Back Again

Amanda Martinez is a fan of

Parachute

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It's SOOOO true! I'm a fan!

I LOVE this band so much! So much so in fact, that I'm thinking of singing their song, Winterlove for my work's Holiday Party! I know it's gonna be this huge brave thing, but since moving here to Seattle, I've noticed that a lot of the things I do lately are huge brave things. So why not, y'know? The great thing about the people I work with is that they are not as judgmental as others, so I'm sure that even if I suck they'll at least pat me on the back. ;)

Here's the song (i would of course sing a girl version subbing the "her" for "him" and sounding slightly less manly ;) heheheh)


In other news, Kelley gets here on tomorrow and I'm SO excited to have her here!! She's been such an amazing friend and I really really really love spending time with her! :D And we get to have lots of fun together for the next 2 weeks!

Here's just some of what we got planned:

- Space Needle
- Experience Music Project
- (maybe) Ride the Ducks
- The Aquarium
- Exploring Neighborhoods
- Parachute/Kelly Clarkson Concert
- Justin Nozuka/Sam Bradley Concert
- Pie Night

and that's just the beginning! We're gonna be having sooooo much fun!

And then, in just a few more weeks, I'll be heading home to Austin for some much needed family time :D

I can't WAIT to hug all my friends and family! :D They make my heart happy!

Help!

I had a GREAT meeting last night with my Help-Portrait group! We met up at Cupcake Royale and talked details about our Help-Portrait event that we will be holding in Lake City. We'll be working with Low-Income Housing Institute to provide professional quality portraits for free to families that could otherwise not afford to have their portraits done. :D

For those who don't know what Help-Portrait is, it's a movement that is bringing together great photographers of all levels to use their time,talents, and energy to provide the less fortunate with a great portrait for the holiday season. My group has predominantly professionals, some who are almost pro, and then me—as amateur as they come ;) I really do enjoy being the hobbyist photographer on my team, because I feel like I get this awesome opportunity to learn more about professional photography AND I get to use this great hobby that i love to give back to people that I love :D

When I was a kid and my parents divorced, life was decidedly different. We went from living in a nice house, with tons of toys, and just about every privilege one can imagine to living in a small apartment with my mom, who was now a single-parent managing a job and 3 high-maintenance kids. Hand-me-downs became popular and we had to learn to make things last longer. I remember being selected at school to participate in some of the events they had for low-income-family kids and that odd feeling of "should I feel blessed that they're doing this or is it just another reminder that I'll never have anything fancy to call my own?" My sister, her boyfriend, and my 2 nieces are now also a low-income-family, and I know how great it feels to know that anytime I'm home, I get to do a portrait session (of sorts) with my niece and have some really nice photos to give back to my family. Thus, when I discovered this movement, started by famous photographer Jeremy Cowart, this event was a no-brainer—I'M IN!

I'm working with a group of Seattle photographers, to share the photographic love in our fair city. So far we have three separate housing communities that we are working with to provide family portraits to, as well we are seeking out at least one or two other locations. We estimate we will be able to provide at least 100 families with a wonderful portrait in time for the holiday season!

The awesome thing about Jeremy's vision for this is that it's ALL about others, and not about us (as artists/photographers). We aren't making ANY profit from the event and we're not using any of the shots to build up our portfolios. It's ALL about connecting with others in the way that only photographers can.

If you are living in Seattle and are saying, "Dude, that's cool! I'm not a photographer, and I wouldn't be able to be there at the event to help, but I DO want to help someway." Then please consider donating to the cause. We met last night and rounded up the guesstimation that with rentals and cost of printing the photos, it's about $3 per family. That's 3 bones! 3 smackaroonies! I'll be contributing my own money as well but our goal is to raise $200 for the event to be as successful as possible. If you are in the area and would like to donate three bones to help sponsor a family in need, please contact me by email: amomca@gmail.com or by twitter: twitter.com/amomca or by commenting on this post and we will work out a way for me to pick up the donation. I TOTALLY understand that this is a "strapped for cash" season and especially with the economy, it's harder to give, but if you DO have 3 dollars laying around somewhere, we sure could use it! :D

For more information on Help-Portrait, see the videos & links below:





Help-Portrait
Help-Portrait Seattle
Press Release

Defying Gravity

Hey look! It's me! That one girl who neglects her blog at times :( boo. Bad. Amanda. Bad. Lame.

Currently I'm looking at the floor of my room . . . well, I dunno if you'd consider it a floor. Basically it's a mass of paper and clothes . . . and bags and boxes . . . and a pumpkin carving book? how did that get there??? What a whirlwind these past few weeks have been!

My latest thing to report is how much fun I had taking the youth girls from Westside down to Portland for the Revolve Tour! It was phenomenal! I'll write more detailed stuff later, but just know that this weekend totally rocked for these girls (and for me)! A lot of people wonder How and Why I would ever be able to mentor junior high kids. I just CANNOT imagine doing something else! These kids TOTALLY captivate my heart! I love being able to bring life and as much wisdom as I can as they navigate the tough parts of growing up—peer pressure, boys, zits, popularity/unpopularity, stress, love, friendship, zits . . . oh wait. mentioned that one already ;)

But really, these students just WIN in my life! It was so awesome seeing them smile so big and to hear their stories and share life with them.

