Hola amigos!  Happy Thursday!  

Introductions to these blogs are always weird.  I always find it the hardest to find the words to introduce you to the upcoming post.  So, in an attempt to avoid the awkward roundabout sentences to set the scene, let's just jump right into it!  What I've got for you today isn't so much words as it is photos of beautiful things.  Recently a friend of mine was gracious enough to let me listen to him talk about photography for about an hour, and I wanted to spend some time putting what I learned from him into practice.  I think you'll see that my knowledge of Sonya (if you're new here, Sonya is my camera) is growing as these posts go on, because I think my photos are getting more sophisticated.  Thanks to Shane (go follow his Instagram @shanegeraghty for some advanced AF photography), I am off auto, and am starting to really grasp how to shoot on other settings such as aperture priority, shutter priority, and even manual.  As always, click on the photos to see them full screen!  

This collection of photos were all taken on a beautiful afternoon at the Mullholland Overlook.  It was one week post Joshua Tree, and Lauren was back in New York and Olena was off with Austin somewhere cold, but the three of us were still riding this wave of happiness and excitement and fulfillment.  I wanted to make the most of it, so before an evening shift at work, I decided to catch the last few hours of good sunlight in the spot that I'd call my spot if it weren't so well known.  

If you haven't read my last blog post about our trip to Joshua Tree, you totes should.   I have to admit, I was worried about posting it at first because I didn't want it to come off as braggy, or pompous, or self indulgent, or any of those type of adjectives.  I'm fully aware of how cliche it sounds to say we had a life changing experience in Joshua Tree, and we make fun of ourselves enough for all of you.  I wanted to get across that my life feels changed, not because of a few days in the desert, but what the desert provided for the growth of my friendships and my self confidence.  These two weeks following our trip have shown exactly how much of an impact that weekend has had on my life.  I am so much happier than I thought I could be as a single, unsuccessful, twenty-something living out of suitcases and a rolling rack that just collapsed to the floor.  I know I have so much to offer this world, and I am now patient for my success instead of anxious.  

O came home for a week so we took total advantage of it.  Most days we sat on my bed, watching Girls, pigging out, and talking.  So much talking.  The two of us are like Furbys.  We don't shut up even if you turn us off and throw us in the back of your closet. (I just aged myself HARD but I wasn't the only one who thought her Furby had a mind of its own, right?)  Anyway, I had one full day off of work during her time home, so we packed the car full of snacks and beach chairs and headed to Palos Verdes, a place O has been trying to take me since she did a stunning photoshoot there when she first got to LA.  Here's like a zillion photos from that. 

Look at this babe. 

I didn't tell her to do this.  She saw a bird. 

Fun fact:

24 and have no idea how to braid my own hair.  I can braid other people's hair, but not my own.  So, O braided my hair before we left and now I have a thin red sunburn line from the tip of my hairline to the back of my neck.  Winning!

She always catches me in the weirdest positions when I'm shooting.  I was joking that I'm gonna die trying to catch the perfect photograph.  I'd be cool with that actually.  That's a pretty neat way to go.  

PELICANS!

I love this series of photos.  Mussels covered almost every rock in the jetty.  It must be a pretty boring life to be stuck to a rock the whole time, but at least they're pretty. I sat in this spot for easily a half hour trying to get the mussels in focus while the waves in the back crashed over the rocks out of focus.  I stood up and almost fell into the water because all the blood had left the lower half of my legs, (see the photo of me above) but it was worth it.  

Olena and I are closer than we have ever been.  We share everything.  Even things that seemed not worth sharing before.  It's a double edged sword having a best friend, cause it's incredible, but now that she's on tour with Home Free, I miss her so much that I don't know what to do with myself, and we have a constant stream of information being passed to each other via text, Snapchat, and Facebook messaging.  I took this photo of us because we always forget to take photos together.  Too bad our makeup was almost fully off and it was so cold that we were wearing blankets like homeless people.....still love it.  

Quietly considering abandoning our dreams to take photographs of birds for the rest of our lives?  Mom, that cool?

 I took so many photos of the freaking ocean it's not even funny.  You could see the depth of the water just by the color.  It was the perfect cerulean blue that they made that crayon in honor of.  I was in awe. The earth is freakin cool, man.  

We watched the sun set on these cliffs.  I looked at a map when we got home, and from where we were standing, the next piece of land is the coast of China, and I've never understood the vastness of the ocean so fully before that. 

Here you'll find a wild Olena completely disobeying the rules of Point Vicente.  Please click on the photo below to read what that sign says.  Kills me. 

Just before we headed back to the car and said goodbye to the day, she took this photo of me which I'm slightly obsessed with, cause it's real.  That's the expression I have on my face when I am looking at things like sunsets, or the tide, or animals or babies or old people or a rainstorm.  I'm becoming a hippie, and I'm so okay with it.  But no matter what, I'll never let go of my humility.  See the photo below.  It's just so hard to take myself being photographed seriously.  I hope I never lose that.  Both photos totally capture me.  

So that's it for your dose of The Jones!  I am in such a wonderful place emotionally right now.  I know there will come a time in my near future where the rollercoaster will have to take it's first drop, but I'm on such an upswing right now that I want to create and document as much as possible while it's still here.  Mr. and Mrs. Sami are coming into town tomorrow for a week of Matarante ridiculousness.  So be on the lookout for a post about that beautiful reunion soon!  Keep on keepin on folks, and do something nice for someone else today! 

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xoxo Gossip Girl