day 83 : crazy moon

day 83: It's been a while since I posted a self portrait. I was driving home from class tonight and noticed how big and full the moon was so I had an idea to shoot a self portrait in front of it... unfortunately in comparison to my head the moon didn't look nearly as large... or impressive... and I don't have a big enough zoom lens to get back far enough that my head and the moon would be more similarly scaled (which was the original idea). So pardon the lame moon photo. My next self portrait will be more thought out. I promise.

day 82 : texas held us hostage

day 82: Our flight itinerary for the trip back had us scheduled to be on the ground in San Diego sometime before noon on Wednesday. Unfortunately Dallas had other plans. Plans which involved a green sky and massive amounts of lightning. Needless to say we weren't about to go anywhere in weather like that. We finally made it home, but only after many hours in the Dallas airport's TGI Fridays restaurant.

day 81 : catching up

day 81: We're finally back and settled in after our trip. What can I say? Very short, very intense... and very Texas.

day 80 : BBQ

day 80: John and Valena had us over to their place this afternoon for a fun memorial day BBQ. Their son is just about the cutest kid on earth so I had to take some pictures of him.
We're leaving this afternoon for Dallas and we'll be gone for a couple of days. I'm not sure if I'll have internet access so if I don't post for a few days don't worry... I'll still be taking pictures and they'll be up when I get back.

day 79 : wide open spaces

day 79: Today we went hiking in the mountains to the east of San Diego. The weather was perfect and the wind was blowing through fields of tall wild grass. It was the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

day 78 : nick & emma

day 78: Ben and I are visiting Encinitas for the weekend and Allison's good friend Emma from college just happens to be in town also. She brought along her boyfriend Nick and since they're so fabulously photogenic I asked them if I could do some portraits. This is one of my favorites but there are a lot of great ones! Thanks guys!

day 77 : big pile of dirt

day 77: Today my office took a field trip to a building site for one of the homes we are working on. This house is conspicuous consumption at its finest (worst?) The site was a hill, but thanks to some 30 foot high retaining walls is now flat. And what happens when you excavate out a hill to make a flat site? Well you end up with a GIANT mound of dirt of course.

day 76 : play ball!

day 76: Ben's office is part of a softball league and tonight was the first game. It wasn't a close game but I really don't think anybody expected it would be. That's what happens when a)your team has never practiced b) has not all even met before the game ... and c) is made up of architects. Much fun was had by all.

day 75 : house arrest

day 75: I spent almost the entire day today inside of our house. I only left to go out with friends for dinner but I was too busy enjoying my delicious food to remember to take a photo... oops. So instead of a photo of my tasty veggie fare, today you get to see a photo of our bookshelf. Thrilling...

day 74 : in loving memory

day 74: In loving memory of Michael, all my thoughts and prayers are with the family. You all mean the world to me. I love you.

day 73 : airport security

day 73: This evening we were walking to dinner and passed by the back side of the Santa Monica airport. This fence runs along the whole length of the street. I guess this is the low-tech version of airport security.

day 72 : osp socal

day 72: Today I met up with some amazing photographers in Fullerton for a day of shooting, talking, and general good times. Thank you so much to everyone who helped organize and to all of the wonderful volunteer models. I couldn't bear to post only one photo... so check out the slideshow below. These are only a handful of my favorites and I'm still sifting through to find the ones I like, so more will be added soon!

day 71 : altbuild

day 71: What do you get when you mix an airport hangar, artificial grass, and Ed Begley Jr. ? The Santa Monica alternative building expo! While there were a lot of products I'd seen before there were also a couple of cool ideas I hadn't heard of, one of which was earthfriendlymoving.com . The expo is over, but there are still home tours tomorrow... hurry and you may just catch one.

day 70 : i love the unplanned

day 70: Today after work we headed out to happy hour with some friends from Ben's office... happy hour turned into dinner and dinner turned into after dinner drinks and before we knew it it was after midnight. I love an unplanned evening out. Here are Laura and Alicia at dinner... after seeing my camera they exclaimed "We pose really well together... wanna see?" Here they are... an excellent pose indeed.

day 69 : saucers and glasses and plates oh my!

day 69: Thursdays are always hectic (at least for a couple more weeks... class is almost out!) and I always end up at home at the end of the day wondering what to post or what to take a picture of. I was putting away dishes when I got the idea for this one... oh the beige-ness of it all.

day 68 : back to the haunted mansion

day 68: I posted a while ago about a creepy haunted house I'm working on at the office. The only thing creepier than a haunted house is the basement or attic of said house. I went to measure both today. Here is a shot of the attic.

