I Love.....the Camera on My Phone?

I was sooooo late to the smart phone party. I got my Samsung Galaxy SII about six months ago. And of course, as soon as I got the phone charged up, I quickly downloaded the Instagram app.

Yup, I'm late to the Instagram party as well. It quickly became one of my favorite apps and I pretty much took pictures of everything.

The cameras on phone these days are pretty cool. I had one in my old phone and man, that thing sucked like there's no tomorrow. Every single image had a blue tint and forget about using it when it's dark...you're not gonna get a damn thing.

My Samsung is not bad at all. I really love the convenience of being able to whip out a teeny-skinny device out of my pocket to capture something really cool within seconds but yeah, it's not the same as holding an actual DSLR.

I miss my camera. I'm going to start using it as soon as things settle down in our household (We got a lot of stuff on our plate right now and I don't want to talk about it yet because I don't want jinx it so I'll explain later.).

Anyway, here's a few pictures I took with the camera phone and edited on Instagram. I know, bad bad bad, lazy, lazy, lazy amateur photographer me.

But come on, they look pretty cool.

 

 

I told you....I love my cats waaaaay too freaking much. :)

Colors in the Winter

I am getting pretty sick and tired of black, charcoal, navy blue and white. Seriously, those are the only colors I wear during the winter until recently.

Anyway, I bought this mustard yellow coat two months ago because I want to see more colors in my winter wardrobe. It is made by Tulle and I got it during their website's Black Friday sale (I can't remember how much I paid for it but I remember thinking it wasn't that much).

I've seen mustard yellow stuff before but I kept thinking "Nah, I don't think I can pull this color off." I never really thought about buying anything in any shade of yellow until maybe about six months ago.

I finally had the guts to wear it to work today. I really liked it and I got nothing but compliments from people. Success! :)

 

 

 

Goals for Twenty-Thirteen

I was actually going to start a new blog but after looking at this one and revisiting everything, why start a new one right? (Plus, I'm beginning to think it was too much work to start a new one anyway.)

So, let's talk about goals/New Year's Resolution. To be honest, I hardly stick to them but this year, I think I'm going to try my best to keep them.

And this year's missions are:

1) Stop shopping too much. - I admit it's getting kind of out of control. I found some clothes that still has tags on them. That's not good.

2) Wear everything in the closet. - Maybe shopping the closet will help me kick the shopping addiction to the curb.

3) Stick to a $50 shopping budget a month. -  Baby steps, people. BABY STEPS.

4) Work out for at least 30 minutes a day. - Not just for losing weight but for the sake of being healthy and preventing myself from having some sort of heart disease someday.

5) Travel more. - Experiences are worth much more than tangible and material things.

6) Finish a project first before starting a new one. - Ugh, I have so many projects to do right now.

7) Be closer to family. - Call my Dad and my Grandma every weekend even for a few minutes. Send birthday cards.

8) Stop. Being. So. Damn. Lazy. - Because being lazy is the reason why I get overwhelmed.

9) Keep writing this blog. - Consider it as another project; it needs to be finished.

10) Take more pictures! - What kind of an idiot buys an expensive camera and not use it? Um yeah, that would be me. Must stop being an idiot. :)

Okay 2013, bring it on!

Space Needle 2013 Fireworks

Taken from my living room (and no, that is definitely not the view outside my windows).

I was in front of the TV holding up my Samsung Galaxy S2 and clicking away and using Instagram to upload it.

Yeah, the damn TV is THAT hi-def.

 

 

I know, I'm such a geek.

Guess Who's Back....

....back again. (Sorry I can't help it.)

So the year 2012 came and went. I stopped blogging for awhile...well for about a year because to be honest, I ran out of ideas and inspiration. Got busy at work and with life, you know, the same excuse every blogger says. Hah.

Anyway, let's recap 2012 in a short paragraph. I started a job in Seattle with a two hour commute everyday but ended up getting a position in another hospital 15-20 minutes away from home so I should have more free time huh. Um, NOT! We ended up moving in April 2012 across the street from our condo complex into a townhouse. So I've been slaving away, trying to finish painting walls, decorating and all that jazz. I had a very stressful job on top of everthing that leaves me physically, mentally and emotially stressed the hell out every day. In June 2012, we went to Europe and visited London, Amsterdam, Sankt Goar along the Rhein, Munich, Hopfgarten (a ski area in Austria), Venice, Rome, Florence, Lucerne and Paris (I refuse to post the pictures because I made the BIG, MASSIVE, "I'm Such an Idiot!" mistake of not bringing my DSLR and the image quality is just not up to par with my own standards.).

I think that's pretty much it. After Europe, I got an interview for another position and I started on that new position in the beginning of December (HR process was quite slow!). I love my new job. I'm finally able to think straight and no more anxiety!

