The Story of How I met my MAN!

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Jamie

Whenever I’m asked, “So how did you end up in LA?” I never know how to respond.  The story is long, and it was a combination of things.  So here lies the story of how I met my man.

The truth is: I never imagined myself living in LA.

The other truth: I ended up here because of HIM.

When people find out I met someone online, they said, “well, that’s okay.”  It’s the norm, but when they hear I met someone online from another state, and I moved out to be with him.  I feel the social anxiety taking off inside me thinking crazy things like, “she’s nuts.”  “She did what.”  “wow, she’s a brave woman.”

So, let me share the story of how it began.

I stumbled onto this internet site in the fall of 2009.  There, it was my secret place.  My place to go and write and share how unhappy I was with the world, and it was my place I went to soul search, to write whatever I was thinking, etc.  I wasn’t looking for an audience, and I didn’t interact with anyone for the first four months I was on there.  I was hurting, and this site became my outlet.  My outlet for everything.  I was at the start of my divorce.  I had asked for it a mere month earlier before I found this site, and there were so many questions inside of myself so I came to write, to confess, to soul search, and find me again.

I did this for 4 months, I woke up, went to work, came home and wrote.  I went to bed, woke up, went to work, then came home and wrote.  Through my writing I figured a lot out.

Stuff such as:

Wanting to move out of Minnesota.

Wanting to travel.

How owning a home made me feel very confined and tied down to one place, and I wasn’t ready for that.

And how truly unhappy I was in my career.

So what did I end up doing?  First, I did some travelling.  I visited some friends in North Carolina, got reacquainted with old friends from college, and started to get out in the world again.

This is also when I began to find my love for photography again and tried to get around as much of Minnesota as I could, but in the same time, I started to apply for jobs out of state.

But then I met him.  It started with a simple compliment on a picture, then we started to exchanged emails.  This was in May.  Nearly 9 months later.  I wasn’t looking for anything but I was open to possibilities. Needless to say, we hit it off.  We had a few bumps in the process, but they eventually smoothed themselves out.

And the next thing I knew, come July, I was flying out to meet him in Los Angeles.  Prior to Los Angeles, I was doing the one thing in my life I always wanted to do, but couldn’t because I was tied to my job: I took the 4th of July weekend off and flew out to Washington DC, alone!  (This will be for another blog post!) Then I came home for a few days, and then flew out to Los Angeles.

That first initial meeting I was so nervous, but the minute I saw him in the airport and leaned into him for a hug, I knew the feelings I had were real.  We hit it off, and had an amazing 5 day weekend together.

And then the hard part, going our separate ways.

And then the conversations started: who would move where?  How would it work.

And then I made the decision.  I would be leaving my job of 13 years, which I was no longer happy at, and I would move across the country to Los Angeles.  We set the date of September 24th.  He would fly up, I’d show him Minnesota for a few days, he’d meet my family, then we would get in my car and drive out to California.

The hard part would be telling my family, but I did it.  They were shocked, but supportive.  They were letting me go, as much as they didn’t want to.

And then the day arrived.  He flew in.  I was so nervous he’d stand me up 😉 Hah.  But the minute we reunited was like we never left each other’s side.

The next few days I showed him some of my favorite spots of Minnesota: St. Anthony Fall’s, The North Shore, Fort Snelling, and he met my mom and brother for dinner, and also some friends for a going away party.

And then we packed my little Ford Escort up to the gills, and we were on the road.  The first night we got all the way to Nebraska before getting a hotel room.

The next morning we hopped in the car and away we were again.  This time driving through the flatlands of Nebraska and finally seeing the beautiful mountains of Colorado.  That night we drove for a good 30 minutes before we finally found a campsite.  Just so you know, a lot of the campsites at the end of September were closed off, so it was a struggle.

We put our tent together, and stared at the beautiful stars in the night sky when he leaned over and asked me to marry him.  This was the start for us, our new beginning.  It was our little secret, in that moment in time.

The next morning we took our time packing up, and we walked along the little stream a few feet away and enjoyed being out in nature then began packing things up.  Until we lost the keys.  We dug through the entire car, and there was no luck.

We finally called a locksmith, got the correct information after a few more horrible phone calls, and then 2 minutes before the locksmith showed up we found the keys.  They were off in a little field buried beneath some leaves.  6 HOURS later we were finally on the road.

In that moment, I learned how patient I was, even though I was incredibly upset, I learned in that moment, how truly well the two of us worked together, as a team.   During that time we didn’t take it out on each other, instead, we focus in on the situation, and that’s when I knew how strong we were together.   I also learned to always have a spare set, NO MATTER WHAT.

We didn’t get too far that day because of the lost time from looking for the keys so we found a campsite right as we entered Utah and called it a night.

The next morning I felt as if what had happened the day before was long past us, and what laid ahead was what we were truly meant to see and enjoy.  I had never been in Utah before, and I had no idea how truly beautiful it was.  It was a hidden gem to my eyes.

But that day we didn’t stop, other to walk out at a few places to capture some of the beauty of Utah.  I got my wish of driving through Las Vegas, because a child I had always visited there because of having family there, but it was my dream to drive through it, and I did.

And then we entered California.

The panic started to sink in all around me as we got further and further in land, tne panic of being surrounded by so many cars, the panic of not knowing anyone, the panic of “OMG, what did I do.”

