A Happy Day

A foggy and butterfly-filled morning in Pacific Grove

Jacqueline — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:30:14 +0000

We visited Pacific Grove one morning. Lovely small town next to Monterey. First up was a sanctuary for Monarch butterflies (a brief resting spot for them as they travel south). An FYI: a 35mm lens is definitely the wrong lens to bring to a butterfly sanctuary. There were hundreds of butterflies high up in the trees, but it’s impossible to tell with a wide angle lens.

The Monarch grove sanctuary…

And then we walked around the coast of Pacific Grove before heading home. A nicely foggy morning.

(PS: Some of you mentioned VSCO presets on my pics — yup, I got them for Christmas! I actually didn’t use them on my previous post (the coffee break one), but I have used them on this post.)

A break for some coffee

Jacqueline — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:32:02 +0000

Sometimes we all need a coffee break, right? I had some time off this month and thought I’d be posting a million things here… but got too busy doing all sorts of errands or traveling, and too lazy to process the photos. Hopefully I’ll get back into the swing of things now that things are settling down. Fingers crossed!

A trip to Monterey’s fisherman’s wharf and Cannery Row

Jacqueline — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:12:08 +0000

Monterey is a lovely place that we need to visit more often. We didn’t get to see any sea life (I am always on the lookout for cute otters), but the wharf and Cannery Row were still great places to explore.

Traipsing about San Francisco: Sightglass, Tartine, and miscellaneous

Jacqueline — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 03:22:02 +0000

Some snapshots from a day in San Francisco, including Sightglass Coffee and Tartine Bakery. From SOMA to the Mission to Japantown, we had a grand old time.

A few snapshots of New Year day

Jacqueline — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 07:16:37 +0000

New Year in a Japanese household makes for a lovely tradition, especially with the special New Year food. Some snapshots of the day below.

PS: This pics were taken with the iPhone 4S again. I’m not going to make this an iPhone photoblog, I swear! Next post will be all DSLR.

iPhone Snapshots of Monterey

Jacqueline — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:32:00 +0000

We took a mini trip to Monterey, which was so lovely. I haven’t yet processed my DSLR photos, but here are some pictures from my iPhone. Pictures from my camera to come!

PS: I heart my iPhone so much. The apps are amazing. And I have a serious addiction to Instagram. Are you on it? Hit me up — my name is @jackiejaszka.

The Train of Lights

Jacqueline — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:16:23 +0000

This year, I desperately wanted to ride the Train of Lights, a train decorated with Christmas lights that makes an hour-long round trip in the East Bay. I wasn’t able to get tickets before Christmas (sold out weeks in advance!) but some tickets were still available for this week post-Christmas, so I snapped them up.

We drove up to Fremont, and then took a shuttle from the parking lot to the train station…

(PS: How wonderful is the iPhone 4S? I loved being able to take pictures with it in cramped spaces like the shuttle.)

After the shuttle ride, we boarded the train, and off we went! …And then we stopped. About 10 minutes into the trip, there was a loud metal crashing/screeching sound and a jolt… and I looked off into the doorway of the train car in front of us, only to see their car continuing to slowly roll down the tracks while our car stayed put. Our cars had separated! Thankfully, the other part of the train stopped about 15 feet away (and didn’t continue on without us!). About 30 minutes later with some work by the technicians on-board, we were on our way again.

Overall, a good trip… but I’d recommend not sitting in the enclosed train car like we did, and instead sit in the open cars to really get the full experience. Ah well, next time.

Happy holidays!

Jacqueline — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 05:40:48 +0000

It’s been quiet on the blog front because it’s been so hectic otherwise… but I will definitely be posting more in the upcoming weeks. In any case, happy holidays! Hope you and yours are enjoying the season.

Over the Mmoon about empanadas

Jacqueline — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 02:54:41 +0000

We tried out empanadas at the Mmoon Empanadas restaurant in San Jose — and it was really yum. Our favorite was the pizza empanada (although does that make it a small calzone?). We also tried the pumpkin pie empanada, which, of course, was delicious.

The Mmoon Empanadas
177 W. Santa Clara Street
San Jose, CA 95113

Oh HAI and free film actions

Jacqueline — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 03:36:57 +0000

I came across some really nice Photoshop actions by Siebe Warmoeskerken and thought I’d spread the good word. I love that look of film photos, so I’m a sucker for any processing that replicates it well (hopefully Santa will hear my call for VSCO film presets). The key word there is “well” — I think we all have some actions that result in way overblown “film” processing (blech!). But I was psyched to see that Siebe not only captured the subtlety and beauty of film — but he did it and offered it for free! (What?!) Be sure to check it out on his blog here.

PS: This photo was my test photo — I ran Siebe’s Fuji 160NS at full opacity on it. I love it!