Monday, January 26, 2009

Photography Blog

So I finally got around to creating a new blog completely committed to my photography. Hopefully this will be where I can post all of my more professional stuff, and leave this blog to be for my personal life. Feel free to check it out and visit from time to time. ;)

CDB Photography

The Photo Game

I've decided I want to participates in this "count the 4's" photo game. You know...the one where you choose the 4th folder wherever you keep your pictures stored, and from there, choose the 4th photo. I'm then supposed to post it "as is" and explain. Here it is:

This was the PERFECT picture to have come up! I took this in Japan this past summer, while on tour. For those of you who don't know me, which is practically everyone on here, after graduating high school, I moved to California to enter a performing arts group. With this group, I spent 3 consecutive summers in Japan, teaching their children and putting on shows. That's where this photo comes into play. While teaching the kids their show, we split them into 3 different groups according to age: the blue group is the oldest, the red group is the middle, and the yellows are the babies, or as we like to call them for fun, "nuggets".

As you know, "nuggets" attention span is not always the most concentrated, so you have to play games with them in between to keep them interested. This is what my friend Ashwin came up with for these little female tykes. Ashwin would yell, "Quiido...himitsu" which means "Yellows...secret" in Japanese. Directly following her, they would all yell, "Ohnoniko, CHO kawaii. Ohtokoniko....KUSAI"! Translation: "Girls are SO cute. Boys....STINKY"! They had all of these movements and actions to go with it, and action shown above was the very end....KUSAI! My favorite is the girl in the front with the plaid bow, but find the girl behind her in the blue polka-dots. She was very committed!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Xmas Break: Florida Style


The second half of my Christmas break took me to Florida, to meet up with Sean, and to MEET his family. In all actuality, I had stayed with his mom when she was in California for a couple months, and we couldn't have adored each other more, so I could breathe easy there. However, it was the dad, the best friends, the favorite Aunt & Uncle, and the 6 sisters that had my heart pounding a bit more heavily than usual. There were a lot of expectations and a lot of pressure that I assumed I'd be walking into, and I didn't want to screw anything up because, truth is...I REALLY like this guy, and he really believes in the opinions of his family.

It turned out that it was the most amazing and memorable trip! I couldn't have had more fun...I couldn't have adored everyone I met more...I couldn't have begged to stay any harder! Not only did it bring he and I closer, but it gave me such a better understanding for his personality, his actions, and his background. It's amazing how having that knowledge can all of the sudden boost your love for them even more! Why is that, I wonder?

The first night I got there, he and I stayed in Miama and went to a friend's wedding, and Sean could not have looked more handsome! We stayed in a beautiful hotel overlooking the bay with white curtains swaying in the breeze. Perfect beginning!

The next morning, we drove up to his place in West Palm Beach, where we did Christmas with his mom, and I finally met 2 of his older sisters. That night, he was really eager for me to meet his Uncle Doug & Aunt Marie (side note: look at me go with the names! woot woot), and they were throwing a party for the Hurricanes game, so we got cleaned up and headed their way. I wasn't exactly a sober night at that house, so I got to hear a lot of stories that were probably full of regret come morning, but it was a blast!

A few days later, I was treated to a night out at a Miami Heat vs. Cleveland Cavaliers game! If you don't know (which you probably don't), Sean has turned me into a raving Lebron James fan, so I was psyched to watch him in action. The night turned into failure to tailgate, my beautiful camera temporarily confiscated, beer, a mess of peanut shells, a bloody nose, and the Cavs losing, and yet it was one of the best nights there! Too much fun!

Then came New Year's eve. To make a long story short: We sat down to an amazing Japanese dinner with lots of friends...I later dominated in my first ever game of "flip cup"...all of the food tasted SO much better after that (hmm...wonder why)...got my best New Year's kiss...and fell asleep not long after, due to my head becoming 20 time heavier than I remembered it being at the beginning of the night. Hehe...Happy New Year!



For New Year's day, we decided to stick around his best friend's house, just being lazy around the pool and watching some football. During a commercial break, Sean came behind me and put me up into a dance lift. As he was bringing me back down, the ground came a lot faster than I expected, so I was still shooting my legs down with pointed toes and met the cement a lot more quickly than I expected. Unfortunately, we broke my toes...pretty badly!

