White Christmas

We spent Christmas at my parent's this year, except we celebrated Christmas Day on Christmas Eve.... and Christmas Eve on Christmas Eve Eve. My dad had to fly on Christmas Day.... hence the alterations to the holiday celebrations.

Christmas Eve Eve Day was play in snow day!!!! Poppy's first snow day, in fact. Cooper refused to get into his snow suit. And John was the only kid brave enough to try (backyard) "sledding".

My brother is such a good dad :0)

Expecting #2...... yeah..... Ryan and Spring announced they were pregnant.... 7 months along and they were finally breaking the news!!!! Cripes! They said, had Christmas not gotten in the way, they would have waited to announce it until 2 hours before they were delivering the baby. I guess they could get away with it being secluded out in Texas. Oh, and it's a boy!

After naps, we headed over the Grandma and Grandpa's house to sing a carol, bring some goodies, visit for a bit with them & my aunt/uncle/cousins staying with them.... and then invited them over for Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve which... remember.... was our Christmas Day :)

Christmas Eve pajama gift tradition......

Since we grew out of it, we passed the tradition on to the grand-babies.

I wish they made footsy-pjs for grown-ups :)

Cooper's binky somehow got flung into the Chrismas tree..... after a desperate search attempt, I finally found it dangling in the tree.... whew.....

Christmas morning.....

So..... this was Cooper's attitude about presents...... (he wanted nothing to do with them)...

and the Christmas crust returns..... hahaha.......

I can't decide if my son not liking presents is a good thing or a bad thing..... anywho...

he got over it eventually and loved playing with his new toys.....

After presents we followed with our other Christmas tradition..... the movie theater!

My other brother treated us to Avatar 3D and it was AWESOME!!!!

Then Christmas Dinner...... well.... in this picture, it's Christmas dessert!

On the actual day of Christmas..... we headed to Cam's grandparents for another Christmas dinner.... and then home. Good times!

Help Portrait

One day I get this email asking if I would want to help volunteer for this thing called HelpPortrait. Basically on December 12th (all over the world), it's to donate your time and talent and photograph somebody. In this case, this awesome photographer, Sarah of Photo de Novo, organized a whole thing at a local coffee shop/church/non-profit venue- Everyday Joe's. She gathered a dozen photographers or so and several other volunteers, and then got the word out to various organizations of families who might benefit from professional photoshoots, of whom probably couldn't afford it otherwise. There were about 5 or 6 stations accomidating about 6 families every hour from 8-5..... full studio equipment and all. I was paired up with another incredible photographer, Josh Barrett of Ignite Images. Some of us hobbiest photographers (like mwa) who had little to no studio experience were geniously paired with professionals... and I learned a bunch!! Josh was great with people and was patient with teaching me the ropes. He also kept encouraging me to take my turn on the families coming through, but I was too chicken and rather prefered assisting him, observing, and learning. I did help with posing ideas when I had them and he claims that helped. And then finally, with a shove of encouragement, I photographed one family.

(with respect to the family's privacy, I won't be posting the results)

After the fact, I wish I had done more... but I was ok with it and was proud of what I produced. It was just scary and intimidating for my first time, but now I have a little more confidence... and I met some really cool people.... Sarah and Josh are tight :)

I'll Trade you My Cookie for Your Candycane....

Cooper's first Santa experience......

It was so cute... Santa gave Cooper a candy cane, and Cooper gave Santa his cookie :)

Work Christmas Dinner

My boss treated our office to dinner at The Melting Pot (a fondue restaurant)

for a Christmas party!

Let me tell ya- It was a real treat!!! The food and experience was too good for words...

Thanks Dr K

I thoroughly enjoyed my delectable meal and the gorgeous company!

Ten Out of Tenn

When Amber reminded me of the Ten Out of Tenn Tour passing thru Fort Collins.... I jumped in excitement and then rounded up some girlfriends to go with me..... Taryn and Amy :0)

Anywho.... this Christmas Edition tour is composed of ten musicians out of Tennessee.
Each musician sang one song off their album, and then one holiday song.... with each other musician jumping in as the back up band.

We have Andy Davis on the piano

and Trent Dabbs in the jacket, who started TOT with his wife....

(you'll count 11 names listed because Andrew Belle subbed in for Griffin House this year)

Butterfly Boucher rocked! Only the coolest Australian-Nashvillian I ever saw :)

Unfortunately I didn't get a decent picture of her, but you can see her here with the guitar....

Andrew Belle!!!

This up and coming artist caught my ear.

You have to at least check out his link if not any of the others.

.... scratch that..... check 'em ALL out :)

Erin McCarley sang an incredible version of Little Drummer Boy...

(which you can listen to if you click the link and push play)

K.S. Rhoads in the red pants..... well..... he jams!!!!!!!

He also produced and arranged the compilation TOT Christmas album.

(I totally embarrassed myself in front of Erin, K.S. Rhoads "aka Kevin" and Andrew Belle later after the show, but we're not going to get into that right now.... or ever haha)

Matthew Perryman Jones....

