A Souvenir

The first time I came across the Design Mom blog, it was from another blogger who had linked to her Central Park family photos. I thought they were such great photos and an awesome way to memorialize where they lived just as they were preparing to move. So, when we knew we were going to be moving to Phoenix, I wanted to get some family photos in Reno. 

I love that Julie snapped this pic of us goofing off before the shoot

Everything is moving pretty quickly, however, and time has been limited. So, we did a quick shoot with our friend and fabulous photographer Julie under the old arch after work on Friday. We didn't really prep, we all just threw on jackets and met under the arch. If I had more time I may have put on some makeup or planned our outfits better, and maybe done a couple more locations, but  I like the way they came out and I'm really glad we took a few minutes to get these before the big move.

Balloons!

Earlier this month, Pumpkin and I went with our friends Jason and Rebecca to see the Great Reno Balloon Race. This is one of my favorite Reno events, and even more fun now with a little one to enjoy. We got up at 4 a.m. to see the Glow Show and Dawn Patrol, but the mass ascension - where all the balloons fill and lift off at the same - is my favorite.

Darth is a crowd favorite.

In 2010 I rode in a balloon. 

Balloons in 2009.

Balloons in 2008.

Aceball is Back

On Friday, the Reno Aces had their home opener. Of course, Chris was there to cover the game, so I went with our friends Chris and Tyler and we ran into many other friends throughout the evening.
One of the new menu items this year is The Big Cheese. It's a garlic cheese focaccia, and it's huge. And delicious. (Don't worry, even though I'm eating for two, I split this with Chris and Tyler.)
It was a little cold and windy, but it's great for baseball to be back in season in Reno. The Aces won the game, and fireworks followed! I'm looking forward to many more games before baby arrives.

La Tomatina

Sunday was the La Tomatina tomato fight downtown to raise money for cancer research, so again I went to shoot video of it.

This time, I started shooting from up in the adjacent parking lot to get an overhead view before moving closer to the action.
These people are totally nuts.
I certainly didn't come home spotless, but I wasn't nearly covered like most of the people who participated. I did get hit in the back of the head with a whole tomato, and I can tell you it does not feel good. Then I became a target when people noticed I was both fairly clean and holding a camera.

I think next year I'll wear a helmet. And goggles.

It's that time of year again ...

Friday

Yesterday I had the day off and while I was sitting home wondering where Scoop and I should go for our walk, Chris called and asked me to bring him something to the softball field at UNR. So, Scoop and I headed into town and as I was trying to decide to take her downtown to the river or on trails behind Patagonia where we'd been before, I looked up and saw the "N," where I've never hiked before and decided that was the place.

It's a pretty nice walk until you get close to the end and then it's pretty steep. There was a gaggle of high school students on the trail and one girl told me as we passed her that it was too steep and she only made it halfway and then turned around. I'm not gonna lie, as out of shape as I am, it felt good to know I fared better than a 16-year-old.

It was pretty cool to look down over Reno once we reached the N.
Later in the afternoon, I met Na downtown. It was her birthday, so before we met everyone for dinner we decided to check out an art installation called Duel Nature. It was pretty cool, and one of my co-workers even convinced us to hoop while we were there.
Finally, we met up at Ichiban's for Na's birthday dinner with Erin, Julie, Ray and Chun.
It was a pretty enjoyable Friday, and I will be making up for it by working tonight. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Spring?

The morning after Easter we woke up to a fresh dusting of snow on the ground. I'm pretty sure this has been the Longest. Winter. Ever. Luckily, by mid-week, the temps were up in the 60s (heat wave!) and trees around town were spotted sprouting pink and white blossoms. It seemed as though Spring had finally sprung. The final piece of evidence came Thursday with the start of baseball season in Reno!
You may recall last year I was a little bummed to miss opening day, so I was pretty excited this week when I got to shoot the opener against Fresno, which the Aces won after 12 innings. Whoa!
Here is Chris, working hard in the press box ...
And here I am shooting some of the action. Hooray for baseball season!

P.S. It's currently 36 degrees and raining, with a chance of snow overnight.

