Thursday, December 20, 2007

Volkswagon Bug






I was photographing some fireman boots in Texas last week for a client in my friend's garage (yes, I know...how ghetto--I mean, "resourceful" of me). Anyway, she's got this awesome VW bug in her garage that just begged to be photographed. I love photographing old vintage things. Plus, the interior of the bug was this reddish color which made it even more fun and vibrant to shoot.

Yes, I enjoyed my time back in Texas. Thank you for asking. It was rainy and cold for most of the time I was there and everyone kept commenting on how strange the weather was and even mentioning that it was sunny the day before I got there. Uh huh.
I guess I brought some freaky weather with me from Washington.

Christmas is almost upon us!!

Choco Christmas Tree!


Thursday, December 06, 2007

Portland After Dark

What do you do when you're on a dark bridge heading out of Portland and traffic's bumper to bumper? Whip out the camera, crank up the ISO (AKA "grain, grain, grain"), and start snapping, my friend. Yes, do whatever it takes to stave off the boredom of "parking lot traffic."

And wouldn't you know, traffic on the other side is always going faster than the side you're on. Hence, the mac truck whizzing past the window in the photo above.

It's just a law of nature that we all have to come to grips with.

I call this oh-so-sharp and fabulous work of art "Leaving Portland." Okay. So the quality's pretty crappy. But sometimes you just gotta snap a pic for your own sanity and therapy.

Leaving Portland. Ohhhh yes. That's what I'll be doing tomorrow evening. Leaving Portland and taking off for a much deserved time with family and friends in good 'ole Tejas. Thank you Lord!!! If I didn't get out every so often, I think I'd go crazy.

'Course I'll probably cry on the way back in...

Ah well. You win some you lose some. Give and take.

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Christmastime


I love the Christmas season. I love the festive atmosphere, the lights, the mood...hot drinks & peppermint, gingerbread men. And ornaments. Oh how I love looking at ornaments. So many different kinds from fancy glittering pieces to the homemade. The season is full of creativity, color and smiles!

(on a sidenote...I'd normally take my reflection out of the ornaments but it's the Christmas season and who has time for that?!)

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Thanksgiving on the Oregon Coast

The Oregon coast was actually quite beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery.



...and then some fun pics of the giant driftwood log on Manhattan Beach.


Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Jon & Melinda: Total Swingers

San Francisco, CA, Nov. 2007


When I was younger, I used to go to the park and swing a lot. But then I grew up and didn't swing as much.

Jon and I found a little bit of an oasis from the busy downtown scene in San Francisco. After visiting the always bustling China Town, it was great to swing amongst the skyscrapers and blue sky with my head tilted back and my hair flying all over. There was this relatively empty park with swings, benches, and this really springy rubber floor. I wish I could remember the name. St. something.

Simple pleasures. That's what life's about. What fun.

The Espresso Machine (and more Melinda adventures)


I took this at Jon's aunt and uncle's home in Oakland/Berkeley (I believe the address is Oakland but they pay Berkeley utilities...or something like that). It was an amazing home. Anyway, I was absolutely excited and in awe of their fabulous home and all the fun things they had to shoot. Like the espresso machine above. To them, it was just their regular everyday countertop appliance, but to me it was a fun photo waiting to happen.

Fun and hazardous.

Okay. So I have no idea how to use an espresso machine.

And that black handle in the middle of the photo looked distracting...all protruding awkwardly outward and whatnot....

So I grabbed that black handle and twisted it to the right in order to gain a more "pleasing" angle. That big hunk of metal came completely off, FLEW out of my hand and rammed into one of the little brown cups before promptly stopping a short distance from the rest of its dismembered body.

My heart was beating. Oh my gosh. I broke something.

I froze, saucer-eyed, with my shoulders stiff and hunched. The sound of the little brown cup crashing against the green tile echoed in my ears. The noise had been so loud!!

Whew. I'll tell you what:

1) It's a good thing the owners weren't home.
And
2) That little brown ceramic cup must've been made of steel. Nothing broke.

Jon came in from the other room, "What'd you break?!!"

Silly me.