To think, this all happened a year and a half ago… time sure does fly by…

and yes, we’re still together 😉

 

 


Categories: Life, Travel | Tags: , , , , , | 19 Comments

Photography “SAY” What?

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Jamie

If you’re new to photography, or even if you’ve been doing it for awhile, those photography terms can get the best of you. And you can get OVERWHELMED fast!

Each Monday I’m going to dive into a Photography Term so we all have a better understanding of what it means.  After the article, in the comments, please feel free to ask questions.

ISO: (International Organization for Standards) When referring to digital photography measures the sensitivity of the image processor.  The lower the number the less sensitive to light your camera is and the finer the grain.  You would use a higher ISO setting in darker situations: “night photography, an indoor sportings event, etc.) however there will be more “noise” or “grain” found within your shots.  Having a tripod can help with lowering the ISO to a lower level by the use of “long exposure” but that is for another day!  (www.digitalphotographyschool.com)

By utilizing Auto Mode on your camera, the ISO is usually chosen for you, but a lot of camera’s today do give you the option of choosing your own ISO.  By giving you the means of choosing your own ISO, your shutter speeds can open up along with your aperature (the size of the opening of a lens when a picture is taken.) www. digitalphotographyschool.com

How to Choose the Best ISO:

Before any shot, evaluate the situation:

Light: Is it sunny out?  Is it cloudy?  Are you indoors, or outdoors?  What is the light around my subject?

If there is a lot of light, you will be okay with utilizing a lower ISO setting, however, if you’re in the shade, you will have to increase your ISO setting.

Grain: Do I want a shot with a lot of grain, or little grain?  This is a huge factor in the kind of ISO you’ll be utilizing.  Remember, the higher the ISO the more grainy your shots will become.

Tripod: Am I utilizing a tripod?  If I am, I have more options in keeping my ISO low.  However, if I’m in a low lighting situation without a tripod, unfortunately I”ll have to increase my ISO speed, and the shot will be a lot more grainy.

Movement: If your subject is stationary, and there is a lot of light around you, you will be okay with a low ISO setting.  However, if you have subject that is moving you will want to increase your ISO setting to give you more options when it comes to your shutter speed.

If you were to utilize a small ISO setting during the night while you were walking around, the majority of your pictures would come back blurry, and you know those blurred lights you see in pictures from time to time? That’s based on movement during the night.  A huge reason why tripods are such a need for night photography.

So, get out, grab your camera and begin playing with ISO speeds, and see if you notice the results.  Start with your lowest setting, focusing in on one subject then continue to up your settings.  Tell me, what was your favorite setting for that subject.  Go out, have fun and share with me the results! =)

And my general rule of thumb with the ISO speeds I use are this:

Outdoors and Sunny: Lowest ISO possible.

Indoors with lots of light: I can push it 200, sometimes 400.

Indoors with low lighting: I like to keep it to 800.

Night Photography, walking around: I will push it to 6400, if your camera doesn’t go that high, try it at 1600.  My SO told me the key to night photography when walking around is that you need a shutter speed of at last 1/60 second, so if I’m using an ISO of 1600, but can’t get my shutter speed to 1/60 I need to up my ISO from there.

 


Categories: Photography | Tags: , , , , | 11 Comments

Reflections of hearing the bloggess speak

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Jamie

The Bloggess; probably one of the funniest bloggers out there was in LA last night. And I had the opportunity to hear her speak.

I need a zoom lens, BAD 😉

And now, since my drive home last night I’ve been thinking.  Thinking of a way I can give her a tribute of epic proportions.  A way to think, “hey.  I really respect this blogger, and she’s come so far.”

Or to touch base on how one person has influenced so many in the world.  Her intimate blog posts about depression and anxiety, how one can so easily relate.  (Hey, last night I couldn’t even meet her face to face because of the fear of not knowing what to say to her!)

Or the fact that one campaign, “The Red Dress Campaign” touched so many women’s lives, and even a year later took off just as fast as when it was first talked about just a few months ago.

Her influence into the world has grown immensely.

Last night, as I sat in my seat, I looked around the room to see the audience.  There were men and women, young and old from all walks of life.

Hell, at one point during the conversation, The Bloggess, aka Jenny Lawson shouted out, “I’m pioneering Vaginas…”  A woman who just a few days ago spoke on CNN and kept bringing up the Zombie Apocalypse to the woman that sat in front of us reading her account of taking far too many laxatives.

She is hilarious!  And she is a person I admire.

The truth is, I wasn’t sure how I envisioned her in my head, but the moment she started talking on that stage, I only liked her even more.  She was sweet, open, honest, and to me, adorable.  So, for any person to have this much success, to have such an influence in the world, she is the one that truly deserves it.

And when one of our own, Beverly Diehl, from So Cal Lady Bloggers asked her if there was any gift she was looking to purchase for herself, she honestly looked back at all of us, her dear audience, and said, really, there’s nothing.

And to me, that answer truly tells us what kind of person The Bloggess, Aka, Jenny Lawson is at heart.

And damnit, it makes me only like her more!  Oh, and started giving me ideas to finally write my own story down, piece by piece including the parts no one else knows about.

And BTW: You all should go out and buy her book: “Lets Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir.)

And how the heck was I in the same room as Stephenie Meyer, the author of the Twilight Series, and I had no idea?  Or the fact of how awesome Soleil Moon Frye, aka Punky Brewster, truly is?


Categories: blogging, Fun Stuff, Life | Tags: , , | 8 Comments