I'm going there someday!!!

Somehow, someway, I'm going to get to Asia. And I mean all over Asia. Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, India. I've been to two countries other than the United States so far but I just want to go everywhere! I'm really excited to what can happen within the next five years. The plan right now is to graduate (one year), get rid of student debt (hopefully one year or less), find another girl to travel with me then hit the road! And don't stop until I have to. So many opportunities!

The picture is pretty simple for today. I've been super tired for the majority of the day, I think because a lot of the time I spent on the couch, half-way off to sleep land. I did go to the gym today, where I took a "hip hop" class. That was interesting. And it pretty much kicked my butt. Normally there is a girl named Megan who teaches it, but she was out of town today and the guy who instructs the break-dancing class had stepped in. And let me tell you, he upped the difficulty. He really knows how to take care of his body, and how to move it in ways I never have before.

Picture # 57

for this picture I'm just chilling in my quad, I tried to fool around with the lighting, but it's not really all that interesting or anything. I'll do better tomorrow.

It's Lauren!

Well I went all over town today because I got lost. And once again I had a dash of stupidity thrown in with a bunch of awesomeness, but I'm not stressing over it. I definitely am still learning new things, and thank God I was able to fix the problem before something worse happened.

Anyway, tonight I got to go see a movie with my friend's Lauren and Sarah. I met up with Lauren right after I worked out at the gym, so I'm looking a bit rough, but Lauren is looking beautiful as always.

This is at the Invisible Children's rally, but unfortunately we had to leave to go meet Sarah before they played the movie. We did enjoy some of the stuff before hand though! Oh, and don't you just love the guy in the background?! He must have spotted me with my camera and figured he wanted to get in on the action. I caught him in about five other pictures looking right into the lens.

Update and Ramen!

It's been a while since I've said anything about my internship. So here's an update. I'm not going to the Philippines anymore. Instead I am heading off to Cairo, Egypt. I still have to touch base with the director as I missed his open time slot today, but I think I might be able to call him tomorrow and find out how much money it is going to cost to live over there for two months. I've already got my papers that I just need to fill out for the school, and then I'll be all set! Hopefully this time everything works out the way I plan. 

And for today's picture, 

Picture # 55 

Yes, this is me, eating ramen. Not the most exciting picture, but it's rare that I eat ramen and I think it's ironic that right after attending a women's wellness seminar I turn to this. Which is really, really funny, especially since the majority of the time they talked about healthy eating. Which I do about 98% of the time now. I guess this is included in my 2%, which means I should probably skip out on eating cookies tomorrow. :(

Anyway, the only thing I don't like about this picture is the harsh shadows behind me on the wall. If I had better lights I would have fix it, but in my room this is the best it was going to get without using the flash.

Work can be fun!

I love what I do. I'm not the best at it yet, in fact I still have a long way to go. But I love it. I grow more passionate about film everyday. It's unbelievable.

So here is a picture I shot tonight right after my video shoot wrapped in my room. Obviously campus dorms aren't very big, so the three of us in the picture had to really squeeze together. We still had all the equipment up and everything so we used the camera as a prop. Major points go to Dan my usual D.P. (Director of Photography) for letting us use his camera since he isn't allowed on my hall. But Kristin my RA who also does video work stepped up and helped us out.

I love this because we are all so different. Olivia (my co-star) is a bit blurred, but I think it creates movement. I'm looking oblivious as always, and I just love Kristin's smile in the light. 

Working with girls who know what they are doing in this field just encouraged me so much, and I had to share. I can't wait to work some more with these awesome women of God!

MW2!

Well, I got a lot done today, not nearly as much as I need to, but I'll make it work. Anyway, today I played Modern Warfare 2. Crazy right? But I've heard nothing but Modern Warfare 2 for the past week, starting at my friend's apartment. I don't even remember how we got onto the subject but we did. Then the next day a guy who works in my school's media lab brought in his XBox and some games. Boys have been playing it constantly ever since. So I decided to do a video about the game for my class. And since I was talking about the game, I figured I might as well play it.

I actually really enjoyed it. I had no idea what I was doing, since I rarely have time to play video games, but I had fun walking around in circles until Bill, the guy who was playing with me, would come find me and lead me out.

I would definitely play again, but ask how to do more things before I start playing. This time, I essentially just picked up the controller and just started. This game is way different from the other video games I played before. I've really only ever gotten into three games. Motor Cross, Kingdom Hearts, and Mario Kart Double Dash. Oh, and does Dance Dance Revolution count? So this game was definitely a challenge for me.

