Pretend this was posted June 22, 2010

So, I'm a bad blogger. This post is going to be for yesterday since I haven't posted the past two days. Something happened last night that I photographed with my phone and I intended to post. Last night, Steve and I made pizza for dinner. We put the crust in the oven to bake a bit and when we looked in, we had the most gigantic crust I've ever seen in my life.

Steve at Mighty Taco

Although this was not taken today, I'm choosing this picture of Steve for my daily photo anyway for a few reasons:

1. Mighty Taco was real tasty, and it was a fun mini trip during spring quarter to relieve some of the monotony of school and work. (Meaning this photo invokes good feelings.)

2. I think he's really adorable.

3. Mighty Taco is also close to his hometown, and I enjoyed an excellent few days with this cutie at his parents' house.

Since I didn't post yesterday, I'm going to post TWO pictures today. Plus, they go together.

Two weeks ago, I was with my mom picking out some flowers for her pots on our front porch. It was then that I found this siamese flower!

cell phone photos

Since it's summer and I'm on co-op, I have a lot of spare time on my hands in the evenings. I've been taking cell phone photos for a long time, planning to start posting one per day. As you can see, I stopped posting daily photos a long time ago. This is my first attempt at starting daily photos once again, but this time only using images taken from my cell phone (which is just an LG Rumor2: nothing fancy). Since I don't carry around my camera, I think the pictures taken on my phone will be able to capture the essence of my day or at least just a moment in it. (Or, as I'm doing today, I'll capture it with a past photo to reminisce a bit.)

I'm beginning with one that I took a while back while shopping at a mall pet store. When I approached these little babies, I didn't notice at first just how many there were. If they weren't all bunched up in the corner like that, they probably could've easily taken up the entire span of that tank's floor. I don't know how anyone else would feel about this. Sad? Don't really care? But I was pretty terrified.

the deaf kids get birds

Kind of a weird display for a college campus.

bad service, good muffin

According to the signs in front of the muffins, only coffee cake and some other unappealing flavor were being offered today, so I ordered coffee cake only to be looked at like I was dumb. Then, after my unpleasant experience with the student cashier, I began eating my tumor muffin and it was banana nut! Good thing I'm not allergic either of those ingredients. Those guys better watch their backs.

free mohawks.

My favorite part about this image can't really be seen on here too easily since the picture is so small. However, the sign on the right was to promote Club Hockey. Throughout the day they gave "free mohawks" to students on campus. (yeah, I dunno)

Tent tied to a pole

WOOPS I've been slacking. I really would like to

start posting as much as possible. Unfortunately, it's been a busy start to the school year.

This picture is from summer in Rochester, NY.

(bitter)sweet

Steve came to visit me yesterday and brought flowers. :)

Rosco.

I just don't understand his appeal.

(this picture looks real crappy big.)

no bras, only guineas.

Eventually, I'll start actually taking a daily photograph. I saw one today at Victoria's Secret, where I work, that I wanted so badly. Right now, for our new bra launch, we have this huge promo poster of 4 of the company's models. This small boy, probably age 4 or so, was just standing underneath it staring so intently for quite a while. Unfortunately, I was working and didn't have my camera. Oh well...maybe next time.

As a replacement photograph, I am using one I took of my baby guinea pig, Owen, a few weeks ago.

rear deer

I spotted this lovely automotive decoration on a Winter day at Mosquito Lake in Cortland, Ohio.

First of many to come...

Originally, I claimed I'd continue my blog and post pictures frequently, but that obviously didn't happen. The idea didn't seem like much of an undertaking, but as my hours increased at work, I became less motivated. I also pretty much stopped taking pictures. Therefore, I decided I will post one picture daily. It may be one I've taken in the past that I've never used for anything, or a brand new one. Either way, I feel this will help me continue delving in the practice since I won't be taking any photography classes.

