Menendez Emporium

ok i lied.....

2008-05-14T04:02:00.000-07:00

in my last blog post i said i would try to keep this thing updated and as you can see i have utterly failed at that. oh well, what can you do except keep trying......or maybe quit. ok im not going to write long because im really tired. so several weeks ago we went back to Coronado, as our usual tradition dictates we rented a surrey. We love those 4 person bikes, they are full of 4 person goodness.......yeah i dont know what that means either. at any rate they are way fun, except that im to monstrously huge for the stupid thing and so every time i pedal my knees have a violent encounter with the metal bar........it equals major suckitude. After our fun little ride around the the Coronado hood we decided to go to the beach, nice hot day but overly freezing water and getting numb is not that fun. to top it all off it was ridiculously windy!! so you would lay down and feel like youre getting sand blasted......i think i still have pieces of flesh missing. We later decided that being sand blasted wasnt all that it was cracked up to be, so we went for some mexican food and yes that was all it was cracked up to be. overall, a very pleasing outing, as always camera came along and i shot some photos. As i am doing some experimenting with post processing right now i figured i would start with these. only 3 for now as im still learning and they take a while to finish. So for now enjoy these 3!

Its not that were boring people.....

2008-02-06T03:04:00.001-08:00

Oh np, far from it.....but i think that i understimated how difficult it was going to be to maintain 2 blogs a myspace profile for the my photography updating the website....and the list goes on. Lots has happened since i updated the site (no kids yet so dont ask) Weve had many adventures, i got me a car (scary), jens car died (sad), she said goodbye, she got a new car (big pimpin), she loves her job and i love mine (smile), holidays came and went but a great time was had by all ( i got an optimus prime helme and its amazing)........and that list can go on and on as well. So to make up for my lack of posting i figured i would start up again and see if i can keep it up. So 1st blog post of 08? We got Disneyland passes!!! Yes i know, all of you are wondering how in the heck anyone got me to go to D-Land as i have been so outspoken of my utter hatred for the place in the past. Well basically i was held at gunpoint while tied up and threatened by my family.....either go to D-Land and have a good time or well....you know...die. Ok so no gun but i was given a "choice" if you can call it that, my options were D-Land or go line dancing at Stampede.....i chose the lesser of 2 evils. While i went expecting to hate my time there i will admit that i had more fun than i thought i would have. We hit both parks and got on a bunch of rides, did the buzz lightyear shooting thing ( will is grand master i absolutely sucked ), space mountain was cool, california adventures was pretty cool too. Soaring over California was awesome ( i loved all the footage they used and the experience was amazing), Tower of Terror was well terrifying ( i screamed like a little girl ) by far though my favorite thing there was Turtle Talk with Crush.....if you dont know what it is go check it out next time you go. If anything is going to bring out the kid in you.....it that. Ok ive blabbed for long enough....heres some photos.

Casie before she found out that the Disney character she was most like was a dog from Lady and the Tramp.....she later destroyed the machine

Jaw breakers were purchased and consumed....the obligatory showing of colored tongues soon followed..

Awwwww how cute!

Yeah shes probably gonna kill me for this but hey its my blog. Lava cake was ordered....

The aftermath

Look guys it sparkles......hahahaha

It really is better if you dont ask..

I suck at life.....

2007-10-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

ok not at life but at updating this blog, its not that we dont do fun things mind you. its just that we have been really busy lately, so just a couple of quick posts to keep you entertained. 1st up is our bike riding adventure in Coronado, we went with Will and his wife Cassie and had a blast. We renter one of those 4 seater bikes with a cool yellow canopy. it was friggin sweet!!! well aside from the fact that it had 2 steering wheels (which at 1st i thought was cool) and then i found out that mine was just for show.....i was bitter. the other thing being that trying to get 4 people to pedal in sync is not easy task we found out, so that made for some fun. long story short, rented 4 seat bike, cruised coronado trying to pedal in sync, didnt die in the process, had fun returned bike safely. heres a couple pics.

our mighty chariot in a parking spot.......i think we had the more pimpin ride for sure..

getting clocked at 8-mph, yeah dont mess with us or we'll run your butt down!!

our ridiculously sweet bell on the bike....amazing how a stupid ringing thing can be soooo entertaining

Mini Vacation......

