Adam and I are headed out to on our trip to the Pacific Northwest to celebrate our one year anniversary. I will be away from emails until July 1st.

Praise God for our one year of marriage and hoping that there’s many, many more in future!

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I’ve been tagged by Serena Grace. Check out her work. She is amazing! And she’s getting married next month too so please send your warm well wishes and prayers her way.

What was I doing 10 years ago?

• Wow, ten years seems like a long time. I’m almost up for my ten-year high school reunion. In 1998, I was a junior in high school… doing just about every available extracurricular activity I could fit into my schedule. Guess some things never change. Once a busybody, always a busybody.

Things On My To Do list:

• My to-do lists never seem to shrink or completely go away so it makes me shudder to think what I actually have to do in the next month or so. But here are some of the major things:

• Tons of wedding stuff (invitations, find a day-of coordinator that doesn’t cost a fortune, etc etc etc… and the list goes on)
• Pack and move for the 9th time in about 9 years. Needless to say, I don’t exactly have the best feelings towards moving, but I am happy that this time it’s moving into our first home for Adam and I. Oh and packing means unpacking as well. bah.
• Garage sale to sell/get rid of my useless junk before packing/moving
• Jury duty over break. Not fun.
• Stuff,
• Stuff I probably am not aware of at this moment…
• And more stuff
• Get married in July

Bad Habits

• I’m naturally a night owl. I feel most productive late afternoon-late night. I despise mornings the way cats despise water.
• I have a tendency to not put a book down once I get into it, which leads to staying up til 4am finishing books because I wanted to read “one more chapter.” Which is why I often don’t read books, but read magazines and blogs instead. The difference being that the latter does not lead to sleep deprivation.
• I’m a pile-r. What appears to be disarray to the outside eye is actually organized chaos for me. Ask me where something is, I can more often than not find it and know in which pile it happens to be in.

Places I have Lived

• South Dakota (until I was 6. Random. I know)
• Los Angeles
• San Diego (my true home)

Things Most People Don’t Know About Me

• I know my roommate, Richard, really loves this one: I fall asleep on my couch sometimes more than I do on my bed. I stubbornly believe that when I curl up in the corner of my couch with my nice, soft blanket and close my eyes, that I will actually NOT fall asleep because I am just “resting my eyes.” However, I’d say a majority (not EVERY) of the time, I fall asleep and then Richard and/or Adam has to wake me up to go to bed.
• I have an eclectic taste in music, but it’s definitely an integral part of my soul. Being so, I’m pretty good at remembering lyrics. It always catches me off guard when I hear a song after years and years and I can sing along to it in my head.
• I love home-cooked Chinese food. A lot. I often crave it as comfort food.
• Lastly, I’m pretty damn good at Wheel of Fortune (and word games). Too bad it’s not something I can put on a resume.

I tag you!

• Kevin Tsang
• Daniel Galang
• Amanda Fales Shaw
  
• Kelly
• All Narfed Up
• David & Kimi Baxter
• Rachel Brooke
• Gabriel Ryan
• Melissa Koehler

On a different note…

I’m slowly trying to re-emerge from underneath the madness that has been this past month. With report cards, parent/teacher conferences, getting a pink slip because of proposed education cuts in the state of California, having a student teacher, and just life in general, I praise God that I’m still reasonably sane at this point. I’ll be on Spring Break (finally) next week so I’m excited to just be able to catch up on rest, but also get some wedding stuff done. I would really love to just be able to sleep for a week and not move off the couch for a couple days.

I had the amazing opportunity to have lunch with one of my favorite photographers this past week, Jasmine Star. Not only is her work amazing, but she is such an inspiring person! She is always so real and down-to-earth on her blog, that I felt a little like I already knew her before I met her. There’s not many people that you can say that about.

Plus, I felt like it was such an incredible blessing to be able to meet the photographer that has inspired me to get into my own work more seriously. It made seem a bit naive to think that ONE person that I only know through a blog could do that, but ever since I started following her blog last year, it has continued to inspire me more and more on a daily basis. Even more so than any other photographer’s blog that I read (and I read A LOT. And just so you know, Google Reader stops counting the number of blogs after you have 1000 reads you haven’t read because it says “1000+” Don’t ask me how I know…)

Those that follow J* know that she is incredibly humble and modest and after meeting her in person, I have say that it’s all true! She was incredibly gracious and gave everyone great tips. I found it amusing that she ended sitting in the “Pope chair” at our table. Serena Grace got some funny shots of her in the chair.

Hilarious!

God works in such mysterious ways and I continually find myself amazed at what a detailed, intimate planner He is. Many of the people at the lunch, I learned, were also sisters and brothers in Christ. What a blessing that He brought some of us together. I’m looking forward to keeping in touch with them online. One of things that God has done a LOT of in the past month for me has been giving me opportunities to network with other photographers. And not only just that, but Christian photographers. Amazing.

Plus, it was also God’s working that everyone that came to the lunch was JUST starting out in their own photography endeavors. How awesome is that?

I had an amazing time and am thankful for this opportunity to meet someone that inspires me so much. It’s going to be interesting to see how He continues to work through me this year and I’m hoping that next year, when I look back at what transpired over 2007… that I’ll look back with even more amazement at how far I’ve come and grown as a photographer.

