Randoms of 2015

So as 2015 rapidly comes to a close, I feel like I need to use this post to display all of the random photos that I've taken throughout the year. (Well, not ALL of them, at least the highlights!)

These are photos that for some reason or another, never made it to any social media platform, probably because they were just too random.  But in an odd way I feel like I should give them a purpose now, by acting as a sort of review of my year.  That being said, there are a select few that I did share, but I still wanted to include them.  I can't say that it was a particularly good or bad year... I'm leaning more towards just plain neutral.  I tried to get into fitness, exercising more and seriously keeping track of my food intake, but I won't lie, I've been slacking in that department the past couple months.  However, I'm planning to get back on track starting tomorrow.

Anyway, before I ramble off-topic, let's get started with the photos!

First off, here is a map following Route 66 across the United States, located at Route 66 State Park in Oklahoma City, OK.  My mom and I discovered this interesting park in January when I was visiting for a late Christmas celebration.

Then, in February, I finally started putting together a DIY menu planner in an attempt to prevent us going out to eat so much.  This was the start of putting it all together...

...which eventually turned into this:

Now here's a random shot of my margarita at Chili's where Jacques and I were having dinner on St. Patrick's Day in March.  If you look closely at the salt around the glass, you can see little specks of green (Jacques said it was reflecting from the lighting, but I still believe it was decorated in honor of St. Patrick's Day).  I think this is when we bought the margarita shaker in the background as well, with plans of using it to make our own mojitos.












In May, we had our own little stowaway that wouldn't leave us alone.  This cat loved Erin and would wait for her to get home from school every day.  I have to admit, it was cute.  I don't know whatever happened to that little guy.

This was taken during one of our family walks we were taking every evening, a random sunset that I stopped to capture.

I just had to include this photo because it was one of the best days of this year.  This was taken in June at BFD, which is an all-day rock concert, hosted by one of our local radio stations each year.  It was definitely the most fun I've had all year, along with the worst sunburn, as you can see by my face being the same color as our seats...

PCH + Family + Road Trip = Fun

Okay, first off... sorry it's been almost an entire year since I posted here.  And at the same time, I can't even believe it's already been a year since our San Diego trip!  I always say that I'm going to try and keep up with the blog more and it always ends up being a false promise... though completely unintentional!  The time seems to tick on by without me noticing these days.  Maybe part of the problem is that we haven't gone on any photography road trips in quite some time.  I miss the days when we'd travel to some beautiful destination every weekend, for the sole purpose of [me] capturing the breathtaking scenery.  I'm pretty sure we haven't explored all that there is to see here in this little ole state of California either.  =P

But I do have some photos from a trip that we took when Jacques's aunt came to visit from Australia back in the middle of June [2015], where we traveled down to Monterey, stopping at Carmel along the way.  Now, we'd already made this trip back when my mom came to visit as well, at least 2 years ago, so I had to get a little more creative when looking for photo opps.

 So we started out the trip driving along the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway), which runs along the coast (obviously), stopping at random places to capture the beauty of the ocean.  Here's the first random scene we stopped at:

As you can see it was incredibly foggy, but it still makes a beautiful view!

And of course, Erin wanted a photo so I obliged. =P

Another random scene along the way!

And of course, I can never resist capturing flowers anywhere I see them... this gorgeous one was found outside of a jam-tasting place that we decided to stop at, and ended up getting some delicious chocolate-covered strawberries.

Just a Hop, Skip, & a Jump Away... I Wish!

So.  San Diego.  I can't even begin to describe what an amazing time I had on that trip!  We made a few stops first, since we wanted to take full advantage of the fact that we had decided to drive all the way down.  That was one of the longest drives of my life (second to the drive from here to OKC).  Well, rides I should say, since I still don't know how to drive a standard (yes, that is what I call manual transmission vehicles).

Anyway, our first official stop was at this cute little Danish town called Solvang.  Jacques knew about this bakery shop called Olsen's and that was where we had breakfast that morning.  So after some [very strong] coffee and a cinnamon roll, we headed off to explore a little bit of the town:

Olsen's Bakery & Coffeeshop, where we ate.

New Beginnings

First off, I totally hate that cliché title, but I'm not in a mood to think of something better.

