I'm experiencing film withdrawals.

Not gonna lie. I kinda miss school. Seeing DJ off to school has made me a bit jealous...Don't get me wrong, I am SO glad to be done with crazy projects, but I kinda miss the challenge...what I really miss is shooting film. Oh MAN. Nothin' like shooting good ol' raw film. Now that I'm out of school, I'll have to take it to get developed rather than develop it myself...BORING! Takes the fun out of everything! And yeah, you can get the same effect with digital+post processing with LR, PS, etc...but seriously. There is nothing.like.raw.film.

I don't want to lose my grip with film. I loved the anticipation build up of not knowing what exactly would come out of the camera. Going into a pitch dark room (more of a nook--kinda creepy when you start thinking scary thoughts) to roll the film into the canister, measuring out all the chemicals, developing the film and watching the clock to make sure I do it just right, getting stinky fix all over my pants, waiting for the film to dry in the dryer, and pulling them out onto the light table to see the outcome.

I miss it dearly.

I still need to scan the rest of my negatives in...actually, maybe not the rest...that could take a while. But here are a few of what I had shot from previous semesters:

I shot this one of Tera for my cyanotypes process. They actually turned out really cool! 

(Unfortunately the cyanotype is definitely not the same feel unless you're seeing the actual print, thus no image of the final process.) 

I had an obsession with how abstract the water can look with reflections of light and such.

I loved all the geometric lines in this shot with the bike.

Not a fan of still lifes. I suck at them. Especially when it had to be conceptual...I really suck at conceptual. So, this is all you're gonna get!

My old man's cameras. My favorite is the Speedex 120 film, SO fun!

Me and the Minolta 7000 MAXXUM baby!

I gotta get back into this...soon.

Story behind my Kleinfeld's purchase.

My sisters and I took a simple trip to New York for the weekend thinking it would be fun to go shopping on Canal Street since its in our price range.

So we hit up shopping, went to the Top of the Rock (I think DJ would appreciate the sign before entering...)

walked down Broadway, caught a show to Mary Poppins, and walked around Time Square.

...but then Sachi suggested we go to Kleinfeld's--where they film the TLC show "Say Yes To The Dress". 

We only went hoping we'd see Randy or any of the other crazy employees there. We got there and immediately thought, we should try on some dresses! So we made an appointment for the next day, 5 hours before our flight back to SLC. 

I told the sales lady that I wanted something NOT POOFY. That was the only thing I did not want in my dress. I tried on my first dress--it was what I was kind of imagining and thought, meh. Its okay. NEXT. 

While we were getting the second dress on I kept thinking, holy cow am I really doing this?! Mind you, I wasn't even ENGAGED! So I had NO intention of buying one. We were just so giddy about being there and just wanted to say we tried on dresses there...but then I tried on the second...GASP!!

(...my face looks so dull and bored mainly because I was so flustered about wanting to buy this, but it was $800 above my budget...I really was jumping up and down inside that I found this dress!)

So the sales lady kept saying, "You HAVE to get this dress. I saw the look on your face when you put it on, and I've been doing this for years--this is the one." But I wasn't looking at my facial expression, I was looking at the price tag...So I told her my dilemma. I told her we were only here on a whim because it was my last free flight on my mom's benefits with Delta, and also my birthday was coming up in a few days, and also that we were leavin' on a jet plane in a few hours.

She left the room and I had a couple minutes to talk to my sisters. She came back in and told me, "Okay, because its your birthday and because you're leaving today, I got you a special price. I will take it down $800." 

PERRRRFECT!!! So I thought, okay I potentially can buy this now! My parents were unreachable because they were headed on an airplane to France. I really wanted to talk to them first before I make this huge purchase... definitely the biggest purchase I've ever made up until then (soon to be one of the cheaper things out of my whole wedding haha). 

We called Aunt Denice to get her advise and asked what Meg and Melissa did. Sachi and Kumi helped me make a huge list of Pros and Cons. Sachi kept asking, "You ARE getting married, right??" Duh Sach...:) but I seriously needed all the moral support I could get. After sitting in my dream dress for about 10 minutes, we decided this was too good of an opportunity to pass up--She took it down a TON. And who the heck can say they flew out to NYC on a whim and came back with a big white POOFY wedding dress! And it will be such a fun memory to have with me. So taking that all into consideration, I thought, if I leave here without it, its gone forever and I will regret it. 

