From now on, soblushed will be featured on blogspot. The new address is soblushed.blogspot.com. Is a different address but I hope you’ll feel at home.
kiss,kiss
JB*
it’s time
1
Black & White
Hey guys!
I have to confess that when I started this blog I wasn’t sure if I would have enough posts to pick your attention. But when a girl like me meets a new place, I have to explore every-single detail! It’s been fantastic searching for new places and scan the American lifestyle.
Thank you for being part of my journey here!
So, for this post, I would like to drag you to a different neighborhood: Manchester, which is located on the north side of James river. Manchester used to be an active port where tobacco and coal were shipped out and a great number of slave ships entered.
It’s a place with a lot of mills, railroads and nice and huge metal structures. it seems to me it’s the perfect place to shoot in black&white, isn’t it?
I don’t usually shoot in B&W…I hope I did a good job. Do you like it? 😉
kiss,kiss
JB*
a special place..
Death is a delicate subject; it happens to everyone, yet we rarely discuss it. Gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, political preferences or social status are irrelevant. Bottom line: we all die.
My journey here in the U.S., away from my family and friends, is giving me extra time to think… I’ve been thinking about my beloved ones and how much I miss them and also about my life: what I built so far and what I’m able to do in the future – and yes, it’s quite stressful. But you know, sometimes you need to put your life in perspective and check if you are living it the way you want or if you are following the right path…
Last weekend, I went to an ancient cemetery, dated 1849, here in Richmond. It’s a big, big rural garden with a lot of holly trees, that’s why is called Hollywood Cemetery. The cemetery is placed on a hill and it has a magnificent view of the river. wow! It was a great day for meditation…
kiss,kiss
JB*
PS: Don’t forget to follow me on soblushed facebook page. 😀
FALL-ing in love with details
Imagine that you have a piece of art in front of you. You are the type of person that loves to look at details? Or the big picture is really what matters?
Well, unless you see the details, you won’t get to see what the big picture is made of. Besides, unless we step back and occasionally look at the big picture, we would never know if the details we see were able to make a better sense.
That’s why I think you always need both.
Now that you’ve already step back to see the big picture, get closer (really close, sometimes) to see the details! and breathe the Autumn 🙂
kiss,kiss
JB*
FALL-ing in love with the big picture!
Why is Fall so beautiful here? oh! I just keep falling in love with this landscape; all these colors…
This weekend I went to Blacksburg (southwest of Virginia state) for a meeting, and I couldn’t resist bringing the camera with me. It was a long trip (3h30) but I think it was worth it because I could breathe the autumn and observe all its magic tones! Fortunately, my labmate drove the car. God bless you! 😉
The Fall foliage it’s just breathtaking! I wish some portuguese kings, like D. Afonso III and D. Dinis (check wikipedia ;)) had spread a few deciduous trees in our portuguese forests… (However, my sister, a geographer, told me those species are difficult to adapt to our Mediterranean climate; that’s why we are surrounded by pines and shrubs, get it?)
And do you know why we see so many colors? So, the green leaf is green because of the presence of a pigment known as chlorophyll. However, as the chlorophylls degrade, the hidden pigments of yellow xanthophylls and orange beta-carotene are revealed. These pigments are present throughout the year (but masked by chlorophyll), but the red pigments, the anthocyanins, are synthesized de novo once roughly half of chlorophyll has been degraded. 🙂
Now, enjoy the topography and let’s leaf peeping!
kiss,kiss
JB*
And more Halloween!! May I?
Guys, I’m sorry… but I couldn’t resist in posting more Halloween photos. I already posted about the candies and ‘franchising’, the zombies and now, of course, the houses! Houses FULL of decorations…breathing IT’S HALLOWEEN TIME!! It’s really amazing! And again, here it’s like the movies! They really commemorate Halloween, they do have the trick or treat (I hope next year I can photograph some costumed kids with their baskets full of candies 🙂 )!
I have to say that these cute houses are perfect for decorating because they have this nice front porches and little yards.. Oh, I’m in love!
Kiss,kiss
JB*
PS: Extra scores for the blood fountain! 😀
You ‘betta’ leave your brains at home!!
“The 7th annual RIchmond Zombie Walk: it’s a sight to behold as dozens and dozens of the walking dead take a leisurely stroll through Carytown. Bring your camera and a baseball bat, you never know when they might get hungry.”
