wild and wonderful

so we're in west virginia for the weekend. well, me for the weekend, justin for a few days longer (speaking of which, i'm open to plans on tuesday and/or wednesday while i'm husband-less this week.) today, we had a cook-out for his dad's side of the family, complete with birthday celebration for his nephew. it's actually pretty cool to see river all grown up--the first summer i came up with justin, river's mom mandy (justin's stepsister) was pregnant with him. now we're celebrating his 4th birthday!
it was a delicious cook-out, with ribs, hamburgers, hotdogs and all of the sides. we also have a small pack of dogs up here, with 5 dogs running around among all the guests. pepper had a blast playing with a humongous kick-ball sized tennis ball that we found inside. and the popular puppy was a tiny pomeranian named "mi shu" (apparently polish for "my teddybear"--haven't verified this yet. i still want to call her moo shoo, like the chinese dish.) she's just a few pounds, cute and fluffy, and was passed between the two young girls there like a baby doll or stuffed animal.

of course, we sang to river and had him blow out his candle...
and then got ready for the water activities!

ha.

you have to understand, it barely reached the mid-70's today. i went from shorts and a t-shirt to a jacket...and then jeans... and eventually a fleece hoodie. this weekend feels more like october in NC than anywhere to close to july. but water activities were promised, so water activities were had.

the family had just recently bought a huge inflatable water slide for the kids, so that was up and ready to go. this slide used water from the hose, so it was probably closer to 50 degrees. for whatever reason, justin had to try it out, and of course--i had to document this. river also wanted to get in on the action and controlled one of the cannons at the bottom.

so down justin went...
and there's not a second picture to this series because it took about half a second for justin to reach the bottom of that slide, going much faster than any of us predicted. the slide also leans slightly to the right, and justin hit the bottom pool, kept going and bowled over river so that they both ended up on the ground in the grass! river's mouth apparently caught justin's shoulder, too, cause justin had a couple of teeth marks there and one of river's teeth was slightly bloody.

but after everyone was checked out and it was deemed that no one was too terribly hurt... there was revenge to be had.

like river completely soaking justin with his cannon...
and making another attempt at a slide (this time with him feet first and river on the other side--justin still bounced over the wall, but caused less harm this time.)so after experiencing 50 degree temps on the slide, the 76 degree water in the pool was toasty warm. it was actually warmer than the air temperature! justin first got in with river, and after much coaxing, i joined them, too. (i also got splashed a great deal while taking pictures from outside the pool and was already pretty wet.)

justin got out of the pool before i did and thought it would be funny to put pepper up on the side to see what she did. she whined and paced back and forth, looking at me in the pool and trying to figure out how to get to me. finally, justin stepped up on the ladder and put her in the pool. her instincts took over and she swam over to me, and then swam back to the ladder where justin was. i won't say that she necessarily enjoyed it, but i think it was a good experience and maybe over time, she'll come to enjoy it more.
all of these pictures are on flickr, and i'll be honest--i love the colors and facial expressions in them! click on over and check them out (and the collages can always be viewed larger if you click on them, too.)

after such a long day, we were all worn out and tired. we went down the hill to visit justin's grandfather (he lives about 50 yards away at the bottom of the hill below justin's dad's house) and listened to him tell old stories about his years in the army during WWII and about growing up in west virginia. all of this reminded me of my new year's resolution about doing a family tree. we're headed out to justin's mom's family reunion tomorrow afternoon, and i realized that this was the perfect opportunity to do some research for justin's family. the reunion we're going to tomorrow has an awesome scrapbook and several family members that are very interested in geneology, so that shouldn't be a problem getting some key pieces of information there. we'll try to get some basic facts from justin's grandfather tomorrow night, and anything i don't get, justin will try to finish up with later on this week while he's here on his own.

so now i'm off to finish up some reading and get into bed. i'm hoping to catch up on the sleep i missed out on last night after we arrived around 1 am. busy day tomorrow! later, y'all :)

9th place is better than no place!

pepper dog and justin got 9th place in the "i heart faces" pets category this week!

if you haven't joined in and are interested, next week's theme is about feet--no faces! but i think i have some options and will be keeping an eye out for potential photo ops this weekend....

works for me!

i think it's "rocks in my dryer" who does "works for me wednesday," and though i've never participated, i have read about some pretty good ideas of how creative people can get to solve basic household problems.