So I went outside, transfered some of my savings over into my checkings, and KA-CHING!

I signed the papers and had it shipped to good ol' SLC, Utah! (The sales person kept telling me I could take it as carry on...are you kidding--there was no way I was going to carry that POOF BALL on the plane with me...however, it would have made for a very nice pillow/blanket...)

It was such a bitter sweet moment. It was such a spontaneous, hilarious, and nerve racking experience. I wish my mom was there with me. Later when we boarded our flight I finally got a hold of my mom, we chatted for a bit. She asked how NY was. I said it was fun!...and that I had bought a really pretty dress as a souvenir. I kept describing it as poofy and flowy. She wasn't catching on. Then I hear my dad in the background, "She bought a wedding dress..." And she says, "...YOU BOUGHT A WEDDING DRESS?" I was kinda nervous so I hesitated a bit..."uhhh...mayyybee...hehe". And then my mom broke out laughing--and if you know my mom, when she thinks something is funny, she doesn't stop giggling for a while. So she laughed for a bit longer and then we chatted some more and I told her my whole experience. I'm glad I got to talk to her that same day so  it still felt like she was there. 

So that's it! That's the crazy story behind my Kleinfeld's experience.

I SAID YES TO THE DRESS!

Ice packs will do the trick!

A couple nights ago, Deej and I had the hardest time falling asleep because it was so insanely hot! I kept complaining to him about how uncomfortable I was, and it seriously got me so ornery. He got up and just left the room--I thought he was so bugged by me whining that he decided to go sleep on the couch or something. About 3 minutes later, he comes back in the room and I hear lots of plastic crinkling. He came over to the bed and started laying about 6 or 7 freezing cold ice packs on me. Holy cow, it felt so nice! So we took turns rubbing each others feet with them to help cool us down...now that I think about it, we probably should have sanitized those ones in case they need to be used in the future...oops.

So the whole time we were just giggling at how ridiculous this situation was. We must have looked so funny. Deej is such a sweetheart--I've never had someone cover me in ice packs before when I complained about heat! I always thought how cliche it is when people say they fall more and more in love with their spouse as time goes on, but its so true. Its the little things he does that show me how much he loves me. Finally we ended up just laying the ice packs between us for the rest of the night to keep us nice and comfortable. So if you ever get too hot that it keeps you from getting a good nights rest, get your old lunch box ice packs out! Who knew, right?

Ooh, Hunny hunny!

We've been married for a little over 3 wonderful months. And what a crazy ride it has been already. I wish I had blogged this when it was fresh in my mind, but I'll do my best!

So we left straight from the unbelievably perfect reception to the hotel and the next morning to the airport to head out to Cabo. Cabo was so fantastic! We got there, picked up the rental car, and drove to the hotel. Directions to the hotel were ridiculous so it took us a while driving in circles to find it. We finally saw this dinky little sign off the side of the freeway saying "small hotel". The Riu Palace is kinda a big...but we figured we'd check it out. We drove over this bumpy dirt road that wasn't looking too promising. Finally we turn the corner and see the Palace!! We made it! So we drive in, park the car and start walking. The parking lot was a couple levels below the entrance so we looked for signs for an elevator or escalator. Instead, we found a sign pointing to where the doctor's room was. You know, just in case we needed a check up before hiking with 80 pounds of luggage! So we had to lug our heavy suitcases up the flights of stairs in the hot, humid sun. Finally we got all settled in. And this is a little of what we got to enjoy for 5 short days:

Usually I can handle fancy food...but this is where I draw the line--when I see poop on my plate. So of course, I pass my left overs along to Deej.

Sooooo pretty! The water is so BLUE!

The second day we we're there we decided to go snorkeling at Lover's Beach.

Lover's Beach has sand under the bridge every 4 years only for a short few months. So we got lucky!