2007-09-02T03:11:00.000-07:00

So this week my brother inlaw and his wife are house sitting for his boss out in fallbrook. They were nice to invite us over and let us stay the weekend here with them. Now normally this wouldnt be a huge thing but his boss's house is HUGE and super nice!!! So this whole weekend has felt like weve been staying at some nice resort or something. Plus with how hot its been lately its been nice to have a a sweet pool to jump into to cool off. Havent shot a lot of photos yet but i will soon especially since labor day were going to have a little bbq so i should have some fun stuff to post. Ok im of to bed since we have to get up to go to church in a few hours. Heres a real quick shot i took today, nothing special just a real quick one. Enjoy!!

Someone stab me in the eye!!

2007-08-17T03:24:00.000-07:00

Its 3:25 am and i have been editing all night long.........the cave gets a little boring sometimes. Thank you God for inventing music cus its the only thing that keeps me sane as im waiting for the G5 to run photoshop filters.

Just so theres no confusion, i absolutely LOVE what i do and consider myself very blessed to have this job.

Fun with Photoshop......

2007-08-15T02:38:00.000-07:00

Old photos+Photoshop=Cartoon Zo!!! Pretty lame i know but it was still fun. Enjoy!!

The Ultimate Souvenir.....

2007-08-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

Wow!!! its been forever.....no we are not dead and yes we do have lives. Its just been really busy, never have anytime. Ok so this news is old but i have to post it for those who dont know yet. While we were in Kauai we bought the inevitable souvenirs that come with going on vacation. Well Jen and I kept wondering what we could get that would be really cool.........the answer was to get tattoos. We had always talked about getting them but never got around to doing it, so we decided that at the end our second week that we would get our tattoos.....finally. Well apparently Casie also wanted to get a tattoo and jumped aboard the tat ship, so at the end of our second week we talked to some of the locals and the recommendation was unanimous "go to Island Tattoo II" yeah say that 10 times fast. So we go there to set up a time to get it done at all is good until i read the appointment slip telling me that i should not be sun burned on the area that im getting tattooed. I pull up my sleeve to show Thad ( our flippin amazing tattoo artist) and he gave me my deposit back. Disappointed as i was, Jen and Casie decided to go through with it. Jen was pretty nervous on the day of, but she took it like a champ. No tears no nothin.........although she did hold my hand the entire time and i though my finger were going to fall off but thats ok. Thad and the crew were incredible, they were all way chill and laid back and we just sat and watched movies and had some Coronas while he worked his magic. I had Thad draw me up a design to have someone do here in California.....but later decided that i would have it done when i returned to the island and i will tell you now that its going to be SICK!!! Thad you do incredible work man, cant wait to go back and have you do mine. Heres some pics i will post a photo of jens finished tattoo as soon as i take a new one....all the ones i have are kinda bloody.

If youre ever on Kauai and have a hankerin for a tattoo then check these guys out and ask for Thad.

Island Tatoo II
4369 Kuhio Hwy
Kapaa, Hi 96746
808-822-2588

Back Home......

2007-07-18T14:21:00.000-07:00

Well after 2 weeks in Kauai we are now back and staring reality right in the face. Hard as it is to leave the island it is good to be home. We had an incredible time both weeks that we were there. the 1st week we were there with my parents and then Jens family met us there for the second week. We did tons of stuff while we were there, kayaking, snorkeling, took a cruise to see the Na Pali coast and tons of other stuff. I was shooting all the time while i was there so i got tons of photos, i did post some already while i was there. The internet connection there was so bad thought that it took forever to get the pictures up so i stopped after like 2 posts. So now im playing catch up and updating everthing, so keep an eye on the other blog for some new stuff. For now heres some photos of our family on vacation. Enjoy.

So the vacation begins...

2007-06-30T03:51:00.000-07:00

Yes after many many many many months of waiting for this day it has FINALLY arrived.We are now in Kauai and are here for 2 weeks...........i know i know its a hard life bt some one has to live it. We are here with Bill and Anne aka mom and dad and with their friends Jack and his lovely wife Sam. Mom and Sam have already been here for a week playing with their some of their friends......and apperantly stealing papayas. Anywho Moms sister Laura aka Aunt Laura, and her daugther Christy were here as well. After a long flight here screwed up flight schedules, thank you oh so much Aloha Airlines, and waiting forever to get our luggage we were all set to go. Got some yummy food with all the fam, Christy watched the Padres vs Dodgers game, desperately hoping the Dodgers would win. After that Laura and Christy had to fly back home and so we dopped them off at the airport......what a sad moment. We came back to the hotel and i went shooting for a bit, and now im going to bed. So there you have it, youre all caught up on the vacation so far.....tomorrow uh today will be busy im sure. Aloha.

Oh and Aunt Laura.........i hope you had a SUPER flight.....you know what i mean. hahahahahahaha.

