Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great thanksgiving and a lot to be thankful for! Below are some of the pics we took, all it all a wonderful day!

November Update

I keep meaning to update my blog and then I get distracted. Things have been beyond busy here :-) James finished up the itallian movie he was working on. You can see the trailer by clicking on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLywcPRizAo. You might also want to check out this clip someone posted on youTube, you might recognize someone at the end :-)



We went to his wrap party it was fun! So many of the crew had such wonderful things to say about working with James. I was pretty proud of him!

As for me I've been plugging away at work, and boy there is so much of it :-) I often wonder if I've ever been this busy before??? Some good news too, I've been offered a new job within the company. I think it sounds exciting, but I'll have to share more details later. Also my current director submitted me for an award that my company gives out to select employees that go above and beyond their scope of work....I just found out I won! :-) I was so honored and happy to be thought of. Now I get to spend my $50 on something fun....hmm...wonder what it will be?

As for the baby it continues to grow and grow. I've gained a few pounds and suddenly my belly is resembling a more buddah shape. So far things are going great, no major issues and I feel pretty good. I'm finally over the extreme tiredness hump and my headaches are fewer and farther in between. The only thing I have to really deal with now is the back/side pains and my hip joints hurting in the morning. Its so interesting to see how change even gradual can affect the body, not to mention that every persons body reacts differently...who knew? I think its amazing! I'll have to post some more prego pics soon.

This past weekend James and I spent most of it cleaning up and cleaning out our apartment. We had so much junk that we're just hanging onto for no apparent reason (or at least not a good enough reason). I figured I would only be getting bigger so what better time than now to do our deep clean out. We've still got some drawers and things to go through but we definitely have less stuff than what we moved in with. We're planning to drop most of it off at goodwill this weekend. It feels good to get rid of things that we never use or never wear. I'm proud of James he's even selling stuff on the internet. Now we'll just have to make sure we don't try to fill up our newly made space. :-)

We're looking forward to Thanksgiving, and I am so looking forward to a break from work and an extended weekend. Yes! I'm cooking Thanksgiving dinner again this year, and James invited a few friends over so we'll see who turns up. Should be a fun night!

Our Wee Little One

Exciting news....we're pregnant! And we're so happy about it :-) Today I went in for my first ultrasound. The Dr. wanted to confirm my due date and the baby's gestational age. It was such a lovely experience to be able to see my baby moving around and flexing its arms and legs. The technician was even able to capture a pic of the baby waving at me :-) I found out that my due date is now May 12 and I am a little over 11 weeks pregnant. Yay! Here are the pics from the ultrasound and some pregnant pics of me.

Fall Is Here

In celebration of Fall last weekend I baked an apple pie! It was fun and tasty...here are some pics :-)

relaxin

This weekend James and I relaxed a little. We had both had a hard work week. On Saturday we decided to buy tennis rackets :-) Then we went over to the Joel & Amy's to hang out. We ate dinner, listened to jazz, played tennis, and of course we ended the evening with a nice game of settlers. It was a bunch of fun! On our way to dinner I even ran into my friend Kristen whom I hadn't seen in 4 years...it was so great to see her!

Now its Sunday night, and I'm bummed that the weekend isn't just a little bit longer. I keep trying to motivate myself to do some housework....but for some reason I keep procrastinating :-) I feel like I need to buy a new book to read....any suggestions?

Summer Photo Shoots :-)

As many of you know I'm slowly making my way into wedding and lifestyle photography. These past few months I've had some wonderful photo shoot opportunities. This is a collection of my favorites from the shoot. And I'm still looking for more opportunities....so if anyone out there wants some great photos, let me know :-) Enjoy!

The Mundens Came to Visit

Also a few weeks ago the Mundens came to visit us in sunny CA. It was so much fun! I would say they had quite the adventure. Due to work I missed out on a few of the fun beach excursions but I think James showed them a good time. Here are the pics we took from their visit....

Hike

Yes it's been too long...instead of typing a whole big story on why I haven't been blogging lately, I decided I would just begin to post little tid-bits at a time to fill you all in. And of course lots of pics....So a few weekends back James and I decided to hike up on of the mountains at Griffith park to see the famous solo tree at the top. It was very hot. And James told me it would be fun. He lead me along a very narrow pathway with lots of rocks. He assured me this was in fact the best way to go. At first there were some 4 foot tall rock walls to climb up. No biggie but lots of fun. Then we came to 1 of 2 15-20 foot walls. Might I remind you we are not trained rock climbers. James said he did the climb a week ago and convinced me that going up would be easier than going back. I agreed and found myself climbing up this wall with no ropes or helmets. I was so scared I was going to fall. But I didn't and we eventually made it to the top of the mountain for a spectacular view. At the top I noticed the smoother trail to the right and we took that pathway back down. It was a lot easier going down. When we finished I told James I had so much fun....but I was never doing that again! Ha! And b/c every story is better with a picture here is one from that trek. Please excuse the dirty and sweaty look I had going on...it was a really hard hike :-)




These are two pics from the hike. The first on is me in the middle of my climb up the rock wall. The other one is me at the tree on top of the mountain. It was hazy that day so you can't really see the city but it is behind me.

