Downtown LA Artwalk

I felt like I was back in NYC last night! I was meeting up with a meetup.com group to visit the Downtown LA Artwalk, and decided I had done enough driving for the day. So I took the bus instead. And can you believe it - public transportation in LA really does work! The bus stop was less than a mile from my apt, and took me straight into the heart of the artwalk - all in under an hour.

My dad happened to call just after I stepped onto the bus, and asked me what I was doing. Here's how the conversation went:

Dad: What are you up to right now?
Me: I'm on the bus - going to the artwalk downtown.
Dad: You're on the bus?
Me: Yeah.
Dad: It goes downtown from your apt?
Me: Yep.
Dad: {completely garbled thanks to AT&T in LA}
Me: WHAT??
Dad: Will it bring you home too?
Me: Uh, yeah, I'm kinda hoping it does. It's supposed to.
Dad: Oh, ok. {kind of chuckling to himself}

And it did, indeed, bring me home. So much easier than driving the hour, battling one-way streets in downtown, parking, fighting the crowds when I left and driving home. I'm going to look into public transportation way more often.

A Rainbow in Venice (CA)

Yesterday I pulled up to my sisters house and looked up to see this gorgeous rainbow right in front of me.

Fix-it Pics

On http://www.iheartfaces.com/ they have a "Fix-it Friday" every week. They give you a pic and then ask you to edit away, playing around with settings and options, just to get a feel for your editing program. I am using Picasa (fancy, I know) because I don't have anything else on my work computer! But here goes.

Original:

Fix #1:

Fix #2:

A Giveaway

My friend Shannon is having a giveaway on her blog today - visit her at ** Happiness Is...** to see some gorgeous jewelry, and maybe even win a necklace!

Some of the pieces I love in the store...

Back in LA!

Well I've been back in LA since mid-March, and it's been a fun few months hanging out with friends & family. Here's a quick recap of some of what I've been up to...

At Lee's birthday party :)

Catherine's baby shower. She's now got a gorgeous little girl - Jenna.

On the town for Cyndi's birthday - Happy Birthday Cyn!

Bowling with Little Heidi.

Mexican Wrestling in downtown LA.

Hollywood Bowl with Dad & Janne.

Out for Mexican food & flaming margaritas with Heather.

Reggae Night at the Hollywood Bowl with Cyndi.

It's been months!

I can't believe I haven't posted since October. Bad me! Well, here are some holiday pics from LA to warm you up.

Malike gave my mom a homemade window herb garden kit.

Malike & Jackson sharing some tunes at dinner.

Megan being silly after unwrapping gifts :)

Big smile when we went up to Byron to plant the Goss' Christmas tree.

Hauling said tree.

And the family effort to plant it.

Union Square

On Saturday I went to Union Square for the first Street Photography Meetup. It was fantastic! Steve & Rob are the organizers, and they have so much knowledge! It's great to walk around with them and see what they're seeing. Here are some of my shots :)

Long Ago

Recently, my dad sent some pictures to me that his friend, my "Uncle" Ike, took when I was much younger. I love them, so here they are! Check out the 'stache on my pops ;)

Before LA

The pics from Kat's bday dinner at Blockhead's. Shira, Christine, Kat & I went out there and then headed next door for (more) drinks. Happy bday Kat!

LA Freeway

Driving the 101 from dad's to mom's. Sunny and warm!

You know you're at the airport too early when...

you can take a picture of an entire terminal with not one single person in it.

I hate iTunes (today)

I am so over this program right now it's unbelievable. Of course, it's my fault for trying to move my library the day before vacation (I need music on my phone to survive). But should it really be this difficult to tell iTunes that I no longer want it looking at my C drive for music, instead it should check out the E drive!? Gah!

A day in Fayetteville

Yesterday I drove into Fayetteville with Leif to stay with him a couple of days and see the town. He made a superb dinner of spaghetti & salad (a nice, spicy sauce) and his friends John & Jasper came over for a few hours to hang out.

Today was my first full day in Fayetteville, and it was quite the adventure! I walked to the town square to see the farmers market this morning, and then met up with Leif for lunch at Loafin Joe's (a yummy sandwich place). He was working all day, so I explored the town in foot.

I ended up spending hours at the Blair Library, reading in their comfortable chairs (and air conditioning)!

Across the street from that was this fantastic little arts/jewelry store that I ended up getting some beautiful rings from. The outside was all painted like a watermelon! The posts were red with seeds and they had colorful chairs and decorations everywhere.

I also got to check out this fun, used book store that totally rivals Strand and Powells (not as big, but pretty fantastic anyway).

So tonight we're just hanging out with Leif's friend, Anna, and maybe John & Jasper will come over again in a bit.

More of the same planned for tomorrow - see more of the city and relax!

Hello from Arkansas!

Well I've been here in Arkansas since Friday, and it has been a jam
packed vacation already. We've gone swimming in Bluff Creek, which
runs behind my Aunt Beth's house, and canoeing down Buffalo River
yesterday.

I also got to see the house my cousin, Edana, is building with her
husband, David. And I checked out the cows & chickens my aunt keeps.

I'll add pictures as soon as I'm home!

Photo Field Trip #3

For our last photo field trip we actually stayed within the building and just outside of it. We were practicing both composition & flash. I have to say, that building was very, very boring. I'm sure a great photographer could have found something great in there, but ugh it was a long hour to shot!


A fountain drain I got up close & personal with.


A mop bucket that one of the janitors left out.


An abstract view of the stairs & ceiling.

The second part of our lesson, using flash, took us both outside & inside. We mostly just shot each other, but the guard on duty was totally willing to help us out with this project!

CityWalks #3 - UWS

This past Monday I explore the Upper West Side, between 67th & 91st Streets. I was joined by Miriam, a recent retiree who found my ad on Craigslist & thought it sounded fun. It was nice to have someone to walk with.

We started on Broadway and 72nd, and I quickly realized that the main sights on this trip were grocery stores! Granted, they've been around for quite some time - Zabar's has been around since 1934. But still, it's odd to think that this is what people should see in NYC. But the walk was interesting and buildings are much, much shorter up there. It's nice to see sky!


We made our way over to Riverside Park - and wow! It's got this fantastic community garden up near 91st Street, and it runs all the way down the river to 72nd. It was absolutely wonderful - quiet, on the water and just nice. It's very much like Battery City Park (my fav place in the city) so that's probably why I was so excited about it.



When it ends and you curve back into the city there's a statue of Eleanor Roosevelt in a ring of trees - very cool.


The final section of this walk was up Central Park West. I've seen most of that before - the Historical Society, Dakota, Museum of Natural History. But there are some cool buildings. A very nice vendor in the park told us about all the celebrities living the buildings right at 73rd & Central Park West (I, of course, don't remember any of the names he said, but they were very famous).

I was tempted to go into the Natural History Museum for the "Extreme Mammals" exhibit. I have no idea what it's about, but I figured it would be a nice way to end the day. Little did I know special exhibits there cost $24! I couldn't do it. So hopefully I didn't miss too much :)