Kansas City

My friend's dining room.  I love her two glass jars of fermented mustard greens.

 I met up with my friends this past weekend in Kansas City, KC and Kansas City, MO.  This was my first time in Kansas and despite the many warnings I got about Kansas (which I won't repeat), it wasn't half bad.

The MacKay Building that belongs to Park University.

I had a lot of fun hiking and exploring both cities named Kansas.  I made my friends hike (we discovered Park University), watch Think Like a Man (the original and sequel) and they made me get a pedicure (a first for me). We had so many laughs between the three of us and continued to share laughs at a comedy club.

Do you like our pedicures?  Guess which feet are mine?

Aside from talking, the other thing we do well together is eat!  We got brunch and yummy cinnamon rolls from Strouds.  While visiting the City of Parkville, my friend found her favorite meal at Frank's Italian Restaurant, while I loved their tiramisu.  We waited for approximately an hour and a ten minutes for food at Oklahoma Joes.  We also ate South Asian Indian food (a first for the both of them).

Cinnamon buns from Strouds.

We shared a slice of tiramisu from Frank's Italian Restaurant.

It was super humid (I showered at least twice per a day).  It was exhausting (but in a good way).  It was fun.  In a blink of an eye, the long weekend came to an end and it was time to return to reality.

Spring Cave

Loose Park Rose Garden

I'm now missing my friends.  I'm so glad they made time to spend with me and were open to the things I wanted to do (such as making them walk so much).  If they're not too sore, hopefully we'll be able to meet up again next year.

Have you been to Kansas City, MO or Kansas City, KS?  What was your experience there?

Secondary Wedding Photographer

Last week, exactly last Sunday, I volunteered to be a secondary photographer at a wedding.  My friend, the main photographer, was related to the bride and asked if I wanted to help her photograph the wedding.  Since I've been wanting to improve my photography skills, she thought that this might give me some experience.  I readily agreed and I sure am glad I joined in because the experience really was priceless.

Not only did I further learn to use my camera, I also learned how to improvise (it started raining like crazy) and "see" a scene.  Through my pictures, I know that the best pictures I took are macro and still life, and I need to improve on my portraiture techniques.  I also forced myself to be more extroverted and social (which is really hard for me).

 

If you ever thought that being a wedding photographer was easy, it's not.  I'm so appreciative of my friend giving me a chance to shadow her and to also capture some of the beautiful moments at this wedding.  Hopefully, there will be more chances in the future for me to be a secondary photographer again.  Despite all the running around, it was fun.

Hearts Ablaze

[Taken June 22, 2014.]

Tuesday's Tune: Come to Me

I was just at a wedding this past Sunday.  I'll blog more about it later in the week, but I'm going to use it as a theme for today's post.  I wanted to share the Goo Goo Dolls' song, "Come to Me." 

I really love this song.  It reminds me that we all have a soul mate or two or three or more out there just waiting for us.  It's all a matter of meeting all those soul mates and deciding which one to be with.  This has been a favorite song of mine when I first heard it.  I especially love this video because it's so creative and kooky.

What do you think of this song?

Bristle Cone Pine Tree

[Taken October 21, 2011.]

Need to Weed

It's been raining, and when it's not raining, it's been beautiful.  I've been busy with work and so many other things that I'm already neglecting my garden.  Most importantly, I need to weed my garden so badly. 

  

As you can see above (if you can even make it out), my tomato plant is screaming for some relief among all the weeds growing around it.  My pepper plant below, is doing a lot better, but it does need to be weeded too.  I'm just am going to have to find time somehow and care for my garden.

How is your garden coming along?

Robert Street Bridge

Tuesday's Tune: Coming Home, Part II

When I first heard this song, it was the hook that caught my attention.  I had hoped the artist that wrote the hook, Skylar Grey, would turn it into her own song.  Apparently she did.

I find this a very hopeful song.  With my nephew going home to visit his mom for the summer, I thought this song was appropriate for Tuesday's Tune.  It's a long story as to how he ended up in Minnesota and it's has been some time since he's been back to see his family in California.  I hope he can show his Cali family how much he's grown and matured (despite still being a teenager).  I also hope that he and his mom can move beyond what has happened and focus on the here and now.  I love them both very much and only wish the best for them.

