Inga Visits!

I had the great pleasure of hosting one of my most dear friends last week! Ingeborg made a stop in Orlando on her backpacking trip along the southern US states on her way to Phoenix! It was amazing to see a friend from Australia (we were flat mates over there in Spring 2008 during our study abroad trips; she's from Norway). Of course we had kept in touch, but we hadn't seen one another in the flesh in 18 months! It was amazing to catch up with her in person. Here is the link to the full photo album.

We had something fun to do every day of her stay. Here's the run-down on our little adventure together:

Friday night: Inga arrives; we stay up way too late talking about EVERYTHING; we eat lemon poppy seed muffins with butter and jam; I unwrap all the little presents she brought me from Norway; we gorge on all the candies included in said presents; we have fun speaking "Norway-English," haha; we agree to sleep in the next morning.



Saturday: we slept in; she blogged about her travel to the US while I went for a run; we had pot pies for lunch (her first time having one; she's a fan); she made great friends with Ashes; and we went out for NORWAY NIGHT!



Several of my good friends from the book club joined us in showing Inga Downtown Orlando! We hit Latitudes (to get started), The Lodge (Inga's favorite), and Eye Spy (heaps of dancing); then we capped the evening with some good ole Jimmy John's (another first for Inga).



Sunday: met some folks from the book club for brunch at Hue, downtown. It was quite tasty, but took longer than anticipated, and so we were running behind time to get to the book club at Stardust. I was able to inform Inga of the book we were reading for January in time that she could read it, so she had fun taking part in the discussion with us. We had several new faces at both the brunch and the book club, but Inga was dubbed the "honorary, global book clubber," haha! After the book club we strolled around Lake Eola.



Monday: I had to work; Inga had a nice, lazy day. That evening we were originally planning to go to my Orlando Camera Club meeting to learn about HDR, but we got sucked into a shopping mode and hit Ulta and Ross that evening. We got a little crazy with our nail polish selections! So many to choose from! For dinner I took Inga to Panera.

Tuesday: I worked again, and Inga had another relaxing day. That evening I took a nap while she read, then we went to the California Pizza Kitchen for dinner. After CPK we went downtown, in formal-wear, mind you, to celebrate Joel's birthday at The Citrus Club on the top floor of the BB&T building downtown. It was really elegant, and we had fun chit chatting with Joel and his friend, Dennis. Happy birthday, Joel!



Wednesday: Again, work for me; Inga had a lazy morning; I brought home Jersey Mike's Subs for lunch, then she went to Waterford and I went back to work. That evening we lounged for a bit before going to Urban Flats for some flat bread, live music and she had some wine (as I was driving). Afterwards we went to Borders where I picked up the February book club book and she found a cool iPod case.

At one point through the week I took Inga to The Marble Slab. She was blown away by the concept, haha! She had a crazy concoction, but it really wasn't too bad, less the York Peppermint Patties, haha!



Thursday: after work Inga and I went to Amigo's for dinner where I ate entirely too much, too quickly, haha. Inga picked up heaps of goodies for the pre-screening of the movie "Dear John" that Joel got us tickets for. Ryan met up with us, too, and we camped out for an hour to get excellent seats in the theatre. I didn't cry, though my eyes got a little dewy. Inga cried, I'm pretty sure. We felt the movie was okay, and preferred "The Notebook." Fun time, nonetheless!

Friday: I took the day off to spend a full day with Inga. Ryan hooked us up with some good deals to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventures. Ryan was a great "guide" to the parks. We hit up all the good rides and the longest wait, with one exception (the new roller coaster where they play your song during the ride), was 15 minutes! It was unheard of, I tell ya!



After much walking around, snacking, riding and chatting we got back to my apartment just in time for a quick power nap and prep for the Girls' Night I had planned as the last big to-do before Inga left Orlando. I had a few girls from the book club over, and Tiffany. We chatted, snacked on fruit and fondue, drank wine and had a lovely time painting our nails. I have a feeling there will be more Girls' Nights in the future.



Saturday morning we packed up and drove to Gainesville as it was her next stop and it was on my way to Atlanta to pick up Heidi. So we got a couple extra hours together. She DJ'd for me with the iPods. When we got to her hostel we said our goodbye's quickly to avoid bawling. I sure will miss that girl!

Thank you so much, Inga, for visiting! I loved having you in my home and company! Travel safely as you journey to Phoenix!

-Amanda

PS - Here is the link to Inga's travel blog if you're interested in reading (the second half of each post is in English) about her travels in the US.

My First OCC Submission

Tonight my first Orlando Camera Club photo contest submission was critiqued. I submitted to Class B, monochromatic. I scored 85/100. The photo I submitted was taken while on an OCC downtown Orlando architecture tour. In particular, the photo is of a seating area around a statue, just NE of Lake Eola.


