Mmm mmm coffee!

It's about time that the Santa Clarita Valley gets a new coffee place besides Starbucks! I went to the Coffee House with my sister for the first time this week and enjoyed it more than a Starbucks for many reasons; the employees are extremely nice, my mocha was DELICIOUS, it was much more "home-y" with really comfortable couches, and they have free wireless internet. It's funny that this opened because I was seriously considering opening up a coffee shop of my own not too long ago, but sadly my dad wouldn't help me invest haha.

My favorite coffee house, Forzas, is located about 1,100 miles north in the rainy city of Seattle. The place was awesome! It had live music, a great menu, a relaxed atmosphere of "African mahogany wood", a nice warm fireplace, and art on the walls. When I was visiting last summer my sister and I went to Forzas almost every night to get a mocha or toffee frappacino. I mean, there chocolate is made from Ghiradellis, who wouldn't like it? So a few months back when I was craving my mocha from Seattle I was thinking that I should just open a Forza franchise in Santa Clarita. It's nice that we finally got a few coffee shops besides Starbucks here. In the photo I liked the reflection from the store front window in the glass, so why not capture it? I didn't even notice the colorful mugs until I looked at the picture! Sorry if you don't like coffee.

Cupcake adventure!

Sprinkles. cupcakes. are. delicious.

Stacey and I decided to make a trip to Beverly Hills to eat a Sprinkles cupcake. After waiting in line for about twenty minutes (for cupcakes? yes...), I decided on a peanut butter chip and she got strawberry. They were quite delightful, but not my favorite part of the night. I always enjoy discovering new things, like a street that looks like Paris (not the photograph below). Or flipping through an African photography book. Or when I thought the ATM machine stole $20 from me, but then the cashier told me I gave her $20 too much. I had a lot of favorite moments of the night. It definitely made it onto my list of "top 5 summer nights."

Although the quality of the iPhone4 camera isn't top notch, I want to post pictures weekly, just because. This photo was taken at The Grove, after walking by one of my favorite window displays ever (it had a white cruiser bike with a basket full of flowers and a sign that said "just married" and mannequins wearing wedding attire). It definitely gave me ideas for my wedding :)

Grace & Adam

I was privileged enough to photograph Miss Essex niece, Grace and nephew, Adam. I was Miss Essex teacher assistant for a semester this last year and so she knew I liked photography. We ended up meeting at the Paseos and walked along them for a short time until we found a few spots. I also brought my brother Ryan along to help me carry around a few of the props we used. It was one of my first time photographing toddlers so it was a little bit challenging but still a lot of fun :) I had my shutter speed up pretty high in order to catch multiple expressions from each of them. I hope you enjoy them Miss Essex!