brush strokes across the sky

yesterday after work i went for a run at the San Andreas Trail up in San Bruno. as i began running, i wondered what the sunset might look like that night. somehow i knew that it was going to be some sort of spectacle but i didn't know that it was going to take my breath away. on the drive home i looked west and saw what looked like pink brush strokes across the sky. i promptly made a u-turn and headed to a viewpoint (Sharp Park Rd) where i am guaranteed the absolute best and unobstructed view of the sunset from any point in the Bay Area (though if anybody happens to know of a better spot, please share). at this viewpoint you see the vast ocean along with miles of sky stretched out before you. and with a sunset like the one we had last night, you should want to see as much of it as possible. thank God i had a dslr with me. i would be so upset if i could only capture this sunset with a phone camera. i stood in the chill of the darkening sky with shorts and a tank top on for about twenty minutes just staring mesmerized by Mother Nature's great wonder. freezing, i hopped back in my car ready to leave twice, only to find myself back outside with a camera. sunsets are beautiful every day but last night's was glorious!

*these were in no way edited. no filters, no photoshop. just straight up Nature's awesomeness!!!

with camera in tow

yesterday i was in Golden Gate Park near the Academy of Science and the DeYoung Museum with an hour of time to kill. it was right before dusk, which is perfect timing for bringing the camera out to shoot some pictures. apparently this is because colors aren't washed out by the blazing sun or grayed out by the dark sky. indirect sunlight is best and allows great opportunities for capturing shadowing (not that the following pictures depict that very well). i decided to roam around and take some pictures and ended up with these. 

this was really pretty in person

seeing trees with such an abundance of fall colors in SF is rare. this was striking to me, as it's the only really fiery looking tree i've seen lately

it was hard to get a sharp image of this due to the wind

bike rack

bench

i clearly like to take pictures of things from close up

onesies = funsies

in high school my friends and i were a part of a now embarrassing clique that went by the acronym E.A.E. no, i will not be disclosing what those letters stand for. we were young and the things you thought were cool are in no way, shape or form anywhere near cool in your adult life. a couple of years ago our friend, Meiche who lives in Hawaii, had a baby shower and we put together what i thought was the greatest baby shower present ever made. it was a hanging mobile with all of our faces put on a different animal's head so that the baby would be able to recognize us when she see's us. i pretty much thought that we would never top that gift, but this year we came up with something even better for Steph's baby shower! 

a collaboration of clever E.A.E. minds came up with personalized onesies for the little guy to wear once he makes his grande entrance. onesies should be funsies, don't you think? so this was a pretty perfect gift. unfortunately i wasn't able to join in on the creativity but my friends came up with some pretty funny stuff. the one i'm holding up has a picture of a gummy bear and says something along the lines of "Mommy's little Gummy Bear." see, Steph showed us a picture of the first ultrasound and i said that the baby resembled the chewy form of cub. being that we didn't know the sex of the baby, she stuck with calling it her Gummy Bear until she found out that it was a he. one of my favorite onesies has a picture of a gun (Eddie, the dad, is a correctional officer) and says "PROOF: that my dad doesn't shoot blanks" haha!! 

the mama glowing just as pregnant mothers should

EAE, lol! plus Steph's sister, Kim. 

love these girls!! 

that good life

don't you love days when nothing especially spectacular happens but you find yourself in the happiest of places? a string of minor excellences occur and you can't help but smile at the ease of today. you know what that is? that's validation that your life is awesome! you're living that good life!

i hope your day was as fulfilling as mine was!

anytime songs

hi! so i've compiled a short list of songs that i can listen to at any time of day, during any type of mood, and on repeat forever and ever and ever after that. i just love these songs and never tire of them. i like most genres of music, but there are only a few songs that you can listen to when you're elated, upset, excited as well as sorrowful. i would say all of these songs can pretty much be categorized under "easy listening" or "coffee house" music. well, aside from Suzie. that song is a little more upbeat but one that i am in love with. my reason for making this list is because sometimes i get lazy and it's nice that there's an easily accessible list here with links to the videos. so you're very welcome, Self, for doing this for future reference.

Vertical Hoizon- Everything You Want
Muse- Starlight
Lifehouse- All In All
Boy Kill Boy- Suzie
Temper Trap- Sweet Disposition
One Republic- Secrets
One Republic- Good Life
Kings of Leon- Use Somebody
The Shins- Phantom Limb
Coldplay- Lost
Phillip Phillips- Home
Maroon 5- Daylight
Incubus- Stellar
The Fray- Over My Head

oh, you're about to brag again i see...

you ever encounter those types of people who say things out of the blue just so that you will inquire about something that they feel like bragging about? the other day someone i don't know very well sneaked up behind me and said "man, that car is going to get me in trouble!" to which i responded "oh, whoa. no 'hi?' i have no idea what car you're talking about." he, of course, then went on to tell me about the make and model of his new car and that he got a speeding ticket while driving it. this, you could tell, was a cool story to him. new car. drive fast. law breaking rebel. to tell you the truth, Buddy, it's not that cool. factual, maybe. cool, not so much. now if he wanted to brag about how he helped a beached whale make it's way back into the ocean or about how he is amazed to learn about a new culture he's discovered through travel, then we've got something to talk about.

what bothers me about this type of interaction is that this person and i have never really had a conversation that didn't involve him talking up something about himself. it's not that he's trying to impress me specifically. in fact, i'm pretty certain he knows absolutely nothing about me except that i'm an x-ray tech and a woman, so he could care less about what i think.  he just talks about these things to boost his own ego. but little do you know, Fella, that stuff doesn't really make you cool. what makes someone cool is that you're a decent human being. and confident yet humble. so what if people can buy things. at the end of the day if your only interaction with others is to tell them you've amassed an amalgam of expensive things, then what real relationships have you made with people, hmm?

just an observation. if you think you're one of these people, maybe just add a little dab of "and how are you today" to your conversations to offset the amount at which your interests seem to revolve around only you. at least if you ask someone how they're doing, you might not seem quite as self involved.

Sutro Baths

bored this monday, i decided to take the camera out to the Sutro Baths. can you believe this used to be an actual indoor swimming pool? the salt water would run directly into the pools. seeing these ruins reminded me of the ruins in Rome, not that the baths are anything close to being as amazing as Rome and it's history. seeing the aftermath of what once was is awesome. it sort of lets your mind wander and wonder about what it was like to be there at a time when it was functioning. so, take a gander at what i see when i look through a viewfinder. 

i wish i could have taken these with the water looking even smoother but it's really hard to keep your hands still for more than 1/3second. also, people were really not very happy about me blocking the path as i sat in their way, so i was time limited. haha!

once upon a time we used to go here at night and scare each other while we were in the cave. it was NOT a fun time for me. so take a guess at who was the scaree.

 amongst rubble, life goes on

the sun peeking through

pretty rays

the sun twinkles too! it's just a giant star, y'know! there's your science lesson for the day. you're welcome!

the only reason i took this picture because when i saw that this branch was hanging off of the larger tree, i thought "awww, it gave up!" yep, sometimes i associate human feelings/actions to objects or things. like...(this is going to sound like it's coming from a crazy person, but i'm not. i promise!) if i'm stepping on tiles that are checkered and i notice that my right foot always lands on the black one, i eventually skip a step or add a step so that i'll start landing my right foot on the white one. somehow i feel like the world is uneven or i should feel bad for the white ones if they aren't getting an even amount of attention. weird, right? right. but not crazy.