August 31st

Tomorrow is the first day of September. It's the month in which summer is dwindling and signs of fall are slowly beginning to creep out. This has been a busy and fun-filled summer, and I'm excited to let the autumn slowdown seep into my routine.
I took my camera out earlier this week and snapped a few pictures around my yard - just before the sun set. They really aren't anything special, but I've been dying to get out and shoot, so I did!

Summer Sunflowers

I've been in Nashville for over 6 weeks and I've been terrible about making time to go out and take pictures, experiment, and nurture my creativity (although I have been writing quite a bit). I've taken my DSLR out twice… TWICE! This needs to change. Tomorrow I move into my brand new H O M E, and I think once I settle in I should be able to start shooting again. These next few photos I took over the past week on my iPhone. I decided to be a little adventurous and overlaid a couple of the images in Photoshop.

Tori

Tori and I met through a mutual friend on Facebook this past winter. We were both in the process of planning our moves to Tennessee. Last night we finally got the chance to get together in person! Tori exudes an excitement for life and has an infectious, warm laugh that makes her glow. We went to a beautiful recreational area to talk, and I ended up capturing some images of this lovely lady.

Evenings in the backyard...

I'm staying with my friends Lori & Chris this month, just outside of Nashville. I have been enjoying my time here with them so very much! They are some of the most fun, kind, and loving people I know. Their backyard has become a favorite hangout spot for me. I sometimes spend my mornings there eating breakfast, or nights playing my ukulele. 4th of July weekend we set up some lights in the tree and enjoyed an evening of beer and conversation. I grabbed my camera and snapped these next few photos.




















My first 2 weeks in Tennessee have been filled great people, delicious food and drink, and adventure. The following is a little something I wrote while I was laying in bed this morning, slowly waking up…

Eyes wide. Wind blowing. Feet bare. Tongue tasting. Drink poured. Hips swaying. Heart wide open. Music playing.

So much goodness. So much newness.
I'm navigating streets and exploring the hearts and minds of people.

I've never been so happy to be so terrified.

Anna's Retro Shoot

There have been quite a few big things going on in my life lately - I'm getting ready to move to Nashville, friends and family are getting married, I'm enjoying my last few weeks at the radio station, and currently I am staying with the kids I've nannied for the past 3 years. Busy days! But FINALLY - I am so very happy to share with you some of my favorite shots from a fifties inspired photo shoot I did at the beginning of May, featuring my fabulously stylish friend, Anna! The lovely Julia (see first photo) was in charge of hair and makeup. We had a fantastic time hanging out and putting together this look!
The dress, gloves (only in a few shots), and earrings (which are technically 80's) Anna and I found at a local vintage shop called Wildwoman's.

You can view all of the photos on my Flickr.

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!