Please come!

Some photos from last Friday and Saturday…

We got permission to dress up at work so of course we did. Ashley’s cat hat was especially great because from the back it looked like a crazy mullet.

Tracy’s original plan was to be a coffee filter but it impaired her mobility a lot so she went with an old cow costume. The coffee filter looked so much like a table though that she considered wearing it again on Halloween and making a “reserved” sign for it. Pretty clever huh? : )

“Hey kids, you want some cancer?!” Ha! He doesn’t even smoke so I’m not sure what inspired this costume but I have to say its pretty well done.

Get it?!? I was a SMARTY PANTS! Unfortunately only about 30% of the people I saw got this costume. Everyone thought they were sweet tarts. Come on, sweet tart pants? That doesn’t make any sense!

Simone fixing Ross’ costume..

He’s a mad scientist! He answered the door to some trick-or-treaters and offered them the compost bowl instead of the candy bowl. The kids just stared dumbfounded and didn’t find it remotely funny. -_-

Did you guys dress up at all? As what?

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Lupe and I went for a long walk through the arboretum a few days ago and brought my camera. We were hoping for some sun so that maybe we could get a few pictures with the sun setting, but it never came out.::shrug:: At least it didn’t rain.

After walking gingerly through the mud for a bit we found this (almost) hidden path out to a small dock.

That giant claw in the background is Husky Stadium.

Its always so disappointing when an image comes out blurry. Not to mention it means 60 cents down the drain!

Photo credit: Lupe

Neither of us were particularly good at coming up with posing ideas. It would be fun to do some sort of photoshoot and direct my subjects around and all but I just feel silly doing that. I have been thinking I should play around with the idea of a photo story though. Do you have any ideas?

Photo credit: Lupe

Hundreds of birds took flight as we were walking by. It was stunning and looked a little ominous, as I think the photo shows.

This one is my favorite of the set.

“Is that a slug?! I’m getting out of here!”

I can’t really think of a better way to relieve stress than to go outside for a long walk. And boy do I have plenty of stress to relieve! I’m glad I’ve kept this up though (and glad you all are still reading!), getting my film back definitely adds some excitement to the week. Even blurry film : )

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Seattle area friends: if you have time on Sunday evening please come out for the Typhoon Relief Benefit Show being hosted by Makipag and FASA! Some of my film photography from Japan will be up in the gallery and for sale as prints! I would love to see you there and we would all greatly appreciate your support! Here are the details:

I’m sure you’ve heard about the tragic events in the Philippines recently. Come make a donation for the sake of the typhoon victims; there will be some incredibly talented artists and performers so it will definitely be worth your time.

Check out my website, http://allisonoconnor.com to get an idea of what kind of prints you’ll be likely to see there from me.

Thanks, see you there : )

Paul and I went for a walk and then decided once we were out to go to Whole Foods. I hadn’t thought to bring my wallet but he bought me this Theo chocolate bar. Theo’s factory is located in Fremont here in Seattle and I’ve always wanted to go on their tour but haven’t found the time. After eating this chocolate bar, I think I’d better just pencil it in already. Mmmm.

The side of this house was lined with giant coffee mugs!

I took this last one on the bridge by the Henry Art Gallery. Don’t you love when the sun shines through the clouds in giant rays like that?

My dad is coming up to visit my brother and I for the day. Isn’t that nice? : )

Another nice thing: thanks to Daylight Savings time, we get an extra hour of daylight! Hope you didn’t forget to roll back your clocks, friends.

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Here are some photos from a rain-free afternoon last week:

I met my friend Lupe for lunch and we both happened to be craving pho! Kindred spirits? Perhaps. As it gets colder I always want noodle soups though. I really miss Japanese ramen! There is one place, Samurai Ramen, in the International District, but that’s pretty far away. They’ve been planning to open a branch in the U-district for years but we have yet to see any progress. I suppose pho will have to do in the meantime!

We walked to Solstice cafe after eating and people watched from the porch while drinking coffee.

As you can see, he took this picture of me without warning. : p

Later that day Paul and I walked down to my brother’s place to have pumpkin pancakes for dinner…

Look how stunning the walk was! A guy wiped out on his bike right next to us just before I took this picture. Ouch.

: )

Later at Ben’s place we were laughing about he and Ross’ (his roommate) new “Canadian tuxedos.” They had recently gone to a retirement home themed party and decided to buy jean “suits” inspired by some old Canadian family picture they had seen – the story was something like that at least – for it. Anyway I decided to try Ben’s suit on and he took a picture. Prepare yourselves, this picture might rival my 6th grade class photo in its awfulness…

Puahahaha. What do you think? I wore it over my clothes and the pants seem to have added about 20 pounds to each of my legs, huh? Note that this outfit is a three piece set, with high waist pants, a jean shirt, and a vest on top. Also important: the bolo.

