Photography
Montana Photos & Random Writing
Sunday, September 28th, 2008 | Photography, Writing | 0 Comments
Hiking near Red Lodge
First of all, check out my photos from Montana including my brief stopover in Denver. Warning: too many self-portraits. There are some lovely scenic shots though. ;)
This morning I wanted to spend some time writing but I was uninspired so I just decided to describe a bit of mine and Justin’s journey home from Brooklyn last night.
Last Night
We stumbled every few steps over the uneven sidewalk, scarred as it was with thick bands of wild grass, broken and even shattered to bits in some areas from neglect… The streetlights became soft orbs of light in the humid night air. On a bridge in the distance, the line of lights was distorted so everything glowed, seemingly uniform. To our east, a fair distance beyond the nearest buildings and the river, the city was entirely obscured by the thick, hazy moisture. All we could tell of the city was a strange purple glow, refusing to acknowledge the presence of a sunless sky – ignoring the notion of twinkling stars above.
Calvary Cemetery by Tony the Misfit
An impressive cemetery stretched out along the western side of the street. All the stones were black, slate, grey. Towering obelisks and massive crosses crowded together, interspersed with hulking sepulchers. As crowded in life as in death in this city of ours. We could’ve been in New Orleans – my imagination readily allowed. My companion snickered as we clambered passed the Best Western City View Hotel. All of the windows facing the cemetery were frosted. I suppose this was out of concern for their customers rather than deference toward the dead. It would’ve disappointed me had I stayed there. The cemetery was really quite lovely, and at sunset, I imagine it would be breathtaking to behold filled with warm golden light.
We walked into a more residential neighborhood where the sidewalks notably improved. Spanish voices serenaded our march as a mother ushered in her little children at 10PM – their playground an empty street with one lone Latin bar. I suspected that the bar was completely abandoned, though the loud music emanating from within suggested otherwise.
A few minutes later we came to the corner of a couple of streets flanked by tall, red brick apartment buildings and spotted a small yellow cab. It was one of the new, more energy-efficient hybrid models. We were lucky to flag it down easily. Upon climbing in I was surprised to discover that the safety glass I’d become accustom to which separated driver from patron was non-existent in this state-of-the-art vehicle. I wonder if it speaks to the current safety of New York city streets or something else entirely that has yet to occur to me. I gave the driver our address and we sped quickly home.
Wild About Montana’s Beauty
Monday, September 15th, 2008 | Fun, Photography, Travel | 0 Comments
What a lucky gal am I? Justin flew all the way from New York City to Billings, Montana just to spend Saturday with me! He arrived at 10:30 pm on Friday night, and I dropped him at the airport at noon on Sunday. I could not have asked for a better time together, though I may have asked for it to be longer!
At first, Saturday morning was dreary and rainy. I was disappointed because I’d hoped Justin and I would make our way to Red Lodge and to the Beartooth Mountains. I knew there was hiking around and supposedly Red Lodge was a cute little town. Everyone told us to go there on our first trip to Montana in June, though the pass was still closed due to snow.
Despite the weather, we decided to head toward Red Lodge anyway. We had a delicious lunch at a pizzeria in Red Lodge. Slowly but surely, the day began to improve! We browsed in the local shops and Justin tried on, decided to buy, and then deciding not to buy a coat from an antique store. The store also had a really rad German hat from WWII but it was super tiny and wouldn’t fit my gigantic head, so I didn’t get it. We noticed intermittent patches of sunlight and decided to continue on our way to Beartooth Highway and the Beartooth Pass. I’d heard it was beautiful, but words could not express the truth of the beauty of this place. Check it out for yourself – captions and photo notes accompany the images: Photos of Snow, Hiking, Chipmunks and Kisses>>
After a lovely day of exploring a new town, a scenic drive and a bit of hiking, Justin and I relaxed in the hotel room, watched some TV, and noshed on hamburgers at Fuddruckers for dinner. We also played a hunting video game where we shot moose – that was a blast! Justin won (but I still killed more turkeys on the bonus round!). I love you, sweetheart. Thanks for coming out to Montana and showing me one heck of a good time. :)
Awesome Photos: N-E-S-S
Sunday, September 7th, 2008 | Family, Fun | 0 Comments
Val!, Karen and Mike were all hanging out last night as Val! is visiting Texas. They went to dinner with Mom and Dad and then sat around reminiscing and just randomly chattering. I asked Mom to take some photos of them, at which point she said they had taken a group shot before they left. I told her to tell them to take some Lyrael.com style photos and to mention “letters” and “Tab” to them. Now, to those of you new readers of this site (new as in the 6 years, woe is me), you surely don’t know what I mean. Back in 2002, Karen, Val! and I became quite creative (and silly) when it came to taking and uploading photo sets. I hoped they’d want to do something goofy that hearkened back to those good times. Sure enough, they did! For your viewing pleasure, here are the two photos Val! has sent me so far:
Val!, Karen and Mike - Pink Pony Luv
Val!, Karen and Mike - oh the masquerade!
