SAP Open February 15, 2009

These are my favorites! Hope you like them.

And my real heroes :-)

BASEBALL!!!!

Today I went to one our baseball team's intrasquad games today to get in some practice - and some pictures of the new kids. The sun kept peeking in and out of the clouds so the lighting was constantly changing, but I think I got some good shots. Monique had been telling me about some cool shots that the team's other photographer got so I decided to play around with the open seats. Let me know what you think!!

RHP Mark McCain I love this picture, even if it can't be used in a guide...

RHP Andrew Mintun

RHP Corey Khonke

More of Mark

More of Corey

RHP David Hovey and his awesome sidearm action

He's very intense:

Artsy... and I like it.

Ok as far as composition this picture is horrible since it cuts off Jaime's head and feet, but I still love it!

Thoughts??

"Me, You, and My Medication"

Twenty Questions (answered by your music playlist)

I stole this from Monique and I like music surveys so here it goes!

The rules (every civilization needs them): Put your music player on shuffle-Skip to the next random song to get your answer for each question...-Write it down. No Cheating!!

How would you describe your personality?
Just don't tell me that - N*SYNC

What is your best quality?
Skull and Crossbones - Pirates soundtrack

What do you look for in a lover?
No Air - Jordan Sparks (WTF? lol!)

What is your life's motto?
Giving it all away - Ashlee Simpson

What do you think about all the time?
I do (Cherish you) - 98 Degrees

What do other people think of you?
Move along - The All American Rejects (gee, thanks)

What do you like to do when no one is around?
369 - Cupid (good dance song, I love to dance when no one around)

What is your favorite hobby/interest?
Enter Sandman - Metallica

What is your biggest secret?
Holly Wood Died - Yellowcard

What is your life story?
Fired up - Jessica Simpson

How will you die?
The God that failed - Metallica

What will they play at your funeral?
Untitled - The All American Rejects

What is the one thing you regret?
Carry you - Jimmy Eat World

If you could go back in time, what would you change?
Whoa - Paramore

What makes you laugh?
Five minutes to midnight - Boys Like Girls

What makes you cry?
She's my Winona - Fall Out Boy

What scares you the most?
Your guardian angel - The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

What's the worst thing that could happen?
The patron saint of liars and fakes - Fall Out Boy

What is the meaning of life?
Breathing - Yellowcard

What title will you give this post?
Me, you, and my medication - Boys Like Girls

Thanks Mo, this was a great survey!

EDITED TO ADD: When Matt and I did the survey for him, when asked "what do you look for in a lover" it came up with "Brown Eyed Girl" which is has been my ringtone in Matt's phone since I met him :-) (all together now: AWWWWW!!!!)

More of the dogs...

Monique made me realize that I should introduce you to the best dog models ever. These dogs are all brothers from the same litter and are about a year and a half old right now. They are HUGE but full of love, and what cracks me up is the fact that they all have very different personalities. So here they are:

This is Cooper. He is a lot like our dog Charlie, only a yellow lab. He is playful, wants to please everyone, and gets really jealous when the other dogs are getting attention. He is a beautiful dog and I just love his coloring. He also happened to be my best model this weekend which made Matt and his mom laugh most of the afternoon - they couldn't believe that they would sit so still while the camera was pointed at them but the second I took it off them they would go crazy!

**PLEASE NOTE: A lot of these pictures were taken without me looking through the viewfinder. As soon as I could crouch down to get a shot the dogs would run at me to say hi, so I would just bend over and take my best shot at aiming the camera at the dogs. Most of them came out which I was very excited about!



This is Amus. He's my favorite of the three (shhhh, don't tell). He is shy, slightly territorial, and ironically he's the most dominant of the three brothers. Can't tell by this picture huh? I love his white coat and his super dark nose. I feel like he's always smiling at me. He doesn't approach everyone so I feel really special when he runs up to me wagging his tail. He follows me around every time I'm there and I just fall in love with him all over again. He and I have actually fallen asleep on one of the lounge chairs and he made sure to keep a paw on me at all times to know when I moved and to protect me. I love love Amus :-)


And this is Gus. He is a total Moose, as he was the first one to reach 100 lbs. He has a lighter color nose and big hazel eyes. He's always been squishy and super big but he's a complete dork. He's also the easiest to identify - Cooper and Amus are more difficult to distinguish between the two. He loves to play and run with the other boys, but he somehow overpowers the dominant brother (Amus) and manages to get the most amount of food... obviously. He's a big love bug and I absolutely adore him. I just have to stay on level ground because he will push me down the hill if he's not paying attention! (Look at the frown in this picture!! They had done a lot of running and digging at this point so they were a little pooped out)


These are just some fun ones. Can you see Cooper getting up to run at me? I love how his ears flipped up!
Yup, this picture was taken straight down to my feet. They were at my feet all day! I loved it :-)

This picture just cracks Matt up. Amus wouldn't leave my side and for some reason he had his ears flipped back in this shot and he's got the goofiest face ever. He just looks so happy and it makes me laugh when I see it.

2 of 2: Doggies!

Yes I call them doggies. The same way I call "horses" - horsies. I always have, always will! Today was Matt's mother's birthday and although we all felt horrible from the colds we can't seem to shake, we spent a few hours at their house to give her a gift and have some food before heading back to Stockton. While I was there I took some pictures of their three labs as I always do. The weather was AMAZING out there - I was warm and cozy with a t-shirt and jeans and the sun was absolutely beautiful. I did get a few lens-flare pictures which was very cool, but I wanted to play with them a little bit. Here's what I came up with:

BEFORE:
AFTER:

Cool, right? Anyway, it wasn't the best thing ever, but I thought it gave the sky a nice color and texture, so I like it. Here were a few others I liked (taken all on manual mode in RAW):

1 of 2: I love sports

I woke up at 5am this morning. By choice. I know, I know... I'm crazy. A friend needed a ride to the airport so Matt and I drove him to Sacramento at 6am. Before going to pick him up, Matt and I watched the very end of the Federer vs. Nadal final of the Australian Open. I have to say, I wasn't a fan of tennis until my brother started playing. Apparently for me to like something I have to feel like I'm involved, so there you go. Anyway I've never exactly been a fan of Nadal, but Roger Federer has seriously grown on me. I could never put my finger on why that is, until this morning. Federer lost the match this morning in 5 sets and he was a very very good loser. He congratulated Nadal for a well played match, that he deserved to win. All of this, of course, came in his second speech as the first one didn't go well. He couldn't stop tearing up and trying to catch his breath. This is when I realized why I like Roger Federer, and sports in general.

I couldn't tell why Federer was crying. He was obviously sad about losing the match, but Nadal wasn't crying with happy tears over winning. Then I figured it out: passion. I love sports because it involves passion and those who play for money and not passion do not get, nor do they deserve, my support. Roger Federer could not contain his emotion after a very difficult match and yet couldn't stop congratulating Federer. Now there's an athlete I can support. I now realize that this is why I love any sport. I love my A's because they've always been a fun-loving team. They make it fun for the fans and they have no problem making a fool of themselves to make the catch in a game or make a commercial that leaves me laughing (the dobermans were my favorite). I like Roger Federer because he can show emotion and compassion at the end of a very long week of tough matches. Even when he loses he has nothing but nice things to say about his opponent, and you can tell he really means it. I don't see that from Nadal.

So thank you, Roger Federer, for making things so clear to me. I really hope I get to see you play live one year, and you better believe I will scream until I get your autograph. Because I'm that cool.

So how about that Super Bowl today, huh? WOW.