Adventures through Photography

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Feathers and Flowers - May 2015

Some photos taken in May of this year before and during my trip to Los Angeles. The various finches were at the start of (downtown Sacramento) and during the drive down (Rest Area on I-5) to L.A. The hibiscus photos were taken on a foggy morning in Monterey Park, CA.

Saw this beautiful little finch scrounging for food in a park. At first, I edited the cigarette and trash out. Then I thought a little dose of reality doesn't hurt.

Yellow hibiscus regular lens

Yellow hibiscus macro extension

macro

Slight sin city affect

macro

regular

Regular lens

Extreme center focus

macro

Regular low contrast

macro

xoxo

Monday, June 15, 2015

It is What It Is - Rest In Peace Derrick Hodges 1962 - 2015

It's been a bit of a bleak week for the last seven days. One week ago, a friend of mine was killed in a violent car crash on Highway 50 westbound near Bradshaw Road.

Derrick wasn't a perfect man...none of us are perfect, obviously. But Derrick was always striving to better himself and also to make the world a better place.

I feel very blessed to have been a part of his life, but I'm not gonna lie - sometimes Derrick could really frustrate me.

I met Derrick in the halls at work when I first started working at the California State Controller. He was soooo friendly...loud and ALWAYS smiling when he was walking the halls. He always made it a point to say hi and stop and talk about anything that popped into his mind.

He transferred to the Intake unit where I was the lead and I had the privilege and pain of training him and reviewing his work. Derrick was NOT detail oriented. Which, if you know me, you know that drives me crazy. Especially with the type of work the Intake unit does. Derrick knew he drove me crazy and when I would talk to him about his mistakes, he just would laugh it off and say "It is what it is" which would infuriate me even more.

How I HATED that saying! But he said it a lot and pretty soon, I found myself saying it too. Thanks a lot Derrick. :-)

Derrick wasn't cut out for minutiae. What he was cut out for, being a former used-car salesman, was TALKING! He became a union steward because he felt he was mistreated in his first unit (not Intake) and he simply was not going to take it.

He educated himself as to his rights and options and then found his calling sharing the information with others.

He was so proud of his family. His now grown children are all complete success stories. His oldest son is an officer in the military who flies planes. His oldest daughter has obtained her masters and got married just weeks ago. Derrick was so happy to be flying to Mississippi for the wedding. His youngest daughter is now following in her sibling's footsteps and beginning her own collegiate journey.

His children were so important to him. He helped to pass a childcare bill through the California Senate by speaking at committee hearings and telling his own stories about being a single parent and how important have access to child care was to his own family.

He recently moved his mother out from his hometown of Chicago where he grew up in the mean streets. She was getting older and her health was not so good and he wanted to take care of her. Like anytime a parent moves in with an adult child, it was not an easy thing. He struggled. He admitted that he was not as patient and respectful with her as he should be. He sought the guidance of his pastor to help him be a better son.

It was too hard for them...she bought a train ticket back to Chicago for Saturday, June 13th. He was killed on Monday, June 8th.

God works in mysterious ways. Derrick had lived in California for about 5 years with very few visits to Chicago. He loved California! He told me his favorite thing was being able to wear shorts everyday. And he did. As much as possible.

If Derrick hadn't moved his mother out here for those few contentious months, they would not have have had that time together.

Rest in Peace Derrick.

You are loved. You made this world a better place. You will be missed.

xoxo

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Last 2013 Post! (Maybe!) ~Disneyland Mickey's Halloween Party~TFW

I think... Maybe??? I just might have finished all of my 2013 photos. Possibly...

~Shocked Face~

Here is the last installment from the fabulous University of Southern California Trojan Family Weekend (+ two days for us).

On Thursday night, which was the only night that Adrienne didn't have a ton of homework, we headed down to Anaheim to go to Disneyland and Mickey's Halloween Party. I really recommend this event. For us, it was definitely more bang for the buck. Here's how it worked:

For $56 per person (more this year and depends on the date you attend), you get free parking at Disneyland ($16 value then) and entrance into the main park (no California Adventure). The actual event, during which the park is closed to everyone not having the special ticket/wristband, was from 6:00 - 11:00 p.m. I believe. The event ticket allows you to enter the park up to 3 hours before the event without paying for the full day.

So basically, you get one day (8 hours) with less people and free candy. And Craisins. #WorthIt

Yes, I said free candy and Craisins. There were trick-or-treat stations throughout the park where one would walk through a brief line and be given whatever goody that station had. And there were two trick-or-treat paths with 6-8 stations.

And there are some Halloween-themed parades, etc., but I'm not sure if these are also during the regular hours. Have some parade photos.

My boyfriend. I'll let you think about that for now.

There are no fast passes during the Halloween Party, but it's really not needed. It was crowded...especially around the Haunted Mansion and Pirates rides. But most of the other rides were less than 20 minutes wait.

And the park looks sooooooo cool. If you love Halloween, as I do, it is definitely a must-do.

Keep in mind that this was at 3:00 p.m. when the park was full of the regular peeps.

We, as I stated previously, got there just before 3:00 which meant that we left L.A. as soon as Adrienne finished classes that day. She pretty much had nothing to eat and neither did I. In honor of her attending USC, I had planned something we hadn't done before and that was to eat at the Blue Bayou restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean.

It was a fun experience although we didn't have the best table. The food was delicious although a bit overpriced. Upon review, I think it's worth it once in awhile for a special occasion IF you get a good table. I don't regret it and we had a great time.

Food porn!

Adie had the salmon and I had beef. Really big portions! This is before...

And this is pretty much mine after. To be honest, we forced ourselves to finish as much as we could because PRICE but it was hard.

After eating, we proceeded to work off all that food by walking the entire park at least three times over the next several hours. We rode every ride that was open at least once. And most we did twice. The only land we didn't fully hit was Fantasy Land and that was because I was overruled by my daughter. haha

This is not a real elephant.

But this is a real duck. Cute! He's standing on his own foot.

Me and C3PO!!! This is an actual C3PO that was in the Star Wars movies for those of you who didn't know.

Magic Mountain is another must do. It was creepy though!! It's got ghosts and other things to scare you. We rode that three times. We were lucky because on our second ride, there was some issue with the people getting of the car ahead of us and it was taking too long. So the ride operator just asked our car "Do you all want to go again?" And luckily everyone cheered so she just put us through.

They had these cool fog-pictures that were coming out of various crevices around the park. I tried to get photos of them, but couldn't really get one to be clear. This one was the closest. And it's not clear. It says Mickey's Halloween Party. Funny, you can see the projector in the photo, but I didn't even notice it when taking the picture. lol