La Fin (twenty-eleven)

Two-thousand and eleven has been a monumental year for me, though it's hard to say it's been the biggest yet. My life, like many my age, has been in a transitional period since I was twenty years of age and every year has come with large changes and even larger lessons. Luckily, I'm a girl who not only loves change but chases after it. In lieu of twelve separate posts for the year, I've decided to just share some of my favorite memories. It was fun browsing over a year's worth of photographs and reminiscing but these are the few I pulled. I tried to use unseen photographs as to not repeat on the blog but my apologies if you've seen a few of these before.




[Successfully transitioned from a vegetarian diet to a vegan diet for more than a year now; the creative storm that arrived with the infamous "Snowmaggedon" storm, painting a concrete bench in a northside Chicago neighborhood festival with a good friend]



[The opportunity I had to visit many places I had never been before such as Seattle, Austin, Minneapolis, and Detroit, among others; camping all over the country in a sleeping bag under the stars; and all of the time spent in that big white bus]



[Spending the Thanksgiving holiday with my pops out west; solo trip to Seattle]



[The gigantic learning experience that was shooting North Coast Music Festival; the most relaxing and enjoyable point of the summer--a few days at a lake house in Wisconsin]

What a year. I can only pray that the next is filled with half as much laughter and lessons. It's crazy to look back at the girl I was just three-hundred and sixty-five days ago. She seems a million miles away. I'm grateful for that and it makes me very optimistic for what another three-hundred and sixty-five days could bring.

Two-thousand twelve is shaping up to be a rather large year as well. Already I have big plans for the blog that will be coming together over the next few weeks. I also have a few trips scheduled, including at least one in the spring that requires a passport. With the addition of some shelving my darkroom/studio will be complete, which is crazy, given a year ago I was sitting on the floor of my closet beneath dresses and skirts changing film.

And I've made a goal list for the year. I've never been the type of person to make a goal list before. What's more--I've even been able to cross something off of it already!

Blessings to you all, hope that your new year is starting off tremendously. :)


[side note: I would have loved to add a Christmastime photograph to this collection but I ended up being too busy to take any! This Christmas was wonderful, one of the best in memory, but alas, no photographic evidence exists.]

Pleasant Photographs

Nothing shocking or thought provoking, just some good ol' fashioned photographs of the beach today. Who doesn't enjoy photos of the beach?

Thanksgiving

I'm not a huge Thanksgiving person. To be honest, I'm not a huge holiday person in general. I love my family though and I enjoy when we are all able to get together, because with the exception of major holidays and one annual family-sponsored golf tournament, it doesn't often happen. And that's just my family in Iowa. I don't get to see my Dad very often as he's way out west in California and I see my extended family--cousins and all, even less often than that.



This year, instead of spending the holiday close to home, I decided to fly out to California for a week.



And I'm so glad I did. I got to experience a whole new set of traditions that I had never been let in on before. The holiday started with my extended step-family and ended at my cousin's home.



Somehow at our first location, I ended up stuffed though I only ate a kale & pomegranate wild rice dish I made up and a slice (or two...and a half) of vegan pumpkin pie.



But my wonderful cousin, Mary, made vegan green bean casserole, fried brussel sprouts, and bought the mascot of vegan Thanksgiving mockery, a Tofurkey, for me to munch on.

If you have never seen a Tofurkey, be warned: they are not appetizing creatures. This was in fact, my first, though I couldn't tell you how many years it's been since I had actual turkey. My opinion of Tofurkey? It looks like a piece of sporting equipment and tastes like how I remember hot dogs tasting. Not that it's a bad thing, just not a convincing center piece when you've already eaten so much delicious food.

I didn't eat for two days after.

All-American Monday

Just a week ago, my Dad and I hopped into his project car, a 54 Chevy, and cruised along PCH before making our usual breakfast stop: Harbor House Cafe (well, usual for him as in he goes weekly, usual for me as in I go whenever I'm in town). I used to love Harbor House, it was seriously the culinary highlight of my trips out west. I'm not sure why, it's just an old diner that serves typical American fare but I always loved it. It might be their inclusion of avocado in almost everything on the menu.



But for this trip, I stuck with green tea (and a few stolen tomato slices and french fries from my Dad's plate).



This was our All-American Monday. With the exception of baseball, I'm not sure if there is anything more American than getting in a vintage car to drive along one of the greatest highways in the country for a breakfast at a beach-side diner in the great state of California...



...unless Tom Petty is simultaneously playing on the radio.

Which he was.

Scenes From My Childhood [Home]

The earliest portion of my life was spent divided between California, Texas, and the town of Waterloo, Iowa before my family settled into the house my mother still currently occupies (and incidentally, this is the same house that she was raised in as well) in what is essentially the middle-of-nowhere, Iowa. I seldom saw friends growing up though I don't remember ever being bothered by this until I neared my teenage years; after all, I had the freedom to explore the land around us to no end. My brother and I spent the majority of our time outdoors, running around, exploring, creating fables of the Indians we imagined once occupied the land we stood upon.



I always felt a great need to take care of the land we were on (I'd like to think it was inherent but it's more likely that my 6AM Saturday ritual viewings of Captain Planet and Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures played a large role in creating the feeling of responsibility for Mother Earth) and even now, when I go back to visit, I feel immense gratitude for the privilege of having the childhood I did. Iowa is not my "forever" place, but it is extremely beautiful.



This recent trip was short and very laid-back; I spent most of the time hanging around the family home and stealing my mother's car in the early morning hours to drive on gravel roads. It seems strange to me now that something I once avoided at all costs has become such a luxury.

For now, it's back to public transit. But I'll be home for Christmas.



Oh, another update: my website is in the midst of a makeover. Once it's up, the fruits of a project I began in Iowa and am continuing work on will be up.

Dried Up

The land where a stream once ran, deep in the heart of Texas. It's heartbreaking to see an area suffering so much, cursing the cloudless skies.

Utopiafest 2011 [part 3]

[The Black and White Years. Good set, very David Byrne-esque]




[Avi Buffalo. The crowd loved these guys and they were quite kind in person as well.]






[The Wheeler Brothers. Perhaps the best set of the festival, tons of energy both on stage and off; solid set from beginning to end.]


[Keller Williams. Through a bit of technical difficulties, this one man-band kept a very attentive crowd.]

Utopiafest 2011 [part 2]

[The Giving Tree Band. The crowd begged for them to continue playing by the end of their set, does anything else need to be said?]






[Peelander-Z. Not exactly my kind of music but they sure were entertainers. The massive crowd loved their antics set to a Japanese punk soundtrack. And I'm not sure it was entirely an act--behind the scenes, they were just as wacky and brightly dressed.]