A Cut Above the Rest

I heard about The Cut via an Instagram account I follow, so naturally I just had to see it when visiting Page. I mean, how could you not? Especially since you have to drive through it to get back to the airport. It's pretty neat that the road goes through a mountain. This is something I won't soon forget.

Wandering the Country Like a Nomad

okay. so i'm probably like the farthest thing from a nomad, but i figured it made a pretty catchy title, considering the fact that i just went on the biggest trip of my life.

well. let me rephrase that.

my europe trips were pretty ginormous in the journey journal. but both of those trips i took with others, namely, my older brothers, and so, basically, i could follow them around the airports like a lost little puppy.

this trip was 3000 miles from start to finish. and i did it all alone.

probably it isn't the best thing to admit that i'm a twenty-something girl who just went across the country on my own. but, hey, i'm back, safe and sound.

so i thought over the next few blogs i would share some of my adventure with you!

so on my trip i visited northern arizona and southern utah. i took about a thousand odd pictures both on my iPhone and on my Canon Rebel, because, you know, when a tourist, take full advantage of being that tourist. so, needless to say, i will be editing my photographs from this trip for the next decade, or next adventure.

Portland Head Light Cloudy Sunrise

I have to admit it. Cloudy sunrises are not my favorite part of nature. Here you get up at 4:30 in the morning (which believe me, is not the easiest thing on the planet), then race to catch the perfect rise of the sun over the horizon that signals the beginning of a new day. But, I do have to say, that although un-colorful (is that a word? Asking for a friend) sunrises are not my favorite, and not the prettiest, they do have their moments, as I did end up discovering.

waterfall

this definitely wasn't the MOST impressive waterfall on our trip (stay tuned for that one!!) but i have to say, this natural beauty sure was worth the dangerous u-turn it took to turn around (don't tell my mother) and take it. it was even worth ruining an umbrella from the wind and rain.

this was taken in the white mountains, i believe the sign said Crawford's Notch....but don't quote me on that :)

En Route

earlier this month, my best friend and i took a road trip to Toronto. i'd never really been to Canada before (except for that time i had a layover there on my way to France in 2011), even though i've lived in a state that is bordered by more of Canada than the United States. funny how things like that happen.

it was a quick trip, but so worth it. so over the next few posts i'll be sharing some of my quick photos from the trip. i definitely want to go back some day! the people were so friendly and the streets were so clean you could probably eat off of them (don't worry, i didn't).

here is a shot from Maine to start off:

as you can see, it was pretty foggy out for the day of travel. we had some torrential downpours and had to pull off the highway at one point, but i absolutely love this shot! i even like it in color:

It's Been 4 Years...

I can't believe it's been four whole years since I first started this photographic journey online. I know I spend a lot of time reminiscing on this blog, and I almost thought about apologizing for it, but then I stepped back and thought, you know, if memorializing the past through photographs is something I like to do, then I probably shouldn't apologize for it.

I know, I know. It's been since last August that you've heard from this blog. And, to be honest, I don't have a good excuse. I guess my only excuse is...time and apprehension. But, over the last few weeks I've been reviewing my time budgeting (a very good word for it, right? You've got to buy out the time carefully) and I've decided to push myself more with my photography. I've decided to reopen my Etsy shop, and start blogging again on here. And even if no one reads this, EVER, I will be happy still, because I know that whatever everyone else thinks of this project, it at least makes me smile.

Soooo...in honor of me getting back in the saddle of this blog, I thought that I would show you the first photo that appeared four years ago on here, and then I'll show you my most recent shot. Because I think I've come a long way, even if I still have a long way to go from here.

{may, 2011}

Yeah, so I have to admit I am a little embarrassed I thought this picture was too cool for school. But hey, I matched the logo to the flower, so at least that was (kind of) cool....ok...maybe....

And here is my latest:

{June, 2015}

 Anyways. I can't wait to share the next chapter of my life with you all, dear readers (whoever you are and if you are out there). This year I had resolved to be a better version of myself and challenge myself to get out of my rut and be more positive and take more adventures. So....six months in....here we go with the third option!

At the beginning of July I went to Boston for the day. I love Boston so much. It reminds me of Portland's older sibling. I love Portland more, of course, but still. There's so much to see in Boston that it just makes me happy thinking of the place! I especially love the architecture. My lens could get lost in the many bricks upon bricks stacked to urban perfection. It amazes me how people can come up with these buildings. I know I couldn't! That's why I'm sticking to capturing them in photographs.