Note to self: those "handle-jiggy thingers" on espresso machines can come off.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Plane Series 3


Another installment of plane wing pics from my flight from Portland, OR to Oakland, CA.
Click on the pic to get a larger view and click your browser's "back" button to return to the blog.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Favorite Shot from CA (amongst many)

Jon and I stopped by Dean & Deluca while we were in Napa Valley. Dean & Deluca always reminds me of the show Felicity. I loved that show. Especially the first two seasons. I don't love a lot of shows (I barely ever watched Friends and only watched Seinfeld when others were watching it), but I absolutely loved Felicity. It made me smile and laugh out loud. I really identified with her. It was always a great story, always captivating, and always a good, meaningful time.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Berkeley Home

Some pics from the sweet home we stayed at in Berkeley, CA. I had so much fun enjoying the home that I didn't take as many pics as I should have. They had this great balcony in the front of the house and the backyard had three tiers of fabulous greenery and landscaping, perfect for watching the sun go down over the city. Oh, and the teenagers' rooms were full of color and fun decor. I love colored walls!

Front Hall

Dining Room

Living Room

Den, 2nd Living Area

Backyard

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Chocolate Chip Cookies


I'm really not that big a fan of chocolate chip cookies but there's just something irresistible about fresh-baked, warm, chocolate chip cookies with the chocolate morsels all drippy...Ummmm!

Thanks again to Raylene for the awesome cookie rack.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Scrumptious Snacks


1 loaf Wild Oats Organic Pan Bigio Parisien Loaf
1 container Emerald Valley Greek Olive & Roasted Garlic Hummus
1 jar Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Julienne Cut Tomatoes marinated in olive oil and herbs
Equals:
A quick and tasty, utterly scrumptious snack.

Friday, November 02, 2007

Chocolate Chunks & Pirouettes


Yum. That's all I have to say. Yum.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Teacups


"Cups cups cups cups cups" said the silly little fairy from Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" as she looked around for the proper utensil to make Aurora's birthday cake.

What a great movie.

I watched "Sleeping Beauty" over and over when I was a little girl, sighing at the courage and manliness of Prince Philip as he fought his way through the thorns to the castle where Aurora lay imprisoned in sleep. Oh, and the part at the beginning when they first meet. I love how he surprises her by singing and dancing along with her. That's right, sigh with dreamy eyes.

It amazes me how, for the majority of females, this innate desire for romance and a dashing prince starts at such a young age. I babysat a little girl who was not yet 2 years old and already she delighted in taking me upstairs to her room, opening her dresser, and showing me all her clothes, shoes, purses, hair bands, and other accessories.

And this past Sunday at Costco (why did I go there on a Sunday...), right as I walked in I saw a little girl trailing behind her mom, holding a baby doll up to her shoulder as she tenderly patted it's back as if it were a real baby. I rolled past with my cart, observing, completely amazed, thinking, "Wow, so young and yet already training to be a mommy."

I Love Bread!!


So, I made my first loaf of homemade bread a few months ago and it actually turned out like real bread! I was so excited that my first batch
(I made 2 loaves) turned out so usable and delicious. It really made our entire home smell good, too!

Unfortunately, when I tried making bread a second time a couple weeks ago, I got busy and left the dough to rise in a cabinet for a day and a half. I know, I know, how nasty am I to leave the dough out for that long...
When I finally got to it, the dough smelled like wine. Completely fermented. But, I baked it anyway just to see what would happen. Sure enough, when it was finished it still smelled strong like wine and tasted just like it; kinda bitter. Ugh. Totally not edible.
-But- It still looked pretty enough for a photo so I left the brick, I mean bread, on the counter covered with some plastic wrap. Days later, my mother-in-law came over and, since she's super hungry, decided to unwrap the brick bread and eat a mouthful even though I specifically warned her it was fermented and not edible.

Well, what can I say. The woman's got a mind of her own. I watched, incredulous, as she shoved a chunk of fermented brick-bread in her mouth and started chewing. I gotta hand it to her though, she actually chewed it for about 7 seconds before spitting it out in the trash. Seven seconds is way longer than I would've chewed it. I tried it. It was gross.

So even though the poor brick-bread was a failure at feeding starving people, at least it was a winner when I photographed it.