: )

Happy halloween!

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In honor of everyone’s favorite Autumnal commercial holiday (Halloween, right?), my friends and I carved pumpkins!

Even though this picture is just of a bowl of pumpkin guts, I think its really beautiful. Would you say so?

This was a really satisfying way to spend an evening. I wonder where the tradition of carving pumpkins started.. Anyone know?

Blurrrrrrr! Kelsy, one of my roommates, took this picture of my brother and I.

Autumn is a great season – who doesn’t like pumpkin pie, pumpkin carving, pumpkin flavored baked goods, or, you know, anything related to the carving and consumption of members of the squash family?

Ben and Ross, taking a microbiology break.

This was my pumpkin. Yes, you are seeing that correctly, it is a brontosaurus chasing a little girl. The most irrelevant pumpkin carving theme ever? Possibly. I based it on this comic, which made me laugh at least 30 times that day (and still did today, as a matter of fact):

HAHAHAHAHA. Ah, kills me.

This is Simone, showing that pumpkin who’s boss. This knife action reminds me of a story from high school: A few weeks after that book “Stitch and Bitch” came out knitting became the trendiest thing a girl at my high school could possibly do (did NOT see that one coming!). One of my male teachers was complaining about it and one day and said, “Seriously, knitting? What if all the guys at the school took up whittling, would the school allow that?!”

At the time I remember thinking, whittling, really?? But you know what, wielding that knife against the pumpkin was damn satisfying! Simone’s face doesn’t seem to suggest otherwise either, does it? : )

Well! On the subject of Halloween, what are all of you going to be for (if you plan to dress up)? I’m not going to tell you my plan, you’ll see afterward though, I promise.

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Oh yeah, thanks for the music rec’s! Keep them coming if you have more! I actually spent some time over the weekend looking for new stuff (new to me, at least) and I’m really into The Temper Trap. Give ‘em a listen and let me know what you think.

It’s really beautiful here right now. I can’t stop taking pictures.

It’s also a bit melancholy though. I’m starting to feel nostalgic for my very independent and non-stressful life in Japan. Everything seemed to catch up with me this past week and I let it get to me and now I have a cold! I think that optimism translates into better overall health so I’m trying not to let school and work wear me out too much but its awfully difficult to maintain that sunny disposition when its so gray outside.

——

Anyway, this is really nice music:

I’m getting tired of my music, so if you have any recommendations I’d love to hear them. Pretty please.

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Paul’s friend got married this past weekend so we got to get all dressed up for it. I didn’t remember to bring my camera to the wedding but we did take some pictures afterward.

With the backpack on he looked just like a missionary huh? Hahaha.

*Paul took this

“Has anyone ever just walked up and pressed that seat-belt buckle?” Not so far, luckily.

Ahh my fake glasses. We decided that Paul ought to wear them to the wedding and just pretend he had decided not to wear his contacts that day. We didn’t really know anyone there so we decided to mess around with the people at our table. I asked Paul “can I try your glasses on?” and he said “they’re going to hurt your eyes, but ok.” So I put them on and feigned minor pain and vision impairment. The other people at the table immediately said things like, “Wow they look so different on you! I mean, they’re totally natural on him but you look like a whole different person!”

*paul took this

Ha. A pretty silly trick to play on people you don’t even know huh? As if they really even care! It was fun though. Now I want to try it in reverse and see how people react – would they say the same thing to Paul if the glasses had started on me and I had let him try them on?

*paul took this

I’ll try it out the next time I’m feeling mischievous and let you know.

There’s just something about rolled up sleeves isn’t there? Swoon.

Alright, back to normal clothes, back to studying!

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My brother, at a pho restaurant. I like this place particularly because the decor is so colorful, not necessarily because it has superior pho. Most of the other pho places around this area are just white walls and mirrors, whereas this one is so warm and inviting.

Don’t worry, I realize this is sort of a silly critique.

You can tell what this is, right?

How often do people even use pay phones anymore? I think the last time I used one was during the first week I was in Tokyo and didn’t have a cell phone yet. The last time before that? Hmm.. It might have been my second or third year of high school. The pay phone in the cafeteria just started ringing so I went and picked it up out of curiosity. I don’t remember what happened after I picked up the phone. Isn’t memory funny like that?

My mom showing off her new shoes. It was pretty cute – I asked her to stop and let me take a picture of her in front of this wall and she very proudly displayed her latest impulse purchase.

I don’t know about where you are, readers, but its quite beautiful here with all the leaves turning colors. Come to think of it, where are you? What is like there?

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