Abandoned Buildings

One of Brando's and my favorite past times is going on photo shoot adventures. I get to play model, and he gets to play with his camera in new places. This particular time, it was at an abandoned building here in Austin that's about to be turned into an art gallery. I love the spookiness of an abandoned place and all the different textures to play around with. I was a little antsy playing model while he was trying to make art, until I got to pick the shoot locations about halfway through. I love picking the locations while he makes it pretty.

 If I look a little pissed in this first batch, it's because I was. We got Justinbustin a haircut, and, oh, what an adventure that is trying to get a preteen's hair cut who does not want to. Fortunately, at the end of the day, I had to thank Brando and tell him how proud I am of him for his maturity and wisdom in dealing with my crankiness because he stayed continually levelheaded. And, fortunately, after about here the crankiness started to subside. Especially when we got back to pick up the boys and Justinbustin gave me a hug. Whew.

 And, finally, my turn to pick the spots. I love depth, texture, a rustic feel, and nature, as you can see...

Earrings ~ Forever 21, Necklace ~ Gift from my MIL,

Bracelet ~ First anniversary gift from Brando from Dell Williams in Santa Cruz, 

Plaid Shirt ~ Macy's, Tank ~ American Eagle,

Skirt ~ Hot Topic, Tights ~ Claire's, Socks ~ Brando's, Boots ~ Mia from DSW

Oasis Photo Shoot and Morning Date

Brando and I went on a date morning this morning instead of a date night last night, as we went out with family and the kids last night. I love that Brando knew I was a little upset about not having a date night so before we even left for dinner last night, he scheduled on the calendar a date morning and emailed me a reminder that said, "Date morning - Be happy". He knows me so well.

We have a shopping and restaurant mecca near us called the Oasis. It's a mecca for our area, any way. The Oasis has been there for over five years, but the other restaurants and stores were built in the last year. It's situated right on Lake Travis with the most stunning view around. The sun sets just over the lake and makes for the perfect romantic evening eating at any of their now many restuarants: Oasis, Soleil, Austin Java of which this location has coffee only, Austin Chill which has self-serve yogurt, and another seafood restaurant that I don't remember the name and can't find anywhere - perhaps they are not open yet. Brando knows I LOVE going there to watch the sunsets or just see the gorgeous lake and explore especially since it's only a mile from our home, so that's where we headed to.

Our date started off with coffee at Austin Java and then we walked around and had fun exploring the decks before the crowds of people came. We had a huge storm last night so all the patio chairs were wet, which made it even more intriguing.

Besides the view, the architecture, design, and pure color of the place is SO MUCH fun it's the perfect place to have a little fun with the camera. Brando and I took turns, like usual, with the fun colors, architecture, and angles. He did quite a bit more than I, though, as I was mostly obsessed with the busy, colorful backgrounds and he did more inventive things with less of a main focus backgrounds.

There's so many photos, actually, that this is just a small portion and I'm saving the rest for later when I get to it. As you can see in the above photo, I've gotten a little bored of standing still for photos, so the majority of the rest of the photos I have are goofy and fun as can be. Which was perfect, because it made for a perfect, silly date morning.

My handsome hottie of a hubby. He shaved his hot as hell scruff, so now he looks like a baby, but still hot as hell.

These windows reminded me of doors. Gorgeous, either way, and I had Brando snag a photo for me because it would take too long for me to figure out how to change the settings for the perfect picture in a second.

Earrings and Bracelet ~ Bunny's Too, Plaid Shirt ~ Rip Curl, 
Lace Shirt ~ Macy's, Belt and Jeans ~ Forever 21,
 Boots ~ Seychelles from Bunny's Shoes

Love Brando's eye with photography and am trying to accept how different his style is than mine, thanks to the encouragement of GFF. He creates gorgeous images, magazine, high-quality, sharp as a tack images versus my love of vintage or blown out images. He blows me away with his knowledge of all the ins and outs of the camera and how they work together. I swear, he should teach photography classes, as he's taught me all I know and I know more about cameras than some photographers I have met. Now if only I could utilize that knowledge with my camera as well as those photographers utilize their knowledge with their cameras.

Austin Jazz Festival

Brando surprised me with a date this evening to the Austin Jazz Festival at one of my favorite outdoor places, Zilker Hillside Theatre. Now that the weather is finally cooler it was an absolutely perfect evening to go.

I've been to so many events at Zilker Hillside, but this was one I'd never heard of. The Austin Jazz Society hosted the event and announced that the mayor of Austin declared today, October 1st, some kind of official jazz day. I wish I could remember the official title! We didn't know what to expect, but it was absolutely perfect. A mini and more intimate version of Blues on the Green.

 The scene behind us.

 Just because

 Jazz, and blues as well, are so relaxing.

 I love watching the sunset at Zilker Hillside while watching a performance.

The bassist from this band of Paul Glasse's "discovered" George Strait, or so they told the story.

 The view to our right.

 Local favorites, Zen and Amy's ice Cream, were set up as vendors to feed the crowd. Brando went to check out Zen and came back with this yummy dish called The Schoolgirl (ha!) that had the perfect amount of spice from the chili garlic sauce and the serrano aioli.