Family Tour 09

Recently James and I had the pleasure of visiting our families in both Virginia and Michigan. We took a whole week off of work and spent 3 days in VA and 3 days in MI. Our first stop was in VA, James' parents picked us up, and we had fun chatting and visiting with each other. The next day our friend Rob drove up from PA to see us. Shortly after Rob arrived our friend Paul came over too. James, Rob, Paul and James' dad Terry began to play cornhole. Of course regular cornhole was not enough of a challenge and soon they all were attempting to play with moving targets. It was quite a scene, and very fun to watch! Then it was off to lunch and more games at the park. Our friends Kevin and Drew joined us. Paul took us to a special park for kids that he helped engineer, it was like nothing I'd ever seen. (Check out the pics) It was really neat I wish they had parks like that when I was growing up :-) Afterward we headed to another park where the guys were able to run around and play more games. I had fun visiting with Drew and catching up on all that was new in their lives. When we returned home James' mom Doni arranged for the whole family to come over and have dinner with us. It was a beautiful night on the patio and we had so much fun seeing everyone! The next day we decided to go tubing with Terry, Doni, Kevin, and Drew. It was so much fun! We decided to go on the rapid one which took us over some rocks and had some faster moving parts. At some points we would bump each other over the rapids and pummel down the river. Other parts were lazy and relaxing. It was a really fun day and the weather was gorgeous! We came home exhausted but no too tired for friends. We had dinner that night with Kevin, Drew, Paul, David and Arielle. Later on Nancy and Michael came over too, and we were able to meet baby Noah who is still growing in Nancy's tummy. It was a blast to see so many of our friends! We have really great friends, if only they could all live in California....The next day we hung out at the Kanka's house. It was nice and relaxing. We were still tired from the day before. Later that afternoon Matt drove up to see us. He's been playing up a storm with his new band and we got to listen to one of his CDs. They were really good, and it was fun to hear about all that was new for him. Rose joined us all for dinner and we relaxed and enjoyed the wonderful company. Later we went to see Harry Potter with Matt, it was good but not as great at the other Potter movies. The next morning we packed up and headed to the airport to begin our trip to Michigan.

The flight was short and easy. Once we landed my parents picked us up and took us to see my brother, Brad, and sister-in law, Nicole. We went to eat at a great pizza place on their upstairs patio. It was nice and cool in Michigan, and I had so much fun seeing Brad and Nicole. After pizza we slowly made the drive back to my mom's house. Of course my mom's dog Mac was more than happy to see us! The next day we slep in and got caught up on our sleep. That afternoon we headed out to MSU campus with Mom and walked Mac around. We walked to the MSU dairy and all got ice creams, even Mac! Its funny how the campus has changed and yet it really hadn't. Afterwards we went to visit my Nanna and Boppa. I couldn't wait to see them it had really been too long :-) We watched a movie that night, Despero, it really wasn't very good though I was so excited about the story. The next day we went shopping with Mom and she bought a Wii! Once we were home we helped her set it up and immediately began to make our Mii characters. My Dad joined us for steak dinners and then it was time to play. We had fun boxing, playing tennis, and setting up the Wii Fit. Mom was pretty good she and Dad both beat me in boxing. The next day James and I went out to lunch with our friends Devon and Justin. I got to see where baby Violet in Devon's tummy. I had fun catching up with them, I miss having Devon around, but I'm so excited for this next chapter in their lives. My mom planned a big family dinner that night. Brad and Nicole came over early and we enjoyed playing Wii over some brews. Later the rest of my family joined, even my uncle Doug and aunt Jane from Indiana came up for a visit. We all had fun laughing, eating, playing games and catching up. Everyone took turns playing the games on the Wii and it was hilarious! My aunt Terry and uncle Bruce were able to join us and uncle Bruce even made me a necklace out of a collectors coin from 1882. It was beautiful! Cathryn and Matt updated us on married life it was fun to see them. For desert my Dad bought some pies from Traverse City at the Traverse City pie company. They were cherry and so delicious it was amazing. (And I normally don't like cherry pies!) It was a very fun night. The next day James and I headed to the airport for LA. We volunteered to be bumped from our flight and each recieved $300 flight vouchers, and $15 food vouchers. So we hung out at the airport for another 3 hours. We eventually made it to LA after a long day of waiting around. But it was so worth it! We had so much fun seeing everyone on our family tour, thanks to all who helped make it so great! Check out the snapshots from the trip, videos to come soon!

4th of July weekend

This weekend was filled with cleaning and relaxation. James was out of town for most of the weekend working on a film. Luckily he got home Sat. afternoon. We decided to have an early meal and grilled a nice steak dinner with artichokes and corn on the cob. James could barely keep his eyes open during the meal. He was of course exhausted from long days/nights of shooting but after an afternoon nap he was ready to go see fireworks.

We decided to do a short hike at Griffith park to a lookout peak we had not been to. This peak took us higher than the Observatory where we had seen the fireworks last year. And this year we had an amazing parking spot too so we were happy. It was an easy trail, although I did have to take a few breaks since it was all uphill and of course I was wearing flip-flops. (I really don't know what I was thinking!) But it was a gorgeous and sunny day. When we got to the top we found a small group of other people who decided to do the same thing. People even brought their horses. We had an excellent spot overlooking all of LA and this time we could see most of the valley too. It is an amazing perspective to see all these fireworks, going off all over the town. Some of the shows were quite impressive.

As it grew later it became cold and we had to hike back down in the dark. We weren't planning ahead and so we had no flashlight. Although we did have a nice almost full moon. I was a little nervous about seeing coyotes since people had spotted one following them on the way up to the lookout peak. But much to James' dismay we didn't see any coyotes. It was a nice to spend another holiday together enjoying our city. Here are some pics from our 4th of July hike.

Pics

Its been awhile since I've posted pics...enjoy!

27

This past week I turned 27, and to celebrate I took a fun trip to Disneyland! It really was magical. There is something about the magic kingdom that makes everyone feel like a kid again. The day was sunny and warm (a vast change from the cloudy and cool weather we've been having) and I couldn't complain. Our friends Joel and Amy came with us and we all had a blast! We were even lucky enough to see Kobe Bryant (I think that's how you spell his name?) in a parade with Mickey Mouse. I think my favorite ride was the Indiana Jones ride where we were in a Jeep plowing through the unknown. It was a little scary when the giant ball rolled towards us, luckily Joel was an excellent driver and we narrowly made our escape. It was a fun day and we were all tuckered out by the end of it.