Which one is the brick loaf? Well, I'll let you decide which loaf was full of alcohol.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Spinach Dip


On a sidenote, Jon came up with such a great little snack the other day. He bought a fabulous uncut loaf of whole wheat bread at Wild Oats (kind of like a Whole Foods) which he thinly sliced, toasted, then spread with some tasty garlic and herb hummus, and topped the entire thing off with a layer of julienne-cut sun-dried tomatoes that'd been marinated in olive oil and more herbs...
It was so yummy and easy to make!!! What a genius. We ate it too fast for me to get a picture but I'll have to recreate it one of these days for a shot. Oooo, it was sooo yummy!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Oatmeal and Sliced Strawberries


Needless to say, oatmeal is not my favorite thing to eat. I'm a Malt-O-Meal girl myself. However, I do like strawberries. They always make things look edible, even it is oatmeal. :)

Monday, October 22, 2007

Lifehouse Everything Skit as seen on GodTube



This video is amazing. I saw it on a friend's site yesterday and it made me cry. The skit dramatizes what really goes on everyday in our lives and it is so awesome to see such a dramatization and remember how wonderful God is to us. He really is fighting for us every step of the way but there are just so many distractions in our lives. We easily go astray yet he is constantly beckoning us back, ready to welcome us no matter what we've done.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

A Fine Pair

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

JELL-O!


When it comes to Jell-O I always think of Bill Cosby and those old Jell-O commercials he used to do. Ah, The Cosby Show. One of the greatest shows ever. TV isn't the same these days. A lot of fluff out there...course, what do I know since we no longer own a TV -- haven't had one for months. I miss it sometimes but Jon's crazy addicted. He'll watch for hours.

Gorgeous flower bowls provided by Raylene Ramos. Way to go Raylene! You rock! Thanks for being so accommodating. You've got a ton of great stuff and I appreciate it so much!!!

Monday, October 15, 2007

Parfait


A perk to shooting food? Eating it afterward. And let me tell you, it was good. Real good. Antioxidant good.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Lemon Zest Custard with Blueberries


A little bit of lemon zest goes a long way. The zest was such a treat, permeating the custard with the taste of lemon. And to think I always threw the peel away before. What a waste! I'm going to incorporate lemon zest into my cooking from now on. What a delight a little bit of lemon peel can be.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Pancakes, The Quintessential American Breakfast...besides eggs


Hotcakes, flapjacks, griddlecakes, battercakes, johnnycakes...

Special thanks to Raylene for the awesome glass pitcher.

Sushi


Unlike many of my friends I'm not a fan of sushi, but these plates demanded sushi. And if a plate tells me it wants sushi then sushi it gets. It's interesting to note, though, that as I was shooting these little "delicacies" they actually started to look quite enticing. But I resisted the urge to pop them in my mouth because
1) The wraps taste fishy and I am not about fishy food,
2) I don't like the taste of the wraps, and
3) The seaweed wraps taste like fish!!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Begin Dream Sequence...

Ever get the feeling that someone's....watching you...?

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Emily!

Em on her childhood swing. At least I think it's her childhood swing. It was in her backyard...so I just assumed...anyway, her mother likes this one. Or maybe it was the other swing pic...Hm. Clearly, I don't know what's going on.






Oh. LOVE those eyes. Killer stare. Absolutely killer.

These pics are long overdue on posting. I took these in May. Then got busy. Whew! This was the first shoot where I shot nearly all RAW files. And let me tell ya, RAW really is all it's cracked up to be. Much easier to work with and the pics look soooo much better as far as file quality, etc.

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Plane Pics Round 2

A couple posts back, I'd posted a pic of an airplane wing. Looks like it might turn into a series. Airplane wings love me. I always get seated near them. But, then again, I always get window seats, too, so I guess that's pretty lucky. I took a few more while on a plane bound for Hawaii last week. Good times. Really good times. I didn't want to come back.
But here I am...
Pics of Kaua'i will be posted one of these days. I have a whole butt load of 'em.
Over (Oahu?)
More Oahu?

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

The Hills are Alive (more CO pics)

Reminds me of The Sound of Music. I can hear Julie Andrews belting out her tunes right now.
Jon and his Colorado buddies, and Max-ie!
The crew on a lovely hike through lovely trees with lovely gear.