Traveling

I absolutely Love to Travel! As a kid I would get so excited for vacations. But when did I get that international travel bug? It all started with a 2.5 week trip to Ireland! It was amazing! I loved Ireland so much and really didn't want to leave (esp to go back to Florida). But then I wanted more! So about a year after Dave and I were married we made the trek to Italy for 2.5 weeks! OMG....seriously amazing. I loved every minute of it again. Since then we have been on 3 other big international vacations. As soon as I get back I'm already thinking about where to next. It seems that as we go to some countries I tend to add more to the list!

International traveling is so much fun to me. I love experiencing their cultures and seeing how people live. In some ways even getting back to the basics...things we have but they don't.

It's been about 6 months since we returned from Thailand and I am really itching for that next vacation. I've been almost obsessed this week with looking into vacations. I am so ready to hop on a plane and take of to the next wonderful international location!

New Army Pass

Was still snowed in as of June 27th! Dave and I had planned to hike to the top of New Army Pass. But after hearing reports of the last switchback being snowed in, Dave decided to stay at High Lake while I continued up. As I got almost to the top, I realized I just wasn't getting passed that snow. Everyone was climbing up rocks to get to the top. Now some people had to get over...since they were backpacking...but I was just out for a nice day hike, so I decided I didn't need to be that adventurous and turned around. The total hike for the day (according to my GPS) was 14.66 miles. Not bad. We will be backpacking in 2 weeks. I so can't wait to campout in the middle of nowhere!!! Dave did great with this hike, averaging over 2 miles an hour.

I really love the sierras...they are just so amazing. Now this is the part where I would normally share some photos since I hike with my XT...but guess what...I left all my memory cards sitting on the computer desk! So I have absolutely no photos. I was quite bummed. But there will be more hikes later in the year.

The campground was interesting...lots of mosquitos at around 6pm - 8pm..and we forgot the bug spray. We camped at 10,000 feet...so it was quite cold at night. We lived by the campfire once teh sun started to go down.

Miscellaneous Update

I haven't posted very much lately…not to much going on cause I've been doing lots of photography the last few weeks.

But this weekend we are heading up into the moutains for some camping and hiking. I can't wait to hit the trail! It's been since last October.

I did get my new road bike so I'm going to start training for duathalons and trathalons. I ran 7 miles on Saturday and did a short ride on Sunday. The bike is awesome!!!

Our garage is a ton better thanks to Dave…more stuff gets hauled away today then its time to morve onto organziation.

I've been very good at completing my Tuesday and Thursday morning runs.

On July 4th were going to go see the Orioles play the Angels in Anaheim..so we will be watching the firewords at the stadium.

I hung up some large photos updstairs from Thailand and they look great…so vibrant! Now I want to hang up some more larger photos.

An Extra Light

So tonight I was playing around making sure I know how I want to shoot things during the reception tomorrow. I plan on using some off camera flash again like I did at the last wedding. Hopefully it goes smoother this time. But here's an example.

Here is a photo with just my on camera flash going off.



Now here is the same scene with my flash going off on the camera and the one on the lightstand.

Loving our weather lately!

Apprently we're running about 20 degrees BELOW normal! Since we live in the desert we would normally have temps reaching into the 90s by now. But most days have been in the upper 60s to low 70s. We have even had overcast days typical of the LA Area. I'd be so incredibly happy if this was how summer really was for us. However, I know the heat is somewhere around the corner. The crazy thing is the cold weather in the mountains as well. They keep getting snow showeres. At this rate, we might be doing some hiking in snow real soon. I asked Dave the other day if we happened to have hibernated and woke up in the fall, cuase that is how it feels out there. Yesterday I had a long sleeve shirt on and was totally comforatable outside. Global Warming?

Tomorrow I go to get sized for my bike and will be ordering it. I can't wait. I test rode one in the parking lot on Tuesday. Soooooo different from my mountain bike.

Since Dave is now working from home twice a week - he has been grilling more. On Tuesday we had grilled chicken skewrs with a Thai Peanut Sauce…so good! Tonight is turkey burgers with gouda and aspargus and potatoes.

Duathalon!

I'm getting a ROAD BIKE!!! We're gonna go order it this week! I would go today but they are closed on Sundays! Then I'm gonna train for this duathalon! I'm so excited! It's on my birthday!!!!

View of the Sierras

This is what we would have been hiking in today had we gone! You can't even see the top of the mountains. I guess its good we didn't go, but I'm still pretty bummed.



This is today's forecast at 11,000 feet! We would have been hiking to over 12,000 feet.

Today: A 40 percent chance of snow showers. Some thunder is also possible. Cloudy, with a high near 30. Calm wind becoming west northwest between 7 and 10 mph. Total daytime snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.

Tonight: A 40 percent chance of snow showers. Some thunder is also possible. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 23. North northwest wind between 9 and 13 mph. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.

SNOW in June!

Yeah seriously can you believe this…I think we're getting snowed out of our hike this weekend! I've read anywhere from 3-8 inches or snow at elevation is expected!

