I like YOUR pants

The weekend yielded a lot to blog about.

Here's that rundown in chronological order:

1. Friday night we saw both Eric Hutchinson and Newton Faulkner in Boulder. THEY WERE AMAZING. Download both of their albums immediately; you won't regret it. But almost as importantly, watch a few of their videos on You Tube. (Such as this, this or this). Newton especially is really unbelievable live, better than he is recorded. (If you're wondering about the title of this post, Eric Hutchinson likes to wear plaid pants. And when the audience comments, he says, I like YOUR pants.")

2. I am super excited about the Olympics, and am really especially excited about this video. It asks you to download some application, do it, because this video gave me goosebumps.

3. Last, but certainly not least, let me introduce you to my new best friend:

I'm calling her Dottie. We are still getting to know each other, but I'm expecting great things to come of our friendship.

(photo found here)

Old school

Yesterday I was rifling through a box of old papers looking for Annick's sale papers (Annick is sold and that is a post I keep meaning to write, but so far have been unable to really bring myself to do) when I came across a random collection of old photographs. I scanned them in this morning and will include them in this post - isn't it amazing how old they already look? The black and white portraits from my photojournalism classes obviously look old (I actually developed real film if you can imagine how prehistoric that was), but even the color photographs don't seem like they were taken that long ago. . . Except I guess high school was almost a decade ago. SCARY.

So without further ado, here are the ones I've chosen to share...

This one of Lauren was taken during a summer evening mid-high school. I love it because it somehow captures everything about being a teenager on a summer evening with nothing to do.

This is of one of my dogs growing up, can you believe what a little fluff ball she was? As much as I love the old factor of this, I am wishing I could transport myself back in time with my new camera and do a photo shoot. Look how SOFT that fur was - literally as soft as baby llama fur, and I know that from experience.

Every year from the time we were eight years old, Lauren and I have been obsessed with Stock Show. It's a big animal show (including horse events) that comes through Denver every January. We'd been going for years, as much for the chance to smell horses as to watch them compete, so when we actually started competing in it during high school it was like a dream come true. We logged our hours there once and totaled a ridiculous sum, something 70 some odd hours in a matter of days. It was often dark or nearly dark by the time we'd leave the horse show grounds, and this photo is from one of those evenings. I love how out of place a horse looks in the middle of the city.

And these are from my photojournalism class, my attempt at portraits. Something about them is quite nice, if only because these kids have changed a lot since I took the photos. I corralled all my family members and had them each stand for their portrait. Everyone felt a little awkward about it, with the exception of my littlest cousin, Alina. If she could take a stab at Hollywood she'd be a childhood star, because she was born with that quality that is totally foreign to me; the quality of loving to be in front of people, loving to make them laugh.

This is Alina:

And this is Alina's best impression of a wildcat:

And this is shy Sierra, Alina's older sister:

And this is my little sister:

So with that, have a fabulous weekend y'all.

genius bar

I had to leave my computer at the apple store this morning for some repairs, and I feel a little bit like I left my child in the hands of a stranger (thank goodness he was a genius). It's probably unhealthy how near and dear our little metal contraptions become to us, but I can't help feeling a little anxious while it's "at the doctor." I pick it up next week when I return from a family reunion in California, so good thing you will be back on the wagon to make up for my absence.

I was lucky enough to pick up a free road bike from a friend who was moving away from Washington, and have been putting it to good use this week in Portland. Yesterday we went for a good long ride (flicker photo found here ) starting in Hood River and ending at Rowena Point. I'm certain that Oregon offers some of the best scenery in the way of easily accessible outdoor activities, and I am also certain that road biking is my new favorite form of exercise.



On another note, I found a place for you to work in Portland. We toured last night with Sara's friend who works there. They have yoga/pilates/concerts everyday during lunch, 24 hour kegs located on each floor, and a meeting room that is a giant nest perched amongst huge wooden rafters, just to name a few. Take a gander here

This evening includes rock climbing and a rooftop viewing of Flight of the Navigators. Should be top notch.

Till next week......

Life's little lessons

So yesterday I met up with my cousin at a coffee shop downtown. (I am indeed working on being a better person). It went really well and we were having such an engrossing conversation that I wasn't really noticing much about my surroundings, except that out of the corner of my eye I could see a row of really old books. When my cousin took a bathroom break, I grabbed as many of them as I could and started shuffling through them. I also started catching bits of surrounding conversation, and heard this from the balding man sitting at a table directly behind me: "I always charge for sex. Sometimes I enjoy it, but I still charge."

