Stepping out.

I've been reading a lot of thought catalog lately (thoughtcatalog.com) and I read such a good article about never truly coming out. I found myself agreeing with the article - I believe this to be true. Sure as a gay man/woman you come out to your family when you feel comfortable but truth is, you come out almost every day. When people ask about you, when meeting new people, making new friends, when talking about your personal life, when people kindly or rudely ask if you're gay or "you're gay right?". It pretty much never ends. I guess you just can't let this bother especially if you're confident and comfortable with yourself and who you are. It's part of being gay - it comes with it and it must be hard for those who are still new to being an openly gay man or who recently came out of the closet. I'm comfortable with my sexuality but I do know that sometimes depending on who I'm with I feel a bit intimidated when that topic comes up. It sucks that straight people don't have to deal with this or won't ever know how it feels to deal with this. Just felt like jotting this down and put it out there.

KNICK | KNACKS.

A mutual friend of ours made us these 

amazing collages:

This week I wanted to make a post about cute favorite 'knick knacks' that we have in our apartment. I've had this post in mind for a while but kept putting it off. I finally took photos of some of my favorite pieces. Our apartment is still not fully done (decoration wise) but the small stuff we do have we make it work. I give most of the credit to Victor. He pretty much puts things together and it totally works. We have a lot of pop of color, lots of orange, green and pink. I remember going to Victors old studio when we first started dating and loving the decor so I trust his decorating ideas. I love the 'Life is beautiful' piece, it's Victors beautiful writing and that actually hangs right above our bed. I think it's a great reminder to enjoy life and appreciate what we have. The collages were a Christmas gift to us from a mutual friend. Side story regarding this mutual friend, I actually met her at work and when I started talking to Victor and his mom about her we found out that they knew each other but had lost contact. Weird how life works out and how small the world is. She picked some of her favorite photos of us, made these two collages and framed them. We were so surprised when we saw them, a lot of these photos we both had forgotten about. It was a very thoughtful gift and we appreciate it so much. I am planning on making a video of our apartment soon so keep an eye out for that! Now I have to work on a small project for Victors birthday that is coming up!

GOOD FRIDAY.

Cute journal at Cotton On in Santa Monica.

Being inspired by 'Good Friday' and being super hungry, I decided to cook up a good meal for Victor and I. I got off work a couple hours before him so I had enough time to run to the grocery store and buy a few ingredients. I'm not the best cook, but I actually took the time to make this happen. I thought of the recipe in my head. I bought chicken breast and stuffed them with diced 'Italian style' tomatoes (they were seasoned with garlic, basil and oregano). I let the chicken breast marinate in the tomato sauce, and added a bit more garlic salt and basil with a few crushed red peppers. I grilled it all together along with fresh garlic and BOOM! I had two flavorful chicken breasts! I paired this with a light salad, some wheat pasta and garlic Texas toast. After dinner we headed down to Santa Monica and walked around the 3rd Street Promenade. We finally made it to Santa Monica, for the past 3 weeks I've been bugging Victor about going haha. We ended up leaving after about an hour and a half and stopped by Victor's favorite doughnut shop: Krispy Kremes.

HERE'S A VINE ROUND UP OF OUR 

GOOD FRIDAY:

(if you have vine follow us, @J_Hdez//@Victor_Go)

PORTRAITS.

Earlier this week Victor and I enjoyed our day off shopping for old movies at Amoeba and eating a feast at Red Robin in the Glendale Galleria. Before taking off for our adventure I set up my camera and took some photographs of us two. I think these turned out great, I love black and white photography especially when there is harsh lighting. Opposite of Victor I am a scruffy mess, I haven't shaved in a while. I'm cooking tonight so I should probably get started on that! 

Below is a  candid shot, the self timer went off too soon:

T. G. I. F.

DIY VALENTINE.

Valentines day: an occasion in which lovers express their love for one another. This year I wanted to express that love in arts and crafts form! I usually try to personalize my gifts regardless, but I wanted to emphasize the idea of DIY for this Valentines Day. I feel like now the best gifts are the ones you make your own. The gifts which you thought of and took the time to plan out and bring to life.

Breakfast + Gifts

Victor suprised me that morning by whipping up a Valentines breakfast! Heart shaped pancakes, bacon (a fave!), scrambled eggs, AND strawberry milk (another fave!). He even turned our kitchen into a Valentines cafe!

I made Victor a Valentines Day card by tracing a kissing picture of us. I personalized the card even more by adding lyrics from one of his favorite Katy Perry songs: "Teenage Dream".  Knowing how much of a California boy he is, I made him an art piece that he can display in his little office, I have seen photos of the California outline and a heart over LA on Tumblr before so I took the idea from there but made it my own with the glitter. I ordered a custom pillow case from Etsy shop "FeatherHen" with our initials and the year we met.

As always, Victor wrapped the gifts beautifully, too cute to even rip apart! He gave me 3 cute growing kits, one is even strawberry! I love gardening as funny as that may sound so I got pretty excited once I opened these. I got even more excited when I opened the other two gifts, the book and film The Perks of Being A Wallflower! I haven't read the book yet but have heard so much about it from Victor that I have been wanting to read it not to mention that I fell in love with the film adaption of the book. In DIY form, Victor made us a board with a knitted heart on nails, and the three nails at the bottom represent the Valentines that we've spent together. So cute!

Dinner + A Movie

Victor whipped up a delicious dinner after work: bacon wrapped steak, sautéed green beans, rice, and biscuits. The perfect dinner for a perfect valentines day! After work I picked up some pastries from a bakery in West Hollywood called 'Between Us'. We ended the night by watching Frankenweenie and enjoyed the Heart shaped macaroons, a berry tart, and some fresh baked Disney heart sugar cookies. This has been the BEST valentines ever!

Here are some "behind the scenes" photos of my DIY gifts:

 Now to plan for next year...

FRENCH SUNDAY MORNING.

 eggs|milk|cinnamon|texas toast

Whipped up some french toast and scrambled eggs this morning and I must say it turned out pretty good! Victor had been hinting that he wanted me to make french toast one morning so this Sunday felt like the perfect morning to do so. The recipe is super easy and it doesn't take too long to prepare/make. I think the best part of the breakfast was the presentation. You don't have to be a great cook; sometimes the presentation is what makes the food delicious!

*We had a great Sunday being local tourists in Hollywood, post to come soon.*

FAVES.

* the title photo is a view from our apartment, with the font it really looks to me like an album cover art and I LOVE it! You can see the Downtown LA skyline just below the 'A' *

With this blog post I felt like sharing a few favorite photographs of mine: favorite photographs that I've taken, and favorite photos of Victor and I.

CIRCA 2009 PHOTOGRAPHY:

Favorite shots of Victor and I :

2013 has been pretty good to me, it actually doesn't feel too different. I just feel something inside of me wanting to experiment more, experience more, and try new things as well as go back to a hobby that I loved growing up. I've been getting into videos and video editing. I would like to practice more on that, and hopefully start making videos soon. I'm feeling very inspired by the city, sky scrappers, and sun glares. I've also been wanting to get back into photography. Straight out of high school that was one of my favorite things to do (I received a Nikon coolpix p80 as a graduation gift from my parents). I loved playing with my camera, setting up photo shoots with my sister Julie, and taking my camera wherever I went. At times I revisit my flickr account and think back to the boy I was back then. This past year I've been relying wayyyy to much on my Iphone for photography, and I'm going to try and change that this year. 

ONE PHOTOGRAPH AT A TIME.