Ramblings...

Hope everyone is enjoying their July 4th weekend. As for me, I'm trying to catch up on my blogging, editing and clearing out my google reader. Oh and enjoying my last few days of my vacation. On Monday, it's back to the daily grind. =/
For now though, I will leave you with another sneak peak of Jesse's wedding. One of my favorites from the day.

P.S.: If you head over to my photography blog, you can see a few more. =) This link will take you there. Feel free to leave me some blog love.

Newlyweds: Jesse & Calvin

Congratulations Jesse & Calvin! Here's a sneak peek of the photos I took at your wedding yesterday. Love you guys!

More pictures will follow on my photography blog soon. =)

Family Friends

It's been crazy hectic at la maison Russell. However, we both still have one more week of work left, before we get to leave on our vacation. Yippie!! Seriously, I've been in vacation mode ever since the month of June rolled around. We will be heading up to MT to visit with J. family and to celebrate the marriage of his oldest sister Jesse. Then we will be heading out to West Point, NY to spend some time with my niece Naomi Li and my nephew Jr. Of course, we will be taking the train into NYC to celebrate my BIG 30! I'm excited and just can't hide it. I'm about to lose control and I think I like it. I'm soo excited.... Ok, enough of me singing. LoL.
This past weekend, we had the chance to spend sometime with my bestie. It also gave us a chance to spend some time with her hubby, before he leaves on his big "D". Naturally, I took this opportunity to shoot some photos of them. Please check out my photography blog as well.

*Pssssssssssh! Posted a different sneak peek photo of the Austin's. So head on over there.

Practice Makes Perfect

Check out little Brandon on my photography blog. About two weeks ago I had the pleasure of shooting my friends son. He's such a cutie pie and such a natural in front of the camera. It made shooting him super easy.

I must say, slowly but surely I'm improving on my photography skills. Looking back at some photos from a year ago, I can tell a definite improvement. Guess that's why they invented that saying "practice makes perfect". Oh, and I finally adjusted my layout, so that I post larger photos. =)

Busy, Busy, Bee

Whoa, I've been quite busy. Working, gym, photography, applying to jobs etc...no wonder I've been soo tired and exhausted lately. Perhaps, my energy level isn't quite there yet, since I was sick. While I was on the mends, I was just going, going & going nonstop. Oh well. Life's too short right?!
Anyway doesn't look like I'll be slowing down anytime soon. This weekend I'll be tagging along with my photography friend Aileen to a wedding. I'll be her 3rd shooter for her event. I'm not getting paid, but still looking forward to shooting this wedding with her. It will serve as a great learning tool. And I get to shoot/learn from a friend a peer. John Ruiz is her second shooter. You can check out some of his work here. Must confess though, I'm a tad bit nervous too. What if I screw up?! What if non of my photos turn out? What if Aileen doesn't like any of my photos? Argh!!!!! Can you tell I'm super anxious? Pretty sure, I won't be able to sleep the night before. =/
Almost forgot to blog the most import item. Head on over to my photography blog to see my friend Jenny and her beautiful baby bump. Shooting people is definitely challenging, but I love it.

  Isn't she glowing?! More photos are on the other blog, right here.

Oh, here is also a photo I snapped of J, while we were waiting for my friends to arrive.

Catching Up....

It's been a crazy week! I was sick for a few days and now I'm just playing catch up with everything. Don't you just hate that?! Anyway, while I enjoyed not having had to go to work, being sick is a whole other story.
Here are the few photos from my latest class assignments.

Assignment: Spring Awakening

Assignment: Picture a Canvas

Assignment: A Heart Shaped World

Assignment: Looking Back & Diptych

Left: Take Oct 2009 Right: Taken April 2010

Still have to catch up on a few assignments, I was hoping to complete my outstanding assignments this weekend, but didn't find anything that inspired me. Perhaps tomorrow. 

Sadly, on another note my running/training schedule had to take a back seat, since I was sick this week. And since I don't classify myself as one of those crazy runners, I benched myself. Still not 100%, yet, but definitely looking forward to my Monday morning run.

Blush & Running

Picture Spring, Assignment #7: Pastel Colors: Blush

Thoughts? Critiques?

On another note, I've finally gotten back into my running schedule. I'm still not quite satisfied with my other work out routine still trying to find the motivation in that (strength/core training) But I've been keeping up with my run, which is right now more important since I want to complete another Half Marathon this year. I even went on a 3 mile run/walk during my lunch break. Felt great afterward, even had enough time to eat my light lunch. From now on I will be incorporating these 3 mile run/walks in my lunch break. There is a cute little park near my work, and it's exactly 3 miles from work, to the park, and back. Hopefully, I'll be in shape and back to my HS weight, by the time the big 30 rolls around. Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Me, Myself & I

Thoughts? Critiques?

Picture Spring: Assignment #6: Self Portrait

Still having fun in this class.

Picture Spring: Assignments #4&5

Thoughts? Critiques?

Assignment 4: Sky's the limit 

Feelin' Moody?!

