October 2009 Archives

1. I am so behind in the blogging thing. What has happened to me?




2. The day after Jen and Andrew's Wedding we went to Dos Reales for lunch. I got enchiladas...they would have been more super delicious if they were not covered in lettuce that I had to pick off.





3. I got a new Blackberry. I like it because I never use the phone for a phone because I hate talking on the phone. I can use this one for internet and texting. I don't like it because it likes to call people from my pocket and send Mat 20 blank text messages in a row...





4. I've been doing a meal planning chain lately in the hopes of not wasting food: I made a hamburger and had to get 8 buns so I made pulled turkey to take up the rest of the buns. Then I had extra bbq sauce so I made bbq meatballs. Then I had extra ground beef so I made pasta with meat sauce. I think I am caught up now.




5. For the record: Totally 80s Trivial Pursuit is the hardest game ever. Ever. You might think "Oh, I love the 80s! I would do so good at that game!" Well. You would be wrong. In two hours of playing Mat and I got maybe eight questions correct the entire time. I got two in a row where the answer was He-Man. Every other question was about Reagan. And between the two of us I don't think there was any way we could have gotten any sports questions right.




6. Monday night I went to see The Armando Diaz at IO. It was awesome. Basically one person gives a monologue and then everyone else then performs improv based around his monologues, but they aren't literal interpretations. Mat and his partner got way more of the connections than I ever could.




7. I said partner above. Mat is not gay although he plays a lot of gay people and doesn't like sports and likes theater and I like to joke with him that he is. I meant improv partner from his class.




8. Speaking of Mat, check out his new web series that will be launching soon...

Architectural Artifacts

New Leaf

Byron Colby Barn




11. Sunday I went to brunch with Nadia and Jenny and Josh and Adam and Jennifer. We went to Orange and I got a pancake flight of awesomeness! And frushi.







12. I need to become a good enough wedding photographer so that people will want to fly me around the world.




13. July 5, 2011. Counting the days...




14. My mom emailed me to ask what "Java automatic update" means because it is flashing at the bottom of her computer. I told her not to click it because if she does the computer will explode.




15. This is a picture of Bo in the part of my Halloween costume I bought that I probably will not wear:

I realized that I haven't posted ANY of my photos from Advanced photo class...and Wednesday is the last session! In truth, most of them are pretty boring because it was more of a technical class than a creative class, but I'll still post them soon. But let's start from the end!

My last project for the class was to do a self portrait. I decided that, for once, I would stop being lazy and actually do something that had some effort to it. Crazy, I know.

The self portrait was supposed to show something about us. And, well, what do you know about me? I love competitive eating! I figured that a) I am one of competitive eating's number 1 fans and b) I am pretty well known for my photos within the CE community, so it only made sense to turn the tables on myself and photograph me as a competitive eater!

So, I went to the store, bought 50 hot dogs (yes 50!) and cooked them up. I bought 40 of the absolute cheapest kind and then a 10-pack of good all beef ones. I figured I'd use the crappy $1/10-pack ones for show and actually eat the good ones...of course, after my first two bites of red-Kool-Aid soaked hot dogs I decided that I would just spit it out after I took each photo. It was, how shall I say, pretty damn gross.

These are some things I learned from this shoot:

1. It is really hard to take a self portrait. Especially an action shot. I had to set up my camera on 10 second delay and run around the table hoping I wouldn't knock down my lights or any of the cups of juice. And none of my photos came out as in focus as I would have liked them. I wish I could say I nailed it, but I was far from it. I hope I get an A for effort though (not that we're graded).

2. I can never be a competitive eater. I was pretty done with the eating part after two bites. I dipped them in red Kool-Aid for show. That was horrid. How do they do it?

3. I came to find why Pat wears a mohawk. My hair was stiff from Kool-Aid by the end of the shoot.

4. Cats don't like being locked in the bathroom for over an hour because you don't want them eating your hot dogs.

So, without further ado, here are some of my shots!

