Photo Madness

In honor of my new camera and gear that just arrived last night (more on that later once I have photo evidence!), I thought I'd share some of my recent favorites from Flickr. It is incredibly inspiring just browsing through what other people, all over the world, are doing with their photography.



1. Untitled, 2. Regrets, I've Had a Few..., 3. Puppy Mocha Catches Some 'Air', 4. Overture, 5. Gamle Bybro (Trondheim, Norway), 6. baby eyes, 7. Dan and Dilmah, 8. sunset, 9. Autumn in Detroit, 10. hungrynowpleasepasstheturkeynowplease, 11. Below Zero, 12. Headphones 1., 13. THE LOVE SHACK's other side!!!, 14. decay-1, 15. Tá ficando atoladinho, tá ficando atoladinho., 16. Vashist-Himachal Pradesh, 17. The Carnival, 18. Broken Words, 19. Sunny, 20. Vigeland Park, 21. Flatbrehytta 4, 22. aker brygge, oslo, 23. Tiger Mountain, 24. Rooftops of Manchester, 25. Grandma Glass Detail 2

Gorgeous, que no?

And I know I've mentioned it before, but Etsy is seriously saving my ass this Christmas. For those of you who, like me, are trying to shop on a budget, I highly recommend it!! Like this gal that I recently discovered who makes gorgeous (and budget-friendly) jewelry - her earrings are especially lovely. Or this one who does eco-friendly and yummy looking soaps and other skin products. Why not get something unique? Plus, best of all, no crowds, no lines, no annoying drivers, nada! :)

~Trude

Wow.

It has truly been a whirlwind month! I can't believe we're almost upon Thanksgiving here...where did October go?? I'm exhausted, but also in a great state of mind from all the great things I've been up to since my last post.

Fire-y Experience

The effect of the wildfires here last month was incredible. Red, apocalyptic skies like this:
Gross, huh? We (including the pup) pretty much didn't leave the house unless we absolutely had to all week! Luckily our apartment was never in danger, but we were very close to the Santiago fire (just over the hill, really) and at times we had ash all over everything.

The biggest worry was my uncle's house in Rancho Bernardo, since it was in the thick of the action in San Diego. Luckily his house was okay, although Donna's daughter (now his stepdaughter, yay!) Jen was evacuated in the middle of the night since they were out of town. Poor girl! It was an especially big worry because of the wedding that was coming up, which we just had last weekend. Luckily everyone involved was okay and things are slowly getting back to normal down there.

Pushing My Boundaries

I am happy to report that I have joined my very first creative team, working for digital scrapbooking designer Penny Springmann! (You might have noticed the blinkie to the right, as it's been there for a few weeks now because I couldn't wait to share!) This is really exciting and flattering for me, because it not only means free products (woo!) but also that my hard work at improving my digiscrap skills is paying off. Penny is an awesome designer who recently started selling at Sweet Shoppe Designs, and thus far I'm loving this "job"! I had originally applied for a guest spot for the month of November, but she liked my work so much she asked me to become a permanent member.

For those of you not in the "industry" (haha), a creative team (aka CT) is a common practice among designers as a way of showing off and promoting their products. CTs will create several layouts each month using the designer's newest products and typically post them in several online galleries. Other duties vary, but it's a total win-win situation for everyone. Designers have a team to bounce ideas off of and help expand their business, and CT members get access to great products and also expand their skills and exposure to the process.

Here's a few pages I've done thus far with her products:

"Lil Pumpkin"
"Oak Glen"
"Just How Much"
and "Rock On"For credits and details, click here, here, here and here.