Assignment #5: Getting Grounded

Think Green II

Couldn't decide which photo I liked better.

Morning Ritual & 30 Step

My latest photos from my Picture Spring Class. Loving the class. Inspiration can be found in your daily routine.

Thoughts? Critiques?

Morning Ritual

30 Steps: A Snails Pace

Schmap.com: Los Angeles

This past New Year's Day, I took J. to Griffith Observatory, while I was there I managed to snap some photos of the observatory, that I posted on my flickr account. A few weeks ago, someone from schmap.com contacted me. They wanted to include one of my Griffith Observatory photo in their online guide. I had no objections:  a) they asked permission prior to using my photo, and b) all the photos on their websites are properly credited.
I had completely forgotten about their request, until I received a flickr mail from them today, stating that they indeed used my photo. Here's a screen print of the photo they used:

To enlarge the photo, and get a better view of the photo, that was used just double on the photo, or click on this link. Pretty neat, that one of my photos was used, huh?! 

Beginnings: Green Grass 1/30

Yesterday's assignment was "beginnings". Here is my take:

Thoughts? Critique?

To read more about this class click here. To read why I signed up for this class read here. Will try to blog these everyday, but if not all my photos can be found on my flickr account.

Photography

Posted a two new entries in my photography blog. Head on over to

www.simplysapphiraphotography.com

San Diego Fun...

Blog post. Coming soon. Near you.

One Expensive Day Trip

Our day out at Crystal Cove turned into one expensive day trip. We decided to take the toll road down to Crystal Cove, thinking that we had enough change in my car. Guess we thought wrong, since we didn't have enough change to meet the required toll.  We were short a few cents and none of the cars behind us had extra change. The fine for not paying toll is $55. Keep your fingers crossed!!! We're hoping they won't send us a ticket, since we paid a partial toll. The pessimist in me says we're going to get a citation regardless, while J thinks otherwise.Despite that snafu, we tried to put that incident behind us. It was such beautiful day, and there was nothing we could do about the situation. Now on to the impressions of Crystal Cove:

 

  

 

I adore flowers, even though I'm allergic. Seeing these yellow flowers every where makes me super happy that Spring has arrived to Southern California! Can't wait for the weekend to roll around again, so that I can venture out and practice shooting all the different wild flowers and of course other subjects as well. Practice makes perfect, right?

Beautiful Blooms cont...

Played around with some black&white photoshop action. Here are the results:

Not sure, if I like the photos with the black&white actions. But it does give the photos an interesting mood. What are your thoughts?

Beautiful Blooms

Today, I actually took the time to practice my photography. Beautiful blooms were my inspiration to bust out my trusty Canon.

Head on over to my photography blog, to see more photos. All photos are SOOC! Didn't feel that they needed much editing.

Rain, Rain, Rain

It's finally raining in California. Actually, we haven't had much rain this winter season. All this rain made me think of this German children song:

Es regnet, es regnet,

es regnet alle werden nass

und wenn es genug geregnet hat

dann hört es wieder auf.

Es regnet, es regnet,

es regnet Tag und Nacht,

und wenn's genug geregnet hat,

die Sonne wieder lacht.

There isn't an exact translation to this song, but they have similar songs in English such as this one:

It's raining, it's pouring

the old man is snoring,

bumped his head

and he went to bed

and he couldn't get up in the morning.

Rain, rain, go away;

come again another day;

little Johnny wants to play.

Holiday Cards: The Austin Family

I created some holiday cards, for my best friend Marlith and her family. You can read more about the details of their photo shoot and cards on my photography blog here and here.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Wow, it's been a month since I've actually blogged. We've been really busy and with Jared working nights, I'm the one who typically blogs. And their is simply isn't enough time in the day. With my commute, work out, study time, & my search for a new employment...something has to take a back seat. Unfortunately, it's been my beloved blog. With that said, I'll try to recap in bullet points on what we have been up too:

• Jared and I saw the musical Rent
• Two weekends ago, we had a weekend get-away with my best friend, Marlith and her family up in Big Bear. Planning another trip with them in the new year. Hopefully, there will be some snow up in the mountains, so the boys can hit up the slopes.
  
• With some encouragement from Jared, I signed up for my 1st mini Triathlon. It will take place in February 2010. Excited, since I'm able to cross off another item of my 2009 goal list.
• This coming week, we will see another musical called Spring Awakening with some friends. Jared had to rearrange his schedule so he could go with us. This means he'll be working six days straight. It's unfortunate, since we will basically see each other for 15 min in the morning before I head out the door for work. On the bright side, he has 5 days off coming up soon, but has to entertain himself, since I'll be at work. Simply can't win. =/
  
• Other than that, we're simply busy with life, and other projects that I will reveal soon.
  

Now on to the important stuff. Photos!!! As usual hanging out with Austin Family consisted of Fun.Food.Laughter & Relaxation. Not to mention a fun Family Photo Shoot.


And here's a sneak peak of the family photo shoot. I will write more about them in the next few days in my photography blog.