I am legit playing this game! I took a back shot just for proof. And you can spot Bill's knee, ha. 

I gave in

So one of my friends has been bugging me to take a picture with my glasses on. And today I finally took a straight on shot of me with my glasses. The end. This is my entire post for the day.

A dash of stupidity thrown in with awesomeness

Today was a good day. I spent the morning with two girls from my dorm and a guy who I know from marching band and we went to church. And at church today they had the Newsboys visiting and they played a mini concert. It was fun, but weird since Micheal Tait (Of D.C. Talk) is now the lead singer. Then I went to lunch, (which was not even close to delicious, but that's college food for you), and got a hold of my friends, Kayla, Dan and Lawrence. After they grabbed a bite to eat Zech came down and we started working on creating a set for the video we are working on. It took a lot longer than I expected it to, but that's how it always goes for this kind of work. Afterwards, Kayla, Lawrence and I drove out to this adorable little coffee shop to scout out a location for tomorrow. When we dropped Lawrence off, Kayla and I were going to go see a movie, but instead that got canceled and we had a photo shoot! The weather has been phenomenal today and we just had to take advantage of it. Here is one of my favorite pictures of the day!

Picture # 51

We originally just went out to pretend to be sunbathers on the snow, but somehow we decided to pretend to just be asleep. And it was really comfortable in those chairs. I really could have fallen asleep in that thing.     

And oh yeah, the stupidity of the day? I was trying to help out a friend this morning and accidently grabbed the wrong end of a curling iron. I spent the entire day with band-aides on my right hand. The burn pains would come and go, but now has mostly gone away. I was bound to do something stupid soon enough away, and if this is the worst that happens to me I can't complain. 

Date...

So I had a date tonight. Which is something that I do not have very often. It was fun, we watched a movie, went for this awesome coffee desert afterwards. There wasn't more than friendship there for me though, so I won't be going on another date with him.

 It's weird, it feels like I haven't been on a date for about a year (or longer), and I even think my mom was beginning to wonder if something was wrong with me. But nope, it was good to be a complete girly girl for a night!

Picture #50!!!

This is how I looked for the date. Nothing fancy, but not looking like a slob either. Simple and sweet I think.

Mmmmm TV

Wow today was crazy (I started this on Friday, but now it's Saturday, oh well). People have either been calling or texting me the entire day. I had about twenty minutes of down time from 11:00 to 5:00. Then I had a video shoot tonight, which I feel like it went really well. It lasted until just after 9, and then I crashed. Yeah, I should have taken care of the blog first, but I admit, I watched some TV. For the first time since last SUNDAY! I normally watch shows pretty regularly, and so for me to be to busy to get on Hulu is crazy. I think that this semester though I might just have to refrain from watching to many videos because I am to busy creating them! Anyway, I have got to hit the sack, I'm pretty much a zombie right now.

I freakin' love black and white. I don't do to much without color, but sometimes it's fun to throw up here. And as a side notes, I am wearing my fabulous headphones that I like to edit with....and listen to my shows with. No matter what you are doing in life, you have got to have good audio. And that's a lesson you can take to the bank.

For Liberty

One of my favorite necklaces. My grandmother left this to me when she died, and I still have it, all these years later.

 Sorry about posting this a day late. Yesterday I didn't even get back my dorm till midnight because I was working on video stuff. Then I was to exhausted to post a picture. Sorry guys.

One hectic day!

I believe that since I left the dorm this morning I have only been in  my room for an hour, maybe an hour and a half. Though in that hour I was able to take my pictures earlier so I had my choice to post tonight. And for some strange reason I have been keeping up with posting two pictures a day. I probably won't continue to do this for much longer, but I'm doing it tonight. :)

Picture # 47

Picture # 47b

I chose to show these two photos because they show two very different styles. The top one is more of a face shot, or even just a simple commercial shoot. While the bottom photo is all about the light. Mmmmm gotta love the light.

Film Noir?

I'm so sorry about the confusion of yesterday's post! I think I cleared it up.

Today's photo shoot was fun. I scared at least two girls who walked out in front of my camera. They thought I was in the middle of taking a picture and they were going to be in it, but actually I was just messing with the settings.
Anyway, since I have a huge test tomorrow I am going to get my butt back to studying. Here  are two pictures from today!

Picture # 46

This kind of look reminds me of a Film Noir, only I am not a Femme Fatale. At least I don't think I am one.

And I'm posting another picture today!