Later that night once home, I was overwhelmed at the number of birthday wishes I received on Facebook and email. I felt so loved and really appreciated the fact that I was able to share part of my 27 years with these special people. I don't know if I feel older, but I definitely feel loved. Thanks everyone!

Has it really?

Has it really been that long since I've posted??? I hate how I shut things out when I'm busy. I feel like I do that a lot. Sorry to all of you who I've unintentionally shut out, I'm trying to get better I promise! So in other news....work has kept me busy and on my toes lately. I've signed up for a web design class that meets on Saturday morning. So long to my sleep in Saturdays. I am learning some new things in class and maybe I'll have a new website in my near future. Although I'm not really fond of my teacher or the pace of the class lessons. I feel so impatient to learn the next step. I'm hanging in there, and my iPhone keeps me occupied while I wait for the next instructions :-)

Speaking of iPhones...sometimes I ponder the state of our culture in such a media and technology driven society. Are we really taking the time to listen, to learn, to grow, to experience life around us? Or are we just successful multi-taskers driven by the need to be connected through technology? Most of my day is spent connected to the computer or technology of some sort. Don't get me wrong I LOVE technology, but when does it become an unhealthy habit? I've decided that I'm going to strive to connect more in ways other than surfing the web, watching online videos, and reading blogs. My life isn't virtual though I do enjoy the wonderful outlets technology supplies. This was one of my thoughts today... Who knows what deep topic I'll be thinking of tomorrow :-)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This past week I decided to make one of my favorite soups. It was delish! It was a recipe I took from Sandra Lee and slightly modified it. So good and easy in fact, I thought I would share the recipe. If any of you are like me and like simple, easy, and quick recipes this is one for you.

• In a lightly oiled saute pan cook 2-3 chicken breasts until no longer pink. Once cooked let the meat cool slightly and then begin pulling chicken apart into thin strips/chunks that are skinny and about .5 inch long.
  
• In a separate pan saute about a half cup of diced onion and 3-4 cloves of garlic until lightly browned.
• Combine pulled chicken, onions, and garlic into large pot.
• Add 1 box/container of chicken broth to the pot
  
• Add 1 box/container of Cambpbells V8 Southwetern Corn Soup
• Add 1 can of Green Giant Mexicorn
• Add 1 can of Diced Mexican Tomatoes (or something with diced tomatoes and chiles)
• Add a 1/2 cup of crumbled tortilla chips
• Add one dash of crushed red pepper
  
• Bring the pot of ingredients to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer for 20 minutes
• When serving add sliced avacado, sour cream, shredded cheese, crunched tortilla chips, and tabasco sauce as desired.

Voila! You have a tasty meal in just 30 minutes :-) Enjoy!

The rest of the Sequoia pics...

So my week was insanely busy...but here are the rest of the well awaited Sequoia pics. What a fun trip....where shall we go next? hmmmm.....

Preview & Edited pics from Sequoia

This weekend I finished up converting the pics from our trip to Sequoia National Park from RAW into JPEG format . Here is a sneak peak of some of my favorites. I took a stab at editing them in photoshop...I like the vintage effect it gave, but I have a lot more to learn. I'll post the other pics (non-photoshoped) later, for those of you who want to see the full trip and a ton of pictures! But for now enjoy this condensed preview version...

Amazing!

Last week James and I celebrated our 3yr. anniversary by camping in the Sequoia National Park and I'm so glad we did. We had planned to camp near the top of the mountain but it was still snow covered. James like the idea of camping in the snow, but....I convinced him that staying at the bottom of the mountain where flowers and warmer weather would make the trip much more pleasant and me much more enjoyable :-) So we camped at a lovely campsite called Buckeye Flat, site 18 which was the best site on the whole lot. It was a small campground for tent campers only. Our lot was more secluded and bigger than the others. There was a rushing river that was behind our site and the sound of it put me to sleep at night. There were spacious bear boxes at each site, The first evening at the site we were able to take a short trail from our campground to the beautiful waterfalls. The temperatures were in the high 60s and surprisingly not many bugs, which is always a great sign to me!

The second day we drove back up to the top of the mountain. We hiked up to see General Sherman one of the largest giant sequoias in the park. And from there we took a short hike in and around the grove. There were snowy patches all around. It was beautiful but that area was a little too manicured with its paved hiking path. We continued to the museum, and then headed out to a  lookout called Beetle Rock. It was a massive rock overlook. We found a great little resting spot and admired God's beautiful work. Afterwards we headed out to Morrow Rock on a whim. It was a fabulous decision! We hiked up stone steps and slowly made our way to the top of this giant rock. At the top we had a full panoramic view of all the snow-capped mountains and the valley below.  It was windy but it was definitely a wow moment. Strangely enough a bunch of monks were visiting Morrow Rock that day as well. 

After that we decided to take a desolate trail to see Crescent Meadow. I thought there might be flowers there. The meadow was only about 2.6 miles from Morrow Rock, so I thought it would be easy. Boy it was tough. There we were hiking through giant sequoia trees and snow getting glimpses through the trees of the snow capped mountains in the distance. We didn't see a sole the whole time! I felt like a mouse in a strange fantasy land. At times James and I would have to check the snow or ground for footprints to ensure we were on the right track. It was beautiful and difficult, but it was worth it. When we arrived at Crescent Meadow there were no flowers, not even grass yet. But there was a lot of water covering the meadow. Instantly James and I heard the frogs. They were so loud it was deafening, really it was crazy! Since there weren't any flowers we continued on and hiked back to the car. We took a different route to ensure we saw the tunnel log where cars drive through the giant fallen sequoia.

