Amethyst pendant for Wendy

It was my friend Wendy's bday earlier this month. I decided to make her a pendant with amethyst, her birth stone.

Here comes the funny part: I put wrapped the present into a box of matches from Evening Star Cafe. Wendy actually thought that's where I bought the pendant ;) I guess I make professional looking jewelry :)

Shut up! I'm actually smiling in a photo!?

Here's a photo of me from dancing on Saturday. It will shock many of you, but sometimes I actually do smile!

Sunshine on a snowy day: yellow gerber daisies

Thought I'd post a few photos of the yellow gerber daisies I bought a few days ago. I love buying flowers for myself: such a simple purchase can bring so much happiness!

Snow weekend in DC area, Feb 6-7. 2010

Well, this has been one interesting weekend. Friday I was allowed to leave at noon as the DC area was awaiting a snow storm of ginormous proportions! I went to the grocery store, and was happy to see that all the things I needed to buy were there, although I did have to stand in line for 30 minutes.

I was mad at the snow because it canceled pretty much everything that I have planned to do this weekend, and was really looking forward to. Oh well.

Well, when I woke up on Saturday morning, my "mad" state went through the roof. Why? Well, because there was no power in my apartment building. So I cleaned the kitchen, cooked a few things, read, took a nap, snapped this photo of a couple walking outside (I took it from my apartment on the 7th floor).



And then when there was still no power at 3 pm, and then at 5 pm, and then at 9 pm, I was beginning to go insane. I honestly cried. It was miserable. I had dinner by the candle light (I know, insanely romantic), and went to the gym, because the gym actually had electricity. At 9:40 pm I was done with my workout, but did not want to go back to the darkness. So I sat on one of the bikes and watched a movie (the gym at my apartment has TVs on bikes and ellipticals). And then, just as the movie was finishing at 11:30 pm, I saw the lights back on in my building. I was so happy, I almost cried (yes, I cry often I guess). It was amazing to have light and power and tv and Internet and hot water again!



Today I did a bunch of cooking (you'll be able to check it out on Mango & Tomato later this week), and then took a walk outside to capture some of the snow still remaining.















If you know me, you know I'm so not an animal person, but I could not help but take a photo of this squirrel.





And a great end to this weekend: no work tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

An orchid update

We are supposed to get up to two feet of snow in DC area this weekend. I'm sure you will see a zillion snow photos, and I might even take a few with my new camera too on Sunday.

But for now, I wanted to give you a few photos on the progress of my "Laura" orchid.

A tiger orchid

Yet another orchid is re-blooming in my apartment. Doesn't it look like a tiger? LOVE.

I found free yarn

Yesterday after my photography class, Stephanie and I went out for lunch, and on the way back to the Metro I spotted a basket of yarn sitting by a garbage next to a house.

I LOVE free things. And the yarn was so pretty. But Stephanie said it might not be free because there was no sign. Sigh. I decided to be brave and knock on the door of the house. A nice woman answered and said that the yarn was free!

So now I have 4 "rolls" of soft and fluffy and beautiful purple Italian yarn! I think I'll have to find some free time in my busy schedule to knit a scarf.

Photos from Photo Class Field Trip

Today we went on a field trip for my photo class. Here are my favorite photos (unedited). Click on each for more detail.

I used a polarizing filter on my lens (sort of like sunglasses), and it made the sky super deep blue: I'm a happy girl.

Let me know which ones you like the most :) The photos are taken around Union Station, The Capital Building and the US Supreme Court Building.

More principles of photography

Here are a few more photographs I took for my photography class that demonstrate Principles of Composition:

Change of Perspective/Point of View

Framed Subjects (aren't these shoes gorgeous?)

Full Frame

Principles of Photography

I'm taking an intro to digital photography class to learn the ins and outs of my new Canon Rebel SLR. I learned quite a few things after the first lesson. Here are some of my photos.


I can control which part of the photo I want to be in focus, and which one I want to be blurry (depth of field)


This is one of the concepts: repetition of elements


The next two photos show the leading line concept. Where you use a line of elements to draw a viewer's eye where you want it to go.

"Laura" orchid is blooming

My "Laura" orchid, the orchid I bought 3 years ago when visiting Laura in Miami, is blooming again! (The photos are taken with my new Canon Rebel SLR camera!) The last two photos are of an orchid bloom from a drink I had last Thursday.

My new black pearl necklace

Yesterday I got together with a few of my friends for lunch and then some chatting and crafting. Below is a necklace I made using black pearls, wire and silver crimping beads. I'm in love with it!

The pearls and the crimping beads are not completely stationery, so they'll move from time to time, but I think it makes the necklace more organic. I wish I could say I invented this design myself, but I did not: I saw it at Beadazzled and decided to replicate it. I think I succeeded.