day 231 : for real... we're leaving!

day 231: We were supposed to leave for France this morning but Air France is having a strike and our flight was canceled. We're rescheduled to take a different airline tomorrow and we're crossing our fingers that it works out. So we're really leaving. Soon. And I'll have photos when we return.

day 230 : another one done!

day 230: My newest model is now officially finished. Now if I was only packed for our trip I could get some sleep. I guess that will have to wait for the plane. After all there's plenty of time to sleep on a 10 hour flight... to FRANCE! Yes that's right... Ben and I will be out for about 2 weeks in Normandy and Paris (with a brief stopover in New York) so posting might be a bit sporadic... but hopefully I'll get some photos up during the trip. The laptop is coming along!

day 229 : sky on fire

day 229: The last week has been so crazy. If it wasn't enough that most of San Diego and parts of Orange County and LA were on fire... at the same time Ben and I are trying to pack up for a big trip we're leaving on this Friday AND I had a model deadline this week. So needless to say I was up VERY late all week. This was the color of the moon (thanks to a smoke-filled sky) sometime in the middle of the night.

day 228 : evacuation with a view

day 228: As my family waited out news of the situation down in San Diego and were "evacuated" to Orange County, they actually moved to a location with a more vivid view of what was going on. Ben and I drove down to meet them for dinner and I was shocked to see how close the fires appeared. While the fires you can see in this photo are quite far away and didn't pose any real threat to where they were staying, it was quite a reminder of what is going on all around southern California this week. My thoughts are with those who are still evacuated and to those who have lost their homes. Hopefully this will all end soon!

day 227 : fire storm

day 227: What a difference a day makes! When we left San Diego on Sunday night the fires were something that was way out in the east county and not something to worry about at all. By Monday morning it was a totally different story! I spent much of the day listening to or watching the news, as my family headed up to Orange County and out of harm's way. Luckily everyone is a-ok and our place here in LA was way out of the way of danger as well.

day 226 : super delicious

day 226: One of my favorite parts about visiting San Diego (other than seeing family and friends of course) is getting to eat one of my all time favorite foods... Rico's burritos. MMMMM

day 225 : wild animal park

day 225: On Saturday we met up with Valena, John, Isaac, Allison, Mark and my mom for a trip to the Wild Animal Park. I have way too many photos... but I think this is my favorite. I love it!

day 224 : weekend away

day 224: Friday was super busy as we were packing it up to head to San Diego for the weekend. It was my first non-wedding weekend in quite a while so I was glad for a little bit of a break.

day 223 : and again

day 223 : Another late night still. I've just been so busy. A terrible excuse I know. This weekend we've got a few fun things planned and I will definitely take photos.

day 222 : time to turn in

day 222 : Another super busy day with not quite enough time to get outside for a good photo. Oops.

day 221 : cookies!

day 221: Long-time blog readers may remember my crazy baking phase. It's sadly been a while since my fabulous mixer got any use and so tonight I decided to bake some chocolate chip cookies. Mmmmm cookies. Most of them will be going to the office to save me from having to eat them all myself. I think Ben's disappointed.

day 220 : nighttime leaves

day 220 : Still busy, home from yoga. This one's pretty self explanatory :)

day 218 bonus : i make funny faces on roller coasters

*edit* the youtube link appears to be having technical difficulties... hopefully to be fixed soon!

day 219 : afternoon wedding

day 219: This afternoon I joined up again with my friend Crissy at an afternoon outdoor wedding. This is one of my favorite shots from the day... gotta love flower girls! As always, more shots to be posted soon on my wedding and portrait photography blog!

day 218 : magic and traffic

day 218 : Today Ben and I decided to take a long overdue trip to Magic Mountain to use the tickets we'd gotten from our office over 6 months ago (which were about to expire). Unfortunately we didn't check the traffic reports before we left and were unaware of the massive truck fire which had closed the 5 freeway. Our quick 30 minute drive took 3 hours but we made it up there eventually. Ben took some awesome videos on the coasters that I'm going to put up hopefully tomorrow, but for now here's a shot out the window from our drive. While going 0-2 miles an hour you have a lot of time for pictures.

