Weekend Recap

This weekend was full of all sorts of random stuff. Friday I drove to the San Diego area for photos with 30 some family members! After the shoot, I decided to stop in Temecula for some wine to take home. So I stopped in for a wine taste at Baily. I decided to buy two bottles to brig home.
Saturday was spent cleaning up the house, but we reserved the evening for some fun time at home. We decided to go get a new game for the Wii. I really wanted We Ski....so now I can virtually ski in the summer. We also stopped at Trader Joe's and got a bottle of red wine and some cheese. Then played Yahtzee and cooked dinner. Dinner was Shrimp Egg Drop soup. A recipe from Fitness Magazine. It was rather tasty and very healthy!

On Sunday, I got ready for my shoot. But right before I left we discovered that someone broke into Dave's car and stole his portable XM radio. Apparently the window was left down some, so it looks like they just reached in and unlocked the door. It's just so disturbing that people feel they have the right to do that sort of thing. The good news is Dave called XM radio and they noted it as stolen. So the unit can never be reactivated again. So who ever ends up with it, won't be able to do anything with it. My shoot on Sunday went well. Kids birthday parties are lots of fun to shoot. Look for a few photos later this week on my photo blog.

Heading to San Diego

So , who ever would have thought that I'd be traveling for photography this early in the game. In about 15 minutes I'm leaving to drive down to San Diego. I was asked to do some family reunion photos down there. It's my Friday off of work, so I was able to make it happen. I have sat off from photography, but on Sunday I'm photographing a 3 year olds birthday party.

Next weekend, is 4th of July and I purposefully have not booked anything. Dave and I are going to head up to Mammoth for a few days in the mountains. We're going to hike, sightsee, and maybe even go mountain biking!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Wedding Photography

FYI...I second shot a wedding this weekend. This was my first time "officially" as a second shooter. Some photos (actually, many photos) are posted on my photography blog. Check them out if your interested.

The Concrete Arrived!

We're getting concrete today!!! I woke up this morning to head into work to hear the concrete truck pull up! Oh Boy..I was so excited! I can't wait to see what it looks like when I get home. The little patio wall went up yesterday. Never thought I'd be do excited about concrete! Now I need to go shopping for patio furniture.

Summer is unfortuanteley here! I really dread summer…my least favorite season. Except that we get to hike and camp! I guess that the nice thing about Cali is you can escape the heat by going to the coast or the mountains. Anyway it got real hot here in the LA area. It's supposed to be 104 here in the desert today! At least we only have about 4% humidity. I'm second shooting a wedding this Saturday and it's supposed to be 100 down there. OMG…what do you wear to photograph a wedding when its 100 degrees outside. I think I have to stick to pants because of the way I shoot. It'll be a hot one. I hope the reception is inside. I feel sorry for the bride and groom…imagine how hot it will be for them.

As for the rest of the trip...

First, I thought I'd post a photo of Half Dome, since some of you may not even know what it is. Basically its this big rock that makes up part of the valley. It's called half dome, because it is simply that. Half of a dome. It's got a very flat face. And for some reason I'm totally obsessed with this big rock. We hiked all the way from the elevation of this photo (valley floor) to the very top!
On Friday afternoon, we arrived around 1pm. After setting up our campsite, we decided to wander the valley floor. It was kinda warm so we thought we'd go for a swim at Yosemite falls (okay not a swim really, since it is snow melt and that water is cold).
But by the time we got there we were cooled off by the mist. Next we wandered around for a few more photos of the valley floor, but the lighting wasn't very good since it was the middle of the afternoon. I did the best I could. Then we gave up and headed back to camp. We bought some california cheese (good cheese comes from happy cows!) on the way up the highway. We stopped at this shop where they make cheese, you even get to watch the California cow commercials! So we decided to have wine and cheese as an appetizer and play some uno.
Then it was off to the river to soak our feet that would be oh sooo sore the next day and enjoy more wine. After dinner, we were both pretty tired. We purposely didn't get much sleep the night before so we could go to bed early. So after a little campfire and some marshmallows it was off to bed (~9pm).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week we finally decided to have our front patio done. We are getting stamped concrete where our HUGE flower bed was. This thing was such an eyesore. We are just not home enough to keep up with it, so it basically turned into a weed infested area. But it's all gone now and the patio should be done shortly. in fact we don't even have a sidewalk anymore! I'll post photos once its done. I can't wait to be able to sit out there on weekend mornings.

We Came. We Saw, & We conquered!

Ok, so here's more on our 2nd half dome hike.

We woke up bright and early saturday morning (4:30am). We hit the trail at 5:10am along with a few other crazy half dome hikers. I predicted our arrival to the cables to be 11am.We arrived at 10:55am! Not a bad prediction! Dave did great! He really powered through the 8 miles of up hill hiking and about 4800 feet of elevation gain. I was soooo proud of him!

