I'm moving!

I'm moving my blog! Since I f-ed up this one and I can't seem to get my cool template back, I'm moving to wordpress where they have cooler stock templates and more options. You can find me here. Please bookmark my new blog. Enjoy!

Newer Version of site

OK, I'm getting close to a site that I like. You can check it out at:

here

I need some more feedback. Mostly, how does it look and work for you? Any bugs? I know I need to work on the "about" section more. I think I will need to make my images smaller for the final version.

You will also see in my portfolio that there are a couple of cases were there are 2 version of the same subject. For example: Fern Lake, dogwoods, the panoramic with Steggy. Which one do you like better? And if there are any other images you think I should cut, let me know.

One last thing, Turkey Hunt doesn't count. I was just checking to see if I could create different albums for my site. I can!

Happy Christmas Eve!

I got up this morning, packed up my stuff and Snappy, and headed home. First, I looked for more Christmas Ale, but I think there is none left for the season. So sad.

Once I was home and unpacked, my brother and I decided to head into Wooster. This would be my last attempt to find Christmas Ale, and he had to do running around for mom. No Christmas Ale. But we did find Coldstone Creamery! I decided I wanted ice cream for lunch. We went in, ordered, and while I was waiting to pay, they (the workers) started to sing. I became very uncomfortable.

Not much is going on now, just hanging until 7ish when my brother and I go over to Jenny's for their annual cocktail party.

Heading to Wooster:

After setting the table for dinner, Mom gets a little target shooting in while Heidi watches:
Tater:
And just because I didn't get around to posting this last weekend:

The line to get into The Christmas Story house:

Weekend guest

My roommate's girlfriend spent the weekend. She's lovely but this apartment is too small for 3 people to stay here. Especially when I'm rushing back to get cleaned up just to rush out. I come home, I have 10 minutes to eat and they are both in the small kitchen cleaning and cooking. So I have to squeeze in a try to grab some food quickly.

She does my dishes! I should love this because I hate doing dishes, but she shouldn't be doing them. She's the guest, and I can do my own dishes-eventually. Also, she wears make-up even though they don't go anywhere. She watches hours of sports with him even though she's obviously not into it. I don't approve of this dynamic. To each his own I guess, but I wish I wasn't watching this happen in my apartment. Needless to say, I was gone for most of the weekend.

Good news, they both left. She went back to Indiana and he went to Tennessee for an interview. I get the run of the apartment for the day. I thought I needed a roommate to keep me from getting lonely and to help with housework. I realized that all I need is a dishwasher and a project like my upcoming trip to Ethiopia.

stonecoldbikini on ice

Erick took me to stonecoldbikini on ice last night. Let me back up. Stonecoldbikini is a radio show on WRUW. christine hosts it and she plays all kinds of fun indie music. That is where I usually learn about cool new bands. I now download the show and listen to it when I find time during the week.

Someone came up with the brilliant idea that christine should dj for an open skate at a local ice skating rink. The result: stonecoldbikini on ice!

So we went. And I had a blast! I got to skate to cool bands like Broken Social Scene. Erick quickly learned that he really can't skate. He made it around once and clung to the wall the whole time. He gave up after that and went to find hot chocolate. I skated on and off for a while. He then went looking for christine, since I kept going on for days about how I wanted to meet her. He found her and I got to meet her!

Is there anyone out there?

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned that I am re-doing my website. I asked my readers to give me some input. I've gotten 2 responses. Please take a minute and look at my site and tell me the 5 photos you like and the 5 you don't like and your favorite.

i.heart.cleveland

I spent the day hitting some of my favorite spots in Cleveland. First I met Erick for brunch at the Inn on Coventry. After my power-breakfast, I went to Suite Lorain, this awesome vintage store on the west side. I was looking for old frames for my cross-stitch presents. I didn't find frames, but I found lots of cool vintage stuff. After forcing myself not to shop, I moved on to Talkies, a coffee shop in Ohio City. I chose this coffee shop over one closer to home because of it's big, comfy, leather chairs. They also had a fire going in their fireplace. So it was extra cozy. I spent a couple of good hours relaxing and reading there. After that, I shot some photos. On film. So I can't show off my work right now. Later, I went to the Cinematheque to watch Fire. A movie by the lady that made Water.

