blogging - photo transferring machine

About a week left until we leave on our journey. A lot is left to do. We are not only traveling, we are moving out of our current apartment, and putting our belongings in storage. Once we come back to California we will have to find a new place to live. Yes, double whammy may I say, Along with finishing many of my photography projects that are still in progress and have to be finished before the trip.

One of the many items we checked of our list is getting a "travel friendly" Internet machine! We will not bring cell phones nor laptops. Just a netbook to surf the net, research, and connect with family and friends. AND if any of you know me well, you know no matter how many memory cards I bring, I will have to transfer my photos to external drives and send them home!

The best thing about moving is

PURGING..... This is the 3rd day I'm working on cleaning out my closet. Wow do I have a lot of stuff. 
My issue is not being able to let go of things, primarily because they bring back memories. But I have items that have been sitting in my closet untouched for 10 years. I think it is time to let them go.

I remember reading somewhere that when you purge and can't get rid of items because of emotional ties, just photograph them. I guess I'll be having a photoshoot party with all my old shoes and dresses :D

Shots - make Maha a grumpy gal

Walking into kaiser to take our shots filled me with excitement. Hey, I'm at kaiser without being sick and getting those shots will allow me to travel? oooh Yeaah
We go to the front counter, check in, and wait for 45 minutes to be called back!!!! Matthew starts first, without even a flinch or a facial expression he takes two shots per arm. That was easy. My turn comes and the nurse asks are you right or left handed, I say I'm a lefty. Supposedly certain shots effect your muscles differently (Now both hurt equally). I take the first two shots in my right arm, OMG, they hurt! three years back we took shots to go to Egypt, KSA and Jordan but I don't remember them hurting that much. Then the nurse proceeds to my left arm, the first one goes as expected, except for the last one, TETANUS, it goes into your muscle like a 5000° burning metal rod. It burned so much it felt like my eyes were on fire.

Shots were DONE, Between out last trip to the Middle East and this trip to South America we have a wonderful cocktail of vaccines in our bodies. (Tetanus/ Diphtheria, Tetanus/ Adacel, Hep A(1), Hep A(2) Hep B(1), Meningococcal, Yellow Fever, and Typhoid) with all these you would think we are going to Mars.
We proceed to the pharmacy to pick up our meds ($100 worth) of Acetazolamide (altitude sickness), ciprofloxacin (severe diarrhea) and Doxycycline (Malaria exposure).

The after effect of it all is I'm laying in bed, with a cold, not able to lift or move my arms, and having a whole house to pack!

my neighborhood

Some photos taken around Little Italy, San Diego. We have been living here for over four years. I thought of documenting some of it before we leave & preserve our memories. What a charming neighborhood.  Once we come back from our trip we will be exploring new areas of San Diego to live. We'll see where we will land upon our return. 

    

        

                                 

© 2011 studio MAHA

Progress

It seems that our departure date is approaching very rapidly, March 10th. We head to the Bay area first to see our families and leave out of SFO to Buenos Aires.

We got our storage unit yesterday, a 10'x12.5' that we will store all our belongings in, Tomorrow we get our travel shots and medication from Kaiser. EEEK

My studio is all boxed up :( miss all my paints and the fumes already. But at least I have my camera and working on many projects until the day we leave.

will miss my view

Now that the packing for South America started, I'm already feeling sad about the thought of leaving my small apartment in Little Italy. I will miss the whales mural, the walkability of my neighborhood. I will miss Craft and Commerce, Influx, Blicks, And most of all I will miss my Balcony and the daily dosage of beautiful sunsets.

and let the blogging begin

In the midst of starting my Art and Design business, my husband and I decided to go traveling through South America. We are going backpacking primarily through the west and south side of the continent. We will be stopping in Peru, Chile, Argentina, possibly Bolivia, Colombia, and end in Panama. We have no specific route, We will book our plane ticket to Lima and just go wherever life takes us. We are planning to spend up to 2 months.


I have been thinking about starting this blog to share with my clients, followers, friends and family my inspiration and design process. This trip will be the start of my creative journey and an inspiration to new works to come from studio MAHA.