So here's the first of many from my daytrip. Hope you like it!

I'm on a blogging rampage. Seriously. It helps that I practically have a library of photographs since my sabbatical of posting on here. I hope that my posting doesn't annoy you, but, chances are, if you've been around since the start of this little blog project of mine, you've probably (hopefully! Ahh! I really hope!) decided my posts have come a LONG way. At least I think that the photographic content has. Maybe the written content hasn't. <-----as can be shown by my frequent sentence fragments.

Today's post I'm focusing (har-har...sorry. That was a pun) on water droplets. These are something that I never get tired of capturing. What's your favorite thing to take photos of?

Wow....I haven't posted in two and a half months???? Where??? What???

So summer has been busy, is the only viable excuse I can give you for my lengthy absence. I'm not going to make any grandiose promises about posting more often because we all know I've done those before. I can, however, say that, despite the blogging absence, have been taking photos. If you follow me on Instagram, you're already quite aware of this. In my defense for posting WAY too frequently on that social platform, it's photos. This girl can't resist photos. 

Okay. So since I have a plethora (points for grammar, please) of photos since I posted last, I'm going to be fair and go back to the beginning (snore). I'm not going to play favorites although I really really REEEEAALLLYY want to. Just stay tuned and know that there's something good to come when I post (at least, I think it's good. You might not, but hey, we don't all like the same things).

Here's the first. I had baby birdies in the bushes right in front of my window! Squeee!!! Can we all just agree that baby anythings are just adorable? I'm sure even the guys reading this post will agree with me on this well-known fact.

Springtime

Okay, so I know technically springtime is almost over for most of you, but here in the Northeast, everything is finally blooming (take that, winter). Today is such a nice day outside that I just had to get out there and take a couple of photos (32 to be exact...yes, I often get carried away with the Rebel).

Here are just three of my favorites!

Roadtrip Photos

I can't believe I only took 9 photos on the Rebel this past weekend! You'd think a whole weekend away would result in dozens upon dozens of photos to remember each glinting moment with...but...nope. Not this time, at least (if you follow me on Instagram you'll see that I did actually take non-photographical *made up word* pictures over the weekend, however non-blogworthy *also made up word* they seem).

I can't wait now that the weather is (finally!!) getting warmer to get out there and take some new photos! Until then, I hope you all are having an amazing spring & taking photos, too!

Photo Challenge Day 25: Soft

   okay so i got bored with posting these on instagram, so i figured i would post the last week of the photo challenge on here, since i never post on here {though i always intend to!} so, what's been going on since my last post here? nothing much. just random little things. just life, like the rest of you readers. i can't wait until it's spring and the flowers and the greens and the blue skies start returning, for tonight, though, there is snow forecasted and the weather has been chilly.

   so here's the day's photo challenge. if i'm good i'll think tomorrow & post tomorrow's...but...you know me..

   this is my cat. she's made an appearance on the blog before but i thought that since she's pretty soft and the post theme today was soft, what a perfect combination! although the lighting in the room was too bright, so she's actually darker than this photograph.

Winter Wonderland

I haven't updated in a month???? What has happened to the time! It's supposed to slow down in winter time and be nice and cozy and you're supposed to get caught up on everything you don't have time for the other months of the year. Apparently not. But I'm updating right now, so there.

Since it's winter, what would winter be without snow? {At least, here in the Northeast}

The Fog!

I love fog. Except, driving in it. That really scares me. Like I'm going to accidentally run someone over. Irrational thoughts, by Audrey.

I haven't really ever shot in the fog {oops I lied, I took photos once before in it} before these so forgive their over-amateurish qualities.

 couldn't decide if i liked this one...

 or this one...

Ice Storm {Part 2}

    I was editing tonight and decided I wasn't too impressed with the other pictures that I promised you of part 2, so I thought maybe I would try them in black and white (I love black and white photography. Think Ansel Adams or Alfred Eisenstaedt except for the fact that I will never attain to their epic awesomeness).

   So instead of posting all mediocre photos just to post a post (hello from the department of redundancy department) I bring you the ice in black in white :) hope you enjoy!

   (And p.s.-can you help my blog make it 11k pageviews? We're almost there!)

Ice Storm {Part 1}

   I realized I had a lot of photos of the ice storm {although it wasn't nearly as impressive as I thought it would be} so I couldn't show them all to you in one blog post {also I don't have time to edit them in one sitting} that's why I've labelled it "Part One".