*edit: it's not "rocks in my dryer" anymore but now "we are THAT family", which i didn't follow before, but might now. but just FYI if you want to find more "works for me wednesday"*

i've been making a conscious effort to accessorize more at work. with as many girls as we have at the office, we all enjoy shopping and i've found myself paying more attention to my earrings and necklaces instead of keeping the same things on all the time. one of my problems, though, is that i can easily spend 5 or 10 minutes in the morning untangling a necklace or trying to find the mate to an earring. frustrating and definitely a wrench in the whole "accessorizing" plan.

so i was at the dollar tree, there for my weekly shopping trip (seriously, i go about once a week, if not twice. i LOVE the dollar tree for work supplies and those random things i find just browsing) and they have school supplies out. i saw these desk organizers and thought that i could possibly put it to a better use than organizing our mail. besides, we already have one of those for that.
perfect! the wire mesh is great for post earrings or hooks, and then there's plenty of space for lining up the dangly earrings.

now about these...
i'm thinking i'll add a row of cuphooks on the tub wall for hanging up the necklaces. they're usually pretty inexpensive at lowes' or home depot, and i can just screw them in the wall without using the drill (though i know how to use the drill--years of habitat for humanity taught me well.)

so what creative ways have you found to organize things at home?

and more importantly, where do you like to shop for fun jewelry? always up for some new shopping spots for good deals on jewelry.

i couldn't help myself.

it was $3 at wal-mart.

and yes, it says dog-a-licious. with a strawberry. not quite sure what that means.

but doggoneit, she's cute.

kingsfest

this is a very media-heavy post. hence the reason it's taken me a little while to get it pulled together, and of course--there are more pictures on flickr.

so, thursday afternoon we left for kingsfest, a 3 day christian concert series at kings dominion near richmond, va. we took the ever-reliable bus, which actually pretty comfortable with the cool breezes and overcast skies. there was also a 15 passenger van pulling our luggage trailer and a couple of SUVs in tow. of course, we started off with a group prayer...
and managed to make it to richmond without too many issues, traffic or otherwise. at one of our stops, i noticed this unique beverage and had to take a picture in pure wonder--sparkling green tea with ginger ale?
needless to say, i wasn't brave enough to try it.

