fall retreat--day 1

a couple of months ago, we talked about planning a mountain weekend during the fall. i e-mailed my relatives who have a cabin up there to see what was available, and halloween weekend popped up as a potential date for us. the city where we live is notorious for its halloween celebration with the college community. traffic picks up, everything is busy, and with halloween falling on a saturday? well, we decided to get out of town.

now granted, it may not have been the best weekend for mountain viewing... this was a consistent view that we got on the overlooks.

but we made it up friday night and set out saturday to see what we could see. or not see, as the case was on saturday.

(by the way, i'm breaking this up into 2 blog posts because picnik is being finicky and is not letting me do collages. so rather than overwhelming you with almost 40 photos, i'm breaking it up a little...)

our first stop was the orchard at altapass. right off of the blue ridge parkway, it was down a little path and a very muddy parking lot. (the cuffs of my jeans were ruined by the end of the day.)
inside was nice and toasty warm, though. we browsed the store and got some hot apple cider to sip as everyone began showing up for their live music starting in just a little while.
it was almost lunch time, so we stopped by their "lunch wagon" and got a barbeque sandwich and homemade mac and cheese to share. we were encouraged to take our food back inside to listen to the music that was starting up.
it wasn't bluegrass (no banjo in sight) but i guess the best description is good old country music. we quickly recognized some johnny cash and some other more familiar tunes. we were in the minority of being 1) tourists--they were actually mainly locals there for the music and 2) under the age of 65. but it was cool to watch the older couples get up and dance so easily, so effortlessly.




we finished our lunch and picked out a few treats to take home. a delicious chipotle ranch for justin, and you know how i feel about apple butter...
on to our next stop. we had originally planned on going up to grandfather mountain in the afternoon, but the weather still looked like this:
so instead, we headed underground to linville caverns. because the weather doesn't affect the view down there.
it was a popular spot that day, with other tourists getting out of the rain and the whole cavern crew dressed in halloween costumes.

my mountain man (so glad to have his driving skills this weekend...)
and then it was our turn. i remembered taking this tour a couple of times when i was younger and our summer program would go camping up there nearby... (any snyder folks out there? remember those good times?)
it was cool to see all of the cavern features again, especially since my most recent "inside a mountain" experiences when we went caving with camp cheerio were a little more intense. again, just the cuffs of my jeans got wet. those poor jeans...
as we were driving back towards blowing rock, we finally started to see some breaks in the clouds...
we hit up the outlets right quick where i purchased--you guessed it!--jeans. but admittedly, they were on ridiculous clearance at the GAP outlet and it prevented me from doing laundry on saturday night just so i had a clean pair of jeans to wear on sunday. we finished out our touristy day in blowing rock where they were having a halloween festival and allowing trick-or-treating downtown in the shops. it was fun to see all of the costumes (without dealing with doorbells and barking dogs and handing out candy.)
we called it a day and headed back up the mountain to see my great uncle and aunt for dinner.
more tomorrow...

a message from your favorite pup

picnik halloween effects

i got an e-mail a while back about picnik's halloween effects they were promoting. if you've followed me for a while, you know i'm a fan of picnik--especially their collages, stickers and other cool photo editing effects. i had to test these out, so i found a decent headshot i took last spring to show off a new haircut (and it was a cute one, if i do say so myself...)

okay, so a lot of picnik's effects are cutesy. i was digging this mask, and added a few stickers around the edge to "halloween it up." you can change the size, position and color of any of their stickers--so easy!

next, i went with vampire. i have read (and loved) the whole twilight series, so this made me think of the books and movies. you can lighten the skin, change eye colors, and add some fangs! and this lightening is awesome :)

the last one is the ghoul features...scary stuff. i think my freckles made this more speckled, and i added some wounds, changed my eye color and added some ghosts and spider.

picnik continues to amaze me with their photo effects. if you're interested in fixing up some photos, it's worth checking out their touch-up kit that includes teeth-whitening, blemish fix, shine-be-gone, wrinkle remover, mascara and lip-color and my favorite--insta-thin.

