Yes, I'm Still Here

Hi there.
It's me. Christy, the girl who writes this blog.

Sure, you're probably thinking. Not so much lately...

Yah. It's true. I've been distant. It's not you. It's me.
'
Forgive me?
Okay, phew!

Now that we've got that settled. So much going on!

-Only 9.5 weeks until my grand expat adventure begins and I am officially a world citizen.

-Every summer I write about how crazy work is. Well, that's hit. Summer is officially the craziest time of the year for me at my job. (Think 60-80 hour workweeks and loads of scrambling to crank out videos for a ton of corprorate meetings.) I love it. I hate it. It's exhausting and elating. And it just is. Now.

-This blog will soon be entirely reconstructed. That's right. From the ground up. In the next week I begin construction with a fabulous designer who will make all of my blogging layout and design dreams come true. Wordpress, yo. I think you're gonna like it here when we're done.

-My house is still being deconstructed and that is pretty exciting and chaotic. It went from looking super comfy and cozy and lived-in to this:

 Yup. That there's my redneck sofa. 

(With my sister testing it out. She say's it's pretty comfortable, actually.) 

Be jealous, y'all... :{

But it's all part and parcel of my plans and ultimately, this is only a transition, so que sera and stuff!

-Other stuff is going on, too. And it's great. Except when it's not.

And that's about it for now.

Stay tuned for a new look, coming soon!

A Second Wind for California

I go through phases of interest while I'm in a place, whether visiting or living. Most people do, I would imagine. When I first arrive in a place I need to explore every inch of it. I want to see what is around me and know what's available before I make important decisions, like where my favorite hike is, or what my favorite pizza joint is. You know? When I first moved back to Northern California, more than six years ago, I was on fire for exploring this beautiful region. From Hearst Castle to Alcatraz. From the Martinez headlands to the Mt. Diablo foothills, and Mendocino to the Point Reyes seashore. Yosemite. Tahoe. The Lost Coast. I got around. I got out. I did stuff. (Not even mentioning the international and intercontinental travel I did in that time) Somewhere in the middle of those six years here, I grew complacent for touring my homeland.

Things become stagnant after a while, don't they? And, I've (re)discovered, it's not the place, it's ME wherein the problem lies. So last week I got in my car and drove down a street I hadn't explored, nor had I realized that I hadn't explored it. And what an afternoon! I drove from the tail end of Walnut Creek, down Danville BLVD, through Alamo, turning right and left into every little road that wasn't marked "private" and taking a gander at the beautiful homes, the gorgeous scenery and just enjoying the little life scenes that unfolded.

And then I happened upon the ultimate reward (for me): The loveliest hiking trail in all of the area. (Ringtail Cat trail off of Hemme) Seriously. It.Is.Perfect. A hiking photographer's dream. And it makes me sad that I've only discovered it now that I'm leaving in ten (TEN!!) weeks. Que Sera. Here's to exploration and continually finding the unexpected!

Photo from: http://www.examiner.com/slideshow/las-trampas-hike-beckons?slide=44266061#main

(I'll post my own photos soon)

What's the last thing you did to get out of your comfort zone and shake things up a bit?

The Great Photo Purge of 2013

Geezer moment:

I remember back when those digital cameras were nothing but a craze! A fad! Film was the only true medium and it was never going to go away. All those digital yahoos were in for a rude awakening soon enough...

End...

I resisted buying a digital camera long after they became mainstream. Prices were too high and quality too low. When I finally broke down and bought one back in 2002, it wasn't the greatest, but it was rugged and durable and even water/weatherproof, which was a must for my ocean-going, rough-and-tumble lifestyle. I wore that camera out, dropped it in bodies of water, rolled it around in sand, beat it against rock walls... and I reveled in not having to pay to develop film!

But the downside of being on the verge of a moment is that the systems you develop for storage and cataloging and general use become outdated very quickly. When iPhoto came along with my brand new mac laptop, I was exstatic to have an easy photo management solution. Being a creature of habit, I've stuck with iPhoto for far too long. And my photo library became a blob-like creature, growing exponentially, wild and untamable and perhaps detrimental to my (mental) health, recently reaching some 16,000+ images!

Streamlining my image library has long been on my to-do-someday list.  Given the fact that very soon I will be selling off my video-editing MacPro and with it will go all of my massive amounts of hard drive space, that someday became now four days ago. I broke down and purchased Adobe's Lightroom.

I debated long and hard between aperture and Lightroom and it was a difficult decision, both programs are solid and offer great features. But as much as I love Apple's hardware, being in the video editing industry, I've fallen prey to their flippant software product backing one too many times. (Final Cut Pro, when it switched from 7 to X, the complete discontinuance of Shake and Server...) Adobe, being solely a software company, seems to stand much more firmly behind their software, and that (along with the file hierarchy system of Lightroom vs Aperture) was the tipping point for me.

So for four days I've been purging my ridiculously over sized photo library. I'm only halfway through and I've deleted thousands of images. Thousands!

I'll be quite happy to load up my streamlined library on my travel laptop when this is all done, and especially happy to check off one more (unexpectedly large) to-do from my countdown to travel list.

My shrinking iPhoto library...

How do you manage your digital photos?

Anatomy of a Perfect 1st Birthday Party

For a *perfect* first birthday party:

First you take the sister's twins.
Add twelve months.
Add one adorable, pinwheel-themed birthday party.
Add chocolate cake.

Mix babies with cake until well combined.

Results may vary.

 Rhys: Hey, hey what's going on. What are those big things up there? I like 'em.

Avery: What's going on? Where are my clothes?

Avery: Okay, I kinda like this naked stuff. Ya KNOW?

Rhys: Heh.

 Both: Twin High Five! Cuz we're awesome!

 Rhys: This is delicious. If you don't want yours...

Avery: Someone feed me. I don't know what to do with this.

 Rhys: Sugar rush! Is the macarena back in? Cuz I'm totally doing the macarena!

Avery: Umm, this is yummy. I think I'll face-plant in it.

 Rhys: OHMYGOSHTHISISAMAZING. IMEANREALLY,WHYYYYYHAVENTWEHADTHISFORDINNERBEFORE,GUYS???

Avery: I've had... an apostrophe!

 Rhys: OHHHHHHHITSSOOOOOOGOOD.

 Avery: *Plop*

 Quinn: I want some, too! Hey this is fun!

 Cupcakes all around!

 One proud twins'mama, and my gorgeous sister, kellywestover

Success!