we stopped at mcdonald's for a quick dinner before hitting the park for the first night of concerts, and as we came back out to the bus and prepared to leave... she wouldn't start. we quickly got all of the kids shuttled over to the park on the other vehicles while the chaperones sat around and did what we do best... killed time on our cellphones.
eventually, we did make it over to the park, leaving the bus behind in the capable hands of some of the parents who came along, who were quickly calling mechanics in the area. the bus's battery had already been replaced, and it was eventually determined it was an alternator problem. we were also able to borrow a bus from the church where we were staying to shuttle us home that evening (and eventually to the park the next morning while our bus was getting fixed.) the rest of our group made it over in time for a quick ride on a rollercoaster and then over to watch the last two concerts of the evening.
rather than adding more pictures than i already did, i made a collage of some of my favorite band photos. we saw five full concerts while we were there, with relient k the first night, skillet and switchfoot the 2nd night, and david crowder band and newsboys the 3rd night. there were many other bands that performed, but with concerts starting at 3 and going until 10 every night, it just wasn't possible to see them all!
relient k was awesome, with lots of energy and a sound similar (in my opinion) to ben folds. i hadn't heard a lot of them before, but i recognized several songs and have them on my itunes list to get a few more.
skillet is a favorite among the youth group, and honestly, they have an edgier sound than what i typically listen to. however, watching the crowd react to them and listening to their lyrics, i appreciated their style of music and the fact that it appeals to a group that might not get excited over chris tomlin or other "happy, shiny" christian artists. they rocked out and had the crowd rocking with them, and i thought it was so great that these tough looking guys with tattoos, these punk teens, people who you wouldn't normally think of as those who "enjoy christian music"-- were jumping up and down, head-banging and jamming out to some awesome music with quality lyrics. and that was cool to me.
(they do have a violinist and cellist in the group, with some killer string sections in their songs, especially when they're being raised up on platforms--top row, left photo)
switchfoot is probably one of the better known "mainstream" bands that played. john foreman, their lead singer, was so entertaining and made an appearance out in the audience that had everyone rushing down to the front (bottom middle photo in the collage.) he also climbed on top of their huge speakers, twice (bottom right photo) and put on a great show with lots of their hit songs and some new stuff.
david crowder band was one of the main reason i came to kingsfest. i saw him perform before in greenville and loved the concert. it was probably one of the few concerts we saw that felt like worship--and that's what crowder does best. lots of audience involvement with singing and moving, and just some of the best praise music around. he brought out his specially-made guitar hero guitar, complete with the mario brothers "coin sound button" (left photo on 3rd row) and played a whole song on it. amazing!
and finally, newsboys. i remember going to see newboys in middle school and the drummer who played on a revolving platform. honestly, i hadn't heard much of them since then, but they just got a new lead singer who used to be the lead singer of dc talk (of "jesus freak" fame) and with that--we had songs from both groups that took me way back. they do have some new stuff out, but it was awesome to hear some of their older songs--and they came out into the audience for that set, too, for that (middle photo on the 3rd row.)

so, that's the concerts. now... the rides!

kings dominion reminded me a lot of carowinds (that we visited around this time last year following alan and rachel's wedding)--an older park with some new rides, but very little cohesion between the rides and the "themed" areas. it's just a hodge podge of stuff that hung around for the past thirty years, with some newer thrill rides thrown in to keep the coaster riders happy. they also just recently lost the paramount affiliation and joined in with cedar fair (cedar point's company) so a lot of their rides that had movie themes are now just kinda randomly named. but they do have a decent waterpark included, and between that and the fact that there were long lines, we had plenty to do to fill up two full days in the park.
one of my favorite coasters was the "flight of fear" which was an indoor coaster that used magnetic energy to blast you off into an almost completely dark ride. kinda like "space mountain," only with loops and corkscrew turns. i videoed kristi and her sister kara taking off for their ride.


saturday, we did a few last minute rides on the less-popular coasters and then spent the afternoon in the waterpark. before heading out for our last dinner, my small group of kids i had collected decided to take the elevator up the eiffel tower in the center of the park. i got some nice shots from up top and used picnik to point out a few of the landmarks.
and finally, the group shot. this is everyone who came with us, including kids, sponsors and parents. we are so grateful for the parents who came along to help! with their hard work, we only had to pay for the two meals on our travel days. the rest were prepared by the parents and then they helped us pack bag lunches to take in the park with us. also, with the bus situation, they gave up their own time to help get the bus fixed and make sure we had a safe ride home. and just in general, they're awesome. so--thanks, parents!