My first daily photograph is one taken in Rockport, Massachusetts. where I travelled at the beginning of August for a wedding.

days 7 & 8, london

When our train arrived in London early in the morning, we boarded a bus right away and began a tour of the city. We made stops at Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral, as well as driving over the Tower Bridge, past Big Ben and the Parliament building, and also by Buckingham Palace among the rest of the city. After the tour, we went to our hotel to drop off our bags, then our entire tour group (54 people) jumped on the tube (London Underground) to the center of the city, where we took a short walking tour. After this, we had the next day and a half for free time. My group went to many museums, roamed the city, rode the London Eye, and once again, took tons of photographs during our final time in the British Isles. The last night in London we saw Wicked, which I'd previously seen in Chicago, but was a nice way to end the trip. I wish I would've had even more time in London, as I didn't get to see everything I wanted. I guess that just means I'll have to go back!

Our flights home went fairly well, only experiencing small delays. We arrived back in Rochester around 11:30 PM on Thursday night, June 18th. I took SO many photos throughout the trip, I can't even begin to guess a number. Although I'm still trying to adapt to the time change, 3 days later, and have a cold on top of that, the trip has already become one of my favorite memories. I got to meet so many new people and explore places I might never otherwise have the chance to see. I'd go back in a heartbeat.

St. Paul's Cathedral

mmm, London fish & chips! (and St. Paul's Cathedral in background)

coming out of the London Underground

in Trafalgar Square, looking at Big Ben

really cool place along the Thames covered in graffiti, where there were tons of skateboarders

group of some of the RIT and UCM students and professors in the London Eye

on the London Eye, looking out at the city

me on the Eye, with Big Ben and the Parliament Building

day 6, edinburgh

Our one day in Scotland began with a tour similar to the one in Dublin, except with a native of Edinburgh. Along this tour, we visited Edinburgh Castle. This day was very overcast, but we were lucky enough for the rain to hold off while we were outside at this castle. After leaving the castle, we had free time for the rest of the day. Both the RIT group and the group from Missouri traveling with us decided to visit the Camera Obscura and Museum of Visual Illusions along the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. The museum was a lot of fun and we ended up spending most of our free time there. After leaving the museum, we walked around the rainy streets for a bit, stopping in lots of shops. We met up with our group at a certain time and had a Chinese buffet for dinner, then had a bit more free time before we had to catch our night train to London. The night train was QUITE an experience, to say the least. I've never been in a room so small in my life! I didn't remember to capture a picture, but I was able to find one online, which I posted below.

view from cannon at Edinburgh Castle

a self-portrait in the Museum of Visual Illusions

typical street in Edinburgh (everything in the city is made of stone)

another street view of Edinburgh

Again, this is not my photo, I found it online, but this is what our rooms looked like in the sleeper car to London. Whoever took this photo was likely standing in the doorway of the room. To the left, there is no more room than is shown. That's pretty much the ENTIRE room!

day 5 of touring, lake district

The Lake District in England, just like North Wales, is a gorgeous place. This was another relaxing day. We began at the former house of poet William Wordsworth, then drove into the town of Grasmere where we spent the afternoon looking around the town, shopping, and of course, photographing. That night, at a hotel in Scotland, our tour group played a huge, intense game of capture the flag. At first, I really didn't want to play, but our tour guide convinced us to play just one game. I ended up getting really into the game, and lasted quite a while, to my surprise. I sure slept well that night, despite the fact that our hotel was supposably haunted.

looking out William Wordsworth's bedroom window (not a bad view...)