Website redo

One of the things I learned from the conference in NYC was that my website needs to be redone desperately. So I've started selecting images that might wind up in the portfolio. But I have way too many images. So my mission for you is to pick the five best and the five worst images. Then tell me what 1 image you think is my best. You can post it as a comment or email me.

new site

Happy Anniversary

I've past my 1 year anniversary of my blog. It's taken some getting used to. At first I didn't know what direction to take with it. Do I talk about more personal stuff or do I stick to just my work? Then for a while, I really didn't think anyone was reading my blog. Until my friends started requesting more posts. I think I finally found my groove. And I have good news! I'm going to have another blog! At work, we decided that I should try to keep a blog from the field in Ethiopia. I'll post weekly on the progress of the field work. When I have a link, I'll post it. Also, during the time when I'm in the field, I will not be posting here. Gotta conserve my internet time.

Thanksgiving

The day went better that I thought. The heat actually worked and since my parents still used the space heater, I was actually warm in the house. My disowned stepbrother didn't make a scene. Though, I do think he felt a little uncomfortable. But probably because he hasn't attended a holiday in like seven years. So yeah, the day was pretty uneventful. Now I have to lose my money playing poker.

My twin

My stepbrother found this photo in his new house:

He and the rest of the family insisted that it looked like me when I was little.

Which led me to look for old photos of myself so that I can see if it's true. These are what I found:





Cute huh?

Let the games begin

I recieved a call from my mom early this morning:

Mom: "Do you have a space heater?"

Me: "Yes."

Mom: "Could you bring it? Our heat isn't working."

My parents have no heat for Thanksgiving. I find this sort of funny. Mostly because my mom is not freaking out about this. I would be freaking out at this point. My mom is more like: "Well the oven will be going so that will put out some heat, and I could light the fireplace."

My response was: "Yeah...that might be a good idea."

I was able to get 2 space heaters. But I'm wondering how effective they will be in the space. The house is very open. The kitchen leads into the kitchenette (where we will be eating) which leads into the 2-story, vauled living room. This is alot of space to heat.

But there is more:

Originally there was just going to be 4 of us. My parents, my brother and me. Now Chris, my step-brother, his wife and 2 children are coming (good!). And our disowned step-brother will be there. He was disowned because he can be a really big ass. This Thanksgiving has a possiblity to be very interesting.

Great sites

I picked up this great new zine at the book store yesterday:



Craft Zine

which led me to this site:

instructibles

Bring on the Holidays!

I am so ready for the holiday season. It's not even Thanksgiving and I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping. I learned last year, when I was shopping up until days before Christmas how stressful that was. This feels much better. So bring on the cookies, the snow and the tree. Let's watch National Lapoon's Christmas Vacation I'm ready to kick off this holiday season! I'm also happy because I can spend December getting ready for my trip to Ethiopia.

Rize

What happens when a great photographer and music video director shoots a documentary on krumping? He creates a beautiful film. David LaChapelle's film has so much energy and was so colorful. There weren't any of the the technical flaws that I see in so many documentaries: a subject that's out of focus, bad audio levels, and times when the story seems to lag.

This was smart, well done, and it was very obvious that the film-maker obviously cared about his subjects.

Keep in mind, the last time I bought a film for myself was October 2005 when I bought "War Photographer."

Check out the site here.

26 Up

I recently turned 26 and I have been thinking about getting older. One of my friends said that each year keeps getting better and she definatley doesn't want to go back and re-live a prior year-and she's thirty. And the same is true for me. I wouldn't want to re-live any previous year. I think just like wine, I keep getting better with age. I've become more focused, more confident in myself and my work. And my selection of friends is highly refined. Which became clear when they cleaned up my birthday party after I got drunk on tequila and passed out. I've been doing alot of good things recently. I've finally become somewhat happy with my photography. I'm producing what I feel is consistanly good work for the Museum. I still wish I was in a bigger city and shooting on a more regular basis. But these are things for me to shoot for in the future.

Hello kitty robot

I want this.

