New Camera!

January 23rd, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

After much deliberation and procrastination I finally purchased a new camera.  It’s not just any old point and shoot digital camera, but rather a DSLR (digital single-lens reflex camera).  Don’t ask me to explain that name.  Anyway, it’s a CAMERA.  It’s not a professional camera but it’s kind of an entry level one.  It has all the bells and whistles such as exposure control and aperture settings.

I’m pretty excited.  I once started to get into photography when I was in high school, but I fell away from it because of the prohibitive cost of buying and developing film.  I remember reading books all about exposure and stuff.  Now that it’s about 10 years later I have forgotten everything so I have to learn it all again.

This camera also has the ability to shoot professional grade high definition video.  So I’m very excited to start getting back to things I really like: photography and film.

I took the camera to the beach today to try it out.  With a little help from Photoshop this is what I’ve done so far.  I barely know how to use anything on the camera so far, so I was pretty pleased with what I was able to do.

Done For The Day

Dog Day Afternoon

Opposition

San Elijo State Park

Sunsets in PB

January 12th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Heather and I enjoyed a great sunset last week in Pacific Beach

It was my 2 year anniversary of coming to San Diego, so I bought a California flag on the boardwalk for $10.

Series 1

December 13th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

Tonight I went back to my artistic side, a side that has not been visited for a long, long time.  It’s seriously been over a year since I seriously drew anything, and quite a long time since I ever tried to do anything artistic with my hands.  I’ve done some computer graphic design, but that’s not the same thing.

So tonight, I poured myself a glass of wine, played some music, lit a few candles, and got down with some pastels and a few mini canvases.  I liked these canvases since they are only 2″ x 2″.  They don’t overwhelm you, making you feel like you have a huge space to fill.  It’s great to start out with.

Anyway, like the surf bum I am, I decided to do my favorite subject: waves.  How original.

I’m pleased with how it came out, although I feel like it might be a tad derivative of the various surf art I’ve seen over the years.  I’d like to develop my own style, but that will come if I keep at it.  I’m more happy with the color ones.  The black and white one was the first one I did, so I was still getting used to actually drawing with my hands again!  My favorites are the stacked set (horizontal waves) and the dark blue one with the two thin waves.  The others look a little stilted I think.  But that’s just my inner critic!  Can’t wait to do more.  Click the picture to enlarge.

Series 1

For Scale...

The plan will be to put them in a shadowbox of some sort I think.  I’ll post when I make more!

New Car and Disneyland

December 1st, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

I got a new car!  I bought it last Wednesday, right before Thanksgiving.  I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while, and I finally pulled the trigger.  I kind of made a quick decision…whether or not that was the right thing to do I’m not sure, but it was a great deal for exactly what I wanted….and more.  I keep finding new features!  I didn’t actually read each and every feature since there were so many.  As long as it was black and 4×4 I was happy.  Tonight, for example, I found out that the rear view mirror is auto-dim, and it’s really cool.  It looks so much better than the old style mirrors that you push the tab and then you kind of see a shadow of the headlights behind you.  It’s electrochromatic or something, not sure how it works.  BUT not only does that auto-dim, but so do the side mirrors!  So cool.  No more getting blinded by that one dude who always has one headlight adjusted wrong so it’s super bright.   There’s in-dash navigation and a camera that lets you see what’s behind you as you’re backing up.  There are heated seats – not only the front two seats but even the BACK has heated seats!  It drives great, the steering is so tight that it took me a bit to get used to it.  With my Blazer and even my 03 Jeep back home the steering is fairly loose and moving the wheel a lot doesn’t have a huge effect when you’re driving down the highway.  That’s not the case with this new Jeep…I have to make sure I don’t steer as much as I did with the other cars.  It’s fine, just took a bit of getting used to.  Now that I’m getting used to the dimensions and the handling I’m finding it very nice to drive.  The seat is super comfortable.  Now that it’s getting colder here in San Diego at night (temps drop into the 40′s) it’s nice to jump into the car and turn on the heated seat.

The funny thing was that Donny bought a new car the same day as me.  I was driving up to LA at the time and bought the car on the way after test driving it.  I texted Donny that I’d be late, and he said he was at a car dealership too.  So funny.