sitting in Wordsworth's chair, in which he supposably wrote many of his famous poems

chairs at a house in the Lake District

one of the many rivers in the town of Grasmere

too bad the streets of Rochester don't look like those in Grasmere

day 4, north wales

Day 4 was probably my favorite day of the entire trip. The day started out very, very early, as we had to catch a ferry from Dublin to North Wales. Once we arrived in Wales, we stopped in a small town that had the longest name I've ever seen. I tried counting the letters of the name on a sign but lost count at 56. I'm not even going to begin to post the name, so I'll just post a picture of the town's name instead, haha. After we left the long-name town, we visited the town of Beaumaris on the isle of Anglesey in North Wales and it was stunningly beautiful. The gorgeous weather definitely intensified the beauty of this place, but even so, it really was breathtaking (and so relaxing!). I genuinely consider Beaumaris Castle to be one of my favorite places I've ever been. After taking pictures inside the castle, we explored the town and coast of Beaumaris for the remainder of the afternoon. That night, the RIT group minus our professor walked around the small town in England in which we were staying. We just kept walking, photographing, and laughing and weren't paying attention where we were going and ended up getting lost for quite a while. It turns out we really weren't lost at all, as our hotel was only two minutes from where we were when we asked for directions.

It may be hard to see in this small photo, but the very long word across the red sign is the name of the first town we stopped in.

gorgeous ruins of Beaumaris Castle

another part of Beaumaris Castle, looking out at the water and mountains (this does not do justice to the view!)

me on the beach in Beaumaris

part of the town of Beaumaris along the coast

day 3, dublin

Our third day was spent in the city of Dublin, Ireland. We began with a three-hour tour of the city with a woman who has lived in Dublin her entire life. While on the tour, we stopped for a while at St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was beautiful. The tour ended at Trinity College, where we saw the Book of Kells. It was so cool to see such an ancient manuscript! Afterwards, we had free time for the rest of the day in the city. I spent the day with my roommate Taylor, and the only boy from RIT who went on the trip, Alex. The three of us walked around the city and photographed for the remainder of the day. We saw some pretty interesting things, including the drunkest woman I've ever seen dancing to some street band's performance and the "bog bodies" at the National Museum of Ireland. These a

ncient bodies (I mean, ANCIENT! from B.C. times) were discovered in some bog in Ireland and were very well preserved. It was so creepy, one of them still had hair on his head! We spent two nights at a very nice hotel and actually ended up in a two-bedroom apartment with a full kitchen. The 6 girls from RIT therefore got to spend the night all together, so we had a lot of fun getting to know each other better in Dublin.

Georgian architecture doors common to Ireland

inside St. Patrick's cathedral

again inside St. Patrick's

flower vendor in the city streets

the woman in red is the drunk woman I referred to above, but I chose to show this picture to show how different a typical Irish band is than one you'd find playing in American city streets

in the Temple Bar area of Dublin (this is what most of the streets looked like in the city)

day 2, blarney & cashel

The second day of actual touring began in Blarney. At the Blarney Castle, I did lean backwards to kiss the Blarney Stone, therefore receiving the "Gift of the Gab". Irish ruins are sacred and aren't demolished like those in our country. So many beautiful ruins exist throughout the countryside, including these castles. Its just amazing to think of the history of these castles and ruins. After visiting the Blarney Castle, we stopped for a one-hour break on our way to Dublin at a town called Cashel. In this town, at the site of Cashel Rock, is the legendary origin of the emergence of the shamrock as the symbol of Ireland. During a baptism here, St. Patrick plucked a shamrock out of the ground to explain the mystery of the trinity (or something like this-I may be slightly incorrect, but that's what I remember!) Part of these ruins, therefore, include the original St. Patrick's Cathedral, which dates back to the 14th century.

This might be able to see because the photo is so small, but the legs in the center are those of the girl who is kissing the Blarney Stone. In order to do so, you have to lay down, hold your hands behind your head to the two bars that are attached to the side, and lean backwards to kiss the stone.

This is a view from the ground looking up at Blarney Castle. Although it may be hard to tell in this small photo, the opening at the top 3rd from the left (almost in the center) is where the Blarney Stone is located. When the photograph is bigger, you can make out the form of a person kissing the stone.

ruins in the Irish countryside

Rock of Cashel

panoramic view from the top of Cashel Rock (looks better when larger)