a daisy in the life: photography

Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Longwood Gardens

When Andy and I arrived back from our honeymoon, we remembered that we've been talking about taking a trip to Longwood Gardens. We've been seeing advertisements for a new display called Light--you walk the grounds at night where they have these displays of light set up - 2 liter soda bottles with fiber optics, glass spheres with fiber optics, etc. We just needed to see it in person.

We were running out of time to see it, between our upcoming schedules, and the ending of the display. So, we decided on Thursday that we would go on Saturday of Labor Day weekend. We booked a hotel room and tickets for the Fireworks and Fountains Show as well that would be happening on Saturday. We walked what felt like only a quarter of the grounds, saw the fireworks show and walked the Light display. It was AWESOME.

On pinterest, I had seen a great bridal shower/wedding present idea--give the couple a year's worth of dates--one for each month of the first year of the marriage. Now, that wasn't something we received, but I thought it was a cool idea--at least one date (something other than just going out to eat) each month. This was our September date, and it was PERFECT.

It felt good to flex my camera a little bit too--I took all of the fireworks shots on manual (shutter priority, manual focus). My pictures do not do any of it justice, but enjoy!

Saturday, December 31, 2011

so long 2011, hello 2012!

2011 was by far dominated by ups and downs. i started off the new years with andy's family out in northwestern PA, while my parents packed up the home they had lived in for my whole life and moved to texas. andy and i had started looking at houses in late 2010, and we spent all of 2011 continuing to live in our rented 1890s farmhouse.

we had some adventures:

Texas (San Antonio & Houston)


Promised Land State Park (PA)

lots of kayaking

river safety patrol

Madison, Wisconsin

Siesta Key, Florida

We reached some milestones:


100,000 miles on the Echo.

and a car with 7 miles on it.

We had some setbacks:

my poor echo

a basement full of water

We spent some time with family and lost some family.

I took up a new form of exercise (hot yoga!!).

I had some major work projects come together, ones that i put together all on my own and saw them through to completion. [hey, maybe a promotion in 2012?]

and of course, the most exciting news of all- we got engaged!

maybe you can't tell it from my face, but at this point, i'm still in disbelief.

the last two months of 2011 flew past as we set a wedding date, picked a place for the ceremony/reception, booked a band, ceremony musicians, a photographer, and i bought the dress!

we spent thanksgiving with andy's family, and christmas with my family (almost all of them!)


just the grandkids (mom's side)

dad's side (minus 3)

earthquake, hurricanes, snowstorms in october... all in all, i'd have to say 2012 was good, even with the pretty rough patch in the middle there. hopefully 2012 will be good all around. i have a feeling that august 18, 2012 will be an especially good day! :)

happy new years!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

a little of this, a little of that

in case you're wondering where i ran off to, it was here:

my home away from home, my parent's other home, in florida. pretty much one of the most awesome places on earth. we had perfect weather (low 80s and plentiful/abundant/radiant/etc sunshine--according to weather reports, every day).

andy and i spent 8 days down there, my mom was there the whole time, my dad there for a couple of days. we got to see my great aunt & uncle who are snow birds down there, and some awesome family friends. i enjoyed some delicious margaritas at various places (airplane margaritas are NOT recommended), while seated outside enjoying the summery atmosphere, even in November.

we got to see some awesome sunsets, like this one:

we nearly missed this one, but it was awesome that we caught it! (the huts are the lifeguard houses at our beach, the most awesome beach in the world, well, at least the US. yes, it's ranked the #1 beach in the America this year.)

we visited the sarasota chalk festival (and got to see some 3D chalk drawings)

terracotta army in legos!

viewing the above drawing from the opposite corner.

that's us. in this sea turtle-VW beetle-barrel full of something.

spent some time by the pool, on the beach, at the aquarium, at the botanical gardens, on our friend's boat, watched andy go fishing (see below), ate a bazillion calories worth of food at Ruth's Chris to celebrate our engagement with my parents (which was all so worth it), you know. vacation.

and in the midst of all of that, we got some tough news on the wedding planning front: our band backed out. they were supposed to be sending us the contract the next day (as they had confirmed availability nearly 2 weeks beforehand), and whatever. just really tough, because now we're 9 months out, and the good bands are already booked because people have longer engagements now and have been planning their wedding for 6 months already.

