Congrats to Rachel & Brandon Potens on their baby girl, Ismene! Sending my love and best wishes your way!!!

On Thursday, many of the Disney Store North America employees were laid off, including myself. It was terribly sad to see so many of my talented friends let go. Disney re-purchased the Disney Stores back from Children’s Place, and only took 2/3 of the company. I am not sure what process they took to determine who got to stay and who was let go, but I don’t think they interviewed many of the people who got laid off. The truth is, I am somewhat relieved. I have been looking for work for a long time now, but haven’t found anything worth leaving my job for. Well, with my kick to the curb, I have no choice but to find something better! Wish me luck! I have a good feeling about it. I think I’ll find something I like. I just hope I find the good pay to go along with it! Still, I am sad to leave the Disney brand. I love the characters and the art so much. I would have loved to work for the Disney company. Oh well… such is life.

Since I didn’t have my purple pass with me to turn in on Thursday, John & I took Friday to go down to Disneyland; but first, I had an interview with a staffing agency… that was fast, eh?! Penny had sent me an email about a job her dad had sent to her. It wasn’t a job I wanted, but while I was logged in, I checked HotJobs for other opportunities and found one that sounded good; so, I applied, called the staffing agency to see if they got my application, and then ended up going in to see them almost immediately. The interview went very well. They hope to be able to get me an interview with their client later in the week.

After that, John & I got on the road. We spend most of the evening at California Adventure. It was a lot of fun! We came home in time to head to Elysia’s for a party! It was a lot of fun! Great people, great drinks, s’mores!

On Saturday, I woke up earlier to meet up with Pamela, my photo partner. She & I did some strategizing about our business for a few hours. At 4:30pm, I headed back to Glendale; and, John, Josef & I left to get some food. Sadly, John got a ticket making an illegal u-turn to get me to Quizno’s faster. Sucks! We then went down to Disneyland and met up with Ryan. We spend most of the evening on the Magic Kingdom side, but I did get to see the Electrical Parade at C.A. After leaving the park, we went to Denny’s for a late night dinner, leaving there around 2:30am. Man, I was so tired that I slept sitting up in the car while John drove us home. I never do that! I must have been truly exhausted!

On Sunday, John & I went to the Ren Faire for a few hours. We met up with Ricki & Erik and watched the Poxy Boggards on the Adult Stage before wandering the Faire for goods and fun. We ended up leaving rather quickly though as the heat was truly unbearable. We had a late lunch at Mimi’s Cafe, then went to H&M to look for a suit for my interview. I found a great suit there!! It’s a black pin-stripe suit with a deep yellow shirt to wear underneath. Later Sunday night, John & I went to Sardo’s to meet up with our friend Adam and some of his friends. I sang Toad the Wet Sprocket’s Whatever I Fear (big surprise!) and John & I sang Moby & Gwen’s Southside together. I had a few good drinks, and enjoyed watching everyone else sing. The woman who was helping me at H&M was there! Haha. She sang a Toadies song. Nice! She totally recognized me and came over to say hi. We left around 12:15am to head home to go to sleep.

Today, I woke up with John at 9am and started my day. I had errands to run, Microsoft tests to take, laundry to do, cleaning to take care of and photos to edit. I got a lot done! Later on, John & I are going grocery shopping.

Penny arrives tomorrow!!! I am picking her up at Burbank airport at noon. I am so excited!

On Thursday morning, John drove me to Burbank Airport to catch an early flight to FL for Brandon & Christina’s wedding. I got there just in time for the rehearsal. Afterwards, there was a dinner at Christina’s place (now the Bach Apt). I left around 11pm to head to Emily’s to get some sleep.

Friday: woke up early (couldn’t sleep in) and met my grandma for breakfast, got a mani/pedi, went to a camera store in Miami and then met up with Christina at the reception hall to decorate. Ended up running errands for a few hours, decorating and heading back to Em’s early enough to prep for the wedding and pass out at a reasonable time.