What does this song mean to you?  What do you think of this song?

Honing My Photography Skills

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I own a Canon Rebel digital SLR camera but don't know how to use it in manual mode.  Back in college, many years ago, I took a photography class and learned how to manually work a film SLR camera.  Yet it's been so many years since that class and I don't remember how to manually work a SLR camera anymore.  At the very least, I'm still familiar with certain photography terminology (e.g. ISO, aperture, shutter speed) and what those terms individually mean.

Taken with a fast shutter speed, you can see how the water's "frozen" in action.  I wanted to advance from this style.

I've been slowly trying to teach myself to move away from the automatic mode and ease into manual mode.  There's so much to learn, and it doesn't help that there are so many many options that come with a digital camera (unlike a film camera).  I want to not only better my photography skills, but I want to actually utilize my camera and lenses to all of the possibilities that there may be.  Slowly but surely, I hope to teach myself again.  For some unknown reason, it's not sticking in my head, but I'll force it in somehow.

With a slower shutter speed, the water looks smooth and silky...just what I wanted!

Today, I was playing with the shutter speed on my camera.  My ultimate goal today was to photograph moving water so that it looked wonderfully smooth and frothy.  It sucked that I forgot my tripod, but I worked with what I had and my environment.  I only ended up with three decent pictures, despite taking many many many bad ones.  Yet, I'm quite happy.  I actually was able to capture the running water in a way that wasn't half bad.  Now, I just need to find a big waterfall and continue practicing.

Do you like photography?  Are you interested in expanding your photography skills?

Friday's Quote: Maya Angelou

"Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it."--Maya Angelou

I haven't written on Friday's Quote for the last several weeks because the Quote of the Day that showed up (on the panel on the right) was a repeat or I just wasn't connecting to it.  With the recent passing of Maya Angelou, I felt that I had to take things into my own hands and find a quote from her to write about (and as a tribute to her).

For much of my life, I've been getting what I've asked for.  Of course, it took some hard work on my behalf too.  I had so many goals and dreams when I was younger.  In the last several years, I've been trying to just live my life and be in the present, enjoying what I've asked for.  I've forgotten to set new goals and dream even bigger.  I've been telling myself that it's time to set new goals and dream again, and this time, I will.

I have to reassess my goals, but I've been building up my dreams and it's about time I make those dreams BIG.  Really, DREAM BIG, set into motion a way to reach those dreams, and ask for it.  I also recognize that sometimes the thing I'm dreaming of, what I ask for, may not always be exactly what I want.  But it's not going to stop me.  There's also that little nagging voice in the back of my head asking me if I'm ready and I'm learning to answer it with a definite "YES!"

How about you?  What are you dreaming about, what goals are you hoping for?  What are you asking for?  Are you prepared to get it?

[I think from here on out, if I don't like the generated Quote of the Day that's generated on Friday, then I'm going to find another quote to my liking and blog about it Friday's Quote.]

Soy Sauce, Please

[Taken in Minneapolis, MN on May 30, 2014.]

A Rock Collection

I've written about the heart shaped rock I found several months ago.  (Right now it's with my dad.)  Since finding that heart shaped rock, I've been on the look out for more heart shaped rocks.  

Since December, I haven't had much luck.  I began looking all over the roads when I'd go jogging.  My sisters and I looked when we were in Texas.  My co-worker even looked for me when she took a trip to San Diego in April.  Then most recently, my luck changed, or maybe I just opened my eyes up a little bit more.

I found one rock earlier last month at my nephew's home, which isn't in the picture.  Then yesterday, while walking the same route I take when jogging, I found the four rocks above.  The top-right rock could be a little questionable, and may require a tiny bit of imagination, but I believe it's a heart shaped rock.

I'm really excited to be starting a collection.  I have a lot of stuff in my home that I don't think is a collection, although others may think otherwise.  At least with this collection, if I no longer want the rocks, I can just throw it outside and it wouldn't pollute the environment.  I'm sure my youngest sister will be more than happy to take the collection from me if I no longer want the rocks.

What are you collecting?