Thursday, October 30, 2008

October 30--77 Degrees!!!!


It was a glorious 77 degrees in Northridge today! I wore a sweatshirt to my 2:00 class which on any other day would be miserable. I took the picture to the left from our balcony because (and I don't think you can see it) but it's windy and the trees are swaying...what a wonderful day!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

October 29--Critiques

(click to enlarge)
Today was critique day for my photo class. I don't ever really look forward to my class's critiques because it never seems like anyone's ever honest about how they feel about each others work. My professor always LOVES everyone's photos (even if they're the most horrid thing you've ever seen) and no one ever really speaks up if they don't like a photo, to help improve each others work. No one actually really speaks at all unless you have a phenomenal photo of some kind. Our critiques always leave me frustrated (if you can't tell) because they are meant to be exactly what it sounds like...a critique! You're supposed to leave class feeling challenged, having learned something, and wanting to take your work a step further as an artist. I think I'm just venting at this point, but here are 2 of the 3 double exposures that I turned in today...if anyone would like to critique them feel free!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

October 28--Tastes Like Seattle

This time last year I was working in the rainy (and wonderful) city of Seattle at Noah's Bagels. I was making far too many "sample bagels" (mainly so that we could eat them all ourselves---MISS YOU BRENT!) and gorging myself with pumpkin shmear (and pumpkin bagels--how I worked there without gaining the dreaded "freshman 15" I'll never know).
This morning I enjoyed a toasted (whole wheat--trying to stay healthy...) bagel topped with freshly opened Noah's pumpkin smear and as I ate the bagel, the taste brought me right back to the days of living in the 40 degree, rainy city of Seattle, working pointless hours at Noah's with Brent and giving free tea to Marissa & Hannah.
I miss you all....

October 27---Exploring Los Angeles

It was a field trip day for the photo 2 class at MHS. We traveled via gold line and red line throughout Los Angeles-our first stop at Highland Park and our last stop at Sunset in Hollywood. The students captured the graffiti and signage of Highland Park (the above photo was taken by the photo teacher Brenda Schlenker--I only had my film camera with me), the wonderful cultures of Olvera Street and China Town and the art gallery at Freestyle Photographic Supplies in Hollywood. It was a fun, yet tiring, day as we traveled like tourists through the city most of us have lived in our whole lives.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

October 26-- Ringing in Sunday with Katelyn & John Matthew



It's been 2 months since I've seen my best friend and tonight we remembered the long lost art of webcamming. We spent the last 2 hours chatting over the interweb and at midnight took a picture for today's blog to mark this special occasion. If anyone is interested in donating to the "Meghan Needs Money to Buy a Plane Ticket to San Francisco To See Her Best Friend" fund, please contact me for further details.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

October 25--I Hate Double Exposure

After spending 4 hours in the darkroom I finally completed (or atleast I think I completed) my assignment for Wednesday (we will see when the prints finally dry). The assignment was to double expose a roll of film (shoot a roll and then run it through the camera again and shoot on top of what was already photographed) so printing has become increasingly more difficult (or atleast it feels that way) with every photo. I printed with a friend from my class, Christian, so luckily having company made the time go by faster (and made it a lot easier having an extra eye to tell me when to call it quits and stop wasting paper on impossible photos)
It's been a long day...and I smell like chemicals.

Friday, October 24, 2008

October 24--Meet Gato


This is Gato...the one and only cat I'll allow this close to me.

October 23--Fall Fling


I went to the Hermanson House tonight to see Logan off to her Fall Fling. It was 40's Hollywood themed and she had the cutest red dress for the occasion.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

October 22--Bedtime Track Shorts


I worked at MHS today and they're celebrating spirit week since homecoming is on Friday. Today's theme was pajamas and apparently this is what my boyfriend wears to bed....
(my camera is still battery-less so enjoy more phone photos for a while...)