So before I plunge into posting the pictures from our absolutely amazing trip down to San Diego, I needed to write about this.  Jacques and I have decided to make the rather life-changing decision of taking control of our health and changing our lifestyle.  Officially starting last night, we have started a 5k training program, I believe it's called Couch-to-5k.  Or something like that.  We are total newbies in running, or at least I am... I think he said he used to run around 25 years ago or so.  The only steady running I've ever done in my life was back in my early years when I started playing soccer and then later when I was on my high school soccer team.  And I remember hating it with a passion!  Though I put up with it because I loved playing soccer so much.  So yeah, this will be fun.

Ironically though, I'm really excited to get started on this training and eventually become an actual runner who likes to run and does it for enjoyment.  We started out walking last night for 1.7 miles, at around a 3.0 mph pace.  Though we missed our time goal by 3 minutes, so the program has us doing the same thing again tomorrow night.

Anyway, shameless plug time:  I've also started using MyFitnessPal again as a tool to help me track all the exercise and calorie intake.  I love the site because of all of the support from random people who are on the very same journey (plus the app that makes it easy for me to update everything from my phone).  It's also very motivating to me to be able to see their success and experiences.  I've already lost 4 pounds since starting back up last Friday.  If anyone out there reading this has an account there, I would love to be friends, I could use all of the support I can get to keep me on track!  You can find me here.

Long Time No See...

Well, first off, sorry for the long absence!  I didn't realize it had been over 6 months since my last post until now.  I blame it on my lack of spontaneous photography road trips lately... or at all.  I can't even remember the last time we went on a weekend-photography-trip, which is sad because I really do miss all the photo opps I used to find.  I feel like life has just been hitting us too hard as of late.  We've had some major setbacks within this past month alone and it's been difficult to find the extra time (& money).

Anyway... we did get the opportunity to travel out to Little Rock, Arkansas at the end of March, where I was able to satisfy at least a few of my photographic urges.  We ended up taking a totally spontaneous road trip to Memphis, TN while we were there as well, but we weren't able to spend as much time as we'd hoped.  Though the main purpose of the whole trip was to be there for my Granny's 90th birthday party, and to visit with my family, especially my sweet nephew Aidan, who has gotten so big in such a short amount of time, btw!

Jacques by the wall outside of Elvis's house.

I loved looking through and finding little messages from tourists...

Beale Street scene... we ended up eating lunch over at Flynn's on the other side of the road.

The Love & Happiness bus!  It was stopped over by the Orpheum theatre.

Crate Troubles

So Dozer's huge crate arrived yesterday afternoon and we put it together last night.  It was... interesting, to say the least.  All while the both of us had migraines, which I still have this morning, and no amount of coffee or acetaminophen seems to help whatsoever.  Anyway... today I'm trying to get Dozer comfortable with his new "home."  And it's more tiring than I thought, especially with the effects of the pain in my head.

Here's a view of the hugeness of the crate, for reference:

Obviously, it's not like he doesn't have any room at all inside it... I just can't seem to get him to stay in there unless I'm actually in with him, or unless there's a treat in the back corner that's just outside the crate and he can smell it and goes crazy trying to dig it out.  (Which did happen, and I eventually had to get some tweezers to coax it out)

Though I did get him to actually sit and lay down inside, but that was only after bribing him with the notion of food by rattling his bowl.  He keeps laying down right in front of the opening though, so at least it's good that he's not totally rejecting the idea.  He tends to freak out a bit when we actually close the door and latch it, and I really hope we can break him of that before next Wednesday, because I'm going to be in OK for 5 days, which means he'll be having to spend some quality time in there, since I won't be around for him to roam free.

I think part of the problem right now is that we don't have proper bedding in there to make it completely comfortable for him, but we plan on building a "cot" this weekend for him to use, and hopefully that will make him feel more at home in there.

Flash + Bang = Beauty

Around two weeks ago, Jacques and I attended an Oakland A's game, along with his brother who had received discounted tickets through his job for the three of us.  I hadn't realized that the last baseball game I went to was the Yankees vs. Rangers at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas.  That was around 5 years ago, or maybe more, but the thing that stood out for me with that game was that there was a tornado on the ground and everyone spent 2 hours down underneath the field in the basement.  We also were compensated with free tickets to two later games because of the cancellation of that game.

Anyway, the point is that it was my first time at a California baseball game as well.  We just happened to be there on "Star Wars" night, celebrating its 35th anniversary.  After the A's crushed the Twins, the ballpark put on an awesome fireworks show, set to the music from Star Wars.  It was beautiful!  I spontaneously decided to capture the whole show on my phone.  I didn't remember that I could capture still photos at the same time until the show was already about a third of the way through.  But here are some of my favorites shots that I caught that night: