Apr 16, 2014

Dolcezza at Mosaic district

An adventure that started out on the sheer mission of checking out the coolest-looking Target in Virginia turned into a total self-indulging and borderline barbaric gelato fest that perfectly wrapped up the warm spring weekend. One cannot simply go wrong with some gelato on a Sunday afternoon, especially if it's flavored dark chocolate and black sesame. Plus I was glad to finally check out Dolcezza - even though I've been more dying to try their Union Market location. This place is a happy concoction of coffee, ice cream, and beautiful interior. Yum.

It certainly seems like they have great coffee, but I was already too caffeinated at that point. Next time, though.

Also: you're not doing gelato right if you're not getting super messy and sticky while inhaling the cup in like, 5 minutes.

Apr 14, 2014

Winter's gone, spring is here...finally.

Oh my. This past weekend was the first weekend that actually felt like spring. Cherry blossoms have collectively bloomed now, so I fiercely avoided going to the Tidal Basin (most popular place for cherry blossom sighting) because I'd rather choke on a celery than die of claustrophobia in touristopocalypse. But thankfully, these trees that spit out this wonderful pink stuff are everywhere - they're actually everywhere RIGHT outside of my apartment! Eek. So beautiful. I see these the moment I wake up. Literally. Anyway, a short celebration post of cherry blossoms and all of its pink beauty.

More painfully cliche cherry blossom posts to come. Hopefully on film. :)

Apr 5, 2014

Last Fall, in Old Town Alexandria

I have two rolls of film I need to process/scan, so hopefully I'll be posting more often here soon. For now, I bring you some film shots from last fall around Old Town Alexandria that I never got to upload.

Mar 1, 2014

Missing the Pacific Northwest pt. II: Oddfellows

If you kept up with my blog in any sort of fashion (and I don't blame you if you didn't...I've been terrible at keeping it updated regularly), you'll know that I discovered Oddfellow's cafe in Dallas' Oak Cliff neighborhood back in 2012 and fell in love with the cozy little place. It's definitely got good coffee, and is a pretty sweet brunch spot, followed by the option to take a lazy stroll in the Bishops arts district looking at vintage furniture & more.

Anyway, when I was looking up good brunch spots in Seattle before our trip, I stumbled across another cafe called Oddfellows Cafe + Bar in Seattle, completely unrelated to the one in Dallas (I think? don't quote me on that). So I said why not check it out - it seemed like a really cool place in a hip area anyway.

The last picture is from a bookstore that was right next to the cafe...which I forgot the name of.

Feb 26, 2014

Missing the Pacific Northwest pt. I: Rattlesnake

So I lived in Vancouver, BC for about 3 years before moving to Texas. While I regret my preteen years of totally underappreciating the abundance of crystal clear lakes with the backdrop of evergreens and tall mountains, I still remember the beautiful summer days of island vacationing, taking the ferry to Vancouver island, taking a trip to the hot springs near Whistler, BBQ in the woods, and ultimately the clean morning air that spoiled me for years. People say winters are the worst -- and yes, it IS gloomy up there for about 70% of the year, but I don't remember minding it at all. All I remember from the winters in Vancouver are pretty snow, frequent snowboarding trips, really good Japanese cuisine, watching a lot of hockey, and 7th grade field trip to the mountains to train on snowshoes (I AM NOT KIDDING) so we can survive in case a catastrophic snowpocalypse wipes off the entire Earth. Thanks Canada!

Anyway, this post has nothing to do with Vancouver as these photos are actually from Washington St. Some of my friends and I made a trip to Seattle last December to attend a wedding reception for this beautiful couple! We of course went hiking in well below freezing temperature (Seriously... we're talking about low 20s here), then ate a lot of seafood, and had a grand ol' time seeing lots of familiar faces. I miss you, Seattle.

After weeks of planning, we finally decided to go to Rattlesnake Ridge trail, because it wasn't too far from where we were staying at in east Seattle and seemed like it was a lot of fun. And believe me, it WAS! We spent several hours climbing up & down the mountain, and what we saw at the top of the mountain was worth all the slippin' and fallin'. We did have a bit of trouble at the end of the trip though - the car wouldn't start because the battery had died for some reason, but then Sammy somehow magically started the car by starting it over and over and over again. Yup. Apparently that works. (?!)


Note to self: if I'm gonna go hiking again in that kind of temperature, I'll make sure I'll have gloves/mittens, PROPER hiking boots, and like 4 more layers of clothing.

Feb 5, 2014

quick portraits: sarah

Let's talk about 10-minute portrait sessions. These are some digital shots from my quick portrait session with Sarah.