Getting ready:

A few of the photos:

This is the one I am pretty sure I am turning in. Mostly because my eyes are open (though not really in focus):

This was the set up:

What do you think? Automatic disqualification for too much debris?:

This is what I looked like afterward. Red hands, red hair, red face. Frown for the DQ:

OK. So Jen and Andrew's wedding was kind of awesome. And by kind of I mean totally. I am so happy that Jen invited be to be her photographer. Especially since she asked me a couple years ago when my photography was nothing like it is today (I still have a ways to go to get anywhere near where I want to be, but I feel as if I have grown an awful lot). The day was amazing. During the portraits we did beforehand at the park I for the first time really felt like a real photographer. I was fully leading everything and telling people where to go and what I wanted (without being pushy or commanding or anything I hope). But it felt pretty great.

The ceremony was a blur, which was the hardest thing about shooting a friend's wedding. I know they said some amazingly heartfelt things but I totally missed it all as I was too busy trying to get all the shots into a fast 8-minute ceremony.

Here's a sneak peak of the photos totally stolen from my new pro photo blog, Valerie Bromann Photography. (p.s. you can totally become a fan of me on Facebook. DO IT!)

Ten things (of many!) that I loved about the wedding I shot this weekend...

1. The wonderful couple, Jen and Andrew! I've known Jen since college when we were in an inline skating club together and she asked me to be her photographer almost as soon as SHE proposed to Andrew in Hawaii!

2. The bridal party! There were bridesmaids, groomsmen, bridesguys, and groomsgals!! And how can you not love it when you ask them to go behind a tree and they start climbing it!

3. The shoes. Red and black Chucks for the ENTIRE wedding party? I would say comfort over style, but these were mighty stylish!

4. The ceremony. It was short and sweet but packed to the brim with personal sentiments.

5. The officiant, who was a good friend of theirs who got ordained just so he could marry them.

6. The cake from the Cake Lady, Diana McPheeters. It was delicious, moist, and beautiful (sans fondant)!

7. The dancing! Jen and Andrew love to swing dance and have so many friends who do too, so it was a wild night on the dance floor!

8. Pumpkin carving! So I don't think this was at all planned. But using butter knives or Swiss Army Knives, or whatever they had on hand, many of the guests started carving the pumpkin centerpieces!

9. Carmel apple favors from Cunningham's Candies, with the most gooey carmel coating ever. I may have taken two home with me. But some just couldn't wait that long!

10. Did I mention how awesome Jen and Andrew are?

This weekend Jen and Andrew got married! Friday after work I headed down to Urbana, traffic was a little heavy so I ended up missing most of the rehearsal, but got there in time for the end. We then headed over to Crane Alley for the rehearsal dinner. I was forbidden from drinking (good call!) but had some delicious appetizers and a fish sandwich because for some reason I can't get enough fish and chips lately. And, I've got to say, I love a bride who will eat chicken wings the night before her wedding!

Andrew's parents gave some sweet speeches, sneakers were handed out, and we wrote a special message for the couple on the ceiling!

Got back from a fabulous weeking in Urbana today after shooting Jen and Andrew's wedding! I'll recap and post pictures later, but for now, a special request from the groom: a photo of the bridal party on the moon getting attacked by a dinosaur...

Do you ever have one of those nights out that by the time you get home, looking back, it feels like parts of it happened days ago and not just hours ago? Saturday was one of those nights. I mean, I guess this feeling was helped by the fact that my night out was actually more like over 25 hours out. But still.

I met up with Chelsa and Tabitha and co. around 11am, coffee in hand. It was going to be a long day...er...night...er...day AND night! We piled up some snacks and rounded the corner to wait in the line at Music Box for Music Box Massacre - a 24-hour horror film marathon! Last year I did it from around 4pm until noon the next day. This year I was getting there before it began and was planning on being there till the end...minus the bachelorette party I was going to in between!