day 217 : birthday bash

day 217: Yesterday to finish out the day at the office we had a combination birthday and going away party, complete with a super George pinata. I took a lot of shots of the poor George getting smashed to bits, but this has to be my favorite. Just look at her face!

day 216 : it's not me, it's the shoes

day 216: I feel like all I've posted in the last few weeks is close up shots in poorly lit rooms (aka our whole house) taken late at night. I really need to get out and take more fun stuff while there's light. Between the new running and yoga routines it seems like there's never time. Tomorrow will be a fun one. Promise.

day 215 : bloggin'

day 215: What can Ben and I be found doing on most evenings around 10 or 11? Yes, sadly, we're usually glued to our computers. Here is Ben working on a new blog post for autoautistism. If you haven't seen it you should. It's good. Really.

day 214 : belated anniversary gift

day 214: Ben and I never printed any photos from our honeymoon, even though we took hundreds! I thought since the 1st anniversary is the paper anniversary I'd test out a book binding company I've had my eye on for a while, cmyk books and make an album of anniversary photos for one of Ben's gifts. Unfortunately I didn't send it in on time, but I had a placeholder mini book on the day. The fabulous full sized version arrived yesterday and I love it!

day 213 : a little bit of sun flare

day 213: Yay for the self timer and pretty pre-sunset light. Sorry for the "racy" photo :)

day 212 : black velvet

day 212: On Sunday evening before heading back home we went out for one last dinner in Palm Springs. I ordered a black velvet off of the menu and was quite entertained by the fact that the layers stayed separate. It was pretty tasty too.

day 211 : beautiful wedding

day 211: On Saturday I headed out to meet fabulous photographer Kara Frans at the MiraMonte resort in Indian Wells. We had the pleasure of photographing the gorgeous wedding of Ken and Amy. Hopefully I'll have more from this wedding posted on my wedding photography blog later tonight or tomorrow!

day 210 : long day long drive

day 210: Friday after a long day at work Ben and I packed up the car and the dog and headed out to Palm Springs again to get ready for the wedding I shot on Saturday. I snapped this one photo before heading off to sleep.

day 209 : packin' it up

day 209: Ben and I are heading out of town for the weekend again (crazy I know!) I'm helping shoot a wedding out of town so my blog posts will most likely have to wait until Monday.

day 208 : in case of emergency

day 208: Ben and I are usually pretty good about keeping our fridge stocked with fresh food and cooking at home a lot, even for lunch. Lately it seems like we've just had no time at all for shopping and we had even run out of our emergency back up canned food. Finally this evening we made a record-breaking trip to the grocery store (in terms of both time and money spent) and came home with enough food to completely pack our fridge... and of course restock our bare pantry.

day 207 : sick as a dog

day 207: No... not me... today it was actually our dog who was under the weather. Rita woke up this morning feeling not so hot and let me tell you... it is not fun to have a sick dog on your hands. Luckily whatever it was seems to have passed and she's almost back to her old self again. Poor little Rita.

day 206 : i'm a sucker

day 206: It seems for some reason that lately I've been incapable of resisting gadgets. First it was the wii that I tried out and had to have and now my newest obsession is the nike + ipod system. I've been doing a lot of yoga lately and looking for a cardio workout to do on off days. Somehow in the last couple of weeks I convinced myself that this was the answer... so I broke down and got it. I tested it out tonight on a quick spin around the block and I must say I'm quite impressed. Now I just have to go out and start running to make it all worth it :)

day 205 : best presents ever!

day 205: Ben certainly knows what to get me for gift-giving occasions... what are the two things I'd most like to receive? Anything photography related and anything hand made. He went with both and made me this super awesome comic book out of our wedding photos (which is pretty much the coolest thing I've ever seen) and I photographed it with my fabulous new 85mm 1.8 lens (the other gift) I'm so excited about both of them!

day 204 : oasis hike

day 204: On Saturday Ben and I decided to start out our vacation with a hike in the Indian Canyons. I had never seen a real palm oasis and these were amazing! The canyons have streams that run through them during the spring but they were sadly all dried up when we were there. We even hiked up to the very end of the canyon hoping to see some water in the pools near what should have been a waterfall... but there was none to be seen. Even without water it was still a pretty amazing sight. I'd definitely recommend it!