The trip to LA was great.  Donny, Katrin and I had a blast hanging out in LA and going to Disneyland.  I’ll post pictures later when I get them off my phone, but for now here is us on a roller coaster:

California Screamin'

I don’t know who the guy in the top left is, haha.  Of course Donny is making a face haha.  Anyway, it was a great time and I really needed a change of scenery and to spend time with family.  The cool thing is that I’ll be meeting the whole clan out in Arizona this weekend yet again to see Katrin perform in Secret Garden.  I’ve been seeing so much of the Murdocks these days, which is awesome.

Hey, it’s not every day you get to get a new car AND go to Disneyland!

Beet Risotto

November 22nd, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

Tonight I made beet risotto for a potluck dinner I was having with some friends.  It’s a recipe I found on the internet that was originally published in the New York Times.  (Click Here for the recipe)  I had made this before, but the second time around I was much better at it and made less of a mess.  The kitchen still looked like a semi bomb had gone off though, since of course I didn’t leave myself enough time and was rushing to get it done in time.  So, instead of neatly putting things away when I was done with them, everything got flung all over the kitchen.

Reading more about beets I’ve found that they are extremely packed with nutrients.  I think I’m going to eat more of them.  The only annoying thing is that it takes quite a while to cook them if you roast them.  Maybe I can steam them instead.

On Friday I hung out with Heather around Pacific Beach.  I took some photos of Crystal Pier:

Crystal Pier

Crystal Pier

It was such a nice day out that day.  Unfortunately it rained this weekend but cleared up at the end of today (Sunday).  It’s pretty chilly for San Diego though, felt a lot like an East Coast autumn day today here, which was kind of neat.  I’ve become acclimated though, now if it goes below 60 degrees I think it’s cold.  Crazy!

On Wednesday night I’m heading up to LA to visit with Donny and Katrin for Thanksgiving weekend.  We’re going to go to Disneyland on Friday!  Should be really fun.

Summer(ish) Days!

November 17th, 2010 § 1 comment § permalink

The weather has been really great here in San Diego lately.  We’ve had 3 Indian Summers it seems like.  On Sunday a bunch of us went surfing down the street at Avocados.  I took the opportunity to put on some flippers and swim around with my waterproof camera:

Shooting The Curl

Val

Val splitting the peak

Underwater

For Thanksgiving I’m going to be going up to LA to hang out with Donny and Katrin (my cousins).  We did the same thing last year and it was really fun.  I think we’re going to be going to Disneyland again.  Should be really fun!

Halloween Recap

November 4th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

Sorry about the lack of posting!  I promise I won’t only post when I’m sick or injured.

Anyways…last weekend was Halloween weekend, and it was pretty much a marathon weekend for us.  We started on Wednesday night, and went out each night until Sunday.  I don’t think we went out on Sunday.  It was tiring, but really fun.

I was a cowgirl:

It was a fun costume :)

All my friends went all out:

That’s not everyone, but most people.

We went out downtown, and there were so many great costumes.  It was lots of fun.  I was on antibiotics the entire weekend due to the sinus infection I had, but I tried not to let it bother me.

This past week San Diego has been hit by yet another heat wave!  Today it was 97 degrees.  It was amazing.  It felt like an oven outside!  Today was the first day in two and a half weeks that I went surfing.  I was knocked out of the water by said sinus infection.  It felt so good to get back into the waves.  It’s weird, I feel all restless and unhappy when I don’t get to surf for a while.

Last night Val, Joanne, Charlie and myself went to the Belly Up to see a band called Two Door Cinema Club.  They were a lot of fun.

We have another fun weekend lined up!  Lots of surfing tomorrow, and then another concert on Saturday night, as well as festivities for Michelle’s birthday.  Tomorrow should also be another hot day, so I’m looking forward to that.

Well, that’s the recap since I last posted.  Time for bed – I’m soooo tired, but I did want to update my blog today.