Once we secured our seats (that were way better than the guy behind us's...until, of course, a tall dude sat in front of Tabitha) we settled in to listen to the opening bands. The first one sang something about Frankenstein. The second one was some young kids. Yes, there were opening bands at a horror film marathon! Soon though noon struck and it was time to watch some movies!

The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Noon
Old film. Black and White and you had to read it. Good though. And sad.

Isle of the Dead
2:15pm
The plague! It was about people from the 40s trapped on a Greek island because the plague was going around. And then one guy goes crazy. In the beginning you find out crazy guy's wife's body had disappeared from its grave. She didn't come out of nowhere to kill everyone like I thought. I guess not all movies were Scream in the 40s.

Bucket of Blood
3:45pm
Classic Roger Corman film. A guy accidentally kills a cat, turns it into a piece of art. Guy becomes revered as an artist. Goes on to kill other things for art. Good mix of suspense and humor. Very predictable, but, hell, what horror film isn't? It was still awesome though!

The Black Cat
5:00pm
This was based on Edgar Allen Poe and was one of those made for cable movies. It kind of dragged. And by kind of I mean really. But it was the only movie that made me feel faint and sick. I can watch all the stabbings and blood and guts I want but throw in anything medical related and I am gone.

The Brood
6:15pm
The Brood looked kind of totally awesome. Unfortunately I had to leave after the first half hour...

BACHELORETTE PARTY!
No, it wasn't a horror film called bachelorette party (are there any horror movies about this event?) it WAS a bachelorette party! Jen is getting married this weekend so it was our last chance to go out and celebrate her singledom!

This of course equaled girly drinks (drunk out of penis-shaped straws), improv (about alcohol), and more drinking (out of penis-shaped straws!) We headed to this bar to watch "Bye Bye Liver" a comedy/improv show about bars and drinking and alcohol. It was a funny show!

Afterwards we headed out to Uncle Fatty's for more drinking and dancing and general debauchery!

Did I mention there was a blinking penis cup? There was a blinking penis cup.

More bachelorette party pictures here!

Pontypool
1:30am
Sometime between 1:30am and 2am I was back in the theater, grabbed a slice of their pizza, and in my seat for the tail end of Pontypool. Which looked awesome. But I didn't see the beginning so I was highly confusled. But I totally want to see it because it looked really good.

Dark Night of the Scarecrow
2:05am
The beginning of this seemed really good and interesting. Somewhere around the middle of this I totally fell asleep.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
4:20am
Ummm...yeah.

Blood Feast
6:10am
Blood Feast is one of my favorite movies. The director, HG Lewis is totally amazing. By amazing I mean awful. This movie is awful. But that makes it amazing. Does that make sense? Probably not. But it should. This movie is awesome.

Maximum Overdrive
8:15am
Electronics go crazy. Mostly trucks. It's weird. In the end they put an explanation on the screen about why electronics went crazy. I would have preferred it if they left it up in the air instead of trying to explain things with something that made no sense.

Carrie
10:15am
Carrie is a classic. Telekinesis girl with religious mother gets pigs blood spilled on her then she burns everyone down. The end.

And at noon we left the theater and I headed home to sleep for the entire rest of the day.

one.
So I don't watch the Office. I mean, I love it every time I see it but I don't watch it regularly and have maybe seen about ten episodes. But I watched the wedding. And cried. And cried. And once he cut off his tie I was pretty much GONE.

two.
I hate when people say things about your life that you know are true but you just don't want to believe.

three.
What's worse than waiting for someone to call? When you're waiting for someone to call and your phone is out of batteries and therefore vibrates every two minutes.

four.
Guys take note. Pink sapphire + rough cut diamonds + recycled gold = perfect...

five.
The moon didn't blow up this morning! I was kind of nervous that it would and I would wake up to some sort of apocalypse!

six.
Terra Garlic Mashed Yukon Gold potato chips are my new favorite snack.

seven.
Sunday breakfast was pulled pork sandwiches from the Smoke Daddy.

eight.
Tuesday Mat and I went to see two shows at the IO. And we got pizza.

nine.
I somehow cracked my really expensive 9-month old awesometacular camera :( It is just the screen so it has no effect on the functions but it just makes me sick! After the wedding next weekend I might send it in to get fixed because I just hate myself for letting it get cracked (and I have no idea how it happened!)

ten.
I really need to stop chickening out of things. I made the first step. Now. Waiting. waiting. waiting.

