video footage on the island : hilton head island, south carolina 2014

this marks the 18th year on the island for our family. 

enjoy. 

temperatures rising.

The last couple of weeks have been such a treat. The weather in Los Angeles has been heating up to the high 80's low 90's and I've been lucky enough to take advantage of it at the beach on my days off of work. Our apartment has become more of a home and though they tore out all of the palm leaves outside of our front window, honeysuckles and bougainvillea have grown in on the white fence and it makes the air smell sweet and makes our living room view in full bloom. I absolutely love the foliage of Los Angeles along with the silhouettes and shadows of the palm trees at night. I make it a point to get out of the house everyday and walk around and be aware and be a part of my surroundings. I know we won't be here forever so I'm taking advantage of the bits and pieces of this place that I love.

Last weekend I was able to get off work and fly to Utah for my cousins wedding and be surrounded by family and I got to see my parents who flew in from Georgia for the wedding as well. I was able to see one of my best friends and her husband and even though it was just for a few short hours it made me so happy and it was so refreshing to be with friends and family and just have everything be so familiar and right. The wedding was a blast - any wedding in my family promises a night of dancing. My mom and all of my aunts have some serious dance moves that have been passed down to my sisters and I and all of our cousins leaving no dance floor empty handed. I'm really curious to see how the video footage of the reception is going to turn out - people watching it may take a step back because at times, us Martin's can get a little out of control! It was good to visit Utah again. When I arrived, I felt as though I never left. It was bittersweet but I am happy with where Zeke and I are at in life and where we live currently, but I do miss having so much family near us. Utah will be a place I'll always go back to - not to live, but absolutely to see family and friends.

Now I'm back to the grind of work and I keep counting down the days to my birthday, which is next week, as well as counting down the weeks to going home to Georgia and going on vacation to Hilton Head. Five weeks to go  and I am finding that I have zero patience.

As for now, this Sunday weather is too gorgeous to not take advantage of so the Zoo and I and some friends are going to take a picnic to the beach! I'm feeling very blessed to say the least!

life in technicolor

Every day I am out and about walking in this city, my eye catches beauty left and right. Beauty is seen on my runs, beach outings, walking to and from work - you name it. Everything is so crisp and clean and literally smells like a mixture of fresh linen and perfume, which I believe is all of the jasmine. The azure skies are saturated as they are a backdrop behind the white washed art deco buildings from the 1920's and I am constantly smiling while walking around. I know I sound like a broken record but I am always in awe when I step foot outside. I love the silhouettes the palms create which takes me home and reminds me of the palmettos in the south & Caribbean.

This place is so well manicured - it's truly a treasure by the sea, I will give Santa Monica that. Los Angeles even. I'm kind of a sucker for Los Angeles. Though I couldn't and don't plan to live here my whole life, the time that I will be here I truly enjoy and find it magical. Every street I see is out of a movie. So many films from the past, the classics or current day films where the plot takes place in the past in Hollywood, Beverly Hills, or the heart of Los Angeles, has all come to life and I feel like I'm sort of living this haunting hollywood dream from decades ago and it's truly thrilling. Actually living in Los Angeles has met  my expectations of how I envisioned it while growing up in the south. Los Angeles seemed foreign to me and there was never a reason for my family or I to fly across America to see it. So I viewed it through film and imagination and it's finally come to life.

Today while running, I was listening to the Elvis Presley station on my pandora and I was running on the street pictured above with the homes that were most likely built in the 20's or 30's no doubt, and the song 'Mr. Sandman' by The Cordettes came on and I had to stop in my tracks because I seriously felt like I was transported back into time. The music was too perfect to be true - it was so fitting with my scenery, with the small homes whose charm still existed with manicured lawns and a breeze blowing through the palm trees. It was a moment that I'll remember. There is so much history here in Los Angeles and it intrigues me more than anyone could ever imagine.

For kicks, here is my favorite photo taken in Venice at Muscle Beach which I think this wraps Los Angeles up for the time being.

On a side note, for photography's sake, I kind of wish men still wore black speedos. Yep, I said it. From an artists eye, it just photographs so well when fitting it into a composition - it's half the reason why I love this photo so much. Splotches of black speedos. Weird, I know. Also, I wish clowning around like this and beach activities such as this still occurred. We are all too good for that now, and caught up in our devices and such. Oh fiddle-dee-dee.

decisions, decisions, oh the artistic decisions...

Oh I'm in a rut. I just don't know what to do. I want to create some sort of spring collection of artwork, whether it be abstracts or realism. Abstracts hand me over such battles. They are difficult - they are harder creating than one would think, and I find myself stumped and looking at other current abstract artists who are my age, and a lot more successful and extremely talented and I admit, I find myself becoming very discouraged. Sometimes when I compare my abstract work to other artists I feel very amateur. But I am a fine artists - I have a degree, I have studied with an emphasis in painting all through high school and college so I shouldn't feel defeated. It's just hard is all.