Meet Jane

This is Jane, our new Juvenile Tyrannosaurus. I shot her before I left for New York.

I Hate Macy's

While in New York, I bought this beautiful black winter coat. I tried one on and it fit perfectly. While I was checking out, the sales clerk changed it out for one that had a tag. When I got home to Ohio and tried it on, I realized that that the lining in one of the sleeves was sewn in crooked, making it hard for me to slide my arm in. When I took the coat into Macy's here I found out that they don't carry that brand. I hoped that instead Cleveland Macy's could send the coat back and get me a new one. The manager, Michelle, was very helpful and contacted the Macy's store in New York to get them to send me a coat. After and hour and a half of arguing with the manager at the New York Macy's, we were no closer to getting me a new coat. It seems that even though I had bought the coat with my Macy's card and they had proof that I had bought the coat there, they couldn't simply exchange it because I didn't have a recipt. I find it hard to believe that if I had the tags and proof of perchase that no one couldn't do more to replace a defective coat. Yesterday, I finally gave up and returned the coat. Today, while cleaning, I found the recipt.

Return from New York

So I'm home and I finally found time to edit my photos. So here is what I did on my vacation:

Thursday I spent the day at the PhotoPlus Expo. Later, Bernard Michael and I went to the Corner Bistro for beer and bacon cheeseburgers. I was a little full so I just order bacon grilled cheese sandwich.




Friday was spent at the Photo Expo and later Adrianna came into town. The four of us went to Momofuku for pork buns (awesome) and noodles. Another night of great food.



Saturday we got up and walked to John's to get, according to Bernard, the best pizza in town. And I think I'll take his word for it because the pizza was awesome. After pizza we checked out Murray's Cheese shop:



I went shopping in Tribeca where I found a Kid Robot Store. Michael and Adrianna went to Central Park and Bernard worked on writing and coached basketball. After shopping I picked up a treat at Bruno's



Later we all met up at The Brooklyn Museum of art the check out the Annie Leibovitz show. After that we went to Freeman's for dinner.

Freeman's is this great rustic restaurant that is tucked away in an alley in the East Village. The rustic theme carries over into the food. I had rabbit and morrel pot pie. Except there were no morrel mushrooms, but button mushrooms instead.

Michael taking a smoke break outside of Freeman's



Something I found on the wall in the alley leading to Freeman's:



Sunday: Bernard, Michael and I went to Prune for brunch. I had my first mimosa. Yum! Michael and I went running around the city. First we went to Battery Park to see the statue of liberty. Next we went to Ground Zero.






After that we went to the American Museum of Natural History











Later that night we went to Buddakan. After this great big meal they brought out desserts for mine and Michael's birthdays.

First day, last image

Brooklyn Museum of Art

First day continued

Bryant Park


one girl cookies


Prospect Park

First day of New York

Looking out the plane at Cleveland

Mood:

I love New York.

I arrived in New York today. I'm spending 6 days here. Two of the days will be spent at a Photo Expo and attending seminars on photography. It will be great and inspiring. The reast of the time will be spent with my friend, Bernard. Who is funny and smart and constantly makes me laugh. Also Michael and his sister, Adrianna are coming in to visit. So it will be a reunion of sorts. Bernard has planned out the next 3 days of my or our visit.

Today we went to Mood, the fabric store featured in Project Runway, then to Bryant park, also in Project Runway, then to the Brooklyn Museum to see the Annie Leibovitz exhibit. It was a good day.

Mood was completely overwhelming. It was 3 floors of fabric from to floor to ceiling. I wanted to buy fabric but I couldn't decide on what I wanted. I plan on going back on Monday.

I love New York?

I ended up watching the reunion show of The Flavor of Love. New York, one of the ladies after Flav. She was actually on both seasons. She came on at the end of the show making a huge scene. She exclaims "Look at me, I'm fabulous!" and "Look at how beautiful I am." As she twirls in a long dress and extensions on stage. When the other girls try to question her, she claims to forget who they are because she is so fabulous and famous. This lady is obviously a train wreck. So what? VH1 is giving her her own show similar to the bachelorette to meet the love of her life. She's a jeaous, posessive bitch, and I can easily predict how this show will go. She will sleep her way through these men and when she gets down the the few men that she "really connects with" they producers with throw in some new women or ex's and make her freak out. VH1 just dropped down a level.

