state park

ASAD 2022

The year 2022 was filled with so many highs, and some very low, lows. 2022 brought travel, and weddings, animal snuggles. new friends, and family get togethers. Although some unexpected, I’m grateful to have seen them. 2022 also brought me lots of laughter, and new opportunities for growth in myself, and my art.

As some of you know, the year 2022 started out rough for me. New Years day, I was on a plane heading to my grandpa’s funeral. Although the circumstances were not ideal, I enjoyed seeing family that I have not seen in many years. I loved playing games and reminiscing with them about their childhoods and mine. My grandma is my only remaining grandparent, and I will forever cherish our conversations from this week. I am thankful that she sees me as someone she could talk to, and help her through her grief.

With the United States opening back up from covid, this brought on more travel. Not long after we got home from being in Ohio, my parents came to see me. I also traveled back to Ohio two other times this year. I flew in for my life long best friend’s bridal shower and bachelorette weekend, and then again for her wedding. I also traveled to New York City. I have been there five times, and I do not think I will ever stop being surprised by its beauty and culture.

Everyone that has ever met me knows that I have a love of animals, my favorite being a horse. Growing up in a suburb of Cleveland, its definitely not a typical favorite animal. My bedroom growing up was always covered in horse statues, pictures, toys, etc. After the loss of Molly, I decided it was time to become formally trained. This year, I started my journey towards horsemanship, and hopefully lead to hunter jumper. Bailey was the first horse I felt a bond with at The Equestrian Center. She was very patient with me and helped me through the beginning challenges. The center lost Bailey unexpectedly, and it broke my heart. After riding a few horses, who were all wonderful I found Brigand. I typically use the the phrase “he's a dream” when I talk about him. He pushes me to be better, work harder, and also to expect the unexpected. I am truly grateful for my trainer and friend, Janet, and the entire equestrian center. This is the first time in my life, I have had friends that are also horse people.

I always talk about the things I wish I could improve in the future of my videos. In the past, it was about video organization. I fixed this problem by creating folders per month and adding them at the end of every month, then going and creating that months section of the video. This has helped me a great deal and I definitely will continue it in the future. I was underwhelmed with some of my phones camera quality, but I upgraded my phone so I hope that will improve future videos. Something I really want to improve on will definitely be the blog writing itself. I struggle with writing out the synapsis of my year, and even my art.

I hope you enjoy 2022’s a second a day video, and I can not wait to hear what you think! The link is below, and please do not forget to look for 2023 in the future!

I have four more blog posts, saved in my drafts and I am working to get them to you soon.


If you cannot see the video this blog, click here.

Links to other blogs in yearly order are here!

2021
2020
2019

2021 ASAD Video

Wow. I cannot believe its has been a full year already. 2021 was a year full of loss and heartache. 2021 also brought some amazing memories and an abundance of laughter with some of my closest friends, animal snuggles, a little bit more travel Than last year, and of course, good food that I love to showcase throughout my videos. I always like to explain the things I did well, and the things I wish to improve in the next year.

Due to the world events, I kept my social circle small this year as well as the previous. Which was nice because I got to spend another year surrounded by only my closest circle of friends, who are also family. With them, I got to have many mini adventures such as county fairs, dinner dates, beach trips at all hours of the day, and I even got to help participate in bringing a hometown best friend in to the city to surprise one of my besties for her birthday!


Unfortunately, with the good comes the not so good. We lost some very special animals, and I lost my grandfather at the end of the year. Molly, the Hunters’ horse, was the first one this year. If you know me personally, you’d know that horses are my favorite animal, I absolutely adored Molly. The last time I saw her, before I went down I bought an entire bag on mints. Mints were her favorite treat and though it meant she’d have to let me get on her back for an hour or so a day she gladly accepted. If you were not fast enough though, shed dig through your pockets herself. The next was the Hunters' dog buster, who I think only Chris was fond of, he was known for getting into messes, the stinkier the better. Last but certainly not least, after a long year filled with family stresses and struggles, we suddenly lost my grandpa to the flu and pneumonia. I am grateful for him and the time we got o share. If my family had to choose one thing to say about him, I think it would be that he made life interesting, just not always in the best ways.I am grateful for the two voicemails on my phone from him, especially since I don’t have anything from my other passed grandparents. It’s been about a month and it still doesn’t quite feel real.