Illness and Rain

October 18th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

Ohh, doesn’t that title sound so awful.  Well, it’s official.  I am getting a cold.  I felt run down all day, and my throat is just progressively getting more sore.  I just hope it doesn’t turn into a sinus infection like 90% of my colds seem to do.  I have the worst immune system ever!  At least the weather here is going to be awful for the next few days, so I won’t be missing anything.  The weather has already been awful for about the last two weeks.  It was so nice for a while, and then it all fell apart.  I don’t know WHAT the deal is.  I had to move here when the climate suddenly changed to become the new Seattle.

Meanwhile, my dreams have been so vivid lately that I’m having to think about whether or not something actually happened.  Like a conversation with a friend – no wait, I dreamed it!  It didn’t really happen.  It’s been very trippy to say the least.

I finally finished the last book of the “Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” series.  Great ending. The character of Lisbeth Salander is amazing.  I wonder if the fourth book will ever get published.

Hopefully I will be traveling to Palm Desert this weekend to meet up with Aunt Linda and Uncle Frank, and Katrin and Donny.  That will be fun.  Hopefully I’m not sick for it. :(

Surfing has been great.  I had been surfing so much up until about 2 days ago.  I’m getting way better at longboarding.  The other day I had a couple of great noserides.  I’m more consistent with them, and I know when I have to back off the nose before I fall.  It doesn’t look good if you ride the nose till you fall.  You have to retreat stylishly.  Paddling back out this guy said to me, “I want to see you hang heels on the next one!”  I’m having such a blast with it since it seems to come naturally to me.  It will be interesting to see how I can progress in a few months, especially since I’ve really only been longboarding for like 2 months.

Threw My Neck Out

October 8th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

Ugh!  I threw my neck / shoulder out again this afternoon.  It was so stupid, I was just reaching down to grab my board so I wouldn’t lose it (was surfing without a leash) and I guess it knotted up.  I’ve had this happen before, it always happens in the same spot.  My muscle seizes up between my shoulder blade and my neck.  Now I can’t turn my head to the side.  It’s so weird when it happens; I have been doing multi hour marathon sessions all summer and fall, yet one hour in today in small waves and it goes.  It’s gonna take a few days to work itself out.  Guess I’ll be hitting the advil tonight, haha.  The frustrating thing was that the waves were utter crap at Cardiff.  I was never in the right spot, and there were a couple wave hogs out taking all the set waves.  Frustrating session to say the least.  Got some practice in without the leash, but gotta say the session was not really worth it.

Noseride Redemtion Session

October 2nd, 2010 § 2 comments § permalink

So I surfed in the Cardiff Green Surf Expo contest today, just a little local surf contest. I did the Jr. Women’s shortboard. I’ve never surfed Seaside reef before, and holy crap is it fickle. I paddle way outside (paddleout is included in heat time???) and sit for a while. nothing. everything that comes through is fat and mushy, I can’t even catch anything. I look back and there’s 4 minutes left in the heat so I paddle back in and try to catch an insider…something, anything. I catch a closeout. Great. So my whole strategy backfired and I’m in a lousy mood. I have to go surfing to redeem myself and surf myself out of my funk.

So I roll down to Cardiff and break out the longboard. This is the third time I’ve ridden this new log that I bought off Craigslist. It’s a 9′ Takayama model T. Single fin, classic shape, but not too heavy. The third time’s a charm, I guess, as I really felt dialed in and felt like I had a handle on the board. I managed to get a whole slew of cheater fives. Man, that concave in the nose really helps. It just lets the board lock in. All the other logs I’ve ridden didn’t have concave.  I felt so stable a few times that I stood up straight and tried to do some sort of soul arch.
Finally I got a nice long section and walked up, planted my left foot on the nose and felt solid. Brought the right foot up. Score!! I got two feet on the tip. I don’t know if all ten toes were over the edge, but for all intents and purposes I got both feet up on the nose. Holy crap it’s wobbly! the board started going side to side and I tried to stabilize it but after a few seconds up there I promptly fell off. But what a rush! :) :) :)   I also got thrashed pretty good a few times. A sneaker set came through and I tried really hard to get up and over but it shot me up and backwards and I went through the spin cycle. Another time I was trying to stabilize my board in the wash and got bucked off, fell in front of my board and got clocked in the head. Ouch. But all in all it was a great session. Loving the new log, nice change of pace from shortboarding all the time.

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