Saturday: woke up super early and headed to Christina’s to photograph the bride / bridesmaids getting ready. Got some great shots, then headed straight to the church to get pix of the guys and the limo arriving. The ceremony was really beautiful, but the lighting was a bit dark. The formals were slightly rushed, but I got a lot of great, fun shots there too! The reception hall was well lit, but fluorescent. I still got some great shots there. It was a fun reception. The caterers were not very professional, but the room looked great and the food was excellent. Great job, Christina!

Saturday night: after the wedding, I went over to Brandon’s mom’s to drop off Christina’s car and some things from the reception hall. Em picked me up there, and we headed into downtown Ft. Laud to visit James at Fat Cat’s. We spent an hour there, then met up with Cannon, Paul & friends at Lipp’s for a drag show & dinner. Good food, good fun, good drinks! After the show, Em & I went to Le Tub for some all night Key Lime Pie! That place is like an obstacle course inside a labyrinth. Sadly, I slid over on a wooden bench and got a splinter in my ass. You know you have a great friend when they’re willing to pluck a splinter out of your butt cheek! Thanks, Em!!! She & I stayed up til after 2am chatting. I already miss her! Em is so awesome!

Sunday: woke up at 5am, Em took me to Dunkin Donuts then to the airport. I had a layover in DFW, where I relaxed in the SkyLounge (nice). I got home at noon; and, after lunch with my hottie, I passed out for a few hours. I was so exhausted all day. I could barely stay awake all day! I ended up passing out pretty early.

Overall, an excellent weekend!!!

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Last week, I applied for an American Express Open for Business credit card because I finally decided it was time to become a Professional Photographer. I want to build up my wedding, event, portrait and headshot business to the point where that replaces my full time income! I hope I can do it! It’s a very scary and exciting step!

So, my card came in on Friday, and the first thing I did was head to Samy’s Camera on Saturday morning! I got some new equipment, signed up for the PPA & WPPI associations, and started working on my websites: www.ariellehazephotography.com and www.headshotsbyhaze.com. I only have splash pages up right now, but I’ll have more to see in the next few weeks! Oh, I also ordered business cards! Woohoo!

What else did I do this weekend?! Hmmm… John & I spent Friday night in. We watched TV and roamed around online. Saturday, I spent with Barry (Penny’s roommate to be) looking for apartments in Glendale. We found a few, and they applied for one that was really cool. It’s very close to John & I too! Then, Saturday night was Josef’s housewarming party, which was quite fun. Sunday was a focused photo day - web sites, business strategizing, and photo editing. Then, at night, John & I went to see Mac Duffy’s improv show (for charity). It was excellent fun!

Today, back at work… I leave on Thursday for Brandon & Christina’s wedding in FL. I can’t wait to shoot my first wedding with my wide-angle lens! I am so excited!

Hi friends,

So, I’ve moved my wp blog back to mirdonamy.com to keep my photography business (and name) separate from my personal business, which all of you are privileged to take part in! So, welcome back to mirdonamy.com! I will move my photos eventually, but for now they are still located at ariellehaze.com/photos.

Arie

I’ve added a guestbook! Click here to sign it! I’ve also updated my Movies, Soundtrack, Calendar, and Concerts pages (thanks to Erica’s brilliance and help with the php/mysql coding). I am still having trouble with the SELECT * call though, in regards to date. I’d love the date to show up like 4/10/2008 instead of 2008-04-10. Does anyone know how to do this?

$sql = "SELECT * FROM calendar WHERE toggle = 1 && DATE_FORMAT(date,\"%m\,\%d\") >= DATE_FORMAT(curdate(),\"%m\,\%d\") ORDER by DATE_FORMAT(date,\"%m\,\%d\") LIMIT 0,45";
is what I am currently using.

$calenQuery = "SELECT DATE_FORMAT(date,\"%m/%d\"),title,content,link FROM calendar WHERE toggle = 1 && DATE_FORMAT(date,\"%m\,\%d\") >= DATE_FORMAT(curdate(),\"%m\,\%d\") ORDER by DATE_FORMAT(date,\"%m\,\%d\") LIMIT 0,25";
is what I used on my old site. It required a lot more code in the mysql call.

The difference is the SELECT DATE_FORMAT(date,\”%m/%d\”) section, but this doesn’t work with the current coding. Any suggestions?