Fun Visit(or)

Our good family friend Cheryl came down again this year to visit us right around her birthday at the end of October. I just love spending time with her! Not only has she known us kids since we were tiny babies, but she's been a counselor for years so you can't put anything past her. ;)

We had so much fun over the weekend just before Halloween! Unfortunately Chris had already booked jobs all weekend so he wasn't able to play with us, but I brought Jacopo along instead. ;) I played hookey on Friday, and she and I met up with my mom to go to lunch and then went to play in Downtown Disney. On Saturday my brother's awesome girlfriend Roseann bravely came along with my mom, Cheryl and me to the Historic Home Tour in old town Orange. I've done the walking tour before and was really looking forward to it, since it's different homes every time. We had so much fun with just us girls! Although after a yummy lunch at Felix's and walking around all day, we were all ready for a nap by 4pm. :)

On Sunday my dad had the great idea of going to the annual apple festival in Oak Glen, and that was a blast! We took a bunch of photos that day, but I think my favorite one has to be this one:
Funny, huh? The best part was I didn't even notice the sign behind us saying "No Dogs" until I was uploading all the photos to my computer! But of course there wasn't anybody saying "get out of here with that dog" or anything. In fact, just the opposite - everybody wanted to say hi to him! I warned Cheryl of how much we might get stopped, but it takes a day of walking with him to fully understand. I must have spoken to 30 different families that day! I suppose I'm used to it by now, seeing as we can't even go to Petsmart without someone wanting to pet him or ask what kind of dog he is. I guess that's the price you pay for having an unusual dog!

But I digress!

Viva Las Vegas

Then I had 3 short days before I left for Las Vegas for a girls' weekend! Since we left early Thursday morning and Chris was working, I didn't bother going out for Halloween; I just spent the night packing and handing out candy. :)

Then we were off! Nikki, Katie, Mindy and I drove together to meet up with Katie's boyfriend Colby, and Heather joined us Friday night. We just stayed at a cheap place in downtown/Fremont Street, but it didn't matter much since we were out and about most of the time. I think it's the best time I've ever had in Vegas, and this was my 4th trip with friends! We're all pretty easygoing travelers and share similar interests, so I'm always up for traveling and vacationing with my girls. :)

We were pretty low-key this time, no shows planned or anything like that. We went to the Hoover Dam, Mindy and I went and saw the baby dolphin at the Mirage's Secret Garden (highly recommend it!), did some vintage shopping, ate at the Bellagio's buffet, gambled, and generally hung out. It was great!

We took a ton of awesome photos, but I have to share some of the highlights from my photos:

Baby Dolphin!
Katie, politely shielding my redness from drinking that ginormous margarita:On the road to the Hoover Dam, we stopped off at a vista point overlooking Lake Mead, and laughed so hysterically at these signs that were posted everywhere that we took this photo in front of one, and I think it's my fave photo that I've taken in a long time!
Such an awesome trip! Thanks gang, for making it great!

Wedding Bells

Then I had a few days last week to try and recover (ha) before my uncle's wedding to his fiancee Donna, during which I had to put together a slide show of over 100 photos since my mom didn't have time. Fun! But it worked out, and I can proudly say I've increased my skills in iMovie and iDVD. :)

So I took a half day on Friday so that I could get my act together, and Chris and I drove down to the hotel we were staying at around the corner from Karl and Donna's house. We met up with my parents, and then we all trooped over to their house for a pre-wedding get together. Which was great! It was a chance to see everybody from out of town, and meet people from her side that I hadn't met before. We (meaning me, my mom and my dad, the unofficial photography team for the weekend) took a few really bad flash-y photos that I just have to share, because I didn't post them in the official Flickr album. :)

I just love how the boys all made the same eyes at the camera in this one (and I really don't think they pre-planned that!):Alex and I getting into the amazing marzipan cake that mom made:
Elissa enjoying the cake:

And the next morning it was THE DAY. Mom and I got up extra early so we could go over to the venue ahead of time with the wedding party (aka Karl, Donna and their kids) and take some photos. We got incredibly lucky with the weather - it had been cloudy all week, but the sun came out for them, without the temperature getting too hot. Perfecto! Apparently the brewery had previously been a Chinese restaurant, so they had this awesome view out onto a koi pond with beautiful landscaping and a little bridge and waterfalls! It was actually a great choice by them, you'd never know where you were and it made the party feel very private and isolated. Plus the staff was really great and helpful.