Love you guys!!! And I miss you! XO XO
Nessy
PS: If anyone out there wants to take silly photos and email them to me, that’d be awesome too! :) Maybe we can get Peanut in on the action… She kinda looks like she is “E” shaped in the photos below. :)
Update: Another one! I love this one! The lighting is great! Look how long and pretty Karen’s hair is! I definitely dig everyone’s expressions on the “N” here.
Val!, Karen and Mike - Stinky feet!
Baby on Board – My Cousin is Pregnant!
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 | Family, Positivity | 0 Comments
8 week sonogram of "Peanut Roan"
I am so glad that my awesome cousin Sheila is pregnant! I doubt I’ll ever have a child and Val!’s pretty much in the same boat, so this is the closest I’m going to come to being an Aunt… well, Aunt-Like. Ok, a really cool cousin. :P
8 week sonogram of "Peanut Roan" saying Hi
I am just so darn excited about “Peanut” Roan!!! Sheila sent sonogram photos out to the family yesterday. I am sharing them here, now. I wish I could tell you more, like how she is feeling (I think a little nauseous!) and what she is thinking (yay baby!), but I can’t… she hasn’t updated her website. :P
In these photos, you can make out little numbs that represent Peanut’s appendages! We don’t know whether Peanut will be a girl or a boy. Mommy and Daddy (Sheila and Justin) supposedly want to wait til the baby is born, but we’ll see if they can stave off their curiosity. Personally, I am hoping Peanut is a girl, but I’ll love it either way. ;) Congratulations She and Justin!!!
Housewarming in Austin, the Ride Back to NYC, Anonymity
Monday, August 4th, 2008 | Family, Photography, Puppies, Travel | 0 Comments
Justin and I enjoyed Texas! We went to Sheila and Justin R’s 
housewarming party (which was actually also a birthday party, though we hadn’t realized that beforehand – our bad! Sorry Justin R!!!). It was cool to see them, their friends, and some of my relatives again. I must say, they also fed us some DELICIOUS BBQ and sides. Yummy! Aunt Sha Sha, Uncle Wayne, and Aunt Debbie all came up. Aunt Linda and Leanne (my 1st cousin) were in attendance as well, and ended up spending the night, which turned out to be very cool because we were able to sit around and talk this morning (photos of puppies new haircuts and the morning at Sheila and Justin’s). One takeaway – I definitely need to visit Leanna in Longview. She’ll be out of school before I know it, and I’d really like to see her in her college element, visit her apartment, and be a part of this brief, though significant period in her life.
It was also a really good onslaught of socialization for the puppies as Leanne brought her chihuahua, Pixie; the neighbors brought their poodle, Apricot and their labradoodle, Pinky; a gigantic chocolate lab was there (I don’t recall his name) and of course, Sheila and Justin’s very own Brodie was running around. Ruby and Eve got lots of sniffs from the other dogs and petting from the people. :)
On a random side note, one very pretty, well-dressed girl with expertly curled blonde hair told me that she really liked my hair and thought I looked like a certain actress. I was actually taken by surprise as I never expected a compliment at all (been spending too much time in NYC!). Now, waaaay back when, I was told frequently that I looked like this actress and once, upon entering a Chili’s, the hostess refused to believe that I wasn’t this actress…. Hello, I was in Chili’s in San Antonio, for crying out loud. I personally have never thought this actress was attractive, but the gal that paid me the compliment last night thinks she is very pretty and sexy, so I am taking it in a positive manner. ;) I am sure you’re wondering about this actress. *sigh* She’s the goofy girl from Scary Movie: Anna Faris.