• Priest Pleads Guilty to Stalking TV Host Conan O’Brien
• Kraft Invents The Twinkie Of Bagels: “Bagelfuls”
• Drunk Newlyweds Tasered
• Police Chase Ends, Goat in Custody
• Trouble is a Man Chased by a Pimp Chicken

I didn’t actually read these articles; and, because they are probably not as amusing as the headlines, I didn’t link them either.

Laser Tag!!! Yes, that’s right… I kick ass at laser tag! I’ve been twice this past month; and, besides the fact that it is amazingly fun, I am pretty damn good at it! I came in 1st place twice last night (of 7 games) and placed in 2nd or 3rd in ever game except 2 of them (which I came in 4th & 6th).

Anyhow, here’s the weekend recap…

Friday - John & I went to NoHo to test drive a Smart for no good reason. It was soooooo cute! The brakes were a bit odd, but I am sure you can get used to them pretty quickly. I loved being up so high, yet in such a small car that I could park anywhere! They are also totally customizable, which is super cool.

After the test drives, we went to Good Earth for dinner, then to see Leatherheads. The movie was hilarious, and the acting was great. This is a must-see movie if you like George Clooney and period pieces. It’s excellent, all the way!

Saturday - John & I met up with Dave & Michele at Santa Anita Race Track, where they ran a 5K that morning. We arrived around noon, for the first horse race. I bet about $2 per race, and lost $20 total - my horses were totally bunk! It was so much fun though! If I had the money, I’d go back once a month!

We headed back home at 3pm, and David & Elysia came over. I took them to Griffith Park (Creepy Cages area) to do their headshots. I got some great photos thanks to Michele for lending me her 50mm f1.4!

In the evening, John & I went over to the Towers for the screening of the first episode of Bumps in the Night - the internet series that he, Greg & Emmett have been working on for a few months. Most people enjoyed the episode, and lots of people gave helpful notes. I hope this will lead to great success for all of them in this and future film-making endeavors!

Our new friend, Brent, A Drexel student, just moved to LA for an internship. He got off the plane from PA, took a flyaway then a cab to the screening to meet up with us. He’d be staying with us for a few days until his apartment is ready.

Sunday - John & I woke up early, picked up Bobby & James, went to Noah’s Bagels for breakfast, then drove up to Lancaster to meet up with Michele, Mike D & Sarah to photograph the poppies. This week’s bloom was much greater than last week’s! It was very windy, still, but even more impressive! I think I got some great shots! We had lunch at BJ’s afterward, then headed back home.

In the evening, Brent, John & I met up with Emmett, Mike S & Ryan at UltraZone for some laser tag. An all night pass allows unlimited access, and we were practically the only ones there; so, we got a good 7 runs! It was so much fun having that place to ourselves. Occasionally, we were joined by some other people, but never more than a few at a time. I was very surprised at how well I did, and I really hope to get a bigger group together to do this again in May!

Today - back at work. It’s quiet, but busy. I am hoping to have a quick chat with an HR person from Disney tomorrow. We’ll see what happens!

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Another weekend has come and gone. It was a very very busy one at that, fun too!

On Friday, right after work, a photographer friend (Chuck) met up with me and we drove to Long Beach to a Studio Open House. It was crazy cool. There were many photogs there, all photographing naked ladies (all painted up pretty). We each got a few turns with the studio lighting and pocket wizard, and to direct the models. I didn’t take as many shots as I normally do, but I think I got some good ones. The models took direction well, and they were fun to work with. Three other DPC photogs were there, and so it was nice to meet them in person!

Saturday morning, I woke up early and drove up to the Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve. John was too tired to join me, so he missed out on the fun and beauty. I took a very strange route through Green Valley and Lake Elizabeth to get there… very pretty, but took an extra 30 min!

Pamela, my photog partner, arrived the same time as I did. We met up with others, a few photog friends I hadn’t seen in years actually, and got some great shots of the poppies. The fields were in bloom and full of orange, yellow and sporadic purple blooms. Mark, Fritz, Chuck, Greg & I kept on the trail, losing Pamela to the LA Shooters group. I wish I got to spend more time with her!

