We decided last night to drive down to SoCal this morning. It was very last minute, and there were lots of reasons why we probably shouldn’t have come, but I usually find that those are the most memorable adventures.
We’re off to Phoenix in the morning, but we’ve got all night to play in LA.
I’m not a very good photographer, that is just a fact. I love to take pictures, I used to go through a point-and-click camera every six months because I always had one in my purse, banging around, being stepped on, dropped, sat on, etc, because I never wanted to be without a way to take pictures.
That being said, I don’t technically know a lot about photography. After I bought myself a Nikon DSLR last January, I thought it would automatically improve my pictures exponentially, and it did, but also it just added more buttons and dials that I had no idea how to use, and I ended up taking pictures on Auto every time.
This year, I vowed that I would learn how to at least use my camera, so when I saw a Basic Photography class in Walnut Creek, I decided to sign up. The morning of the class I was so tired, and the urge to stay home and make a lazy breakfast with the boy was almost overwhelming, but I tried to remember my goal and summoned the motivation to get out of bed and go.
And I’m so glad I did. The class was with Source Photograhy, and the instructor, Gene, is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. We spent about an hour and a half talking about photography; light, ISO and aperture, and then the rest of the 3 hour class practicing and taking pictures.
He had lots of lenses that he was happy to let people borrow, and the best part is that once you attend a class, you can come back to that class as many times as you want for free, if you didn’t quite get something the first time, or just want to practice.
He lets people come in and use their studio to practice lighting and studio photography, even allowing people to bring in their own models, for free if he is in town. I learned so much in the short class, I know so much more about my camera and photography in general, and I feel confident enough to go out and practice on my own.
He also takes his student out on photography field trips, free of charge, where he’ll let you borrow his lenses and help you practice, so I’m going into the city with him this weekend to do some shooting.
I still have lots to learn, but at least I finally feel like I know what my camera can do so I feel like practicing will be a lot more fun, and less frustrating.
Just a few more pics of our trip to L.A. last weekend. We ended up doing everything I had on my list, and lots of other things, like spending the day cruising down the PCH and checking out Venice and Huntington.
We were there for four days, and didn’t have any real concrete plans so it was very relaxing. We ate lots of yummy food, and found hoards of 49ers fans in Huntington beach to watch the football game with on Sunday. The niners lost, but it was a beautiful day, and it was $3 mimosas so I wasn’t too upset.
Also I read Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) on the trip and at the beach, and loved every second of it. Mindy Kaling is my spirit animal.
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| It made me endlessly happy that there is a restaurant called Pink Taco and that their sangria was basically the nectar of the Gods |
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| Santa Monica pier at night |
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| Kt von D’s tattoo shop. I was very excited, her eyeliner makes my life complete |
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| Grauman’s Chinese theater, the Harry Potter cast |
On Saturday night, I finally got to go to the Saddle Rack for the first time. The Saddle Rack is a country bar in Fremont, CA, complete with mechanical bull. There was a big group of us and it was really fun. My absolute favourite bar in the world is Nashville’s in Waikiki, so I’m always trying to find somewhere in California that I like as much.
Nashville’s is still better, but I’m definitely biased as I basically lived there for 3 years, people I didn’t know would come up to me randomly on the street and by like “Oh hey, Nashville’s! You work there, right?”. I don’t have any immediate plans to move into the Saddle Rack, but it was a great time. Often when you’re really anticipating something for a long time, it can turn out to be a let down (every New Year’s Eve ever) but this was just as much fun as I’d hoped.
For our anniversary a few weeks ago we went to see ZZ Top, Uncle Kracker and Kid Rock at the Shoreline in San Jose. It was, as my boss pointed out “The Most White Trash Concert I’ve Ever Heard Of”. It was really fun, people were dancing in the aisles and singing at the top of their lungs and they were selling tall cans of Bud Light Lime-arita. Legit.
ZZ Top was the best of the 3, they have the most amazingly deep voices, and the combination of that many sequins with that much beard has probably never been seen since or again.
Sadly my camera was confiscated as soon as I walked through the gate so I only had my phone to take pictures with and it wasn’t really up to the task, but I did get to wear my leather pants with my motorcycle boots without feeling like I was going trick or treating, so I’m going to call that a win.
The same day that I had my first adventure at the SF Ferry building farmer’s market I also took the ferry across the Bay to Tiburon, which is something I’ve wanted to do since the first time I came to visit San Francisco.
