Photography Class 2

I enjoyed sharing my first photo assignment for my Photography class with all of you, so I decided to share my second assignment.  This week the assignment was to explore color.  We were instructed to pick a color, observe that color in our surroundings, and then take pictures using some of the techniques we learned last week.  I chose orange as my color because I wanted something bright and fun.  Most of the people in my class chose green and red and 90% of the photos were plants and roses, so I'm glad I chose something a little different.  Enjoy!

ATV's and... Justin Bieber?

Yep, you read that right.  K and I had a very exciting weekend, and it all started out with Justin Bieber...

On Friday night we went to a birthday party for one of K's co-workers (we'll call him "B") and that gem was on the door, waiting to greet us when we arrived at B's house.  It turned out, the theme of the party was "Pretty Princess meets Justin Bieber" which was obviously a great theme... for a guy... turning 25.  Of course it was all a joke, and B played along quite well.

Birthday boy with his 'Birthday Princess' crown.

On Saturday, K and I went with B and his girlfriend, K, on an ATV tour out in the desert.  We were picked up in the early afternoon and drove out to Nelson's Landing, which is about 45 minutes southeast of Las Vegas.  The "base camp" was located at an antique shop where we wandered around for a little while.  There was a lot of... interesting stuff.

And then the real fun started.  We rode around for about 4 hours with stops to enjoy the view and check out a few mines.  Then we stopped for a delicious BBQ dinner at a restored mining camp.

The mountains and the view were so beautiful, the pictures don't do it justice.  Unfortunately, one of the guys on the tour with us fell off his ATV and dislocated his shoulder.  He was busy looking back at his wife the entire time because she was very scared, and when he looked back one too many times... oops.  So we had to cut the trip short by about an hour and a half so we could get him back into town.  Despite the little accident, we had an amazing time.  You can check out the tour company's website here.  The trip was so much more fun than I imagined it would be, and I would highly recommend a trip to anyone visiting Las Vegas. 

I hope you all had a great weekend to finish out February... I can't believe the month is already over!  Onward and upward to March...

Photography Class

One of the items on my 2011 Bucket List was to take a Photography Class.  I see photography as a fun hobby, and I was looking for a way to improve my skills and learn how to use my camera to its full capacity.  I signed up for a class at the College of Southern Nevada and we had our first shooting assignment this week.  This first assignment was about composition and some basic shooting techniques.  Overall I'm happy with what I ended up with, so I thought I would share my photos with all of you.  I won't go into explanations on what the assignments were, but here are the photos (and let me know what you think!):

Rule of Thirds

Background

Balance

Fill frame

Framing

Leading Lines

Simplicity

I think they're onto something...

I found this today over on Design Crush.

The sad part is, it's absolutely true. 

My three points would be Facebook, UsMagazine.com, and Scrabble Online.  What three things create your black hole of time-wasting?

Living in Sin (City)

I don't think I ever possibly imagined myself living in Las Vegas.  Before K or I moved here I had only visited a few times, and I was always underage and with my family, so it's not like I was going crazy.  The arcade at Circus Circus was the highlight of my trips here.  It never seemed like a place that people actually lived in.  But I had also never left the Strip, just like every other tourist.

Now that I've been here almost 2 years, I have grown very fond of this city, and also to dislike it in equal measure.  I love that it's a 24-hour city but I terribly miss trees, grass, and the ocean.  Here are some of the perks of being a Las Vegan:

1. Weather:  Yes, it's hot during the summer, but I can lay by the pool from April-September.  That's 6 months out of the year that can be spent working on your tan!  And during the winter the snow falls beautifully on the mountains where we can admire it from afar, instead of shoveling it from our driveways.

2. Location/Layout of the City:  When Vegas is clogged with tourists on holiday weekends, we can make a quick escape to someplace beautiful.  We have southern California, Arizona, Utah's ski resorts, Lake Mead, the Colorado River, and the Hoover Dam all within a few hours drive.  The city itself is built on a grid so if you have no idea how to get to your destination, all you need to know is the major cross-streets, and you'll get there eventually.  (And everything is based on cross-streets here).

3. It's A Melting Pot:  People come to Las Vegas from all over the country and the world, both tourists and locals.  There are people living here from just about everywhere and lots of diversity.
 
4. The Hospitality:  This one is obvious... it's Las Vegas.  Restaurants, concerts, shows, clubs... that's the whole reason people come here.  And it's a 24-hour city.  Stores don't shut down at 9pm and no matter what you want/need to do at 4 am, there will be someplace open   You can buy alcohol on Sundays and any other time of day and there's no such thing as 'last call'.