So I figured, maybe I should start blogging again. It's a new year after all and another fresh start.

Plus, I need a hobby.

Well, that's it for now. To whoever is reading/read this, thank you and hopefully, you'll keep reading.

Oh wow, I'm a sucky blogger.

I haven't updated this thing since July 2011. That's really, really bad.

I do have a good excuse though. I started a job in Seattle and that took up a lot of my time. I had to commute for TWO hours a day (roundtrip) every day. By the time I get home from work, I'm exhausted, it's already 5:30pm and all I want to do is relax, watch TV or read a book. The only thing I have time to update in the past 6 months is my Facebook.

Anyway, about a week ago, I switched jobs. I still work for the same company but in a different location and the location is about a 15 minute drive from our house. And I think I finally have enough time to go back to my old hobbies, photography and blogging.

Well, this is it for now. I'm going to start taking and posting pictures again. I'm also thinking about posting some stuff about fashion but we'll see about that. I'm trying to stop buying so much crap and just mix and match the stuff I already have and maybe I'll post pictures of the combinations I come up with. We'll see though.

Thank you so much for reading. Let's all have a GREAT year this year!

Fun in Brinnon, WA

We spent the entire day at Brinnon, WA yesterday and we had a blast!

It's a very lovely and sleepy town. It's about a two-hour drive away from where we live but it was worth the drive. My husband's uncle and aunt owns a house along the banks of Hood Canal.

And of course, I took some pictures. They look really cool in black and white too but I'm posting the colored ones for now.

Out and About in Tacoma (B&W)

Taken outside the Tacoma Union Station/Washington State History Museum.


Yup, there was a camel right outside the museum in honor of a featured exhibit titled "Wrapped!: The Search for the Essential Mummy.".


Taken outside a cupcake shop called "Hello Cupcake.". We bought red velvet, pink champagne and strawberry cupcakes and ate them while taking pictures. They were soooo good that we didn't even get the chance to take pictures of them. Maybe next time.


Taken inside The Swiss Pub while my husband was having a glass of beer.


Well folks, that's all for now. Thank you so much for reading and looking!

Operation Redecoration: Living Room (Part Three)

Oh man, when is it going to end? Yup, I'm not done with the living room yet and now that I started working, who the hell knows if I'll ever finish this room.

I bet by the time I finished the entire redecorating process, it will be time to move. Ha ha.

Thing to figure out:

1) What type of wall art or whatever to put up on the gray wall behind the couch.
2) Where to put my husband's paintings of the cats (Yeah, he painted Sophie and Cali, our old cat).
3) Wait, there is a #3 but I forgot. Way too much stuff on my mind right now. Dammit.

Anyway, the fireplace is DONE and here are the before and after pictures!

BEFORE:
It looks pretty boring and lame and I have no idea WTF were we thinking when we put up the mirrors.

AFTER:
Painted the wall but not all the way and spruced up the boring black mirrors.

I'm currently working on the area where the TV is. Right now, the TV is in between two black shelves (shown in the second picture). I'll post pictures as soon as it's done (if ever, ha ha).

Anyway, thanks for reading and have a great day!

Holy crap, this blog needs some updating!

I can't believe it's July already and the sun is already shining before the 4th of July! Usually, summer does not officially start until AFTER the 4th of July here in Washington state!

Anyway, I haven't been blogging lately because of work. I started on the 22nd of June and my schedule has been hectic since. Seriously, I felt like all I did was wake up, go to work, get off work, prepare my husband and I's lunch for the next day, play with the cats, and go to bed.

And yup, the same shizz again the next day. The first week was total hell but I think I'm getting used to it already.

I just hate that I don't have time to take pictures anymore. =(

Anyway, here's some new pictures of Hermione. She's growing and she's crazier than ever lately.


Well, that's all for now.

I'll post more pictures later. Thank you so much for reading and looking!

Operation Redecoration: Living Room (Part Two)

I painted the wall behind the red couches! It's dark gray now!

I used Valspar Drizzling Mist in satin sheen. I think it made the living room appear super-cozy and it doesn't look SUPER-BORING anymore. I am so sick and tired of staring at the white walls.

Here are the before and after pictures.

BEFORE: Boring white walls. *YAWN*

AFTER: New wall paint and the new pillows from Target!
One wall down, whoknowshowmanymore to go!

Hmmmmm, I swear it looks a lot darker in person.

I said "Part Two" in the title because we haven't decided on what kind of wall art we're going to put up on the wall behind the couch. Technically, it's not quite finished yet. I'm pretty sure there's going to be at least two more parts to this because I still need to work on the fireplace area and the other side of the living room where the TV is located. We're planning on putting two tall black bookshelves on each side of the TV.