"around the bench"

I really love everything (with one exception) about this photo, and, happily enough, the judge seemed to love it, too. The curvature of the bricks is my favorite part, along with "standing guard" air of the benches while they surrounding the brick circle. The one thing that bothered both of us (and others, I'm sure) was that of the silly leafs sitting dead center on the bricks. I wish I'd thought to remove them prior to taking the photo; they're quite distracting.

The black and white turned out to be really nice. The judge commented that it had black blacks and white whites, which is good, because then it's not just a bunch of grays, but actually blacks and whites (more so, anyway).

I'm very satisfied with my first score being an 85. The next contest is an open theme. I'm debating on a few photos from Australia to submit. We shall see.

-Amanda

Schtuff

After a few weeks of uber hot weather (warmer than usual for this time of year), the wet season has begun. I was bummed when my sand volleyball game and practice were canceled this week. Hopefully they don't get rained out again next week!

Mom sent me the photo below. Don't my parents look fantastic?!



Mom, Dad and I after the Indianapolis Mini 500 Half-Marathon


Mom also sent me the photo below of my brother taking care of prom business. Isn't he a stud?!



Sam trying out his prom suit


25 May is the next OCC meeting. I'm excited because Bill Fortney is the guest speaker. I checked out his website and found that he has some amazing work! He also has some good quotes posted throughout his website. Here's one that stuck out to me:



good advice from photographer Bill Fortney's website

I'm in love with The Time Traveler's Wife!!! I can feel that it's going to wind up as one of my very favorite books!

Training at worked concluded today. Turns out that I got a pretty darned good SE education at Purdue during my freshmen and sophomore years. Yay! Who knew I'd wind up using my IS knowledge when I went with the NET side of the house?

After work I went to the gym for a 3 mile run and 25 minutes of cycling. After that I picked up tickets for Tiffany and I to see Angels & Demons tomorrow night. I'm a little nervous about seeing the film because of my recent revelation in my Faith... as far as books and movies go, though, it's probably going to be very good. The book, regardless of my beliefs, was done extremely well and remains a favorite (at least until I reread it, if ever with my huge list of books I want to read for the first time). Anyway, I'm excited to hang out with Tiffany tomorrow.

Saturday I'm running at Baldwin Park with Brandie. I'm hoping to put in 7.5 miles. We'll see. No set plans for Saturday night yet.

-Amanda

OCC Architecture Tour

Saturday I went downtown with the Orlando Camera Club for some photography "phun!" The main goal was to gain some experience in some architecture photography, but we were free to steer away into nature, etc. - whatever tickled our fancy. I met some nice folks in the club who were also out. I think I may be investing in a tripod soon... Anyway, here are some photos from the day. Nothing super impressive, but these are my favorites. Feel free to provide any comments on the photos!


There was a really gorgeous rust-colored wall with an old floor area beside it that had a lot of character. It's a really simple shot, but I like the contrast of the rich wall and the broken-up ground.




This is the area below a window of a little Italian pizza shop. I wish I had a tripod so it would have been perfectly even, but oh, well. another simple shot. I just like the colors in the panes.



A really pretty statue against the blue sky. It reminds me of the snow sculpture i made a few years back, haha!



I like the rounds on these buildings.



I have this thing for trees. I loved the bark on this one and the washed out/blurriness of the leaves above. the bit of trees at the bottom need cropped, though.



A band of buildings downtown, shot from across Lake Eola. The sunrise wasn't spectacular, but the light it added was nice.



Another shot from across Lake Eola, including the fountain and more of the skyline. I like the reflection of the buildings off the lake.



I really like this photo, even with the leaves on the bricks. I like the curvature of the bricks. I might enter this photo in next month's OCC "curves" themed photo contest.



I love the daffodils in this photo, but I wish I'd centered the image with the monument at the end of the flower stretch. I meant for the flowers to be more in the macro and the monument to be a little better positioned and blurred out maybe a little more. Oh, well.


And for the exciting news that I mentioned a couple posts back... I have some upcoming modeling opportunities! There was an OCC announcement of a field trip/workshop of photographing live models, and that made me wonder who I should talk to if I was interested in being a model. Turns out the OCC is always looking for new models! Ta da! The cool thing is that I'm not too experienced, so I don't know how to "work the camera," so to speak, which is the most helpful level of experience for these photographers who are trying to develop their portraiture skills. So it's a win-win; not to mention that there's some money and, possibly, some time-for-prints (to develop a modeling portfolio) involved! I'm excited!

-Amanda

Tiffany & Co.

Saturday night I went out with Tiffany & Co. and had a great time! Since I was already downtown, I beat them to Ember and ordered myself a delicious Cosmopolitan. I grabbed a table, and enjoyed the DJ's music selection of 90s and rock (he's my favorite of the downtown DJs). After while Tiffany & Co. arrived! I met Ben and Josh, and we all kicked things off with. A few rounds later we went to Wall Street; this was my first time to actually enjoy Wall Street (weather-based result as Wall Street is partially outdoors). We went to Sling-a-Pores (spelling?) and hit the dance floor. I hadn't been dancing since Halloween, and if you know me, that's WAY overdue! Ben and I paired up for most of the night, and it was great to get my dancing fix. Around 2 we called it a night. I was sober, so I drove Ben, Tiffany and Matt back home (conveniently enough, we all live in the same complex). On the way home we jammed to my dance mix; everyone was very keen on Call on Me by Eric Prydz, haha! What a fun night!