Photobooth craziness......

2007-06-20T00:49:00.000-07:00

So i just bought a new 17 inch MacBook Pro ad all i have to say is that it is seriousky AMAZING!!!! One of the things that i absolutely love about Apple is that they add these fun little things to their machines that anyone can enjoy. Photobooth is one of those wonderful program, and one of the 1st things that i did as soon as i took the machine out of the box was to open photobooth and shoot some pictures. So here they are......in all of their crazy glory. Enjoy!!

Photographer down!!!

2007-06-14T16:19:00.000-07:00

As you may know by now, the last day that we were in San Jose we went to visit the Japanese Friendship Garden. If you have no idea what im talking about then read my other blog to get up to date. Anywho, Jen and I were walking around taking photos at this garden and overall silly photos of each other. When it was time to leave for the airport we packed up and started to head out and then it happened.....some how Jens foot came off the path and she twisted her ankle and fell. She totally tumbled, and i cold tell that it was pretty painful cus she just sat there holding her ankle. i felt so bad for her, luckily she didn't break bones and wasn't seriously hurt. She did sprain her ankle pretty bad though and has been on crutches for a week now. This was a God thing though, before we packed up she asked me if she should pack her gear or keep it out to keep shooting. If you know me at all then you probably know that i rarely put away my gear, but i told her to pack it up. Thats the only reason why she still has a camera right now, so thank you Lord. So there you go, thats the story. Heres some silly photos of us. Enjoy!!

Awwwwwww!!! Shes so cute when shes pouty.....

Oh and i hear rumors of a possible Jennifer Menendez blog? Hmmmmmmmm fun times are sure to come....

Menendi in the North....

2007-06-14T03:45:00.000-07:00

We were in Northern California once again, Jen had to be up in San Jose for some traning for her work and so i flew up there to spen some time together. The 1st full day we had we decided to drive up to San Francisco and do some sight seeing, whiel the experience of driving through San Francisco was unbeliavably stressful we still had a ton of fun together once we got to the Golden Gate Bridge. We spent some time there taking some pictures, hunger soon overtook us though and so we headed further north to the little town of Sausalito. The town was pretty cool, but we didnt do any real sight seeing as we were there for food. So we got some grub and went to a little ice cream shop called Lapperts Ice Cream. They are a coffe company out of Hawaii and my dad loves to get their cofee whenever he visits the island. Anywho, Jen and i had a great time and had a great ice cream shake......mmmmmm. Heres some photos.

Makes me want my own….

2007-06-07T17:53:00.000-07:00

My buddy Matt and his wife Tara have the CUTEST baby ever!!! Seriously, their little girl is incredibly adorable, not only that but every time that I have seen her shes always smiling and playing and I have never heard her cry…….never. Not only that but so far shes about the only baby to not start flooding with tears as soon as she sees me. We wew at the church on Sunday for the Young Marrieds ministry and afterwards Tara brought her daughter in from her class. She was just playing with stuff and smiling and I happened to have my camera so I took some shots. If GOD some how assured me that my kids would be that cute and calm then I would probably have one by now. Knowing GOD’s sense of humor though my kids will probably be bearded little hellions running around screaming in little loin cloths attacking anything that moves. I am seriously BEGGING GOD that our kids will look % 99.99 like my wife and they only inherent like my skin color or something. Anywho, heres some pics.

The log cabin....

2007-06-07T17:25:00.000-07:00

So i went to my buddy Shanes house a couple of nights ago. A bunch of us got together at his place for a night of Halo mayhem, smoke brakes and alcoholic goodness. Shanes family live in the coolest place, they are in the middle of nowhere and the house looks like its made of those old Lincoln log toys. Its freakin sweet!! So i arrived late for the festivities and of course as soon as i get there my buddy Kyle starts talking crap about how hes gonna kill me at Halo. So we played a game and while i didnt start off well, i eventually showed him who the man is though as i killed him over and over and over again. All i would hear from the next room was "dang it zo!!!!!" hahahahahaha. So after i shut him up, they decided to change the map and make thing more "fair" and i got murdered, oh well what do i care, i rubbed it in his face 1st and thats all that matters. The night was way fun, especially since Shane brother has a pitbull the size of a horse at the house. Check my other blog for photos of that beast. Heres some pics. Enjoy!!

Never give up, Never surrender…..