I can't figure out what to do with the fireplace area yet. It's another boring and yawn-inducing area. We'll see how everything goes, I guess.

Anyway, I really want to kick myself for starting late on the condo redecorating projects I have in mind but at the same time, I thought we were moving out so I didn't do anything. Now, I'm not sure if I'll be able to do much anymore because I start on my new job next Monday! I'm kinda freaked out!

Anyway, this is it for now. I have some pictures to upload and I'll get on that as soon as I can. Thanks for reading!

Hottie of the Week: Torrance Coombs

Okay, more like the "Hottie of the Month".

I haven't done one of these "celebrity crush" posts for awhile. I just finished watching all the seasons of "The Tudors" and spent a lot of time swooning and sighing over Henry Cavill (my god, he's one of the most beautiful men I have ever seen in my whole life!) while watching the episodes of the first, second and third season.

Then, I started watching the fourth season and OMG, I saw this guy, forgot about Henry Cavill for a second and nearly died (Okay, not really but you know what I mean.).

(Blah, I wish I took these pictures. He makes a beautiful subject!
Pictures courtesy of Google. )

He's really cute huh?

His name is Torrance Coombs. He played Thomas Culpepper (King Henry VIII's favorite groom who effed Katherine Howard).

Oh and he has a Twitter account where he talks about kittens all the time and pretty much tweeted a play-by-play of his cat giving birth to kittens.

Yeah, just check it out. Ha ha.

Operation Redecoration: Living Room (Part One)

Part One for now because I know this is going to take awhile. *sighs*

I'm sick and tired of the white walls. The reason why we never painted the walls is because we thought we're going to be moving to a bigger place so why do anything to the place right? Well, since we're not interested in purchasing a bigger place anytime soon so I think it's time to make changes and I am starting with the living room.

I mentioned before that we have red couches. Something really needs to be done with the darn couch. I am SUPER bored with the red, white, and black color combination too.

So, we went to Target yesterday. We weren't really planning on buying anything but we saw this aqua blue suede pillows and black and cream floral pillows on sale.

So here they are. I'm so tired of the red, black and white and
I think adding some aqua blue looks pretty awesome.

I didn't take a picture of the whole couch because it needs to be vacuumed and the living room is a mess as of the moment. I'll post pictures as soon as I finished the entire living room.

I'm also thinking about painting the wall behind the red couch. I really like the dark gray color.


Now I just need to buy pillows for the loveseat and maybe a couple of accent chairs so we can have more seating in the living room.

Anyway, that's all for now. I should try to finish as much as I can before I start working. I definitely don't want to be doing all this redecorating stuff on my sunny summer weekends.

Random Picture Friday!

Oh and by the way, I got a call from HR and I finally got a starting date for the Seattle job! I'm starting on the 20th of June. Woot! (This also means I get to shop for new clothes and shoes!)

It's probably going to be a bit harder for me to update this blog because who knows how crazy- busy I'll be. I'm not sure if I can travel as much anymore either so no travel pictures for awhile. I don't know if I'll have the time to take pictures either. Oh man.

It's kinda bittersweet because I love having all the free time in the world but at the same time, me having a job = more money going to our savings. More money to get photography stuff too. Oh and yeah, we can get a waaaaaaaay better (and bigger) house now.

Anyway, here's some random pictures for now.

Hermione's Paws.
It's so much easier to take a picture of her when she's passed out.

My Sophie-baby and her Baby Blues.
I love taking pictures of her because her eyes.

Ketchup Anyone?
I think I was a little bit drunk when I took this.

Peonies in Waiting
Just some random peony buds growing outside our building.

Please excuse the overload of cat pictures in my blog lately. I just love taking pictures of cats waaaaaaay too much.

Anyway, that's all for now. The weather here in Western Washington is super awesome as of the moment and it will stay like this all weekend. I am freaking excited!

I hope you guys have a great weekend!

Peonies in Black and White

I actually took this pictures in color but I love the how the images look in black and white.

I freaking love black and white photographs. I miss working in the darkroom. I miss the smell and the sound of flowing water. Seriously, a photo darkroom is one of the most relaxing places in the entire planet. Everyone should get the chance to work inside a photo darkroom.

Now, my "darkroom" consists of a laptop sitting on a coffee table in the living room. That's pretty much it. Hah.





So yeah, our new cat Hermione is settling in pretty well. Sophie still hates her, hisses at her and eats her food. They can coexist as long as Hermione stays out of Sophie's way and leaves her alone. Hopefully, they'll be good friends in a month or two.

Oh and yeah, I haven't even started on painting the living room wall. I really suck at finishing (or getting started on) projects sometimes.

Anyway, that's all for now. Thank you so much for reading, looking at the pretty (and not-so-pretty) pictures and giving a damn about my boring life. (HA HA HA!).