Fritz, Greg & I left the AVPP at 1pm and drove off-roading in my Prius to the fields behind the Preserve, where we could get closer to the flowers without rules. We still did everything we could to respect the plants and not trample them. Around 2:30pm, we picked up Greg’s girlfriend, Katie, then headed to an Indian Restaurant in Palmdale for lunch. It’s across from the Panera that Dave & Michele had taken me to before.

When I got home, John & I ordered pizza and watched Down with Love. It was a very nice night!

Sunday - today - slept in a bit, then walked to the Mann’s Glendale to see Run Fatboy Run. It was really cute and funny. I liked it a lot. Then, John & I went to the mall to look for a business (interview) suit for me, but I hated everything I saw. Anyone know where to buy a fashionable, darker colored business suit for under $100? I am not a fan of grey, pink, yellow, white or pale blue. I would like navy, burgundy, deep red, textured black, or something like that. I wish I could go to NY to shop!

With much failure at the mall, we returned home, then got in the car to go grocery shopping for the week. After returning and having dinner, John drove to downtown LA to pick up Janis (who is here for a Tony Robbins seminar), and we hung out with her for a few hours, chatting. It was great! I love connecting with her! I wish we could spend longer together.

Now, it’s time for bed. John just took Janis back to the hotel, and I have to get some sleep. I wonder what this week will be like at work… so many changes! Take a look at yahoo finance PLCE or DIS for more info! I really hope Disney has a job for me that I will love… I guess we’ll see what happens.

This was such a fun weekend. Sad that it had to end with me coming back to the same old job on Monday. I really hope I find something better soon! I can’t go on crying myself to work on Monday mornings every week!

Thankfully, this weekend was incredible! On Friday, 3/21, my bosses sent everyone home at 2pm! My friend Mike flew in from Redding at 8pm; and, he, Josef & I went to dinner at Foxy’s Diner, then came back to my place for some Easter Egg dying. Josef & Mike were drinking beer and I was getting annoyed with all the eggs that kept busting; so, our eggs didn’t end up as pretty as I would have liked. The colors were somewhat blah (no pinks, purples or sparkles); and, by midnight, we were so loopy that the clear crayon that came with the eggs ended up being used to put some pretty odd messages on most of the eggs: some were comic proverbs, some were insults, some were fortunes, and some made no sense whatsoever.

I got up early on Saturday morning and drove down to Lomita for my friends’ daughter’s 1s birthday party! Emily Vennamen turned 1 on 3/22! She is so cute! I got to spend time with Emily’s parents, Casey & Sarah, as well as chat with Missy, Megan, Noah, Krisztianna, Joel, and Rachel. I also met some of Sarah & Casey’s other friends, family and neighbors. It was a really fun party, with amazing food - of course! I should have pix up soon!

After leaving the party, I met with my dad and his boss for dinner. We chatted about doing a website for his company, and he was able to hire me to do a quickie site for him (business card style), so I’ll be working on that this week as well. It was a good meeting. Since dinner ended at rush hour, and I had to drive back through Downtown LA to get home, it took me almost an hour! I called Mike & Josef, and we arranged to meet up at 9pm for Laser Tag in the valley.

John came home right after I got home, and we drove to Laser Tag together. We met up with Mike Scharff, Emmett, Bobby, Josef, Mike, Mike D & Sarah for a few games. Emmett, Mike S, John & I got all night passes, so we were able to play 4 games. I kicked so much ass the first game… coming in 6th place of over 40 people in the entire game! I beat all my friends that round, and the last round (where I came in 11th). It was so much fun. I really want to go back there soon! That night, John & I stayed up late talking to Mike for a bit, before heading to bed around 2am.

Sunday morning came too soon… John & I got up around 8:30am, got ready and loaded the car for the 2nd Annual Creepy Cages BBQ. We had to run to the store on the way, but planned to get there around 10am. Sadly, our favorite cage was already occupied, and we had to move into a very tiny cage (# 2.5). Cage 2 was also taken. I was so distraught. Then, magic happened and the family in cage 3 said we could have their cage if they could still use the BBQ pit there. It was so nice of them to offer that to us! There were no tables or chairs, so I texted everyone to bring chairs and folding tables if possible. Luckily, people were really late and still at home when I texted them. We ended up with a great set up, and everyone seemed to have an awesome time. I sure did!

