crossroads fashion photo contest

it started with brunch a couple saturdays ago at the now-closed omelette parlor followed by a trip to crossroads trading co. to sell a few articles of clothing that ended up paying for the meal (score!) where a certain photo contest poster caught our eye. the result? a scramble to goodwill and urban outfitters followed by our eleventh-hour fashion photo shoot at a nearby park.

we had a blast reliving some of our crazier days, reminiscent of way back in the day when we used to get super-judged for our secondhand styles (some would actually rummage through my closet for halloween costumes! haha). here are a couple of my favorites from our adventure...

happy birthday karean, my fearless friend! even if we don't win the big bucks, and even if we get too tired and old to follow the popular trends, you'll always be a winner in my book! (and if all else fails, we can always meet up at forever21).

ps - you can find us and give us five stars here!

sunday's bests

sundays are always such a treat, with solid preaching at church (where i usually also score a nice donut) and refreshing times with friends. yesterday the latter took place at the long beach flea market where a whole gang of us went and scoured through the maze of booths in search of the items on our wish lists.

nautical clock and bottle carrier, unfortunately both out of my price range

another wire carrier, also out of my price range...i may need to start collecting clothes hangers and make this a DIY project haha...

what a relief to find this sign at one of my stops! and i did find myself a globe (goal #36) by day's end, as did cathie.

afterwards a few of us went over to the gym to watch our guys play ball. one by one everyone left and i was the last cheerleader in the bleachers, pooped and in major need of a pedicure (eek!), but happy :)

1, 2, 3 cheese!

we've been debating whether or not to invest in a dslr camera. i really am a creature of habit, so as much as i see how much better the quality of photos are, i hesitate to make the jump.

here are the players we currently have on hand...

1.  blackberry bold 9700
stats:  3.2 megapixels
last at bat:  photo-greeting to email mom
added value:  it packs a decent punch for its small size.
and the yellow cover makes me happy.

2.  canon powershot sd750
stats:  7.1 megapixels
last at bat:  everything and anything
added value:  super easy shmeezy to use

3.  old school nikon camera
stats:  no idea
last at bat:  nsync concert 10 years ago to get a closer view of
justin timberlake (ok i'm a little embarrassed)
added value:  my parents bought this the year i was born and
gave it to me when i left for college.

i don't know...i might just take upon the task of learning how to shoot with the nikon (more than its paparazzi zoom capabilities) for now. be sure to let me know if you have any photography tips, warnings, recommendations, stories, or jokes!

california love

first year of marriage has been like an accelerated crash course where we've been learning so many interesting things about each other and ourselves...like who amasses unimaginable piles of laundry (joe), who needs lots of random and non-random hugs (me), who is more patient (joe), who is most crazy (me), and who we should leave the jokes to (you decide).

i'm so thankful for joe who patiently endures through my craziness, as he keeps me laughing and gives me undeserved hugs (and laundry).

and definitely thankful for the times in between all the learning and growing together we've been able to get away and unwind. i think i'm one of the last of my friends stuck in the dark ages of photography, but here are my pointing-and-shooting efforts from our recent daytrip to san diego.

this is how much joe looooves to take one million pictures :)