One really fun thing we did on the way up was that Cindy J. brought some foil with her (i recommend doing this on ANY road trip—instant fun!) and we made foil creations in the car! So what I made for myself was antennas. And then I would put them on and as we passed by cars on the road, I would look out the window with my antennas on and my head poised on top of my hand, senior portrait style, and just smile and wave at people. It was awesome! Most people did double takes, lots of people smiled, and one girl even mouthed, "OH MY WORD" as she saw me. :D Here's just a FEW pics of our time. There will be many more to come!

Losing Sleep

[written Thursday, November 12, 2009]

So I've come to the conclusion that a lot of this over-working is really starting to wear on me. I keep forgetting things everywhere, which equals running late, running early, not being prepared . . . and it sucks. :(

Alas, I gotta make it home for Christmas! I MUST see my family! Next year is going to be so packed with traveling already. I may only get to go "home" once next year. But we'll see.

Right now I'm sitting in the middle of Bellevue Square Mall in a comfy green chair waiting to meet up with some people from the Seattle area Help Portrait group. I'm SO SO SO SO excited to get to participate in this event! Don't know what it is? Check this out:



Yeah, so it's gonna be great!!! I LOVE giving back to people and the community! :D

But due to this lack of sleep, my brain is like perma-fried. So I showed up to the Starbucks at the mall to meet with everyone at 7pm. which, wouldn't be SO bad, if the meeting wasn't scheduled to start at 9pm. instead. So I did some exploring. The mall reminds me of Barton Creek Square Mall back home. Of course the fact that it's called Bellevue Square Mall doesn't really help in that arena. But it was so great to meet with such amazing, talented photographers in an effort to give back to the community. :D We're going to be working with the Low Income Housing Institute to take portraits of family members who can't afford them and I'm SO excited!!! Having come from a low-income family background, it's a blessing to get to make their day!

Well, I leave you now with a picture I took today of the American Flag flying on top of the Space Needle:

HAPPY VETERANS DAY!!

SuperStar

Okay so if you didn't get to watch this past Saturday's SNL, you really missed out :) (at least when it comes to SN—hahahaha) She was HILARIOUS!

My favorite part by far was her monologue song. It was brilliant!


I gotta admit, I didn't really know what to expect. I mean, I'm not a full blown "T.Swizzle" fan, but I do have some of her songs on my iTunes and I like them. I do. But when it comes to doing stand-up comedy, that stuff is HARD. I mean, to be funny to your friends is one thing. To be funny—genuinely funny—to a nationwide audience is a TOTALLY different thing, but Taylor Swift OWNED on SNL. If you get a chance, go to hulu.com and watch the collection. Though I must admit, the only one I didn't like was the jail cell one. It was silly and the fact that they've done it before just kinda made it the most blah part for me. But all the others were great! :D

My runner up had to be the Twilight parody, FIRELIGHT—soooo funny!!


Oh okay, my third place goes to the Carter & Sons BBQ commercial ;)

I Think I'm Getting Older

Today is my birthday! A little video blog love for ya! :D

Birthday Video Blog: I THINK I'M GETTING OLDER from amanda martinez on Vimeo.

It's my birthday! Help me celebrate the twenty eight!

PS: today we're going to pretend that I'm turning 27 okay?? :D yay! hehehehehe!
PSS: I failed math.

Also as a bonus today, I asked people to share a short/sweet memory that they have of times with me! Randomly throughout the day, I will post them here for all to see and enjoy! Thanks for 27 great years of memories and I look forward to more!

S.G. > Happy Birthday!! First thing I thought of was your Turkey Dance! Hahaha
M.W. > HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! And camp Rise and your suitecase and the stairs, so good. I have more :)
B.P. > :D bday!! Fav memory was def the 'we've got cookies!' night! Also, the family dinners, sat morning brkfast. ...too many to choose..
D.A. > Happy Birthday! and, via your request, cue the indian
K.M. > meeting in Seattle,while Mark & I were @ a conf. Protein Planet, shopping,that hippie stringed instrument store & the ?able marquee. Going 2 lunch with you for the 1sttime in Austin & getting 2 know you a little. I knew right away-I'd found an "adopted daughter
K.D. > Happy Birthday! One of my favorite memories of you - and this is a loooooooooong time ago, is all of your witty wise cracks from the color guard locker room, they were a riot! ...
One of my favorite( and obscure)quotes is "how can we miss you, if you don't leave?" ;) Have a great Birthday! :)
E.Z. > Happy Birthday!!!! Favorite memory??? How bout my entire first year! Snores-ville bunk-mate...LOVE YOU! Have a wonderful day!
A.M. > Happy birthday!!!!! My favorite memory has to be all of us acting a fool up in the prop room!
B.A. > Happy Birthday!!! :) I think to describe my favorite memory with you I just need one word.... BEENO! bahahaha I love you! ♥
E.A. > happy birthday! my favorite memory is the Portico Christmas party
J.C. > HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! remember when we worked at hallmark and you snuck out to get free burts bees stuff then our manager came down stairs.. I was scared, but we didn't get caught! :)
P.L. >Happy Birthday Amanda! Hope you have a fabulous day and maybe even get some Chick Fil A! =) My favorite memory I think has definitely got to be our summer trip this year....more specifically the "5", HAHA! Unforgettable! =)
L.C. > Happy Birthday!! TOO MANY memories! chicken bank, life lessons involving water & media track
C.C. > happy Bday! "My chicken bank won't put out!"
D.M. > happy b-day, left you a vm (I'm kind of a creeper in it). Best memory, wow, too many. Shober receipts, HOF flyers, slapping Jordan, your music video, Let's Get It Started, dragons & HSM tattoos, your sweet MCA jeapardy games, & French fries @ McDonalds