Shooting with Macro (Kinda)

Okay, I don't really shoot with an actual macro lens.

Those things are sooooo freaking expensive and honestly, I would rather save my money and buy a faster zoom lens. I want one with a 2.5 aperture and the one I want cost more than $1,000. I know, YIKES.

Anyway, I actually shot the images below using my Canon Powershot SX120 IS. I switch back and forth between the SX120 and the Canon S5. The Canon S5 has a supermacro setting but I haven't compared the two so I'm not exactly sure if there's any difference as of the moment. I'll let you guys know when I figure it all out though.

I don't think they look bad at all. I'm actually pretty happy with the results.

A white peony from a peony bush (or tree?) outside our building.


Some random stalk(?) or stem (?) of a rhododendron bush outside our building.


Another peony, up close (and personal). I love peonies!


Rhododendron up close.

Well, that's all for now.

It would be nice to own a macro lens someday but I'm not so sure if I really need one. I do photography for the love of the art and for fun; I don't earn any money from doing it.

So yeah, no money = no funds to buy EXPENSIVE stuff I don't need, ha ha.

Well, that's all for now. I hope you have/had a good day today. Thanks for reading and looking!

New Familly Member!

Meet Hermione, our new cat!

(Finally, I have a cat named after a Harry Potter character! YES!)

She's approximately 8 months old and according to her medical records, she's a Maine Coon. Not really sure if she's purebred or not (We don't really care if she is or not). We adopted her from a local animal rescue team. We adopted Sophie from them too.

So far, she's been awesome. She's a purr and headbutt machine. She chirps when she plays. She's exploring the condo as of the moment and trying her best to stay out of Sophie's way. Sophie on the other hand, keeps stalking her and keeps eating her kitty kibbles.

Excuse the messy background in the pictures. Hermione is living in our messy office right now. I'm trying to do the whole "cat introduction" thing but it seems pointless because Sophie just barges in the office and crashes the party. Oh well.


Can't you tell I freaking love cats?

I wish I can take a couple more cats into our home but it's going to be super crowded in our condo if I did. There's a couple older cats I fell totally in love with too. My husband said he doesn't mind taking another older cat in if we have a bigger place. Right after he said that, I kinda wished we're still getting the house! Oh well.

I hope the older cats find a loving home soon.

Anyway, this is all for now. I took a bunch of pictures during the weekend and I'll be posting them as soon as I can. Thanks for reading and looking!

In Memoriam

"For love of country they accepted death..." ~James A. Garfield

I'm a bad blogger but I have pictures and updates.

I was doing really good with the blogging too but this month, I hit a wall!

I mean, I try to think about what to write but nothing comes to mind.

Okay, let's get on with the updates.

Update on the House: Well, we decided not to get it. It really sucked at first and I think I was little bit depressed (hence I haven't been blogging and doing much). I think it's for the best. We're perfectly fine with our condo for now anyway.

I'll probably update a few things around the condo though. We never really painted the walls because we thought we're not going to stay here that long. I'm pretty sick and tired of the white walls. They have to go.

I might work on maximizing the space in our walk-in closet and the laundry room but we'll see.

Update on the Job: I have been in touch with the HR department and I got selected for the job so technically, I got the job. They're just waiting for the director to sign the paperwork so they can call me and officially offer me the job but shit, it's been almost a month now. I guess that's how it is when it comes to federal jobs. The process is just super-slow. It is how it is.

But you know, I'm not in a hurry since we're not getting the house anymore. I really don't need to work but if I don't work, we're staying in this condo forever and my husband and I are not too fond of the idea.

PICTURES: Well, I have been slacking in the department too. I've been super lazy. The weather is improving and we're going to start traveling again so hopefully, I'll start posting more.

Here's a few pictures for now.

I'm pretty obsessed with cherry blossoms this year.

Let's give it a try in black and white.

A trillium.

I really need to get the hell out and take pictures of other stuff besides flowers and nature.

That's all for now.

OMG, I neglected my blog!

Life has been crazy hectic lately and I really don't feel like going into details when it comes to stuff because I don't want to jinx anything.

Yeah, we're still dealing with the house. We are in the process of re-negotiating the price because of the horrifying stuff we found during the inspection.

I was selected for that Seattle job and I'm waiting to HR to call me. So far, no call yet.

Anyway, I have a couple of pictures! I've been slacking off in the picture department lately.

My husband and I baby-sat our friends' cat for a couple of days and I took some pictures of them.

They're so awesome and I miss them already.

Here is Luna. She chirps when she plays! I can't handle the cuteness sometimes!

And here is Mikan. He's so chill. I freaking love him!

Well, that's all for now. Please send me some good vibes. I really need it. There's going to be a lot of changes ahead and I am not sure if I am ready for them.