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2011 Review!

Samantha — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:37:57 +0000

2011 didn’t seem so exciting or major to me while it was happening, but now, in retrospect, it really was. I spent the year living in New York City with my wonderful husband, Ryan, and Chicken the Hairless Wonder Cat, working in a bar in Chelsea, not really paying attention to my old hobbies – I barely picked up my SLR all year, never updated this site, and didn’t devote as much time as I used to Haute Macabre. Another year past where I still can’t take a self-portrait that isn’t looking into the mirror with my phone – how the hell do you girls do it?!

Last January, Ryan and I went to New Orleans for the first time. We were instantly magically-love-at-first-sight smitten with the city. It felt like home, in a way that New York never has for me. After the first trip, we returned twice more. We made new friends, found new bars and restaurants that we love, explored the city, rode the streetcar up and down St. Charles Ave, got absolutely drenched in a storm while we were running across the French Quarter, and had more fun than I could really describe (except for the one night we discovered my allergy meds didn’t mix well with gin!).

One night in November, Ryan got home from work at about 5:30 in the morning, after an incredibly long night behind his bar, woke me up, and said “Let’s just move”. I blearily said sure, fell back asleep, and started apartment hunting the next morning. We move into our new home in our new city in just FIFTEEN DAYS!!

New Orleans :: Los Angeles :: Mexico :: Atlantic City

For our second anniversary, Ryan & I spent a very rainy week in Mexico, proving my theory that at any time, anywhere in the world, episodes of Law & Order SVU are going to be airing on TV in whatever language you speak. I went to Los Angeles in September and found old treasures, useless junk, and weird shit in my storage unit. I saw the Tim Burton exhibit that I missed out on in New York with Courtney and had color coordinated breakfast with Zo. Ryan & I spent a night in Atlantic City, played the slots (he actually won!) and walked the closed for the season boardwalk.

The Empire State continued to be my favorite building in NYC, entirely because of the novel Veronica. We survived Snowmaggedon, Snowpocalypse, and Thunder Snow. Chicken continued to be adorable. We went to the opera and left early to go drink beers.

Ryan & I got matching Harry Potter tattoos, and later I got a bunch of hyacinths. I saw Patti Smith preform and stood so close I had to lean back when she’d reach her arm out. I ate meat. I ate A LOT of meat, and it was awesome. I became more conscious of what my food is and where it came from, diet, and exercise, and continuously ignore my higher self when she said to stop eating crap. I saw PJ Harvey play a fairly lackluster performance, but her sub-par is most performers’ superb. I saw Bon Iver, and it was the most emotionally moving performance I’ve ever seen. I had adventures with my husband all over town and quiet nights at home and loved both kinds.

I started wearing colors other than black, and started compulsively buying dresses from ModCloth. My hair got so long it goes down the back of my pants and I stopped dyeing it black, but still don’t have any decent photos of it. I didn’t smoke a single cigarette – not even a single drag – all year, and I don’t miss it one bit. I turned thirty, and was glad to be done with my twenties.

Had many a cocktail hour in many a bar, some that Bukoswki would approve, some a little swankier. I caught quiet moments on Sunday mornings while walking to work on early shifts. I hung out with Radeo and my husband is convinced she is my long-lost little sister. I finally got to use my fancy skull dishes on Thanksgiving. I put Chicken in her Chicken hat, and she hated me for it. Chloe would come out and play whenever she was in town. I read a lot, as you already know. I watched a lot of TV, and I’m not ashamed of it. We survived the Hurricane-That-Never-Really-Happened-But-We-All-Freaked-Out.

I fell in love with Instax cameras. I spent time with friends I grew up with in New York, friends I spent my years with in California, and friends I’ve made since moving back. I drank Pimm’s Cups on a rooftop pool in Midtown, had Budweisers to go in The Garden District, glasses of Gruner in posh NYC restaurants, and pre-last shift drinks at silly bars in Meat Packing. I spent time with my family, but not enough, especially now that I’m moving away again.

