valerie bromann:::journal

Last week I started class number 4 at the photography center. This one is Location Lighting and finally the class I've been building up to because I have no idea how to use my flash or how to make photos with a flash look good. And now I will hopefully know. THe first assignment was using guide numbers and fill flash. I decided not to be lazy and actually go outside to shoot. I brought my little girlsavage jackalope head along to model.

Flash even with background.

Flash one stop down.

Flash two stops down.

Flash one stop up.

Flash two stops up.

The fog outside was amazing tonight. Some day I will stop being so lazy and walk more than five feet to take photos. That day is when I no longer have a full time job...

1. I forgot about the house party after Eric's show at Drew's place. There was a house party after Eric's show at Drew's place. Tabitha and Chelsa and I went. Oh and we got burritos first. Here is a pic I stole from Fawna:

2. It all started when I looked up Cornie in my work's database to see when he had tickets to Elixir of Love. Is that illegal? Should I admit that? Whatever.
So I told him we should go on the same night and so me and him and Joe and Alina and Anna met up beforehand at Trattoria No 10, because they were doing restaurant week special. We shared some wine and I got grilled calamari and waygu steak and chocolate cake. Yum.
And ELixir was fun too. It had a horsey. ANd was a good opera.

3. Chelsa and I went to Detroit's Famous Leo's Coney Island. That name is confusing. She had a hot dog, I had chicken fingers.

4. A few weeks ago I hosted our weekly 24 night for the first time. So everyone came over and I made pulled chicken and coleslaw and potato salad. The episode was really boring. Really boring. Except for the most epic five minute stabbing scene ever in the middle.

A few handfulls of flour. A pour of olive oil. Some sugar. A pinch of salt. Dough.

A cut up apple. Shakes of cinnamon. Shakes of sugar. a couple of pads of butter. Filling.

Spread the dough. Pour on apples. Bake.

1. I'm kind of really behind.

2. Luckily, on Saturday night, I fell asleep with my phone on vibrate right under my head. Or else I probably wouldn't have gotten the phone call that said "open the door." Luckily, the door was locked. Or else I probably would have woken up screaming bloody murder.

3. Apparently I can go 2.5 days without eating meat.

4. "You're going to Texas? Be careful of people with chainsaws. I saw a documentary film about that." - Mat

5. Mat: "I called to apologize about what I said earlier. I was grumpy. You were right and I do agree that you shouldn't have to pay taxes on that." Me: "Of all the things you could possibly call and apologize about, you choose that?"

6. Jeff: "What's the dress code for lyric?" Me: "You have to wear a tux."

7. I will always pronounce the word "queue" as "kway" no matter how many times I'm laughed at and told it's pronounces "cue."

8. I think I'm going to miss Eric's moustache :(

9. I have learned that if I wait to go out until 11:30 on a Friday night I will fall asleep before I go out.

10. Dear Streetwise guy outside of Starbucks who makes me feel guilty, no one gave me a gift certificate to you.

11. Somewhat official April travel plan: Memphis/rib-eating contest/Dallas/Austin/probably a bunch of kitschy roadside attractions :-)

12. Thursday I met with my financial panther to go over some financials. (BTW, he came to the city to meet with me! I couldn't believe it!) While going over my list of things I'm saving for one of the things on my list is my eventual wedding. He marked it under "questionable timeframe." :(

13. I may have convinced my friend to add a part with only a couple of lines into the play he's writing so I can act in it :)

14. I am in love.

15. I kind of want Vans Saddle Shoes...

16. I remember the time I burned myself on his cigarette. It was in a bowling alley. You can no longer smoke inside.

17. American Idol started! Ellen DeGeneres is now a judge. I was really worried because I don't really like her that much and thought she would just make jokes and not bring anything serious. During the "Hollywood Week" I thought she was actually entertaining. But now when the live shows have started she is doing just awful. My current favorites are Casey James for the guys and Crystal Bowersox for the girls. She plays guitar and harmonica. I kind of want to learn how to play a harmonica. Every year they say "this is the best group ever" but then they all suck. On Tuesday I was upset because the DVR said it was recording Idol but then it didn't show up on the menu :( I had to wait until Saturday and watch it at my sisters. And watching five hours of Idol in one day is five too many.