I am very excited to be traveling again, Although I am still doing way less traveling because of the pandemic, I did fly to Denver this year, and I had to make in back to Ohio at the end of the year. Denver was fun, I ate lots of good food, went to lots of museums, and of course did a little bit of hiking. My trip back to Ohio was a little bit more stressful. The plan was to fly back to my parents house in South Carolina and then drive to Ohio from there for my grandpas funeral.Then things got a little bit more stressful when I went to check in for my flight, and saw that it was cancelled four hours before I had to be at the airport. Naturally the airline booked me on another flight instead. Since it was just about midnight on New Years eve, and my flight left in the morning I had to wake up my parents to see what they thought was my best option. Long story short, I ended up buying day of plane tickets on New Years day. Luckily in the end, I made it to Ohio and the service was wonderful. It also let me see my family some of which I have not seen since I was in middle school.


Even though i’m not posting as much, I’m still working as you can see in my video, and I am so excited to show you what I have coming. There will be a wedding blog, and at least five product shots coming your way soon.People have also been asking me about showing my before and afters for some of my images because sometimes I really change a lot of things. I think this is a really fun idea because it helps show off one of my strengths, photoshop. I am just unhappy with my coding options for it with my website. I may try it a different way and let you decide if its readable, or if you like it.


There are a lot of things that I consider to be strengths and improvemnets this year. I chose to change the background track from the up beat and tropical tunes that i typically use, because of my losses this year especially near the end, it didn’t feel right. So in the end I swapped out the ukulele and switch it for a nice, still happy just more subdued piano and strings track. I think I also improved my editing and workflow this year, so hopefully I can just keep building onto it. If you want to see my workflow progress, feel free to check back and look at my previous blogs that are down at the bottom of this post. MY workflow consists of a yearly folder. Within that folder I have twelve folders with the month names. This year I added number of days as well as a color system so know when I have put all my videos per month in them through out the year. This is helpful to me because I am a little bit sporatic with my video uploading.


Ofcourse, if i’m going to talk about my strengths, I need to talk about the details i’d like to improve in the next year. I do this video project as a look back through my year like a scrap book, but also a way to stay learning and focused. I would have to say that writing about myself, and my process is one of my biggest on my list of “needs improvement"“ Im just really not good at it, but im trying to better to get out of my own head to improve it. Also, I would say I wish my video was all horizontal frames, although I have much less in this one than my previous, I still have room to improve there.


My 2021 video is here, and below are links my other videos.

***If you cannot see my video below here is a link.***

Thanks for watching, and be on the look out for 2022!

Links to other blogs in yearly order are here!
2020
2019


ASAD November Sneak Peak

Wow! This holiday season flew by way faster than I expected. November was a month full of beach day get aways while the water was still just warm enough to enjoy, including finding my new favorite spot to read in my down very rare times. This is the first thanksgiving that I have ever spent away from my family. It was very strange, but luckily working into the late hours helped take my mind off of it.

Theres only one more sneak peak in this years video until I get to show you my progress so far! i’m very excited to show you the longest video project I have ever done. If you have fallen behind, the videos are still in order on the bottom of the blog.

Below are links the the other A Second A Day Sneak Peak videos and the blogs to go with them just incase you ever miss one, or want to rewatch/reread them.

Links to the other sneak peak videos in order:

1. Exciting Projects in the Work/ ASAD January Sneak PeaK

2. February’s ASAD Sneak Peak

3. March’s ASAD Sneak Peak

4. ASAD April Sneak Peak

5. ASAD May Sneak Peak

6. ASAD June Sneak Peak

7. ASAD July Sneak Peak

8. ASAD August Sneak Peak

9. ASAD September Sneak Peak

10. ASAD October Sneak Peak

ASAD October Sneak Peak

In my last blog, I mentioned things were going to be written a little bit differently. This one is going to be co-wrote with my boyfriend, Chris, and his experiences with the video process though the year so far. If you like the change of pace, let me know!
*The next three paragraphs were written by Chris.*

With the year winding down, this project is almost complete. I have contributed a few videos here and there, like the video of Elise bowling, but overall less than one percent of this video has been done by me. Elise has spent many hours choosing videos, editing, and much more. On a typical day it usually is pretty easy for her to choose a video because we both work full time and she tries to include everyday activities in the video as well. We also like to travel quite a bit so when we are visiting areas such as Miami, it can be much more difficult for her to narrow down what video she wants to use for that specific day.

