Back in Washington and shooting like crazy!

I've been back in Washington for almost a week now and I've had many new photo opportunities! Unfortunately, I have zero portraits. Serious bummer. It's not for a total lack of trying; last Monday night I was too sleepy to take pictures of Andrew, and when I saw my friends I ended up photographing the dog instead. OK, so maybe I didn't try that hard. I'll do better this week!

 Hiro is a shiba inu and he just turned a year old this month! He's a saucy 
little thing who loves attention and thinks he's a cat.

He also likes to be sassy toward Jacki, his owner. Hehe.

In positive news, I have successfully (and fairly quickly!) learned to use the new Canon flash that I bought. Right from the start there were so many things that I missed about my sb-800. Canon may have superior body technology, but Nikon does it right with the external flash units. Gah. It took me about forty five minutes or so, but I was able to get the 430exII to act as a slave to the pop-up flash on the 60D. There were a few frustrating and tense moments where I thought the 60D couldn't act as a master to the 430exII (because many Canon models can't do that!) but I read some tutorials and figured it out. If I had remembered to bring the instruction booklet for the camera and not just the flash it would have gone smoother, but oh well!

From an outing to Walmart with James. Would you buy this stuffed
 animal for your child?! It's supposed to be "sleepy" but... wow.

My first subject with the 430exII was Hiro, Jacki's dog. I took some photos of him last fall after my return from Ireland and I certainly had a good time! He's a friendly, cute dog with a very expressive face. A good backup to my lack of human subjects!

 Adorable pups at the farmer's market! The one on the left was three months 
old and was an absolute fluffy puff ball. The one on the right about had 
a heart attack when it saw me. Such a friendly little guy! I want a dog >.>

So far I have very few complaints or issues with the way the Canon functions. Other than button layouts confusing me because of how long I used my Nikon, it's a breeze to use. However I really hate the multiple pre-flashes that come off of the popup flash. I've explored the camera menu fairly in-depth, and off the top of my head I don't recall seeing any sort of... red eye reduction, or other feature that would call for the flash going off multiple tiny times before triggering for real. It is extremely obnoxious! It seems as though it's a focusing aid, but I can't tell. Makes for difficult animal photography though, I can tell you that! More experimenting is necessary.

The cuticle ointment that my sister makes. It was selling like hot cakes at 
the market! People were asking specifically for a cuticle cream and 
after testing it out they were sold. I helped myself to it a few times. It's so fabulous!

In other interesting and fun news, on Saturday I went to the Poulsbo farmer's market with my sister! (her computer is broken right now so she's MIA on her blog, but she'll be back soon!) This was her first time attending a farmer's market, and it was a lot of fun. She's been to a few craft fairs, but the farmer's market is more her style. She was selling her Earthtastic! wares, really fantastic natural, handmade (by her!) lip and body care products. Check out her etsy shop. I love her stuff :D

A wagon wheel outside one of the many restaurants downtown Poulsbo.

Also, a silly sign on the door of what used to be an antique shop.

But anywho, I took some photos of her sellin' it up at her booth; those are for her facebook page though. We were the only people there without a tent over our heads! We received a few comments about it, ha! It looked like rain for the first part of the morning, but the sun broke out as we went into afternoon and it was a successful day overall. I wanted to take some more photos of the wares at other people's booths, but I didn't want to hover too much without buying anything. I was surprised by the extensive variety from little ol' Poulsbo. Keep it going, people! Also, keep bringing your dogs because they are ADORABLE.

A clock that stands downtown Poulsbo, and a model  airplane that's
 in the front window display of a nautical shop called Cargo Hold.

On Wednesday I spent a few hours in downtown Poulsbo, a most beloved place to me. I've only been gone for four months, but for some reason it feels as though it has been years. I frolicked and explored and marveled at the things that have changed and what has stayed the same. I drove up and around the high school, junior high AND elementary schools. I passed through neighborhoods of old friends and sat and stared blankly at the water, then I went and had an obligatory Sluy's donut. I really wish they had a website so I could link to it. So delicious. So amazing.

