Day 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217 & 218: 365 Project

I was looking through some of my photos and realized I never posted pictures from my stalking adventures, ahem, I mean, when some friends and I went to a Fresno Grizzlies Game and saw Mister Ben Savage.


It was truly a great experience. It was a lot of fun. He's probably the most "famous" person I've met. I grew up watching Shawn and Cory get into trouble, Topanga and Cory fall in love, Eric's silliness and his compassion, and I watched them graduate and go off to college. I always enjoyed the later seasons more and in October, I'll finally be able to complete my Boy Meets World collection.


With that being said, I was super excited when I found out that Ben Savage would be the celebrity at The Grizzlies "Mad Tight 90s Night Meets World," back in May. 


I've only ever been to a couple baseball games in my life. Sports events aren't exactly where you'll regularly find me. The only reason I went to so many football games in high school was to hang out with my friends (most of them were in band). 

He did some quiz stuff on the show. 

Seriously... not a stalker.

I was just going to post a couple of pictures from our "photoshoot," but these are all way too awesome not to post!

We waited in line for a while. Wasn't too bad though. He was the reason I was there so of course I was willing to wait in a long line. We were toward the back of the line, so once we got up to the front, they had just cut off taking pictures with him. I was pretty angry, but felt bad for him because he looked tired and hot (it was really warm in there). He was nice though! I got an autograph. Would have rather had a picture, but I'll take what I can get. 

It was a fun night with those girls, baseball and meeting Ben Savage!

Day 205: 365 Project

A while ago, I had a photo request from my friend Anna. She suggested I take a picture of summer feet.

I'm not sure what's more summery than brightly colored sparkly toes with flip flop tan lines in crunchy green grass on a warm summer day in July.

 I love this nail polish because the color makes me feel like a mermaid. I'm sure this has everything to do with my childhood obsession with Disney's The Little Mermaid.

Day 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203 & 204: 365 Project

I've never been to a laundromat before; definitely not as an adult, maybe as a child but I don't really remember it much. Our apartment complex has several laundry rooms, but they either full, machines are broken or people will take your clothes out of the machine and leave it on the ground or on top of washer/dryer. Plus, it's way too hot to lug around several laundry baskets trying to find an empty room to wash our clothes. It's aggravating and takes up the entire day.

Yesterday, Sam and I went to Mammoth Laundromat around the corner from our apartment. It took a little more than two hours to finish. We just hung out there, read and just hung out.

I realized a laundromat and a hospital waiting room have a similar feeling in the atmosphere. 

Here's why:

• You're there for a reason.
• You are with family.
• You're sitting around waiting for the results. (Hm. Missing a red sock. Did I throw it in with my whites? Guess I have to wait and see...)
• You're either chit-chatting, napping, reading, watching a movie.
• Nobody around you looks happy.
• It can get expensive.
• People are rude.
• You know everyone there would rather be anywhere else.

Can you think of any other reason?

All this didn't keep me from being inspired. I had a lot of fun snapping pictures around the place.

Dexter Machines!

Only the biggest dryer I have ever seen!! I could have fit inside it.

I'm finally almost caught up on my project. I'm very excited. Hope you enjoyed my adventures in laundrying. Hopefully next time it'll be something more interesting!

Day 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191 & 192: 365 Project

A little late on the 4th of July post, I know, but my motto is the wonderfully classic cliche, "Better late than never!"

Independence Day always looks the same for Sam and I; we spend it in Porterville with his family at the house of  family from his church there. It's always fun to catch up with friends, swim, eat good food, have some homemade ice cream, watch illegal fireworks and light some of our own on the lawn.

This is the view from their backyard. You can see all of Porterville!

And here's my somewhat patriotic picture of the night with some beautiful illegal fireworks in the background. 

Doesn't the picture below look peaceful, yet lonely? I strangely proud of this one. For some reason, after posting this picture, I had to listen to "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" by The Postal Service.

And now for some of the legal fireworks!

And what's lawn fireworks without some grass fire? This definitely wasn't the only, or the worst time the lawn caught fire. Very entertaining!

Doesn't this just look creepy? I mean, with his face mask and everything? So great.

And this one is even creepier with him leaning over, all the smoke around him and the huge BBQ next to him.

It was a good Holiday. And as if you couldn't tell, I had a lot of fun taking pictures.

Day 179, 180, 181 & 182: 365 Project

Whenever someone finds out that I'm into photography, they ask me what I like taking pictures of, and naturally I tell them nature. That's completely true. I love taking pictures of what God created. It's just a small reminder of how big He is and how small we are.