Another thing I would like to point out is the equipment she uses. Almost all of the filming has been done just using an iPhone so naturally she wanted to find creative ways to use it. Something that has really helped with this has been the wide lens and waterproof case. She takes them every time we go near the water, and has used both of these numerous times. Since we live beside the Gulf of Mexico, it has really added some unique footage.

Finally, I would like to encourage anyone to do this sort of project. Even if you think you don’t do much day to day, it will be something that you will look back on and consider worthwhile. This project isn’t easy as it forces you to stay motivated and organized for it daily but I know she is going to be happy with it, even when it has caused her some stress in the past. I also know she enjoys this sort of video project because it gives her an opportunity to use her creativity to show you her everyday life.


Thanks for reading! as always here is the sneak peak of the month, and below it are the previous sneak peak blogs! enjoy!

Below are links the the other A Second A Day Sneak Peak videos and the blogs to go with them just incase you ever miss one, or want to rewatch/reread them.

Links to the other sneak peak videos in order:

1. Exciting Projects in the Work/ ASAD January Sneak PeaK

2. February’s ASAD Sneak Peak

3. March’s ASAD Sneak Peak

4. ASAD April Sneak Peak

5. ASAD May Sneak Peak

6. ASAD June Sneak Peak

7. ASAD July Sneak Peak

8. ASAD August Sneak Peak

9. ASAD September Sneak Peak

ASAD September Sneak Peak


September was another wild month. I spent two weeks of the month on vacation, and exploring new areas. The first vacation you will see is Miami which was an absolute blast, The food, zoo, and atmosphere was a lot of fun, but I can say with full confidence that our beaches in the gulf are way better.

For our second vacation, we went home to my parents house in Michigan. This was the first time in almost two years since I moved to Florida that we had been back to Michigan. It will also be the last time I ever go back to that house since my parents have since sold it to move more south and get away from the harsh, cold winters we have always lived around.

Enjoy the next sneak peak in the series, and next months sneak peak will be written a little bit differently so be looking out for that as well!

Below are links the the other A Second A Day Sneak Peak videos and the blogs to go with them just incase you ever miss one, or want to rewatch/reread them.

Links to the other sneak peak videos in order:

1. Exciting Projects in the Work/ ASAD January Sneak PeaK

2. February’s ASAD Sneak Peak

3. March’s ASAD Sneak Peak

4. ASAD April Sneak Peak

5. ASAD May Sneak Peak

6. ASAD June Sneak Peak

7. ASAD July Sneak Peak

8. ASAD August Sneak Peak

ASAD July Sneak Peak

I always talk about the month I had when I post my monthly sneak peak, but I never really criticize or talk about my learning process. Which I think is a very big part of the videos themselves. With that being said, I want to share with you something I have learned during this video process, and my own solution to go forward with for next years video.

If there was one thing I would have done differently for this project, it would be better organization. When I started this project, I never really thought about the process of organization I was going to need to successfully and easily make this project run smoothly. Well, let me tell you how important organization is with this project now that I am a little more than half way done,

The biggest way I could have stayed better organized would have been by putting these videos in sub-folders based on months and put each month in one folder. Right now, I have all the videos in one folder, and now that there are over 100 videos in this one folder, with more added more daily, When I sit down to edit, I am constantly searching though the entire media library consisting of all the videos from this year so far. This causes me to edit slower, and take more time looking for certain videos, rather than having all the videos right there per month. At least I know how to make this project run smoother next year, since I have decided to make this a very permanent ongoing project.

Below are links the the other A Second A Day Sneak Peak videos and the blogs to go with them just incase you ever miss one, or want to rewatch/reread them, they are all right here. Underneath these links, is July’s sneak peak. Enjoy!