We had wine and foil pockets, filled with meat and veggies, for dinner. And the entertainment for the night was the new neighbor camper who sounded like a bear every time he blew his nose. It was quite frightening, and funny!!! The next morning we checked out Hospital Rock with the ascent paintings. Then it was off on another hike where I could see the pretty flowers. It was beautiful! I was a little worried about seeing a bear, as there were some signs of a bigger animal using the trail we were on, but no bear this time. (James was a little disappointed...) We headed home shortly after our hike. It was a wonderful camping trip! Now I'm set on going to Yosemite....I just need to figure out when.

 I'm still editing my pictures, this week has been super busy and we have a ton of them. (Of course!)  But I promise they are coming soon...stay tuned :-)

April 22 is Almost here!

Tomorrow is my last day of work for the week. I am getting excited just thinking about it :-) Since the weather has been unbelievably hot, we decided to take advantage of it, and pushed our camping trip forward a day. On Wednesday, James and I will be driving north and into the mountains. We're going to camp in Sequoia National Park for our 3 year anniversary! (It will also be earth day, how fitting!) Tomorrow after work it will be a mad dash to pack up the gear and supplies for our wonderful trip. I'm looking forward the beautiful variety of scenery, the long hikes, photo opportunities, and of course the quality time with James. Today I bought some wine to take, and James bought a new mat for us to use. (We learned our lesson about sleeping on the ground at the grand canyon it was rough, literally.) James also picked out our camping site preferences, we're hoping to get a spot by the river we'll see what we end up with. Since they don't take reservations it will be on a first come first serve basis. We'll be sure to post pics and happenings when we get back!

Also on a side note, we've been receiving lovely anniversary cards from friends and family, thank you so much!!! I can't believe anyone even remembers, but I'm so glad they do. It really makes James and I feel loved. Thank you and we love you too!!!

Time is Flying By!

Its hard to believe that James and I are approaching our 3 year anniversary! Its even weirder to think that we've been in a relationship for 6 years. I feel pretty lucky to have such a wonderful husband. We haven't made definite plans about what we're going to do for our anniversary but we have a few ideas. The week after this I have taken a half week off of work. Our anniversary is on Wednesday April 22, so we figured we'd sleep in, relax, and have a nice meal out on the town. Then on Thursday we're planning on taking a short camping trip. The only trouble is we can't make up our minds. I am in awe of how much California has to offer and James and I have only experience a little slice of it. We want to travel somewhere new. We both really like the idea of saving money on a hotel and camping is always such a fun experience. So...here are our mini trip options:

• Sequoia National Park - I've always wanted to see the giant trees, but do I want to share my experience with the bears? Not to mention, the temperatures can get down to the 30s at night. If we did travel this way we could also see Yosemite as it is not too far. Are the giant trees and beautiful wildlife worth it...or should we wait until summer?

• Big Sur- Camping on a beach cliff...what more can I say? We could also stop by the Hearst Castle on way if we ventured out that way. James and I have seen many of the California beaches and we love them! Waking up hearing the waves would be so luxurious, even for camping, but....by going with the beach would we be passing up an opportunity to see something different?

So does anyone have any ideas? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.... I just can't decide. Since we're on the topic on anniversary, this coming May also marks the anniversary of James and I moving out west. Hard to believe we've been here a year. I'm so thankful for what the Lord has given us thus far. Can't wait to see what the years to come bring!

As for updates....not to much is new. Last weekend I worked at a conference for School Board members. It was really interesting and I'm glad I have the opportunity to go. It was in San Diego so James came too which always makes the trips better. Our hotel was in the gas lamp district and we were able to walk around at night a bit. On Sunday we went to a place called Hash House a Go-Go, a great recommendation from a co-worker, it was insane in a good way. The plates were huge...platter size. I ordered a breakfast quesadilla and it was about the size of half a beach ball...I didn't even know they sold tortilla shells that big! It was really wonderful. After we stuffed our faces we went to the San Diego Zoo. It was so crowded but so cool! We saw all the exhibits, and if it wasn't for the lines we might have paid to feed the Giraffes too :-) It was so fun but boy did we get sunburned. James and I also finished our Battlestar Galatica marathon last week. For those of you who don't know what that is, than you haven't seen good Sci-Fi until you see the Battlestar series. (Just to clarify its the new one not the Battlestar from the 70s.)

This weekend we got to hang out with friends, grill and of course play games. It was a lot of fun! Its always refreshing to be around friends. Today for Easter Sunday James and I broke out the white linen. He in his pants and I in my coat. It was fun to dress up! We went to church, they had free breakfast, and a great message as always. The very first thing our pastor said was, "He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed", and then he had the congregation join in, in two parts. I instantly thought of home and our Lutheran church how often I would hear that phrase. Together my family and I would answer, "He is Risen Indeed!". It made me smile just thinking about it.

After church I tried to go to the mall...and realized too late that it was closed. But I did however get to knock over a parking sign :-) Ooops! No damage except to my ego of course! On that note I'll leave you with a few pics from our Easter weekend.

Praise the Lord, for He is risen that we might have life!

Lazy Weekend

Last weekend James and I finally went to the Getty with our friends Joel and Amy. It was bigger than I was expecting. The the architecture was simply beautiful! It all had a futuristic tone to it, right down to the white tram car that took us up the hill. Inside the Getty there were artistic period pieces. All kinds of art too, not just paintings. My favorites were a Degas piece featuring of course a ballerina, and a blue and white canopy bed with feathers on the posts from the 1600s. After a day at the Getty with our friends I did mini event photo shoot for my co-workers' band. I had a fun time meeting everyone. It was a large band with very talented members. James and I also met a nice young couple who had just packed up and moved from New Hampshire. Hopefully we can connect with them again soon. The band played for a very short 20 minutes so I had to work fast. Not to mention there was not a whole lot of down time before the band went on. It was pretty crazy, and I felt the pressure of trying to get quick shots. I had some good photos, but more importantly I learned a lot. Not only about what kinds of things I could have done to improve my shots, but I also learned a lot about what kinds of services I want to pursue with photography. I really think I leaning more toward the weddings and photo outings. But we'll see! On Sunday last week James and I found ourselves in a sea of marathon runners on our way to church. The marathon route was not planned very well. All roads leading out of Pasadena were blocked off. We spent an hour and a half driving around trying to get out of Pasadena, and we missed church :-( All we could do is laugh at being stuck because of a marathon. The runners on the other hand were very impressive, especially the outfits!

