A Shelter Menagerie

Something to start your week off with: a mixture of cats, kittens, bunnies, guinea pigs, and hamsters.

More than you could ask for, I know. Enjoy the fluffiness!

Something Pretty on a Saturday

Toni and Joe

Joe and I first became friends in a chilly first period chemistry class our sophomore year of high school. There was something about shivering and learning about trivalent bonds that just somehow . . . bonded us.

And even though she lives in New York now, and has for donkey's years, I was lucky enough to capture her and her mom Toni during a brief break here. See, Toni's not just your average mom - she co-founded a groundbreaking and kickass business, just to mention one of her amazing exploits. She's also amazingly crafty and creative - when we graduated high school she gifted all of us with pillows that had pictures of all of us on them. And that's just scratching the surface.

Joe, Miya, Toni, thank you so much for being you. Amazing, strong, beautiful women.

Joe, I can't wait until you're back here for good. I'm so glad it's coming soon!

Aren't they just fantastic together?

You're both beautiful. And that's just that.

So girls, what are we doing for Valentine's day next year??

Self Portrait - March

I know, I know. I missed February. And technically, this isn't really a self portrait, because Evan pushed the shutter button. But I did choose the spot to stand. I think that counts for a lot, right? Right?

When this was taken, I had slept for three hours, and then gone skiing all day. After two years of not skiing at all. So I was a bit sore. And tired. But happy. It was a really good day.

Evan - A Bokeh Panorama

This is a new technique I've been fiddling with. It's called either a bokeh panorama, or the Brenizer technique. Either way it's pretty fun, although it does require a bit of massaging in photoshop. Basically it's a panorama with very shallow depth of field, although that's not the best way to describe it. But it is fun. And that's what matters.

Read a bit more about the technique here, here and here. (The first two are links to where I found the method in the first place, and the last one is another tutorial I found helpful.)

A Rather Snowy Weekend

We left Friday night at 8:30, hoping to make the drive to Tahoe by midnight. Knowing, of course, that it wouldn't be easy, and we might hit some traffic and some snow. Both seemed like they might be in the cards.

Well. They certainly were. We flew through the first 3 hours, with only 20 miles to go as it neared midnight. Seemed like we might get lucky.

That's when traffic crawled to a halt and we sat for 4 hours on the freeway. At a dead stop, not even inching forward.

And we sat for 4 hours, in the same spot, on the highway.

Only to make it to our exit, wend our way to the cabin, and realize that the last 50 feet weren't plowed and we'd have to trudge to the house instead of drive to it. Were it not for a very altruistic late night snowplow driver, we would have completely abandoned the car.

As it was, we made it to bed by 5. Zonked out, and went skiing the next morning at 8.

Which, I have to say, was totally worth it. What an amazing view. And great weather, all day long, with fresh snow to ski in.