2007-06-07T16:27:00.001-07:00

My sister Tania finished her HS requirements and graduated from Mira Costa’s adult program. While the ceremony was long and boring at times it was interesting to see the difference between this one and all the others that I have seen. There were so many cool stories about the students graduating, and this event was a huge accomplishment for many of them. Some of them have just gone trough so much just to get their education and to learn English. There were families crying and just jumping up and down and cheering so loud to show their support and great pride for the person that they were there to support. It certainly makes you appreciate the value of the education that we are so free to get here in the states that other people seriously go through hell just to get it. I am so proud of my sister, there are so many reasons as to why she could have just quit and not gone back to finish but she was determined and wasn’t going to take no for an answer. I am glad that I could be there with Jen to share this great moment with her. Tania I know that you will go far in life, thank you for sticking to your goal and not giving up, I know that you are an inspiration to many.

Coronado Adventure....

2007-05-29T15:54:00.000-07:00

So after Casie graduated we went back home and headed for Coronado Island. We had originally planned on renting some tandem bikes and riding around Coronado......but the weather was poopy and we were all tired. So we went and walked around at the Hotel Del.........consequently i have a problem with that name. IT IS THE DUMBEST NAME EVER!!!!! Why? Well im sooooo glad you asked, the entire name is Hotel Del Coronado which means Hotel of the Crown. Now originally i had thought the they spelled it Hotel Dell and that it was some guys name or something but then i go there and see that no its not Dell its Del and the only reason is because people are to lazy to say the whole name. So why all the fuss? Well im glad you asked, basically Del is just the middle of the whole phrase. Remember? Hotel OF THE Crown? Yeah people call it Hotel OF THE...........OF THE WHAT?!?! WHAT IN THE FLIPPIN HECK IS HOTEL OF THE?!?!?! Ok ive vented, so we walked around the beach and then someone gets the bright idea that we should all take a jumping picture. SWEET!!! Only one problem.....all four of us wanted to be in it, well not problem i have a super duper futuristic type camera and it has a self timer.....problem solved. Ummmm no because trying to figure out when the shutter is actually going to trip is about the most impossible thing to try and figure out! So we tried and tried and tried while countless Japanese stared and made fun of us because we looked so goofy jumping in the air trying to get the picture. We finally got it though and it is AMAZING!!! After that we walked around some more and went to get some yummy food, i decided to take the flash off of my camera and use it wireless. My brother in law William (who by the way rivals even me in tech geekiness) was fascinated by the fact that you could put the flash anywhere and actually have it work. This produced cheap entertainment and we started taking pictures putting the flash in all places we could thing of. After food we got some sweet ice cream at Mootime Creamery........and then we all went home. The day was a blast!!!! We had some much fun just chillin, heres some photos for you.

Casie knows english.....

2007-05-29T14:45:00.002-07:00

Saturday was a sweet day, well except for the fact that i had to wake up at 6:30 am.....that was no bueno. Other than that the day was super cool. Casie (my brother in laws wife) graduated from Biola University as an English major. Yep Biola gave Casie a piece of paper that says she can now speak, read and possibly write English.......hahahahahaha. No, it was awesome and it is quite an accomplishment, i believe that she is the 1st one in her family to graduate from college. While it was very exciting to see her get her diploma i will say that i hope i NEVER again go to another Christian school graduation ever again. While my wifes graduation was long because there were about a bazillion people graduating ( no joke that was the exact number) Biola's graduation was long because there was long ceremony crap. It was like "hi im old and i will open the ceremony with a LONG prayer about the perverse times we live" "now heres another old person telling you how great Biola is" and then some guy doing some song, the band played, the president spoke and then we get to the speaker who went one FOREVER!!! The whole time the main speaker was going on i was doing 2 things 1)trying not to pass out and 2) watching the last remnants of that oh so wonderful marine layer burn off giving way to the hot and blistering sun.......he didnt finish before the sun came out. After what seemed like 3 years of being there we finally got through the rest of the ceremony and got to Casie getting her diploma, it was great. We cheered, yelled, jumped up and down, cried, doves flew.........ok ok ok we cheered. After all that we went to downtown Disney got some lunch, drove back home in heavy traffic stopped at Starbucks and then went down to Coronado.....and thats a whole noher blog. Heres some photos.

We are VERY proud of you Casie...

Welcome!!!!!

2007-05-12T01:12:00.000-07:00

Grettings and welcome to the blog of clan Menendez. Here we will post our "adventures" mental musings, ramblings, the day to day drudgery, super cool things that happen to us, updates on the oh so beautiful Mrs. Menendez and all the way down to what Lorenzo's hair is doing these days. Sounds exciting doesnt it? YOU BET YOUR RIGHT EYE IT DOES!!! So strap on your safety belts and get ready for the great adventure.