Here are a couple photos, thanks to Tiffany (I can't believe I didn't take a single photo of my own!). Not sure what I'm doing with my shoulder here. It's looking pretty contorted, but my guess is that I was trying to be more level with the girls as they were all seated. My legs look great, anyway!


the girls: myself, Jordana, Tiffany, Kara


Ben and I on the dance floor

Got this from Adam over in England: team ghosting competition. It's quite entertaining, funny, and creative!

I'm going to try something new here. If you read this and have any favorite meals for one, please email them to me at ambennett86@gmail.com. It took 5 months of cooking for one in the "Real World" to break me down and make me dread grocery shopping (don't worry, I stocked up last night - I was out of cereal, ha). Anyway, I'd like to hear what folks do when they cook for one. It can be anything: recipes, favorite quick meals, something off the wall - I dunno. Whatever. I'll compile it all and put up a post on cooking for one. Wow, this sounds so lame-o, but I think people might find it useful or motivating in small someway. I'm going to call the post "Save a freezer meal. Ride a recipe!"

-Amanda

Random Blurb

Exciting news: Tamara is planning a visit in July! I can't wait to see her beautiful, Australian face! Mom just booked her flight for a visit in July while Dad and the boys are at Sam's wrestling tournament in Fargo! I can't wait to see my Momma again! And! Sam is due for a visit in August! I'm so excited to hang out with my kid brother!

Raven is heading back to the shop tomorrow. Hopefully they'll patch her up properly so she looks like the 5-month-old car she is.

Mom and Dad head out to the Grand Canyon this Friday! I am so happy for them and their big 25th Anniversary celebration! They deserve such an amazing trip like this! I'm also very excited to give them a gift from myself and my brothers. Mom and Dad are going to LOVE it!

I finished 1984 and am now reading The Time Traveler's Wife. I'll post separately on them later.

Sounds like I'll be seeing Angels & Demons with Tiffany & Co. (hehe, I love that) this weekend. It's one of my favorite books, and Tom Hanks can do no wrong. And, speaking of movies, Star Trek was great. The Twitter #annoyatrekkie was hilarious, too, haha. And The Onion's video about how it was actually entertaining was quite funny.

My weekend was fabulous! Friday night Jared and I had dinner at Amigo's - delicious and a step above Maria Bonita's. It was his treat because I was dropping him off and picking him up from the airport on Saturday and Sunday while he was flying home for a surprise Mother's Day visit (he's such a sweet son, isn't he?). After dinner we saw Star Trek, then called it a night. Saturday I took Jared to the airport, had an okay run with the OWR (went out too hard during the first 3 miles then sucked wind the last 3... still finished 2nd, though). Made friends with Brandie, the chick who finished the 6-miler in front of me, hehe, and we're planning a weekend run at Baldwin Park together. She's into some distance running, so I'm really happy we chatted; I'd been wanting a distance running buddy. After the run I met up with Tiffany & Matt at the pool for some basking. After showering up I headed downtown for a photography field trip with the OCC. We did a lot of shots of the city's architecture. The sunset on the skyline wasn't the greatest, but I still got a few nice shots. I'll post about that trip later. After photography fun I met up with Tiffany & Co. at Ember. We had a fabulous night! I'll post about that later, too. Sunday involved a nice sermon at Discovery Church (man, I love that church!), lunch at Crispers, some journaling, a movie (Closer; thoroughly unimpressive in my opinion - downright wretched behavior of the characters, actually), then I picked Jared up from the airport and went to bed. Overall, another excellent weekend!

The OCC meeting Monday was really cool. It was contest night, and while I didn't submit a photo, I did come away with some great news, but I can't share on here until I tell my Daddy about it. Regardless, the contest night was really cool: the judges provided feedback on the submitted entries for the open themed contest as the club president, Anna, went through the photos in a slide show. There were some really beautiful shots. Next month's theme is curves, and I'm definitely submitting. I have a few cool shots in mind...

I'm taking a training course at work this week (today through Thrusday). It's been a good brush-up on some classes I took during my freshmen and sophomore years at Purdue (the information systems side of the C&IT house). I really like the guy who's teaching, and it's a nice change in pace for a few days. It makes for a long day, but a good one, nonetheless.

By the way, it's been freaking HOT down here. Mid-90s since last week. Thankfully the rain arrived as of yesterday! Showers are expected throughout the week. I hope it is blue skies and heat on Saturday, though, because I'd love to be found soaking up rays at the pool!

Picked up some CDs from the library. Time to make an awesome running playlist and hit the gym for a bit.

-Amanda