New Years + Old Years

Where do I begin? So many things to say about ringing in this new year.

I don't think I've ever been this excited. This is going to be a bit of a long post...

This year I got to spend yet another New Year's with one of my very best friends, Chenoa.

Our third New Year's together in fact.

We have changed hairstyles, apartments, significant others, and Flaming Lips show seating arrangments...but our friendship still remains the same. She is one of those friends you can spend months away from but then when you see eachother again it's like no time has passed at all. I hope we get to ring in more years together.

This year we got all gussied up for our 3rd Lip's show in a row.

But this year was a special show.

This year the Lip's played "The Soft Bulletin" in it's entirety after midnight.

If you aren't familiar with that record, I recommend you go buy it now.

The record is one of the very few that will always touch me, there are songs about the fragile nature of life, overcoming adversity, dealing with losing someone you love, and maintaining your sanity through all the insanity that life has to throw at you.

And even with all those subjects, it makes you want to move on and conquer the world.

The show moved me to tears.

And even in spending time with old friends,

I got to spend time with a special new friend as well.

You might notice that all these pictures were all taken with an Iphone. Let me first apologize for the quality, but I also want to say that because the record and the entire night was so special to me, I decided not to bring my camera.

Some might think that decision was absolute madness considering how many photo-ops would be available at such a show. But I really just wanted to lay back and enjoy the show through my very own eyes and senses and not through those of my camera lens. I also got floor tickets and decided not to chase down VIP passes through friends or friends-of-friends or my old bosses at my internship. I just wanted to be a fan in the audience with nothing between me but people I love and gorgeous life changing music.

With all this being said. It is time for the good stuff... resolutions. And since I have this oldyear/newyear theme going here I might as well revisit some old resolutions. I was shocked at how uncanny some of them had become fulfilled... without being realized.

My resolutions from last year included:

Invest in more camera equipment. Check. Bought 2 lenses and a flash.

Journal everyday. Made some improvement but trying again.

Blog more often. ;) The quality of my posts have gone up.

Take pictures everyday. Trying this again one but once a week. Everyday is a lot of editing!

Get faster at editing photos. Check!

Don't settle for less than I deserve. In all matters of life. Oh man did I fulfill this one.

Explore doing freelance photography and design work more often. Check! Did my first weddings and other freelance.

Travel somewhere entirely new. DING DING DING! When I wrote this I think I had somewhere like San Francisco in mind. If only I knew what was in store...

My resolutions for 2011:

Write/Journal at least once a week.

Blog more often.

Get better/faster at web design.

Do more freelance work.

Cook more and shop locally more often. (maybe join a co op)

Run/do Yoga more often.

Save up for a new camera.

TRAVEL!

Spend more time with my grandfather.

Take pictures at least once a week.

Meditate meditate meditate.

Be in the present moment.

Last year was my first year to make any resolutions. And it worked out beautifully. I dont feel that resolutions are meant to be broken anymore. Or meant to be harshly followed. But can serve as a loose guideline for goals you want to at least come close to touching. Wish me luck!

A very Happy 2011 to all of you!

-Angela

Season Spirit.

Has it really been over two weeks since I updated? This month has really flown by.

Well since this is the day before my 12 day weekend, I wanted to share some holiday festivities and some recent picture snapping.

After receiving my Grandmother's ornament collection from my Grandfather last year, I was all too eager to break out my tree and decorations again this year. So I dug out the charming boxes from the back of my closet, put on the cheesy christmas music, warmed up eggnog and got to decorating. I even baked some apples for the occasion. Not to mention I got to put up a new special ornament from my favorite non-christmas-celebrating person. (his first experience ever making a Christmas ornament). <3

The further I get away from my many years I worked in retail through college, the more I am becoming ok with kind of loving this time of year. I still hate the consumer over-spending side of the holiday. But I can't help but secretly love the warm drinks, fuzzy socks, time with family, oh and the food...cant forget the food. And I suppose I don't really celebrate the holiday in a traditional way but more in a cultural way.

Last year Oklahoma City got hit by the worst ice/snow storm so I didn't get to spend any time with my family because the roads were so bad. After being trapped in my car for several hours, I ended up spending the holiday with friends and friend-of-friends and making the best of it with Wii and wine. It was actually a great time, but I have to say I really missed having that time to goof off with my nieces and nephews and watch holiday movies with them. It's just not the same exchanging gifts in the summer that you didn't have the opportunity to give them at Christmas.

Well here is to hoping for drivable weather and good times with family and friends. I hope you all have a lovely holiday.

-Angela

The Sahara.

Some entries don't need words.

-Angela

E+K

Remember that wedding I said I was going to in the last post?

Well I never ended up posting these, but I took their engagement pictures last spring.

They were such a fun couple to shoot! They met at Oklahoma City University and their wedding was set at the OCU chapel. So naturally we had to get some fun pictures there with sidewalk chalk. After that we headed to the Paseo Arts district where we found that fantastic pink wall and played around with more sidewalk chalk. Last but not least they wanted to get the feel of Oklahoma City downtown, so instead of just walking around and taking pictures, they were good sports and let me take them atop a parking garage for some extremely romantic shots. She might have even overcome her fear of heights that day!... yeah maybe not. :)

Anyway they are a fun couple with a great sense of adventure so I am sure they have a fun-filled future ahead of them. Congrats guys!

-Angela

Mellah.

Happy Friday everyone! Wanted to share a couple more pictures from my trip last June.

This was from Mellah (ancient jewish quarter) in Marrakech. It was established in the 16th century and is now populated mainly by Muslims. The narrow streets call back to a time before roads were built for cars. It was one of my favorite areas of the city, other than avoiding the scooters whizzing by.

Is it obvious I am longing for my vacation time yet?...

Ok ok enough longing, my plans for the weekend are:

-Finish up a photo project I have been working on for a long while.

-See David Sedaris at Borders!

-Celebrate the birthdays of my friends.

-Attend a wedding

-Celebrate more birthdays

-Other things I am probably forgetting at the moment, my brain is a little spent today

How about you guys?

-Angela

Goodbye Oklahoma Summer...

I know summer has officially been gone for a few weeks now.

But I think today it finally really hit me.

When I woke this morning for work,

the sunlight that normally wakes me was just a little dimmer.

The sky is now overcast, and as I type I am glancing out my window to water droplets falling from gray clouds.

Looks like Ill be running in the gym today and not outside...

These photos are a couple weeks old, from the last actual weekend of summer. I was thinking I might go the whole summer without going to the lake, but at the last minute was invited to Lake Eufaula for a lovely weekend. We spent the whole day Saturday on the lake laughing and soaking up as many rays as we could, but were reminded of reality when Sunday morning we were greeted with jacket weather. We truly had enjoyed the last day of summer in the best way possible.

Well, I've never been good with goodbyes

so I just needed to say it one more time.

-Angela

Self Portrait.

Sometimes you don't even need to be in the picture to take a self portrait. 

Been reallllyyy busy the past couple days. But wanted to drop in and read a few posts from my fellow bloggers. Hope you guys are having a lovely week. 

-Angela

Snow Day.

Pics from yesterday. ;) The boredom in my house was too much and we decided to get out and take some pictures. Didn't take long before we were right back in the house and making another pot of coffee, though.

But man, snow produces some pretty flattering lighting. Gonna have to take advantage of this a little more.

Happy snow day!

-Angela