I don't have the most legit website for my artwork, I don't have a .com and since the move to Los Angeles I am now in search of a printing company to help myself produce prints and giclees of my artwork so that I can always have artwork available for purchase. But it's money. I probably shouldn't be publicly writing my doubts within my own work, as it's far from professional, but I'm real and majority of the time, I like to throw my hands in the air because I don't care.

As of late, I have been questioning if I should focus on my butterfly paintings and take a breather from the abstracts. I have a great audience who love the butterflies and I can continue with this collection and go forward with it. It would be perfect for spring and summer and I do find a joy while painting them. So, I'm going to continue to think about it a bit, but that is where I am at. I just need to focus on one thing at a time and stop looking at other artists work, unless they are my favorite master painters. I need to find my niche because I'm all over the map. And.... I need a vacation.

happy to snooze

Holy smokes! March has been so busy and so tiring I cannot for the life of me wait to not have to hit the snooze button tomorrow morning at 4:30 in the morning! With a few days off from work, I'm ready to take it easy, read, paint and do my thing! As much as I enjoy walking to work every morning, I won't have to walk past this view while the sun rises - though I do enjoy the view but I'm excited to just be in my bed.

I'm ready for a vacation as I have said over and over again and I beginning to think I should stop saying it or else I'll be driving myself absolutely nuts. I'm heading to Utah for a weekend the end of April for my cousins wedding and I am so excited for a quick getaway. It will be so nice to see family and friends from college and be in a place that is quite familiar to me. I love being around my family. Until then, I can't wait till Snoozeday Tuesday!

craving the southern coast, the florida keys & anything clear and tropical.

Before I speak my mind, I am well aware that I currently reside in sunny California, in a very beautiful and manicured city by the sea. I am so appreciative of it and each and every day I step outside I am thankful for the beauty I am surrounded by.

But, there is something so much more magical and exotic and intriguing to me down south and further down into the Caribbean. I know, I know, I am biased because those are my stomping grounds but that is how I feel. I am not going to complain about the beaches here in California by any means but if I could choose, shockingly I'd take the Atlantic over the Pacific! Sometimes I feel that people believe Calfornia to be some prized possession - God's gift to the world if you will. I can see it, but at the same time I know there are other places that for me, are just as beautiful, if not, more appealing and that's okay. So strange enough, even though the ocean is right outside my door - I have been longing to go to the Florida Keys and the Caribbean.

I know I am not going to Florida or the Caribbean in June, but Hilton Head Island is my one true love and I wish it would get here already! My parents are currently on a cruise in the Caribbean and they made a pit stop in Florida and I was so envious of their tropical and humid adventure!

I grew up visiting my grandparents in Florida and I have some of the fondest memories and so Florida has left such a sweet taste in my mouth. I love the white sand and the crystal clear waters, WARM waters might I add. I love the architecture of the homes, the pastel colors splashed throughout and I love the humidity. Lately, there has been some chit chat with my girlfriends of having a girls trip to the Florida Keys and I stayed up so late one night thinking all about it. I was so excited - but realistically it just wouldn't work out. Too far travel wise, not enough time to squeeze in a good decent week to make the trip worth it so we tossed the idea and we are saving it for a raining day.

What a teaser, because now it's all I can think about. It's all I have been craving and reading up on and reminiscing the time spent there with my family growing up. I just so badly want to go back to that now that that stage of my life is over with since the passing of my grandparents. I've always viewed Florida as magical. It always seemed so chic to me and maybe that's because that is how I viewed my Grandma Jean and that is where she lived. There was always an adventure - so many themed parks, childhood dreams coming true at Disney World, exploring every inch of the world as a young tyke thanks to Epcot and our families favorite -Busch Gardens where I discovered my love for roller coasters. I miss playing card games with my grandparents and learning how to whistle while rocking in my Grandmas rattan chairs on the porch. I loved her rattan furniture. Loved it.

My grandparents neighborhood was filled with live oak trees and the spanish moss hung like garland. It was eerie, especially at night when we'd take walks down the street to see my Great Grandmother and eat whatever she was fixin' in the kitchen. During the days, my sisters and I would drive my grandparents golf cart to the pool and I remember thinking the pool was so grand and majestic. You know how when you're a kid everything seems so much bigger, mighty and vast? That's how I viewed it - and the pool always had music filling background noise that consisted of the whispering of Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday. The pool scene in the film with Whoopi Goldberg, 'Corina, Corina', always reminds me of swimming in my grandparents pool in Florida. Everything was so relaxed, so beautiful, so charming and simple. And that's what I miss. I miss my grandparents a lot. That's why I love Florida because it takes me back to a time in my life that I truly cherish and I won't ever forget. I loved their company, even though I was a shy little girl, but I appreciated the world that they introduced me to down there. Therefore, Florida is familiar and brings a feeling of comfort to me. So with that said, I've been longing for a dose of Florida and it's been on my mind lately.