Anyways, you can go to my Flickr album to see the whole shebang, but here are a few highlights (as always, click for larger).

The table setting:The wedding party:The location, as described above:
The recessional:
The first dance:
It was such a beautiful event! I'm so happy it turned out well for them, since they are two people who truly deserved it. And now I have a new auntie! How cool is that??

And since it was a daytime wedding, we all went back to the house afterwards and had a great time doing an "afterparty." :) I won't name names, but certain people definitely had a "better" time than others!

And now I'm spending a quiet night at home with Chris and the pup, and looking forward to a very subdued weekend...

~T

Retail Therapy, Deals & Steals, and Lovin' Etsy

I don't know about you guys, but for me there is something so incredibly rewarding about bargain shopping! Not only is it retail therapy, but you feel awesome just for having gotten such great deals. :) For example, last night my mom and I met up at the Nordstrom Rack by South Coast Plaza, as I had a few things I've been looking for and mom is (still) trying to find something to wear for my uncle's wedding next month. [Just a note for the ladies - could it be any harder to find something appropriate for a plus-size woman? It's a daytime wedding, but super casual because it's both their second time around and it's a fall wedding. Poor mom. We're open for suggestions!] We even went through the designer racks in the hopes of finding something really cool for her that she could wear again, but no luck. And I consider myself a pretty savvy shopper, but jeez! Nothing to be found - and we went over to Talbots and Chico's too!

However, I did manage to snag a few things for myself at the Rack - a cute black dress from Calvin Klein ($35!) that I can even wear to work, a cozy green & black houndstooth-type coat, a bra and some undies. At full price it all would have cost me about $300, but I only paid $120. Woooo! :)

Ahhh, Artistry

I'm pretty sure I've gushed about this website to some of you, but it's about time I linked y'all up! It's called Etsy, and it's basically a place where people can sell their handmade stuff - whether its paintings, jewelry, dog clothes, handbags, etc. So if you love unique pieces like me but get tired of trolling through vintage/thrift stores, I think you'll love this site as much as I do. :) And the best part? Most items are super affordable, because they're by people that only sell their things part time, or are just starting out. And a lot of them offer to make you custom versions of their items! I'm definitely planning on doing a bunch of my Christmas shopping there! And maybe a few things for me... ;)

For example, here's a few things that are on my faves list right now:

"Vanessa Lace Clutch" by Madison Gre:

"Sexy Brown Pleats Bag" by Daphnenen:

"Captured Pearl Earrings" by Precious Meshes:

And, last but not least, this stunning "Tell Your Story" print by the talented Kelly Rae Roberts:
Isn't that stunning?? I'm going to have to exercise serious self-control when I finally go to make my purchases!

I think that's enough about retail therapy (for the time being, anyways!). In other news, a pretty quiet week, just getting ready for a busy next couple of weeks: first our old family friend Cheryl is coming to visit next weekend, then a 4-day trip to Vegas the first weekend in November, then the weekend after that is my uncle's wedding. And then it's all downhill into the holidays from there!

~Trude

Birthday Wrap-Up

I can't believe I went so long without a single, solitary post! Bad blogger, bad, bad blogger! But I suppose with my birthday last weekend and everything I got a little distracted. :)

I Have the Power of Touch

In deference to a recent post, the first order of business is definitely: I GOT AN IPOD TOUCH FOR MY BIRTHDAY!! Aaaaahhhhhhh!!! :D

Of all people, the guys at work gave it to me! It was such a surprise, I was totally content with nothing at all; a card, maybe. But they took me to lunch and everything. It was so touching. :) (No pun intended!) I guess my boss was actually listening when I wouldn't stop raving about it! And they even had it engraved with my name and number, just in cases. Now I can't stop playing with it! I'm constantly checking for a wi-fi connection everywhere I go...so addicted. It even kept me distracted from the cold last night at the dog park. [I don't know what it is about that place, but with the open area and grass it seems 15 degrees colder than everywhere around it!]