anyway, sorry for my rant. but the good news is, is that i feel more in love with andy than ever. i just can't wait to be married to him. it's a good thing we're not waiting until 2013. and there was something i saw on Pinterest (omg, just got introduced to this and it's AWESOME)--and my re-pin failed... but it was something to the effect of: a wedding isn't a performance, things may not go as planned, but as long as when the day ends you're married to the one you love, it was a success. and i'm going to try to really tell myself that over and over again. so if you see it on Pinterest, let me know. because i want it. thanks.

hope all is well!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

#14 Big Pocono State Park

Our plans for this weekend kept changing. We had planned to spend the weekend with the safety patrol, but changed our minds with the horrible thunderstorm rolling in Friday afternoon/evening. We did not feel like driving 3 hours, setting a tent up in a thunderstorm, and enduring a night of pouring rain (again) to find out the river would be higher than we would have liked.

So, we stayed home Friday night and planned for our alternate weekend--knocking some more PA State Parks off our list. To make a long story short, our alternate weekend plan changed since it didn't rain up river, so we decided to stop at a new State Park on Saturday on the way up and go on river patrol on Sunday.

Big Pocono State Park didn't require a full day because it's main attraction is the view. You're on top of Camelback Mountain (yes, of the famed Camelback Ski Area & CamelBeach)--which interestingly enough, the facilities of Big Pocono are maintained by the Camelback company. Who knew that was possible?

The pictures don't do it justice. It was beautiful. We could see for miles -- even all the way to the Delaware Water Gap. Andy likes how the clouds shade the world below. It definitely makes you feel so small!

view!

the Delaware Water Gap from Camelback Mountain

We then went on a 2.5 mile hike, looked at some more vistas and ate some wild blueberries. It was a good choice for the amount of time we had and where we were headed. We did pass by (within 5 miles!) of two other state parks. I was tempted, but knew we didn't have the time.

mmm. wild blueberries!

hope you had a good weekend!

Friday, July 8, 2011

#13 Promised Land State Park

It's been almost a YEAR since we added a new PA State Park to our list. I know, ridiculous. We really like camping on the 4th of July weekend, and it gives us a good excuse to check out a new park each year.

We had chosen #13 as Promised Land SP (Greentown, PA, in the Poconos) as we had planned to camp with two other couples. We wanted to visit a park that was close to the other couples and that had activities that everybody would enjoy: hiking, boating, fishing. Well, the plan fizzled out (partially over the course of the weekend, due to work commitments and illness). So Andy and I camped on our own.

there's our ~~spaceship~~ tent!

On Friday, we set up, got organized, and drove around the park to check out the different areas (day use beach, boat launches, trailheads, etc). It's a big park, so there was a lot to see just by car!

On Saturday, we went for a 3-4 mile hike in the AM. The first part was a mountain bike/hiking trail, and was VERY muddy. The next section of the hike was a horse/hiking trail (watch out for road apples!), which apparently is not used very often. We were essentially bushwhacking through trees, shrubs, ferns, and the occasional raspberry bush (read: thorns). There were a couple small stream crossings (less than 5 feet across), and then we reached this:

We had to cross this stream--no bridge, nothing. Good thing we were wearing our Chacos! Once we crossed the stream here, we were in the home stretch, and going past the waterfalls! I had carried my DSLR & tripod for 3 miles in anticipation and hadn't take it out once. Unfortuantely, the light was not good, so I didn't get any good pictures. It was beautiful though!

We headed back to our site, had some lunch, and was near ready to pass out. We decided to head to the day use area and lay down under the sun for a bit. Andy wanted to go fishing, so that was going to push dinner later, so we stopped at the unofficial camp store and got some ice cream! We got out our kayaks and fishing poles, and headed to the Lower Lake (that was where our campground was too--there are nearly 500 camping sites at this park!). We weren't catching any fish, so we decided to just paddle around. Yay kayaks!

We had a late dinner and headed to bed. Andy woke me up at 4:30am saying a storm was coming in and we should pack some things up. So we did, went to the bathroom (modern facilities just a little walk away! the tent sites were a little too close for comfort for me to use the great outdoors), and put our camp chairs in the car, and put a garbage bag around the stove. On the way back from the bathroom, I realized it was officially my BIRTHDAY!

