Category Archives: Photography

Life Lately

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Girls Day at the Beach

So this is a few snaps from the last week! It’s only been one short week of summer, but I’ve packed a lot in.

Three beach days in one Week!
Sun Hats

A and I hitting up the beach on Tuesday. Sun hats are crucial to not ending up with a sunburnt nose!

Summer Sunsets

We’ve had some pretty amazing sunsets here in San Jose, and I tried to capture the gorgeous colors we got last week!

Capitola

We had a lovely mellow Father’s Day in Capitola with the whole fam (including the dog!) at a dog friendly beach, followed up by yummy food at Gayle’s Bakery.

How was your week? Do anything fun or summery?

Love,

-S

T Minus 7 Days

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summer 2016

We are so close to the finish line, I can smell summer! It smells like salty beach air, windswept messy hair, sunscreen, and fresh fruit.

We started senior finals today, and have underclassman finals on Monday. Graduation is in one short week. I feel like each day is long, but the week is going by so quickly!

My students have helped me start packing up my room, and I’ve had so many interviews my head is swirling. I hope to have a decision by the end of the day! I’m both dreading and looking forward to summer. I am low on sleep and energy and my fridge/house is a bit scary! I want beach days, picnics at the park, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. I am ready for summer! I can’t wait for a day at the beach with my friends!

Do you have any fun summer plans? Anything fun you are looking forward to?

Love,

-S

Girls Spa Day

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Two years ago A and I went up to the city to spend a day at a Spa. We loved it so much that we booked another day there this year. We started off at Cocoon Urban Day Spa with massages, and finished with a mani-pedi’s. I felt so relaxed after it was all done, perfect for heading into the week before AP exams! The whole place is beautiful and calming, with tea and cookies while you wait. I went for summery colors.

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We followed our spa appointments up with a delicious dim sum lunch at Yank Sing. We took some silly photos while we were waiting for a table.

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I find taking a Sunday day off from babysitting and grading to be with a girlfriend is exactly what  I need heading into a stressful time at work. I feel like the week starts off so much easier!

How do you find time to relax and unwind?

Love,

-S

Brunch Parties

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There are only a few people in my life, that are true hostess’s. Meaning, they love the cooking, the prep, the stress and the fun of throwing a really, really, good party. My good friend A, is one of those people. Last weekend, she had an intimate brunch with just a few of us. It was a posh brunch, so I enjoyed the chance to go all out!
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I loved all the decor, from the handwritten AND watercolored menu’s and food labels to the bouquets of flowers lining the table to the mimosa bar! I feel like it’s only in the last two years that a few of us have really matured in adults who throw fabulous dinner parties, and in this case, a fabulous brunch.

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A is a devoted chef, and the food was the highlight of the morning next to the mimosa bar! My personal favorite was the fig and pistachio tart (pictured below!), but really everything was delicious.

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And finally, the people are what make the event fun. A has a great group of friends, and that helps!

I think I might steal a few of her ideas and host my own fun brunch over the summer. What do you think of hosting friends for brunch? Any must have brunch food ideas?

Love,

-S

Prom 2016

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Last weekend we had our prom at the Mexican Heritage Plaza. I was super excited to hear that it was planned for earlier in the school year, which meant we were able to include it in our yearbook!

Prom is such a milestone event, and I feel lucky that I am able to go every year and see my students looking so beautiful. They really dress up for it, and look like little stars on the red carpet. I have the distinct pleasure of taking a few photos for it each year, and it’s one of my favorite events as a high school teacher!

prom collage

All the staff typically come, and look pretty swanky themselves! This year a small group of us met up for dinner at Left Bank before.

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How was your prom? Do you have fond memories of it? Would you enjoy going to it every year?

Love,

-S

A day in Maui Part 2

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For most of the week we were pretty low-key. We ate breakfast at our condo and had a slow morning. Then we would pack up our stuff, picked up some spam musubi’s, mango bread and coffee, and hit the beach. Often mid-day we needed a pick-me up, and upon the advice from friends and family we stopped at Ululani’s for a refreshing shaved ice.

 

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It was honestly the best shaved ice I had ever had. They take filtered island water, and freeze it in big chunks, that they then shave down to make the ice. The first time I went for my usual childhood trifecta favorite of : lime, grape and cherry. A was more adventurous and tried tropical flavors. I tasted her’s, and agreed the flavors were amazing. The next day, my shaved ice flavors were passion orange, coconut and pineapple. I wish we could bottle that shaved ice up and have them here all the time, they were so good!

Have you had any food traveling that you wish you could have all the time at home?

Love,

-S

Sun, Sand and the Surf

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Hyannis Port

I really like the motto of working hard so that you can play hard. And for me, playing hard always means relaxing somewhere warm on a sunny beach. My 2015 resolution was to travel more, and that means regularly putting some money aside for a later date to have fun somewhere new!

Often I’m pretty busy, between working a full time teaching job, babysitting around 25 hours a week. Sometimes I’ll sneak in time for a workout, or to grab dinner with either friends or family. When at home, I’m usually washing up some dishes, trying to get a load of laundry done, finishing lessonplans/powerpoints for work and sleeping! I do tend to relax in the form of watching a show for an hour or so in the later evenings.

I usually need to block out time for a trip before I’m able to put away my endless to-do lists, and pull out a fun book! On Monday, my girlfriend and I will be flying to Maui for 5 days, and I couldn’t be more excited to unplug, and enjoy lots of down time

I’ve been on the hunt for a new bathing suit, and even though its a bit early in the season to be shopping for summer, there are tons of choices online that I’ve been eying.

So many have cute back details! I’ve been mostly leaning towards one pieces because I think they will be more comfortable under my swim shirt when I’m snorkeling.

La Blanca *image from Nordstroms website

                                image of Tommy Bahama from Nordstroms Website

There are so many cute choices out there! Any places that you love to score a new bathing suit? Do you prefer a one piece or a bikini?

Love,

-S

Harry Potter World

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Universal Studios

Two weeks ago my best friend Annie and i flew to Florida. We have had this trip planned since last fall, and to say we were excited is a bit of an understatement. We flew out Friday and stayed at a local hotel adjacent to the park. We ended up getting a park to park pass so we could visit Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, which were basically the only two sections of the Universal Studios Park that we were interested in.

It was, without a doubt, the best weekend I’d had in a long time! We started off in Hogsmeade and then took the train over to Diagon Alley. I took a ton of photos, so this might be a long post.

I was like a kid in the candy shop, running around looking at everything and snapping a ton of photos. It was beautiful and sunny day. I tried the butterbeer nervously, but it was delicious! MY favorite was walking through all of the amazing decorations that that mimic’d things from the book (potions classroom, great hall, etc) as we waited in line for the ride inside of the castle.

I ended up getting a Chocolate Frog and a Gryffindor wax seal as my two momentos for the day. I feel like I need to have some sort of a harry potter party as an excuse to use my new seal!

Are you a harry potter fan? Are you excited about the new harry potter Hogsmeade coming to L.A this spring?

Love,

-S