Picture # 46b

I love what my camera is capable of. I still need to do some more experimenting with it, but I love doing ghost-like things with my photos. Definitely makes the image interesting. 

It's what I do!

Ok, so today I'm not going to post a self-portrait. I could...but instead I want to post up one of my final projects from last year. It's not perfect (there are jump cuts galore in the beginning), but I had a lot of fun making it and I want to share it. I think it shows that I can do video (which is my major) as well as photography. It's not very long, only about three minutes or so, but sit back and enjoy!
(Click on the Title)

A day with the Red Cup

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Today was the day of Love, Hate, and a Beheading. Back in the day, February 14th was the date St. Valentine was beheaded. Pretty sad stuff. But fortunately for us, we just celebrate the good times with our significant others and/or loved ones. I actually don't have a "significant other" in my life right now, and I don't believe I have even ever had a date for V-day. Maybe back in high school, my freshman year. I have been in two relationships that went into February, but I think they ended before the 14th. But that's ok, not only did my church send me a care package, my parents did too! I got a ridiculous amount of sweets, but it was awesome. I also got a ton of cards from the girls on my hall, I love them so much. I even got a rose from one of my best friends, Lauren. Today was such a wonderful day, spent with wonderful people. I'm not going to lie, there were some black spots (had to deal with my technology problem, but it's dealt with), and basically spent way to much time not doing anything productive. I'm supposed to get up really early tomorrow, but I might just skip it. Bad me.

Anyway, enough about my life, onto the picture!

Picture #44

I'm holding the flower that Lauren gave me. :)

And oh what the heck, I'm throwing up a profile.

I'm not the biggest fan of flowers (I'm not romantic at all), but I absolutely LOVED my rose. Coming from a friend, it meant a lot. And I know it's hard sometimes for Lauren to reach out to people, so for me to receive something speaks volumes. :) 

Happy V-Day!!!

So I missed a day....

Actually, I technically missed two days. But I don't really care. My goal was to post every day, though I never planed on beating myself up if I missed. Unfortunately Friday night I missed posting simply because I got lazy. Saturday though, I have a good excuse. Technology wasn't working for me. I have a video due on Wednesday and I planned on working on editing it for two hours today. But no, my camera shoots in a format that the computer can't read. It's to complicated to go into here, but I spent most of my day trying to fix the problem. Tomorrow should be interesting, as I am trying a different approach. I might have to find another camera and re-film everything, but hopefully that won't have to happen. Alright, on to the pictures!

Picture # 43

My church back home  is phenomenal. They have a pretty strong college ministry and every Valentine's Day they send me a care package. This year I got some awesome pink socks and a college magazine. Last year I got a pound of home made fudge. Yum....

Picture # 44

Tonight my quad and I celebrated the day of love. With non-alcoholic drinks of course! Mmmm so good. We had dinner, desert, and Pina Coladas. Then the rest of the girls started to watch Bones, while I ran to a friends house to try to sort out my camera problem. We figured it out, but then it wouldn't work. :(

 

An Epic Journey...

God has really been working in my life recently. A lot of things have been up and down, but He has been teaching me a lot of lessons that I never needed to learn before. So much of my life I have only relied on myself, simply expecting God to give me His blessing in whatever I tried to accomplish. This year things are changing rapidly and I am fully realizing that I can't do it by myself. It's a humbling experience, one that has me scared to the core, and yet so excited I can barely contain myself. Right now I feel like there is a glass wall between my present self and the future self that God has started to reveal to me. I sincerely believe that the glass wall is my "flesh" or worldly self. Once this glass wall is torn down there will be nothing holding me back from being in God's will. I really look forward to that day.

Picture # 42

I think this picture reflects perfectly where I am at right now. In this picture, I'm basically exploring a snow fort that some friends of mine built. I'm moving forward, but keeping a wary eye out. :)

 

Back in action!

I dressed up today! I actually made a pretty big effort for today. But sadly, I messed up with focus, leaving me with only one decent photo. :( So I'm posting it, but I think I look just a tad awkward. Oh well.

Other than that, it's been a pretty effective day. I got a lot done and spent some time with awesome people.

This was absolutely freezing, but I wanted to do something just a bit crazy to get back into the swing of things.  I think tomorrow I might do something with indoor lighting. 

Today was a homework day...

I honestly did not have a lot of time to work on a photo today. It was constantly go go go. At least my energy was back up to snuff, and I got a great workout with my good friend Dawn. Today's picture has no set or theme, it's just me and my creation.


