First game of the season

Number 36 of my 40 before 40 is complete. Athletic event has been checked.

I love driving into the city, over the bay bridge, to see this view.

Just 4 days after the Boston Marathon terror attack the flags were flown at half staff.

Wouldn't be a game without beer and hot dogs. (The hot dog was quickly consumed, no time for a photo)

What are all those "K"s and why are they backwards and forwards and orange? Here you go:

'K' is a Strike.
One theory is that the symbol "K" is used because it is made with 3 strokes of the pencil, symbolizing the 3 strikes for the strikeout. A backwards K means that the batter has struck out watching the third strike go by while a forward K means that the batter struck out swinging the bat, but missed. Every third K is orange.

A perfect night for baseball. The Giants won and we were treated to the opening of the season fireworks.

I can tell you, that after a hard week, that sharing a baseball game in a stadium with 40,000 other people, clapping together, doing the 7th inning stretch ritual together and watching the fireworks was pretty awesome, and a wee bit magical.

Chinatown, Color, and Me

Last weekend I had a meet up with lots of photography friends. We walked and talked and all the while took photos. It was a memorable day of laughing and smiling (and dim sum!).
We met in the city at the gates of Chinatown. Immediately when you step through the gates you are bombarded with color. Above and below color is everywhere. Since "color" is my one word of the year I was pretty excited to be traveling through these streets.
Self portraits are also a focus of mine. I'm taking a 52 week self portrait photography class so I am always on the lookout for something interesting to bring to a self portrait.
With SOOO much to take in along the streets of Chinatown I was happy to have these two key themes to focus on.








It was such an amazing day there is more story to tell. Stay tuned...

she lives in color

At the beginning of the year, like many people do, I picked my one little word to guide me through 2013.
This year's word is COLOR.

"A single word can be a powerful thing. It can be the ripple in the pond that changes everything. It can be sharp and biting or rich and soft and slow."
Ali Edwards  (one little word class)

So this year I am focusing in on COLOR. Color as in "red", "yellow", "orange" but also as in the phrase "she lives a colorful life".
I want to feel the red dawn of early morning.
I want to learn to play a yellow-happy song on the ukelele.
I want to smell the colorful aromas of new foods.

Jellies Experience

I have a big crush on jellyfish after visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium's - Jellies Experience. I could easily sit and watch them for a good while. I never knew there were so many varieties. I saw some dressed in polka dots and others in neon while others were cute cupcake shapes of pink and baby blue. It's amazing to know that such beautifully unique creatures do exist.

Visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Somewhere only we know

Oh Keane. How we have waited. It was 2006 and we had tickets in hand ready to see Keane perform at the Greek theater in Berkeley. Then word came that their whole US tour had been cancelled due to the singer going into rehab. Boo to that.

So to us Keane came to be known as the concert we never saw. We always felt like we had missed out on something. Like not going to prom (although I did go to prom).

Fast forward to this week. Keane. In town. At the Warfield. Me and He. There.

So so good.

First the Warfield is such a beautiful place, the outside not so beautiful, but once inside you wish the walls could talk. So many musicians have played there before.

So then THEY are there and the piano begins and it's here, the moment is here and it makes me smile because everything sounds just right.

They played new stuff from their latest album, Strangeland, which has grown on me (Disconnected). All of my favorites however are from their Hopes and Dreams album (Bedshaped, Somewhere Only We Know, Everybody's Changing).
Songs I had belted alone in my car were now being belted out by the entire audience, along with Keane, and all was right with the world.

In closing, go see a concert. Go see live music. Get your body moving. Get your voice singing. Feel at one with hundreds of people. It'll make you feel alive and who doesn't want to feel alive.

Number 33 of 40 by 40 checked off the list. Thank you Keane! It was such a good show. I adore your voice, I loved the piano and you all kinda rock. keanemusic.com

View this setlist | More Keane setlists

New Mexico and Me

Over the Christmas holiday, while we were in Texas, we ventured 45 minutes to visit the town of Old Mesilla, New Mexico. We drove through cotton fields and pecan groves to get to this tiny town where Billy the Kid once lived.

At the center of town is the Basilica of San Albino.

The town square is filled with shops that have a southwestern/new mexican/native american and mexican influence. I especially liked the shop that had the gorgeous rugs with the amazing prints. A few shops had walls and walls of crosses.

For lunch/dinner I recommend heading to La Posta de Mesilla Restaurant, Cantina & Chile Shop. It's more than just a restaurant. Inside there is a chile shop and jewelry shop. In their lobby there are exotic live birds and a couple of large fish aquariums. They've got great chips and salsa and thier margaritas are pretty tasty too.

This is a jem of a little town. I say visit it if you ever get the chance.

Fall Love

Looking back at fall on this first day of winter.

Fall is pretty great right?

12.12.12 Time Capsule

When I heard Xanthe was inviting folks who had taken her Time Capsule class to document their day on 12.12.12 I was immediately interested.

The top goal on my 40 before 40 list is to document a "day in the life". I have seen versions of this in the past so lovely and inspiring that I knew I wanted to spend a day shooting our "everyday" this year.

Unfortunately 12.12.12 was on a Wednesday (booo) which wasn't what I had envisioned as part of the master plan. Wednesday means school and work and not so much play (although there was evidence of a little play). It's a week day, where life is routine and dare I say not overly exciting. That said, this was opportunity staring me straight in the face, with a community who was going to be doing what I had already set out to do! So while I still plan on shooting the weekend version (picture relaxed waking, big breakfast, hair done, non-work clothes, play, balloons, color, fun and more fun, etc.) this is actually a very true capsule of where we are now. The real us now.

On 12.12.12 you'll find bits and pieces of us at school, at work, at grandma's house for dinner and at home reading before bed.

12.12.12 - a day in the life from Smallroots on Vimeo.

Thank you Xanthe for this push. Thanks also goes to my Mother-in-Law who pointed out after dinner that my son was wearing a numbered 12 shirt (hello clueless mom here. although I think my subconscious knew what it was doing). It was this discovery that led to the fabulous 12.12.12 dance-a-thon. Maybe the best highlight of the day.
12.12.12.

12.12.12

Take a million photos and video on 12.12.12? Why not?! 12.12.12 happens only every 100 years. If there was a day to document this was the day.

I was inspired by Xanthe Berkeley to document this special day by creating a time capsule. A capsule which would contain photos and video of my day. The WHOLE day, from start to finish.
So I'll be working on the capsule over the next few days, weeks, years. Stay tuned...