my camera...

. . . I like it . . . a lot. :)
Here's a song I like a lot too.

sleepy puppy...

Not my first choice for a bed...but hey, if she's happy, I'm happy.

dream job { + sotw}...

My dream job? Working here. At the beach. In the ocean. Yep, I can't wait.
Keeping with the ocean theme, here's my song of the week.

one awesome weekend...

This weekend, I went over to my friend Evelyn's house for her "Birthday Campout." We were going to have it at Montana De Oro this year, but we had to cancel due to the rain. So she decided to have it at her house instead, which I actually enjoyed way more (I like warm water...and soap...and no dirt). Don't get me wrong, I love to camp! I just like it when it's around 74 degrees and sunny. :)
I think I ate most of my weight in food this weekend. This first pic above is cake pops...SO yummy. The second pic is Momo, Ev's puppy. So stinking cute. We did so much stuff, the weekend just flew by. We had an epic game of sardines, played guitar hero for a couple hours, watched the first LOTR, and so much more. I'd say it was one awesome weekend. :)

the bureau that adjusts...

My family and I just saw The Adjustment Bureau tonight. It was pretty good, considering that I really had no idea what it was about before I saw it. In a nutshell: Matt's running for senator, he meets Emily, falls "in love" (WAY too fast...they make-out within the first 5min of meeting), throws a wrench in "The Plan," the adjustment bureau comes to "warn him" (ie, can't see her anymore, against The Plan), he -- of course -- says yes but means no. I won't tell you what happens, but it's a good ending (predictable, but good). It was short (only 1hr 45min), so there really wasn't much of a premise, and they're relationship was pretty shallow for it being "love," and him being totally obsessed about her and can't stop thinking about her (even 3 years later). If it were longer, and had more of a story, it would've been better. Because big names like Matt Damon were in it, I think it was better than if some random people were in it. I did like all of the fedoras. :)
Overall, I give The Adjustment Bureau 3 out of 5 stars. I recommend it, but wait till you're at a friend's movie night.

sweet surprise...

Yesterday, Holly and I surprised our friend Keely with a surprise sweet 16 trip to Starbucks. We had a great time! LOTS of laughing...lots and lots and lots of laughing. :) Happy birthday sweet Keely!! We love you!!

more josh = sotw...

So, just after I posted the Sherlock post last Wednesday, I thought, "Huh. There goes my song of the week." Then I remembered that I had just received the tickets to see Josh for me and my Mom a few days ago, which totally made me think of one of his newest songs; which leads us to -- you guessed it -- my song of the week! Yay!
This song is from his newest album, Illuminations. To tell you the truth, I was a little disappointed with it, considering his other 3 albums are pretty much amazing. I definitely love a few of the songs, just not the whole album. But, don't worry, every time I listen to them, the more they grow on me. :)
So, here's my song of the week (my fave songs from the new album)! (PS, I know the video is cheesy, but you can just open another window and listen to the song, haha. :)

more etsy {and rain}...

I have been able to take a few Etsy-worthy photos with my new camera, but I haven't really had the time to put them on my shop...until today! I just put this picture up today, and I'm hoping to put up a few more tomorrow. Then, if all goes well, I will advertise my site for one day on the site's category page (I'd put mine under photography, obviously, haha). It costs $7.00/day to advertise, so I want my site to look as professional as possible before I promote it. Hopefully someone will buy a photo or two! That would make my day. :)
Speaking of photos, I'm hoping to get together with a couple of friends and have a photo shoot on Sunday...that is, if the weather holds out. We were going to go dumpster diving, but it's supposed to rain. So we decided to take photos instead! Or just chill and watch a movie...I'm up for both!

fancy frame...

Last Friday, I painted this frame at my piano workshop, and I think it turned out pretty well! I never paint with dark colors like this chocolate brown (I actually lightened the original color before I painted it), but I decided to mix it up a little. Plus, it's for a friend, and I think they will really like the dark with light accents.
The butterfly was a separate piece that we painted and then glued onto the frame. I was aiming for brighter paints, but these colors don't look too bad!
While I was measuring and cutting out the blue paper to put as the background, Rebecca (my pup) was sitting next to me chewing what I thought to be a rawhide...turned out to be the wooden stick that props up the frame. I just started laughing. I love her too much to be REALLY mad at her for chewing a stick. Plus, my friend LOVES Rebecca, so I'll just say it was her way of helping make the frame for them. :)

I hope my friend likes it! If not, I'll take it and put a pic of Becca in it. :)

~ I used Snapfish to order the pic for the frame. SUPER cheap and fast! I highly recommend them. ~

well done, sherlock...