   Can you believe it's 2014 already? Seems like yesterday that my dad bought me my first point and shoot and the passion was ignited. My goal for this year is to post more often, and to do that, I'll have to get out there more than I did last year and shoot photos for those posts.

   If you want to get the spark back between you and your camera, I suggest going to watch "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" {the new one with Ben Stiller. I love the old one with Danny Kaye, though, for other reasons} because you will not only want to dust off your camera, but you're going to want to visit Iceland and take amazing photos {I've started saving for my next adventure, who knows where it will be, but one thing I know for sure is that it will be somewhere there are amazing shots to be taken}. Also, you will want to download the soundtrack, because it has some pretty great music on it.

   Okay. So, the photos you have been waiting for {why would you visit this blog if you weren't here for the photos, because the blog writer is kind of a ditz and writes like this is her own personal journal}.....

I want to go back there someday..

...back to the wide open spaces and the bright blue skies of summertime. Anyone care to join me? 

Also, I found this photo today, I thought it was interesting how the Queen Anne's Lace flower pictured below kind of mimics an icy snowflake. Funny how nature does patterns, isn't it?

Frosty Mornings

   I never wake up early enough to give myself time to shoot the awesomeness of frosty mornings. Thanks to going to bed early last night, however, I was able to finally get out there and shoot some of the greatness of the season. Some may say, well, that's just some dead leaves, and cold grass. But I say, no, it stops you in your tracks and takes your breath away when you see it. It's beautiful.

   I decided to just show you the black and white versions today, maybe another day I will get the color ones to the way I remember the colors being.

   Enjoy!

Favorite Instagrams from November

   Okay, I'll admit it. This month I have not taken any "great" Instagrams. But I will say that in October I did. Too bad I'm only showing you Novembers in this blog post (I bet you wish you were following me on Instagram, now, don't you? Too bad my account is private, muahahahahah). I will also admit that I get really excited when I email myself, because then I know that it's not just another junk email from some big box store telling me I'm going to love the new coupon (let me tell you, big box store, if you're reading this, and I can guarantee you that you probably aren't, so, empty rant, I hardly ever love your coupon. Just sayin'). Anyways, here are my top three from this month.

3. Tell me I'm not the only Doctor Who fan. My friend and I (I coached her into doing it) did the tally marks on our faces and hands for the special. However, readers, if you ever decide to do this, please make sure that it comes off easier than mine did. I must have spent a half hour scrubbing that stuff off. Maybe I should just break down and buy some makeup remover. Can you tell I grew up with boys? 

2. Okay, so I'm a big Honda nerd, too. I would marry my Civic if it weren't a car. Okay, that came out wrong. You know (I hope) what I mean. One day I tweeted about my civic. The next day, Honda tweeted this. Awwww.....

1. And my number one pick for this month is...insert long annoying drumroll here...frost on the windshield. Even though we'll be seeing frosty windows here for the next eight months. :) 

OH, before I leave you readers cliff-hanging for next post, I wanted to tell you all how excited I am that Instagram is finally(!) on Windows phone! Yay! No more third-party apps! 

This Autumn..

   Okay, I'm going to be brutally honest here. I stink. Not as in the "I haven't taken a shower today" sense, but in the sense of "I haven't posted anything here since the beginning of September and really that is just way too long." So, I'm going to have to say, I'm sorry. I've been saying sorry a lot lately, at least that's what I feel like. But enough remorse and diddle daddle. (Which coincidentally, diddle is a word, but daddle isn't? Excuse me, spellcheck. It's in my dictionary.)

   Anywho. To the pictures. Maybe the reason I haven't posted on here is because I haven't taken the Rebel out very often. Which is a big no-no. I'll have to add "apologize to my camera and look like a crazy person" to my to-do list. Do you ever add things to lists just to cross them off? I do. All the time. Makes me feel accomplished. At least in a small mental way.

   Oh, exciting news! I've started a typography class. It's just really small and probably won't amount to much, but have I ever told you how much I just love typography? Maybe it's because it ends in -ography just like photography. But then again, I'm not into oceanography and that also ends in -ography. My eyes feel like they are at a delicious buffet of words when I look at a picture of words. Maybe I love it because I think typography is beautiful to look at, just like a wonderfully captured photograph.

   I thought today I would share with you (besides nonsensical ramblings) yet another flower picture. I was intrigued with this flower, it looks so different than other flowers I've seen. I also absolutely adore the color. What do you think?