The past week flew by again. James' friend Friel came to visit us. It was nice to see him, and its always fun to share beautiful southern CA with others. We had sushi and talked about life and the pursuit of happiness. He was only here for a couple of days but it was fun and James loved getting to hang out with Friel. While I was plugging away at my job, James had the opportunity to work on a professional commerical set. Which for him was amazing! He's probably writing about it in his blog....This weekend we decided to have a lazy weekend. It was nice to have a weekend to lounge around for once. Friday night after work I made homade pizza and we feel asleep by 10pm. On Saturday we vegged out and caught up on our Battlestar Galactica series and cleaned up the apartment. Then it was off to the mall for a shopping and ice cream. We also bought a paddle ball set Saturday night and had fun running around today in the library lawn looking ridiculous! It was fun though and the weather is beautiful. It's nice to open the window and smell the flowers in the air. I wish ever day was the weekend!

Thursday Night

It's Thursday night and the week flew by. There has been so many things on my mind lately, I haven't been sleeping. James came home on Wednesday from his shoot in Atlanta, I couldn't be happier I miss him too much when he's away. As I type this James is fast asleep on the couch.....I doubt I will be able pull him to bed, he seems pretty comfy :-)

Blah Day

Today was one of those blah days. I slept in, I cleaned, watched a couple of movies, and I did some research on the web. I'm beginning to seriously research starting a photography business. At least on the side for now. I love photos, and capturing life's moments in a visual way. I still have a lot of research to do, I don't know anything about starting even a side business. So much to learn. This fall I think I'm going to enlist in a photography class, which I think will be very fun!

Last weekend James and I went to the train museum by our place. It was really amazing....tons of old trains, many from the early 1900s. I enjoyed climbing on them and of course taking pictures! Here are a couple of the photos from our excursion, I'm sure I'll post more later :)

25 things I hate about facebook by julian smith

For those of you who use Facebook...you'll LOVE this video!

San Diego with Friends!

Our friends Chase & Elizabeth were vacationing in Mexico and were able to get a flight out of San Deigo, so James and I and our friends Joel  & Amy took a day trip. It was so much fun to hang out with our friends and the food was ridiculously good! :) Here are some pics from our trip, enjoy!

Feb. Photo Safari & McKenzie Shoot

Since James was gone on valentines day weekend my friend Jen came to visit me. During our fun time together we did a photo shoot for friends of mine from work. Afterwards we continued the photo safari fun. The pics are from Venice and Santa Monica Beach. Enjoy!

I've been slacking...

I've definitely been slacking in posting anything. I've been pretty busy with work and everything else. This week I went to my first pilates class. It was good, I think I want to go regularly now but we'll see how my schedule turns out. This weekend my friend Jen came and visited with me. She was a friend from my summer project and she's an incredible artist in so many ways. We basically took photos and talked the whole time. It was FABULOUS!!!! My friend from work needed some photos taken for his band. So we did a photo shoot at Venice beach with him and his family. I enjoyed the chance to get better acquainted with my new camera. I love it!  I think the pics turned out pretty good. But now I have to convert them to jpegs and do some minor edits. It'll keep me busy throughout the week nights I'm sure. I'll post some later. Today after church, Jen and I headed out to Santa Monica where we took more photos and had some yummy lunch. When I drove Jen to the train station we noticed a really cool cultural village by union station. I really want to take James there sometime, he would love the vibe it had.  Now I'm so tucked out, I just want to sleep...that's my definition of a good weekend!

Once upon a time...

James shared this video with me tonight. This adorable little girl Capucine and her mom are raising money for mongolian children. Check out their vimeo page. I also especially love the photos she drew...if you can translate a little french you will laugh too! Imagination is a beautiful thing....

Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

Last Night

Last night James and I went to the Derby to help celebrate Matt Iseman's birthday. It was really fun! They had a Journey tribute cover band playing, and the band was great. Matt is one of the host's on Clean House and he also does sports coverage on the Style Network's show the Dish. All of the Clean House crew were there to represent, not to mention many others from the Style Network. Danielle Fishel was also there celebrating. You may remember her from the show Boy Meets World, she played Topanga. All in all a very fun birthday celebartion, we were glad to be invited :)

James is Home!

James came home from Hawaii this week. His show has him on the traveling crew. For the next couple of months he will be traveling around the country. The good news is that he gets little breaks in between. They began this year with a trip to Hawaii and of course James loved it! Who wouldn't right? He got some great photos of his trip and he really enjoys his new role of assistant camera. Though I was glad for him to have the opportunity to go to Hawaii I must admit I was a little jealous....I wanted to go too!!! :) 

I'm so happy he's home now, I missed him a ton! This weekend we haven't really made any big plans. Just hanging out together. Tonight we're going to a party at a place called The Derby. I have no idea what to expect. (The name does remind me of the fun trips to Churchill Downs with my uncle.)  I'll keep you posted on our festivities tonight!

