About me

I thought I'd post a general update about my life, for those of you close friends and family who might care.

A couple of weeks ago I decided not to travel home (to Yuba City, CA) for Christmas. Normally, I stay in Salem for Thanksgiving and go to YC for Christmas, but this time I had the week+ vacation in Mexico with my parents over Thanksgiving. Still, I was all set to buy my Christmas plane tickets, but looking at the cost and thinking about all of the stress of air travel this time of year stopped me. I felt bad about it, but it just makes more sense to wait and visit my parents later, in the spring. It'll be cheaper, less hectic, and nicer weather.

I will instead spend Christmas with some friends up in the Seattle area. That way I can drive on my own time table instead of arranging airport rides and being at the mercy of flight schedules, luggage requirements and airport busyness.

This decision, along with a few other ways I've simplified this year, has made for a much less stressful season. It's been SO nice. I have limited myself better on gift-giving and only sent out a few Christmas cards. I haven't even been baking (though I am trying out an easy recipe this weekend), when normally I like to give cookies to friends and coworkers. I do enjoy it, but it can also be expensive (depending) and time-consuming, not to mention messy.

I've also felt more available to take on some freelance design projects recently. The projects have been fairly enjoyable and the extra money helps a lot. So does having a nice new laptop!

I've been thinking about types of blog posts that I've neglected lately. Wallpaper Wednesday, Graphic Redesign, and Thankful Thursday, to name a few. I hope to get back into them in the new year. Feel free to give me input on the ones you miss most.

There's more I could say, but this is getting long. I'll leave you with one of my favorite pop/contemporary Christmas songs. I was a big Mariah Carey fan growing up (judge me if you must!), and I know some will think this is cheesy, but this song always makes me happy. I know Brenda likes it, too, so I'm in good company!


Merry week-before-Christmas!

San Felipe: Day 3

Day three (Monday) was spent at the house. Unfortunately, my mom got sick on Sunday evening, so she mostly rested while my dad and I spent time by the pool or inside (it would get a little chilly each day and it was cozier inside). I'll admit it--we watched a lot of HGTV over the course of the week. For me that's a treat, since I don't have any TV service at home and I really enjoy watching House Hunters with my parents. You know, so we can bash it together. (You should've seen the episode where the wannabe model kept striking awkward poses every time she noticed the camera.)

Anyway, I was glad to spend more time taking pictures of hummingbirds. I did cut back the hummingbird photos quite a bit, but I'm still including way too many here. :)

But first--hey, there's a butterfly on that hibiscus!

Now he's wearing his leaf camo outfit.

Okay, time for hummingbirds. Just one of this particular brand for now. He kept hiding too much to get decent photos.

Not this one, though. He loved the camera. My camera loved him. They ran off and married each other, but thankfully sent me these pictures.

Three different colors on his head? Show off.

We get it--you're colorful.

Okay, I'm done (for now).

In the evening I took a walk around the neighborhood and took a few photos of the nearby homes. There are some really pretty houses--I've always been a fan of stucco. Bougainvillea grows all over the place, and I love it.

Really cute.

There was an episode of House Hunters where the girl was all, "No Spanish-style homes! I can't stand that look!" She's crazy. (I mean, this particular house isn't necessarily my dream home, but it has some nice features.)

That cactus looks nothing like its parents.

A mere shack.

I'm feeling all vacationy just posting these! Oregon really needs to take the hint from Mexico--people like sun.

San Felipe: Day 2

Welcome to the second day of my trip! Day two (like most of the week) was pretty low key. We stayed at the house most of the day and enjoyed the back yard and pool. I had a very wildlifey day, watching all the critters being funny.

Looking back at the house from the pool area.

There were plenty of things to photograph, including these hummingbird moths. I had never seen one in real life, though I know my sister gets them down in New Mexico. When they're flying, they resemble a small hummingbird at first glance. I'm not a big moth fan, but these ones are a little more charming than usual moths.

The owners had this hummingbird feeder that was almost always being used. Even by non-hummingbirds, like this Gila woodpecker.

Not for long, though--the hummingbirds won't allow it.