I am very excited about 2012. So many things are happening already, and life is about to change in a giant way. In just two weeks, I’ll be living in with someone I love in a place that inspires us both. My only resolutions for the year is to build our life there and keep being happy.
What are you looking forward to the most this year?

Portland!

Samantha — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:16:33 +0000

Portland Recap

Heartland

Samantha — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:25:22 +0000

To begin with :

Ahora

Hail to the Thief

Samantha — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:38:06 +0000

Chloe and I are planning a trip to Dead Horse Bay. I was once taken there on a field trip in elementary school, although its educational purposes have escaped me. Our plan was birthed over far too many beers, far too early in the day, in a bar somewhere in the West Village that was playing horse races on the television.

Beirut’s The Flying Club Cup has been on repeat on my iTunes for days. It is only substituted by Patti Smith, both of which have taken me much too long to become acquainted with.

The subject line of this has absolutely nothing to do with anything, it just happened to be the first phrase I saw when I glanced up from my monitor.

Journeys are upon me : Oklahoma, Los Angeles, Portland : I may have been fibbing when I said I was hanging my travel hat. One day, I would like to have an adventure to the Creation Museum, but Kentucky is not currently on my itinerary. Obviously, my passport is not required for domestic travel, but boarding passes no longer exist.

My reading stack is currently completely out of hand. It does pale in comparison, but I still forbid myself from purchasing any new books in the foreseeable future. [I have already broken my rule since drafting this]. That is only one of many stacks and stocked cases in the house, and I doubt I’ll ever even make a dent in it.
The concept of “weather” is slowly becoming a reality that I am reluctantly accepting. The only weather I am accustomed to is “hot” and “hot and apocalyptic”, so the actual changes that occur on a daily basis here are throwing me off balance. It actually rains water here, as opposed to snowing ash. This is not without its upsides, though. It has given me free reign to completely update my wardrobe, which I am always happy to do.

I spent quality time at a local cafe with 44 Digs, where I instructed them to ignore me while I took oddly cropped photos of them.

They were excited about it, as you can see.

I discovered shooting at sunset is difficult, but somehow, with my magics, I made it work. Misty was visiting New York from Belgium early last month, and had a beautiful view of the Williamsburg bridge from her friend’s apartment. Naturally, a set was demanding to be shot there, so we obliged.

[Misty : Stories From the City is currently in Member Review on Suicide Girls]

My next updates might be brought to you from the heartland, where I shall be roaming around the plains with plastic cameras in search of Americana. God speed, young soldiers.

No related posts.

Sunday Smut : Yellow & Green

Samantha — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:00:49 +0000

Nya, Posh, & Zoli in Absinthe

A touch of the green fairy for you all, which personally, I think smells and tastes like Scope infused gasoline. We shot this on the never-ending Vegas trip last February, on Valentine’s Day, a strange day for me. After receiving the news that Lou had passed, wrapping the Love Spell shoot, and feeling the first hints of the Death Plague, Absinthe started rolling. This, like the other filmed shoots that week, were really quite difficult to shoot. I was at the mercy of staying out of the film crew’s way (and frame) while they were filming, and could only jump in for close ups between their takes. It didn’t turn out exactly the way I had envisioned it when I pitched the proposal, but considering the circumstances, it came out far better than I had expected.

Trade psp

The half empty bottle of Absinthe wound up in my room the rest of the week, and much to the bellhop’s surprise, he was tipped with it when loading my car with my luggage the last day.

ToriBell : Time Waits for No One

ToriBell and I shot Time Waits for No One not too long ago, in a hotel room a bit north of Los Angeles. The room had the typical boring beige decor that hotel rooms typically do, and since she has such a timeless sort of beauty to her, I asked Cherry to color treat the images to match her anachronism.

The Matador the movie

Time Waits for No One is currently in Member Review, waiting for your happy little I Loved Its!

Moxi : All You Need As Good as It Gets hd download The Burning dvd

The Incredibles download

Day X dvd

Moxi’s set, All You Need, is one of the last remnants of Vegas left. We shot on the very last day of the trip, and the guilt I felt being that close to someone while in the state I was in was epic in its enormity.

[click on the images to be directed to Suicide Girls]