On a sidenote: Does anyone know how to upload photos onto blogger without it losing so much of its quality? It uploads so small and then when I make it bigger, it’s all pixelated. I’ll try it with flickr.

UPDATE: Okay I figured it out. Not as intuitive as I thought, but it’s actually pretty cool. I think I might enjoy flickr!

lunar eclipse across sky - timelapse
Originally uploaded by Rygood

I just read on CameraPorn.net (one of the photographers I met on the La Jolla photowalk two weeks ago) that there was a lunar eclipse earlier tonight.

I thought I was just a little crazy (or unobservant) because on my way to my weekly women’s bible study (”Sisters”) tonight, I did think to myself when I looked at the moon that it looked a little odd. Like it looked like a crescent but a little more like the top of a mushroom. I just thought to myself, “Hey, the moon looks weird… hmm… Oh Jasmine, you probably just don’t pay enough attention to the moon. It’s SUPPOSED to look like that. Oh and start paying attention to road instead of the moon. You’re driving.”

Such a dork.

At least now I know I’m not a completely ignorant moon observer. And maybe I should trust my instincts a little more.

I’m currently waiting for Adam to get out of class so we can go out on our date…

I’m absolutely horrible with surprising Adam. I usually want to just tell him and blurt it out. So I’m a little anxious at the moment. I made him a gift and I can’t wait to give it to him!!! I can’t even count the number of times I’ve almost given away a surprise. It’s sad, really.

I was going through the photos my Mom took of our Bride’s Cookie Day and found this one.

My parents, Adam and I in December. A whole lotta red goin’ on in this photo!

We’re going up to visit my parents for a day (and to eat yummy CHINESE food!) this long weekend. I haven’t seen them since Christmas. I kinda miss my familia… even if they drive me crazy.

Anyhoo…

The hopeless romantic in me just can’t help but delight in these little cheesy celebrations like Valentine’s Day. When Adam was still in Jordan, I used to despise these days because it just another blantant reminder of how Adam was not here to celebrate with me. I really actually used to have ill will towards these days… now I’m just cherishing the fact that I can go celebrate, but more importantly, spend time with the love of my life.

Now only if Adam can hurry up and get out of class! I’ll try to wait to give him his gift when I get into the car… hopefully I won’t just shove it into his face when he comes over.

Here’s wishing everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day!

Back in the fall, I made cards for my bridal party to formally “invite” them to be a part of our wedding. I initially wanted to do this to ask them, but I had the rare opportunity to see each of them before September so I ended up asking each of them in person. I did end up making the cards though. It was a fun diy (do-it-yourself) project.

Some of the supplies.

And the finished product!

All the cards I made, including one for Kevin, my “brides-man”

A close-up of Kevin’s card.

I’m so excited to have Jackie, Vaness, Lauren, Amanda and Kevin in our wedding!

What a game!

I really wanted the Giants to win, not because I’m a big fan of them, but because I didn’t want the Patriots (or Tom Brady mostly) to win.

WOO HOO!

An a-maz-ing game!!! What a great win for the Giants!

(Too bad the Chargers weren’t there, but there’s always next year.)

image source: Getty images

I came across this while blog-surfing today. One of the many photographers I follow is Joe Photo. His work is amazing, but as a person, he’s even more awesome. I often find his blogs inspirational and it’s great to see what God has been doing in his life. Seems like a great guy that would be interesting to talk to.

Here is some info for you photographers out there interested in attending the WPPI 2009 (originally posted on Joe Photo’s blog):

Spread the Love and Gain Free Admission to WPPI 2009

WPPI has come up with an incredible offer to those of you willing to share this hilarious series. Anyone who posts this or episode 2 on their blog or website will gain free admission to WPPI 2009. No, that’s not a typo. You’ll gain FREE admission to next year’s convention and tradeshow. And it’s going to be the biggest one ever. It will be the first year WPPI will be at the MGM grand. It’s going to be huge!

But wait…there’s more! Whichever posted set of videos (for both episodes 1 and 2) gets the most unique views, that person will get FIVE FREE ADMISSIONS to WPPI 2009. That’s right. You and four of your friends will be able to get into the largest wedding and portrait convention and expo absolutely free of charge.

I’ve wanted to go to WPPI for awhile now, but seeing as how most of my extra funds this year will be go towards our wedding in July, I won’t be attending this year. However, I am super excited to go next year. (Especially for free!) God willing, I’ll have much more prepared and off the ground by then. I’m hoping to really build my portfolio this year.

And it’s going to be at the MGM Grand. Such fun! Who’s down to go with me next year? (I’m calling YOU out Kevin and Amanda!)

This past Friday, Adam and I went to the driving range near my home. Adam really loves golf, but doesn’t get to go out very often, so he jumped at the chance to go after work. I went along to try to get some shots of him and maybe help him with his swing.

He looked so happy in his element and I’m glad that I could share in his special time, even just as his special, personal photographer.

So determined and focused…

Is it possible for golfers to be sexy? Well I sure hope so, because mine is so sexy!

And a sequence of shots…

What a great time. Maybe one day, when God grants a lot more patience, I can learn how to play this game called golf with sexy golfer husband-to-be.