MOVING

CTF moved to wordpress.

so go there...now!

some day my prince will come...

so one day my cousin hannah (well.. hannah's not really my cousin. She's my cousin Ashley's best friend. But due to this she's come on almost every family vacation.  i've  pretty much grown up with her. so i just call her my cousin now. it's less confusing, especially when you have 2 hannah's in your life and neither have nick names) anyway, back to my cousin. So Hannah asks me if I will dress up like Cinderella for her friend Sommer's daughter Lana's 4th birthday. after a little begging i agreed. I mean i had nothing better to do that day so why not fulfill a little girls fantasies! at first i was a little apprehensive. what would cinderella say? what if the kids ask me a question and i can't answer? how long do i have to stay in character? this is SCARY!


so the day of the party arrived. i showed up around 3 and started to get ready. & i must admit, getting ready was a lot like what i imagine getting ready for your wedding day would be like: a little champagne and lots of people helping you with EVERYTHING. it was actually really FUN!
first was hair & makeup. 

since i now have brown hair and cinderella is a blond sommer let me use her blond wig. once i put this bad boy on i REALLY felt like cinderella. then we put on the dress, choker, gloves, and the best part was the hoop skirt underneath! now i was without a doubt Cinderella! at that point the entire character just clicked. i no longer had to ask what to say or do but i WAS Cinderella now. 

then came time to make my grand entrance. i was on my way to the "grand ball" but wanted to stop by and give Lana a present!

im pretty sure all of the kids pooped their pants out of excitement! most of them just stared because they were too nervous to talk to me. it was so cute. they were like OMG ITS CINDERELLA!

the kids loved me.  snow white even tried to set me up with her dad!

this boy had a crush on Cinderella. he asked her to stay for the pinata!

so if you need to hire a cinderella for your next party. CALL ME!

unemployed

i am officially unemployed now. 

in most cases unemployment is really bad.

however i am taking this as an opportunity for a vacation. 

although i am still job hunting i am trying to make the most of my time off. not to mention i've been working nonstop for a long time now and i need a break. people keep telling me this is the world's way of giving me a break so i should take advantage and i AM!

im taking this time to do all of the things i used to love doing but never had time for anymore.

like photography!

& in honor of new my new job as an assistant photographer/second shooter to Megan Finley I have been inspired me to share some photos from the first wedding i ever shot!

mark & linda's wedding

mark & linda got married on a beach in san clemente

the wedding party

the reception

see more at my flickr!  

the time has come the walrus said

i'm starting to get the itch again. the "i've-been-in-one-place-for-to-long" itch. 

i'm feeling the need for travel, the need for adventure. maybe it's because i fell asleep to the lizzie mcguire movie last night.


who knows? but for some reason i really want to go somewhere tropical. although i've been to a few tropical places, hawaii, fiji, it's usually not my idea. my ideal travel destinations are typically places like Spain, Iceland, India: places that have history, culture, and beautiful landscapes. i like vacations where i try to pack in as much sight seeing and exploring as possible.


however, this is not the case right now. im not sure why but i really just want to go somewhere with a beach. so that i can go to that beach and never leave for the entire vacation. i want to do nothing, which is SO NOT me! 


anyway, this has inspired me to share some stories/photos from our family trip to fiji. every summer marta  tooma leads a mission trip to fiji. since the tooma's are our good family friends we got lucky enough to tag along! 

this was the village where we stayed for 10 days! the building on the left behind the boat is the medical/dental clinic.

all the women on the trip stayed in two dorms. each dorm had 12 beds.

we had to sleep with mosquito nets over our beds as to not get eaten alive.

luxurious showers/bathrooms not attached to the dorm.

so here is the bathroom story.  during our trip we drank so much water (because it was SO FREAKING HOT) that every night in the middle of the night i would have to get up to pee. well it's pitch black out there, and night time means mosquitos, loud scary frogs, and other creepy crawlies. in the beginning of the trip each night i would get up and make the scary trip to the bathroom with only my flash light and myself sometimes when i just couldn't brave it alone i'd wake my mom up. well one day i shared this with a few other people on the trip. turns out everyone had that same fear/problem. so we made a rule, if you woke up in the middle of the night and needed to go to the bathroom, you would get up quietly, flash your flashlight a few times, say bathroom twice, and see if anyone else needed to go. at first people were still hesitant to say bathroom as not to wake anyone else up. however, on the second to last night there one girl got up whispered bathroom twice and soon practically our entire dorm got up to pee!

on the way to the cannibal caves. yes thats a spider. yes i touched it. (our fijian "tour guide" said nothing in fiji is poisonous. he lied) 

sea cucumber...

... on veronica's hand.

anyway, i need a vacation. i need an adventure.

FOR THE RECORD

 NYE 2009 --> 2010

we had fun....

... in our glitter.

love and other impossible pursuits

Late in 2008 I was jogging down the street on my way to hike Runyon Canyon when a lady stopped me mid-jog. She approached me and basically said some bullshit about my glowing aura and that she could sense that 2009 was going to be a very big year for me in terms of love and my career. She got a little deeper but I don't want to get into the details. Her words were very vague, I know, and she probably says that to everyone, which is why I really didn't take it all that seriously.


With that said, her words have remained in the back of my mind all year. Yes, she was right my career has definitely advanced and although I am not exactly where I want to be yet in terms of my career I am in a good place.  I also thought that "a big year in terms of love" meant that maybe I'd find someone special this year.  Not the case.


Last night at my neighbor Aaron's birthday party/new year's eve party I started talking to everyone about what the psychic told me and how I was pissed because she was wrong. In fact 2009 has been one of my most loveless years. However, what my friends so kindly pointed out last night was that 2009 actually was a huge year for me in terms of love.