there are no picture from the last day. i like to think of it as "the day we'd prefer to forget." we stayed at fairmount christian church in mechanicsville, va, and they were wonderful hosts. we camped out in spare rooms at night and showered in their locker room facilities next to their gymnasium. we planned on staying for worship on sunday morning, but we had to be packed up and out by 8 am. this meant getting the kids up around 6:30, having all of their things in the trailer and making sure they ate breakfast by then. we had some time to kill, so the guys were outside playing basketball (even though we were all exhausted!) and one of our sponsors, billy, dunked the ball during a game of HORSE and came down on his ankle wrong. next thing you know, he's headed to the ER with a fractured ankle. at the same time, one of my girls informs me that she's been throwing up all morning and hasn't been able to keep anything down. we decide to do our own short devo, join the 9:30 service for songs and make it through communion--then load up the bus and van to start the drive home. many stops and 5 hot, long hours later--we finally get home.
i got a shower and crashed, doing nothing productive for the rest of the night. it was a great trip, but man, it wore me out! i loved spending that time with the sponsors and our awesome group of teenagers. they really did well for a trip with such unstructured time away from adults and the number of check-ins that we had them doing.

so, now it's back to the grindstone. and getting ready for my brief trip up to west virginia for the livengood family reunion (justin's mom's family.) another long car ride, but i'm excited to get some mountain time in.

now--what did you do this weekend?

i heart faces: sports in action

i had almost forgotten about my pictures from the ecu homecoming game last fall that i could use for this week's challenge: sports in action! this is one of my favorites--you can see the energy of the team ready to take the field, and i love that drew steele (a young man with down syndrome who is on the sideline at all ecu games) is included in the huddle before they run on, with skip holtz (our head coach) leading the way.

check out more at "i heart faces" this week!

i heart faces: pets!

it's another entry for "i heart faces" this week--and this is one of my favorite pictures of pepper dog.

i took this one on a lazy saturday and managed not to wake my darling husband in the process. she really is such an adorable dog with so much personality.

head over to "i heart faces" to check out more pictures of pets and sports in action!

just FYI

this evening, i am en route to here:


with a bus-full of teenagers and other chaperones to see these concerts:

THURSDAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY
Jeremy Camp	Switchfoot	NEWSBOYS
RelientK	Skillet	David Crowder Band
Family Force 5	Hawk Nelson	Kutless
Bluetree	FireFlight	DecembeRadio
Remedy Drive	Blue Eye Soul	KJ-52
Guest Speaker Matt Pitt	Guest Speaker Tom Richter	Guest Speaker Jeremy Kingsley

and spend some time at the park and doing other cool things around richmond. i'm super-excited, though sad that justin had to stay behind and work (things are crazy at his office right now) and also sad to leave the animals--there's nothing more heart-wrenching (to me at this point in life) than to hear pepper whine or yelp in protest as i load up the car. i'm sure that will change some day, but right now, that's my version of heart-wrenching.

i haven't posted any this week because 1) it's been a sorta slow week and 2) i've been fielding e-mails and requests for photos! man, you guys are awesome. as i check out my flickr stats, it just amazes me that i had over 1,000 views of my photos on monday! i'm excited to plan some more photo shoots over the next few weeks, and i can't wait to share them with you. very excited about some newborn/sibling combos :)

i did make it out to the softball field the past couple of nights to watch my company's team in the playoffs. i also managed to catch the last half of the church team's game on tuesday, and it was fun to hang out with everyone at the park and enjoy the beautiful summer evening.

the church where we're staying is supposed to have internet access, so i may try to post some over the weekend. i will have the trusty blackberry, so i'll definitely try to update twitter and facebook regularly!

alright, that's it for now. later, y'all!

finding the field

there are some days i really enjoy living in eastern north carolina.

especially when i'm driving by those back-country roads that i frequent so often and spot a field of sunflowers.

and especially when i find a willing family to try it out (and the owner of the field is totally cool with it--trust me, i checked)...

well, you end up with pictures like these.










thanks, again, molly and lily (and amanda!)

and the flowers should be in bloom for the next few weeks---wanna book a session? let me know and we'll make it happen :)

celebrating the fourth

justin and i have done fireworks in greenville, washington and a couple of years ago, fayetteville. we knew we wanted to do something different this year, and chose to check out new bern. another opportunity for fireworks over the water and great historic waterfront.