I got the Sherlock Holmes soundtrack yesterday and I love it (thank you library)! I'm a Zimmer fan, and this CD is actually a lot shorter than I expected, which is kind of nice for a movie soundtrack. Usually, they're just the same song played in different versions over and over and over again, haha. I think this song is my fave, right now. Fun and fast, but also full. This is my second fave -- a very close to first (it's the main movie score). But really, they're all great...and the movie's good too! :)

ocean + movie love = sotw...

I was looking at some older photos and I came across this one from last year. I love the ocean. I love the beach. I love the sand. I love the salty sea breeze. But what I love most of all is the animals. Something about them just fascinates me. I know God has given me this passionate love for them for a reason, but as I get older, it's getting harder and harder to pinpoint exactly what that reason is (especially when it comes to future jobs/opportunities). I know what I love, it's just where I love that's the question.
My song of the week: ocean theme (big shock)! Nemo Egg, by Thomas Newman.
I was watching Finding Nemo -- my ultimate fave kids/Pixar flick -- about two nights ago. When I watch movies, I definitely listen to the music. For me, it's really one of the main categories that makes-or-breaks the movie. If it's really bad music, it's lower on my awesome movie scale. Then there are those certain movies with those ultimate film scores. You know. When you're watching a scene that has some sort of strong (usually sad) emotion, and then you hear it. That certain note played just at the right tone, just at the right time. Then, it happens: you get goose bumps. Legit shivers down your spine. THAT is what makes an awesome movie. That goose bump, spine shivering moment of true emotion that magnetizes your attention and emotions into that scene; that movie.
OK, I'm a geek, I know. But hey, I like a good quality flick; and at $12 a ticket nowadays, it better be a good one.

~ So, without further or due, here's my song of the week. ~

quiet & lovely beach...

I was able to get home from school at around 1:30PM today (usually class goes till 3:00PM, but we were just handing in our essays today, so there was no class), and I didn't have ANY homework (amazing!)! So, I grabbed my camera (with only 20 pics left on the memory card) and headed towards the ocean! I had remembered a small beach in Baywood that my oceanography class went to on a field trip, and I had never been there before. I decided to try to find it again! After about 15min of driving around in circles, I finally found it. It's very small (narrow), and wraps around the small cliff facing the estuary. There's one entrance (that I saw) open to the public. The rest is beachfront property. In other words, I was one of the 3 people that populated the beach today. It was wonderful. I can't wait to go back with our puppies! They'd LOVE it! I love discovering quiet beaches. They make my day. :)

writer's blockage {+ sotw}...

So, after a LONG weekend of the worst writers block I've ever had, my little 1200 word essay is complete! Seriously, I have no idea what my deal was. Especially since it was so small. I'm used to writing bigger papers, so this shouldn't have been too hard for me...even though I hate writing (I've never missed biology this much in my life). Only one more semester of English. Then I'll never have to write another huge paper ever again. I get so giddy just thinking about it. :)
So, what better way to end a long weekend with a song! My friend Holly and I watched some Glee this weekend (while I was having writers block), and this is my fave song of the season, thus far. I love the warblers. Acapella is pretty awesome.

Anyways, here's the performance/song!

jg live!...

So, for the past 5-ish years, my fam hasn't really done anything too special for my Mom for her birthday or Mother's Day -- mostly because she never really wants to do anything huge, unlike the 3 of us (Disneyland, Monterey, more Disneyland...you get the picture). So this year, I thought, "We really need to do something nice for Mom. Not just go out to dinner and get little sparkly cards that say, 'I love Mom!' on them. Something really nice..." Then one day, while I was looking at my facebook updates instead of doing homework, I see a little picture with a few words next to it: "Josh Groban Illuminations ticket prices are up!" That's when the light bulb illuminated (get it? illuminated? 'Illuminate'?... I don't know, I think I'm punny... ok, I'll stop). We'll get her tickets to see Josh LIVE! I mean, every time she turns on the CD she says, "Sing to me Josh!" as I attempt to shrivel away into the car seat.
So this morning, 3/5/2011 at 10:00AM, I got up, sought out the best tickets I could afford, and bought them...now, let's just hope she likes it. :)

cooking 2011...

I can't tell you how excited I am about this year's Cooking For Solutions at MBA! AB is going to be there again, but instead of doing a presentation the night of the gala, it will be the day after (cheaper that way). I hope to get a seat right in front so I can take good pics (don't worry, his hair looks WAY better now). :)
Another bonus about this year: it's held the weekend of May 20-23. Right after finals! Usually, it's the week before, which doesn't help with the whole "studying" thing. But since it's at the end of finals week this year, we can celebrate by stuffing ourselves with AMAZING food!
Yay, I'm excited. :)