I might not have found a boyfriend but I have been blessed with some new friends that have literally changed my life. I found a second family. The Finley-Quists. 

In 2007, I moved into an apartment in West Hollywood with Morgan, my friend from high school who is two years my senior. Morgan's older sister Megan, Megan's husband Aaron, and their best friends Amy and Ari also lived in the building.  It was a blast because! However, a few months later Morgan realized that LA was not the place for her so she moved out. This meant I had to find a new roommate. It also meant that Megan, Aaron, Amy, Ari and I stopped hanging out at much. On top of that my new roommate's line of work meant that he would rarely be home when I was.  Since I have never lived alone before I started to get really lonely. Part of the problem is that I find it hard to open myself up to new people. I don't like to get hurt (none of us do), so I keep a wall up. However, after spending many hours crying on the phone with my sister, she told me that I needed to put myself out there. People can't read minds, if you need help ask for it. So one night I told Megan, my neighbor that I've been getting really lonely since Morgan had moved out. She told me that if I ever felt lonely I was more than welcome to go up to their apartment to hang out.


Now a year later you will rarely find a night that I am not up there. Megan and Aaron have made me a part of their family, for which I am eternally grateful. They have changed my life and helped me find happiness. Something I never thought possible without a boyfriend. In fact, despite bad days or negative circumstances,  I am very happy more often then not. Which is the opposite of my mental state at this time last year. 


So long story short, yes, as Oliver, Megan, and Aaron, so kindly pointed out, the psychic was right. 2009 was a big year for me in terms of love. I feel so incredibly blessed to have such incredible and amazing new and old friends! I am so lucky. 


As they say, boyfriends will come and go but family is forever.

parental advice

my parents give the best advice.

mom: don't worry courtney. i mean people love fat people; people love ugly people.
me: so you're saying i'm fat and ugly?
mom: no, what i'm saying is its not you.
me: so how is this supposed to help?
mom just laughs

after talking about all of my dads achievements and nerdiness.
me: dad, where can i meet a man like you? should i go hang out at hospitals?
dad: try e-harmony.
helpful!

remembering the simple times

iceland

i want to go to iceland.

why you might ask.

1. nobody goes there and i like being different.

plus ive been to europe so im kind of over that.

i would like to go to india but its uber expensive.

and iceland is so cheap right now!

look at some fun things to do...

hiking to waterfalls/geysers - LOVE

DOG MOTHER FUCKING SLEDDING

GLACIER SAFARI (i don't even know what this is an i'm already excited for it!)

NORTHERN LIGHTS!!!!!! (i can cross that off of my life of things to do before i die)

hot springs (if you don't know how i feel about hot springs then you must not know me)

LETS GO!

source & source & source

GLITTER GLITTER EVERYWHERE!

best glitter sale yet.

this year the finley's joined me (from california), along with caitlin, whitney, kate, and later garrett.

we went at 5:30 am. and we were about 20th in line!

everyone got amazing stuff this year.

& i got blogged about by this guy

who drew this...

and wrote this...

"Those two weren't the only Glitter Sale veterans in attendance. Courtney, a California native, has made the Glitter Sale a part of her holiday shopping for four years now. She plans her trips to the Northwest to coincide with the Glitter Sale because there's no other event that combines shopping and giving in such a fun and stylish way. Courtney was in search of some jewelry and accessories to complement the mink fur coat she found at last year's sale".

- Pemco Northwest

and i scored this which was featured on the glittersale blog

it looks like penny lane's from almost famous

i can't wait for next years!

MEGAN FOX SAYS

CRIED BY: COURTNEY

"Robert Pattinson and Zac - they're just too pretty with the big hair and the suits. And Rob is, what, 22? Zac is 21? That's a joke. Boys in their twenties are a waste of time. They have nothing to offer conversationally; they're immature. I feel like I have a better shot with someone in his thirties."

i think Megan Fox is the only person who gets me.

she says what she thinks and does what she wants.

source

source

ESSENTIALS

CRIED BY: COURTNEY

my three essentials to happiness:

-something to do (work, school)

-something to hope for (SF, Seattle, GLITTER SALE!)

-someone to share it with (christina, megan, aaron, shea, garrett, laurie, etc.)

courtney = !!!!!!!!

BIRTHDAY FUN

CRIED BY: COURTNEY

you know how there are those people that don't like birthdays; they never tell people it's their birthday, they don't think its a big deal... well i am not one of those people. i LOVE birthdays, especially mine. i think we should celebrate the fact that we are alive and have survived one more year. that's why every year, i throw myself a big party.

This year however, i did not throw myself a party. This is slightly ironic because i've celebrated every other insignificant birthday, except for the "big milestones." i had a party on my 15th birthday. but i didn't do anything on my 16th. i guess getting my license was enough. then every year following i had a party: my 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th. then again my 21st rolls around, which is a HUGE one and again no party.

this year i had many small celebrations...

first i celebrated with my family in portland.

my first drink! toasting with the woman who made me happen: HANS!

out in seattle!

kareoke.

then when i came home my best friend came from SF to celebrate in LA with me!

loves it..

POST-TRAVEL

CRIED BY: COURTNEY

i think im experiencing post-travel depression, or something along those lines.

i have no motivation to do anything... at all.

i dont want to work. i dont want to go to school..

which is bizarre.

i normally love school, i love working, i love working hard, i love the challenge.

now im feeling lazy.

this isnt like me.

on the flip side. next week i will be celebrating my sweet six... twenty-first birthday.

maybe that will pull me out of my funk.

JE M'APPELLE ENGLISH

CRIED BY: COURTNEY

paris was inspirational.

barcelona was paradise.

london was adorable.