we got there in plenty of time to walk around and explore the downtown area. new bern has always had some of the best architecture, and justin enjoys looking at the old houses.
this is also one of the best churches there--centenary UMC. one of my mom's favorites from back in her youth group days.
and with it being the 4th, the flags were out flying.
we grabbed a quick dinner to go at a cafe downtown and took it down to the waterfront to eat and watch the boats come in and out. as we listened to the live music coming from the sheraton and hilton hotels right there by the docks, we were joined by some other picnickers and people enjoying the waterfront. it was getting warm sitting in the sun, so justin asked if i wanted to move to the shade to finish our meal. as i turned around to see where he was moving, i saw one of the other couples by the tree--with the guy on one knee and a jewelry box in his hand! i joined justin and told him that they had just gotten engaged, and as the couple was hugging and the girl was squealing, another few people walked by and started taking pictures of the couple. i said to justin, "that's weird. why would you take pictures of them like that?" but then we realized it was the girl's parents and her younger brother, who had been hanging out at the other end of the waterfront until he popped the question!

(i love people-watching. can you tell?)

so after all that excitement, we made it back to the car and headed over to the park where they were holding the fireworks that year. with the drawbridge closed, the waterfront park with the gazebo isn't as easily accessible. it was surprisingly easy to get in, and we set up our chairs and my tripod and camera in the grassy area by the parking lot. we actually didn't go into the main park area, but lots of people joined us and it wasn't crowded at all. we stayed busy streaming some john philip sousa on pandora, since their music selection was... well, limited. there was one lone bagpipe player wandering around playing the same six songs.

that's when i really miss the parade field at ft. bragg.
the fireworks were great, and i had fun photographing them again. i included a few of my favorites here.

it actually didn't take too long to get out--about half an hour, and believe me, we've sat in worse. however, i just don't understand why there are 15 volunteers and police officers escorting you in and only two standing at the exit waving to let you out. i've had the same complaints at concerts (oh, i can tell stories there) but we were on the road by 10ish and back home by 11. not too shabby.

so how was everyone else's 4th?

have to share these

before we head out for food and fireworks.

misty, a friend from work, asked me about doing pictures a while back. then, when her family found out that they would all be in town for the 4th, she asked if it would be possible to do them on the holiday. we didn't have any plans, and we were able to schedule it for this morning before it got too hot, too bright and before all of the cookouts! it was still a little bright, and i'm nervous that these are over-exposed. they look good on my computer, but i've seen some of my pictures on other computer after editing and they just look a little off.

we scheduled the shoot at an old plantation house that's been in her family for years. i loved that there were century-old photos hanging in the hallway of past family members in front of the home.
and i had the best time exploring. they still keep many of the rooms furnished in period style, so there were lots of great details that added to the general architecture of the house. misty's mom said to let her know if i ever wanted to use it for other shoots, and this house just screams "bridals!" or senior portraits, i guess, but i really think a bridal shoot would show it off. so... just lettting you know we have some options :)
so then once everyone got there, we headed outside and made good use of the shade. again, i've lightened up everything in post-production, but i feel like i've found a good balance between the bright light in the background and the shade we were using for the family.
on the front porch...
then we had the dogs join us. they actually did really well!
and we included the smokehouse in the backyard as well.
misty wanted one last shot of them walking down the lane leading up to the house. so picturesque!
check out the rest of them over at flickr!

and have a happy and safe 4th of july. we're about to head out to new bern. more "fireworks over the water" shots to come, i'm sure!

a night of live music

let us start with a couple of pictures of a pretty sunset i captured this past week. it includes the house in progress that wakes us up every weekend, has construction workers roaming around through out the day, and brings trash to our backyard. but the sunset is nice, right?
last night, after we finished our abbreviated (but crazy) work week, we headed downtown to have a delicious dinner at marathon. i love greek food, and could eat it quite regularly--except for the whole stuffed grape leaves thing. not appealing to me. but give me a greek salad, some cucumber sauce and pitas, and a kabob--and i'm a happy girl.

