this is our town

To be completely honest, I never took the LA Dodgers seriously until after I moved six hours away from the area and craved a connection to my hometown of seventeen years. Growing up, Dodger games were family affairs and I played the typical role of disaffected child among fanatical adults. I was never into sports (both watching and playing) and chose to work on developing other interests that required less effort. By the time I reached my teens, Dodger games were a complete bore to me and I'd swiftly refuse any offer to go upon being asked since I felt I had better things to do. It just wasn't my thing, you know? I was into music and fashion and felt I had no time or desire to get into sports, much less baseball.

I can't deny that I felt somewhat homesick when I left Southern California. I mean, I can't imagine moving back down there since I love the Bay Area so much, but there's just something that I can't help but miss about being an Angeleno, including the inevitable attachment and pride you feel when you collectively root for your home team. At some point I actually started looking for Dodger games to watch, but without Southern Californian TV programming the only games I could watch were against the Oakland A's or SF Giants. At first I only watched casually; losses were no big deal and I was too busy with other things to keep up with the season. I was slowly warming up to the idea, though, when I realized that, hey, baseball is actually really entertaining. When you truly get into it, you're sucked in: nothing else but the game matters during those nine innings.

So I became a Dodger fan for real this time, sans family and regional pressure. I watched as many games as I could on TV and reviewed the highlights online whenever I couldn't. I put my faith in the team I was raised to love and learned how to truly care for them on my own without any outside pressure. I began to understand the fanaticism behind baseball. It's not just a blind attachment to a sport; it's a genuine relationship with a team in whom you invest an unconditional love and feeling of trust that's second to none.

Why am I blogging about this right now? I never actually realized any of the above until this week when I asked myself why I was putting myself through so much stress worrying about the Dodgers advancing to the World Series after last year's crushing defeat. Why force myself into terrible moods when things don't go the right way? Because I love having something to believe in; a team I can invest my hopes and dreams into and wish for the best. When times are tough, trust me, they're tough. I'm seriously crying right now after this loss because there were so many mistakes that could have easily been avoided, like Game 4's Dodger lead turned walk off hit for the Phillies.

Likewise, the highs are amazing to experience, i.e. Game 2 of the NLDS when the Dodgers won in the bottom of the 9th with two outs and I found myself jumping around like an idiot screaming in delight. I just can't explain this sense of euphoria in words... but it's so extraordinary that I just keep coming back. The lows are nothing compared to this: if we have to wait another year for a World Series, well then bring it on. Loney, Kemp, and Ethier: this team is YOURS now. Your timelines with the Dodgers have paralleled my own: you debuted and blossomed when I started to learn what it meant to rally behind a team. I am proud to call myself a Dodger fan despite the wins and losses and will always be supporting you through thick and thin, so let's start looking at next year, yeah? These past two years have taught us so much and even though we still have some growing up to do, we'll do it together. I'll never stop believin'! Love, Annabel.

Sorry, comments disabled for this one, since this is mainly for me.

how to use a point-and-shoot camera

I'm getting more and more frustrated with the condition of my point-and-shoot camera every day. The lens only pops out correctly 30% of the time now and doesn't focus as well as it used to. I've always thought about getting a DSLR but I was so attached to and content with the little bugger that I always dismissed it. I mean, why bother when most people are surprised to find out that I don't already own a DSLR? But now... well, now that it isn't working it seems necessary. Since it's so close to my birthday (November 29th) I'm just going to ask my dad for one but I'm starting to get a little impatient and I'm tempted to ask for it a month early.

The secret behind making a point-and-shoot camera work well is simple: take advantage of every setting possible and know how to manipulate the light around you. Ideally you want to aim for taking photos in really good lighting; the more lighting you have, the less you have to adjust the shutter speed and end up with blurry pictures. Tripods are also useful since they help produce clearer photos and are more reliable than a hand attempting to be steady. The above photos were taken in a well lit place using the macro setting (usually indicated by a flower) and a tripod. The more familiar you are with your camera, the more reliable your photos will be so play around with the settings and find out what works best for you. DSLRS don't automatically produce spectacular photos and it's up to the user's ability to use it to its fullest extent and the same applies to point-and-shoot cameras.

SHOP BLUSHING AMBITION UPDATED

Taking these photos took two or three times longer than usual because of my broken camera but I managed to pull it off somehow. I just put up a ton of items for sale on my blog so go check them out! Somehow this batch seemed to take the most effort out of me because they're things I'd love to keep but just can't because of the space in my closet. It's already taken a lot to stop myself from taking down at least two of the posts! I listed mostly fall items which are perfect for the weather right now including a couple sweaters, jackets, and tops.

bulba-bulbasaur

Since I'm feeling a little silly after being so pissy, here's a video of my Bulbasaur impression.

a sailor's vocabulary

vintage sailor jacket from etsy, h&m skirt, vintage dior tights, prada lace-up booties

I'm actually not in a very good mood because I just discovered that my roll of film did not catch on so all my photos from the past week are nonexistent. F*CK F*CK F*CK! I'm really terrible with cursing, but argh! Before I realized this, I had taken a ton of pictures of Brent's dinner tonight which featured freshly made pumpkin ravioli from the local Italian grocer. But now it's all gone! Ugh. That and the cute little set-up that he surprised me with when I arrived at his place after class. I can't remember what else was on there but I'm sure it was mostly food. Really, really good food.

