portrait inspiration

where and who do you draw your inspirations from?

i have been following kamee  for almost 2 years now . . . love her style!

 i even took this incredible workshop with her last march in arizona. not only is she a great photographer but a great teacher as well. yesterday on her blog she encourage those to take some portraits for ourselves . . . here's mine.

thanks kam for the inspiration. cannot wait to see what you are going to do with this. 

guess who is coming to town . . . ?

my daughter and her husband will be coming to visit in a couple of weeks. cannot wait to see them!

this past summer we went to visit them . . . we ate from their garden 

 . . . had fresh eggs from their chickens . . .

 . . . but best of ALL got to visit with my grandson . . . 

so excited to see you guys again . . .

sweet and sassy

i know that i have said this one before, but being a grandma or "amma" as i am called by my grand-daughter is about the best thing in the world.

today we went out to document another year . . . four years old! i cannot believe how the time just flies.

i wanted to take evalyn to this "old-time" park . . . the one that i remember as a small kid. a park that had concrete barrels, and concrete blocks with the alphabet craved out of them. i notice last year when i was driving around that this particular park still had them . . . i made a mental note thinking that this would be a great place for a photo shoot with kids . . . 

well, over the summer they must have replaced all the old playground equipment with NEW! much to my surprise . . .  needless to say i was probably the one that was disappointed, not evalyn.

we had a blast  . . . playing . . . going out for lunch . . . spending time with each other.

"amma" loves you so very much and thank you for making it a very

happy tuesday!

on top of a mountain . . . wedding day bliss

i have some catching up to do with my photos from my vacation . . . 

on thursday, august 19th, 2010 . . . tim and i finally arrived to colorado. i love colorado. you know how sometimes we are just drawn to certain areas . . . for some it might be hawaii, paris, or maine, but for me it just happens to be colorado.

i love the mountains . . . there is something about them that i want to know more about . . . they intrigue me, their vastness, how they were formed, and yes how old are the really?

well . . .  my nephew was getting married on friday . . . 

what a beautiful setting for a wedding . . . the were married at sapphire pointe breckenridge, colorado. did i mention how lovely the day was?

the weather was absolutely gorgeous . . . not a cloud in the sky . . . perfect temperature (of course . . . you are on top of a mountain.)

their reception was held at a great place as well . . . food was great and the atmosphere awesome.

dan and jenn congratulations. thanks for letting us share in this special occasion. 

overlooking where the ceremony took place . . .

some pre-wedding photos . . .

the ceremony . . .

dan and jenn . . .

again . . . best of wishes to you both as you begin a life together. love you guys!

on the road again . . .

i will be posting my vacation soon. stay tuned . . .

the big adventure . . .

this has been a dream of mine . .  . to travel the great rocky mountains and camp along the way . . .

a dream that i have had since my first trip to colorado when i was 12.

i love the mountains and everything out west . . .  cowboy hats, boots, rodeos . . .

hiking, skiing, just to name a few.

but this dream never happened in my 20's because i went to school

never happened in my 30's because i was raising a family

never happened in my 40's because i was busy working . . . 

fast forward . . .  in my 50's it's finally going to happen.

my nephew is getting married today in silverthrone, colorado overlooking the mountains. WOW is all i can say . . . 

so i purposed this idea to my husband . . . why don't we go to the wedding and then afterwards go camping to see the west . . . he jumped at the opportunity.

you see for him, he has never seen the beauty of the rocky mountains . . . 

we then put forth our best ideas . . . he being the engineer . . . had a plan . . . to create a space where we could live out of our pick-up truck for the next ten days . . . yep . . . that's what i said . . . 

so here is what he built . . . 

platform over the wheel wells

bed from camper to sleep (noticed the small touches of the comforts of "home")

trip begins . . .

day one of the trip

this horse provided much laughter along the way . . . as each time a car would pass he had to look out of his trailer to check out the car . . . (this photo was taken going 70 mph)

first stop for dinner was in Iowa City . . . college town . . . ate at the atlas (found by using the iphone and the urban spoon application)

the food was fantastic!

appetizer

husbands meal

my meal

that evening we stopped and "boone-docked" at the local Cracker Barrel Restaurant 

learned a few things doing this:

don't park by the flag pole

make sure you are not close to any sprinklers

close to a bathroom facility

don't park at a restaurant that opens early in the morning . . . 

learned that the state of nebraska is very long . . .  did i mention long . . .

we have always stopped off the beaten path for vacations so why stop now . . . 

took a look at the first pony express . . . 

then drove to wild bill cody's museum, 

and then to his house that was built for only 3600.00 in the early 1900's

sorry photography was not allowed inside the house . . . but i so enjoyed seeing many of the treasures that were inside . . .

i was allowed to take photos of the hours stable and grounds . .  . including the buffalo.

for lunch stopped in paxton, nebraska to eat at the famous "ole"s restaurant. not as good as our first dinner from the atlas. however, the place was established in 1936. a rich businessman went on various "hunts". with his kills he then had them stuffed and put in the restaurant . . . very interesting.

more later . . .