Review

Paper Plane

If you’re in Decatur and looking for a chill spot to spend an evening, Paper Plane is it! They have really cute outdoor seating in a little alleyway draped with hanging lights, some potted herbs and just enough sunlight and shade to keep you comfortable but let you enjoy the summer evening.

For libations, we ordered the Brighton Punch and the drink special that evening. Brighton punch did indeed pack a punch. It was flavorful, light on the tongue, strong on the kick. I only needed one with my entire meal. My husband enjoyed an Emergency Drinking Beer and a Nomader Weisse. Both come highly recommended.

The food we did order came out quickly and was delicious. We had fried balls of cheese, chicken and crab, a vegetable tartare, and a charcuterie board. All were delicious. I particularly enjoyed the fatty duck prosciutto.

We particularly appreciated the server with us that night that explained every dish, was well versed in the food and drink and really made some good recommendations!

This is a great place for a date or an intimate gathering of friends! I’ll be back!

June 30, 2015 by
Entertainment, Music

Pop 101

While browsing last week, I came across this great parody music video on Pop and how it’s pretty formulaic. Unsuprisingly, I still loved it. Check out the video!

June 26, 2015 by
Photography, Review

85mm

A couple months ago, I picked up two lenses: an 85mm 1.8 and a 28mm 1.8. These weren’t L series or anything like that but they came highly recommended and I got the itch to finally buy a couple of lenses in this range.  I have been really pleased with the resulting photos I’m able to produce. Specifically the 85mm has been great for really singling out the subject from a comfortable distance. I find brides are more comfortable, animals maintain their position more, and the wide aperture lends itself to beautiful bokeh and great light collection.  I’ve used them in two weddings and they’re actually pretty darn fast.

Bokeh is smooth, on the 85mm and I’m able to maintain a healthy distance from my subjects. This could be especially useful when dealing with children and pets but I found it particularly great at capturing nice portraits of people unawares.

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I was able to take a nice photo of my coworker Nick, while he was engrossed in his phone.

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And I was at a comfortable distance from my other coworker, Logan, when he was trying to figure out whether or not I was taking his photo.

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The 85 stops motion in very low light situations, and the wide aperture makes unpredictable light situations much, much more manageable. The Decatur lantern parade was a great opportunity for me to try out the low light capabilities of this lens, and I was not disappointed!

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It allowed me to shoot with relatively little noise and was able to stop motion successfully.

Last but not least, it is a pretty good macro lens. I found it was perfect for some of the ring and detail shots.

 

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All in all, the 85 is a very versatile lens. I’m completely sold on getting the L series version of this glass. :)

 

June 23, 2015 by
Art

Arbitrary Day 2015

I’ve always been a gift giver. It’s how I most naturally connect with people and show the people closest to me that I love them and am thinking about them. Redditgifts has been a fun little outlet for that part of my personality. In a nutshell, you get matched with a stranger and you buy them a gift based on some theme. I’ve been part of several gift exchanges in the past but this is the first time I’ve got something related to this blog! A kind person bought me a framed piece of art called ‘Unbroken Horses’. It’s one of the more thoughtful things I’ve gotten. :) I love it and it looks great in my shelf. ^^

June 23, 2015 by
Life

Neighborhood Nestwatch

Our good friends Sam and Val had someone from the Neighborhood Nestwatch program come down to do some bird documentation! They were kind enough to let us come watch and hold a few birds. It was a pretty great experience! Here’re some photos of the little adventure. Continue Reading

June 23, 2015 by
Movie

Jurassic World

Spoilers ahead, you’ve been warned! :) Jeremy and I caught Jurassic World last week and I can’t say I was completely disappointed. I can’t say that it hit it out of the park either. Chris Pratt … played Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard could’ve really used a little more depth. They tried to bring realism to her character and it was akin bringing emotion and relatability to a cardboard cutout. I think that’s my biggest gripe about this movie was that the editing and the script made the relationships forced.

Okay, that one gripe out of the way, the dinosaurs were awesome.

Every dinosaur scene was a rush, and the ending (which I won’t spoil) was especially satisfying. I didn’t care about the actors anymore about 50% of the way through the movie because they weren’t worth the space in my mind that was being taken up by dinosaurs!

I’d rate this movie a 4/5. Worth seeing, but expect to sit through some really stiff acting and shallow characterization.

June 13, 2015 by
Photography

Midtown Phone Tour

Last week I had the opportunity to take on a little bit of midtown with phone cameras with a good old friend of mine! We focused on architecture around the arts center area and practiced our phone photo-fu! Scroll through the results!
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May 12, 2015 by