I was most familiar with his music (along with Katie Herzig and K.S. Rhoads)

Jeremy Lister is in the green beanie.... and the whistling Katie Herzig is originally from Fort Collins! Cool, huh?! She lived here all the way thru high school, went to CU Boulder, currently resides in Nashville... but comes back often when she tours. I love her unique voice.

And then there's Tyler James. He rocks the trumpet and pretty much every other instrument up there. He is super nice, too. After the show, I asked if he could sign his CD for me.... it turns out he is really easy to talk to and makes you feel like you've been friends for years.

The show was AWESOME!

Winter Tree

I've finally completed My Tree of All Seasons collection. This makes me happy.

Click here if you want to see the other seasons.

Early Mornings

Hallway Camping

Cameron was out. I just finished watching a movie. Found Cooper like this.

so sweet.

Two is Better

Thanksgiving

Celebrated my Dad's birthday on tuesday. Ate Thanksgiving dinner on wednesday.

Watched "New Moon" with my friend Amber and her son Ashton thursday morning.

Drove up to Johnstown for another Thanksgiving dinner.

mmmm....

Portland / San Francisco.... Beauty / Adventure

Because I love to travel and to see live music and to photograph it all.....

I opted to put my three passions together and buy tickets for a Ray Lamontagne concert in

San Francisco (rather than Denver).

I planned the weekend getaway with my friend Marisa.

Well, one day I get an email from my other good friend, Amber:

"....Jay Nash is playing one of my FAVORITE Portland venues on Nov 12th with Joey Ryan and Shane Alexander. And plane tickets are CHEAP, but I just can't!!! I would love to hop on a plane early the morning of the 12th, catch the show that night and then fly out later the next day. Would be SOOO amazing and I miss Portland fiercely....."

Well...... little did Amber know, she was venting her daydreams to someone who makes these things happen. And what a coincidence that this possible mini trip could conveniently land a couple days before my planned SanFran trip. All I could think was- why not?

And before you know it..... Amber is bouncing off the walls with excitement about getting to see all her friends and family again! She just needed a little convincing that this was something she needed and it was okay to take some "me time" away from her responsibilites.

I can't explain how incredibly blessed I feel that one little non-serious email turned into an experience to remember forever! I feel like my words and photos won't fully describe the effect Portland had on me and the beauty that Portland is.

Amber pointed out where so many special memories took place, and showed me as many of her favorite parts of this city, that is her love, as she could fit in- bless her heart.

A short spontaneous stop into a jewelry shop to say a quick hi to some dear friends of hers turned into an hour of much needed love and life sharing. I got a special behind the scenes tour of what goes into jewelry design, which was so cool! It made me happy to meet this genuine couple and see Amber so happy! We were off to a great start!

Afterward, we made our way to Red Robin for lunch..... where she worked for many years and where a large part of her Portland family comes from. Needless to say she was bombarded with lots of hugs!

After lunch, we took a gorgeous drive thru countless shades of green, up to Crown Point....final destination- Multnomah Falls.

The music of Angus and Julia Stone will forever remind me of this drive and this day :)

Poor Amber kept having to stop the car so I could take pictures...... I don't think she minded :)

What you don't see in the picture is the drop off and incredible view behind my silly posing.

I was a happy girl!

This is Crown Point..... and the Columbia River Gorge.....

.... and an accidental close up shot of our faces THAT I LOVE!!!! (courtesy of Amber)

Did I mention we brought Colorado sunshine with us!!!!!

IT WAS PERFECT

We continued on the breath taking drive ....

Made another side of the road stop to capture this beauty...

Met a fellow photographer admiring the same view :)

This photo of the photographer ended up being my favorite from the whole trip! Amber's too!

Multnomah Falls is the second-tallest-year-round waterfall in the nation..... the reason I couldn't fit the whole thing into my camera frame.

This was the only time I needed to whip out my rain jacket because of the waterfall mist.... haha

We couldn't stay long because we were running behind schedule and had a show to catch.

Jay Nash, Joey Ryan and Shane Alexander were to perform at Mississippi Studios, which I'm pretty sure was on the other side of the barn looking doors :)

So we met up with several of Amber's close friends for dinner before the show (some drove hours to see her). Jay, Joey and Shane (friends of Amber's) kept us company while we waited for everyone to arrive. Had an embarrasing red moment. They scarfed down some food before they had to go setup. We scarfed down great conversation and good company before joining them next door.

Let me just start out by saying how freaking fantastic this show was....

I loved LOVED the intimate setting

I loved all of them, but I think Joey was my favorite. He loves California :)

This photo of Shane's feet is my favorite from the night. He really gets into his music- it's awesome

The power of Jay's vocals when you hear him live is mind blowing!

As each took the stage for their set, the other two would join for a song or two.

This show will probably stay in the top five of my all time favorites for a long time!