Picture # 40

Going to be honest, I didn't have a plan here. I think I am checking my hair in the mirror while trying to show off my edible home-made face mask (Sugar, Olive Oil, and Honey). I am wearing no make-up, well a little bit might still be on around my eyes, but not much. I'm going to go to bed now. :)

Super Sleepy

Man I do not know what is the matter with me. All weekend long I had been up and down with sleepiness, and it is spilling into my week. But I get to sleep in till about eight tomorrow, so hopefully I can get some restful shut eye.
I took a clep test today. A clep is a test to see if you have enough knowledge to not need to take certain classes. I took the English 101, and I am praying I passed because I do not want to take the class. I used to be "above average" (SAT scores) in English. But when you haven't had any classes in it for three years, things can slip up on you. The way they worded some of the multiple choice questions kept throwing me off. So we shall see what I get. If I have to take the class, then whatever, I'll survive, and it'll be an easy A. But if I pass, then I'll have more room in my schedule for better things.

Anyway, my picture today is representative of how I have been feeling lately. It's dark and grungy because that's what I was aiming for. It's reminds me of the old, "Five more minutes mom!" but more serious than that. I actually like how it turned out and I think it portrays my emotions without being overwhelming.

Picture # 39

Eww look at my crinkly hand. Haha. And yes, that is a tye-dye shirt I am wearing with a flames blanket on top. Totally miss matched, but I don't care. Have a good night all!

Super Bowl Sunday!

I did watch the super bowl tonight. The Saints played amazingly well and I'm sure they surprised a lot of people. I know Payton Manning is one of the best quarter backs in the league, and from watching his performance tonight I wouldn't say that it was his fault the Colts lost the game. I more think that the Saints had better teamwork, and that's what won them the game in the end. The Colts started out so strong, but after half time the Saints picked up some adrenaline and started kicking butt.

Well, my picture today doesn't have to do with any crazy super bowl party, just basically a silhouette.  I have had a major headache all day and just couldn't push myself to do anything elaborate. I did go outside at my friend's house for a bit today, but I didn't bring my tripod so I couldn't take any self portraits. In order to make up for it, I'm posting a picture I took of my friend's horses. I even got to ride one of them! It was a lot of fun, but pretty scary since I haven't even been on a horse for at least three years and the horse I was on broke into a canter. I almost lost a stirrup, which would have been disastrous. Though I guess I would have just landed in snow, so I wouldn't have been to badly hurt. Anyway, it was a blast and I'm really glad I got to ride again. I'm hoping she lets me come over and ride her horse again soon.

And here is the picture of one of her horses!

Snow Storm Weekend

Wow the Southern states are getting hit hard with all this snow. At least after it stopped snowing today the sun came out and we were able to play outside. I saw a lot of people building snow forts and the like.

I was actually blessed by having a good friend come over and we got to talk about so many Godly things. We are both taking this prayer class and we have to explore using with prayer tool called The 29:59 Plan. We listened to the CD that came with it and felt very encouraged by the possibilities of using this tool.

Anyway, I have to post the picture today really early because I am actually going over to my friend Lauren's house. She lives about twenty minutes away from campus and her family owns a beautiful farm house. The plan is to spend the night and watch the Super Bowl tomorrow on their big-screen TV. I'm really looking forward to spending more time with her and getting to know her family. The only sad thing is I have no internet access out there. Which is great for getting homework done, but awful for posting pictures. ;)

Picture # 37

I was freezing here, having been outside for awhile, but I sucked it up and I don't think any coldness shows. I also love that I was able to capture some of the sunset in the background. Enjoy the snow everyone!

Winter Wonderland

We had a snow day today. I really mean it, all of school was canceled. The governor of Virginia declared this storm a state of emergency. And all this just encouraged me to go out and take a unique picture. I had been hoping to do this for awhile, but today I worked up the courage to brave the freezing weather. I got my friend Stacy to do my makeup and after my outfit was complete I hit the great outdoors.

Picture # 36, "Winter Princess"

Soon after taking this picture I traveled to the laundry room where I got several weird looks, but I went ahead and took pictures anyway. 

Picture # 36b, "Queen of the Laundry Room"

I might revisit this dress out in the snow again, maybe go for a night shot. I like the look of what I did, but I should have planned the execution much better. I also turned into a big baby and did not want to work more in the snow. I really started to feel for the swimsuit models who have to shoot in January/February, because shooting in the cold really takes a lot out of you. I definitely learned that the hard way. Now I feel like I've got to come up with something even cooler for tomorrow. Oh, and don't forget the super bowl, that is going to be one crazy party!

