Sweet home Texas.

Back in February, I faced the first set of the darkest days of the year.

I was in between jobs so there was that whole what-am-i-doing-with-my-life job insecurity issues and the reality of being back in Plano. Then my boyfriend left for the military and we had absolutely no communication for about a month. And one fine morning in February, I slipped on ice on interstate 35, spun out of control and crashed into the construction barriers multiple times while an NPR reporter's voice blended into a wild mixture of indecipherable sounds of cars screeching and things crashing into other things. I felt my body swinging against the seatbelt in slow motion -- the seatbelt that probably single-handedly saved my life. When it all stopped, I was nauseated - and oh, all the delayed a shock that paralyzed my body as the car finally came to a full stop. How am I going to pay for this? Was the first question that popped in my head. Crying and shaking were all to come later. Everything was so cold and hectic. A truck driver got out of his car and immediately ran over to see if I were okay. I told him I was fine. He stopped the entire incoming traffic and motioned me to pull over. I pulled over and he left. I tried to get out of the car but the door was jammed.

Oh, it was dark. Trust me.

It obviously took me awhile to recuperate from everything. When I finally came home, I resolved to do absolutely nothing for at least 3 weeks. Such dark days. I basically became a serial homebody and refused to go out or do anything for awhile. But the truth is, there are so many what-if's and why-me's you can ask yourself til it becomes torturous. Yeah, I initially kept asking myself if I should've just stayed in DC to look for a job, if I shouldn't have decided to drive back to Dallas from Austin that morning, etc. But the afterthought is never going to change anything. The truth is that you make decisions and you own up to them because they were yours after all. And it's your life.

What I'm trying to say is that things got dark so I did something totally despicable: I baked cookies. If you know me at all, I am literally the worst person in the kitchen. Like I basically microwave all my meals and I feel like I'm sometimes bad at even that.

The cookies actually turned out pretty well. My dad baked his signature scones. And slowly, somewhere between carefully studying the recipe for the chocolate chip cookies and listening for the oven timer, I started feeling okay about everything. Home. Baked goods. Time. They're always good for the soul.

Dallas Arts District

So guess what? Dallas decided to be all artsy and innovative just in time for my return from the glorious Austin. There sits the Klyde Warren Park right on top of the Woodall Rogers Freeway, which divides downtown Dallas from Uptown. You can sort of picture a long park looking over the entire downtown filled with all sorts of futuristic features and fun things: free croquet rentals, badminton, foosball, ping pong tables, "reading rooms" with newspapers, magazines, books, etc, board game section, live concert stage, etc. You name it.

  

 

 

 

 Plus, they were putting up the Christmas tree! Yay.

 

 This project was a freelance assignment for The Texas Tribune for The New York Times.

Instasunday #3

Sunsets, lots of coffee, Texas Rodeo, downtown Dallas, photo adventures, and more sunsets. Have I mentioned that Texas sunsets are absolutely the best in the world?

And then - what pretty much sums up this past weekend. Brian came up to visit and all of us had a blast sitting through the most horrid traffic (whoever thought of the idea that 4 lanes should merge into ONE during construction on the highway is a genius. Good job, whoever.) and inventing fun games to play in the car to appreciate the traffic. Anywho, we got to explore Dallas and drink a lot of coffee, and at last watch some sexy cowboys do their thang at the Rodeo. Couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

A Really Late Insta-sunday

Life has been peaceful lately. More order has been put into my life by yet another unexpected internship, which I'm really grateful for. These are the times I must take advantage of, these are the times I should learn to improve myself. It's been a quite humbling experience. These are the times I learn to appreciate my parents more. These are the times I finally learn how to put on make-up. These are the times I train myself to sleep before midnight and wake up before 9. These are the times I reevaluate everything in my life, from the way I sleep to what I eat, from what I waste most of my time with to what I want to spend the rest of my life doing.

Anyways. I need to get a DSLR asap. 

The FM10!

The Nikon FM10 was a heartbreaker from the start. 

I bought it off of this old lady on Craigslist when I was a sophomore in college, and the first few months of dealing with this camera were pretty frustrating and confusing. I had a major problem with focusing and working the light meter, and since this camera is completely manual - loading problems. I think I've had more blank negatives processed during this time than any other time in my life. So in short = I was a noob.

Once you get the hang of it though, this dinky little camera can be quite amazing. I still think a few of my favorite photos were taken with the FM10.

The last image isn't cropped weird, it's just an epic light leak.

Photos from this past summer to fall on 400 Tri-X b&w film.

Digging Deep in East Plano

Before I bombard this blog with lots and lots of film photos, I'd like to share some digital photos taken yesterday in the late afternoon just before the sun went down. This is one of my good friends, Julie, and we'd been wanting to go on a location scout and a photo shoot for a long time now. See? You can find decent places around Dallas too! It's all about getting up on my lazy butt and driving around until you find a decent place. We decided to go explore the historical downtown Plano yesterday (meaning one block of "historical" buildings") - not too shabby. 

All taken on the Nikon D90. 

Post-Shopping Craze

Ok first of all, let's talk about the weather in Texas this past weekend. With highs of 60s and lows in 50s, or sometimes a bit colder, the cold front came about in such a stealthy manner that I was pretty skeptical for awhile. I chose to stick with my shorts for the first day, then soon gave into changing my whole closet for the new season (meaning taking out my favorite blazers and scarves!). Yes, autumn comes in the middle of October for us. It's quite wonderful. But not to be a geek or anything (which I am pretty much 98% of the time), but the best part about this weekend was the overcast soft lighting all day long, which's really rare in Texas. 

My mother and I went on a shopping binge the past few days, but only one of the trips was successful. She bought the red shirt, cardigan, and jeans all from the Banana Republic Factory Store - and doesn't she look absolutely fantastic in them?!

Anyways, cheers to autumn. It's my favorite season.

Some Lifestyle Shoot of My Bedroom

Happy Friday! For a freelance photographer like myself, I don't really have weekends - meaning every day's kind of like a weekend to me. But make no mistake, I don't just sit around doing nothing. I've been trying to study, learn to edit better, read more, and all that jazz.

So S generously left me his 50mm f/1.4 lens before he left for Seattle. I tried to take advantage of that amazing depth of field the lens gives me...especially in the low light situation in my bedroom.

This is Greg, my best dinosaur friend! S handmade him for me last Christmas when I took a trip to Vancouver to visit my childhood friend.

Life is Sweeter With Sugarbox

I was first drawn to this place by its interior decor. With its all-white leather furnishings and clean and dark wooden walls and floor, the store at the first glance through the huge windows (major plus) exuded chic and elegance that stopped almost every girl (and boys, I'm sure) to take a closer look. Cute decor and macarons? Plus a variety of wine selections to go with the cake balls? It's a perfect place for some quality ladies' time. 

Sugarbox is located a t Shops at Legacy on Legacy Dr. & Dallas Tollway - Plano, TX.