When can I do it again?!

after-party... table for six....

The next morning, we ate at this quaint little Scandivavian cafe- Broder

Sooooooooooooooooooo delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amber took me a famous shopping street- Hawthorne Ave.

We strolled in and out of fun stores.... what do you think?.... is plaid in??

another favorite snap.....

did not get a tattoo

LOOOOOOOOOOVED THE BAGDAD THEATER

It has an old fashion old hollywood charm (because, well.... it's old), but very VERY well kept. Plays new movies and old movies..... serves food and everything! I was jealous and wanted to take it home with me.

Did a little more window shopping and snapped this gorgeous pic of my oober gorgeous friend!

She continued giving me her special tour thru beautiful parks and secret gardens.

"breath-taking" ... "mind-blowing" .... "speechless" ....... all became understatements of understatements and I could no longer process or understand the beauty before me. It was all so overwhelming but in such an incredible, undescribable way.

If I can even say "the best part" (as if it all wasn't the best part).... Amber took me to her favorite restaurant Vista Spring Cafe.... smack in the middle of a beautiful residential area. Almost like it were a secret.

I have to say, this will be a meal to remember!........

......... mostly for the emotional breakdown I had after experiencing Portland thru my friend's big heart. I think the waiter thought I was crazy. But it turns out, he was an artist/photographer who probably understood: Aaron Ziobrowski.

We rested the remainder of the evening with our BEAUTIFULLY SPIRITED hosts.....some of Amber's closest friends and people who made me feel like I was already part of their family.

If you knew Amber, you would know why everyone loves this girl and why I love everyone who loves this girl. You just have to experience her for yourself :)

**************************************

Next stop: San Francisco....

Amber went home to Colorado and I met up with Marisa in SanFran. Before I continue, I need to explain that Portland set the bar unattainably high for SanFran, in terms of first impression. I also need to explain that I was a bit worn out and tried really hard to pretend like I wasn't, for Marisa's sake. Between not being in the mood to take pictures to not really doing many touristy things to the scary vibes I got from some of the less than classy places we sometimes ended up.... the photos posted won't be what you expect out of SanFran. However, I will always be grateful to have experienced it with Marisa. I love this girl forever!

This was our gorgeous room view :) Definately worth the extra $30

And this is my travel buddy..... WOW! I have lots of gorgeous friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This trolley ride was about as touristy as we got..... but you know...sometimes I like not doing touristy things. Rather I find trips like this to be more memorable by just soaking in the adventure for what it is and where it takes you. She agreed :)

I dragged Marisa to the Beat Museum and smothered her with what little I knew about Jack Kerouac, "On the Road," and literature history. Poor girl hahaha. Good spirit, that one!

We had a great heart to heart at an Italian joint. Sadly, I realized how much of my italian I had forgotten since Italy. Discovered American-Italians are bigger flirts than Italian-Italians haha.

Then some Irish lads asked us where the pub was.... thought that was pretty FUNny :)

The next morning we took our time waking up and getting ready, and then headed in the direction of Golden Gate Park. Along the way, we found an estate sale. I found and purchased an old vintage looking ring. Not long after, a bird pooped on my head. I blamed it on the ring and took it off. Marisa cleaning the poop out of my hair in a restaurant sink and it was a great bonding moment hahaha. Again- love the girl.

Window shopped on the famous Haight Street. Had a superb lunch at Squat&Gobble Cafe & Crepery. THEY HAD BUFFALO MOZZERELLA AND I WAS BEYOND THRILLED!!!!!

The further we walked down Haight street towards the park, the more creepy it got. Lets just say, I put my camera away in fear that if someone tried to steal it and I screamed, no one would care. When we got to the park, I was still hesitant to take pictures, but I did anyway.... just tried to stay as discreet as possible. We stayed close.

This is a large group of drum players, hippie dancers, weed smokers, and vibe feelers. It was very interesting and a fun vibe..... although I wasn't able to truely enjoy it with the unsafe vibes Marisa and I were getting. Why we were the only ones, I'm not sure?....because it seemed like everyone else was basking in the Saturday afternoon sun, doing various activities. Maybe it's because we were unaccustom to San Francisco culture and the wide variety of some-normal-and-lots-strange people.

We realized we needed to head back to make it in time for the reason we went to San Francisco in the first place...... the event that spurred this ENTIRE trip.......

Ray Lamontagne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One of my favorite FAVORITES

I literally jumped in my seat at the first note that came out of his mouth. I was struck completely surprised at how POWERFUL his voice was. I've listened to his music over and over and over and was aware of his awesomenss..... but I had NO IDEA what the Ray experience was really like until that night.

I officially prefer him live over recorded now... which says a lot!

To go with the theme of the non-photographed trip, I wasn't able to get any good pictures because I was too far back. But, honestly, I didn't care and I didn't really try. I was all about being in the moment. I was happy.

The whole night was wicked awesome...... and memorable*

Time came to go home. I really just wanted to go back to Portland :)