Destination Wedding.

So I shot a destination wedding last weekend in Jamaica. Read about the rest of the trip in the previous blog. The wedding itself was pretty cool. The couple, Daimian and Tiffini, rented a private villa just outside Montego Bay for the week. It was a 5 bedroom 5 bath house with a staff of 8 (cook, laundry (done daily), cleaning, and a driver) and they got a membership to the private club on the beach for the week as well. This is the best way to travel I have decided. So the wedding was up at their villa, which was situated on the side of a mountain in the jungle. Seriously, think Predator. But it also had a pool with a view overlooking the bay and ocean. It was a beautiful wedding. The couple was very detail oriented and thought out their wedding very well. But they were also able to let loose once the festivities began. It was so much fun to be fully trusted with their photography and to be a part of their special day.

Jamaica! Ya Mon.

Seriously, they DO say "ya man" like every 5 minutes! I went to Jamaica last weekend to shoot a destination wedding. It was an interesting trip. A real learning experience. For instance, having American money (in addition to the local currency) is always a good thing. I only had Jamaican, and they always asked for American. Traveling alone as a woman is exhausting because you are always (and I mean always) on your guard. Jamaican men are worse than Mexican. And I have been to Mexico City, the armpit hair of Mexico. Mexican men are greasy, so imagine what I must mean when I say Jamaicans are worse than that! They never leave you alone! I have to be rude after a while. And if you know me at all, you will know that being rude comes naturally and easily for me, so to have to purposely be that way very intetionally must mean something.

It was a whirlwind of a 36-hour trip as far as activities were concerned. I arrived after a full day of travel on Friday, July 13th at about 8 pm (Central Time, even though the island is EAST of the east coast of the US. Wierd.) I had a lovely chat with my cab driver as we drove along on the "wrong" side of the rode (see photo below). After getting settled in my hotel, I headed down the street to grab some local grub. I ran into my cab driver who took it upon himself to show me the way to a local jerk chicken dive. It was awesome! I felt like a local instantly. It was a cool experience. Something that you don't normally get as a tourist (or with others so one perk to being alone). The next morning I woke up early to head to the beach for a little snorkeling before the wedding. I had looked up a beginners beach to snorkel off of (you just swim out from the coast, you don't have to be boated somewhere first). And it turns out that the beginners beach I had looked up was directly across the street from my hotel! A Woo Hoo! This way I was guarenteed to get back to the hotel in enough time to clean up before the wedding. So I went to Doctor's Cave, layed out, waded in the STILL and very clear waters that were about 100 degrees (perferct!). Then I rented snorkel eqipment and fins and just swam right out (these underwater photos will be added later). It was so relaxing. I didn't even have to kick to stay afloat. I just floated there on the surface, right over schools of fish and coral reefs. It was the highlight of the trip and I am so glad that I had a little time to do that while I was there.

Then onto the wedding. Read and see that in the next blog.
Like I said, a whirlwind experience, but an awesome and once in a lifetime opportunity.

Fourth of July aka time to meet new people...again

We were invited to our friend, Megan's bbq. Despite knowing that we didn't know anyone else there, we went. And it was really a lot of fun. The people were quite welcoming. The apartment was strangly Chicagoan (leave it to Megan to find the only apartment in LA with hardwood floors, horizontal blinds and CHARACTER like built-in bookshelves). First, we were able to catch up with Megan, another Chicagoan/IVer/Columbian whom we hadn't see since being here (and actually since before our wedding 2 years ago, yikes!) Then we quickly found another couple to talk to and spent the rest of the afternoon with them. We exchanged info (at their request. WOO HOO!) so I am desperately hoping they call us so we don't have to call them. 2 friends down (hopefully) 48 more to go (before we're up to our Chicago standard).

What about fireworks? you say. Nah. We watched a patriotic movie. Patton. But we didn't totally reject the idea. We were on our way out the door to go to a park to see some sparkles. We closed the door. We realized that the other person didn't have their keys (sometimes the downside of being a couple). So we spent the evening (or the next 10 minutes) getting our way back in. I so cleverly rounded our apartment and popped open a window. Yeah for the wife!

Palm Springs Anniversary Trip

The week after my mom's week-long visit and the week before my brother's week-long visit, Tyler planned for a romantic week away to celebrate my birthday and our anniversary. It was amazing. I just got to show up. He did all the driving, researched restaurants, and planned what activities we did each day. That was the biggest surprise and delight for me because I am the obsessive planner, having planned our only 4 trips together before this one. So getting to sit back and relax even before the trip started was some of the best part for me. Some of the highlights of our trip included: a living desert zoo (see photo below of us in the desert) meaning that they only have desert or hot weather appropriate animals, getting massages together (THAT WAS AWESOME), going to the art museum (see photo & note: those people are FAKE) and playing my new favorite game, backgammon poolside at our b&b. There was also a scary, yet fun trip on a gondola up to the top of the adjacent mountain (where it was 50 degrees cooler: 120 on the ground, 70 8,000 feet up). About 50 people could fit in the tram, complete with a rotating floor so you get a 360 view twice on the way up and down. I am terrified of heights and this gondola ride is why. It swayed every time it went through a "gate" or the stand that held it up. Just imagine a terrifying huge HIGH ski lift. But once at the top we enjoyed the scenery (see photos below). All in all, a wonderful week before having to drive home back to the business of the rest of our June.


us at the desert

no, this is NOT photoshopped. It really was 121 degrees!

looking back down during the gondola ride. if this doesn't look steep, that's because it was only after passing 1 of 4 "gates", each part getting steeper until we were going almost vertically.

us at the top!

can you guess which couple is fake?

Dolphins

It has been brought to my attention that I never blog anymore, and so I shall.

It has been an interesting first 6 months in the city of angels. BUt more on all of that later.

Today I just want to write about my brother coming to visit for a week. It was awesome. We went to an Angel's game. That's baseball for all you artists out there. We went to Disneyland. Tyler and I have gotten annual passes and are going whenever possible now. We did some major outlet shopping, and we went to the ocean. It was my first time IN the Pacific. We went up to Malibu and rented a boogie board and a wetsuit (for wimpy me) from the surf shack and headed out to Zuma Beach. The water was clear (even shoulder deep), the sand was white, and the waves were big (thankfully not too big). But the highlight of our day was seeing the pod? pack? group? or whatever of wild dolphins. Hard to say how many there were because they keep popping up and we could've been counting the same one twice, but I think about 20 went by about 20 feet off the coast. People were are watching and gasping. And these dolphins gave us a show. They didn't leap or anything, but they arched preety far out of the water. It was awesome. A truely wonderful California experience.

Ta ta for now. -Jenny