We went to the wrong pier at first and almost missed the ferry and had to take a high speed pedi-cab ride to make it in time. Amanda was feeding the seagulls right off the back of the ferry and it was pretty neat until one almost took off her hand.
We wandered around Tiburon, poked around some cute little shops and ate some sinfully delicious chocolate truffles, and laid out on the grass where we had a front row seat to a happy couple taking photos on their wedding day.
We went to Sam’s for supper on the water, and just relaxed, it was a really great day.
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| our trusty stead |
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| wind blown |
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| Alcatraz (not Azkaban, which is what I accidentally call it most of the time) |
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| Such a funny face |
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| Gorgeous day on the Bay |
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| Eat ALL the things |
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| Soaking up sunshine |
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| Would love to live in one of those little brown houses |
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| Bubble man |
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| Homeward bound |
A few weekends ago a group of us went wine tasting for one of my friends’ birthdays. It was a beautiful day, and we had lots of fun. We went in Livermore, to 3 different wineries, and I discovered that at a lot of the smaller vineyards, the people that work in the tasting rooms are volunteers, and they get paid in wine.
So I’ve definitely found my future career path. Out of all the wineries we went to, 3 Steve’s in Livermore was my favourite, it was across the courtyard from Tap 25, which had beer tasting for the boys, and the owners were very friendly and knowledgeable. They kept refilling our glasses and chatting with us long after our tasting was over.
Possibly as a direct result of this, I decided it would be a good idea to do beer tasting next door. I really don’t like beer, so in a cruel twist of fate, all of the beers I picked to try were sold out, so they would give me an extra beer to make it up to me, and I ended up with 8 or 9 glasses of beer to drink, and I didn’t like any of them so I had to keep foisting them off on some unsuspecting gents at the end of the bar.
It was a super fun day, and I’d like to go again immediately, and also every day thereafter.
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| basically an engagement photo of us two |
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| this is Bill, he is from Kansas, and he helped me pick out all of my (gross) beers |
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| birthday girl |
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| jack skellington |
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| gorge |
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| the winemaker’s sister was an incredibly talented painter |
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| just a few of the beer I had to drink, not delicious |
Dear California,
It’s been two years since I left my old state to come be with you. People warned me about you, and told me things like “You won’t like it there, people are rude”, or “Seriously, you’ll never be able to drive there, everyone has road rage,” but I ignored them and jumped in head first.
The honeymoon period was great, it was all trips to Disneyland, Long Beach and Capitola, “Here have some more cherries”, and “Want to go wine tasting?”. But once it was over, and real life began, things got a little shaky in that I hated you and would stay up late at night crying over my ex (state).
We’ve had our ups and downs, but as a wise man once said “You can’t force somebody to love you, all you can do is stalk them until they panic and give in.” It took some time (about a year) but you’ve definitely grown on me, and now we have a bond that will last forever. Or at least for one more year, whichever comes first.
xoxo,
Jasmine
We had a really wonderful long weekend in LA, in addition to the Hollywood Sign hike, we got to see some of Derek’s family, spent a day at Universal Studios, and did some sight seeing and spent some time at the beach.
There is so much to do there, and we were only in town for a couple days, so I’ve already started planning our next trip which will hopefully include a movie at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, a tour of the WB studios, and brunch on the beach.
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| How excited are you to be at Universal Studios? |
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| I think I win |
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| You can’t have everything in life |
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| Don’t worry, it’s not a real shark |
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| Gabrielle’s house from Desperate Housewives |
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| Whoville |
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| It’s probably not a coincidence that Whoville is directly behind the Bates Motel |
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| it was mutual |
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| Starstruck |
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| Venice beach |
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| The single greatest tree in the history of the world |
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| art on Venice beach |
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| date night in Long Beach |
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| free front row tickets |
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| I touched his hand, we’re basically best friends |
On Sunday we went to check out Briones, a regional park in Martinez, CA. Sometimes I get so caught up in daydreaming about all of the places in the world that I want to visit, that I forget that I live in a pretty amazing place already.
There is so much to do in California, and it’s kind of neat to think that the same roads you drive down every day could lead you somewhere amazing, if you just remember to make a different turn every once in awhile.
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| me: do you think we could climb all the way up there? derek: no. |
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| jealous |
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| favourite shirt |
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| we saw a coyote, and one random cow, I think he was lost |
loveliness. 