September 18th, 2013 Andrea Rhee is the winner but I still got some cool prizes.

Top 10 prizes! Argosy Christmas Cruise, Kenmore Air Plane ride for two, $5 Forza card, 

$10 Cinema card, 5 day membership to NW Fitness 247

I was sworn to secrecy by the host of Evening Magazine, Meeghan, so I didn't post until today. We got there around 11am and was surprised there were only a few cars parked. The event started at 11:30, but even when "doors opened" there were well under 200 people. I think it's odd that people would be given the opportunity to win an apartment for a year and not show up to the final event. I know some people took a long lunch that day to attend the event.

I haven't been on the ferry before, so I was excited about that. It's much nicer inside than I expected. But that makes sense since it's the sales office for Point Ruston. When you're looking to buy a condominium you get to see the whole plans for the area.

This isn't a picture I took. While I was at the event there were too many people for me to get a good shot of this.

 I found this in google images from pointruston.com.

There were lots of people there and the energy was high and nervous all at the same time. I could feel people's disappointment when the last name was called (not to mention hear it!). I had a good time doing this contest and the event was very nice. I may find a way to continue my journey at Point Ruston, so you haven't heard the last of me yet! Here's some more photos of the day!

 At the event on the ferry

 The bathroom

 In the captain's room

 view from the top deck

 other side view from the top deck

 chillin on the deck before they announced the top 5

 the stairs on the way down

 should have been one of my keys ;)

 filming for Evening Magazine

the two of us before the event

August 30th, 2013 25 Reasons Why I Love the Tacoma Waterfront

Speaks for itself...thought I would share. I only have 1 more item to go and I have begun planning for that. :) I think this project took 20+ hours all in all. Taking the pictures were really fun! Putting it together with my perfectionist ways not so fun :) But I like the end product.

August 29th, 2013 Rainy Days

So today was a blast! I have been wanting to get a rain photo for a long time for the "25 Reasons" poster I'm making. When I first got there I didn't think I would get a rain shot. It was raining on and off, so when it was sunny by the time I got to the waterfront I was sad as you can see here:

Obviously love the sun, but I had a feeling that today would be the ideal day to get some rain pictures. The picture on the heading is the final one I'm going to use for the poster. It was so super wet and it was really fun to be out there in it! It's really not often that I take the time out and feel the rain on my face. That was a genuine smile on my face in the picture above. Here are some other pictures from today:

the "after" shot haha

 

So, I haven't wanted to jinx winning the contest by seeing the apartments in person and getting my hopes up, but since we were there I just couldn't resist. We met some nice ladies in the leasing office and spoke about different floor plans that are available right now and pricing. Apparently there are different prices for each floor plan. I'm mostly only interested in floors 6-8 because once the condos are built it will obstruct the view of the water. The building is locked at night so it will only be accessed through a key. However, during the day the building is open for all of the public. The gym is accessed through the lobby and there are two fantastic resident lounges. One can be used reserved events and one has a pool table, ping pong, huge TV and lots of places to hang out. 

Coming up the elevator I didn't know what to expect. The walkway is hard to explain, but it's an indoor/outdoor walkway. So fresh air and rain (today) flows through the middle of the walkway, but you stay totally dry. There's a garbage shoot so you don't have to lug it downstairs to a dumpster. We toured the Clark floorplan. The first thing I noticed, of course, was the magnificent water view. The rest of the apartment was pretty nice. Plenty of room and everything seems classy. 

Tony got his wildlife photos for the contest so that's cool. And I got a few more photos for the 25 reasons poster. I also am working out some kinks in the check-ins with a person on the back-end. He has been very helpful. This contest has been very fun and I'm almost sad it's coming to an end. However, I want the 16th to come so I can see if I am the winner! I only have 2 more things to do and I worked on the 25 reasons poster for around 5 hours today. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so it takes a while. I made it poster board size on the publisher file, but I'll likely submit a smaller version I suppose. In case they wanted to use it I wanted to make sure it was able to be made larger. Well, I'm done for the day. I'll leave you with a rad photo I got of the Copperline Apartments and the sky:

August 19, 2013 A Little bit of History

My brother was leaving town tonight on a Greyhound, so I took him all around the area. We drove the 5 mile drive. We took a few photos in the park: Owen Beach and the Mountaineer Tree (the tree is over 450 years old!) for his dad and my step-dad, Don. Don came to Washington almost 20 years ago from New Jersey. He really loved the Point Defiance area. I'm not sure that the park has changed all that much, but I know the Waterfront has! The waterfront hadn't changed much until this whole new area came in. When I think about the history of Tacoma in general I can think of all of the major and subtle changes. Downtown and Hilltop was a huge crime area just 20 years ago. Safe Streets, a nonprofit, was largely responsible for the clean-up in the area. As for the waterfront area, I'm sad to see the tunnel is closed off. I think it would have been cool if we could at least walk through the area.

Chris and I stopped down at the waterwalk. He was so impressed with the views and really liked all of the attractions. I wish he would have seen the area before so he would understand what a huge undertaking it is to add all of these magnificent things. When he comes to visit next year he is going to be so impressed with the retail shops and additions.

August 11, 2013 Sunday Funday

Today was one my favorite days down at Point Ruston. We went to the waterfront in a few different areas to get pictures, but we coordinated friends to come down to do the 9 friends photo. It was fun to show people the new area and talk about the possibility of living down at the water. Though it was overcast, the weather was nice enough to wear shorts and a tank top. I was pretty surprised how clean the area was given there was a huge concert there the day before, but I guess it makes sense that they're on it. It was a happy coincidence that one of the friends that showed up for the picture has a family member doing the contest. She hasn't quite gotten past the trivia portion yet, so she has a lot to catch up on, but after the phone call he had with her I think she will get on it :)

I also attempted to get a cool photo of Jack Hyde Park, but it's not quite good enough, so I haven't turned this one in.

We had a pretty long conversation with a tenant as she was passing by to go home. We got to chatting; it turns out she was the 2nd tenant in the Copperline Apartments. She told us about the improvements they plan to make in the area and the features she's looking forward to the best. I was a bit disappointed that they will only have boutique-type stores in the shopping area. I think it would work with the area if there were a few shops that were priced toward middle-class shoppers. I've seen some really cool shops that were very worthy of shopping in. If the area is only filled with boutiques then it keeps some of the population from being able to shop there. We will see though. I know they have very smart people making sure everything in the area will make sense.

Something cool that she mentioned was the fact that they will be having more apartments on top of the movie theater. The other apartments will accommodate more families as they will have a lot of 3-bedroom apartments. It sounds like 247 Fitness is an excellent deal. Right now they have founder's specials for $19 a month. And if you rent from the Copperline Apartments you get a gym membership for one person for free. That's a pretty good perk. She doesn't know when the Forza will be up and going. The gym and the Forza are the two things I'm really looking forward to at first! One other thing she told us was about the deal they have between the Apartments and the Condominiums. Apparently if you decide to buy a condo from Copperline and decide to rent from the apartments first, they will apply the rent from the apartment to the mortgage to the condo. How cool!

After a few friends left a few more showed up...with like a million kids. :) We played with a volleyball, hacky sack, and rode the long board around. We stayed past sunset, but the kids had to get to sleep, of course, so we didn't stay too long in the dark. It was pretty windy, but the breeze off of the water made it a cooler night than I expected. Before we left we took a fun picture with everyone plus all of the kiddies.

August 8th, 2013 A walk in the Sunset

So this post is actually about my time last night on the Waterfront. I don't know how most blogs go, but I always like to take some time to reflect on my day and then post about it the next day. My plan was to get my Forza picture. There are a few Forza's that were my favorite locations that either closed or one in particular that has the same owner, but changed the name to another store in honor of the tragedy of the police shooting. However, having just recently graduated from UW Tacoma I definitely have some favorite Forzas. I chose the in UP that's nearest to a family friend's house. I also like it because the walls are awesomely decorated. The location is also really close to Grandview Drive as well. So, I ended up leaving later than I planned and got there about 10 minutes before they closed. The indoor shot was really not working out, so I was planning to do an outside shot with the door in the background, but the sun wasn't working out. Here are some of the "fails"

             

This was basically the view I wanted to do, but with me in it:

We stopped off at Point Defiance so Tony could do his pagoda shot. What he got was sooo cool! He found this little obscure pond and found the perfect angle to get the reflection of the building in it. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little jealous of his shot, but happy he found it. I like the one I turned it because it shows the beautiful architecture, but his is really creative! I saw the entrance sign at the park and the sun was shining just right, so I stopped to get a photo of that. One of my "25 reasons why I like the waterfront" is the proximity to Pt. Defiance Park, so I will likely use this photo in my 25 reasons collage:

Anyhow, so we decided to do the sunset photos down by the Waterwalk. It was a beautiful night. I checked-in at the Giant Pacific Octopus and took a cool pic and did some effects to it:

We took some photos, but mainly it was about enjoying the night. I'm really getting used to being down in that area. I know winning is a bit of a long shot, but I still like to dream. We saw quite a few families and people hanging around. There was a couple doing a photo shoot of one another. Then they stood together in each other's arms admiring the Olympic Mountains. That inspired me to take the photo I submitted for the sunset. I think one of the magical things about the waterfront is really the opportunity to connect back to the world. We are so busy in our jobs, lives, etc that sometimes we forget to step back and enjoy the day and the world we live in. When I see the couple I saw just kissing and taking cute photos of one another I know that it is a night they will remember. As for me, I will be there tomorrow again doing some photos for the contest, but I also plan to pack a picnic and hang out at Marine Park. That's a great place for a picnic and some Frizbee. I'll see if some friends want to join me as well. OK, well until tomorrow...thanks for reading :)

August 7th, 2013 Why I love the Ruston Way Waterfront

So this is actually a challenge under the ambassador headline. I am asked to write about "why I love the Ruston Way Waterfront". I don't mind because I would love to talk about the Ruston Way Waterfront. I've been doing this contest for a little over 4 days and I've been back to the waterfront 6 times since then. This summer I've probably been there 20+ times. If I get an opportunity to cruise the waterfront I do. I love to see the people walking, biking, rollerblading, falling in love, walking their dogs (sometimes cats), catching fish, playing Frizbee, running, skateboarding, duck gazing, exploring, contemplating life, etc. I've done most all of those things. Does anyone remember the man who was stuck in the early 90s and would play rad old music and wear old school roller skates and dance around all day everyday each summer.

There are so many small changes the waterfront has undergone over the past 14 years I've been coming here. The sundial is such a cool feature because it genuinely tells time. It's also a great photo opportunity. Here's a picture of my good friend Elizabeth partaking in this photo op sometime last year.

I was so stoked when they added the Tacoma Chinese Garden and Reconciliation Park a few years back. I watched it as it was built and looked forward to walking around the beautiful sites. One of my favorite parking spot for the waterfront includes under the bridge where a lot of cars don't park. I like to start at one end of the waterfront and walk all the way down. Here's a fun pic of me and a few friends down there a few months ago.

Last, let's not forget to mention the amazing new addition to the Ruston Way Waterfront- the Waterwalk. This is a picture from the outskirts of the waterwalk from March of this year. Look at the colors!

As you can see I love going to the waterfront to take pictures. I spend most of my time there finding beautiful things. I can wait to go there later today to take more pictures for the contest.

August 6th, 2013 A Stroll at the Waterwalk...

I had a great time strolling the new Waterwalk in Point Ruston this evening. I'm entering the Point Ruston Puget Sound Dream Contest and get to take rad photos as part of the contest. I have to admit before this contest I had taken quite a few photos from this new area already. Though this photoshoot was very specific and I was trying to be creative for the very best pictures. I've been waiting for Point Ruston for some time now. In 2007 I lived in Ruston near Pt. Defiance Park and loved it. I've been in love with the Tacoma Waterfront ever since. I still remember my first time going to Waterfront on my own in 1998. I remember driving through the tunnel when I first got my very first car- a 74 Periwinkle Purple AMC Javelin. The engine roared through the tunnel and a loud honk followed for safety. Then cruising down the waterfront at the very slowest speed I could drive until a car crept up. I love Waterfront cruising. My friends and I would stop at the Marine Park to throw a Frisbee or a football around or just lie on the ground and take in the scenery. Over the years, I've seen the waterfront evolve and grow. Point Ruston is the best thing to happen to our waterfront. With the great additions through housing and retail space the waterfront will be the premier stopping spot very soon.