Hello Mother Nature, did you not get the memo that it is now June! I'm so incredibley bummed. I was so looking froward to the cold weather and a nice hike up to the pass. Then a night by the campfire roasting marshmallows! Instead, we'll be at home cleaning our garage. ***SIGH***

We're going to try again in 3 weeks.

But the positive note is that I can go bike shopping! :)

Workin It Out

Totally lovin it…I'm really getting back into my more hard core exercise routine. Feelin good….but now its summer and I won't be racing until the fall.
Here's my accomplishments for the week:
Friday - ran 5.5 miles
Saturday - Shadow Boxing + Cardio at the gym (1.5 hour workout)
Sunday - 60 miles on my bike!
Monday - recovery day
Tuesday - Tennis
Wednesday - Shadow boxing + cardio
Thursday - Ran 4 miles + Tennis

Tomorrow I plan to run as well and then we're going to do a big hike over the weekend.

After my Tour De Cure experience I've decided I'm going to get a good road bike, so I need to start looking around! I want to start doing Tris and Duathalons…seriously, how long have I been saying this! Yup, many years! I have a new workout routine I've worked out for myself that includes some biking. I also plan on running on T and TH before I go to work to take advantage of the much cooler desert weather. It was 54 this morning!!! So nice…wish it would stay like this until fall. So anyawy I now get a dual workout on T and Th with playing tennis with Dave. Totally looking forward to everything. And I'd like to do a bike race in the future or something. There is a tri up at Mammoth in July, but I totally won't be ready for that. So I'll have to look around. But can imagine doing a tri in the sierras! Amazing! Although I'm sure that water is freezing cold.

Anyway - we're hoping to go camping for an evening this weekend. Do you know what the temp will be up there at night….34!!! And a slight chance of snow! Seriously…in June! Gotta love Cali. You can have 80 degrees and 30 degrees all in one day.

Tour De Cure

This weekend was the tour de cure! It is over and I survived! Yup...60 miles on my bike! You may think 60 miles would be tough, but try it on a mountain bike. I think I got the most of a workout out of anyone out there! Why...well mountain bike tires are thick...which means more surface area, which in return means more friction. So all those road bikes were just passing me by! It took me forever, I got a great workout, and a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment! But now I want a road bike.

Saturday - Dave and I left in the afternoon to hang out in Long Beach. Our plans were simple, walk around the city and snap a few photos, Eat some good food, Drink some good beer, and spend some time at the hotel pool!

We stayed at the Westin in downtown so we could walk around during the day and not have to worry about driving.

We had beers at 3 different locations...Yard House, Auld Dubliner, and Rock Bottom Brewery!





This was the view from our room.


Random photos throughout the city.






















Right now I am totally exhausted and thinking it's going to be hard to walk tomorrow. Dave is passed out on the couch with 2 cats. It's been a long day!

The only thing I like about summer is...

camping and hiking in the Sierras! Can't wait. We'll be there next weekend. Planning on doing a 10 mile hike probably. Yipeee!!!

Memorial Day Weekend

I love it when I only have to work 3 days in a week...I have Friday off too!!! Yipeee!!!

So Friday night I picked Dave up at LAX then we drove to Oxnard. Where we spent the night. Then on Saturday we drove over to Goleta to see my Cousin and his family. It was nice cause my aunt and uncle were here visiting too and I don't get to see them very often! It was Foster's 3rd birthday party! I'll tell you that kid had so much fun jumping in the bounce house they rented! He barely came out for a breather at all.

Foster got to enjoy a yummy cupcake for his birthday.





We left there around 7ish and went to downtown Santa Barbara for dinner. That took longer then I expected cause of the Lakers game.

Sunday morning we woke up to the sonic boom of the shuttle reentering the atmosphere since it had to land at Edwards. Haven't heard that in a couple of years, since the last time they landed here. We kinda took our own time to get going. We had breakfast and then headed towards Los Olivios for a day of wine tasting. We had a ton of fun. The wineries were packed! We did find some good wine though. We ended up making the trek all the way up to Santa Maria and drove home from there after stopping for dinner. On the way home the lighting was just gorgeous in the hills. I wanted to stop so bad, but felt bad cause I knew Dave was just ready to get home. We finally pulled over and got some amazing shots. Oh I'd so love to do an e-session in those type of hills right as the sun is setting. So gorgeous!!


The hills at sunset!


The road at sunset! I love this shot. I think I forsee this being framed somewhere on our wall soon!


Me @ one of the wineries


Today - Memorial Day - we are home. Dave hasn't been home in 10 days! But we have a lot to get done, so we are spending the day shopping and cleaning.

So our pet sitters didn't stop by this weekend. I guess some sort of emergency came up and the lady forgot. You can only imagine how hungry they were. Haley seemed to be OK even though she didn't get her insulin.

Preakness Slideshow

Wanna see a slideshow of photos I took at Preakness...

