Favorite iPhone apps: Labelbox

One of my new favorite iPhone photo apps is Steply's free Labelbox:

Really easy to use--just pull up a pic and select a labeling tape.  I was hooked as soon as I saw the Dymo-styled label (there are more "tapes" available for, I believe, 99 cents):

The only thing is that it's a bit of trial and error figuring out how much tape to lay but it's really easy to do over so it's not that big a deal.  The slight pet peeve is it has a habit of changing orientation for the edit (though it will save in the original orientation).

But really, the pros definitely outweigh the cons (especially for a free app), ta-da!

Plus this comes in pretty handy when you need to "black bar" some identities in what may be incriminating photos:

But it adds an arty look to it, right? It's free, handy, and fun--I recommend it.

Sweet and Sour

My SoCal friend told me she had a Christmas gift that she hadn't gotten around to mailing to me. Needless to say, it was worth the wait:

Inside those five Jelly Belly ziplocs: Sunkist Fruit Gems!

These were on my Amazon wish list for the longest time. One of my favorite sweets--combining high gummy volume to a light granular sugar dusting. Not to be confused with Chuckles. I ate a whole bag on my flights back to SoCar. Thanks Lady.

Sigh. Something sweet to remember my trip from.  Especially when I came back to a messy house of Sonic wrappers, pizza boxes, and stuff just everywhere--though Paul swear he did a lot of picking up as he side-eyed the girl.  I went into a minor rant of my God what would you guys do if I died suddenly?!  Paul nodded solemnly, yeah, we'd be like two bachelors...it would get really messy here. 

AND, I continued, you'd probably donate all my craft stuff! 

Paul paused stiffly, and then answered in an obvious tone similar as if I asked if folks should wash their hands after using public restrooms, Oh my God yes! I would TOTALLY donate all that craft stuff.  He sighed thoughtfully.  Well, maybe Velina would want some...

Man, I gotta remember not to die anytime soon.

SoCal to SoCar: the little things

As sad as leaving my friends and family in SoCar was, I was blessed with the little things to ease the pain. Like free wifi at the Denver airport:

Discovering this awesome Cinnamon Spice tea by Harney & Sons at the airport:

And discovering a passenger who had taken this same flight earlier in the day had left his drink coupon behind in the inflight magazine. A Barcardi & diet coke totally hit the spot:

Thank Heaven for the little things.

SoCal: last day

Sigh. The last day in SoCal is always the hardest.

I was able to squeeze in some PinkBerry froyo with Linda:

And one last Happy Hour with a few friends, including this awesome guy:

Smart, funny, and can sing! He has been a huge support of my decluttering efforts and is super sweet with dogs. And he is thisclose to being as good a sports gambler as me.  And taking a page from Linda's blog: PS - he's single. Can I do a #humblebrag for him and mention that he has done a production of West Side Story, including the full choreography? And he loves Glee. No wonder we get along.

Anyhoo, I know there's going to be a melancholy after I leave here and it's not going to be about the weather and food. I'll be missing all the good people. Sigh.

SoCal Checklist: Vy Da, Indie Movie, Photo Shoot

Such a productive, satisfying day!

Got to enjoy these hard-to-find rice cakes at Vy Da (and they are PERFECT here) with my super trooper friend:

Got to check out an indie film (which are really hard to come by in Columbia, SoCar) with my indie-movie pal:

And I was able to squeeze in another photo shoot thanks to a very patient, game (and wonderfully photogenic) friend:

What a blessing she is to a growing photographer like me.  She totally came through for me.  I had a certain theme planned but I had to come up with a different shoot due to a rainstorm.  And frankly, I liked my new gameplan/shoot.  It kind of has a story and I would love to share it once I get my subjects' approval.  Because thankfully, she was able to dig up another subject for me who was ridiculously patient for my shoot.  Did I mention it was raining?  He turned out pretty darn photogenic too:

Unfortunately, one of the things that wasn't helping me was the rain that got on my lens (ugh-more than I realized!) and that the rapidly changing light proved challenging in terms of getting decent exposure.  It was very rare to get one that was the composition I wanted, with satisfactory exposure, and FOCUS (which proved the toughest in the rain).  But I did get a few, like this one:

Afterwards, we took our soaked bodies and got some hot soup and noodles at Ajisen Ramen:

Thank L and W for such a great shoot!

Great way to end a great day.

SoCal Checklist: Hang with Nana (Bonus: UFC!)

I got to spend some time with Nana getting facials and catching up over some Korean food:

It was her first time trying kimchi! Hooray--she can cross that off her checklist!

I will confess I was thrown by this sign in the restroom stall:

I get they don't want paper towels or garbage flushed down, but uh, toilet paper? What do they want us to do with that? I confess I broke the rules and flushed it--fortunately, it went down without a problem and I didn't "inconvenience" another user.  Whew!

In the evening my friends hosted a delicious party of carne asada and candy (okay the candy was actually my contribution). They ordered the UFC fight where we were FLOORED by Jon Jones definitive victory over Shogun Rua. Great Saturday night in SoCal where the fights start at 7--instead of 10PM on the East Coast!

SoCal Checklist: Photo Shoot

Cute Kid Alert! Was able to snag a few snaps of this cutie after his parents and big sister went to work and school:

That look in the hoodie slays me!

Bonus! Got to hit Native Foods again. Man I LOVE their Reuben sandwich:

And color me satisfied when I can sit and free-refill-drink to my heart's content of their watermelon fresca:

(if anyone has a recipe for watermelon fresca-PLEASE let me know-I am ADDICTED)

Another thing on my checklist was to talk shop with a fellow photography friend, CJ, and get schooled a bit in photography outside my comfort zone: nature.  CJ has a natural eye and call to shooting in nature.  I'm not drawn to landscape and nature photography in general but sometimes I'm impressed by some of the epic pictures (Ansel Adams is a no-brainer) and what gets captured in some of these photos.  I asked CJ what makes him want to take a picture and he said it could be the way the light hits a flower or the shadows created.

I tried to see more through his eyes.

But it didn't come so easy for me.  Looking at the pictures I took, I was disappointed that I didn't catch the tree tops that I cut off until now:

I was attracted to this scene because it kind of had this post-apocalyptic feel, but again my eyes go to the tree tops I cut off abruptly.

Well, still learning! I totally appreciated branching out, learning, and trying new subjects.  Thanks, CJ.

Afterwards, a friend was having a St. Patrick's Day party, which I thought was really clever to have the day after St. Pat's--think of all the sales on St. Pat's merchandise the day after!  Of course what I really loved was hanging with friends, like the host and my super trooper friend (who put up with me so much on this trip!):

And these guys without their cutie-patootie:

And yes, what is a St. Pat's party without green jello shots?

Tasty way to end the St. Pat's celebrations!