The Next Two Stops of the Meetup GPS Photo Safari

On January 16, 2012March 12, 2012 By AngeliaIn Angelia's Photography17 Comments

After spending more than an hour exploring the history of Farmers Branch, Texas. The GPS coordinates led me to the first town jail in Grapevine, Texas built in 1909.

That cell in the summer? Over 100 degrees every day? Would not be my happy place (or anyone’s!).

The next stop was only a few blocks away. Of course, it took longer to figure that out than it was to walk it.

We passed this gorgeous building and I fell in love with it. LOVE!

There is something about round windows and round rooms. I will fall for them every time. I am sure there is some deep meaning involved somewhere – like my number threes.

Another interesting storefront on the walk to destination number two.

The next stop turns out to be a Railroad Crossing or Grapevine’s Vintage Railroad.

I have not been on this train. It runs from Grapevine to the Fort Worth Stockyards. I heard there are hold-ups, and robbers on horseback….fun!

The train is not in service this month as they are working on the track. Which? Is just dandy for me…since I can take photos without being smooshed.

There is a glass blowing shop/school next to the train depot. I think the art from the glass is incredible (and a lot of it is ROUND). I adore the detail and design. They had student projects hanging in the window and two large spheres outside.

There is one more set of coordinates to go, and it lead me to one of my favorite places to go to and from. It has to do with my career field. I wonder if those (not on Facebook) know what it is. You only have to look to the sky….

I will publish my LAST place of the hunt tomorrow.

First Location of the Meetup GPS Photo Safari

On January 15, 2012March 12, 2012 By AngeliaIn Angelia's Photography17 Comments

Today was the big Meetup GPS Photo Safari. If you haven’t joined a local meetup group? Why not? It’s a great place to find fun events that fit what you like to do. I love finding out where they go, because then I know (as a photographer) where I should go too; to get great photographs, or have a nice place to visit.

The event today was a little different. You didn’t know where you were going. The instructions were to show up and it would be explained at that point.

I wasn’t worried. I knew it would be someplace cool, and hopefully, a place I hadn’t been (all of them were).

At the first one, they give you a sheet of partial longitude/latitude coordinates to use to find the destinations selected for the event, but not all the numbers. The second number has to be figured out by a number gotten at the first destination (and so on as you moved to each one). So, we had to go, and get this number to have the coordinates of where to go next after you get to the first place. Brilliant!

The first place was found by subtracting the address of the starting location from the longitude/latitude listed on the sheet. Voila! The place to go next was revealed in code. Then, I had to input the longitude/latitude code onto a map to find out how to get there.

Thank goodness there was a handy iPad2 with an app for that.

Yes, there’s an app for that.

This is the first destination. It’s called the Farmer’s Branch Historical Park. It features many acres of historical homes, and replicas. Such a great place to see history come alive.

Twenty-seven acres is a lot of ground to cover, we spent waaaaay too long taking photographs and peering into windows and doors of a different time and era.

Take a look for yourself.

Rail Depot from the 1890’s.

Isn’t this a fantastic place? I was so happy to find it through this event.

There were three other destinations after this one. I will post the next two places tomorrow.

Stay tuned…..

My Top Five Music Picks

On January 13, 2012January 14, 2012 By AngeliaIn La La La La La!15 Comments

I don’t post a lot about the music I listen to, mainly because, it’s everything, or Channel 10 on Sirius. But with my new spring goal of running/walking a half-marathon, I need to have some playlists handy. So, I have surfed iTunes and other sources (Pandora!) to get my favorites together.

I just can’t run or walk without beats, mostly because, I don’t like the sound of my breathing. I will over analyze the crud out of it.

Am I breathing too fast? Can I talk? Do I hear a wheeze? Oh gee, if someone runs by me they are going to think I am DYING. Oh crap, I am dying. Listen to my breathing!

And so, I crank up the tunes to drown out the “voices” in my head.

And I just go…..to the beat….to the words…..to the drums…to the energy or emotion of the tune. I listen and move to whatever it is that keeps me shuffling along.

Sometimes, when my mileage is up, I am sad I have to stop. It’s usually on my favorite! song. Ha.

Here are my top 5 picks. I am attaching what YouTube calls the “official” video.

Stadium of my Heart…this one is for you!

if you listen you can hear me through the radio in the bright white noise

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I’ll keep you updated on my tune list as my training progresses. It will be a very musical three months. Wish me luck!

I’m Dating my Daughter

On January 12, 2012January 12, 2012 By AngeliaIn Beautiful Life31 Comments

What can I say? She is the perfect date.

Adorable, talkative, but not too talkative. She eats enough, but not too much (most of the time).

Usually, I learn something new in our conversations; about her friends, her school, or her hobbies.

We don’t “date” near enough, but when the chance comes, we dine.

We went to her favorite restaurant Macaroni Grill – mine is Carrabba’s.

They had the cutest water bottle for the table. I ADORED it!

We had bread and olive oil dip in spices.

We had a nice back table with crayons.

We both had the same meal (great minds) – Penne Rustica. I have no idea what they put it in it, but GEEZ!, it’s gooooood.

And a view of the wine. I did not have any wine..I just enjoyed the view.

We left there and went to get dessert. We ended up at Chili’s having the molten lava chocolate cake.

We dug a tunnel to the lava. It was DELISH!

I got pretty full, thankfully, not too full to walk. If I hadn’t gone for a walk tonight (to walk off the lava cake!), I would have missed tonight’s moon.