Links to the other sneak peak videos in order:

1. Exciting Projects in the Work/ ASAD January Sneak PeaK

2. February’s ASAD Sneak Peak

3. March’s ASAD Sneak Peak

4. ASAD April Sneak Peak

5. ASAD May Sneak Peak

6. ASAD June Sneak Peak

Cleanup The Beaches!

A few weeks back I blogged about moving to a new area called Destin, Florida. (link to this blog at the bottom.) Since I have been here I have been working really hard at building connections, and making friendships. Through these connections, I met a really genuine and good friend.

As Some of you already know, I have been working with an organization in the area. That organization is called Coastal Community Cleanup. Coastal Community Cleanup is a non profit organization that was founded by one of my good friends, Megan Betancourt.

Coastal Community Cleanup is an organization that sets out to do just what if says. Clean up the beaches! Every few weeks the CCC team picks a beach in the area to clean up. Its typically scheduled as a two hour event. When you arrive, you are provided with resuable gloves or tongs, and a burlap bag to collect trash that you find in the sand or in the water. At the end of scheduled cleanup, you come back and sort what you found out into trash, recyliables, etc. Then the CCC team takes care of depositing the trash to the right centers. For this event, the CCC team helped out a Target volunteer event that was great fun and a big success! The cleanup happened at a small beach access called Norriego Point. The total amount of trash collected and removed weighed about 40 pounds! It was really great to see all the teamwork and hard work from my fellow friends and coworkers! (link to their website below if you want to help out and see upcoming events!)

Below are a few of the images I took during the Cleanup. Enjoy!

Link to Coastal Community Cleanup website:
https://coastalcommunitycleanup.com

Link to Coastal Community Cleanup Facebook page::
https://www.facebook.com/coastalcommunitycleanup/


Link to my Previous blog about moving:
one-year-in-florida

February's ASAD Sneak Peak


So just in case you missed my first post (link below) I am working on a new project that will last me the entire year. Its a video project called A Second A Day or ASAD for short. I have been working hard to stay updated on this project to keep it from being a daunting folder of 365 videos at the end of the year. Since I am keeping up with the editing of the videos, I am also abled to look through each month and pick out some of my favorite moments from that month and share them with you.

So far I’m learning a lot about myself and video editing from this project and I can’t wait to see how the final project turns out. I have been getting lots of great questions about this project, and my blogs. One of the most frequently asked questions was “why is there no sound in the video?” and my answer to you all is simply I have not yet picked out music for it yet, and I don’t want to give everything away in these sneak peaks. Since I am letting you see some of the seconds ahead of time, I need to have another element for your engagement in the final video at the end of the year.

Thanks for watching this sneak peak and all the ones to come!


Link to previous video: January Sneak Peak/Full Explaination

McConnells Mill in the Winter

     Every time I have sat down to write out this blog, the weather would decide to snow. I took this as an omen to work on it later because I am so tired of the cold weather, and did not want to jinx the warm weather change. I chose today to finally try this again because we have hopefully hit the  no-snow time of year again!

      My friend Nicole, her fiance Brian, and I decided to go hiking at McConnells Mill.  We went in the very beginning of March. It was a very sunny day, in fact the first weekend it reached forty degrees. We knew we had to do something in this heat wave, so we decided to hike and take pictures of the snow and ice finally starting to melt, and our adventures along the way. We hiked up some cliffs, walked along windy snow covered trails, and even went off the trails a little bit. One of my favorite parts of the trip, was going to see a huge frozen waterfall that was turned into icicles. In order for us to get to it, we had to climb up a lot of stairs that had been turned into ice slides. Everyone was struggling on the stairs, but me being as clumsy as I am probably fell down the stairs about six times. (mostly on the way down). 

     I will include some images and behind the scenes images from our adventure, and also a video of me falling down some stairs for you to enjoy, even though I look like a baby deer on ice. (you gotta be able to laugh at yourself right?!).  Nicole is also a fellow photographer, whose link will be down at the bottom as well as McConnell's Mill.

Visit McConnels Mill! : http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/findapark/mcconnellsmill/

Nicole Iagnemma's nature photography: http://www.nicdreamcatcher.com/