Click here

Next Vacation

I'm starting to think the Olympics in Vancouver is just to much of a headache for a vacation next year. Getting tickets and such is not at all like it was for Torino! They are making it so difficult! So now were debating on skipping it next year and going in another 4 years. It's in Russia then! But if we do that, where should we go!? You all know how much I look forward to our international travels! I'm really itching to go back to Europe so I think that will be our destination if the Olympics falls through.

Options:
- Greece
- Southern Italy
- Ski trip to Austria
- Coppenhagen/Blegium area
- Spain

What do you think?

Camden Yards

Just a few photos from our tour of Camden Yards on Sunday.

Preakness 2009

What a great weekend! The weather was kinda dreary all weekend, but we had a good time. We had 2 snowballs, crabs, crab cakes, and crab soup! It was also a yummy weekend.

Preakness was just great. Two of the jockeys were actually on our flight to Baltimore. Dave managed to get one of the flight attendants to take one of our Preakness tickets to them for autographs. She was the sweetest flight attendant I've ever come across.

Wanna see some photos….check them out here.

So what was Dave's big present….I told him I'm going to take him to Chicago this August to go Chicago Bears Training Camp!!! He is pretty excited.

We had a really good time. I manged to get some great photos since we were right up along the railing this year.

So here's the weird thing…last night my plane lands at about 8:28…I'm (yes just me - Dave took a different flight to Cincinnati) one of the first people off the plane…apparently a 4.7 magnitude quake hit about 3 miles away from LAX at 8:39pm. I never felt a thing! I heard some things rattling in a shop, but since I didn't feel anything I thought maybe its was plane going by or something, but thought that was kinda unusual too. But no one around me said anything about an earthquake. I get home and see all these Twitters about a strong earthquake. How weird!

We're Heading To Preakness

Well we are off to Maryland this weekend. I'm pretty excited to go back and go to Preakness. Hopefully the rain holds off.

This past weekend I participated in a fantastic Bridal Shoot. It was held up in the hills near Topanga. There were 8 other photographers and we had a fnatastic time. If you want to see photos check out my blog. I'm rather happy with the stuff I catpured. I plan on enlarging some of these for bridal shows.

Nothin to note wrothy going on around here right now. Hopefully we'll be camping and hiking agin real soon. We’re both so ready to pack up the car and go. I relaly want to do a wekeend backpacking trip. I did reserve something for us in Sept up in the high sierras. I can't wait to do that. But there will be plenty more before then I'm sure.

So Dave's birthday is Saturday!!! I can't wait to give him his gift. I hope he'll like it. I'd love to tell you guys but I'm afraid he might see it.

Wish I Could Tell the Future

Ahhh…sometimes I feel like Dave and I are caught in this giant catch 22. We were talking last night about our future and what we want. We both agree that we want to live in the wonderful state of Colorado! Our original plan was Cali for 4-5 years then Colorado…well guess what..July is my 5 year anniversary with LM. Yup…its been 5 years since I packed 2 big suitcases and boarded a plane with a cat in tow!( I still can't believe that is all I came with!) So here's the dilemma... The housing market stinks…so it’s a good time to buy a house, but a bad time to sell one. So do we take a loss (well I guess its not really a loss, just not the equity we had about 2 years ago!) and follow our hearts or do we stick it out a little while longer in Cali. Now don't get me wrong…we do love Cali. I mean how can you not…great hiking, skiing, wine tasting, beautiful scenery, etc… But we know we belong in CO. Sighhh….

So anyway that is our constant battle. For now we deal with the immediate future. It's good to have Dave home again. He was off visiting his parents in FL. I think he totally hated all that humidity. I have one rule regarding going to FL…I will only step foot in FL in Dec, Jan, or Feb. I hate heat and I especially hate humidity. So I stayed at home in our 60 degree weather instead. I'm still itching to go somewhere but I got a good opportunity to go shoot a bridal shoot this Saturday. So we will be at home again this weekend. But the next weekend is our trip to MD. So much for spring at Yosemite….looks like we'll miss it again this year. Oh well. But I do think I see some camping in out very near future. Just got to figure out where is hikable since it just snowed! Yup..it snowed in May! We had a crazy weather weekend. It was windy and in the 60s or so here..but the mountains north of us got snow.

Playin' around

I have lots of free time on my hands this weekend and we have a blue sky today!!! It's been kinda cloudy all weekend. Ok, I have to warn you...I don't look so great in this photo...with my running (red shirt) on..I never wear red!!!!! But it was free shirt and its good for running. But I wasn't about to go change just to test some photos out! This is just in our backyard...hence the California block wall!

So I wanted to try of camera flash with that super blue sky. I exposed to get the sky the way I wanted it then I put my flash on the light stand. Here's what I got. This is straight out of the camera.

Santa Anita

Just thought I'd share this little sideshow...I put this together from when we went to Santa Anita and dodger stadium. No time for editing, so this stuff is pretty much SOOC.

You can also see it here.