It was so amazing to hang out with his entire family. It was a fantastic trip filled with lots of great time, memories, and pictures! Cannot wait until I get to visit again!









Monday, January 12, 2009

Workout Wisdom

It's been recently brought to my attention (and by recently, I mean within the last 2 minutes of "blog wandering") that many people's New Year's resolutions are to become more active and "fit", for lack of a better word. I have to say...I'm relieved that I'm not alone on this one!

My boyfriend and I have been sharing our concerns with one another about our bodies. We're both dancers and are used to being very driven and active people, but have recently departed from the performing arts group that we were in. It seems like daily, one of us turns to the other, pudges out our stomach for "shits and giggles", and says in a low, monotone voice, "I'm fat"! Now....FAT in either of our cases is an exaggeration, however, it's hard to watch our normally toned figures slowly, and sadly, change shape a bit. Our goal is to get back to how we were this summer.
Now, I'm used to dancing my little booty off day in and day out, but I, unfortunately, broke a couple of my toes on New Years Day (and no, I wasn't drunk...anymore) so dancing is a little out of my realm of options for at least another 2 weeks. Also off the list includes running, jumping, and sports. Boo! In turn, I started internet searching for what may be a promising workout video, and then came Billy Blanks, aka, my new best friend! He has a cardio video that I'm really looking forward to trying once I heal, but his ab bootcamp is killer! And by "killer", I'm talking amazing! There I was today, in only my boy cut undies, and Sean's (the boyfriend) old green t-shirt, sweating my little booty off to Mr. Blanks incredible workout wisdom. It's never too late to learn some new tricks I suppose, so I'm highly recommending this new discovery of mine!

Has anyone else have good experiences with his stuff? How about other options I have yet to find? Also healthy, cheap meals I could possibly make (keep in mind, I'm not a talented cook)?

Christmas Break Update!

Wow...so I'm not quite as dedicated to this whole blog thing as I should be, seeing as how my last post was about 2 months ago. I think my life just gets going a mile a minute, and most of the time, I get so wrapped up in just living it, that I forget to sit down and document it. I suppose there are worse ways to be, but it's now a new year, so I'll try to be a bit more frequent.

I was so excited and so ready toward the end of November to get outta here and visit home for a bit. I think I get to that point at the end of each year, where I love my life, but I just get to the end of my rope and need some hometown lovin'! There's nothing like family, your old stuff, your dog, and life-long best friends to bring you back down to the root of who you are. It's so easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle of being a new-comer into the "real world" that you can lose sight of the core of who you are and what you love. Needless to say, my 3 week visit home and week and a half vacation to Florida was something I was REALLY looking forward to!

Michigan was great! Lots of snow and crazy mini road trips with my mom was just a part of what made it so memorable. It was so comforting to be in my childhood house with my beautiful family and pet, and Christmas decorations! Fun to be at my short-term job (ski resort) and hitting the slopes with my favorite ski buddies! Perfect to spend some "ineteresting" evenings with my one-and-only best friend! Everything was perfect, besides the fact that 3 weeks just slips away so quickly!

Then I was on a plane to Florida to visit my wonderful boyfriend and meet, for the first time ever, his best friends, his dad, his favorite aunt and uncle....oh yeah....and did I mention his 6 sisters?! Yeah....no pressure!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Soul Mates: the friend kind...

What an awesome week! My best friend, Lauryn, came out to Huntington Beach, CA to visit me for a week. It was her first time out to the West Coast and her first time to come see me since the "big move". She arrived Tuesday the 28th and left yesterday, but between those two dates, we filled our time with both activities and quality time that left me completely fulfilled, yet still wanting more! It was a week full of beach time, relaxation, parties, boats, drinks, "Friends", cameras, cookie dough, "Grey's Anatomy", nachos, hair dye, Hollywood, and everything else a girl could ask for in finally getting to see her best friend! I wish I could put it all into words for you, but unfortunately words aren't always on my side, so there in lies my photography. I'll update you on our Halloween night in my next post, but for now, the pics I'm really excited to share are from the photo shoot I did of Lau on her last night in town:





Friday, October 17, 2008

Picture Time

I went out to the pier today after work and shot some pictures. Time for show & tell! Yay!