worship music wednesday

this has become one of my favorite new worship songs. all of the lyrics are taken straight from the book of revelation, and this performance in particular will just give you chills...

family fun

yesterday, justin and i traveled west to see my dad's side of the family for my cousin will's christening. it's hard to believe how quickly he has grown! and his big brother joseph is just a smaller version of my grandaddy joe.

we enjoyed a beautiful service and i snapped a quick picture during the big event.
then afterwards, we headed back to their house for lunch and to spend some time together. rachel was particularly smitten with will...
after a delicious lunch, numerous stories shared around the table, and looking at photos--we gathered together for a family picture out front (minus joseph--he wasn't feeling photogenic that day) and headed back home.
i came back just in time to meet up with brittany and brian for their engagement photos. we traveled out in the county to one of her friend's family farms, and i was loving the location!
again, just a quick sneak peek. i'm bogged down in editing right now and will be slowly tackling my mountain of photos...
but i will definitely have fun with them when it's their turn in a week or two!

i heart faces: halloween dress-up!

monkey see, monkey do...




rhys is at that perfect age where he wants to be just like his big brothers. and just like his big brother before him, he gets to make an appearance in the monkey costume this halloween. he was just adorable and gave me some big smiles! many thanks to rob and kim for letting me borrow him :)

and just for fun, i get to share my pumpkin puppy. pepper was just a few months old when i took this picture last year, and the halloween t-shirt was just the beginning of my love affair with dog clothes.


check out the other spooky, fun, halloween photos over at i heart faces!

1,361 equals...

the number of photos i've taken in the last four days.

but the one that warms my heart?

this one--


major editing sessions coming up. and more about my sunday with family and a super cute couple tomorrow :)

marathon day of photos

i started out with a delicious cup of (decaf) pumpkin spice coffee and blueberry scone from fresh market.

then off to meet my wonderful friend lisa and her family for photos. i can't even begin to describe how many great photos we got. let's just say it's taking all of my willpower not to stay up and edit non-stop tonight!


then back into town to do some awesome urban photos with 2010 senior, keely.

(i told keely that i forgot how much fun and how easy it was with seniors. only one person. who wants to have their picture taken. kazillion times easier than most of my sessions.)

and then over to the greenway to work with kellar, suzanne and their family...


many people have asked why i'm scheduling like this--so many shoots on one day. well, it allows me the flexibility to keep other weekends completely open so we can travel, visit family and (for me) help out with youth events. my next saturday like this one is november 14th--and i do still have one opening for that day, but i think it will fill up once i talk to a few of my "maybe" customers out there. i'm trying to do a few sessions in the weekday evenings before daylight savings comes around, but i am looking forward to things slowing down come wintertime.

5th place!

i have a full schedule today of photography, and i'm praying that the weather cooperates and that everything works out with all of my families...

but it's nice to start that busy day off with a 5th place award from this week's i heart faces!

click on over and check out the other winners :)

some of what i've been working on...

and i figured out how to make big pictures from flickr.

obviously.

i need a jillian

since our recent move from the old office location (and my consistent lack of attendance) my gym membership has lapsed.

the 30 day shred did not last 30 days. i made it maybe...3?

and it is now my favorite time of year for exercise. i'm a "hot-natured" person. 85 degrees with humidity? no. i'll go for walks at 9:30 at night just to avoid the heat. 45 degrees with a brisk chill? oh yes. thrown in a nice mix of fast-tempo songs and you might even get a jog out of me.

i NEED to take better care of myself. and i have the flexibility to fit in exercise, but no motivation or interest.

so i've decided i need a jillian (of "biggest loser" and "30 day shred" fame.) someone to kick me into high gear, hold me accountable and give me enough guilt that i work harder the next time. i am a first-born, type A people-pleaser. guilt is my greatest motivator.

anyone want to be an exercise accountability partner? i don't even need someone to do it with me. i just need someone to ask me, "did you do your 30 minutes today?" and help me stick to my schedule that i make up.

by the way, ripped abs and toned biceps are totally not a requirement :) in fact, that side of jillian kinda scares me...