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

October 21--Happy Birthday From Afar


Today is a strange day for me. October 21st is usually a day of celebration as it's Katelyn's birthday, but this year our distance has kept me from being able to do the ridiculous things that I usually do for her, such as "secretly" decorating her room with lumberjack streamers and cupcake napkins. This photo was on her birthday last year when she, Anja and I went to Buca de Bepo and sat at the "kitchen table" and snapped photos with as many waitors as we could get our hands on (another tradition I won't go into details about). It's weird being so far away on such a special day, but hopefully her Matt will step up to the challenge and spoil her in the usual manner.
Miss you best friend, I hope you're having the most special of days.
ps. my blog colors are changed in honor of you and your love for red. xo.

Monday, October 20, 2008

October 20--Adventures

Today was a day of adventures. It began with a photography hunt at these train tracks with a friend from class and ended with a Target/Jamba run with my roommates. I need to fit homework in at some point...

October 19--Halloween 1 Week Early


This halloween Austen is going to be a "Saugus Cheerleader" and Landon is a ghost??

Sunday, October 19, 2008

October 18--USD and Cornbread Dinners

My day started at 4:30 AM when I had to drive to San Diego (USD) for an Angelman Syndrome workshop. I'm starting the training process to be an ABC Therapist for kids in the LA area with Angelmans, and this workshop was the first step. After the workshop and the 2 hr drive back to Pasadena, Matt and I went to Marie Calendars (which made me miss my dad and Hunter since it was a favorite weekend for us when we were younger). My camera battery is dead and of course I can't find the charger so these (and probably future photos) were taken with my phone..hence the gross quality.

Friday, October 17, 2008

October 17--Drive Thru

Why are drive thru car washes so much fun?

October 16-- A Night at the Getty

Why has it been 2 years since I've been to the Getty? I asked myself that as I read an email from my photography professor telling us about the "College Night" that the gorgeous museum was having tonight. A friend from my class and I decided that it had been too long since either of us had been to the museum and therefore we must go and see what the "College Night" had to offer (and of course I forget my camera so the graphic to the left is all I got). It turned out to be a fun filled night of viewing many exhibits, including a photography exhibit about the gold rush, embarking on an exhibit scavenger hunt and sitting in on a panel with Dan Savage, artist Robbie Conal, and moderator Liz Warner (from Indie 103).

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

October 15--Back In My Own Bed

I was finally well enough to drive back to Northridge today. My bed isn't as comfy as Kate's, but its nice being back at school, surprisingly. I spent my night catching up with my roommate Manal and friend Carly from across the hall :)

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

October 14--Day 3 of Bed Rest

so its day 3 of having strep and I'm getting bored. I can tell that the antibiotics are kicking in because my fever has been down all day, but I still haven't had a whole lot of energy to leave Katelyn's wonderfully comfortable bed. Tonight I was looking at Hunter's new Homecoming photos on facebook when I saw the picture to the right (minus me in it). Since I had nothing else to do with my night (besides study for a bio test, but who really wants to do that when you're sick?) I decided to add myself in it and make it our family's newest family photo. :) It might be a little narcissistic of me, but seeing the picture made me miss my family and miss being apart of events like these. I decided this was the perfect "picture of the day" because as I was photoshopping it, I got a facebook chat request from Rodrigo, the foreign exchange student that my family is going to be hosting for 2 months. It was really special to get to know him a little bit over the interweb since I won't be able to meet him in person.

ps. don't look too closely at my photoshopping. it was done rather quickly.

Monday, October 13, 2008

October 13--It's Strep....


Well according to my Doctor, I have strep. Apparently it's going around so my terrible immune system probably just picked it up somewhere. It was nice to get out of the house (even if it was just for a doctors visit) and Mama B has been an amazing second mom, taking good care of me through this whole thing. I don't know how I would be handling this illness all by myself without the loving care of the Bollenbachers.
I was also lucky to have a couple surprise visitors this afternoon--Matt and his best friend Matt.

