just checking in.  life is a little crazy right now and i barely have time to sleep.  i’m reassessing everything and evaluating what parts i need to cut out.  right now it’s not looking too good for the social networking end. haha.

had a wonderful long weekend in yosemite with old friends.  oh my goodness, i just called my college friends “old friends.” that’s gotta be some kind of sign… anyway. the crisp mountain air and sweet scented pines do a lot of good. and stars. i strongly believe it is important from time to time to just watch stars, to put life into perspective.

back to work for three days, during which i shall also attempt to edit photos, schedule a couple shoots, and code a website. oh, lord.

but THEN i’m off again for 10 days of chillllll on the east coast.  i’m most excited for getting cheesesteaks with hannah in philly, cherry blossoms in d.c., possible sightings of obama’s motorcade, and the quaint coastal villages of north carolina.  will blog while i’m there.

alright, so upon reading that it seems that i’m quite “busy” with vacation. hahaha. i suppose life could be worse. a lot worse.

i’m addicted to taylor swift music right now.  if you ever need to get in a peppy mood, this is it.

sorry i’ve been super lagging on updating my blog. :( there’s so much going on right now and i want to post about all of it, and i can never catch up with myself!  also, coming up we’re taking our annual family spring break road trip on the east coast this year, and i’m super excited about all the photographic opportunities ahead. :)

last weekend, a couple of us ventured into the far eastern deserts of california to shoot the abandoned beaches of the salton sea.  the shores of the huge saline lake are littered with deserted motels and trailer parks, remnants of a bygone era when the salton sea enjoyed huge popularity as a lake resort.  exploring the vacant trailers was like walking into the past–retro clothes and dated magazines strewn everywhere, and you’re left trying piece together the stories of the people who once lived there.

i had too many favorites from the shoot, so i think i will be posting them all somewhere eventually, but here are a couple:

forgotten railroads and red mountains make the desert an eerily beautiful place

the sand was littered with salt-encrusted dead fish

someone had made a beautiful windchime of broken glass bits

“today, the skies are painted colors of a cowboy’s cliche…”

(the album leaf is the perfect music for thinking.)

this past weekend i took a little time to myself and fostered my introverted side. wrote a little, shot a little, opened my eyes and got inspired.  spent some time at the library, the park, the train station.  places where i grew up but haven’t really revisited in years.

i noticed the new completed wing of the library. and the new bars popping up on harbor as part of the city’s downtown revitalization project. but for the most part, to my unexpected relief, i found that the dry cleaners and liquor stores from the 70′s are still around.  perhaps i was happy because a tangible tie to my past was still intact.

it strikes me at the dawn of 24 that my childhood has been over for a decade. yes, this is an epiphany as i continue to refer to friends as “girls and boys,” talk about what i want to do “when i grow up,” and get scared of “getting in trouble.”  i suppose a little trip down my hometown’s memory lane unexpectedly conjured up images of myself as a child, and i realize how far removed i am from that person now.

i was a bright eyed, happy-go-lucky little girl with the most vivid imagination.  i was a girl scout, a gymnast, a ballerina.  i ate peaches off the tree in the backyard and played on a rusty swing set.  i was more naive than most but i wouldn’t trade those memories for anything.

childhood is so precious. we get what–ten? fifteen? years out of our whole lives to live in ignorant bliss.  after that, nothing is ever simple again for the next seventy.  pain reaches places you can’t fix and happiness is just that much more out of reach.  so why hurry? some people are adamant about prepping their kids for the real world, but really.. i think my rose-colored glasses did me a whole lot of good.  because somewhere inside, i havent lost that sense of wonder, the spark of hope that something wonderful is out there.  somewhere not far below the surface, the little girl i was reminds me that i can still dream.