So now for the meat of the trip! We reached the cables and sat down to eat lunch. I started watching people go up and realized why I didn't do them the last time. It just looks so daunting! Sitting there it looks like its almost 90 degrees upward. At that point, I really thought that I had hiked all that way, to just turn around again! I really didn't think I had it in to me to get up there. After about a half hour of watching people, I really started realizing this is what I'm here to do . So I started to put on my gloves and Dave and I walked to the start. All of a sudden it didn't look so bad. It really is scary because it just seems so dangerous. One false move and your falling a long way and most likely not surviving. So we manged to make our way to the top. At one point dave was feeling really tired and yelled up to me that he thought he was going to have to turn around. But everyone was so supportive and really encouraged him to keep going. I'm so glad he did. Once we got up there...what a view! We ended up spending an hour on top. Dave was totally wiped after the cable experience, so he ended up taking a nap for about a 1/2 hour on top of Half Dome! But the whole time I kept thinking about how was I going to get down the cables. That was the part I was most worried about. But with lots of encouragement from Dave I got down and never felt scared at all. My Garmin said it was 8.12 miles for us to reach the very top. So 16.24 roundtrip!

This was such an accomplishment for me. I don't really have a fear of heights, more of just falling. So this was really facing a fear head on. And I have to say I did really well. I never once got that butterfly feeling in my stomach like I usually get when I'm getting scared.

So on for some photos: Warning, I took my XT instead of the point and shoot ( I was not about to lug my 5D up there) with only a wide angle lens. Kinda of regretted not having a standard zoom lens, but oh well.

Dave at the top of Nevada Falls (about 3.5 miles up)

Top of Nevada Falls
Me at the bottom of the cables
The line to get up the cables

One of the views from the top of Half Dome
Me at the top, overlooking Yosemite Valley!

Dave and I up top!
The very top of the cables
A view on the way back down, half dome is the one on the left.
The big rocks and Nevada Falls

We Did It!

Yup, we "officially" made it to the top of Half Dome! And yes I think this was literally one of the most dangerous things I have ever done in my life! But wow! The accomplished feeling I have now, is great! Ok, so I'll post more later with some photos. I'm a bit injured and sore and I have a family photoshoot in about 1.5 hours. We'll see how that goes! Gotta go shower! I'll at least post some photos tonight before I go to bed.

Walking in a Yosemite Wonderland!

Yup, we'll be doing lots of walking...16.2 miles to be exact!

So I am getting nervous. Nervous about what…I'm actually nervous about our hike this weekend. Two years ago I got really scared up on half dome and decided not to do the cables. I totally whimped out. Dave was really tired, so he decided not to go too. Strangers kept telling me I should be proud for how far I made it and being most of the way to the top was fine.(the view from there was great!) But ever since we started back down hill, I had this feeling of disappointment in myself. I've been saying I want to get back up there and do it! I don't want to chicken out, but I'm so scared that I will..again.Then be disappointed…again.

If you're not sure what I'm talking about, there are these cables on half dome to help get you up the last 1/4 mile. The incline is about 45 degrees, so you basically need something to help you get up there. It's a bit intimidating, because there is not much around there and its a long way down! I keep telling myself, how many people do this every day (hundreds). And how many people don't make it back down to the bottom (a few, but not many).

I'll let you know on Sunday night how I did.

In other news, things are getting busy photography wise. I've got family shoots, reunions, weddings, etc… My own brother is getting married in August, so I'll be shooting that too. All in all I think I have 5 weddings I'm shooting between now and Nov. Which is a lot when you have a full time job. I really need to figure out how much I can handle at once and make sure I stay within my limits. I want to make sure I still have time with my awesome hubby and all our fun activities.

So I'm going to enter this photography contest that a photographer is having. The theme is fatherhood. I took three photos the other weekend that I felt really fit the theme. But I couldn’t decide which one to enter. So I passed them around at work to get peoples opinions. It's truly amazing how people see photos differently and what they get from them. This is one reason why I love photography so much. One person said about this photo "even though the child is in the air and should be concerned about dad catching him; there is a peace and trust on the boys face. Dad seems more concern. This captures fatherhood exactly." I loved this comment so much, that I've now decided to enter this photo into the contest.

Boxing Class Update

I just had to post an update from the new class I took the other night! Two days later and I'm still a bit sore! I highly recommend Everlast Shawdow Boxing if your current gym offers this. Especially if your looking for a great, hard class. I think I'm going to go again this Saturday.

So Dave and I will be hiking half dome next weekend at Yosemite, check back for photos. Hopefully this time we'll make it up to the top (including the cables)! I'm determined to get up those cables no matter how scared I am. It's a tough hike though…16.2 miles round trip. We're starting at 5am! To try and beat the crowd. I was hoping we would have some more training hikes in, but we only managed to do one. But Dave did great last weekend.