More Work...

Hello,

After a small hiatis, I am back. This no internet thing is really cramping my style. I keep trying to fix it and I keep getting thwarted.

Anyways. Things don't ever really slow down for me. I've spent the past week spending time with alot of friends, attending parties and working late.

This week I will be busy preparing for my Day of the Dead birthday party. So I will be cleaning the apartment (finally). Making white chocolate skulls, buying lots of liquer and finding easy-to-make mexican food. Must not freak out. Must not freak out.

On a lighter note, Photographed a field trip this week check it out here.

I shouldn't blog angry. Oh... but if I could!

Oh, My, God!

I HAVE to have this!


Chech it out here

Paul

I realized something while watching Sex and the City tonight: Charlotte and Anthony bonded over Charlotte's wedding dress. It made me thing of Paul, my gay boy, and how we bonded over gay porn and disco bingo. I scored pasta bowls that night that I've never used but I keep so that I can one day use to entertain and later tell the story of how I aquired them. I want to go to Chicago really bad to visit him. But I need to go to NYC.

And more...

Ironing is done. Sex and the City is on, Kitty is happy and Iife is good. And that's all I got for tonight. No more work.

I'm Back!

Finally done! These past three weeks and this past one in particular was very rough. I essentially worked 7 days a week for 3 weeks. Including 3 12-hour days in a row last week. I feel sorry for Bernard because he became concerned about my health when he called late one night last week after my brain had stopped for the day. So all my replies were very slow and poorly expressed.

Today is my first day of freedom. By that I mean I was home by 8pm to get stuff done around the apartment. But to celebrate surviving this month and to make myself feel like it was all worth it. I did some shopping. I went to the eye doctor and ordered new glasses. {Designer.} They should last me at least 3 years so I splurged.

I also did some clothes shopping. And I finally went to JoAnn's. I finally picked up the book, Sew U. And I have been chomping at the bit to start working on some projects. In fact I have alot of sewing that has been piling up. Mostly hemming since I'm short and have curves. Anyways, I picked up some tools the book recommends to help with my sewing. I also scored some cute Hello Kitty Fabric! Hopefully by the weekend I will be well on my way to sewing a skirt. (Out of muslin, as a test, before I make one for real.)

Back to ironing (more catch up), before I settle down with Sex and the City and Kitty for more blogging...

What the...

I found this hack to include a slideshow of my images from a flickr account on my blog. I finally got it work, but now I need to finetune it. It might be hard for some people's computers to run it. Let me know.

Flash Slideshow test:

Flash Slideshow

Someday...

So I'm sitting here dreaming about the day when I will have an entire day off to do stuff like bake or make soup. I found a recipe for African Peanut and Yam Soup from this blog. I can't wait until I have a day off to give it a try. Maybe October. Here is the recipe:

8 C veggie stock
2 T vegetable oil
1 large onion, diced
6 T minced ginger
4 cloves garlic
1 T cumin
2 T coriander
1/2 t cayenne
1 t paprika
1 red bell pepper
4 chopped yams
1 can pineapple, with juice
3 chopped tomatoes
5 T peanut butter
1 bunch cilantro
2 limes' juice
hot sauce

1. Warm the stock
2. Sautee the onion and some salt, until translucent
3. Add garlic, ginger, and spices, and sautee until soft
4. Add red pepper, yams, and more sal until things start to stick.
5. Add enough stock to cover, boil, and simmer until the yams are soft.
6. Add the pineapple with the juice, tomatoes, PB, and the rest of the stock and simmer for 30 minutes
7. Puree until smooth.
8. Simmer for another 10 minutes
9. Add cilantro, lime juice and hot sauce to taste before serving.


My friend makes a soup like this and it is amazing. I don't like yams or peanut butter, but these ingredients mixed together in a soup are amazing! His recipe makes like 3 gallons of soup-way too much for my needs.

New photos!

I was asked to photograph some of the birds in our Perkins Wildlife area a few weeks ago and I got to use my new 80-200 lens for this assignment: