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