First stop, Bangkok

Wow! I can't believe I have already been back for over a week.

Thailand was amazing. I loved every minute of my time there!

Bangkok was our first stop. We arrived super late on a Saturday night. I was exhausted, but so excited about being there. It was my first time and I just kept wondering what this place looked like in the daylight. We were picked up and driven to our hotel. Once we checked in, we passed out.

The next morning, we had breakfast at our hotel and then got directions to the nearest Sky Train station. Our plan was to go to the Chatuchak Market. It is a weekend market that is the size of a small town. We hopped on the Sky Train and headed to the market. The place was very crowded. We started walking around the market and I felt so overwhelmed. I didn't know which way to go. They had just about anything you could ever want though, and the prices were amazing. I saw so many things I wanted to get, but they were too big for my suitcase or I had no idea what I would do with it once I got it home. It was hot and there were stalls after stalls after stalls. It's almost dizzying. We didn't stay very long, but we made sure we picked up some fruit on the way out.

After we left the market, we headed for the MBK Mall. We wanted to check out the mall, but the main reason we were going there was because I knew that the Hard Rock Cafe was near the MBK. As I mentioned before, I have a thing for the Hard Rock Cafe.

After a fabulous lunch, we headed for MBK Mall. I have to say that it was a little overwhelming when I first walked into the mall. It wasn't like any of the malls I have ever been to. There were stalls of vendors everywhere. It was like a flea market mall. I went up to the sixth floor and it was like a mini Chatuchak Market! Everyone was pretty tired though so we didn't spend a whole lot of time at the mall. We spent the rest of the day relaxing.

For the next two days we hired a driver and a guide. I wanted to see the Grand Palace, Reclining Buddha, Wat Arun, and the floating market. Those were on my list of things that I HAD to do while I was in Bangkok. If you don't have a whole lot of time, I suggest you skip the Grand Palace and just go to the Reclining Buddha and Wat Arun. Grand Palace is nice, but I absolutely loved the Reclining Buddha and Wat Arun. They were my favorites!

The floating market was also a very unique experience. If you go, you have to try the coconut pancakes.

I think for the Grand Palace, Reclining Buddha, and Wat Arun You probably don't have to have a guide. I'm glad we did because we had two children and when they got tired, they were able to rest in the van with the driver while we continued to look around. Our guide was also very good about pointing things out to us while we were driving around. So, for me, I would go with a guide and a driver. Especially if you have children. The floating market is pretty far out so it definitely made it easier to have a guide and a driver. The kids napped in the back on the way there and on the way back.

Also, be careful of the cabs. Make sure they turn their meter on. We just had our hotel call us one if we needed one. We didn't have any problems at all, but have heard many horror stories from other people who have had issues. Don't ever go anywhere in a cab during rush hour. We were told by quite a few people, but one of the hotel employees said we should take a cab and we told him we were concerned about the traffic. He said there would be some traffic, but it should still only take about 45 minutes to an hour. Ummmm.....no. It took over two hours. We finally got out of the cab and walked the rest of the way. We were super late for our dinner reservations, but luckily the restaurant wasn't fully booked for the evening. Oh, and it only took 25 minutes to get back to our hotel! Yup. Don't do it. Don't get in a cab during rush hour traffic.

This is the traffic during rush hour and it DOES NOT move. Really.

If you have time, you should also check out the Sky Bar. The drinks are kind of pricey, but you're paying for the view. And it's worth every baht! It's a little scary, but it was also so beautiful. Just don't look down.

Our time in Bangkok went by pretty quickly, but I was ready to go when it came time for us to head up to Chiang Mai. As much as I enjoyed Bangkok, I think once is enough for me. I couldn't wait to get to Chiang Mai! We had so many activities planned for Chiang Mai! You'll have to read about everything we did in my next post.

Preparing for our Thailand trip

Wow! It's been a while since I posted. I told myself I would post on a regular basis and keep this blog alive. Somehow, life always has a way of taking me away from my computer. Not exactly a bad thing I guess.

We are days away from leaving for Thailand, and I can hardly stand it. I'm so excited! My friends are probably sick of seeing my countdown posts on Facebook. In about 72 hours, we will be on our way to the airport.

With all of the things we have planned for us while we are in Thailand, I'm a little concerned about how exhausted we will all be when we get back. But then I quickly tell myself how ridiculous I am for worrying about such a thing. I mean. Come on. We're going to THAILAND. I have never been there, and who knows if I'll ever make it there again (I'd rather spend my money travelling to places I have yet to visit - and my list is very long). I have to see everything I can see while I am there. AND I have to take an insane number of pictures!

We will spend a few days in Bangkok before heading up to Chiang Mai. We plan on hitting the Chatuchak weekend market on our first day in Bangkok. The Grand Palace and Wat Arun are on the schedule for Monday. Then, on Monday night J and I have reservations for dinner at Sirocco. If you've seen Hangover II (hilarious movie!), then you've seen Sirocco. The view is absolutely amazing, and the famous Sky Bar is also located there. Hope the food is as good as the view because it is PRICEY. On Tuesday we will head to one of the floating markets (one of my requests). I don't know what my fascination with floating markets in Thailand is all about, but I always told myself that if I go to Thailand I HAVE to check out a floating market. We also plan on catching a movie while we are there (heard the movie theaters there are pretty awesome), and we have to hit the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner one night. I have this ridiculous love for Hard Rock Cafes. No matter where I go, if there is a Hard Rock Cafe, I have lunch or dinner there at least once. I have already checked out the Hard Rock Cafe in Bangkok, and I'm excited about having dinner there.