We got lucky again because our "group" or snorkelers was only Deej and me. So we got our personal tour guide for the entire afternoon. He showed us so many cool things in the ocean. He dove down and brought up things like a blow fish, lots of star fish, a sea cucumber, jelly fish...and he had this bottle full of bread that he would squeeze out while we were under water and all the fish would come swarming! I got a little grossed out at first, but it was definitely a fun swim. He took us across to a beach where the only way you could get to it was by counting the waves and running for your life across the path. If you got caught in the wave, you were done for. It was pretty intense!

Something attacked me while snorkeling...looks like nothing, but it stung like heck!

Some weird Iguana with a sombrero that I paid this man to hold for about 5 seconds...I couldn't handle it--creepy crawlies are just too much for me.

Goin' para-sailing!

So we were looking for the church on Sunday, but got lost...so we decided to just head to the airport. On our way we stopped by the gas station to fill up the rental and bought ourselves a...Bubu Lubu...? haha

When Deej gets into a game, he doesn't stop till he beats the entire thing. Talk about determined!

...I want to go back so bad! It was so nice not having to worry about a schedule or paying for things. All inclusive was pretty sweet. Ordering drinks by the pool or at the bar was a little funny though. We'd have to emphasize non-alcoholic so many times when ordering just to make sure they got it in their heads...I have a feeling sometimes it was lost in translation because a couple times it tasted...uh...yeah...

I need to start a money jar for another vacation like this one.

My New & Improved Life.

I have had such a busy life this year. One of the craziest, but definitely the best year so far! And it all happened so fast all right in a row that I had no time to blog about any of it. I thought, its probably a little late to be blogging about this stuff, but then I realized how I love reading my old posts and getting all nostalgic. So lets rewind to this past spring...I GRADUATED! It is so great to be finished and feel so accomplished. I definitely miss being around my photo friends, developing in the darkroom hours on end, editing one too many projects on the computer...yes, I miss it for sure. But I am so excited for this new chapter in my life and for the chapters to come.

 

Its so nice to be on my own and starting my own new projects. The biggest one definitely is my new married life!

So mister DJ and I tied the knot May 10th, 2011.

So our sealer thought our sealing was a half hour after the actual time, plus he did talk for quite some time, so it took us a bit longer to get through the temple than expected. But my family and best friends were so awesome to stick around and cheer us on as we came out the temple. 

Megan, Sachi, and I have been the Three Musketeers since we can remember.

This was one of the funniest moments of the day. So these two cute Asian ladies on the left were asking Heather(my photographer) if they could step into the picture. Knowing that I have Asian relatives, she assumed they were family, so they jumped right in! I was so confused...and Heather picked up on this and then realized, they weren't family, but total strangers! However, the situation was too good to pass up this photo-op, so laughing hysterically, Heather caught this great candid shot I will never forget. 

The Osterloh Cousins! Seriously the funniest group I know.

 

These handsome men just happen to be my brothers from another mothers...fo real. Mike Van Boogenheimer, Colliflower, and Spencie, Love you guys!

My sisters...I don't even know where to begin. All I can say is, we have such a strong bond between all of us...And if anyone, anyone tries to hurt one of my sisters, I would take them out. I would make them suffer so much that they'd wish they were never born. And if they ran, I would hunt them down...Thank you, Kathy. (Name that movie!)

It was so fun to just walk around the temple with my husband. Such a perfect day! I know the trend is to be kinda serious in some photos, but seriously, I had the hardest time with that. I was too happy/smiley/laughy the whole day! So...that is why you will not be seeing any serious photos--I look like a clown in all of them...

 

 

This boy is just too cute. And he's all mine baby!

The photo below on the right is as close to serious as you'll get...

I absolutely LOVED my dress. This dress is by far the most spontaneous thing I've done in my life. But that's a story for another day...

(Read the dress story HERE)

It was so twirly and flowy--I couldn't help but spin around every now and then.

And my beautiful flowers were put together by my florist/neighbor/dear family friend, Phyillis Parrish. She and her husband were so wonderful helping us with everything from doing our flowers to providing the amazing ballroom in their home for our reception. 

I miss and think about my wedding all the time. It couldn't have been more perfect. I am so grateful for my wonderful photographer, Heather of Heather Nan Photography. Thanks to her fabulous work, I will never forget my perfect day :)