Maybe One Day

Maybe one day I'll get this photography thing right...

Since I only need a couple of extra classes to get a minor in photography I figured I might as well go for it. But, I've always been a bit of a cameraphobe before now. I even started out my blog with other people taking my pictures for me. Well I still have people take pictures for me sometimes, but usually I do it myself now. Until earlier this year I rarely touched a camera other than the one on my cell phone and I didn't even own a camera other than that. It worked for just the occasional picture, but now that I actually enjoy photography a little (and apparently I'm minoring in it now) I really need to invest in a good camera and learn how to use it.

Yesterday I said I got a ton of other pictures that I thought I'd eventually share with you. Since I didn't get outfit pictures today I'll show the the pictures instead. I know these aren't by any means amazing, but just remember...I'm a recovering cameraphobe. Sorry there are a ton of pictures--I had so much fun and I liked so many that I had a hard time deciding which ones to post!

Any tips are welcome since I'm so new at this! Thanks for reading! I hope you have a wonderful day!

And now an awesome picture of Indra, my cat. 'cause it's just too funny not to share! Animals are so hard to photograph so I can't believe I got this one!

We're Going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo....

Dress - Mossimo // Belt - Thrifted // Shoes - Maurices

Does anyone remember this Raffi song? (Note: I have no idea who those people are in the video...it's just the only video with that song uploaded) Our zoo trip was totally spontaneous (Hail, Spontaneous) and we decided only the night before to go. I said I wanted to go to the zoo...and we did. The very next day. My family's not normally like that so it was pretty awesome.

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is a pretty big zoo. So we didn't see everything. But, we really came to see the dinosaur exhibit! I still remember my first time seeing this when I was really young (4 I think? But, my mom would know for sure). It was still really fun, but mostly fun remembering my first time at the exhibit. It's a traveling exhibit, so it's only there occasionally. We also went to Australian Adventure and the Primate, Cat, and Aquatics building. Definitely a spontaneously fun day! Oh, it was also great that my Papaw got to come with us to the zoo! He lives in Florida and we don't get to see him that much, but he drove up to Ohio to visit us!

I'm also excited at how well my photography has turned out recently. I'm really happy with these pictures! Especially the second to last one. I meant to only take a couple, but I got really distracted and ended up finding a really cool place with awesome lighting and taking...well a lot more than I meant to. I also started playing around with the focus and more with the lighting. I think I may be getting the hang of it! Anyways, I got a bunch of other pictures (landscape--not outfit pictures) that I may eventually share with y'all. Just not today. We got enough between zoo and outfit pictures.

Well, thanks for reading and I hope y'all have a wonderful day! And any photography tips are welcome!

And...here are a few zoo pictures. PS Still listening to the Oblivion soundtrack!!!!

Elephant Encounter

Jellyfish! (And I just realized that I use that exact same strawberry jelly as in the video!)

Have any of you seen the TV show Primeval? Watch it! If you like Doctor Who, you'll like Primeval. There are dinosaurs in every episode of Primeval and one where there are Raptors running loose in a mall.

Ok so here are some little dinosaurs...not sure what kind. But anyways, I know you can't really see it but there's a deer in the background. I wish my cell phone camera had zoom 'cause this was really funny. Just imagine growling dinosaurs in the foreground and a deer calmly grazing in the background!

I have a big head and little arms...

Summer Movies

Dress - Cotton On // Cardigan - J. Crew (Thrifted) // Belt - Cotton On // Scarf - Thrifted // Shoes - Faded Glory

I went with one of my friends to see Oblivion today. Honestly, I hadn't even seen the trailer until last night. But, it looked pretty interesting. I love post apocalyptic films and this one was really well done! There was one thing at the end that I found...weird. And one plot point that I didn't think was explained that well. But...no spoilers here. I'll let you form your own opinion. Oh, but the music was AMAZING! Seriously as soon as I got home I found the soundtrack on Spotify. And I'm listening to it now. Nothing like blogging to epic music!

Thanks for reading and I hope y'all have a wonderful day!

Back to Normal?

Shirt - American Eagle (Thrifted) // Dress - Monteau // Shoes - Faded Glory

So we're back to regular outfit posts finally!  I'm super tired of blogging after last week. I think I told y'all that my first California trip is why I stopped posting on that first blog. If I didn't really enjoy outfit posts I might have to take a long break from posting. I'm so glad that that I'll be able to read about my trip later, but I definitely don't want to do long diary-like posts like that every day.