October 12--Why Does My Immune System Hate Me?


so here i am, sick for the 3rd time in the last 2 months. i'm not sure what is going on but all i know is i'm sick of being sick. i'm posting this a day late because i was too out of my mind yesterday to post anything (although Mama B was nice enough to remember to take a photo for me). i woke up yesterday morning with a 102 degree fever and chills that i thought would never go away. i slept all day and it wasn't until 8:00 pm that I finally got out of bed and watched a little tv with the bollenbacher family. Mama B is taking me to the doctors in a few minutes to find out what is wrong with me...stay tuned for today's (october 13) blog.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

October 11-- Surprising Shmary

My "best school friend" Mary (or "shmary" as we used to call her for a reason I'm not quite remembering) came home this weekend from TCU. Since we made plans to see each other but never confirmed them (sounds like us) I decided to surprise her. I caught her right as she was walking out the door to get her hair done. We spent the rest of the afternoon catching up in the company of her hairstylist.

October 10--Food Network and Afternoon Baths

After an afternoon of watching the Food Network with Ben and Abby (they couldn't get enough of the home cooking shows!) I gave them a bath at 3:00 which they thought was hilarious given the fact that it was still "day" outside.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

October 9--Attack of the Children

(click photo to enlarge)

It's another night with the cousins and they welcomed me by attacking. They are cute though aren't they?

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

October 8--Hunter, We All Miss You



Yesterday Hunter told me to photograph something that reminds me of him. Well, nothing reminds me more of my brother than John Taylor and their group of friends. Working at MHS this year is a lot of fun, although I realized today that Hunter should be there too. How much more fun it would be if I got to run into my brother twice a week.
Hunter, your friends left a space for you right in the middle where you belong. Hope you don't mind that I went ahead and added you into the picture myself :) miss you little brother...

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

October 7--Take-In Thai & a Movie


Since Matt and I weren't able to see each other yesterday, we decided that tonight we would celebrate our anniversary by getting all dressed up and going out to dinner at the most expensive restaurant in Pasadena.
Okay, I lied. In fact, we did quite the opposite. We celebrated our 2 years with 2 of our favorite things: Thai food (take-in, which we just discovered tonight) and our favorite guilty pleasure--the 3rd season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Monday, October 6, 2008

October 6, 2008--2 Years

I can hardly believe that it's been 2 years since I started dating Matt. I feel like we were just celebrating our 1 year anniversary; me in Seattle and him in California.
Our first year together was spent in high school--me a senior and him a sophomore. We were an unlikely couple and most thought it was only a matter of time before our age gap caused us to go our separate ways; however, we knew better.
We spent our second year apart when I moved to Seattle for college and he started his junior year of high school. We spent that year seeing each other every 3 months and making our long distance relationship work in between that time. It was hard, but rewarding as today marks our 2 years together and although we made the long distance work, it's amazing to know that I'll get to see him tomorrow without waiting 3 months and 1 plane ride.
Happy anniversary Matt,
"Less than three <3"

Sunday, October 5, 2008

October 5--Carwash


The kids thought it would be fun to wash my car today which, of course, was perfectly fine by me. After Landon got over the inital excitement, he kept letting us know that, "dis is hard werk..."

Friday, October 3, 2008

October 3--Austen the Photographer

Austen borrowed my camera tonight and decided it was a great time to discover her photography talents. These are some of her shots (isn't Landon CUTE)...
Turns out that my Uncle's printing company prints all of the posters and ads for one of Matt and my favorite shows, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (bottom right photo)!

Thursday, October 2, 2008

October 2-- Macky

Thursdays= Roadtrip to Pasadena so that Fridays can = Working at MHS and babysitting my favorite Griffith babies.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

October 1--A Day at the White House


7:30- Amazing crepe breakfast prepared by Mama B
8:00- Arrive at work with Garr
12:30- Take sick boyfriend home to sleep
1:00-5:30- Drink tea, plant daffodils, and spend an afternoon with Mrs White reading our Paperbackswap.com books while sick boyfriend sleeps
5:30- Boyfriend wakes from deep slumber and watches Project Runway reruns with me...Blaine got kicked off! Boooo
7:30-Dinner with Mr. & Mrs. White while boyfriend sleeps again
8:00- lesson in how to cook chicken so I don't accidentally poison myself from Mrs. White
8:30-Head to Northridge
9:00- Catch up with Jamie
9:30- Update blog.

the end.