day 67 : oh so tasty

day 67: I'm not sure why I'm on a France nostalgia post kick but here goes another one... one of my favorite things about Paris is that we would always walk by at least 3 grocery stores on the way home, making shopping for dinner an enjoyable daily activity. And while we were cooking we always had on hand a baguette and a wedge of brie to nibble on. The bread in LA is not as good, and neither is the brie... but I still love it.

day 66 : blah

day 66: Not much to say about this one. It's on the Santa Monica promenade. It was definitely a monday today...

day 65 : we didn't win

day 65: I don't know what it is about claw machines that lures people in. It can't be the thrill of winning a cheap stuffed animal. Maybe it's just possibility of beating impossible odds. Allison, Mark, Ben and I tried one today while we were out to dinner... and lost. At least we got a good photo out of it. Happy birthday Dad, Happy mothers' day Mom!

day 64 : phoon!

day 64: If you don't know what phoon means, you clearly haven't looked at the phoon website. Once you've checked it out you'll appreciate this photo. This is my favorite phoon of the day.

day 63 : walk down memory lane

day 63: Ben and I lived in France for about 6 months and while we were there we played a LOT of boules. We used to walk to the neighborhood boulodrome (yes, they really do call them that) and play with all of our friends on warm afternoons. We just got a new set of boules so we decided to head to the park for a game this evening. The only thing missing was... well... France. We are planning a trip back but for now this will have to do.

day 62 : tree

day 62: I had a busy day today without much time for taking photos. Luckily I've gotten in the habit of having my camera in hand at all times and my eyes on the lookout for nice patterns or textures. I grabbed this shot on campus while running to to my night class.

day 61 : sam-tastic do

day 61: When we saw Ben's brother Sam last night sporting a pink mohawk, we asked him if he was going to buzz it off before attending tonight's USC architectural guild annual dinner. In true Sam fashion he said "No, why?". Not only did he not shave the mohawk, he also matched it to his shirt and glasses. Now that's classy. Way to be Sam.

day 60 : fire!

day 60: The combination of dry hot air and lots of wind helped a huge fire to spread through Griffith Park in the hills today. We were out in Pasadena right at sunset when Ben noticed the reflection of the smoke in this building.

day 59 : working on fill flash

day 59: Ben and I headed down to Manhattan Beach after work to take in the last of the gorgeous weather today. While shooting I got an opportunity to try out one of the tricks I've been trying to master: the fill flash. What do you do when you want to capture a great sunset without blowing out the sky, while still exposing the subject? Fill flash. Am I good at it? No. But I'm learning. Aside from the shadow on my arm I think this was a good effort. Especially considering it was using the wimpy pop-up flash on my camera. Practice practice...

day 58 : silverlake film festival

day 58: We headed out to Silverlake this morning to watch the sustainable shorts at the silverlake film festival. Some of them were good, some of them were... well... much less than good. But it was a beautiful day and at least they got us thinking (even if for some it was thinking "what does this have to do with sustainability?"). There are more films running all week if you're looking for something to do in LA.

day 57 : who wants cake?

day 57: Today was the last day of my cake decorating class series. Our final project was to bake, fill, frost, assemble, and decorate a three-tiered wedding cake. I'm pretty proud of my little cake. I think next time maybe fresh flowers instead of buttercream... anyone need a wedding cake?

day 56 : venice

day 56: Ben and I went walking along Main Street in Venice after work today. I had time to take a couple of shots before the sun went down.

day 55 : a breath of fresh air

day 55: I work indoors and the windows don't open. I can look outside but I can never breathe the fresh air. I am sometimes amazed at how nice it is outside when I leave. Today was a beautiful day for lunch in the park.

day 54 : the valley?

day 54: I am going to be honest here. I don't know where "the valley" is. I'm not an "angeleno" (and I hate that term by the way). Not being from LA I can't really see the big difference between its sprawling mass and what everyone disdainfully calls "the valley". It's all the same to me. Nevertheless I went up over the hills this evening into something that looked like a valley.... I'm not sure if it was the valley or not. And I found it to be pretty scenic. Maybe I should move and give all you angelenos a little more space.

day 53 : comfort food

day 53: Yesterday I continued to be terribly uncomfortably sick. My only movement all day was from the bed to the couch in front of the tv where I alternated between watching HGTV and napping. After not eating for 36 hours, I decided that I should probably try to nibble on something for dinner. Ben gathered up some of my favorites (mmm mashed potatoes) and even though I only ate a little, they made me feel much better. I feel quite lucky to have someone to take care of me.

day 52 : a little bit late

day 52: Last night Ben and I went to a panel discussion on "great streets" urban planning and landscape strategies for LA. Unfortunately I got unexpectedly ill and we had to leave early. I have been in bed ever since. Hopefully I will be better soon... because being sick really stinks.