Also, I'm so happy to finally have the good camera back, but I'm not too happy with these pictures. I only had a few minutes to run outside between birthday activities....and then it started raining!

I hope you all had a great memorial day! Today was my sister C's birthday as well so we had a fun day. I'm going to make her fun birthday cake when she has her party, but today we had an amazing chocolate trifle! Well, thanks for reading!

It's a Jungle Out There?

Or maybe a zoo. Or maybe, just maybe, a public restroom that hadn't been cleaned in the past decade. No joke. It was at a state park, and well... it reminded me of several exhibits at the Cleveland Zoo. Except the zoo might have actually smelled better ...and was probably cleaner. Well, wasn't that an interesting note to start my post with? Hey, I just had to share it with someone. You're welcome.

It's sad that it's the last day to spend in California. I wish I didn't have to go back to Ohio :( I mean I guess it's still cold here, but at least it's sunny in California! They could do a show called It's Always Cloudy in Cleveland. Although as we were heading back to the hotel we saw some storm clouds. But, ya know, I can deal with some clouds occasionally.

First we stopped by Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey to buy some jackets! When we woke up in the morning, it was FREEEEZING and we decided to get jackets before we headed down to the state park. My dad just loves Monterey, so he made us all get jackets there. I wish we had been closer to Winchester House, 'cause I would have loved a jacket from there! But it was funny as we were walking around the wharf because we were trying find presents for the other kids that didn't come with us, remember which stores the presents we decided on were in, and then buy the presents...and we were in a hurry. I think we found pretty cool stuff though, even if we took a few minutes longer! I ended up getting a goofy fleece jacket that I'll probably never wear again :/ But I did get a great blanket! It looks kind of like this--only blue. My mom had a red one while I was growing up and it brings back lots of memories. I always wanted one for myself so I'm really happy I found this.

After Fisherman's Wharf, we drove down to Julia Pfeiffer State Park. And yes, that's where the bathroom was. The bathroom. Yes, that one. Anyways, enough of that. Where was I? Oh yes, State Park. My dad's wanted go here every time he's been in California, but he never made it out. Last time it was really late in the evening and I got really sick right before he wanted to make the drive. We didn't end up staying that long, but we finally made it out there and it really was beautiful! I'm not sure how to describe it, but there are pictures below. I'll just leave it at...well, it was beautiful.

We then drove to Cannery Row and stopped at a few places there. There was a great pirate store, a shell store, and...lots of stores. Honestly the shopping in Monterey Fisherman's Wharf and Cannery Row was so much better than San Francisco. We were hungry though, so we didn't shop that long. We ended up eating at Louie Linguini's...and I kept thinking of Ratatouille the entire time. Especially the part when the head chef is just yelling "Linguiiiiini!" ...I couldn't find a clip on YouTube though. Sorry :( I was really in the mood for crab, but I decided to go really adventurous and order some clams and mussels and some other stuff all served on noodles. I now know that outside of clam chowder I really don't like clams and especially mussels. But, I did try both! I don't know why, but the mussels just looked...weird. There was a bunch of other meat with the noodles so other than that my dinner was great. Then we stopped by the Nestle Toll House place and got some ice cream. It was great though 'cause you could make your own ice cream sandwiches and pick your own combination of cookies and ice cream. It was awesome!! I got fudge tracks ice cream with a triple chocolate and an English toffee cookie. I'll have to run for a week to burn those calories! Oh wait...I don't run. Anyways, we didn't want to get to the hotel too late, so we left around 8:30 PM.

Monterey's Fisherman's Wharf

Yes.

Two years ago...same place. same shirt.

At the state park

Pirate Store at Cannery Row in Monterey

Two years ago--same place.

Apparently the person on the packaging doesn't know how to use this product...

He has no eyes!

Shirt - Old Navy // Skirt - Thrifted // Jacket - Forever21 // Cardigan - New York and Company (Thrifted) // Tights - George // Shoes - Faded Glory

Well it was a busy, but fun, last day. You can check out my first trip here. Here's the link to my sister's blog. And here's the link (finally!) to the conference my dad spoke at. And his bio. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day!

PS I didn't really feel like taking pictures on the trip home. I was just really tired and wanted to sleep. I did, however, watch The Guilt Trip and Oz the Great and Powerful. I thought The Guilt Trip was really dumb, but I really loved Oz! Anyways, I'm home now and I'm really looking forward to getting back to normal outfit posts. Oh, and I basically wore the same thing as I did on the way to California, but with the shirt in today's outfit. And my tights look they they were in a cat fight....