Fun in Photoshop...

Okay, to the talented graphic designer, this may not seem like much, but this is my first real project working in Photoshop. I've learned inDesign and Illustrator pretty well, but have never really explored the deep realms of photoshop. So in one of my classes, we were taught the basics, and our assignment was to "Make a piece of art". I figured that I would kill two birds with one stone, finish an assignment and score points with Cea. Cea loves to scrapbook, so it is supposed to have that type of a style.

I don't know...I'm pretty proud of it, and I can only get better right?

My laugh for the day.....

So I mentioned how I've been up late working on photoshop the last couple of nights. Well today in our class, I was going through some old pictures trying to find some cool pictures that I could use for a project that I'm working on. I went through pictures of my nieces and nephews, engagement pictures, wedding pictures, NY pictures, mission pictures....random pictures. I found some today that I thought were pretty funny.

Photoshop has been used to alter pictures, airbrush faces, add 4 inches to Andy Roddick's biceps, extend models' necks, trim a waistline, remove acne, you name it, it can be done. The great thing about these pictures, is that you don't need photoshop to see the drastic changes made to this body. Pardon the quality of the first two pictures...they were taken with film cameras, scanned into a computer and resized.

This first picture was taken of me at the MTC. That's Sheryl Fischer (sorry about the spelling), a good friend from Maui...we were in the MTC together. For 6 months or so prior to this, I had been hanging drywall 5 days a week, and surfing or working out everyday after work....needless to say, I was in better shape than I am now.
Nearly Two years later, and after serving in a ward that fed us steaks every other day, another ward that I swear was having a competition about who could feed the Elders the best tri-tip (I wasn't complaining at all), and a Samoan ward, I had put on quiet a bit of weight. There was a day when I went to someone's house and got on their scale. It was one of those needle scales that went up to 275, and I buried the needle....and it wasn't like you see in the cartoons where the needle slowly goes past 275, it about sprinted past it...I think in this picture however, I weighed about 275-280ish.
After returning home...I got back to the routine, hanging drywall, surfing and working out (weren't those good times Jeff?). I got back up to school and was working out in the gym 5-6 days a week. On top of that, I was getting married, and we all know how that motivates you to lose weight. This picture was taken on my honeymoon. By the way, don't you love that Cea's niece Katelyn was there with us....we took our families on our honeymoon to Maui...it was a fun experience. Oh, and I love how Katelyn is just head buried in the hole we were digging. Anyways, that's me at about 205 lbs or so.
Ah....now almost 2 1/2 years later....here I am. Not overly big by anymeans, but a little heavier...I probably weigh 245 in that picture. Let that be an answer to anyone who asks if Cea can cook. This picture was taken in Hawaii this past May by my Sister-in-law Ev, which by the way is an amazing photographer for anyone who needs to get pictures taken. Her website is "www.littleswundersphotography.com"...sorry, there's the advertiser in me. by the way, doesn't Cea look beautiful in this picture... you really should see the other photos from this shoot...she's looks amazing...especially her eyes.
That was my laugh for the day. It was funny for me to see where I've been and where I am in terms of weight. So what now? Well we have a gym at the complex that we live in, and I'm planning on getting far more active, and who knows, I may end up looking like this guy........with a lot of help from PHOTOSHOP!

Musings late at night....

Before the semester started, a friend told me that she found the best kept secret on campus: TEE 125. It's a technology class that introduces you to, and teaches you the basics of various technologies: The Adobe Suite, Flash, HTML, GPS, Web 2.0, you name it, we will basically cover it. It has been a great class, but the only problem is that it keeps me up super late at night. It's not that the assignments are super tough, but as I learn more about the different technologies, I feel like there is so much more I don't know and stay up late working.

I've been up late at night learning more and more about photoshop and illustrator, and I find that late at night my mind is always so active and I just have all this stuff that I want to let out (no this is not going to be a confessional, but this is what's on my mind tonight)!

This past week has been a good one for us. We've finally moved into our own apartment (I think I mentioned that in a previous post) which has been a big relief. Cea is starting to show, and she is looking so cute. I love just lying in bed and looking at her tummy....I'm still waiting to be able to feel the baby move. Preparing to be a parent is kind of a weird feeling. As a soon to be father, it's hard to watch Cea go through the morning sickness and such, and I still don't think that it's really hit yet...yeah, I've heard the heartbeat, and believe me, that was an amazing experience, but I'm still waiting for the day when it's really going to hit (it'll probably be when she gives birth). It's exciting though, to think of the things that you want to teach your child and how you want to do it.

A friend of mine just had a baby, and he had it with him at school today, and it was so fun to watch him take care of her. It's just crazy to think that I'm going to be doing that soon. I can tell you one thing...I'm glad that I have Cea for a wife... she's had a lot of experience helping raise little kids, and she'll be the perfect Mommy.

I know...again...random and odd, but thanks for following my late night musings. Aloha!!!

Thoughts on Random

You know, one of my favorite things about technology nowadays, is the fact that you can load songs on a little thing called an iPod, set it to shuffle, and you have songs coming at you at random. That's what my brain feels like tonight. I just got back from the gym and I feel like someone set my thoughts on random. When my iPod is on random, I'm either pleasantly surprised at what comes out, or I quickly hit "next" because it's a song I'm not in the mood for.....hopefully this post will be the first and not the latter.

