WBW/TftB - Rooms with a View

The Theme from the Bottom this week is "Room with a View", and it's all photos that are taken through windows. I decided to tie this into this week's WBW, and also to challenge you all to post a blog entry with a view from a window in your house! I'd LOVE to see what all of you see when you look outside (of your kitchen, for instance.) I know that Steph should have some awesome window photos :)

While compiling this post, I realized that I took a photo from a hotel room window on almost EVERY single trip I went on during my traveling days. Here are a select few.

Trinidad - view from the Hyatt.
Stockholm - view from the Grand Hotel
Puerto Rico - view from Rio Mar
St. Lucia - view from Royal St. Lucian
New Orleans - view from Windsor Court
Carmel - view from Bernardus Lodge
London - view from One Aldwych
London - view from the Athenaeum
Key West - view from Beachside
Hawaii - view from Kona Village
Copenhagen - view from Sankt Petri

scenes from the circus

thirty-five. three.six.five

In which, I can be spontaneous.

I struggle, in general, with being antisocial. It's not that I'm antisocial, so much, as that I really enjoy my own company. And that of my husband and family. "Bored" is not a word in my vocabulary. There is ALWAYS something that I can be doing. ALWAYS. So I love being in my little home in the woods. Because it is a relaxing retreat, in and of itself. My favorite place to be (especially my bath tub.) It's hard to get motivated to leave my comfortable little bubble.

I think that my "homebodiness" stems from the fact that I was raised on a farm, where we were forced to create our own entertainment. And that's why I appreciate my friends who understand and nurture and support this side of me.

No pressure, no guilt, just "I'll see ya when I see ya."

So when Liz called me and asked me to help her pick out a new pair of frames, I said "YES!" And it was fun.

And, when the frame-pickerse had finished, and she said, "Let's go get a beverage!" I replied, "Can it be alcoholic?" And thus, happy hour and snacks ensued at a great little place called Park Side, where we snacked on pita chips with goat cheese and edamame dip and talked about art and life, and all sorts of easy, interesting things.


So, hooray me, for being spontaneous and social this afternoon. It was wonderful. And I loved every minute of it. Thank you, Liz :)

Spending Time with Princess T

For more photographs of Brooke & Taylor, visit my facebook fan page: Young South Photography and "like" me :)

WBW - New Mexico Skies

It's the dead of winter. And a lot of us are cold. When I think back to a moment when my heart was at it's warmest, my mind immediately travels back to New Mexico. To the Ghost Ranch, in particular. I learned a lot about myself there. Sometimes, I need to think about my time in that place to keep me going. To remind me of the friends I made, the self I connected with, and the enlightenment I felt surrounded by this landscape. Part of my heart belongs in the desert.

32/365 - getting fit

Granddaddy's new iPad-compatible recumbent bike was delivered to his house today. I am so jealous. It is amazing. It is pure exercising luxuriousness. Here he is doing his best Lance Armstrong impersonation.
Dirk and I have been trying really hard the past few weeks to eat better, and my hard work paid off when I stepped on the wii fit scale this morning. Wearing scrubs 40+ hours a week has it's downside. Lately, on weekends, when I put my jeans on, they're WAY too snug for my liking. So yeah, we're working on it. My goal has been set. And it's totally reasonable. Wish us all luck!

many fun things

Brooke & Taylor came to visit us last weekend. Friday night, we had my aunt, uncle, and cousins over for dinner and Jane brought these amazing cupcakes. Yes. They are from dreamcakes bakery. Hm. Hm. Hm.

I am still trying to find time to edit all the photos I took over the weekend, still haven't even TOUCHED one shoot in particular, so you can be expecting more adorable photos like this in a few days:

Two favorites from Saturday mornings impromptu shoot:


And then we loaded up and went to the cirucs! Yes! The Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey circus was in town and it was fantastic! This is, literally, the only photo I've edited out of the hundred I took (I'm so glad I smuggled my camera and telephoto lens in in Brooke's diaper bag.)

Leyna chose this week's theme: angles. Here's my best angle shot. I laid myself down on the ground to get some photos and Taylor plopped down on my hiney. She thought it was hilarious to use my booty as a chair. So I angled the camera over my shoulder and got this photo:
We've also been challenging each other to explore and play with sunflare photos. Here are my two best attempts:


So, thanks to Mel, I am attempting a 365 photo project, wherein, I take and share one photo per day. All of these photos will live in the 365 set on my flickr stream, and I may or may not be sharing them here, depending on how the day goes. Yesterday was a crappy day at work, just really really busy and kind of coming off a wonderful weekend with my niece and sister and family just kind of made me a little sad. Oh, and my husband has a cough and is the most pitiful creature in the whole wide world when he's not feeling well. But then I got home, and there was a bunch of crap on the kitchen island and it looked like Dirk had raided some random person's pantry. Oh, no. Our belated Christmas present from his grandmother arrived. And it seems as if she raided her own pantry in order to find "gifts" for us. A collection of hot sauces, spices, and this photo has a few of my favorite items:

I had no idea they even MADE White Rain shampoo and conditioner anymore?! She couldn't have sprung for the Suave?! And a can of Jalapenos?! Dirk said, "What about this can of Jalapenos says 'this would make a nice Christmas present for my grandson?'" I told Dirk that his grandmother is turning into the aunt from Christmas Vacation and that we'd better be careful or next January we'll receive her cat that was wrapped pre-Christmas or a green Jello Mold.