The storm hit at around 6am and was one of the most intense thunder/lightning/rain storms I have ever been in [it did rival some good storms from my time at summer camp where we turned the picnic tables over to act as barricades from the rain]. I couldn't sleep because the rain was deafening. About two hours later the rain stopped. It drizzled on and off, but not stopping for enough time for me to decide to take my pj pants off. It started pouring again around 10:30am = time for nap. When we woke up around 12noon, the rain had stopped, and most of the campers around us had packed up and left!

We were meeting my parents for dinner at 5:30, but decided we should get ready early and find something to do indoors (like shopping!). We knew one of our favorite Poconos camping stores (Alice's Wonderland) was semi-near the park, somewhat out of the way of where we were going for dinner, but well worth a trip.

Unfortunately Alice's closed 30 minutes after we got there. Still some time to peruse the store. Luckily my parents were arriving early, so we met up with them at the Apple Valley Restaurant in Milford, PA and did some shopping around there. We had a delicious meal, and several hours together to enjoy each other's company. [My dad kept saying that he traveled over 1500 miles to be with me on my birthday] I think they were just happy to see me.

We headed back to our campsite, and the sun was out (finally!), but I wasn't yet ready to take my camera out to the waterfalls for fear another storm would start up. Even though the light was perfect. We had eaten too much food, so Andy and I walked nearly the entire campground, scoping out the RVs, pop-ups, and ~~mansions~~ tents.

across from our tent site

On Monday morning, I woke Andy up early because I needed to get my waterfall pictures. I think it was worth it!

We packed up our stuff, said goodbye to our site and headed home. We had a lot of washing & drying of gear to do. I thought vacations were supposed to be restful? :)

Hope you had a fabulous 4th of July weekend!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

the horizon.

while i have very little right now to post about, as i feel my life is still consumed with just work, cleaning, being exhausted, etc, i have a few things on the horizon that i'm looking forward to sharing with you. i'm very excited that after this weekend, andy is off for the next FOUR weekends! which means we've got quality time planned together, even if it's with other people too.

so, stay tuned for things that involve family, kayaks, tents, pa state parks, friends, more family, and hopefully lots of use of my camera (since it's been hiding for a while...) so stay tuned!

i did take my camera out yesterday at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, and managed to capture this "angry bird!"

tree swallow baby looking for some food!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

5 years ago: the story of us.

5 years ago today, i met the love of my life. i've decided to share with you the story of how we met:

i was studying abroad in the spring of 2006. i had tried desperately to get an job lined up for the summer prior to departing for ecuador, and even arranged for an interview at the place that sparked my interest in the outdoors. the short version: lack of communication on their part and other things falling through and then it was the end of April and i had no job for my return to the US in mid-May.

my mom and i began a frantic internet search for job opportunities. i emailed several places, most of which didn't respond, one of which offered me a job for summer '07 (which i ended out taking), and one who responded right away. the one who responded right away is where i ended up.

andy's side of things: andy was required to complete two internships as part of his bachelor's degree in environmental ed. his cousin had worked at this environmental ed center years ago and recommended it. andy didn't have any other ideas lined up, so he went with this option.

training started while i was still abroad, so i was late coming in. most everyone else arrived on saturday or sunday with training starting on monday. i was just returning to the US after 4.5 months on sunday, so i shipped out on wednesday morning.

i joined the group (andy and the other 2 interns) who was learning how to teach "canoeing" classes. i had extensive experience with teaching canoeing and andy had extensive boating classes during his associate's degree program, so when our boss began asking us questions, andy and i were the only two answering the questions. (i thought he was 16 when i first saw him. he was actually 21).

it must have been fate. it's possible we could have never met, or our paths could have crossed (the original job i interviewed for that year would have put me within the same park boundaries as the env. ed center, and i could have gone through team building training with andy).

i'm so happy that things worked out for us, even though i fought the idea of us being a couple. i had just come out of a rough break-up (from a long-distance relationship), and i knew that andy and i would be long distance once the summer finished. but for some reason, i just couldn't let him go. and 5 years later, here we are :)

here are some photos to take you down the memory lane of us.

(if you read my previous blog, many of these are the same, but they just represent us so well!)

(something i just noticed, the progression of andy's hair!)

2006