18. The Olympics are now over. I haven't cared about nor watched the Olympics in a very long time. I think the last time I watched was the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding year. But I really got into some of it this year. Here are a few of my thoughts on the Winter Games:

• Do they give out Olympic medals for awesomeness? Because Johnny Weir needs to win one of those. (p.s. I just found out that his reality show "Be Good Johnny Weir" is on On Demand! I've been glued to my TV)


• The announcers in skating kept pointing out what these skaters have to work on and that "he's nowhere near his potential"...what, what they have to work on to get to THE OLYMPICS? Shouldn't they have worked that out by now?


• "I wanna drive the Olympia Ice Resurfacer" just doesn't have the same ring to it...


• FYI Olympian bouquets were green spider chrysanthemums, green hypericum berries and green aspidistra leaves. not broccoli.


• Ice dancing compulsories are the most boring event ever.


• I kind of am in love with the moose sweaters the Canadians wore to the ending ceremonies.


• Curling is awesome. No matter what anyone else tells you. Did you know that you can take a curling lesson for just $20? Who wants to form a team with me?


• The closing ceremonies just got more and more amazing as the night went on. By amazing I mean amazing. At every turn Canada just seemed to be trying to top itself as to how much it could make fun of itself. The line of the night though went to Bob Costas: "And the always enjoyable giant inflatable beaver!" Ummm...

Yesterday was my nephew Dylan's birthday! It was a carnival theme party with a popcorn bar and games. Dylan wasn't too interested in opening his presents. But I think he is making a good competitive eater in training because he totally went to town on his cake.

More photos here.

...but all I've been doing lately is sitting on the couch watching the Olympics and taking photos of Kitty...

1. I made myself a heart-shaped burger for Valentine's Day. I don't need a man to make heart-shaped meat product for me. But it would be nice.

2. On Valentine's Day morn Chelsa and I grabbed brunch at Blue Bayou where I had a crawfish omelet and we split some beignets.

Then we met Joe and Alina and Cornie and some others to see Casablanca at Music Box. Can you believe I've never seen it before? It was really good but it kind of took me too out of it that I kept thinking "Oh, that's where that line is from!" and the fact that the couple in front of me kept making out...

3. I haven't watched the Olympics since I think the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding year...I just never really cared. But for some reason I started watching it on Saturday and can't get enough. It's been pretty awesome.




4. My Valentine's Day hair was pretty cute. Just sayin.

(semi-inspired by the women's skiers...its how I wear my hair when I ski. Which is never. Because I have a nervous breakdown at the top of bunny hills. But I wear it like that because I need to keep my hair out of my face but still want to look like a girl.)




5. I took a lot of photos of Mr. Bo. I swear I am not a bitter old cat lady. He's not even my cat!

Last Sunday was MK's birthday...which meant we totally celebrated it and didn't sit around all day watching football...

But anyways.

Friday he had a get together at his house. Which meant I had to drive to Bolingbrook. Which meant I had to dig out my car...It was kind of buried under a foot and a half of snow and had a mound piled up behind it. After spending a half hour scraping and shoveling I got it out. Only to get stuck in the alley. But then I managed to shovel out some snow from under the tires and finally was on my way.

I got to MK's around 8. And he was kind of drunk when I got there. It only got kind of worse...

Julie and I drank a bottle of wine and I had some Ecto-Cooler inspired somekindadrink and we all played with the nerf guns and helicopter.

I may have accidentally texted JoeW's parents house from MK's phone "I Love You"...did you know that if you do that it will call the person and leave a transcribed message? Oops.

And did I mention that MK was pretty wasted? But shhh, don't tell anyone!

I left around 2 which meant at around 3am I got stuck in the alley and had to shovel myself out. And then still kept getting stuck trying to park so I gave up, got stuck again, had to drive around looking for a free spot that wasn't covered in snow. :( And my back hurts again now.

But anyways.

Happy Birthday MK!

More photos here!