Oh well, off days are off days. The rest of my day was quite nice (Fridays are our date days, I'm sure I've mentioned it before) and filled with cuddles, flowers, errands downtown, and people watching at the Coffee Bean on Market. And umm, a couple failed attempts at taking pictures of my outfit. I'm very picky about how these pictures turn out and although I'm not 100% sold on the above ones (screw the season change and growing lack of decent lighting) they're the best of the batch. You can't even tell they're taken with my friend's SLR, blegh. Man, I'm in a nasty little mood...

a day in my shoes

Because everything in my head makes more sense through lists:
01. Midterms and papers are creeping up, oh boy. I've tried to stay away from library binges but here we are again...
02. Dying to watch the Dodger game right now but I don't have TBS. Been staring at this game clicker for hours.
03. My point-and-shoot is becoming more and more of a pain now that it only works 30% of the time. Yet another reason to anticipate my birthday. I was going to leave it up to my dad to choose but do you guys have any suggestions?
04. Finally found chả lụa for my sandwiches at a market in Chinatown. I always have such a difficult time finding Vietnamese food or dishes without my dad. Still looking out for chả bò. Anyone know where I can find some in the bay area?
05. "Are you a model?" "No." "Have you ever modeled?" "Yes." "Did you like it?" "No." - Man, I hate creepy guys.
06. Made a new little playlist for the blog so feel free to click on it, sans autoplay and all. I stop going to blogs with that.
07. Nasty Gal sidewalk sale this Saturday! Click here for details. I'm definitely stopping by for a bit so see you there.
08. Kind of unabashedly obsessed with this blog. Need these earl grey sandwich cookies right now. And maybe a baby.
09. Had a giant freak out yesterday over finding out that an anime class being offered for the Senior Seminar in my major.
10. Will be putting up more stuff at SHOP BLUSHING AMBITION sometime next week. Please let me know how you feel about your purchases!

can't think of a semi-clever title now, sorry

thrifted plaid shirt, bdg jeans, vintage flats, jimmy choo glasses

Visited Brent at work (Vintage Berkeley, for any of you who want to stalk/buy wine from him) today with some Chipotle. We spent a very nice couple of days together with friends and family but the weekend's over and it's time to get back into our routines. I usually look like [insert expletive here] on Mondays and since I, umm, mentioned something about this being a "lifestyle" blog, I thought it would only be fitting that I show you guys what I really look like on a lazy day. Sorry about the terrible quality of the photos but I'm pretty sure I mentioned that my camera is broken and I won't be getting an slr until my birthday in two months, ugh. The focus is terrible now but it'll have to suffice for the time being. I also sneaked in a couple of pictures of Brent who cut his hair at Vidal Sassoon this past Thursday and looks adorable with it. Should I get a haircut? I've toyed with the idea of a drastic change since I'm so fickle about my appearance but I know I'd regret it like I did the last time I cut it before starting college. I've been growing my hair out for more than three years and it would seem like such a waste to give up on it now. It's tough being this indecisive.

Anyway, back to the boyfriend. What else is there to say? Oh, I remember: I'd been trying to get him to stop wearing his decrepit Varvatos for Converse sneakers for a while and he finally put on his old boots for me. I think my heart skipped a little when I saw him wearing them yesterday with a black Acne pullover sweater because it reminded me of having a gigantic crush on him when we were still friends at Berkeley. If you're reading this, Pika (which I know you are), please wear them more often! Speaking of Pika reading my blog, I get very flustered when he tries to look at it in front of me. Have any of you ever felt weird about the intersections between your internet and actual lives? I mean, I have friends whom I've met from the internet and have had conversations about blogs in real life, but I'm still a little weird about mentioning my blog to other friends. I suppose I shouldn't be so shy around Brent concerning these things since he is, of course, the one who's living with two friends he met while playing World of Warcraft... oh dear, I'll save that one for later. Let's just say that until now, I'd never dated anyone who loves the internet as much as I do and it's such a relief that I've found my perfect match.

I don't mean to be one of those girls who talks incessantly about her boyfriend but come on, isn't he cute? It's very hard not to talk about someone this much when he's so integrated into my life and contributes to so much of my happiness. I mean, who else would surprise me with macarons on the third date or share my love for making strange noises and inventing weird nicknames? Oh my little 'chu, I luh you!

bloomin' flowers kissin' me

vintage dress, thrifted lace up booties

Before I talk about anything else I want to say this: WOW. I didn't think my little set of ramblings would make such a difference! Thank you so much, everyone, for taking the time to read and give your input. I don't remember exactly what prompted me to write that last night but it was reassuring to wake up to so many positive comments, especially after a week like this. I don't think I mentioned it but I've been the past two days and although I feel I'm getting better, it's been a little difficult to keep up with my life's demands. Reading everyone's comments made me feel a million times better about myself!

So what about this outfit? I wore this dress to visit Lulu the other day but we never managed to take pictures of it. I'm wearing it again because it's one of those things that makes me feel nice inside even though outside my body is falling apart due to pesky viruses. Brent wouldn't even kiss me! Ahh well, at least we have a very fun weekend planned and hopefully I'll get a lot of good pictures with my Minolta since my point-and-shoot isn't very reliable at the moment. Oh, one more thing: I'm using Flickr for ALL of my images now so if you want to see larger photos of anything just click through to reach the Flickr page. I'm keeping my outfit images at 300x450 side-by-side because I'm picky and weird and dislike gaping white spaces in my posts. That's all for now so I'll leave you guys with a photo of my sickly tired face and chapped lips, nyahh.