Weekend in Seattle

This weekend I had the immense fortune to attend Michelle's wedding in Seattle. James and I carpooled with Paul, and we all picked Emily up from Sea-Tac. It was the perfect end to a great summer, and a terrific reunion of old friends.






















There was great food, fresh air, and stimulating conversation.










The brides were so beautiful. Michelle was glowing the whole time, and even though this was only the second time I've met Samantha, she is so easy to get to know and love.












They got married in a breathtaking park north of downtown and overlooking the city and the water. Of course, I was having too much fun with my camera. :)
I must also add what a beautiful ceremony it was. A concentration of good friends, lousy weather, and (not to sound too cheesy, but there isn't another word for it) love made everything perfect. I even liked the rain, and how it stopped the second the ceremony was over. Hallelujah!













































Fun times were had all around. The reception was held at the World Trade Center, also overlooking the water.









Thank you thank you thank you Pat and Libby for letting us stay with you! It was unfortunate that we really only had one night to talk. James and I both loved your house and we are so thankful we got to spend time with you both.









*Many many more pictures to come (I took almost 600! No sign of running out of room on my memory card!). I will be upgrading my Flickr account so I can add endless amounts of pictures. Some things to look forward to: Emily dancing, Paul as Silent Bob, and James and I singing Karaoke . Any guesses as to what song we would have sung? Also, that was a horrific moment for me.

More pictures

Not sure why I love my macro as much as I do, but I am sure having fun with it. Only the ivy and the rose was shot with the macro filter, but man, I would NOT have been able to do that with my old camera, as nice as it was. Woot! Don't you just love the light in the second ivy picture? I got lucky today. :)

New Hotness

I've jumped on the SLR bandwagon and splurged on a NikonD40. Today was my first day trying out my new scary and complicated camera. I have much to learn.


These are my first pictures. The slugs were taken with a high-power zoom lens with a Macro filter. The depth of focus is extremely narrow, and I was laying on the ground with my head in a shrub and not able to see through the viewfinder, so if you take a look at the full-size image you'll notice they aren't 100% in focus, which annoys me, but I guess that's okay because I was manually focusing anyway. But then, you can see the veins in this slug, and that's pretty awesome.


































I was really just thankful that I found the slowest-moving wildlife possible to practice on.
Also, I haven't been able to color/light correct these, as I don't have Photoshop anymore since my computer crashed. :( So these are all 100% un-retouched.


















































After going to the nature preserve, I went to Winco. Then there was a car on fire! I offered my camera services to the owner in case she wanted them for insurance or something, and I whipped my new baby out and pretended like I was a real photographer. It was a little scary, though, because at one point things were exploding in the engine. I was as far away as I could be with my zoom lens, but the images aren't 100% focused because I don't have an image stabilizer and no tri-pod, either. Pooh. And again with the manual focus.

Skunk Update

Aroma is fitting in very well in her new home. We think that Toby, actually, has had the hardest time adjusting - he sulked for a few days, then they had hidey-hole wars, and now they've reached a compromise and both share the prime hidey spot (under the bathroom sink). When it's time for bed, Toby takes his usual spot next to me, and Aroma usually climbs around the bed for a minute or two, unwilling to commit to snuggles - until last night, when she flopped down across my feet. Then, little by little, she wiggled her way up through the blankets until she was wedged between Toby and I, and promptly fell asleep. It was adorable. She follows us all around the house and steals Toby's food. This house definitely needed another female!

**Addendum:
Aroma slept with us last night, too. And again, she started at my feet, then wiggled her way up the blankets until she not only was wedged between Toby and I, but she smooshed her little head in between my cheek and the pillow. Not just a little bit, either - her whole head. Eventually, she kicked Toby out of his place under the covers, upside down, sprawled out and taking up as much room as possible.

I am pleased to announce that Hubby has posted. :)

For those of you looking for a new hobby....