we then made our way down the street to the tipsy teapot, and i had to stop and take some pictures of the renovation work going on. the downtown area doesn't have the best reputation, especially after this past week when we had a double-murder during a drive-by shooting in front of one of the clubs. but there is so much potential, and the work being done on this theater and old shops shows some of the progress that's to come.
then it was time to see our friend jordan perform a two-hour set at the tipsy teapot. jordan is the worship leader at church and has become a good friend of ours. he and justin can always talk gaming, and i've enjoyed getting to know him through the music and worship ministry at church. his wife, becky, and i have also become pretty close with our mutual interests in crafts, couponing and reading. jordan is incredibly talented and it was awesome to hear him perform.
i was there to take pictures, and i met my senior project student jessica and had her taking pictures as well. it became a good practice on manual focus and lighting, and we discussed learning about shutter speeds and having her practice with the fireworks this weekend.
and there was a great crowd of locals and church people that came out to support jordan. so nice to hang out with everyone (and enjoy some delicious tea!)
today we're both off of work, and justin's making plans to see a movie with one of his friends. i've already been up since a little after 7, done my notes, made blueberry pancakes, taken pepper for a walk, uploaded about 80 photos, edited them, made these collages and written this blog post.

justin slept until 10:30 and just finished breakfast.

and just cause it's cute, i had to share pictures of our patriotic pup. the bandana came from her trip to the groomers this week, and justin says she looks like she belongs in a western movie with just the bandana, but when you add the t-shirt, it looks kinda redneck.
what can i say? she's proud.

hope everyone has a safe holiday weekend!

heading into the holiday weekend

first of all, a picture of pepper from one of the sundays in the park. she does well--95% of the time. and then we have that 5% where she's a terrier and there are just so many people and dogs and it's a little crazy. but man, she looks happy, doesn't she?
this post is inspired by the recent discovery of the small towns i travel to for work. i guess it's not really a recent discovery, since i've always known that i enjoy the charms of a small town, the nostalgic architecture, the old-fashioned signs, the amazing painted-brick advertisements (love those!)--but now i'm just taking pictures of them, too :)
and today was the ultimate road trip for me. ever since we took on two clients on the opposite side of the pamlico river, we've joked about taking the ferry across from aurora to bath. it's easier than driving an hour back and forth--and you get to take a ferry! so today, it was time to try out my idea. and i have to admit...work is just cooler when you get to ride a ferry.

agreed? agreed.

bringing it back home...

it's been a somewhat hectic week around our house, with both of us having short weeks and plenty of work to fill those four days. justin has had a particularly crazy time at work, but we both see the light at the end of the tunnel.

so in some spare moments that i found today, i put up our third installment to our master bathroom "anniversary trip" collection. i know it seems weird, but it's a room that we're in and out of all the time and i just like to look at these and remember the trips we've taken for our honeymoon and anniversaries. the top one is our latest addition, an artsy print of rainbow row in charleston. the middle one is from our honeymoon, a watercolor of the harbor in st. martin. and the bottom is actually a greeting card that we bought on ocracoke last year, but i loved it.
it reads, "if i had know i would get to spend the rest of my life with you, he said, i would have started the rest of my life much sooner."

i love the idea of adding to this each year, with all of the places we could go and memories we will have to go along with them. in a few years, we could have the whole wall filled up (or atleast a few feet high) we try to buy a christmas ornament, too, so that we can create our own collection.

so as i brush my teeth and dry my hair and do those everyday mundane things, i can also remember those awesome vacations we've taken together and those great times that help us get through the crazy weeks like this. thank goodness we have a long weekend coming up! we both need it, and the time spent together--watching fireworks, grilling out, sleeping in--will be well worth everything that we've been through this week.

i love you, honey! see you tonight :)