Now, even though all those things are great, there are some obvious downsides to living here.  So, just to be fair, here are some of the not-so-fun parts to being a Las Vegan:

1. Weather:  There are 2 seasons here: Hot and Cold.  Even I can't stay by the pool when it's 116 degrees out in the middle of summer.  And when the freezing cold, dry air hits you in the dead of winter, it's like a slap to the face.  Tinted car windows are mandatory, and if you have leather seats, your butt WILL get burnt.  And it is always windy here, no matter the time of year.  Like, really windy.

2. Location/Layout of the City:  We're in the middle of a desert, surrounded by more desert.  The produce is bad because nothing can be grown locally.  The only real water source for all those swimming pools and our drinking water is Lake Mead, which is rapidly losing in the supply/demand battle.  (And it's where the mob supposedly dumped all the bodies of people they had taken out... yuck.).  Vegas is also the definition of urban sprawl and it takes an hour or more to get from one side of the city to the other, even if you take the freeway and there's no traffic (but there's never no traffic). 

3. It's A Melting Pot:  Everyone in Vegas is from somewhere else.  The true Las Vegas local, someone who was born, raised, and settled here, is very rare.  It's a very transient city, and people are constantly coming and going.  Because of this, there's no real pride in being from Las Vegas, and there isn't much local culture.  Maybe the fact that I grew up in Sonoma County has spoiled me, but there's no real community vibe. 

4. The Hospitality:  Las Vegas consistently ranks at the top of every survey about hospitality.  We have some of the best restaurants and best service, but in surveys regarding quality of life, we are consistently at the bottom: people are unhappy here, we have terrible drinking water (um, hello dead bodies?) and our schools always rank low.

Despite some of the bad, I truly love living here.  Most people who come to Vegas will never leave Las Vegas Boulevard, but living here gives you a whole new perspective on this crazy city.  It's unlike anywhere else, and even though tourists get on my nerves and I actually avoid the Strip, I know that if I had to move, I would truly miss all of those neon lights.

Valentine's Day Happenings

Before I even get into this, I will proudly say that I LIKE VALENTINE'S DAY.

(But don't worry, I'm not one of those girls and I see this day as a two-way street... I certainly don't expect to showered in candy, flowers, and gifts while he's left with a simple card and a hug.  I also don't expect candy, flowers, and gifts... but I won't turn them down!)

In the 7 years K and I have been together, we've only spent 3 Valentine's Days together.  Maybe this is why I like Valentine's Day and maybe the novelty will wear off someday... but I wouldn't count on it.  K probably wishes I would get over it, but I think he secretly likes it.

I mean, what guy wouldn't like all this:

On Saturday evening we got massages and a little pampering at a local spa.

On our way to get massages.  (K was on the phone and refused to
hang up for a picture so he made a weird face instead.)

Then we got up and made Monkey Bread and mimosas for a fabulous breakfast.

Yum!

And I made K one of his favorite meals for dinner, Chicken Adobo and sticky rice.

It may look weird in the photo, but it is DELICIOUS.

I'm sure I will always love Valentine's Day.  I have fond memories going all the way back to when I was little.  When I was in elementary school I looked forward to paper mailboxes filled with cards and candies.  I liked finding the perfect box of cards and writing my classmates names on each one.  When I was older I liked making my own cards for my friends.  Now that I don't live with my parents I look forward to my yearly Valentine's Day package in the mail, filled with my mom's Chocolate Salad (a mix of chocolate candies) and other various treats.  And in my adult life I've never had to treat it as a 'Singles Awareness Day' because I've been lucky enough to have K as my valentine since I was 18.

So all of you Valentine's Day Scrooges can say what you will about manufactured holidays and greeting card company conspiracies, but this is one girl you will not convert to the dark side.

Sometimes...

Sometimes (tonight) I have a lot of stuff to do (laundry washing/folding, a kitchen counter covered in crap, homework), but all I can manage to do is watch 'Far and Away', paint my toe nails, and eat ice cream.

After a long day of work I met K at a friend's house where we had dinner and hung out for awhile.  By the time we got home, I was so tired that I couldn't imagine myself doing anything other than taking off my bra (I seriously hate those things), showering, and sitting on the couch.  I did all three of those things, but as soon as I got to the couch I started looking around and my to-do list was staring me straight in the face.

(The problem with living in an apartment/small space is that when everything is compact, one small mess seems HUGE.  Everything else can be clean as a whistle but if your kitchen counter is a mess, everything seems to be a mess.)