But what I always fail to say is that I love taking pictures of people doing something their passionate about; in their natural element. This can be anything from musicians to dancers to athletes to someone worshiping God or even just kittens playing with their siblings.

These are the pictures that capture a moment where someone isn't paying attention to those who are watching them, but they're in their own world. It shows a depth of emotion, peacefulness that a person only has when they're doing something they're passionate about.

I just love watching someone doing something they love.

Sam loves music and reading. Two things that I love him for loving.

These kittens loved playing with each other and I loved watching their momma take such good care of them.

So I guess my passion is taking pictures of those pursuing theirs. What are some of your passions? I sure hope that you are taking advantage of the gifts you were given.

Day 177 & 178: 365 Project

A couple weeks ago Sam and I went into the Apple store to visit with our friend Gene. We were playing on the iPads and drew these! See... This is why you get an iPad. Drawing fun!!

Sam made this house for us. :) He must really love me because our house is green!

And this was mine. In case you weren't aware, my nickname is mooshell. I added in a few stickers in of my favorite animals: Cow, Penguin, Ducks. And of course, the best part is the scooter!! Obviously, that's me riding the scooter. Looks like I forgot a helmet though. Whoopsies!

Day 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175 & 176: 365 Project

Operation: Dark Arrival (Aka: Surprise the heck out of Melissa!)
Code names, people involved: Shade (me) & Shadow (Sam), Mrs. B., Mr. B, Melissa (surprisee), Charles (coming home for some R&R from the Army, surpriser)
Mission: Completed and Successful.

It all started about three Mondays ago (from tomorrow, of course). I got a call from Mrs. Barraza asking to help her with a super secret mission. Charles had told Melissa that he had been delayed a couple weeks, when he actually hadn't. Mrs. B asked if we could meet them at BJ's the following week and videotape Melissa's reaction when Charles brings Melissa a pizookie.

Well, that day came and Charles was delayed. Mrs. B, Melissa and Toni were in Fresno though, so we got to hangout and have dinner. We all knew what was supposed to happen that night, but Melissa had no idea. I think that made the dinner more fun. Secrecy!

At this point, I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't be able to be a part of the surprise. Well, the next week on Thursday, I got a text from Mrs. B. asking if I was available that night for Operation Dark Arrival. I was so excited to do this for such wonderful friends.

Side Note: Charles is the one who so generously broke into our apartment (with the key our office management gave him) on our wedding day because Sam left his passport in Fresno. Then he met us in Visalia to give us the passport so we saved a ton of time by not having to drive back to Fresno.


Part one of Operation Dark Arrival started with trying to coordinate a time to meet Mr. B at the mall while Melissa went into the Charming Charlie. We get to the mall searching for Mr. B's car, hoping that Melissa won't see us. Here's our Dark Arrival gear. Not the greatest disguise, but it's what we could pull off on short notice. Sam looks like he should be in a rap music video though.

We find Mr. B immediately, grab the camera and are on our way to the airport. Sam and I decide (or rather, I decided) that he's going to videotape, while I'll snap some pictures. We arrive at the airport and we sit down in the baggage area, where Charles was supposed to surprise Melissa, but quickly decide to find Charles' gate so Melissa doesn't see us.

Now, I know what you're wondering... "How did they get Melissa to the airport without her knowing?" Well, Mr. B cooked up this fantastic idea where Charles tells Melissa that he sent a package to the airport so she would have to pick it up. Well, the package turns out to be much larger than she could have expected.

We find the gate where Charles is supposed to come in. He's coming in from Dallas/Ft. Worth. The screen said it was on time, but 9:15 came and went. I was hoping that Mr. B was able to stall Melissa without her having any clue as to what was going on.

Finally... THE PLANE ARRIVES!!

Of course it takes time for people to get off the plane, so we looked for Charles coming in. We finally see him!! It was business time!

He's on the far left in his uniform.

He's in the back, you know, the tallest one.

Then we were instructed to interview Charles on camera.

It was then time to book it to baggage claim and hideout because Mr. B and Melissa weren't there yet. Because of the blurryness, I'm sure you can sense our pace.

Naturally, we decide to hide behind some luggage carts. Sam is still taping everything that is going on.

Finally, they're spotted!! Charles gets up and makes his way toward Melissa. The look on Melissa's face and her squeals of joy were so great! Here are the mushy pictures...

They were pretty much like that for five minutes.

Had to share this one because it's classic Melissa. So giggly and happy! Love it!

The thing I love about this picture is that it seems like time is standing still. Everyone else is getting baggage, greeting family and these two people who haven't seen each other in months, show their love and happiness in front of everyone. It was a touching moment and I was so happy to be a part of it. 

It was a very successful and fun mission!!