We started out playing with the velcro catch sets, hacky sacks and frisbees, and then chatted for a while til the BBQ grills showed up with some friends coming later on. We then made food, had an easter egg hunt, played more frisbee and explored the other parts of the Old Zoo. I twisted my ankle at the beginning of a catch game with Ryan, but I was able to walk it off a bit and stay active. Emmett & I decided to find a way up to the top of our cage, and it was a very odd and somewhat iffy path. We made it though, and the view was really nice! John & my sister found their way up soon after, but a few others had trouble locating the path. Tall Mike took the shortcut up the rocks, but only people over 6 foot and athletic could ever contemplate doing that!

Hours flew by, but every moment was fun! We had cake for Missy & Matt’s birthdays, played more frisbee & velcro catch, then packed up around 6pm. 7 hours of fun in the shade and sun! It was a very happy Easter! Too bad the only bunny I saw was a blue peep. Yum!!!!!!!

For those in town who could not make it, I hope you are able to join us next year! I’ll make sure to plan it on a non-Holiday weekend so that there will be more parking closer to the picnic area. For those that made it, it was great to see you and thank you for your communal contributions! I will have photos up in the next week or so!

Today, John & I woke up at 8am, had breakfast at this great little place, the Crossroads Cafe, then drove up to the Amboy Crater. We passed tons of abandoned buildings and wildflowers on the way there too!

As we got close to the crater, the most exciting scene appeared before us… the salt flats of the Southern tip of the Mojave Desert! They were gorgeous! I am sure there are many more areas to see these, but the ones by the crater were close enough to the road to walk up to. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize they were as gooey as mud and quicksand combined, but I figured that out pretty quick and ran back to the side of the road without sinking in.

Once we parked at the Crater parking lot, we started our hike to the crater, passing amazing flowers and lots of bugs in mating season. We got up to the Crater, but didn’t go around the back to get inside it. We were tired and hungry, so we headed back.

Once back on the road, we drove up Route 66 to Ludlow and had lunch at a cafe in ‘town.’ After lunch, we drove up Route 66 as far as we could, stopping at a few really interesting sites. I even got my kicks on Route 66!!!

Once we got to the 15, it was traffic as usual (meeting up with the LA/Vegas travelers). We passed a ton of beautiful snowy mountains and hills full of life. I’d never see the hills that colorful before! It was a great day… a great weekend!!

John & I went to Joshua Tree NP today. We arrived in town last night and checked into the Safari Motor Inn. We woke up at 5:10am to head out before sunset to see if we could see any wildlife. John actually came with me instead of sleeping in the car! He’s such a wonderful boyfriend!

After arriving (slightly too late) at the Barker Dam, we took some photos, then climbed some boulders for the fun of it. We then took a 2 hour nap in the car at Key’s View rest area before driving around the park to photograph the wildflowers. At 2pm, we decided to take a drive to Mecca, CA. The Box Canyon Road that leads to Mecca from Joshua Tree is incredible. I can’t even describe how beautiful it is, esp at this time of year with the wildflowers in bloom. I’d recommend this drive to anyone who remotely enjoys beautiful scenery!

After getting to Mecca and realizing there was NOTHING there to do or see, we got gasoline and headed back to Joshua Tree. I was feeling pretty nauseas so John drove. Just before reaching Joshua Tree, I was so sick that we had to pull over so I could throw up (poor dead shrub is now full of my acidic carrots, grapes and pringles). I felt great after that, so we continued on to the wildflowers to see them in better afternoon light. Around 5pm, we tried to steak out a place to watch for jackrabbits, but we only saw one (and he/she was far away). So, we left the park after sunset and went to dinner at this great little Italian place in Twenty Nine Palms. The pizza was gooooood!

I’m now transferring some photos to the laptop, and will try to put some up in the next few days!

Tomorrow, John & I are heading to Amboy Crater, then to some of the local new age shops, before heading home. It’s been a great weekend so far, despite the nausea (which I think was caused by me taking midol). Bah!