So, I sat there, my various messes and unfolded basket of laundry staring me in the face, and I surrendered. I could not defeat them.  Not tonight.  I turned to K (who seemed to have no problem with the mess and was happily playing 'Call of Duty') and told him all I wanted was to go lie down and read my book, and he said "Go for it."

K and I have no children, no pets, and no real responsibilities other than our jobs and each other.  Obviously we have bills to pay, meals to cook, and an apartment to keep clean, but no one is relying on us for their well-being.  We just have to take care of ourselves and each other.

So I wonder, when all I've done is make it to the end of my 9-hour day at the end of my work week, why can I only bring myself to veg out on the couch?  My mom seems to easily pull off 10+ hour days for weeks, work all day outside on the weekends while watching my 4-year old nephew for half a weekend, and put up with a hormonal teenager who is a freshman in high school (sorry Little Sister, you know I love you).  She jets off to the other side of the country to visit my older sister and her family for only 48 hours before she is back on a plane and at work the next morning.  She has time for my phone calls at any hour when I need to know if I need to have exactly 2 lbs. of chicken thighs to make adobo, or if the 1.5 lbs is okay (because it's all I have).  And I wonder, how DOES she do it?  I guess I won't know how women like her manage to tirelessly do EVERYTHING for EVERYONE, sacrificing their couch potato time for every little thing their children need.  I probably won't understand it until I have children (or pets) of my own, people (or animals) that rely solely on me to survive.

Someday, when we're ready, there will be a dog or cat or baby (or a combo of the 3) and I'm sure I will gladly give up my tv time to fold laundry while a baby naps, or take a dog for a walk when I would rather take a nap, but right now I'm just going to keep watching 'Far and Away' and enjoying the fact that K and I don't have anybody expecting anything from us.

And I'll leave the cleaning for tomorrow, because sometimes you just gotta be lazy.

Super (Baking) Bowl

My husband's all-time favorite team was in the Super Bowl on Sunday.  He has been a dedicated fan of the Green Bay Packers since his early teens.  This season he excitedly watched every game and every playoff in the hopes that his team would make it to the big game.  I have been forced to give up my tv time on multiple occasions because "Babe, the Packers are playing!"  I have sat and snoozed my way through their games all season, because supporting your husband's team is important (or something like that?).  When he watched the final playoff in which the Packers clinched their Super Bowl spot, I sat in the other room and listened to him plead, encourage, and yell at his team through the TV.  But when it comes to the Super Bowl (even though the Packers were playing) I just don't care.

Here are my problems with the Super Bowl:
1. It's too long and I always end up asleep on the couch of whoever is hosting the Super Bowl party I am attending.  And quite frankly, I would rather sleep on my own couch.
2. The commercials might be funny, but I will just end up seeing them a million more times in the weeks following the Super Bowl.
3. The halftime show NEVER lives up to expectations.  Or it goes a little too far beyond (yeah, I'm looking at you, JT and Janet Jackson).
4. I have no emotional attachment to any football teams.  If I did, it would probably be the Packers because that is who I am forced to watch, but even they couldn't convince me to tune in.

So when K headed over to a friend's house to watch the game, armed with chicken wings, chips, and a giant bowl of my homemade guacamole, I immediately went through the TV guide to find anything but football.  And my Super Bowl Sunday consisted of "Mamma Mia!" and baking.  A lot.

I started with some banana muffins... which we will be eating for breakfast for at least a week.

Then moved on to peanut butter cookies... which will be in our lunches all week.

And finished with brownies... which will be our dessert all week.

And luckily I stopped after the brownies, because seriously, sugar overload.  I have a feeling one or both of us will end up taking a container full of goodies to work within the next few days.  I hope everyone had fun at their Super Bowl parties... or whatever it is you did during the game!  And oh yeah, GO GREEN BAY!

Max Brenner and Cher

Two weekends ago my mom and little sister came to Vegas, and I was able to cross TWO things off of my 2011 Bucket List - I tried a new restaurant and went to a concert.

In the beginning of January I bribed my mom with Cher tickets in exchange for her visiting me here in Vegas.  She has only been here once and still hadn't seen our new apartment (and I needed some "mommy time") so when I heard that Cher was about to end her concert run here, I figured taking her to a concert would be a pretty good selling point... and it worked!  It was also her birthday present, AND I think she got to cross "Cher concert" off of her lifetime bucket list.  (Many years ago she took me to see Tina Turner and as we were leaving she said she would like to see Cher in concert someday... Little Me stored this away in my memory bank for future use.)