24th Birthday Weekend

Y'know, its funny, I've kinda gotten over birthdays since high school - only one real party since I turned 17. As I see it, the best part about a birthday is that it's a really good excuse to get all my friends and all my family together - doesn't really matter what we do, or if I get gifts or whatever. Although I have to admit I don't mind milking it in order to go eat somewhere we normally wouldn't! (Like the Mission Inn's Sunday brunch last year.) :)

The previous weekend we had gone to dinner with Chris' family in order to celebrate my and Hillary's birthdays, since we were so close together. His grandma made her Texas sheetcake...mmm....and his parents got me a lovely bag and bracelets. :)

So that yummy work lunch last Friday kicked off my birthday weekend (and it didn't hurt my mood that I got off work at 4!). That night "the gang" took me out (meaning Chris, Mindy, Nikki, Katie, Colby, Nancy and Kris) to the Commonwealth Lounge for dinner and drinks. It was all going pretty well (except our terrible waitress), and they had a great 3 piece jazz band that played a set, but after that they changed the music to 70s disco! And beforehand it had been the Rat Pack! Kinda ruined the mood, especially since in downtown Fullerton it's de rigeur to play the music really loud no matter what, so ignoring the background music isn't an option. Thus, we decided to head back to our apartment, and wound up having a really nice time just hanging out with everyone.

Saturday morning we actually got up at a decent hour and Chris and I went to old towne Orange so that I could pick out my gift - a potentially wallet-deadly idea on his part! I'm still kicking myself for not bringing my parents' camera that I was borrowing for the week, as it was gorgeous that day. About 73 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, light breeze...perfect. I dragged Chris through three vintage warehouses (they can't possibly count as stores with that much square footage!) before I finally found just the right thing. Good thing too, because we were starting to go cross-eyed from all the stuff they manage to cram in those stores!

Turns out that a lovely vintage pearl necklace from The Antique Mall was just what I've been looking for! I've been meaning to replace an old fake strand that I wore out, and this one said hello. (See further down for a photo.) The coolest part (I think) is that the pearls have that lovely off-white, aged color to them, and they're natural so they're just slightly misshapen, which I prefer anyways. :) I think they're quite the find, considering what he paid for them. But it was really fun going together - it took out the guesswork for him, let me find exactly what I wanted, and also made us take some alone time away from the apartment and the pup (and we weren't running errands!).

Saturday night we packed ourselves and the pup into the car and headed up to my parents house for dinner. While we were waiting for Eirik to drive over from work (picking up his awesome girlfriend on the way) we had some yummy pink champagne and my aunties called to sing to me, as per usual. Here's me opening their card (click for larger):

Even though I seriously despise the birthday song, I tolerate it from them because it's tradition, especially because Grandma isn't around to sing it anymore. You can see my new necklace in the photo - and this awesome dress from the Gap, of all places, that I couldn't resist getting myself. So cute, and it has pockets! I actually wore it to work today too. :D

Once everyone was present we headed over to the local Mexican place called the Whole Enchilada that I love. Even though they don't take reservations, my mom convinced them to set up a table for us, since we were 7 people and the place isn't all that big. So delicious, and I had a strawberry pina colada too. Yum! Then it was back to the house for my birthday cake that I've been dreaming about for the last two months - mom bakes it for me special. It's a torte with fresh dream mixed with orange liquer in between the layers, with a thick layer of marzipan over the whole thing. SO good!! It's a pretty complicated cake to make, so she usually only does it for my birthday. :)

Then Sunday was a nice lazy day, which I really needed too. All in all a really fantastic weekend!

More Pages

I was incredibly inspired the past couple of weeks, so here's a few of the results (if you want more, check out the gallery links to the right):

"To Me, From Me"
For credits and info, click here.

"Take Along A Friend"
Again, for credits click here.

"Daily Dose of Love"
I know, I know, yet another pup-photo layout, but I can't help myself! The dare was about something you do every day, so don't blame me. ;) Credits can be found here.

"Summer Girls"Aren't my cousin and her friend so cute? Been meaning to work with this photo for long time. Go here for more info.