Showing another side of me!

While I am waiting for emails to come in with information about my summer internship, I figured I would show a bit of what used to be a big part my life.

MUSIC! I was raised in a very musical household, my mother is a band director and my father used to be the lead singer/guitar player for a pretty popular band in MD. He stills sings, but mostly for karaoke. My older sister is married to a man who plays guitar as well as plays/sings in a band, my younger sister plays trombone and piano, and I used to sing and play the French Horn. I was learning guitar for a long time, but once my guitar broke I lost the drive to play.

Oh, and both my younger sister and I are in Marching Band. I perform in the Color Guard. Although for several reasons in the coming fall I will not be in the color Guard, I will be behind the scenes as videographer. Anyway, I'm sure you all get the picture that I love music. So today's picture is of my good friend Joseph and I playing around in the band room.

Picture # 35 "A bang and a 'bone!"

Hitting the gong actually reminds me of middle school band, the only thing about middle school I liked. If we were able to finish a book of music then we could ring the gong so the entire band would know. We were also allowed to ring the gong if it was your birthday. In essence, being allowed to hit the gong was a huge highlight as a kid.

Sweet sleep.

Oh my. It was just one of those days. I am so looking forward to just crashing into my bed and receiving some sweet sleep. Nothing about my day was bad, just busy. Though I got to see a couple of friends that I don't normally get to see, so that was awesome. I also started out my afternoon on a date with my RA. It's something that the RAs do once a month to have some one on one time with leadership and to get to know us a bit better. It was really nice, and my RA is going abroad this summer as well so we were able to bond over that. 

The weather today was just blah. It was slightly warm, so all the snow is melting. And I have never seen so many people with crutches all in one place. It was ridiculous, about 1 in every 10 people was hobbling along on a pair. Which on this campus means a lot of people. So, in honor of everyone who has been having trouble staying vertical, I am posting this picture. 

Picture # 34  "Caution, wet floor"

I feel my face sums up the feelings of every college student today. It was tough going to classes when all you wanted to do was stay in bed with a good book or catch up on TV.

Welcome to Leadership

This week was my first official week as leadership on the hall. It's been fun, but a bit harder than I was expecting it to be. I met with the five girls I lead tonight, and it went really well. It's tough to hear some of the things the girls are going through, but I think it helps them to talk about it and to know that someone is praying for them.

 To begin I played them a clip of Kristin Chenoweth singing a song that went along perfectly with the lesson I prepared. We had some fun time, and then some serious time. I definitely want to be there for all of them throughout the week. And tomorrow will be my second week of attending the leadership class. It's a lot of fun, my first time going the teacher played Hakuna Matata and everyone sang along. It was quite epic.

Anyway, the weather today was awful. And I mean awful. I was going to take another picture outside, but it is cold and rainy and just miserable. Now it's snowing but when I had time to take a picture it was basically sleeting. My roommate and I made a walmart run today since the roads weren't iced over. I got some milk and fruit, and together we bought a small rug to go with our room. It's pretty tiny, but within our budget. And it gives our space a homey feel.

Picture # 33 In the zone!

I know it's unique framing, but I really like it. I'm almost exactly taking up half the picture, but the left side is not completely negative space so it just all works together to aim the eye to my face. Then to my lower forearm, which looks huge. :( All in all, I'd say this picture wraps up the weather of the day quite nicely. 

A two hour delay

That's what we got today. Even though everyone begged to have the day off. But no, we still went to class after 10:00. I'm not sure if it was the right decision though, because apparently a lot of people slipped and got hurt. I heard one girl got a concussion after slipping in the parking lot. Which was easy to do because the school workers did not clear them out enough. It was very dangerous and very scary.

But...I got a lot done today and had fun in the snow. I even saw some kids had built an igloo, and it was huge! I have yet to build an igloo, I must admit. Also, my roommate and I had a snowball fight! And yes, I took pictures. I was ready and raring to let that snowball fly so I got lazy and put it on auto.

Picture # 32! Revenge!!!

I had just hit her with a snowball and of course she retaliated. She got me right on the hip, so props to her. Oh, and before I forget, my roommate's name is Ashley, and she is less than 5 feet! But she has a big personality, so you can never overlook her. :) She's also getting married over the summer so she's on the phone with her beau every night. *Eye roll. Actually it's not that bad since my roommate from last semester was getting married too so I'm definitely used to dealing with girls in love. I just don't get it yet.

Oh, and it's officially Black History Month! My school is kicking February off with a free movie, "The Pursuit of Happiness." Nice.