They came in early Saturday morning and my mom was greeted with her very first Edible Arrangement!  K and I LOVE LOVE LOVE these and will use any excuse to buy one.

She also helped me conquer my first sewing project: a cover for my mixer!  It certainly has it's flaws, but not bad for my first project. (And check out that brand new sewing machine!  It was my Christmas present.)

K with mixer cover on his head (for size reference).

On Saturday evening we went to dinner at Max Brenner which is inside the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace.  The full name is "Max Brenner - Chocolate by the Bald Man" and it is DELICIOUS.  Apparently his specialty is chocolate, and it's hard to miss.  We were surrounded (literally) by chocolate everywhere... giant slabs of it right next to our heads, a chocolate shop right behind us, chocolate being mixed in a giant vat, jars of various kinds of chocolate lining the staircase... It was everywhere.  There was even cocoa powder and chili powder on the fries!  (Which is delicious, by the way.)

Little Sister with her fish tacos and chocolate milk.  Yum.

After dinner my mom and I went to the Cher concert.  And let me tell you, that woman really rocks it out.  There were songs spanning her entire career, jaw-dropping outfits, tv clips from her "Sonny and Cher" days and movie clips from all her movies.  I've always known who Cher was and am more familiar with her newer stuff, but I never really realized how much of a legend she is.  She has been doing this since she was a teenager and she is still going strong at 60-something!  Her voice was incredible, but the outfits were even more amazing.  Sequins, wigs, glitter, tons of fabric, makeup, heels, headdresses... INCREDIBLE!  She had a different outfit for every song, and yes, she wore the infamous "If I Could Turn Back Time" black outfit!  It was an amazing show and I'm so glad I got to see it with my mom, who also loved it!

Thank you Mom and Sister for coming to visit K and I!  I had a great time!

Deployment Notice

I promised to fill you all in when the timing was right, so here it is... K has received a deployment notice to Iraq.

Yeah...

We had to let some VIP's know before we put it out on the interwebs for everyone to read, and now I can tell all of you.  He is scheduled to be in-country on May 5, so he'll leave around May 1.  It is a 6-month deployment and he will return sometime in early November (all of this happens in 2011).

If you're wondering how I'm feeling, the answer is annoyed.  When K first told me, I was happily driving home on a Friday afternoon, looking forward to my weekend, and I called him to see if he wanted me to bring him any food because I pass by his work on my way home.  He let me know that he had just been notified by his UDM (Unit Deployment Manager) of the assignment, and I promptly hung up on him.  I immediately started crying and called my mom who helped me talk through some of my options for while he was gone, and then I cried a whole lot more for the next few days.  After it sunk in the sadness went away and I was angry for awhile.  Angry that he would be leaving me, that he'll miss my 25th birthday and our anniversary, and that we have to push our honeymoon even further back (all things that revolve around me, but hey, I think I'm entitled to those feelings).  Now that I'm no longer angry I'm just irritated and annoyed.  Everything is going to get turned upside down and I'm really not into it.  I know it is only 6 months, that as long as I stay busy I'll be fine, and that he will be safe, but seriously?  It would be whole lot easier if he just didn't have to go.

Putting my irritation aside, a big part of me is jealous of him.  Hard to believe, right?  But the thing is, he's going to do something that I never got a chance to do.  He will see a part of the world I will never get to see and experience things that a majority of the world never will.  He is getting a chance to truly serve his country instead of sitting on the sidelines.  My military experience was cut short and I never got a chance to REALLY do those things that only people in the military have a chance to do, and he's about to have some really amazing experiences.

6 months really isn't that long, but when we're standing on this end of the deployment, it seems like a lifetime.  I am incredibly thankful that he is not being sent away for 12-15 months like people in other services are.  I am relieved that he will be doing his job as an Air Traffic Controller which means he will be much safer than those being sent on missions in dangerous areas.  I am proud of him for what he is doing because many people who willingly enlist in the military will dodge (or go to great lengths to dodge) their deployment. 

I know this experience is not unique to me and there are many, many other wives (and husbands) who have had to say goodbye to their spouse for awhile.  I know I will be fine and when he comes back everything will go back to normal.  I still wish he didn't have to go, but I know that if he wasn't going, it would be some other wife, mother, girlfriend, or child that would have to say goodbye to their loved one for awhile. 

For now, we are still thinking over our options (well, MY options) for while K is gone and I will keep you all updated as we make our plans.  Let's hope for a very quick summer!