And last but not least, this one -
Definitely one of my new favorites! Credits are here.

Now we're getting ready for Halloween and the rest of the holidays - just got Jacopo's costume tonight, but I'm not going to tell what it is until I have a photo! :) Hope everyone else is doing well!

~Trude

Quote of the moment (a fun one!): "Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand." ~Kurt Vonnegut

Just Say No

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who feels this way (Katie the fashion diva for sure agrees with me!), and I just had to randomly vent* - if you have a spare $650 laying around, do NOT, under any circumstances, in the name of all that is holy, spend it on this:
I don't care if it is Mr. Vuitton making it, any and all versions of the fanny pack should not be allowed! Unless you are a street vendor of some kind, then I might be forgiving.

In the event you are tempted and need to be re-directed in your spending, I am available for consultation and advice (at a minimal fee, of course).

~Trude

*I have seen two different individuals wearing one of these eyesores in the past week! So not such a random venting.

Touching iPods & Too Much Scrapbooking

Yet another Friday post...

My New Obsession

So usually I'm not the biggest techno-hoarder (don't get me wrong, me loves the new toys and developments, but I don't need to be the first person to have them), but the new iPod touch has got me shakin' like a junkie who needs a fix! It is just the coolest gadget ever...or at least since the iPhone. :) Do I even need to go into why it's so cool? Just look at it!! I would never bother with the iPhone, especially since I'm locked into my plan and don't want AT&T, but THIS one I do want!! So pay attention friends and family, since my birthday and Christmas are both coming up! :) Now I just need a new car that I can run my iPod through directly....

More and More Pages

Been on a scrappin' kick lately, and participating in online challenges and stuff to get my creativity going has really helped! Plus the photos I've been taking lately were just screaming to be scrapped. :)

So first we have "Still the One", which I framed for my mom's birthday two weeks ago:
Then this one was just for fun, because the photos my dad took were so amazingly expressive I had to use them!

I made this one for the Hodge Podge challenge, which was to "Get Naked". So fun! :D

I also participated in the last two weeks of challenges over at The Digi Dares, which are always so much fun but sometimes I just don't have time. Here's "Somewhere In Their Smiles":

The title is a play off of a Beatles lyric - big hug if you can guess what it is! :) I also did this one too, which really took me out of my usual box/style:

And then today I was rather productive! For some reason, some days it just flows for you, others it doesn't. And today it did, because I'm seriously in love with this new layout:

Gotta love beach photos! And then I did this, because I finally caved and bought this kit I've had my eye on, specifically to use this photo (although it'll come in handy for other pages, I'm sure!):

Phew!! You can view credits for all of them either here or here.

In Other News

My brother's birthday (Eirik) was Wednesday, and tomorrow night everyone is getting together at my parents house - both to celebrate and just because! :) I can't believe he's 22 already...and that means I'll be 24 in less than a month! Holy sh*tballs! But I'm looking forward to seeing everyone - even my uncle and his girlfriend are coming up from SD, and hopefully my cousin Sarah too. Plus Ross and Lidvor are back from their little jaunt to Thor-knows-where, so it'll really be a big get-together. I'm planning on getting photos of everybody and everything with the D40, as part of a brilliant idea I've had for a gigantic time-consuming project Christmas gift for everyone (thanks in part to Simple Scrapbooks). But I can't say yet what it'll be...

Last weekend we took Jacopo to the dog beach in Huntington for the first time, and it was sooo awesome. We all had a blast (albeit at the expense of exhausting ourselves), and Chris and I were super proud parents because Jacopo behaved so well off-leash and was perfectly obedient. My favorite photo from the day is this one (no editing, I swear!):

Then Sunday we went to a BBQ at our friends Angie and Christian's place, which was a blast, especially since we brought the puppy with us and he got to go in a hot tub for the first time. Oh yeah, and the people were cool too. ;-)

Hope everyone else had a great week!

~T

Quote of the moment: "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit still." ~Will Rogers

He's Baaack...

...and sporting a hilarious piratey/70s/crazy mustache, no less.