I was at least a little horrified, imagining who would choose to pay him of all people, and why he would do it, and so on. Then I wonderered what his impression was of me. Because I was sitting there with my nose shoved in one of those old books taking a big whif. I happen to really like the way old books smell.

I guess it was a little lesson in that old addage about treating other people the way you'd want to be treated. In his eyes I might be just as weird as he was in my eyes. AND that ties in to the bigger lesson about how I feel about my cousin that I was meeting at the same time - even if you don't agree with the choices someone makes, try to find a way to love them anyway.

Big apologies on the lack of posting - I've been busy tying up ends at work and busy with Denver Dog Photography. After next week I'll be a posting maniac.

magical battle horns

I've returned to the Portland tree house after a fun little jaunt down to Bend over the weekend. As I was uploading the pictures I found the remnants of Claire's visit still tucked away in my camera. And, when I saw this one again, I knew it needed to make an appearance on the blog. When I see products like this I like to imagine the person who' s job it was to think such a thing up. This little daydream often includes a scene with a bunch of men in suits sitting around a table in a board room talking very seriously about the possibility of producing a "Unicorn vs. Narwhale" play set. There is a lot of discussion and mulling around of different options. The young new talent pipes in a suggestion about including an extra pair of "magical battle horns." In the end they all feel very confident about the idea and everyone shakes hands.

Moving on.....I had heard good things about Bend prior to the weekend, and although it was slightly different than I had imagined I was hardly let down. The overall feel was very similar to Colorado so I felt right at home. We backpacked about 8 miles into the Green Lakes area near Mt. Bachelor, and for a significant portion of the hike we were accompanied by this handsome river:
We finally set up camp in this beautiful meadow. It was pretty perfect minus the fact that the five of us neglected to bring any bug spray, so we were slightly demolished by the mosquitoes. After setting up camp, we spent a good 30 minutes trying to coordinate one of those shots where everyone is jumping in the air. I think we may have captured one good one, in the midst of a couple dozen that look much like the one below (which I think have their own sort of success to them.)

Los libros (y mi perro) (por su puesto)

Denver Dog Photography has turned into a big vacuum, sucking up all my time. The shoot I had scheduled yesterday was cancelled, which left me time to photograph the old Roux dog.


I dare say she's the prettiest dog of them all.

In other news, I'm still on my old book kick. I haven't gotten a chance to read these yet (yes I really am going to read 'Practical Grammar' cover to cover), but here are a couple of the treasures I picked up on the Montana/Washington trip.










(how can you not love a dedication like that?)

Apparently I'm not the only one who appreciates old books (and neither is Lauren), because one of my favorite design sites had this post up about old books as well.

Speaking of books, I've been reading this:

And this is what it's about (according to Amazon)

The letters collected here, written from 1920 to the mid-'60s, suggest that the Murphys were much more than rich Americans abroad who hosted famous fellow expatriates in France during the '20s and '30s. The couple and their three children, in fact, provided essential support for writer friends who left indelible marks on modern literature, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Archibald MacLeish, John Dos Passos, Ernest Hemingway and Dorothy Parker among them. The literati's letters reveal hitherto unknown sides--witty and sometimes acrimonious, they are always full of love and admiration when addressed to Gerald and Sara. Great depths of feeling are conveyed in messages about the deaths of the Murphys' two young sons, which foreshadowed other heartbreaks endured by the group: Zelda's psychosis, Scott's demise, Hemingway's suicide. A welcome reminder of those promising decades, the collection is an invaluable source of literary history.

It reminds me of how much I love literature. In conclusion, I have a (very) soft spot for the written word. No two ways about it.

tree house

Nothing too inspirational or intellectual to report at the moment, except to note my exceptional location. A good friend of both Claire and I lives in Portland and recently relocated to a pretty incredible house in the forresty outskirts of town. The house itself is adorable, plus it is surrounded by those fabulous Dr. Seuss looking trees so prominent in the NW. On top of that it has some incredible views (like the one below), and charming accents (like the door knocker). Not a bad place to spend some time.....
(I swiped both of these images from said friend's facebook...so the credit goes to her)

We're off to Bend for the weekend!!!