heather's engagement photos

Skip over to  hillarynicole.com  to see some photos I took in May of Heather & Austin for their engagement. 

Ok, okok, one sneak peek: 

mission prep 101.6 - how to get a Visa

Here involves one of the craziest conglomerate of steps I will probably ever execute in my life.

I have never re-read directions so many times or triple-checked, no, quadruple-checked my work as I did for obtaining my Visa for Argentina.  

I will say that this could have been worse - I am grateful for how short the lines were and for every employee who helped me with a smile! That was the most surprising because I was preparing for a DMV/Jury Duty-esque  environment. 

Take a big breath. Brace yourselves.  Ready?  

1.  Obtain a Passport (done and done back in 2009!)

Scan in every single page of your passport and e-mail to the Church.

Make two black and white copies of your photo/signature page of your passport

2. Obtain a Police Letter of Good Conduct 

A notary must be present. There is no notary on site at my city's PD, so I had to have a notary meet me, which costs extra. 

Location:  my police department 

I have a clean report!  Who would've thought?

3.  Obtain 2 copies of Certified Birth Certificates

Location:  East Los Angeles 

(In order to request a birth certificate, I read online that I needed to get a notarized certificate of identity.  Turns out I only needed that if I was doing this by mail! Oh well, better to have done more than necessary, right?) 

4.  Send the Police Letter and Birth Certificates to the Secretary of State to request apostilles for each document. Write a cover letter explaining your need for these documents for a Visa for Argentina.

What is an apostille?  It is an authentication of a document that another country approves. Basically I have to prove to Argentina that I am a real citizen of the US/California and that I am not a criminal.  Who knew it would take 100 miles of driving and over $100 to get signatures and papers with seals to prove it?! 

I discovered I needed an extra step.  Instead of mailing my documents to Sacramento's Secretary of State office, I wanted to do everything in person in the DTLA office so I could get everything done in the same day and decrease any chance of anyone misplacing these valuable papers.  In order to do this, my notarized Police Letter needed to be authenticated by the county clerk!  I was worried I needed to go back to the LA County Registrar in East LA where I obtained my birth certificates (which were printed with the county clerk's signature), but after more research online and calling the DTLA office I discovered I needed to go to an office in Norwalk.  ? 

New step:  Take the Police Letter of Good Conduct to have the notarized signature authenticated by the county clerk. 

Location: Norwalk

(Isn't a notary already authenticated?? Oh geez...)

5.  Take 4 color professional photos, cut 1.5 x 1.5 inches 

You must wear missionary attire.

Do not smile, do not wear glasses.  Right ear must be showing {awkward chuckle}.  Move hair if necessary.

paperclip photos to passport 

Location:  First the Post Office.  They were too expensive and could not zoom out to compensate for the smaller size. They suggested AAA.  They were extremely helpful and gave me 6 photos for half the price! (They let me keep the test run)

And no I am not posting them here. 

Oh - almost forgot - because AAA also could only make 2 x 2 inches, I had to go home and cut them myself. I discovered that there was not enough head room, so I scanned, uploaded, and slightly shrunk my photo to fit the dimensions.  I wonder how someone would be able to complete these steps if they didn't have photoshop?  

This is all the driving I did in one day with my Mom.   I had already received my birth certificates a few days prior with my Dad in East LA. 

 1.  Norwalk for county clerk signature. 2. Downtown to the Ronald Regan building to request apostilles. 3. The temple's distribution services to get what I needed before going through the temple {and that my friends, is a post for another day. In short, we are going to be ordering online from now on, or trekking out to Upland if necessary.} 

I sent the following items in a big envelope to Salt Lake:

My actual passport (I was nervous about that)

My awkward photographs

2 black and white copies of my passport

2 Birth certificates with attached apostilles 

1 Police Letter of Good Conduct - notarized and county clerked and apostilled

I must admit, as educational as this was, I never want to be this stressed about paperwork again. 

If anything is wrong or lost, I will be. . . more than a little peeved. 

Update:  ahaha.  I just called Salt Lake and my photos did not pass the test because they were not clear enough!  The lady in the office also told me that the requirements changed - my photos can be a traditional passport photo, meaning I can face forward and it can remain 2x2 inches!  Oh goodness!

I just have to laugh at all of this : )  I am glad that I have the resources and time to do everything. 

Argentina, I hope you're happy with this wild goose chase I am running for you! 

heather's wedding

Today was a beautiful day for a wedding! 

My cousin Heather was sealed to her sweetheart Austin for time and all eternity in the Newport Beach Temple. 

Here are some of my photographs I took today.  She was so beautiful, had the greatest smile on her face, and had the perfect dress!  I loved every minute of it and was so happy to be able to witness the event : )

the magic never dies

Next week is when "it all ends,"  but I don't believe it.

Even though I have pretty spectacular plans the eve of the midnight showing next week, I am a little sad that I won't be able to dress up with my friends and watch it on the first night with them.  

Hopefully I can find someone who wants to see it again so they can accompany me on my first viewing! 

When I get back from my mission and I have some down time from work, I will re-read the books through a whole new perspective.  I was barely out of high school when I finished the 7th book, so it's about time I experience Harry's adventures in a new light.  There's something great about experiencing a favorite story multiple times at different stages in life.  I can recall feeling differently after viewing Little Women from when I was very little to just a few weeks ago.  You can see yourself in a character different from the last, and you have more experiences yourself that you can bring to the table.

I love stories. 

As for the great HP, this is nowhere near the end!  There may not be additional films or books, but I will definitely read Harry Potter to my future children!   How lucky are we to have had this unique opportunity to watch an incredible and enchanting world form before our very eyes.  Well, it doesn't stop here.  The magic will never die. 

I love fireworks

And I love them even more so now that I know how to take proper photographs of them! 

(thanks to marcello, who is very talented.)

My friends and I watched the Rose Bowl fireworks on the Fourth of July on a hillside adjacent to Chandler School.   I was so worried that my friends wouldn't get to the spot in time because parking was insane - but they did! I wish I could properly tell their story of how insane it really was.  

It involved Liz driving down a street that became narrower and narrower, lots of honking yelling and cursing (not from them, claro), some attitude from some sassy female who poked out through her sun roof, and clever Lars asking a neighbor if the group could pay them ten bucks to park in their driveway. They were happy to report that no windows were broken or tires slashed upon their return to their vehicle.  

I think I found a great spot for future Fourth's. 

(My next one here will be in 2013!  How insane is that?)

Independence Day!

Emily played me this song a few years ago, and I absolutely love it! 

Enjoy. 

What are you doing to be patriotic? 

I am wearing the denim shirt I found in my Mom's closet of old clothes. 

I am going to the BEACH to play with the little and big cousins! 

I am going to watch HUGE fireworks with friends!! 

I may light a sparkler or two. 

Have a wonderful Independence Day today! 

How blessed we are to live in such a wonderful country. 

sparklers in the backyard

The other night my two friends, Ash Mills and Jake, and I were having a hard time figuring out what we should do with our evening. We had eaten dinner at Cafe Río and had no other plans. You should have seen us sitting in Jake's driveway.  We didn't drive out for a good five minutes as we tossed ideas around. Bowling?  Karaoke? Movie theatre? Other parties we heard about were too far away... 

Finally we decided to buy sparklers at the fireworks booth and do Night Graffiti! 

We had Chase Cole come over too!  The above photo is our sad attempt to spell "MOO"

A Duel.  

I've saved the best for last: 

Tripod + DSLR + 4-8 seconds with the shutter open + rogue explosions from ghetto fireworks that don't last more than two minutes = lots of laughter +  cool memory made