Crown Molding

Compliments of my husband and father-in-law. Hours of hard work and hard lessons led to a beautiful addition in my home: crown molding in our dining room and bedroom.

Winter Wonderland!

On Friday night, Dryw, Hans and I drove up to Tahoe in some serious rain that melted away the little bit of snow that fell that morning. We arrived safely to the South Lake "Willa Meyer" cabin that belongs to Dryw's grandma. When we woke up the next morning, gorgeous snowflakes were floating to the ground! A few inches had already piled up by the time we awoke, and it kept coming down. Happy birthday to me!

I couldn't help but get out my camera and start shooting. Unfortunately, I couldn't take it outside for fear of getting it soaked. I still had fun shooting from the great indoors. As you can see below, I love that the cabin features that amazing red fence that pops against the forest backdrop. I love it!

The fresh snowfall created perfect conditions for snow shoeing, so Melanie and I jumped at the opportunity. We clocked 3.75 miles in pure powder! It was so enjoyable to go deep into the forest and wander through God's amazing creation. It was one of the most beautiful sights I've seen! The perfect pre-birthday weekend getaway...

I would trade my alarm clock for this any day!

Dreamy!

Photography Adventures

I've been having so much fun with our new camera! My husband has been so sweet to go along with me on photo shoots the last couple weekends. The first five photos below were taken a couple weekends ago near our home in Lincoln... at least I think we were in Lincoln, but it could've been Rocklin, Loomis or Penryn. The last six were taken off a little trail in Rocklin this Sunday an hour before sunset. We're going to have to find a subject besides Hans soon... but something tells me we're not done with him yet!

I must give credit where credit is due for the three shots in the middle. I accompanied Dryw to the album release of his client Brave Season, and got a chance to learn from photographer Donni Siller. He recruited me to be his lighting assistant when he saw me trying to take some shots with my DSLR (not working out so great with my ISO cranked and no external flash). It was a real treat because I had never worked with external flashes or photography in the low light that characterizes rock shows. After running around the stage holding up the speedlite behind Donni's subjects, he set up the external flashes with my camera and let me give it a whirl. Dryw was my first victim, then I got some shots of Brave Season. Donni gave me lots of great tips and even served as my lighting assistant, along with his crew Johnny Daugherty and Salvador Pena. Thanks, guys! Please check out Donni's website!

Please comment while you're here!

Family shot with a tripod

Brave Season guitarist Carson

Brave Season drummer Haden

I love that Dryw caught Hans licking his chops

Talk about handsome!

Sigh of Relief!

Phew! I just completely completed my application to UC Davis. Tomorrow at midnight is the official deadline to submit all required aspects of the application: statement of purpose, personal history statement, writing sample in Spanish, speaking sample, fellowship application, 3 letters of recommendation, transcripts and TA application. I started working on the application in early November and I had a close call this new year's weekend. One of the professors who agreed to write me a letter of recommendation is on sabbatical this semester and hadn't been checking his email often. He missed a few emails I sent regarding the deadline and since I hadn't heard from him in awhile I started to worry that his letter would be the only part missing from my application. I thought it wouldn't be a big deal until I realized that it would disqualify me from applying for fellowships. With the help of another professor, I was able to reach him last night, just in the nick of time!

I am so grateful to all the people who have helped me in the application process: my husband Dryw, my parents/editors, and my Westmont professors. I know I would have been far off the mark without them!

I will be applying to Sac State this month (January 2012!) and I'm excited to see what will unfold over the next few months. I'm a bit uneasy about going back to school at the same time that Dryw will be studying full-time, but I know that God will make a way if it is where I should be. If not, then I may request to defer admission, reapply for the following year, or pick a different route all together. Sometimes I pray that God not allow me to be accepted to the program if I shouldn't matriculate, just because I don't always trust my own judgement. I actually think that he did that for me once before when I applied to study in Costa Rica in 2007. I know I can trust him.

I'd like to share a few more photos from the tail-end of our Christmas trip in Tahoe. Enjoy and please comment!

Christmas morning

Mark and Melanie gave us a "legs out" carrier for Hans! (it's a joke gift just in case you weren't sure)

Handsome Waffles

Cielo's somewhat vacant stare

Grandma "D"

Melanie and me... being eskimos

my favorite

Happy New Year!