Los Gatos, CA | Photo by Mom

Here's something I never expected to happen when I started blogging all those years ago: I love taking photos. Not "having photos taken" - I mean, I love that occasionally, but other times it's something that I do because I have a post I'm excited to write and, well, I'm right there, making the most convenient model to illustrate said post...me. It's fun sometimes, and embarrassing sometimes (okay, a lot), but I always love shooting other people. LOVE. Like these photos of our trip to the LACMA? And these? So much fun to take (I'm referring, of course, to the shots in those posts that I'm not in).

I didn't really used to love photographing friends, because it made me nervous: I felt pressure to give the person I was taking a photo of the image that they "wanted," and didn't feel like I was an especially good photographer...but I don't know what happened. Either I feel better about my ability level now, or I've gotten better at making people feel comfortable in front of my camera, or maybe it's a bit of both - because taking photos is without question one of my favorite things to do.

If you had asked me a few years ago if I liked Los Angeles, you would have gotten massive eye-rolls and "GOD NO"s. But you know what I realized, once I had a little distance from the place (like six years' worth) and started visiting again, just to spend time with my friends and family who live there?

I love Los Angeles.

I hated it when I lived there because I was miserable, not because the place is miserable.

Soooo I just got back from a weekend in LA - I drove down with Indy to see Paige and Francesca and to spend time with my dad (sidenote: although I very much enjoy road trips, WOW is interstate 5 extremely long and not very interesting when you're the one doing all the driving) - and now I'm back and have all this fun stuff to write about, but I just found out that I have to go to New York right now for work. Like, right now (the car to the airport just pulled up outside my place, so let's forgive any typos this morning because #gottago).

So in the meantime, here are ridiculous photos that we took on Saturday night (also pictured: RG reader and new friend Cassidy), just because.

See you in the city!

Lately, Kendrick has been picking up items of my clothing, holding them out in front of himself, and asking me why I am putting something on my body that was clearly created for a person who is approximately three feet tall and four feet wide.

I don't really have a good explanation for this. ...They're comfortable? ...I enjoy the pillowcase look, generally?

Take this dress, for example. Sure, it looks a little like it was custom-made for The Phantom Tollbooth's Officer Shrift (very wide, very short), but oooh is it ever cozy. And sure, the length requires you to be constantly vigilant about things like gusts of winds and occasions requiring you to lift your arms above your head, but hey: I like living a little dangerously. (Also, let me acknowledge the fact that it appears that I am wearing a shirt without pants here - because I am aware that it does - by letting you know that it states on the website where said shirt is being sold that it is an actual dress. See? Right here, in the super-tiny, super-pale print wayyyy down there on the page under "Features.")