Today James and I finally took the plunge to buy a new computer...our desktop was getting old and running slow. We were having issues downloading our HD footage from our cameras and having  trouble editing as well as viewing in real time. We have been needing something faster to handle our large files. It had been on our long term purchasing plan for 2 years now. January was a great month for James and I work wise , and James is selling his older video camera since we now have the Canon 5D. We decided what better time than now...we knew if we waited we wouldn't do it. So we bought a new MacPro today! We excited to be a Mac family now. We didn't completely sell out, we still have our own dell monitors, speakers, etc. but the Mac is a big change. Stay tuned for updates. Currently James is busy switching everything over from one computer to the other...it's a big process. I have a feeling he'll be working on this all weekend. I'm so glad he understands all this computer stuff! :) 

Number Three

Today I experienced my 3rd earthquake since moving to California. Around lunch time there was another small earthquake. At first I thought it was going to be a bigger one because I could really feel it, but it was very short. The computers didn't even flicker. For more information click here. Apparently my office wasn't too far from the epicenter

home today

Today I stayed home from work...I'm beginning to feel better though I admit I am using more tissues than yesterday. They day looked beautiful outside. I caught a bit of the inauguration. It was really amazing...I wish I was still in DC to see it. To think that just 2 years ago James had a chance to meet and catch him on camera....and now he is president. Very cool!

icky

Yesterday I could feel it coming...this morning I woke up and knew...I'm sick! I hate being sick...I look and feel aweful. And it's supposssed to be a holiday today.  James left for Hawaii today for work. I'm praying I didn't give him any symptoms. 

Last time I was really sick James was so kind as to take my picture...I'm posting it because its funny and I have no shame....Imagine feeling like this...  

Pics from Dad's Christmas Visit

I know it's taken me awhile to actually get these up but here are some pics from my Dad's Christmas surprise visit. The pictures were taken with our old camera, and I think there are a few really good ones. When Dad was here we went to Santa Monica Beach and Pier, Venice Beach, Griffith Park & Observatory, the Hollywood Hills Park, and San Diego to visit my Uncle Don and Aunt Young Chung. The weather was un-seasonably cold when Dad was here but we still enjoyed some outdoor activities. You might even notice that when we were in San Diego a giant cloud front rolled in over the hills and surrounded us. It was  a whole new way to see the beach. (Just double click the image to go to our Picassa page if you would like to see the pictures bigger)

New Camera & Lipdub

This weekend James I tested out our new Camera. We had a lot of fun taking photos and learning all of the new buttons. As well as photos the new camera also lets us take video footage. So last night James convinced me to participate in our first lipdub. (Lipsinging to music on camera and dubbing music over it.) While we were very happy with the cameras performance, my performance lacks a bit of expertise. Maybe next time I will actually know all of the words...? All that to say it was fun and now we have something to post. :)

Danielle's First Lipdub - "Be Ok" from James Kanka on Vimeo.

little updates....

Next week I go to Orlando, FL for a sales conference with work.  1 day after I get home James leaves for Hawaii for the show he's working on. He'll be gone for 10 days, and then home for 10 days. It will be like that for at least 3 months. It will definitely be an adjustment for us to be in and out so much. Good thing my mom got us some new luggage! (By the way Mom, it was just delivered and we love them!)

This past weekend James and I got our library cards, we're so excited! The library is across the street and it's really nice. 

Oh, and we're getting our new camera this week!!! You thought we were photo fanatics before....just you wait and see!!! Not only will we be taking photos but it has a really great video feature as well!!!

This year like every January I've decided to get in shape...so far I've gone to the gym twice. What can I say I am easing my way in...at least that is what I keep telling myself.

I'll upload the pics from my dad's visit this weekend, hopefully. We have some fun shots. (Thinking of uploading pics...I still have to upload the pics from my cousin's wedding from October!) Well that's it for now...time for bed. Night!

New Year...New Do

A Merry Christmas in LA

This year James and I decided to stay in LA due to the price of plane tickets, recently moving and having no time to settle our things, and well... just being all stressed out.  My mom offered to buy us plane tickets home, and it almost worked out but in the end we decided to stay here, though I was so sad about not being able to see everyone. James and I had also decided to buy our families webcams for christmas. Well...my dad had the same idea! So we're still doing some christmas shopping for my mom, brother, and sister in-law. But the good news is that we were able to hook the webcams up and spend part of Christmas together! I've been able to chat and laugh with my mom, and see the animals as we talked to them from the computer.  On Christams my mom had my aunt, uncle, and grandparents over and I was able to see everyone and have a little bit of Christmas with them in Michigan. It was great to see and chat with everyone, it felt like I was right there! I miss them all a bunch! Another great thing was that we were able to open our presents with our family online so they got to see us open them. It was so neat! We also chatted with James' family on Christmas so we were able to see everyone one the east coase too! It was a very merry Christmas indeed!

Another fun thing that happened this Christmas was that James and the rest of my family kept a great secret and surprised me on Christmas..... strangely enough at chruch the week before Christmas there was a skit forshadowing the whole event...

On the 23rd James picked me up from work. He was really excited about his new hand held video recorder present from Brad and Nicole. He was taping me as I walked to the car. He kept holding it up in my face, while I'm somewhat used to this it was still quite distracting! I got in the car and he was still taping. I reminded him that could "turn the camera off now" as I thought there was nothing very exciting about filming two people sitting in a car. As I'm saying this I'm reaching for my seat belt, which I was having a hard time finding....all the sudden I feel a hand on my shoulder. I'm still trying to get my seat belt on...so I began to tell James to get his hand off of me, when I realized it wasn't his hand. He had both up front... one on the steering wheel and one on his camera. I began to ask just who was behind me, not exactly knowing what to expect. That's when my dad popped his head from the back seat! It was a great surprise!!!! Thanks to all of you who helped to keep it :) 

Here is the video James captured of the surprise....

Christmas Surprise from James Kanka on Vimeo.