cutesy idea

on my walk yesterday, i finally remembered to take a picture of this great idea from one of our neighbor's front stoops.



how cute is this? and pretty easy to do. i bet you could print out one huge letter of choice in a word processing program and trace it on the pumpkin. then paint in (or even color in with sharpie) and voila! cute front door decoration that could easily last through november.

we've been totally slack about our fall decorations. and my fall leaves and halloween flags have stayed in storage while the recently purchased steelers flag has taken over the flag post. i did pull down the light-up pumpkin from the attic that will go out this week...

how do you like to decorate for fall? i have such an easier time with the Christmas holiday decorations, but i do love seeing how others celebrate fall and halloween!

worship music wednesday

this is a song that we introduced to our youth program's worship set at the beginning of the school year. i love the musical aspects of it--the rhythm, the awesome lyric syncopation during the chorus, etc... but the words are so encouraging for this generation. just imagine our middle schoolers jumping up and down to this, rocking out about the revolution of Christ.



any other suggestions for worship songs to be featured here?

i'd like to thank the academy...

okay, so i've been a bad "blog award acceptor." honestly, i like the idea of blog award but kinda feel like they're those meme things on facebook where you get tagged by someone and then don't know who else to tag. hence, the conundrum i'm in. but i would love to thank the two lovely ladies that nominated me..

rebecca at feel my love recognized me as a loyal blog reader--i do enjoy checking in to see how things are going up in west virginia and i really love her "can of worm" posts where she takes on some great political/cultural issues.

and courtney at one fine wire nominated me for a kreativ blogger award. courtney is a dear friend from ecu marching pirates and has done a great job of starting her own blog design business.

so thank you, ladies, for these awards. and rather than specifying people to receive the award, i'll just link to some of my favorite blogs, both friends IRL and not :)

my real-life friends--i'm quite blessed to have a nice blogging community of people that i know! several "regularly posting" bloggers that i always enjoy reading are:
amanda, patrice and the two lindsey's--both jones and woolard.
(doesn't mean that i don't enjoy reading other people when they post--these are just my "few times a week" bloggers that i keep up with.)

and then a few of my blogs that i enjoy reading just for fun:
kelly's korner, steece's pieces (great mom of quads), lots of scotts (mom of triplets), ministry so fabulous, the mamas boo and big, and mcmommy chronicles.

and i could go on and on about photo blogs--that's where i get a lot of ideas. so here are my favorites...
jessica kettle photography
simplicity photography
millie holloman (out of wilmington--love them!)
peekaboo photos
blue lily--gorgeous stuff!
rebekah westover--her bridals are amazing
savor photography, by american mum--she also has done some great tutorials.

*post-edit: forgot about lauren clark--she's amazing, too! if i was a full-time photog, i would totally go to her "for the love" conference that includes presentations and sponsorships from a couple of my backyard neighbors, julie mixon and ginny corbett*

so that's my half-hearted attempt at sending you off into the blogosphere to check out some other really cool blogs. which is, of course, the ultimate goal of giving out bloggy awards.

is that the orchestra playing already? man, always cutting the acceptance speech off...

i heart faces: pink week

it's pink week over at i heart faces, and i scoured my photo library to find a good selection. i don't have any pictures from breast cancer events specifically, but i love attending our local relay for life event every year. and as i was going through my photos from the past couple of years of relay for life, this one jumped out at me...

i don't like cancer either. i've seen it take the lives of family members and friends. i've watched others fight it, win the battle and go on living their lives as survivors. and with breast cancer in particular, i've supported my aunt and other relatives in their diagnosis and treatment. it is often treatable and the most important tool in fighting it is early detection.

please do regular monthly exams and your annual physical with your doctor. support cancer research through programs like relay for life with the american cancer society or breast cancer research with the susan g. komen foundation. click daily on the breast cancer site to help fund mammograms (or purchase things through their store--i bought several of my christmas presents through their website last year and saved rainforest land, but it can go towards the breast cancer fund as well if you go through their particular store.)

and finally, check out the other "pink week" entries at i heart faces this week!