#1 Learn How to Take Great Pictures with SLR -- Check!

*NOTE: Yay! I was fortunate to finish all my 12 items before the wedding, but was unable to update all the posts in the midst of wedding craziness. So let me finish posting my other 12 before 2012 items and then post about our amazing wedding. =) *


Mr. Suit and I have had our Nikon DSLR for probably about a year and a half now, yet we still use the “Auto” mode for our picture taking. Fail. I definitely knew that I needed to take some time to better my photography skills and learn how to actually use the camera, lest it feel lonely and abandoned on the shelf every time we reached for the smaller and quicker point-and-shoot. I’m a total believer that if toys (including electronics) don’t get played with, their feelings get hurt (a la Toy Story—I obviously grew up Disneyfied). Don’t want expensive Mr. Nikon to feel unappreciated! Hence the excellent opportunity to use another Groupon: “Three Hour Photography Course in Composition—Night Shots of the DC Capitol Buidling.”

In preparation for my day in the field, I bought the best book possible! How to Use The Nikon SLR For Dummies. Hey! Don’t knock the Dummies-series. The colored pictures are great! J The instructor taught us some tricks about composition of pictures and how to understand ISO, f-stop, shutter speed, and all those other fancy technical words. I was most interested in the night time class because I always feel that pictures come out wonderful with good day light and easy settings, but I always manage to lose the atmosphere of night time memories because I don’t know how to set my camera properly to pick up the low light or I move it around too much so that the images are blurred. Mistakes that we have all experienced after looking back at your pictures on the computer screen the next day with a poor point and shoot.

Here are some example pictures from my night out on Capitol Hill:

learning about composition 

using lines to draw a focus

lighting and ISO

learning how to set the camera down and use the timer to minimize shake

#3 Scuba Dive -- Check!

I’ve always lived near water and done water sports. I love jetskiinng, parasailing, and snorkeling so I was super excited about scuba diving. Observing the marine life of the deep seas, swimming with the fishies of the blue ocean, being in awe of the magnificence of the corals and sunken treasures… well, at least that was what I was hoping to do once I get to the Philippines to go island hopping. However, the first step to getting there was to do Discover Scuba course in a local YMCA pool in Virginia in the end of November. Hmm. Not so glamorous at first, but I could feel myself wiggling around in my DC Metro seat pretending to be in the warm tropical islands as commuted from work to the suburban pool grounds.

So I got there, got fitted up in my wetsuit, got all the gear on, and then watched a 20 minute PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) video. My intro class comprised of five of us—my chemical engineering instructor that works at the State Department, an older couple that hadn’t been diving since the 70s, a 30-something husband trying to learn to surprise his wife, and myself. Once we had all the gear on, we hopped into the shallow end of the pool. I had my flippers on, my wetsuit, the oxygen tank, some weights to drag me to the floor, my goggles, and my breathing contraption (BDI) with all the crazy tubes. Our instructor told us that it would be a bit weird at first, but you’ll get used to it. Breathe normally-- good. Ascending or descending too quickly—bad. I can do this. I can do this. The one thing that my instructor said that stuck with me was, “Scuba diving is unnatural. We don’t have gills, we don’t sink down in water unless weighed down,, and we aren’t meant to breathe underwater, so we have to be very careful. With other extreme sports like skydiving, it is natural for the body to fall down. Here, we’re fighting against nature, so remember to be careful.” **eyes go wide here** Ok, what am I doing?!

Alright, I’m here already, so might as well… I dunk my head in and flap myself over to the 4 feet… Hey! It’s so constricting! I’m breathing through a tube and not getting enough air! My eyes go wide and I pop back up... swim to 6 ft… Why are all these bubbles in my face?! Is this normal? So many bubbles!! I pop back up to ask the instructor if that’s normal. “Yes. That is how your air comes out. You’re doing fine!!” Um, ok… go over to 10 ft… I start getting used to it, but am still weirded out with all the bubbles and how I’m feeling like I’m sucking up air through a fat bubble tea straw. My instructor gave me the “ok” signal with her hand so I started throwing around some water toys to the other members of my class. We swim around for about an hour in the pool and when I pop up, it’s already 10:30pm!