After a few days in Bangkok, we will board a plane (hopefully not a super tiny one) and head up to Chiang Mai. Now this is where my exhaustion concern is thrown into high gear. We have reservations to visit the Tiger Kingdom, do a zip line (all day) tour, visit an elephant home (all day), and possible do an ATV tour. I would also love to visit the famous Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai if I can squeeze it in somehow. Oh. And we are staying right by the Night Market so I'm sure we'll be out and about in the evenings too.

Once we have had as much fun as one could possibly have after four full days in Chiang Mai, we will begin our trek back to Japan. We have to leave Chiang Mai the day before our flight departs Bangkok because our flight to Japan departs at 6am. So we will spend one last night in Bangkok. Near the airport.

In preparation for this trip, I have purchased a camera backpack (ridiculously huge), a camera messenger bag (I refuse to haul the backpack every day), two extra memory cards (did I mention I have to take an INSANE number of pictures??), a small tripod (not sure if I will even use it...), an adapter so I can download my pics every night to my iPad, and I ordered a new camera strap (supposed to be more comfy than my stock Nikon strap). I don't think my camera strap will get here in time, but one can hope.

I think I'm all set for my trip. Passport. Camera. Camera accessories. Money. Excitement. Yep. I'm all set.

SO....what happened?

I guess I kinda left everything hanging. After a couple of sleepless nights for me, and maybe some thought for him....I think we are going to give it one more try. I know I need to understand Autism better and really let things roll off my back. Not always an easy thing for anyone to do, but I can certainly try my best. Things have been better in the home. I'm trying to be more understanding (and I am succeeding), and he has been nicer to me too. I see lots of good days in our future, and the best part...I'm not afraid of the bad days anymore.

We are still planning our Thailand trip and we are all super excited about it. I can't wait to use and abuse my camera! I am also looking forward to ten days away with J and his boys!! :)

Okay. Hopefully no more drama for a long time. :)

The bran muffins I made yesterday were a BIG hit with my parents and Corey. Corey ate one as soon as he got into my car and then.....he snuck another one while I was driving. That bugger! I told my dad on him though. Serves him right. Oh. Corey is my youngest child. I have two boys. Thomas is 24 and is in the Air Force. He lives in the states. Corey is 21 and he lives in Japan. Corey and I go to my parents on Sundays to have lunch with them a couple of times a month. I'm very fortunate to live so close to my parents, and to have my youngest still living in the area. Anyway, as soon as we to got to my parents I told my dad that Corey ate TWO of his muffins. I know. I'm horrible. I just like to get my dad going.

After three...or was it four??......days of rain and gloom, I woke up to beautiful blue skies and sunshine this morning! Woohoo!!! Ohhhhh Mr. Sun, how I've missed you. Could you please stick around for a little while? We are going to take the boys to the Aquas Aquarium in Hamada today and if time permits, we are going to check out Hamada Beach. Yes. I will be taking my camera with me. I think I will even try out my new polarizer filter.

Bran Muffin recipe from Heidi Swanson

I just bought a new cookbook by Heidi Swanson titled, "super natural every day". I am really serious about eating better and I love her website 101 Cookbooks so I figured her cookbook had to be pretty awesome. It is.

I have been looking for a good bran muffin recipe for a while now and I think I have finally found it! These turned out so light and they taste great. I did use oats instead of bran cereal because I didn't have any bran cereal, but they still taste really good. I had mine with some butter slathered on it, and J put strawberry preserves on his. Yummy! I think next time, I will put butter AND strawberry preserves on mine!

Okay....

Here is one of my non-photography posts.

Hey. I warned you.

I was hoping for a drama free blog, but sometimes.....life happens.
Unfortunately, sometimes it's not good.

I currently live with my boyfriend and his two children. He is one of most wonderful men I have ever met. He's kind, patient, funny, and very goofy. His boys are great too. The oldest is a teenager so sometimes we see that teenage attitude come out, but he really is a great kid. The youngest is a whole different story. He has been diagnosed with high functioning autism.He's great to be around when he is having a good day, but sometimes when he has bad days....it's really bad.

I try not to let it get to me when he says mean things or when he is rude to me,but sometimes I am not able to "just let it go". Last Wednesday was one of those days. We were supposed to go to dinner and as we were getting ready to leave, I heard it. "Why does SHE have to go?! Why can't we just go without HER?" He continued on to say how he wanted a guys dinner. Then I heard him say, "Why does SHE have to live here?!" I had reached my limit. I walked away and told them to just go. My boyfriend followed me and tried to get me to go, but I was so pissed and hurt. For the next few days, I behaved very badly. I hardly spoke to anyone in the house. I avoided them and stayed away or stayed in my bedroom. I know. Very childish of me. I am not proud of how I behaved. I was so angry and so hurt though. He says this almost every time we are going to go somewhere. I just get so tired of hearing it.