This was the excuse for going out with 40ºF, I translate for you: 4ºC, ridiculously cold!!! Well, it’s perfect for the zombies, they can stay dead and the chance of being melted is almost zero. And you have to agree with me, zombie parade is much better in a cloudy, deadly day than a hot summer and fresh day! lol I think they played very well the character, and definitively the cold helped! *evil laugh*
Are you prepared to see creeeeepy photos?
Kiss,kiss
JB*
12 days for Halloween!
Hey y’all!
Ready for the America’s most exciting holiday? Here, Halloween is actually real (you feel it!), and people get very serious about this celebration! So how they celebrate it? Halloween is a synonymous of trick-or-treat, costume parties, carving jack-o’-lanterns (pumpkins), bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories and watching horror films.
Last year, I went to a costume party.. I had just arrived to the US, so my friend borrowed me a costume of…kind of a vampire. Well, I was half vampire, half me: the (tiny) dress+skinny black pants+some make up+ my sneakers..lol
Ah! But this year it’s starting differently: I already bought a pumpkin (well, not exactly a pumpkin, it was canned pumpkin, cheaper!), my labmate already changed the old playlist to creepy songs (hehe) and the coolest thing ever: I saw a super awesome horror movie! Do you know Rocky Horror? It’s a film from 1975… so it’s a old science fiction movie, low-budget, trying to be very creepy! The result: a very funny film, but also with a “cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance”. But now, picture this: the film started on the projector and at the same time, some actors were performing, copying it. More, the public (including me) interacted too, helping to build the scenario (for ex. we had to throw water with little water guns to do the rain, do the choreography when they start to sing.. hilarious!). And some cast was spread in the public saying jokes at loud and making funny at the movie, on purpose.. I was thinking: What the f**k is this? Hilarious, simply hilarious… I laugh all the time and I just understood half of the jokes!! lol
Let’s see what I can do more for this Halloween… For now, just have a look at these photos..Is not cool all the stuff that they have to offer? Americans are pro in throwing theme parties!
Kiss,kiss
JB*
2nd St festival
Jackson Ward is a historically african-american neighborhood here in Richmond. After the American Civil war, previously free blacks joined freed slaves and their descendants and created a thriving African-American business community, and became known as the “Black Wall Street of America”. As a center for both black commerce and entertainment, Jackson Ward was also called the “Harlem of the South”. Jackson Ward was frequented by Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Bill “Bojangles”, Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Nat King Cole, James Brown.
2nd Street was the heart and soul of Richmond’s African-American community. Each year thousands of people come to Richmond’s historic Jackson Ward to hear live music on four stages, enjoy children’s activities, taste delicious food, shop in the marketplace, dance in the streets and renew old friendships. Who wants to see some photos from the 2nd Street festival?
Kiss,kiss
JB*
vacations*férias*vacaciones
24 days have passed from my vacations… really?! grrr.. It seems that I’m here since eternity! -‘- And specially because I had to start my experiences at lab like crazy. 
Well, I’m definitely sure that this post is going to put me a smile on my face! (I’m already smiling just thinking in all the good stuff!). And you know, I’ll definitely, bookmarked it, and see it over and over again 😀
As I told you I had a lot of fun on my vacations back in Portugal. Do you want to see some pictures that I took (and I have to say that I’m really frustrated because I wish I had much more photos)? So, ok I’m going to share just a bit. And I will start with the FOOD. Of course, THE FOOD!
Here, just a sample of all the cheeses and cured sausages that I ate, the bread… Oh, the bread!
All the soups, grilled fresh fish, fish stew (including eel stew, of course!!), molluscs, roast sucking piglet, … food that I can’t eat here! 😦 It’s very, very hard to find a good fish here, like, real fish, you know?
The deserts… Oh the deserts! Actually, I can make them here. It’s not hard! 🙂 Our deserts doesn’t have any weird ingredient: it’s all about eggs,right? eggzs… 8-P
And of course, at the end: the amazing coffee! The perfect and tiny espresso.. I miss you..
But nothing compares with eating all of these goodies with all the friends and family… so much better!! And speaking of friends, yeah! I have more pictures to show you! Now, just have a look on these snapshots, because this Summer was also a synonymous of: a baptism, my cousin’s wedding, a relaxing weekend with my boyfriend in the north of Portugal, the south (Algarve) for the awesome beaches (yes!).. and a time with my friends in Palma de Mallorca (I don’t have any photo with me, sorry! But just picture this: nice weather, nice beach with warm water but with super fine sand, and surrounded by thousands of germans! lol Ah! and paella!), uai:) The perfect Summer ever, right? (sighs..)
soblushed 
