good days are ahead!

So, remember when I posted that things were looking up? Well, they just continue to get better and better. I had posted about Mary-Nevin, another recently engaged, bride-to-be, and how she was having a giveaway. And, I won! I have to say, she inspired me to get my butt moving on this wedding planning thing, she's already got her dress and dates picked on two different continents!

I felt like a slacker until yesterday! Andy and I went and looked at a couple of places in the Poconos (the area of PA where we met). My sister, my matron of honor, met us and helped ask the difficult questions that I've barely thought of. She put together her awesome wedding day just two years ago (seems like just yesterday).

So, after just a day and two places, we have a tentative hold on a place for August 18, 2012! There are a couple of key logistics to see if they can make it happen and I want to check it out one more time with Andy and my mom on Friday, so we could have an official date soon! So I'll keep you in suspense until then! :)

But back to the giveaway, I have already starting thinking about decorations (let's be honest, I've been on etsy for a couple of years picking some favorites...), and I found a wedding cake topper on Amazon YESTERDAY that I think is perfect for Andy and I. A brown haired guy and a blond haired girl, hiking together, with a "Happy Trails" flag? What could be more perfect!?  Thanks Mary-Nevin! (check out her blog, Serenity and Style!)

Hope wherever you are that you're having as beautiful day as here in PA! (which is a perfectly intermediary crisp, warm, fall day where the leaves are poppin'!)

hey life, can you wait a minute?

things have been super super busy for me over the past few weeks.

i'm finally over my sinus infection (it took over 3 weeks). we had some rain, which means i had some field work for work, which was fun, just exhausting. nice that i didn't have to drive all the way to the office, not nice that i had to collect samples in the rain, but i at least got to wear my knee boots. my field locations for this project are only about a half hour from my house, rather than the hour that my office is. things are picking up for the season work-wise, other field work (in-kayak surveys of the canal), events, etc. work is just crazy. 


in life, we headed up to the river for a weekend of swiftwater rescue a couple of weeks ago. the river was high, but we went out on patrol with a park ranger in a power boat (which i got to drive, which was CRAAAAZY). luckily, we didn't have to rescue anyone, even though it looked a little hairy at times. we stayed at a super sketchy cabin (which was free, i guess why it was sketchy). i consider myself a girl that can rough it. if it hadn't been pouring, i would have rather pitched a tent than stay in the cabin. made me miss the counselor cabins from my summer camp days...


andy just sent me an article that someone drowned this past weekend in our river that we've joined the patrol for (in a section that we would patrol). He wasn't wearing a life jacket. pretty scary to think about it. 95% of the people that have drowned in that section of the river in the past 31 years were not wearing a life jacket. The others? not wearing their life jackets correctly.


anyway, i volunteered for andy at work yesterday, and we've been out fishing a couple times. other than that i feel like i've been in a blogging slump... my life doesn't seem nearly interesting enough to even write about, especially since i feel like my days off are taken over by laundry and cleaning the house. 


hopefully i'll have something interesting for you, and some pictures! soon!

busy busy busy

life has been busy. it's getting to be my busy season at work (field season and event season all coincide...), and luckily it looks like i'll have some days off with andy this year (every sunday in april! yay!), so we'll be doing more and more things together, which cuts into my bloggy time. but i hope you can all understand.

we just got back from a weekend with his family where he was working, i was volunteering. we were responsible for a fish frying station, and so we and our clothes smelled like fish sticks. it was gross (i don't like the smell of fish... bleh!). 

we went for a 6 mile walk with his parents on sunday, and then drove back home yesterday. it was warm and sunny when we got back, so we decided to go on another 6 mile walk at a park by us (i think my legs hate me).  

but now it's back to work, and i've got a lot on my plate, so i hope you don't miss me too much since i won't get to visit the blogosphere as much!

hope all is well with you!

a fresh start.

it's time for a fresh start. i can't promise where this blog will take me,  but i hope you enjoy the ride. [and thanks for following me here, if you came from my old blog]

for now, i think i'll start with photography. as we gear up for spring, i can't wait to get my camera out there and take some photos. as someone who prides herself in not editing her photos, i am really liking some of these photoshop actions (Totally Rad, Pioneer Woman, etc). Perhaps this blog will take you through my life in pictures (that would be okay, wouldn't it?). I don't know if I can commit to a 365, but I'll try to do as much as I can :)

and i promise this won't be all about photography.


Here's a sample of what I've been experimenting with...

SOOC (straight out of the camera):

 with a little love from some Ps actions... here's what we have at the end.

(Boutwell Magic Glasses from Totally Rad Actions, and

Warmer and Boost from the Pioneer Woman ) 
 [ps: i haven't paid a single dime for these actions. Pioneer Woman's are free, and you can get a sample from TRA]

when i compare them, maybe it's a little too much, but it looks pretty nice, eh? It was a gray, cloudy day, and now it almost looks sunny! I'm still undecided about the editing in general, but it sure makes my pictures look better. 

What do you think? To edit, or not to edit?