It’s a tad late, but there’s always a little recovery needed from a holiday.  Here’s my “Happy 4th of July” post.  Feeling a tad homesick after a busy busy June, I decided to head home for the three day weekend.  The 4th holds a special place for me.  Nostalgia for summer’s past, BBQ-ing, water balloon fights, decorating bikes with streamers, and, of course, sparklers!

Growing up on a cul-de-sac meant kickball games in the street, hide and seek, hop-scotches that stretched around the block, and in general running around the street with the neighbor kids ’til the street lights came on, which signaled it was time to go in, or mom would come looking for you.  Perhaps most memorable of all, it meant an annual block party for the 4th of July.  Years ago the parents would pitch it to pay to block the street off, then I think they realized everyone who lived there was out, so there was really no point.  The 4th was almost as exciting as my birthday, at least that’s always how I felt when I woke up in the morning, with anticipation for the fun day ahead.

At first things were pretty chill, just wheel out your grill and cooler and something to share.  Then things got more organized, bike parades, face painting etc.  Then we grew up, started going to college.  New families moved in with younger kids, a new generation of Vera Circle (I think last year they had a bounce house!).  There are still the old faces, neighbors who have lived there for 20, 30 years.  And even if a year went by, just waving when I saw people drive by, I loved going out on the block and catching up, enjoying a summer day with friends.

This was the first year since my parents have lived there that no one came out for the 4th.  I have to say I was a little disappointed to see such a tradition not happen.  My mom had this picture hanging on our fridge recently, can you spot me?  Hint, I’m still the shortest one.  Anyways, the 4th of July will always have great memories associated with it for me.  Wherever you were this year, I hope it was memorable.

On Saturday I enjoyed a night at the Hollywood Bowl with my family for their Fireworks Spectacular.  Thought I would share a bit of the magic – something about The Battle Hymn of the Republic always gives me the chills.

By the time 2010 rolled around I started to get antsy that I hadn’t traveled in almost 2 years. Once the travel bug bites, you have to keep scratching, so I thought about where I wanted to go next. I’d always wanted to go to Costa Rica ever since my Spanish teacher in high school showed us pictures of her ziplining. Before I knew it Kara, Audrey & I were booking our tickets!

We had a lovely extended week-long vacation in May, spending half the trip in the rain forest at the Arenal Volcano doing all of our adventure activities – ziplining, white-water rafting, canyoning etc. Such a rush that all was!  Then we spent the second half of the trip at the beach on the Pacific coast at Playa Hermosa. If it weren’t for the rain and mosquitoes it would have been perfect, but we still managed to enjoy ourselves – really difficult when you wake up to the sound of the ocean every morning, right?

So here is a little video I put together documenting the highlights of the trip. I wish I had more video to include, but I need to get back in the habit of taking it! As they say in Costa Rica, Pura Vida!

Today is the start of a new year. New years always make us take a moment to both look back and to look forward to what is to come. For me I look back on 2009 with some fond memories, a few milestones, and a general sense of, how did another year already pass by!? Someone described our sense of time to me before as a percentage of your life. In essence, every year you get older, and so a year is a smaller and smaller percentage of your overall age. When you’re five, waiting a year until your next birthday seems like an eternity since it is a fifth of your life, whereas 1/23 of your life goes by in a flash.

This year was a tough one for many people, especially many recent grads who found it a tough time to be thrown out into the working world. I was fortunate enough to be able to depend on my family for support and encouragement, and feel I have thus far staved off my quarter-life-crisis for another year.

In 2009 I got a job as producer, was introduced to the ways of new media, I turned 23, moved to San Francisco, unpacked my belongings in my first post-college apartment, and started a new job. Those were the big things among many many more exciting, fun, silly, & ridiculous happenings over the course of the last twelve months — many of which are documented in my 2009 Memory Bank video below. Thanks to all who made this year memorable, you know who you are!

Also, just because I really liked this video, I thought I’d share it. Refresh your memory on what happened this year as we wave goodbye to 2009, and welcome in 2010!

Please forgive my lack of blogging in the last month, I know it really is pitiful. I have so much to catch up on here. But first let’s get in the Christmas spirit the only way I know how — Elfing myself (and my roommates who don’t yet know their fate)!

I am pretty sure my brother has taken the liberty of “Elfing” my family in the past, but I only remember the traditional or “classic” dance. Now they have upgraded to Hip Hopping, Carol singing, disco dancing elves. I mean really, what more could you want from elves this season? They need a break from the hard work making toys just as much as we all do.

Hope these bring you some holiday cheer, they sure brought me some giggles!

Funky Hip Hop Elves:

Holiday Carol Singing Elves:

Night Fever Disco Elves:

The Classic Elves:

I can certainly say it has been a crazy few weeks! I have moved into my new apartment in San Francisco and am quickly adapting to city life! So much uncertainty and excitement make for some fun times, and also some sleepless nights, but this is all part of growing up right?

I couldn’t be happier being in the city, living with three of my gal pals!

More to come on this soon, I promise. Some pictures of the new place and hopefully a video are coming soon. They have been on the back burner of my mind, but somehow keep getting pushed aside by job applications and cover letter writing…

So for now, enjoy the most recent project I worked on for Weplay. At LeBron James’ Kings Academy, I recently shot quite a bit of video documenting the camp experience with my co-worker Candice Coots. Here is a piece I produced and edited, of Patrick Christopher, a Cal Basketball player who was invited to LeBron’s camp, among a number of stand-out college stars. I will always recognize him since my Junior year when I had season tickets to Cal games and my friend and I noticed his personal handshakes for each of his teammates in the starting lineup. Can’t forget that grin either. Go Bears!