What you get for your money in LA

These past two weeks James and I have been moving into our new apartment. I like to think of our place as our little cottage, because that's exactly how it feels. Apartments in LA just aren't the same as they are on the east coast, or probably anywhere else. We're happy with our find. To to have a refridgerator and a washer and dryer in the unit is big deal out here! James and I are also excited to put more of our money in savings as our cottage apt. will assist us in doing just that. Luckily our friends have been a huge help in getting us situated. While we still have piles of boxes to get through and two more rooms to paint...without the help from our friends we wouldn't have been able to move and get things as far along as they are. 

Work has been incredibly busy for both James and I so we've only had the weekend to really get things settled. We've made many trips to Lowes, and are about 60% done with getting everything unpacked. Ughhh....so much left to do....Well anyway here are the first batch of pics of moving in.

Also this past week we went to the E! holiday party. It was wild! It was held at LA Live an outdoor club in the middle of downtown. The sceen inside was a wide range of activity: pool tables, rock band video game, patio area, 2 open bars, dancing, platforms, etc. It was fun to meet more of James' co-workers. But the whole thing reminded me of a more tasteful version of spring break :) James and I had fun dancing! This week is my office holiday party and it will be pretty great if I do say so myself! 

New Place

Good news! We signed on our new apartment and already have the key. We'll begin painting and moving in this weekend! Yay and praise the Lord!!!! Though I'm not looking forward to the actual move...I am looking forward to a new place! I try and post pics as soon as we can. Thanks everyone for your advice and prayers :)

Thanksgiving Weekend

It was great to have Thursday and Friday off this week. Since our lease is up mid December, this weekend we spent a great deal of time looking for and at apartments. Today we found one that we would love to move into. We're filling out the applications now and Lord willing we will have a new place to live! It's a cute little unit, on a lot with only 2 other residences. I was happy it has a refrigerator and laundry!!! (Believe it or not, these features are not always the norm is southern CA.) It's actually only a few streets down from where our current place is, and we really like the area.

On Saturday I continued our thanksgiving tradition by making my grandma's Turkey Soup!!! (It's my favorite soup!) In addition to apartment hunting, we went to the movies. We saw "Bolt" in 3D. It was a great movie and we got to wear nifty glasses!

Feeling Thankful

Thanksgiving was very different this year, as James and I celebrated in CA. We celebrated in our own little way by giving thanks to the Lord for all he has blessed us with this past year. We have so much to be thankful for! James invited some friends from work over to celebrate with us. It was a fun night filled with food, drinks, guitar & harmonica jamming, and of course our favorite...games!

It was also a first for me to cook the whole meal from start to finish by myself. In the past I've often had a lot of help from my mom, she really is a good cook! I also had a lot of great family recipes to assist me. I began the preparations the night before by getting the mashed potato bake ready, and baking the sweet potato pie. The next morning I woke up bright and early to begin the cook off. I began the morning with homemade pie dough, and ended the day with gravy. It was a full day of cooking... but well worth it. Everything turned out great and the best part... no smoke alarm this year! :)

(For those who are actually interested) Here was the Kanka Thanksgiving Menu:
- Turkey
- Nicole's Mashed Potatoes w/ a pinch of Garlic
- Carrots
- Green Beans
- Stuffing
- Candied Yams
- Gravy
- Biscuits
- Sweet Potato Pie
- Whipped Cream
- Apple Pie
- Vanilla Ice Cream

We hope all our friends and family who are far away had a great thanksgiving, you were in our hearts and thoughts. Love you all! Here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving :)

Lake House Visit October 08

Better late than never.... In October James and I went to MI for my cousin's wedding and then headed up north to Gaylord, MI to spend time with my family at my brother and sister-in-laws lake house. It was beautiful as the trees were all in color. I can't wait to go back. Here are just a few of my favorites....

From Oct. 08 Lake House Visit

This Weekend

This weekend James and I spent apartment hunting. To be honest it was not very fun. Most of the rentals in southern CA are small privately owned complexes. So we were driving around looking for signs, calling the numbers, and using our GPS the whole time I felt car sick. It was the same feeling you get when you read too long in the car or if you are riding down really curvy roads. We have a lot more looking to do. I must admit I am getting a little nervous, given our lack of time for looking and the price range we are looking for. I really want to be happy with whatever we decide upon. If anyone has any suggestions of where to check out please let us know.

Also this weekend there were major fires in the surrounding LA area. The sky was hazy and the smell of smoke was evident in many areas. Luckily in Burbank there was no danger or smokey smells. Last night we had plans to visit our friends Joel and Amy to hang out in Fullerton. The fires were in a nearby city. Though logic would say not to drive towards the fires, of course we did the opposite. There was no danger by Joel and Amy's place or in their city but the smell of smoke was everywhere. Looking out their windows you could barely see some of the fire on top of the mountains 8 or so miles away. So we went to see the new James Bond movie and had yogurt at yogurt land. By the end of the night ash white ash was falling like a very light snowy mist. It's sad when you think about the ash being some one's memories or home. I wish we would have brought our camera to capture some pictures. But Amy and Joel have posted some of theirs here from earlier in the day. I am so thankful for all of the firefighters in CA who yearly fight these major fires. It makes you think......

Tuning Out & Turning Off

Have you ever been so incredibly busy that you just want to turn off? When you don't have much time sometimes even the smallest thing can seem like a huge time zapper... and you decide to tune out. Well unfortunately that was me recently. October came and went in a rush. Everything went so quickly. There were things that I didn't have time to do, and things I should have done....maybe, if I had had the time to do them. As you can image updating my blog was very low on the ladder...along with updating my pictures.

Well, since my last post my cousin got married. My family and I spent the rest of the week at my brother's beautiful lake house in Gaylord, MI. It was gorgeous with the trees all turning colors and fun to hang out in each other's company. Then it was back to the mad rush of things to do here in LA. Halloween was of course nothing less than I would expect in Hollywood. The election came and went and the buzz was so neat!

