sunflower weather

The weather right now is fantastic. The cold front has cooled it down just enough that the mornings are a tad chilly but the afternoon is perfect. Apparently I am not the only one who thinks this.

This is Susan. Susan is my friend Eva's sunflower and she has chosen this weather to bloom.

The bees also appreciate the weather and buzz by lazily.
I wish the weather could stay this wonderful all the time. I also wish there were more sunflowers in my life.

some nights all I do is watch the stars

Tonight was a gorgeous night. Between the cold front and the new moon, I just *knew* the stars would be lovely. Tonight is the kind of night that 'nightbeaching' is made for.

'Nightbeaching' is the term I use to describe going to the beach at night. Specifically, nightbeaching encompassing sitting in the sand and staring at the stars for as long as possible, usually while I'm waiting for a shooting star to wish on.
I was mildly disappointed to note that the only shooting star of the night occurred while I was facing slightly to the left of where it passed. Doug managed to wish on the star and I'm pretty sure he wished for a telescope or a dedicated astrophotography setup for me.

And I did manage to capture a static star field, which is all I really wanted.

I also attempted to get some star trails but unfortunately, even with a new moon and the streetlights off for turtle nesting season, there was too much light pollution.


If you look carefully, you can see along the horizon the lights from Juno Beach. I never realized quite how bright the city lights are until I noticed the distinct orange glow. (I actually attempted to fix the overexposure that the light pollution caused. This is better. Can you imagine how orange my initial shot was? It made me sad.)

For as much as I love nightbeaching, I'd love to just be able to see the stars without any interfering light pollution. I once saw the Milky Way above me, like glitter spilled across the sky, and I wish I could see it again.

In the mean time, I enjoy laying on my back at the beach, staring at the stars. Paradise is only a ten minute drive from my dorm room.

a light at the end of the tunnel

I'm not sure if anyone else was curious as to why, shortly after announcing a sexy new lens found its way into my bag, I suddenly took a break from posting. I personally would assume that an individual in that situation would be shooting nonstop, followed by editing themselves into a coma but alas... I was writing an anthropology midterm instead.
The past few days have been spent at my desk in the pursuit of higher education. Everything has been dark, lit only by a finicky lamp that was dropped on location at a photo shoot. But now, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Oh, how I've missed sunshine.

At this point, I'm burnt out on words and feel that they're pretty superfluous anyway so enjoy a few sunny, cheerful shots to celebrate being thirteen pages closer to Thanksgiving.

21 and invincible, meet nifty fifty

Yesterday was my twenty-first birthday. Somehow, I don't feel all that different. Surprisingly, Marjorie [my camera] spent the evening in her bag so I don't have any pictures from my party.

Instead, I have pictures to share of what happens when I finally get my dream lens.

Basically, I hold people hostage to play with it.

Doug had the misfortune of having gorgeous eyes and being on the hammock during the afternoon golden hour.





I feel as though I should talk more about my birthday and being an adult or something but really, nothing had changed. Besides, I'm pretty excited about my nifty fifty and isn't that the only reason anyone reads this blog?

Preston always seems to steal the show

Early this morning I posted about Kat for her birthday and my post uh... made her cry. I swear I didn't mean it! But it's true: Kat is a gorgeous person, inside and out.

I figured since I showed you Miss Kat, I might as well show you Mr. Preston. He is absolutely precious, albeit gigantic. I'm pretty sure he spent a year in the womb because he's entirely too big and too smart to be so young. Feel free to guess how old he is. You most likely won't be able to.


Seriously, he's not even one and he's already trying to read. Several times last night, we found him with one of mommy's books.


He has the most squishable cheeks ever. Everyone wants to eat him up. And not only are his cheeks pinchable, he also has those chubby thighs that make everyone female within a half mile radius want to hold him.

Personally, my favorite thing about him are his eyes.

Aren't they gorgeous? If he looks me in the eye, I can't help but want to do anything/everything to protect and love him.

I don't have too many pictures of Derek [yet!] but the entire family is just so wonderful and I love to be around them. They make me all mushy and sentimental. Let's just say Kat and Derek made a precious little boy and a wonderful niche for all three of them to live in.

To the lovely dancing lights, I begged, "may I cut in?"

Yesterday was Kat's birthday. [I want to say 'today' because I haven't slept yet but it's no longer October 2nd.] I remember when she first found me on MySpace to tell me she saw me around campus and decided we should be best friends. A few months later, we moved in together and started making Odd Couple jokes. Yes, Kat is one of those people who cleans when she's stressed while my desk accumulates random paper. That is what makes us so great together. We are so alike in so many ways, yet we are just different enough to be able to carry on a conversation.

In honor of her twenty-third birthday, I brought her a balloon and told her I was giving her an impromptu photo shoot. I assume she was expecting it because she bought a new dress. Here are my three favorite shots from the night.

She looks absolutely gorgeous and I think anyone who knows her should go remind her. Usually, I see Miss Kat in comfortable clothes, playing on the floor with Mr. Preston. It's so nice to see her having a night off from being mommy to live up to her rock star potential.

Happy Birthday Kat! May you have many more and remember that you're still young, totally beautiful inside and out, and capable of everything.

great things come to those who...

First of all, I finally sat down and made a pretty blog header. I'm still fidgeting with making the header the right size but I like it. And I changed the blog's color scheme to match-ish.

My twenty-first birthday is coming up and as resident photo dork, my wish list was very camera and Photoshop intensive. I specifically asked for some amazing MCP Actions and true to form, my aunt ordered them and Jodi sent them out immediately. I am a huge fan of instant gratification so I already tried them out on old photos.

I also got the free trial Totally Rad actions because I was torn between getting those or MCP. They're pretty sweet but I think I made the right decision for my workflow. [Ha! I sound like a grown-up.]

I guess my stance is that great things come to those who are ready to receive them. I can't say I worked hard specifically to get them because really, I used a template for my header and the Photoshop actions did not cost me anything. But I worked kind of hard to be at the point where I am ready for such awesome things in my life.

And when my 'nifty fity' [50 mm, f/1.8] lens gets here, I am going to work my ass off to get some amazing shots for the blog. A girl's got to give back.


And just to reward anyone who read all these words, here is my favorite lens flare [so far]:

I initially was trying to catch raindrops dripping off the trees but the sun came out and... *boom!*