Sheila drove Justin and I to the airport and Linda, Leanne, and Pixie rode along. It was amazingly nice to be surrounded by good conversation (though somewhat heavy subject matter) and loving goodbyes and hugs as we departed. As we were hugging goodbye, we ran into Shelley from JetBlue and got to hang out with her a little pre and post flight, which was awesome.
On our flight back to NYC this afternoon, I had the good fortune of sitting next to a fascinating woman. I want to say her name was Rebecca, but I am terrible with names, so I am probably wrong. She is originally from Ireland, though lived and worked in NYC for a long, long time. She majored in fashion and spent 2 years working for Geoffrey Beene and another 8 years working for Ralph Lauren at which point she decided to ditch her fashion career entirely and backpack around the world for 3 years. Did you catch that? Yeah, she backpacked ALONE around THE WORLD for THREE YEARS! 
She ended this backpacking stint in Madrid, where she spent six months learning Spanish and subsequently met her husband as he was enrolled in the same language program. Well, not only did they meet, but the program placed them as roommates in the same apartment. Was it fate? He was an engineer/international business major from Austin, Texas that decided to take some time off and spent half the year learning French in France and half the year learning Spanish in Spain. Hmm… Sounds like a great idea to me. I don’t know his career history or anything, but they both sound like super interesting people. Now, they spend half their summers primarily in New York (Westchester) and winters in Austin. I like their setup. They’ve also started their own business, which is doing pretty well I gather. Anyway, of course I know most of this because I asked her loads of questions, but it was really fun getting to know her. It turns out we were both in Madrid at the same time – when the trains were bombed! What are the chances?! I hope our paths cross again sometime, because she was a nice, fascinating lady and I’d love to hear more of her stories. She recommended I watch a show on the National Geographic channel called “Locked Up Abroad.” It sounds interesting, but so depressing judging by reading a couple of the summaries.
On a side note, Val! sent me an article today that got me thinking “How public do I want to be with my life?” A lot of recruiters, and certainly the last few of my employers are testaments to the truth of this statement, Google you and look you up on MySpace to see if they can find any dirt, legitimate or not, to disqualify you as a potential job candidate. Now I need to decide between entirely censoring myself (mmhmm) or maybe just posting elsewhere with a nom de plume. Not sure yet.
For randomness’s sake, I’m dredging up a post I wrote on this very same day last year that was published on my MySpace. I will probably be going back through and censoring old posts on this site and elsewhere, so enjoy the freedom of writing while you can. ;) “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may” and all that rot.
Feel free to fill this out for yourself if you’d like -
August 3, 2007 – Ten (10) random things about me:
1) I over analyze almost everything and place situations side by side (relationships, work, etc) comparing past to present almost constantly. It’s maddening.
2) Adults are just like little kids. The most important thing is having people be legitimately pleased and proud of something you’ve done. This applies to me.
3) Money is important to me, but it’s far less important than the strange and magical sense that there is so much more in the world, like literature, and understanding, and human contact and the passion that comes with that.
4) I must have a puppy.
5) I miss TeXaS!!!!
6) I know I am not happy with my life when I am lethargic, which I have been lately. I also have an upset stomach almost every day that I go to work.
7) I haven’t written anything for my novel in 3 months. I think it has a lot to do with the fact I have no moral, and it feels empty. Speaking of writing, I am constantly blown off by the one place I was published that actually paid me. I told them to remove me from their list. Now I hope they fail.
8) Hence, I must have a mean streak. I constantly have to tell myself I am a good person. Half the time I believe it.
9) I will always be skeptical of people. I am usually always right. My wariness makes people think I am a bitch. They are almost always wrong.
10) Justin and I are in the same building almost 100% of the time.
Breakfast with My Grandma
Friday, July 11th, 2008 | Family, Photography | 0 Comments
Nanny looking hot in one of Val’s wigs. ooh lala
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