Why is it that I can go weeks without having anything really to do and then everyone seems to plan everything for the very same night? What do you do when one friend is having a housewarming, another is having a birthday, and it's all on the same night as your high school reunion that you're not even sure you want to go to? Well, you try as hard as you might to squeeze everything into one night!

Joe and Meredith's Housewarming
When I woke up on Saturday I hadn't been planning on going to their housewarming as it started at 6 and my reunion was at 7. But then as I was gathering directions for the day I noticed that their new place was only a mile from the reunion bar...so of course I had to go! Of course, I got there around 6:30 and left by 7:15 so I came and went before any other guests arrived, but I am happy I got to see their place! And ONE of the closets in their bedroom is bigger than my entire bedroom. And I got to taste one of Meredith's little wieners...which did not mean going upstairs with Joe ;-)

High School Reunion
In all honestly I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to my high school reunion. It was really a matter of while I didn't necessarily want to go, I didn't want to not go. And it really didn't help that none of my friends wanted to go so I would have to venture over all by myself. But I decided to brave it alone as really, it's one night in ten years that you get to see a bunch of people you went to school with long ago.

So I got to the bar around 7:30 and was immediately greeted by Michelle who I haven't seen since high school but admitted that she stalked my website (hi!). And I felt good about my decision to go. But I think seeing Jeff again solidified my decision because he called me about 5 years ago and my social anxiety kicked in and I never called him back. So it was good to catch up finally! Mat finally came too. And I had lots of wine.

Alyssa's Birthday
I left the reunion shortly after ten and headed to Innjoy to see Alyssa for her birthday celebration. There were drinks and 80s music and some weird movie on the TV that we couldn't figure out. And I had lots of rum. Awesome.

Reunion Photos.

Alyssa's Birthday Photos.

Happy Birthday Chelsa! Last week was Chelsa's birthday which of course meant we celebrated all week! Of course she would say that NONE of the activities were in honor of her birthday but I think that everything you do in your birthday week is in honor of your birthday!

Monday
After work we headed out to get some Mexican food. Yum. She was going to a Mozart concert that I was invited to but after driving to Tennesee and back on no sleep I knew I wouldn't make it.

Thursday
CHelsa and JennyS and I met up in Evanston to get some Flat Top and go see I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell. The movie was good and funny but not amazingly funny. I am so not a feminist because I think as a woman I was supposed to be offended by the movie/book or something. Instead though I just laugh at the women who fall for that kind of shit.

Friday
Friday Chelsa had a game night at her place! She taught me a two-person solitaire game which I was doing really well at until she figured out that she forgot to tell me one of the rules...and I finally played Apples to Apples for the first time ever. Seriously, there have probably been 50 occasions in my life where someone has said we were going to play and it never happened. We also played a lot of catchphrase...and I was laughed at for giving the clue "black lady who wanted to sit on a bus." It works right?
Tabitha brought over some massively awesome cookies...

And Ryan got a makeover...

AND! I found out he's a big fan of competitive eating as well! Awe-some.

So we ended up staying out until...oh...5am...playing games and drinking and being loud because we could be.

A few weeks back my cousin Stefanie got married. It was a bittersweet day as her mom, my aunt, passed away just days before and just days after was the funeral. But despite that and despite the limo driver making the wedding start an hour late and despite Jennifer making me play name the hat, it was a wonderful wedding!

More photos here.