In case you were wondering...

Just in case you were wondering where we've been and why the blog hasn't been updated....

Afternoon at the Beach

Danny came home from Thailand on Thursday night, and Friday I had to work. But after work, Danny and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful afternoon and go to the beach. Danny had his heart set on swimming in the water, so we got in our swim suits and headed down to Teguchi Beach. It's really beautiful there and we swam by ourselves in a secluded part of the beach. It was such a beautiful day and we took some pretty cool photos, so we wanted to share them with you. After we were done on the beach, we went to the restaurant by the Kadena Marina and ate some snacks. It was amazing, we got to sit over the water and watch the sun go down. What a lovely way to spend our first afternoon together after a TDY.

Something to love

I must say, I love photography.

For several years (maybe longer) Danny has been telling me to "get a hobby." Not in a mean way, but he's been bugging me to find something that I love to do that I can do on my own. He's constantly on the computer or TV playing games with his brothers and friends back home, and this is what he considers his hobby. I don't mind, as long as it doesn't consume every waking moment of his life (the way it used to ... aherm...)

Well as most of you know, a year and something ago Danny got me a nice digital camera. Nothing super special, just a point and shoot camera that puts out much better quality images than the one I had previously, that I hated. It took like ten minutes to click out one photo, and hardly ever focused right! Anywho pretty soon he showed me how to use it, how to change the settings, macro, and so on. I started taking that little thing with me everywhere, to work, to the commissary, shopping at the 100yen store (see previous post). . . and soon I was buying and reading photography magazines. I kept asking, "What do they mean set the shutter speed, I can't find that setting on my camera!" and so on (I know, seriously I didn't know anything about cameras, so call me blonde...). Soon to discover that I didn't have the right kind of camera at all!

Well this past Valentines Day Danny got me a new camera. A CANON Digital Rebel XSI 12.2 mp. It didn't get here until March, but it was worth the wait. 3,000 photographs later, I might be getting a handle on my camera, and am already discovering the limitations of my lens. *hint hint*

I can't believe how quickly and unconditionally I've fallen in love with photography. Even when I come back from shooting somewhere or something or someone and have no good photos to show for it, I still love the experience I had trying to capture that something special about my subject. It's good that I come back with horrible shots sometimes, it just means there is more to learn and I can't wait to uncover the beauty of photography I've yet to discover.

So the meaning of this post, I've decided through much encouragement of my friends around Kadena to start offering my services to friends and families around Okinawa. I won't promise any wonderful shots, but I will promise to put my heart into all my work.

So here's to it - Charming Memories (or Memorias Encantadoras) photography by Vanessa Sanoja

http://charmingmemoriesphotography.blogspot.com/

April Fools

I hate April Fools Day. Let me tell you why.

Danny is a funny guy. He really is, probably, one of the funniest guys I know. He loves a good joke, to make himself and other people laugh. And I love that about him. But sometimes... he takes it too far and makes me cry in the meantime.

Well usually he forgets about April Fools Day until later in the month. One year, in April, he told me he wanted a divorce, followed quickly (but not quick enough) by an "APRIL FOOLS!" and starts busting up laughing. I'm sorry, but divorce is not a joke, and not something that I believe in anyway. You get married, you're stuck! So marry the right person the FIRST time!

One year had something to do with one of our friends cars breaking down, which it did, but they exaggerated big time. Danny calls me and tells me our friend's car broke down on the 23 fwy right near the bridge. It started making a funny noise, and Danny, stopped in his car several hundred feet away, saw Chris RUNING away from his car and towards Danny's, and soon the car erupted in a firey blaze, sending Chris flying. He says he's on his way to see Chris at the hospital... and as I'm trying to get details and directions to this "hospital" (which doesn't exist, by the way, he made a hospital name up... but me being in frantics didn't realize this) his phone "loses service" and cuts out. I panic, and start looking for a phone book to find this hospital, when I get a phone call back filled with laughter and an "APRIL FOOLS!" I tell him countless times over countless years that April Fools Day is on the 1st of April, not the entire month.

Anyway this year may have been the worst yet.

It's 5pm on Wednesday. I'm expecting Danny home any minute, so I take the dog out side, sit on the stairs, and wait for him to arrive. Here comes his car, YAY! Leaving his engine running, he hops out of the car, bolts up the stairs, and the door is closed before I even have a chance to stand up. (either he's really fast or I'm really slow, or possibly a combination of the two)

I go inside, find him in the office and I ask, "what the heck are you doing?"

"I'm leaving" he says as he pulls out his pelican cases, throws them open, and pulls out his deployment bags.

"WHAT? You're leaving? Now? Right now? Where? when? how long?"

Meanwhile he's throwing things into his backpack like crazy. Shirts, bdus, the works.

He tells me he has no answers, as he doesn't know yet. He says, "when it's real world stuff going on baby, we just don't know until we get there."

and he hugged and kissed me and said good bye, ran downstairs and threw his bags into his car.

Needless to say I was in hysterics. Laying on the floor crying, my dog lay by my side. I picked myself off and took some deep breaths, to calm down. Well about 20 minutes or so later, the door swings open, and here he comes, laughing and smiling as usual, yelling "APRIL FOOLS!"

Of course still being in panic from before, I sob my eyes out some more and tell him how angry I am, he brought me icecream to "fix it" but I wasn't in the mood for sweet treats. Grrrrrrrr. What a mean joke.

At least he did it on April Fools Day this year.

On a lighter note....

I cut my own hair today. After dropping nearly $3000 on plane tickets to be able to make it to my sister's and Danny's sister's weddings, we are striving to save money, so I decided to save myself $20 and trim my own hair. I figured if I messed it up too badly I'd just go in and spend the $20 anyway. Turned out pretty well. Now I just need my hair to grow super fast so I can cut out the artificial blonde that is in there from when I covered up my artificial brunette from last summer...

Oh and I took my own head shots after trimming my hair. Hooray for self sufficiency!

Pregnancy Photo - Jen

My friend Jen got pregnant with her first in December between her husband's deployments. Soon after finding out that she was pregnant, her husband Max left again for an 8 month deployment. He returns just a few days before her due date. By a twist of fate, Max was able to come back to the island for a few days this month and she asked me to snap just a few photos of them with her tiny baby belly in case they don't get another chance. Here's hoping he comes home again when baby bump is a little bigger so we can get more shots. My first attempt at maternity photography. I wish I could have done a better job for them!

March - Photoshoot with Alexis

The other day I had the opportunity to do a photoshoot with my friend's little girl - Alexis. She is so sweet. She was grumpy most of the day but I managed to get some wonderful smile pictures from her. What a cutie, huh?

February 27 - Shooting with a Photographer

On Friday afternoon the sun was out and I didn't have to work. My friend Amanda Webb (of Footsetps Photography) had offered to help me learn my camera and teach me about the different functions of it. She taught me about shutter speed, apeture, color balance, and more. She brought her daughter to the park with us and we practiced shooting. I actually came out with a few good shots! I was so impressed with myself. :) Thank you so much Amanda for teaching me about my camera!!