My NIKEiDs.....so I probably should have blogged about this a while ago, but better late than never. So I don't know if you'd heard of the service...most have, but you never know... but NIKE has a service that allows you to customize your shoes. These are my new pair of iDs....funny story, when I told my mom about the service and that I was getting my name on the back of a pair of shoes, she immediately called my siblings and said, "Did you hear that NIKE is making Kevin his own shoe? It's like how Michael Jordan has his." I love my mom, and she is so cute. So we all laughed about that, but then someone on Cea's side of the family made the same comment.

Anyways, how I got the shoes...that's another cool story for another day, but I love em and wear them with pride. Cea says when I wear them that I look like a football player...she kind of has a thing for the Rock in the Gridiron Gang, so it's my pitiful way of trying to compete with him.







So have you ever had those moments that you just can't pass up. So when Mom and Dad were up in New York visiting us, my Brother-in-law Russel was also with us. For those of you who don't know Russel, you're missing out on a good part of life....the kid is hilarious, a blast to be around, and genuinely one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, and ladies he's single (Russ you can thank me later for that).

Anyways, we were walking through Central Park and giving Mom and Dad the tour, and walked pass one of the bathrooms. When you look into the door, you look right in to the bathroom stalls. Russel and I immediately looked at each other and started laughing....he ran into the bathroom, I reached in my bag for the camera and this picture was the end result. I know that from a photography point of view it's not a good picture, but it was a scene that we just needed to catch. You all may not be laughing and think that I'm a dork, but Russ and I thought it was hilarious. Russ if you're reading this....we miss you man and hope that you're having a good time in NYC! Eat some Pizza and cheesecake for me (all in the same meal)!

I'll be sure to change the settings on my iPod so as to not be so random. Thanks for listening to my musings! Aloha!

A question for the Hawaiians...

Okay, so you don't have to be Hawaiian to answer this question, you could be Hawaiian at heart, but it's aimed mostly at the Hawaiians.

A little background first. There are so many of us that want to get back to the islands someday. For the time being though, many of us have settled in the mainland for one reason or another. We all however can agree with the comment, "Boy do I miss the islands!"

Have you ever had those days where you are so nostalgic for home, for the feeling of the islands? I know that I get them quiet often... too bad there's not much that I can do about it.

So this is where my question and plead for help comes along. My brother Raymond and I want to give the "mainland trapped locals" an opportunity to stay better connected to home. We want to start a blog that talks about local life, allows you to reminisce on the hanabada days (only the true locals will know what that means :P ), and allows you to feel better connected to the aloha spirit. I have a few questions:

1. What would you want to read on a blog like that?
2. What would keep you coming back on a weekly basis?
3. Would you be willing to contribute?
4. Basically, I want to know your ideas....

We all love those times when we can get together with a group of locals. We want to be able to create that online.

If you'd like to respond (and I hope you all would), send your responses to my email at:

kevinkwunder@gmail.com

I hope to hear from you soon. Send this link to your friends, we want to hear their feedback too, and keep your eyes out for the blog.

Mahalo nui loa,
Kev

Back tracking to New York...

So I just realized that we didn't have a post to finish our time in New York.....so here goes. Our time in New York was pretty amazing. We both feel that we were so lucky and so blessed to have been able to spend the summer in such an amazing experience. We both feel that we learned a lot about life, and grew in appreciation for the people that live around us. Cea wasFor me, it was a great learning experience. I was able to learn so much being at Lowe and will walk away from my internship with a much better understanding about the advertising industry, and a much better understanding of my strengths and weaknesses. I was able to work with some pretty amazing people. This is almost the entire internship group. These were the people that had to put up with me practically everyday this summer. Two are missing (sorry Gillian and Ian) from this picture. It was a very diverse group, we all came from different schools and various parts of the the country, we all came from very different backgrounds and were all studying various different things in school. We all learned a lot from each other and had a great time.....if any of the interns are reading this post...I miss ya!The highlight of our last week in New York, was that Mom and Dad Wunder were able to come up and visit. Neither had been to New York, so we were able to take them around the city and have fun playing tourists. It was good to spend time with Mom and Dad. We spent a lot of time seeing the sites, trying to track down fabric stores for Mom (she was surprised at the prices and types of fabric stores that New York had to offer), and especially playing Settlers of Catan. If you haven't played it yet, it's probably good because it's an extremely addicting game. It was fun to play tourist. We caught a show (Little Mermaid...which by the way is AWESOME), cruised around Central Park, went to the World Trade Center (and got poured on...what a day), ate a lot of Pizza, saw Time's Square, and of course my personal favorite....people watched.

One of the highlights of the trip was that we were able to go to Palmyra (Northern New York). For those of you who aren't members of the LDS Church, Palmyra is very significant in the history of our church. There were many significant events that occurred in Palmyra in the establishment of our faith.

This picture was taken on top of the Hill Cumorah. As you can see in the background....Northern New York is a beautiful place, and there is so much scenery. We loved the drive and loved the sites. Palmyra is a very quaint town and is very peaceful. It was a good way to unwind after a very busy summer in the city.

There are numerous other pictures that we took in Palmyra and with Mom and Dad. I'm going to be uploading those to our Picasa site, so please feel free to look at more pictures there.

Needless to say...New York was a great experience. If you haven't been there...you have to go. The experience of the city, the diversity of the people, and the passion for life that people have there are all amazing things that you can only experience and never fully explain.