There were a few kinds of butterflies constantly flying over the patio. These monarchs liked landing on the bushes next door, so I had to take this picture from over the fence.

Of course I stalked the cute Costas hummingbird again. (This was the same day I took these photos.)

There were some lizards, including this one that kept trying to jump up onto the wall. It was funny watching him try and fall over and over (kind of reminds me of myself). This is the best I could get of him jumping up. He eventually gave up.

Here's a better look at him.

Then there were several of this smaller type. Very cute. It's hard to tell, but his head and body (not counting the tail) are only about 1-2 inches, if I'm remembering correctly.

Some other things I came across in the yard. Actually, my mom found the grasshopper (just for the record).

In the evening I watched this bird taking a bath.

An island. I can't remember the name or anything about it, but it only looks white like this in the evening. Earlier in the day it's darker and it looks like a ship on the horizon.

My dad brought his tripod so I could practice long exposures. I still need a lot of practice. Fortunately it was very peaceful and non-windy, so I don't have blurs for palm trees.

Star trails. Yeah, I need tons of practice. :D And more darkness.

This was our part of the terrace (our condo is through that door on the left).

But we used this one, too, since no one was there. It was an ideal location for having breakfast.

The pool cover was already on, but I still like this picture. And you can see Orion in the sky.

More to come! And hopefully my captions will improve with time.

San Felipe: Day 1

Let's jump right into these! I was going to categorize my photos so that I'd have a post about birds one day, something else the next, but I just decided to go in order, and you'll get a mix in each post. Some are decent, some aren't great but they depict a scene I want to show you. Enjoy!

Saturday morning we left our hotel in Ontario, CA and drove down to San Felipe (about 6 hours). Crossing the border into Mexico is easy, but you still have to wait in a line. This is the general scene, in case any of you aren't familiar with it.

Once you get past the border cities, it's like Death Valley in this part of Mexico. There's lots of bare desert and these mirages that made it seem like we were near some water. It's really interesting how convincing they can be.

Some salt flats (is that what they're called?).

Eventually we reached San Felipe. Civilization! And I may have had a little fun in Photoshop on a few of these photos. :)

Since it wasn't time to check in yet, we stopped for lunch first. Anyone for stingray? My mom and I felt sad at the thought at eating a cute ray, since a) they're awesome and b) we once did a stingray snorkeling tour and got to pet and kiss them.

On the right is part of a restaurant that we walked through after lunch.

I went with the fish and shrimp tacos. They were good.

The whole time you're eating at these little outdoor restaurants, people are approaching you to sell items or music. You basically have to say "No, gracias" about 40 times throughout your meal, otherwise you'll be shown a fine selection of goofy wooden frogs. I wasn't brave about photographing them, though.

Things are a little more run-down here.

Some more photos of this restaurant, just because I liked the style.

After lunch we found the place where we'd be staying. I pretty much immediately started taking pictures of this hummingbird that I showed you before (and you get to see him again and again!).

We also came across a couple of bugs like this that made me take a different set of stairs. I'm not showing it in the post in case you get all creeped out by photos of large black beetles. (That's customer service!) I worried that this would mean constantly almost-stepping on one of these, but our trip turned out to be fairly bug-free.

Back to the cute blue and purple (Costas) hummingbird.

Hey, little guy!

The sun set very early, and though we were facing the east, it reflected on the clouds this first night and was almost as good as seeing a sunset.

We were the only guests at this time, so we had all of the terrace areas and pool to ourselves!

We stayed at Casa La Vida (aw, I just saw a couple of my photos on their site!). This is the house from the street. The owners, Dale and Bobbie (hello, if you're reading!), live on the top floor, and they have three units on the bottom floor. Dale and Bobbie (and their dog) are very nice and we rrreally enjoyed our stay. If you ever plan to vacation in San Felipe, I highly recommend staying here. No, I was not paid to say that. :)

A look at the actual sunset.


And then we all went to bed at 8pm! Such party animals, my parents and I.

Stay tuned for more photos (I have lots) in the coming days and weeks. Thanks for looking!