At least he had shaved off the homeless-guy-style beard he had been sporting most of the tour, though! :)

The Lead-Up

As I noted, last week was pretty crazy, but I couldn't resist the Wednesday $2 specials over at My Digital Muse and wound up buying two kits - but they're such a deal!! Haven't had a chance to use them yet, of course, but still sooo cute!

Simplicity by Holly McCaig:

And Tour d' Eiffel by Royanna Fritschmann:I also treated myself to a day off on Friday, so that I could get everything done that I wanted to before Chris got home. It was craziness, I can't believe I managed to squeeze so much in! That night Nikki and I took out our former Team Leader, Nancy, as a belated birthday dinner. Surprise, we wound up at Honda-Ya, the awesome Japanese place near me, and then scooted over to Dave & Buster's in Orange for some chocolate fun-due for dessert. ;-) Big props to Nikki for managing to make me laugh like a lunatic every time I tried to eat a chocolate-dipped marshmallow. But I got her back, so I think we're even...for now...

The Big Day

I don't know how we would have managed on Saturday if the weather hadn't had a sudden downturn in temperature - if it had been the weekend before, they would have had to constantly be carting kids off due to heat exhaustion! But luckily it was nice and cool and cloudy for half the day, and got nice and chilly again once the sun went down.

So the lines were insane to get in, but luckily after waiting in a fairly short line for our VIP wristbands, we (meaning me, our good friend Parris [really Chris, but since there's too many Chriseseses we use last names], his sister Lena, and our friend Derek) were able to just walk on in. But I felt bad for the mile-plus-long line that everyone else had to wait in! It really made me remember why I don't do outdoor festivals like this, ever - that and the fact that there was no seating, and really no shade except in the vendor's tents. It's no wonder it was mostly under-20-somethings in attendance!

Once we made it in, I made a beeline for Chris' stage, which of course was the last one we found (they had about 6 or 7 stages in total so that there's always at least 2 bands playing at any given time during the day). Here's what Chris' looked like (click the photo for larger):
And yes, he really did get that brown. Some places were so hot (can you say the South in July??) he would spend the day shirtless, so he managed to even out the farmer's tan. :) Damn brat never burns. Here's another shot of him hard at "work" (j/k honey, j/k!):
So we basically spent the day either watching Chris work his magic or wandering around the venue catching other bands. The best part had to be Flogging Molly (of course) at the end, but there were several other good up-and-coming bands.

Here's Lena and I being sweet, with the port-a-potties adding a nice touch of sour to balance:
Luckily we had Parris and Derek along with, because for a couple of the bands the crowd was really huge and started really pressing on Chris' tent area. So here they are helping the security guard keep the railing from knocking all the equipment over:All in all a fun day (despite the sunburn) although we were all super exhausted by the time it came down around 8:30 that night or so. It felt like it was midnight or something!! But we managed to drag ourselves to In-N-Out on the way home, since Chris was craving it. :)

Daily Something

Since Chris got home, my Daily Somethings have really been him and I being able to spend some quality time together, and also he and the puppy constantly cuddling. You should have seen how nuts Jacopo went when we picked him up from my parents house on Sunday! I didn't think his tail could move like that! So they've been playing and napping together and being goofballs ever since Sunday. It's almost too much cuteness for me to handle.
I also managed to catch this shot with Jacopo's sleepy face clearly evident (finally!):Cute, que no?

In Other News

The house hunt is still on, I'm just getting sick and tired of spam postings and people not returning my calls. If the place is already taken, just let me know so I can cross it off!! Geez.

Our old friends from Norway, Ross and Lidvor, just got into town yesterday, and I can't wait to see them! She's my godmother, and they're the most awesome people. He's Scottish, she's Norwegian, and they both have the most awesome, witty, dirty sense of humor. They're a blast to hang out with. :) I'm sure I'll have photos to post soon!

I think that's officially the longest blog on here, so I'll leave it at that. :)


~T

Quote of the moment: "If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to." ~Dorothy Parker