Now that I feel like I'm back in the game I'm debating... do I want to edit my pictures......nah! Too much to finish in one night. Maybe it will be my weekend project? We'll see how it goes. On a side note the other day as I was turning onto our road I passed the Dunder Mifflin, Inc. truck from the office! They must have been driving back from a shoot. Kind of cool!

Home Again

Currently I'm sitting in my Mom's living room in Michigan and we're watching the SNL presidential special. It's pretty funny! We got back from DC to spend 2 days in our apartment in LA before getting on a plane to head home for my cousin's wedding in MI. It's been incredibly busy! Our trip to DC was really crazy. The first part I spent in meetings, and the second half was spent visiting family and friends in the area. We came home to a clogged sink that wouldn't drain. We had to call our maintenance and they were there for hours before we were able to unpack and relax. The past two days at work flew by as they were spent catching up on what I had missed during the DC trip and preparing everything for my MI trip. It was a strange but busy few days.

James and I took the shuttle to the airport. By the time we got to the airport I was sure we were going to miss our flight. I was so anxious....we cut it VERY close. But thank the Lord all went well and we just barely made it on our flight. With just enough time to use the bathroom before boarding. We got into MI around 10pm. The weather was cool and very fall feeling. It was fun waking up this morning and looking at all of the trees beginning to turn colors. I miss getting to see the seasons change, in CA everything kind of looks the same. Although the weather has cooled a bit, no longer hovering in the high 90s, so perhaps that is CA's way of changing seasons? 

Tomorrow is the rehearsal for my cousin's wedding. It's crazy to think the day is finally here. She is so excited and so are we.  I love weddings!  James and I were driving around MSU and I couldn't help thinking how just 2.6 years ago James and I were married at the MSU chapel. I feel so blessed to be married to him, God knew exactly what He was doing when He paired us together. I pray that my cousin will be just as happy! We're having her bachelorette party tomorrow, it will be fun to hang out with her close friends...I think I'll send James to go hang out with my Dad.

We haven't had a chance to edit any of the pics from the DC/VA visit but we'll post them later once we get home and have some time. Later this week we're going up north to my brother's lake house, I'm hoping the trees will be in full color. We'll take lots of pictures, and hopefully we can get all the pictures up by the end of next week. But we'll see...the way things are going who knows when we'll have time!

Now it's time for bed!

Everyday Life

Check out my husband's blog....gives you a glimpse of where we live :) Click here!

DC

You may have been wondering why I haven't been bloggin lately. This past week my work sent me to DC for our all hands marketing meeting. Which is great!!! We've had a chance to see and hang out with James' family. In the next few days we'll get to see some friends too! Just a few months ago we were moving to LA ...time flies! The workshop was great but really busy. We'll post pictures of the trip later, that's it for now....more to come!

Sunday Nights

A typical Sunday night. Click here.

September is a month of celebrations

The past week it was my Mom's birthday. Tomorrow it is my brother's birthday and my grandparent's anniversary. Then this weekend is Nana's birthday. Wow! What a fun month, I wish I was in MI to celebrate with everyone! But since I'm not...happy birthdays and anniversary!!! In light of the celebrations I thought it would be fun to post some older pictures that I found from our old wedding slide show, enjoy!

Hollywood Style

This past Thursday, James and I attended the 100th episode party for Clean House, the show he is working on. I've avoided blogging about it because I knew I would have so much to write, but alas it's time to get it all down! It's weird to think that James was on set for the filming of awards that will be featured on their 100th episode. Some of the houses were well deserving of the awards, or so I'm told :)

At first I was a little nervous about going to the party. James had informed me that it would be dressy casual, and that it would be held in a house in the hills. Of course I always hate the phrase dressy casual, also known in the sorority world as "snappy casual". I find it so much easier to dress for events when the attire is labeled as dressy or casual. Not both. But either way, I chose to wear a beautiful black sleeveless top my mother-in law gave to me a couple of Christmas' ago, with my skinny fit jeans, and strappy black heals. For a purse I carried my coach clutch that my mom had given me as a Christmas present as well.

James and I parked in the recommended parking structure where we were driven to the hilltop party in town cars. I was able to meet a fair amount of James' co-workers while awaiting our transportation. They were all so nice! Everyone was fun and looking quite fabulous. Luckily I think I made the right choice in attire, I felt I fit in well into the scene and not out of place. The town car came and up the hill we went. We were dropped off at the top where a beautiful home sat with a red carpet, awaiting our arrival . We had to check our names at the door. Once inside there were delicious deserts, appetizers, and drinks awaiting us. The appetizers were amazing....shrimp, steak, mushroom puffs, chicken, and a cheese and cracker dish. The desserts were pretty good too...rice krispie treats, chocolate fondue with strawberries, pretzels, marsh mellows, and of course they had really cute cupcakes. The waiters were all extremely fun and lively. I was even able to sample the new "it" energy drink called Her.

There was a DJ playing great music and the whole house was pretty empty to allow for more room to mingle. The outside patio was gorgeous. The pool was light up a purple pink color. There were candles everywhere too! They had an open fire pit that was very modern in the style. I also enjoyed the extra touch of Modern Home and O magazines on all of the tables. The best part and most beautiful though was the view of the city. You could see all the lights of the city and the hills. It was the kind of view you would think of seeing in the movies. I wish had brought our camera....it was amazing!!!

So many interesting people were there, and I was able to meet most of them which was amazing!!! The heads of Style network, the hosts of the show, the designer of the show, those coordinating the show, those who edit the show, other productions assistants, sound people, and more. It was so great to see and meet the people James works with and for. I was even told that Paris Hilton was at the party before we arrived!!! Only in Hollywood right?!

It was a great and fun night! On our way out we received gift bags with chocolate, anti-oxidant water, magazines, and 100th episode CDs. I was so glad that James and I got to experience this together. I hope they have another party soon!!!!