My boyfriend had reached his limit with me and the way I was dealing with this situation. I think he has been giving it a lot of thought for a little while now.
On Sunday morning, he broke up with me. I was kind of surprised, but I think I also
knew it was coming.

The strange thing about it is that he still wants us all to go to Thailand together. We have been planning our trip to Thailand since February and we leave in about a month. Am I crazy in thinking that would be a little.....uncomfortable? Or awkward?
I have offered to just cancel my portion of the reservation. The boys are very excited about going so he and the boys should go and enjoy it. He says he really wants me to go. That we can go and still have a great time together. Then what? What happens when we get back? So, my plan was to just call the airlines and see what I needed to do to cancel myself from the reservation.

My cell rang a little bit after I got to work. It was him. He says I should wait until he gets back (he had to go out of town for a couple of days). He wants us to talk about everything again. Maybe there is a way for us to make this work. So....yep, you guessed it. I told him I would wait until we talked before I did anything drastic with my reservations.

To be continued.....

Playing with my camera

So, my brother is in a band. Or...I guess I should say he was in a band. Last night was his last gig for a while. Since it was his last, I really wanted to go and listen. I also wanted to get some pictures of him and his band so I took my camera along.

I didn't have my large flash with me so I upped my ISO and just went for it. Without a flash! I took lots of pictures and quite a few of them were blurry. It's hard to hold your hand still! I was pretty happy with the way some of them turned out. The lighting was pretty cool. When I uploaded the pictures to my computer this morning, I was pretty proud of myself. I actually got a few good shots.

Then I thought I better change my ISO setting back o 200 and when I looked at my settings I realized .......I had forgotten to change the white balance setting. Ugh. So...my pictures could have been even better?? Aaahhhh....

Oh well. Live and learn. I am still pretty happy with how some of them turned out. The picture I'm attaching to this post is one of my favorite ones.

My other passion right now..

I think I mentioned I would be blogging about things that didn't have anything to do with photography. I was wrong. I had to think about how I wanted to take this picture of the Agave Nectar that I got in the mail today. Then I had to change my ISO setting so I wouldn't have to use a flash. I think it turned out okay. See? It kinda does pertain to photography...and taking care of myself. So I can continue to take pictures and blog about them.

I am on this kick lately. Well, I hope it's not just a "kick". I hope I stick with this for the rest of my life.

I was really good about going to the gym until about 7 months ago. I don't know what happened...call it laziness, or maybe I got a little burned out...I don't know. What I do know is that I gained a ridiculous amount of weight during the last 7 months. I can't fit into any of my clothes. I feel fat. I'm disgusted with myself. How did I let it get to this point? I needed to do something about it.

I started going back to the gym. I bought a bike. I had images of myself riding that bike all over the place. Ummm, yeah...the traffic is pretty bad around here and it makes me very nervous to ride on the busy roads. So I haven't been on too many rides. It's okay though because I am going to the gym.

Going to the gym is not enough though. I need to eat better too. So I ordered some new cookbooks. One of them is a about eating natural. I absolutely love it! However, I live on a small military base in Japan. The commissary does not carry over half of the ingredients in the cookbook. So I started searching online for these ingredients. I couldn't find everything at one site so I had to order from three different sites. A little frustrating, but I am glad I found some sites that would ship to an FPO address.

I'm sure you're wondering what's up with the Agave Nectar. Well, one of my concerns is with white sugar. I have been trying to cut it out of my diet completely, but it's so hard when a lot of packaged food items contain sugar in some form. I researched online and found that Agave Nectar is a great natural sugar that can be used in place of white sugar. And it's better for you! I'm finding that I am going to have to bake a lot of my own muffins and breads if I want to avoid white sugars completely. I am also going to have to make my own granola. I needed the Agave Nectar though so I ordered some and have been anxiously awaiting its arrival. I was SO happy when I got the box! I can't wait to do some baking with it this weekend!!

And so it begins....

I finally started taking photography classes AND I am interning with a very talented photographer. I am so excited! This base has never had anyone like her before. She offers classes, takes other photographers under her wings, arranges outings for people to practice photography, and she is arranging photography tours. My first class with her was last Saturday and I feel like I have learned so much already! She talked about ISO settings and white balance and JPEG versus RAW. Our first class was about shooting Macro shots so we headed to Kintai to practice in the beautiful rose garden there. I took so many pictures! While I am not sure if I completely get the concept of Macro, I sure did have a blast practicing! :)

Afterwards, a few of us drove down to the Kudamatsu Sports Park and practiced some more on the beautiful poppies that were growing there. The very first picture is one that I took of the poppies....with a bee! I was trying so hard to get a picture of the bee, but he did not want to stay still. I didn't think I had been able to get a picture of the little bugger at all, but there he was when I was looking at my pictures on the computer. The second picture is one that I took in the rose garden at Kintai. I absolutely love the color of the flower.

I know I have a lot to learn, but I am SO excited to finally learn more about something that I have loved for so long!