Bolt of Blue

2011 in Photos

Alyse — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:54:49 +0000

My photographic year in review. Always difficult picking just one image to represent each month. We had an eventful 2011 but it seems it went by so fast, that I almost can’t remember anything we did. I know in the end, it was full of fun, adventure, love, music, passion, a few bruises, snuggles, kisses, and life… life lived as full as possible.

January
Snuggle time

February
The Magic Kingdom

March
All You Need Is Now

April
Coachella = love

May
Officer Baxter reporting for duty

June
Gone hiking

July
Dinosaurs invade Los Angeles

August
Central California road trip

September
Goodbye for now

October
Brick Con success

November
Still in awe of an idol

December
Float like a dinosaur

Happy New Year!

alive and kicking

Alyse — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 18:31:07 +0000

Where do I begin?

For months now, I’ve been helping my husband and two friends build an epic LEGO recreation of the The Last March of the Ents from The Lord of the Rings movie. We unleashed the photos online on September 28, and then displayed it for a public exhibit that very weekend in Seattle at BrickCon. BrickCon was an insanely fun and exhausting time hanging with new and old friends. The drive up to Seattle and back was long… but surprisingly nice to just spend time with my husband and little Baxter, who came along for the trip. And our creation won Best in Show. Really amazed!

It’s been a smashing success and one of the most fun creative projects I’ve ever been a small part of. I hoped people would like it after all the hard work put into it, but never expected the reception to be as enthusiastic as it’s been. We’ve been interviewed for a podcast, made CNN and a ton of blogs, and we’re getting close to a million views on the photos.

We got the crazy idea after watching a marathon screening of the trilogy at the Egyptian Theatre earlier this year. One thing I will always love about Los Angeles is that there so many amazing revival movie theatres. Any night of any week, you can pop into theatres all over town to check out classic, cult, weird, obscure, popular, indie or new movies…

The idea was just to build one Ent. This snowballed. Quickly. It’s been a real labor of love though and came together so seamlessly. We’re pretty proud. And it’ll be on display again at a local event in Pasadena called Designer Con.

What else have I’ve been doing since my last ages ago post? Took a week long road trip exploring the California coast as well as attended several events celebrating the opening of the new Dinosaur Hall at the Natural History Museum. Still going to shows including Fiona Apple, Jon Brion, and the members of Nickelcreek put on one of the best I’ve ever been to in my entire life! Oh, and in between all the LEGO madness, I still managed to see Duran Duran at Nokia Theatre. It always comes back to Duran Duran in the end…

like a hypnotic, and I am mesmerized

Alyse — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 01:39:16 +0000

Another thing that feels good… I organized and posted all photos from concerts and events I went to in 2010. Whew. I’m posting them all on Flickr now after closing my old site down. It’s so much easier! I’m all caught up with this year too.

I even posted all my Coachella photos from this year. I’ve been wanting to do a full write-up on that but how do I best express how amazing those three days were? It was the most well run Coachella in all the years I’ve gone. And FINALLY! I got to see Duran Duran play this festival. It was another dream come true. There I was in the front row: banged up, bruised, sore, hot, squished, tired, and then they played “The Chauffeur”. I sobbed. Not going to lie. My most favorite band in the world, playing my most favorite song of all time, at a music festival I love. It was emotional, powerful, beautiful.

Now just have, oh, 20 years more of photos to catch up on. HA!

you hide yourself behind the wall

Alyse — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 01:03:20 +0000

I’ve been silent on this blog for months now. I’m not entirely sure why. I’ve been busy of course. I always feel so busy but it’s really an excuse. I think I’m not sure what I want this blog to be anymore.

I’ve been going to shows, movies, hiking, tweeting, living. And in many ways trying to do a lot of spring cleaning in my life. Selling stuff I no longer want or ever needed, giving things away, cleaning up and organizing our house… and focusing on what matters the most to me. I’m in a period of reflection. And for the first time in ages, I’m giving away or closing websites I’ve run for years and years. Most are fanlistings. I closed 1, let 3 go to others who wanted them and I’m probably going to close 7 more. Once I let the first ones go, it felt SO good. I’m not entirely ready to give up all my fan related websites, but it feels good to re-evaluate and take stock. What do I really want to spend my valuable free time on?

I used to be so creative. When I was young, I would spend hours making up stories and committing them to paper. I wrote dozens of novellas. In college, I completed a short story collection but I’ve yet to revisit those characters. I think somewhere along the way I transferred my creative energies to the web and never really looked back. As I’ve been going through old boxes, I’m finding scraps of story starts and I’m in awe of what I used to do so passionately every day. I couldn’t let a pen leave my hands and now I rarely take one up except for taking notes during work meetings. And one story in particular has never left my mind when I day dream or am stuck driving in traffic or before I fall asleep. That character is still inside me waiting to tell her story.

I’m dreaming so much lately… of traveling, of taking photographs, of finishing that novel, of moving to another country, of starting a family. At this point in my life I think I’m ready to start making some of these dreams come true.

all I remember is more than a flame

Alyse — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 23:47:40 +0000

One my favorite shots from last week…

…survived 4 days in a row of lining up for my favorite band in the world without getting sick in terrible weather.

I was so lucky and thankful to get to be front row for an intimate acoustic performance at the Grammy Museum, watch them perform live on Jay Leno, again from the front row watch them put on an incredible show at the Mayan, and finally end the week with a lovely performance in the rain for a Jimmy Kimmel taping.

The highlight? So many great moments but it’d have to be my incredible friend catching Roger’s drumstick at the Mayan show and giving it to me, fulfilling a long held dream. I was so touched I immediately started crying. I love this band. I love this music. I love my friends.