 I've never noticed how many great brick buildings there are downtown! 
The doors on the right lead to a building that has been abandoned for 
as long as I can remember. How curious.

It was wonderful to wander downtown at my leisure. I spent about two hours just walking back and forth and taking photos. I've spent a lot of time photographing downtown before, so this time I really tried to focus on things that I hadn't personally shot before. It was fun and challenging and made me feel that much closer to the town. I love Poulsbo!

Moar brick!!

This week has been incredibly busy and full of wonderful friends and family. Everyday I have spent in the company of one of my best and most beloved friends or my sister, and each morning and night I have been with my mom. I have also had the fabulous pleasure of finally seeing Unjuy again, the softest kitty in the world! I've seen my niece and nephew, which has been great, and it would appear that Emily is getting used to me again. Hopefully I can make a good impact while I'm here that way she doesn't forget me again D: As soon as Cass gets a working computer again we'll be able to webcam it up and I can keep in touch with the kids more :]

Poulsbo was a lovely place to grow up.

Today sees the start of my storage unit adventures. I expect my next few entries will contain cellphone pictures of the memory-ridden things I'll be finding. Hold onto your pants people, it's going to get nostalgic up in here!

-MJ

P.S. Don't forget that my etsy shop is back up! I've added more prints since last week's entry. They're all from Ireland last year so there's nothing new yet, but I'll be adding new prints soon! :D

Ireland Day 71 - Series of Random Events

Really, the title could apply to any given day.

However, I believe that today has been exceptional in that area.

There have been a bunch of random things that have occurred that I find to be interesting and like finding a dollar on the ground or something. Quite enjoyable, but really not that big of a deal.

First of all: the bus. It was running late, as per usual, so I was unperturbed. However, once the red bus did finally decide to grace me with its presence, I saw not my 33 Knocknacarra bus, but the 36 Salthill bus.

"WTF?" was my initial reaction, followed quickly by, "Is it going to stop for me?"

It did indeed stop for me, and a strange bus ride did commence.

Apparently, the Salthill bus is much busier and crowded than the Knocknacarra one. This trip was, I'm sure, far beyond its legal capacity. I was intrigued because we went on a different route! This shouldn't have been as novel as it was, but oh well. I was all "New route! New things to look at!"

Although, the bus didn't actually go anywhere that I haven't already been. It buzzed past Joyce's, then down Knocknacarra, then went to the Prom! After that we hung a left onto Lower Salthill Road and ended up going out past NUIG. Next thing I knew we were overtaking Eddie Rocket's. What a ride!

But really, I enjoyed it more than I should have. Plus, this bus stopped I swear every ten feet and picked up at least five more people. Absolute madness.

The day continued on at a normal pace until I went to lunch.

And then, the most exciting thing happened to me.

Ok, that's an empty bottle, but the sentiment is still there. Do you have ANY idea how long it has been since I've had this flavor of Snapple?! It is entirely possible that it has been over six years. SIX. I used to have it every day at lunch in high school. I'll have you know that it was just as delicious today as I remembered it being. Thank you Cambridge's, I will be back for another one tomorrow <3

Just like with the Salthill bus, I was probably more excited about the Snapple than I should have been. I was standing and waiting to order a sandwich, the line was rather long. My eyes wandered over to the drink fridge that was close at hand. "Oh, Snapple" I thought to myself, "I wonder if they have the same flavors here". As I scanned the racks for Strawberry Lime, I froze on the word "apple" and I swear that my heart stopped just a little bit.

I reached out a disbelieving hand and read the label closer, then held the bottle up to the light to observe the color of the drink.

Definitely Snapple Apple colored.

HAPPY EFFIN' DAYS!

At the tail end of my break I decided to unwind from my Snapple high by reading a few blogs. My internet snooping brought me to something magical. She is a freaking comedic genius. Her posts had me laughing harder than I have in a while. I wish I had found her blog sooner! Although, reading the back logs is not a bad thing.

I promptly sent a link off to Cassidy, who I knew would appreciate the humor. Just another good thing to happen today.

The bus gives me really mixed feelings. Some days I just can't stand it and then other days it's really not so bad. Days like today though just give me something to think about and focus on.

My seat mate was an interesting fellow, I will say. He was young and in a nice looking suit. He spent the first few minutes of our shared journey untangling his earphone cord with a look of intense concentration upon his very Irish face.

After he finished, placed his earphones in and had his music playing, I assumed that he would cease being a point of interest for me.

I was wrong!

He appeared to be talking to himself. I see nothing particularly bad about this. He wasn't creepy or smelly or old and his clothing didn't have holes in it. What caught my eye about it was that he was reminding me of myself.

I wondered for a bit if he was actually on the phone. His music came from his phone and he had a mouth piece dangling down the cord a bit. This suspicion was put to rest when he received a phone call and he said 'hello' and moved the mouth piece closer to his mouth. Settled that one.

There was a moment where we were both sitting perfectly still and then, almost simultaneously, we both shifted and resettled and stopped moving. A second "WTF?" moment in the day.

Lately I've been wondering to myself if other people talk to themselves as often as I do, or if people will randomly smile to themselves all alone in a public place, you know, like I do. I look around the bus every morning and evening to see if I can catch someone doing those things but they're always obnoxiously still.

Actually seeing this guy do the things that I do was incredibly interesting. I had so many questions for him! He seemed distracted though, so I kept my headphones on and my mouth shut. I was slightly sad to see him go even though I knew I was never going to actually ask him if he were talking to himself, and if so, what about?

My departure from the red bus (it was the 33 Knocknacarra this time, no worries) faced me first and foremost with this.

I am alight with curiosity. Wind? Vehicle? Angry dog?

And speaking of angry dogs. I had an encounter! Now, I can't say for 100% sure if this dog was angry or not, but he was certainly formidable. Sadly (smartly?) I did not stop to take a picture.

He was coming at me at a fast enough pace, but not running. The big black mouth was open and there were small barks issuing from it. I looked at him once and kept walking. It was very difficult to not keep looking back, but I'm pretty sure if you do that then they'll be more inclined to chase you.

My only response was to not run, but continue my pace, and remove one side of my headphones to listen for growls, barks or rapidly padding feet. "Am I about to get mauled by a dog?" I asked myself. Once I was certain that the dog had dropped chase I said aloud, "No I'm good" and then I noticed someone standing next to their car about five feet to my right.

So I ran the rest of the way home.

After all the neat-o events of the day I am full of some wicked energy. To dispel it I am singing as loudly as I can with my headphones on and the volume up. I will only sing if I can't hear myself.

Oh, one more thing.

This didn't happen today, but actually last Thursday so I think it counts.

At Steve's birthday party I wore a hole in one of the knees of my jeans!

I'm done now.

-MJ

Earthtastic!

Cassidy asked me to take some product shots for her new etsy site Earthtastic! http://www.etsy.com/shop/earthtastic

I'm really excited for her new venture into creating products and selling them. They're all natural, chemical free and made 100% by her. She's doing a really great job and her products are just top notch. She has a real vision for the items she's making and I can't wait to see where she goes with it all. 

This weekend when I wasn't photographing Viking Fest I was shooting her products! She has a few listings up on her etsy shop now and is ready to ship wares to happy buyers! Here are some shots from the weekend.

Crocheted round face scrubbies.

A wrapped package of round face scrubbies, pack of four, choice of organic cotton or not organic.

A wrapped package of two chap stick tubes. The label reads, "Thank you for supporting a chemical-free lifestyle!"

A row of cinammon & brown sugar all natural dye-free chap stick.

A set of three crocheted wash cloths, one blue one white and one white/blue/brown. She also has organic cotton wash cloths available.

A hemp lotion bar. Some of her lotion bars contain emu oil, which has amazing healing/rejuvenation properties.

Please visit her etsy site http://www.etsy.com/shop/earthtastic for more information on her products and to purchase them yourself! She also makes hats and they will be on the website before too long.

-MJ