Workout Challenges

For those of you that now me pretty well you know that fitness is a big part of my life. I love to exercise and eat healthy. I have the attitude of I only live once so I want to treat my body the best that I can. I exercise 5-6 days a week and its just a way of life for me.

But lately my workouts have been tough, not demanding, just to routine. I don't feel like I'm getting a challenge. So tonight was the first official night of "everlast shadow boxing" at my gym. all the instructors have been raving about this class and how hard it is. So I figured I'd give it a try. Yup, there's the challenge I've been looking for. That is one good class! Not only are you doing the boxing moves like you might do in kick boxing, but your doing conditioning in between. We must have done 75 pushups tonight. The conditioning part is the kicker of the class. I loved it and will be back again and again. Now if I could just get over my hump with the rest of my exercising. I've started doing 10 min cardio intervals with sprints and that seems to be working to.

Training Hike #1

One thing I really love about California....You can easily get to a different climate in a short amount of time. It was in the upper 70s or so when we left Lancaster yesterday, by the time we got to our destination it was about 55!

So what did we do? Well today was our official 1st hike of the 2008 summer! So last night we drove up to Lone Pine, CA to camp up near Horseshoe Meadow. We set up camp, cooked dinner over the fire, and enjoyed some wine and smores.

The sky after sunset was gorgeous.

Now we knew it would be chilly and came prepared, but it was so cold. I wish I had a photo of me before I went to sleep. I had on a ski hat, wool socks, gloves, 4 shirts, and 2 pairs of pants! But we woke up to a beautiful morning.

We were on the trail at 9am and hiked to the first of cottonwood lakes. Since it was our first hike, there was really no need to go any further. The roundtrip mileage (according to my Garmin Forerunner) was 10.45 miles! Not bad and we did it in less than 6 hours (with stops and lunch).

Here is where we went! (Notice the jacket and gloves...it was a bit cool up there)And we saw plenty of these...Marmots.
But we did have to cross a bit of snow! Yup, I said snow on June 1st!

We really do enjoy hiking in the sierras...just to gorgeous. Quite possibly some of the best scenery this country has to offer.

Seasons Change..

Very quickly! I'm sitting here in a sweatshirt and it's slmost June! I feel like we've had summer and winter in the same week! It was almost 100 degree on Monday and then on Friday it was 49! Our mountains even got some snow. We scrapped our plans to hike this weekend because we thought it would be to cold and even snowy! Crazy huh! Some weird May Cali weather!

So yesterday we traveled down to Santa Barbara to not only visit with my cousin and his family, but so I could do some mini sessions and build up my portfolio. I even took some of my cousin and his wife. A few of them are posted on my blog. We wandered out of the park onto the streets and got some great shots.

www.micheleschanker.wordpress.com.

I'm so excited...I just can't hide it!

So today I get home and rush to get the mail as I have done all week. Why? Because I've been waiting for some hopefully very good news.

Today it came...from the National Park Service! After we didn't get a permit to hike Mt Whitney, I started asking myself what other backpacking hike would I like to do before we think about having kids...the GRAND CANYON! So today I reach in the mailbox, see the envelope and notice its not the thin envelope I got from Mt Whitney. This one was much more bulkier! Yup, we got the permits!

This time I requested at a minimum of 1 night, said we were willing to camp at almost any campground, and hike any trail. Basically leaving our options almost limitless. Luckily we got one of our top options. We got two nights at Bright Angel so we can spend a day actually hiking in the canyon and playing around. We are hiking Bright Angel on the way down and coming back up by the South Kaibab Trail. We go down on Sep 20th and return on Monday Sept 22nd! At least I'm going to get my backpacking trip after all.
We still plan to practice the backpack thing by going to Yosemite or somewhere in the sierras for an overnight trip during the summer. Our first training hike will be this weekend as we have to train for Half Dome. We will be going up Half Dome, again, on June 14th!

Yippee....I AM SO INCREDIBLY EXCITED! I literally came bouncing into the house today.

Another Fantastic Weekend

I truly feel so fortunate that we have so many great weekends! I am truly so happy with our life!

This past weekend was Dave's 31st birthday..yes 31 can you believe that! I've known Dave since I was about 23, but honestly it doesn't feel like it's been that long. We've just been having so much fun together. Time goes by fast when your having fun. Happy Birthday again!

So on Thursday night we hopped on a red eye after a small pre birthday happy hour. We arrived to a cool and rainy MD. But being from the desert we didn't mind. After a little nap, we ran some errands and took my mom to get birthday snowballs (her bday is Tuesday). For all of you who are not from the mid atlantic your probably not familiar with snowballs. They are different from snowcones in that the ice is grounded up really fine and then there are about 50 flavors of syrup to choose from. They are way better than any snowcones! Then it was off for Japanese dinner.