Gold 'N Silver Inn

My mom came to town today to do some shopping, and wanted to go to lunch somewhere not too far from our place. I thought it sounded like a good opportunity to check something off my resolution list, so we went to the Gold 'N Silver Inn, which was filmed just this week for the Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. The restaurant would have already been on my list even had I not known this little tidbit of information. The RGJ food writer blogged about it a few months ago, and a journalism student and former RGJ intern recently did a multimedia project on the place. But the news that Guy Fieri had only been there three days before made my mom both excited and bummed - possibly the world's biggest Food Network fan, she wished she'd been there the same time as the TV crew. (The show also filmed at Louis Basque Corner, where I've been only for drinks, and Dish Cafe, where I've taken several people when they've come to town - including Andrea and Kelli.)
Anyway, it's an old Reno diner (Reno's oldest casual dining restaurant, apparently) and has been open 24/7 for like 54 years. Crazy! It's a popular spot, it seems, for the late-night, just-left-the-bars crowd, as well as early morning business breakfasts and more. I had the sourdough melt, which was just okay but the fries were terrific, and my mom had eggs benedict that she loved. The service was good and, other than the fact that I sat in something sticky when we first sat at our table, the experience was great.

One down, nine to go!

Santa Pub Crawl

Saturday night was the annual Santa Pub Crawl in downtown Reno. With all the snow, we were worried about going out, but luckily Sandor agreed to be the designated driver and drove us in his truck.

It was very pretty out.
I couldn't find anyone to loan me a Santa suit, so I borrowed a penguin costume that our friend Marcus wore for Halloween.

There were tons of people out. Some of them had across-the-street snowball fights. I felt a little bad for anyone driving down a main street.

Me, Erin and Na.

Lots of Santas under the Arch. Good times had by all.

Winter is here

It started snowing yesterday afternoon. And then it kept snowing. And snowing. And snowing.
Scoop didn't seem to mind it, she even was having a little bit of fun sniffing something new, and eating the snow ...

And then overnight, it kept on snowing. We went out this morning, and it was deeper ... and there were icicles!

Scoop wanted nothing to do with it. She took about three steps, turned around, and started pawing at me to pick her up. (The snow is almost as deep as she is tall).

These are the trees outside our patio ...

And this is our street. The schools are all closed, and so is city hall. I may have to cancel all errands today ...

Pieces of Reno

So, the other night, I was driving home from the office. Sometimes, you know, you drive the same road so much you don't notice anything anymore. But it struck me, what an odd little city Reno really is. In the less-than four mile drive, I go by a playground, houses, some of the biggest and brightest hotel-casinos in town, seedy rent-by-the-week motels, favorite old-time Reno restaurants, dive bars, strip clubs, a homeless shelter, mobile homes, tattoo parlors, over the railroad tracks and the river, past the dump. There is something fascinating about it. I decided I'd take pictures one day, on the way to or from work, to show some of these details about this place we've come to call home. I plan to do this sometime, but right now I don't know when I'll have the time - it would be a long walk (or a long drive with all the stopping I'd have to do). In the meantime, along the same idea, I took some pictures on my walk from school to where I parked my car today. You can see those pictures here.

Ready for a nap

I was up early. Before the sun early. Way before the sun. Before 4. I went to the Great Reno Balloon Races. Me, and tens of thousands more people, all up before dawn, to see this:

Chris slept through it all. But it was pretty amazing to see. And, I think I earned the title multimedia reporter while I was at it. Want to see more? Photo gallery here, video here, story here. Now I'm going to take a nap ...

Dirty Job

I learned my lesson from the mud run, so for Saturday's La Tomatina en Reno tomato fight, I wore an orange swimsuit under a black tank top and black sweatpants. I think I can safely say that's the first time I've worn a swimsuit to work ... I was slightly concerned about my unprofessional attire, but once I saw even the local mayors were in sweats, I worried no more. Anywho, the tomato fight was crazy. Even the innocent bystanders spectating from a nearby parking garage got hit. It was nuts.

Tomatoes were flying everywhere ...

People were slipping and sliding, throwing, ducking .. and even dancing. Seems like everyone was having fun ... although for me, I was just worried about keeping my camera and my face safe - so it wasn't quite as fun. Someone even threw a tomato right at my lens. And I took a direct hit in the temple - you might be able see the orange in my hair. But considering what was going on, I came out relatively clean.

What's your sign?

Seen around town: