gray which makes it really hard to see where exactly you're focusing. Maybe I'm jut not used to it. Either way, here are the not so great pics. I'm definitely learning from my mistakes and moving on :)

Busy days of winter

It's so hard to keep up with blogging when I work full time. I don't see how people do it, it's EXHAUSTING. This week at work has been so hectic and crazy. I had a miserable day at work yesterday. I was beyond tired from lack of sleep and I had a throbbing headache all day. To make matters worse, it was a ridiculously busy day at work. I did not have a good day. No sir.

I'm super excited though. My 35mm film came in last night so today I'm gonna be testing out my Nikon EM. This will be the first time I shoot film so I'm pretty excited. I'm gonna try and just do some simple shots with the first roll so that I can get a hang of things before I do anything too serious. I'm excited!!

Here's to trying new things and trying to enjoy my days off :)

Relaxing with my babe

Leaving the city life behind

I spent the better part of yesterday hanging out at the hubby's work. Did I mention that he works in the middle of nowhere? Well, he does. The town's called Hockley, it's about 40 minutes northwest of Houston with about 300 people residing in its city limits. There are sprawling, acre wide properties with cows and horses grazing every mile or so. A small one car dirt road takes us to the barn-like building where Michael works. The property itself is on a huge piece of land that Junie loves to run around in. Of course, she has to be watched or else she crawls under a fence trying to follow a cow's scent. Regardless, it's refreshing being out of the city and into the carefree environment of the country.

Field trip to see some fuzzy friends

I decided a few days ago to pay a visit to the local zoo. It's been awhile since I'd visited, mostly because Houston summers are blindingly hot so I stay as far away from outdoor activities as possible. But with the recent cold fronts that have been moving in, it was the perfect time to check out the Houston Zoo. Fortunately, it seemed like the animals hate the heat as much as I do so they were all out in full force that day. I managed to get more pictures than I usually do, yay! Be prepared for an onslaught of pictures.

PS- don't mind the repetition of some of the pictures. I was SUPER tired when I made them. Mistakes were bound to happen :)