Overall, I’m happy that I tried it in a safe YMCA environment and I’m pretty sure that if we do decide to try out scuba diving post-wedding in the Philippines, I’ll be ok. But I wasn’t as excited and in love with it as I thought I would be. Maybe it just takes a few more trials, but I’m glad that my 12 Before 2012 is letting me grow and learn things that I like and that I don’t like. At least I have another one checked off my list!

Overall, I’m happy that I tried it in a safe YMCA environment and I’m pretty sure that if we do decide to try out scuba diving post-wedding in the Philippines, I’ll be ok. But I wasn’t as excited and in love with it as I thought I would be. Maybe it just takes a few more trials, but I’m glad that my 12 Before 2012 is letting me grow and learn things that I like and that I don’t like. At least I have another one checked off my list!

#5 Bungee Jump! -- CHECK!

Hang-gliding, parasailing, ziplining? Done. Jumping out of a plane? Easy. Bunjee-jumping off the Bridge to Nowhere in the Los Angeles National Forest? Piece of cake. Even weeks after I did it, I can easily describe the few seconds of pure exhilaration jumping off that bridge and bouncing around like a rag doll. I had practically been prepping myself to do this for almost a year since I started my blog. No way was I going to back down. However, when the 5am alarm went off that morning and we finally got to the starting point after a 30 minute long and windy road, there was one thing that I dreaded and wasn’t prepared for. The five mile hike to the bridge. Five mile hike through the forest, crossing rivers, and climbing rocks in the middle of the rain? NO WAY.

Don’t get me wrong. I have complete respect for runners, hikers, and military people who love doing that kind of craziness. But I’ve just never been a stamina type of person. I’m pretty good with the quick bursts of speed in basketball, interval training at the gym, or even bursts of energy in volleyball or tennis. But the whole consistent pacing and distance just doesn’t work for me. I found that not even a mile into the trail where I had already fallen into the river a few times, but definitely after the two hours climbing up the mountains, I felt my heart was going to explode in my chest. I was already reciting my “Last Will and Testament” to my sisters as they give me evil eyes for dragging them along with me...

We digress. Long story short, I almost died in the mountains, my group lost the trail and the guide on the way back and could have been eaten by lions had we not mustered up everything we learned about tracking footprints from “Lost”, froze our extremities off in the rain (How did we pick the one weekend where it was actually raining in Southern California?!)… oh yeah, and bungee jumped off the 100-foot bridge over a running river. Twice. J

                       

 Team Bungee!

Honestly, it really isn’t that scary. I mean, you definitely feel that stomach drop when you look out and dive into a river, and then snap back with the whiplash and almost hit your head as you’re flung back to the bridge you just jumped off of, and then you feel like a yo-yo bouncing around in the middle of a canyon… so it’s actually a lot of fun and I found myself laughing as I hung in the air (well, that’s after you hear my constant and piercing screams as seen in the video).  So I encourage all to go try it. And do it backwards—that’s even more fun! J

#10 Go Somewhere New with my Fav Girls for my Bachelorette Party -- CHECK!!

12 ladies. 10 pairs of fake lashes (at least!). busing/flying/training from 4 different cities. 3 days of NYC. 2 cabs everywhere. 1 suite and 1  bathroom. equals CRAZINESS.

As much as I'd like to share, I think I would be breaking an unspoken rule of the bachelorette party, so let's just say there is a BIG check by this item now. :) Much love to my girls that traveled from London and California, my sisters that bused up from DC, and my loves that did all the planning. Love you long time!

Here's some pictures of us prettied up. We love girls nights in New York!

#7 Final European Engagement Pictures! (3/3)-- THE FUTURE: Barcelona

Our last set of pictures of the three. Now that you've seen our PAST (Venice) and PRESENT (Paris), here is the last...

THE FUTURE- Barcelona
The city of Modernism and Gaudi. The city of both the ancient and the millenium. The city emblematic of our future (although I'm sure Kristina will argue that). A city like this that seamlessly combines the past the future, the mountains and the ocean, and the strength of faith with the vitality of life, is what we hope, without argument, that our path together will be: a life that, despite our differences and the separate journeys that took us here, will converge into a single journey, a shared bond, and a blessed future.

Photos by BDFotos.com