A spring hike with Sierra.

A few weeks ago I went for a picnic and a hike with my friend Sierra and her pup. It was a sunny and warm spring day, perfect for spending some time out of doors, tramping through the valley and woods of the Kickapoo Valley Reserve.

Downtown La Crosse

This past Saturday I met up with my friend Katy - you'll recognize her from a couple of previous posts. She's someone who I've come to enjoy having photo adventures with, all of which have been unplanned and pretty spontaneous. We enjoyed a patio lunch at 4 Sisters, right along the river, and then headed downtown to see what we could see. We walked up and down streets and in between buildings, capturing images of things that caught our eye.

Wandering about in a marsh.

A few weeks ago I went to visit my friend Katy. It was a beautiful, sunny Saturday, and enjoying it was an absolute must! We drove along the Mississippi and wandered about the marshes along the road to capture a few images. I had brought my little Sony with me (although the sun made the screen impossible to see), and the shot of the weeds in my hand was taken with that. The rest of the photos I snapped on Katy's Canon.

Small towns with cool old buildings

Yesterday I took some photos with some lovely young ladies. We Walked about a local, small town and found some cool old buildings to use as backdrops. It's supposedly spring now, but the wind was breathtakingly cold and we all had fairly frozen feet after an hour of being outside. I'm holding onto hope that soon the chill in the air will be gone and bits of green will be popping up everywhere.

Here are my favorite shots...

This is the year for making dreams and goals happen...

I am now the proud owner of my very first full frame camera! I can't even begin to say how amazing it is to go from shooting an extremely old Nikon D80 to a Nikon D610! The ability to take photos in low-light… the focus… pretty much EVERYTHING is a huge improvement and I'm SO excited to now have a quality camera to learn and capture images with.
This morning I had plans to sleep in, but my internal alarm clock thought differently. 6:30 came and I was wide awake. I laid in bed for a bit, slowly letting my eyes and mind clear of sleepiness, and then I noticed through the crack of the bedroom door traces of pink and purple on the horizon line. By this time it was 7am, and I headed outside with my camera to capture some moments of the sun rising…

























Last night I went to visit my friend Beth who recently returned from adventures in Costa Rica. We talked, cooked, and laughed a lot. These are just a few snapshots from the evening.












The Marilyn Monroe picture was painted by Beth. She's fantastic!

Julia

Julia is a very good friend of mine, and a fantastic hair stylist/makeup artist. For a long time we've talked about doing a shoot together. We finally decided to make it happen! We knew that we wanted to have a bit of an edgy look, so we pulled some pieces from her closet for her two outfits, and then decided on how she should do her hair and makeup. The fur coat was a last minute decision, but one that we both ended up LOVING! - thanks for lending it, Jenny! As for location, most of these were either shot in the warehouse district of Minneapolis, or by an abandoned granary (or something??) that we happened to stumble upon.

I've loved fashion for as long as I can remember. As a young girl and then throughout my teen years, my mom and I would sit and page through the latest issue of Vogue, and I would soak up the pictures with eyes, wanting to recreate what I was seeing. This was the first chance I've had to do a shoot like this, and I'm very pleased with the outcome of my first attempt. I'm also pretty terrible at telling people how to stand and pose, so this gave me some practice to do that too. I've been trying to figure out what exactly I want to do with my photography, and I'm still not completely certain, but I think I'm taking a step in the right direction. :)































































Coffee break and a chance to warm up for a bit! It was 20 degrees and a little too breezy.













































Thanks again, sweet Julia for being such a BEAST out there in the cold, and totally owning this shoot!
Looking forward to us working our magic together again in the future. ;)

Les chats noir.

Meet Jazz and Sasha. Two cool cats.

Hiver dans mes os.

Winter In My Bones

I want to crawl back into my summer skin.

But the nights are too cold.

And the days sun filled, but beaten & defeated by wind wild.
My bones ache for that warmth
And that birth of new life, or maybe just life fallen asleep to wake.

Spring… is it time?

Is it time yet to wake?



Quick breaths, lungs filling with ice.

Fingertips barely felt.
But my heart continues to pound in my frozen chest.
Soon, I know the seasons will change
In more ways than one.

Soon a great wake will begin.

Impatiently I wait.






I write poems. Not too many people know that.
Winter In My Bones I began last night and then finished tonight - it's a little bit of a different style than what I've previously written.
I think I'd like to post more here.

w a k e. u p. s l o w.

I love mornings.
I love that initial feeling of coming out, almost from an entirely different world. I love having a fresh, makeup-less face, and hair a bit wild (and not caring at all). I tend to snuggle a little deeper under the covers as I slowly realize there is an entire new day ahead of me. Most of all, I l o v e morning light.
This morning I woke up to an eastern window that was allowing little bits of that life-igniting, bright and warm sunshine to poor in through the cracks of the shades. And then the day commences…




I spent today with the kids that I nanny. It was a pretty easy-going day - two of the four munchkins were sick.
This evening I roasted some potatoes in the oven with coconut oil, fresh garlic, rosemary, and salt. One of the simplest things to make, but OH so delightful to the tastebuds!

It's still early, but I can already feel sleepiness overcoming me.

Slow mornings and cinnamon rolls.

The first month of the new year is through, and I can hardly believe it. February 1st comes with a bone-seeping cold and a powdery snowfall. I've been enjoying the Kings of Convenience Pandora station, and letting my mind wander from thought to thought. 2014 holds big plans and big changes for me. I've been realizing lately that things don't stay the same forever, whether good or bad. I already knew this, but never fully understood. There is only One who is constant, and He has been my rock throughout all of life. I'm embracing the newness ahead of me, and am more than a little excited for what the next months hold.

I decided last night that I was going to make cinnamon rolls for breakfast. But not only was I going to make something tasty to eat and savor for a few minutes at the table, I decided I was going to enjoy the process and try to capture moments of it with my camera. Both of my parents passed on to me their love of baking and cooking, and for that I am thankful. God is the great Creator, and us being made in His image, I believe that love of creating (whether food, music, art, etc…) has been instilled in each of us, in various beautiful forms. So here are a few of the easily forgotten moments I captured in the midst of creating a tasty something.




All ready to go into the oven.



The makings of frosting.





Fresh out of the oven!



The frosting has been drizzled, and the pecan pieces sprinkled on top.









Perfect.