Saturday was a ton of fun. Preakness Day! What a blast Preakness is. So many people just having a good time. We even walked over to the infield for a bit, but that just made us all feel old. In tradition of the 133rd running of the Preakness I decided I had to make some photos kind of antiqued. Pimlico is a really old track.

Just had to make sure my mom had a black eyed susan!

Big Brown to the finish line

After the preakness we headed home for a traditional MD crab feast! Yummy...nothing like crabs steamed in old bay!

On Sunday the rain returned. But we headed down to DC anyway for some sightseeing. We went to the Lincoln Memorial, but the rain really started coming.Now thats old skool, huh! I think i really like the action I used here.

So instead we drove to the Dulles Air and Space Museum. That place was pretty neat and was new to me. Then it was off to fly Virgin Atlantic back to LA.
----------------------------------------------
This photo is from a few weeks ago, but just wanted to post it anyway. It's Dave in La Jolla but I addded some texture for a unique feel. I got action...totally rad action! I also applied one of the BW Totally Rad actions. Haven't had much of a chance to use them yet, but so far I love them!

Happy Early Birthday Dave!

We actually spent all weekend at home, but it was a good one! Although we spent a lot of time doing some much needed cleaning, organizing, lawn care, etc..

Mothers Day/Fathers Day are pretty uneventful for us since we don't have kids or even live close to our parents. But Dave always manges to sneak out, get a little something, and say its from the cats. How cute! Today he got me a wireless optical mouse for my laptop and told me to order the actions I wanted to CS3. He's so adorable!

Anyway sunday morning started out with us assembling this....our new grill (thanks to gift cards from Lowe's from our kitchen remodel! )

We are going to MD over the weekend for Dave's birthday so we can go to Preakness with some friends and family. So while Dave took care of lawn stuff, I went shopping. So we could have Dave's birthday a bit early. We cooked a steak dinner (that was yummy) on the new grill and then it was time for presents!

Look what Dave got!


He also got some new shirts and a hat for hiking.

Instead of birthday cake, he got birthday white chocolate fondue!
What a good day!

Happy Hour!

So we will be traveling for Dave's birthday again this year. Our customary thing has become birthday happy hour. So today I came up with "Dave's 45 sec commercial!" to promote his happy hour! Ha. I love it! It was a surprise for him and when he saw it he loved it too. Check it out. If your local expect this or a link to somehow show up in your inbox in the near future. Location is still TBD. More info will be in the email we send out.

Sometimes the small details make a difference!

I have fallen in love with WHCC (White House Custom Color, for all the non photographers). I ordered some "sample" prints on Linen texture paper this weekend and Gift Certificates for Photoshoots. I must have placed the order on Saturday and the order arrived on my doorstep today! Then every time I get a package from them I get a lollipop! Ha I feel like when I was a kid and would go to the bank with my mom and they'd give me a lollipop! I love that every time I get a package from WHCC I get a Tootsie Pop or a Blow Pop! How cool! Yeah, I'm a sucker for small details, huh! Oh the linen paper is awesome. I love it. I used a wedding photo to get it printed and I absolutely fell in love with it.

Show and Tell Time

Just thought I'd share a few photos from last weekend.

We spent last weekend in San Diego with 2 friends from Maryland

View from our hotel room

Shells on the rocks

Our friends enjoying the view in La Jolla

Walking in the water at La Jolla, and wishing I had put my bathing suit on


The View from the park at the top of the hill (I forgot the name, it's soledad or something like that)

Mt Whitney Update

Still no permit! Ergghh..the minute we both called we got busy signals. Which apparently means there are at least 50 people ahead of you. I was thinking I should have called at like 7:55 and just let it ring for 5 minutes until they turned the phones on or something. I'll probably try again next week for August. There are plenty of weekday day hike permits, but I don't know anyone willing to do 22 miles in one day with me! So disappointing, as this is the one thing I really want to do before we think about having kids since I know this kind of stuff will become much harder to accomplish.

But I also faxed in a permit request for the Grand Canyon for September. If we don't get that, then I guess we'll jut be backpacking in Yosemite or something. Any way we do it, we will be backpacking this year. I'm determined! And I think we are going to call the Mt Whitney people every Thursday afternoon starting in July and see if there are any cancellations. It's close enough that we can just drive up there at the drop of a hat. So that's the plan.

Wish Us Luck!

Tomorrow morning at 8am the phone lines open at the Mt Whitney Permit Office and there are about 8 overnight permits currently for July. So the question is can one of us be one of the first ones to reach the people at the office. According to Dave if we get a busy signal then there are at least 50 people ahead of us! We'll see what happens. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we snag a couple of permits.