thank you GradImages

When my brother walked across the stage this past June to receive his Bachelor's diploma, we weren't prepared at the side of the stage to capture the look of excitement and relief he was feeling as he took hold of that very expensive piece of paper.

Lucky for us though, GradImages was there. They caught that moment for us in a way I could have never hoped to.



Thank you GradImages for such a spectacular image of that moment. We'll be sure to send our order in as soon as I can figure out which dumpster the order form is in...

some random pics and a few details

I have a list in front of me with no less than 13 topics for blog posts from vacation... however, i lack a few things for all that. 1 being creative energy, 2 being time and 3 i just don't give a rat's behind...

you heard me.

But I do have some cool pics from everything and as I go through them I will put them up here and do a little explaining and colorful/possible exagerrating.

While the actual trip was 7 days, only 5 were actually spent doing things other than driving. Meaning:

5 days of nothin but sun
4 different beaches
3 sun-burnt booties
2 sand-filled tents
1 huge beach blanket that will never be rid of all the sand it collected



nothing ever really dried there, but this was the most effective way to dry things. It also was the second most effective way to keep the car from reaching 9000 bajillion degrees. The first way was to just not park in the sun... lol

One of the things I looked forward to most was visiting downtown Wilmington. Somehow we managed to pick a campground that was like 20 miles from downtown and because of traffic it took a good half hour to get there.



Anyways, what's a trip to any downtown without stopping at the local coffee shop. In this case it was Port City Java. I absolutely loved the atmosphere in this shop. And can I just say that I have been known to not buy food somewhere because I didn't like the atmosphere or the way it is decorated. Call me a snob, but that's just how it is. Art is important people!

About 100 miles off shore a hurricane was sirring up and by Friday was moving up to coast. We got to experience some pretty sweet surfing waves, which by the way I braved and conquered. At least til the surf board conquered me. Doesn't change the fact that I totally rode a wave all the way in and did not fall off!



Anyways, like I said, by friday, the waves were nice. And consequently, all the surfers and skurfers were comin out of the woodwork to show off their digs and skillz. These particular guys were catching the waves breaking right near the shore... if you've not seen a skurfer (I don't know if that's what they're really called, I think it sounds appropriate though) then basically what they do is wait on the shore til they see a wave worthy of their energy and run down to it, throw the board down and jump on it and kinda blast across it. Sometimes they jump up with the wave and do aerial spins and stuff. It's really cool to watch.



I can't tell you how much I probably looked like a tourist the way I was freaking out about this pelican. I don't know that I've ever seen a real pelican before. I feel like I should have, but I've probably just seen a lot of pictures. Anyways, I tried climbing up to it's level but all the shots I got after doing that were of his butt. So this is a hand stuck-in-the-air-on-my-tippy-toes-almost-falling-over shot.

That's all I have for now... or rather have energy for now. One of the things I hope to do is put together a compilation of all the videos we took. I used my little canon elph zipped inside a ziploc bag to take some video out in the waves. It was sooo fun and we looked like total dorks :) That's a good thing though, at least I think so!

back from the beach

It was a long week full of fun, sun and some burnt buns...

ok, well maybe not, but it rhymed, and let's just say, maybe i coulda been a little more careful with the sunscreen? Just sayin.

We arrived home last night around 2am, after 16 hours of driving. UGH! It only took 12 hours getting down there, but on the way back we were stuck from richmond to DC approximately 100 miles for FIVE HOURS.

I have a list of different topics to blog about from the trip, so if you don't mind (heck, who cares if you do, this is my blog after all) I'll be writing a lot about the trip for the next few days. I will however spice it all up with pictures, since my writing can be rather drab at times.

We left on Sunday afternoon at 4pm and arrived in Wilmington at 4am. Since nothing was really open at that time we decided to head straight for the beach and wait for the sun to rise. When I was down before, I only visited Wrightsville Beach, so that's where we went. We took our big beach blanket out into the sand in the misty early morning and slept for almost an hour before the faintest light started breaking through the night sky.



I tried my best to enjoy it for all it was worth, but by the time it got even this light, I was tired, hungry, a little cold and kinda grumpy. So we set out for McDonald's and got some delicious and nutritious breakfast.

We arrived at our campground of choice at 7:30am and began setting up camp. By 8:30 I was sweating so much that I started chiding myself on how I could have been stupid enough to think that camping in North Carolina in August was a good idea. Seriously, what's wrong with me?

Anyways, I was up early enough one other morning to see the sunrise again, but no pictures that time. We were up to run... and let me tell you a secret. If I actually lived in NC, I would no longer be running. I have never sweat so much in my life. I used to think that I like to sweat. That's because when I sweat up here, it's like, "ope, there's a little drop of sweat running off my forehead." Whereas down there it's like, "omg I can't see anymore because so much sweat has dripped into my eye."

You love that mental picture, don't lie.

The mental picture I have right now though is of my bed. Beds are so not overrated, and I'm looking forward to getting in mine right now :)

family reunion part 3

Today is the day.

What, I don't sound excited?

Let me try again...

TODAY IS THE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

as soon as church is over today, we will be on the road on our way to Wilmington for almost a week of freakhogstupendousnessfesting! That word is what the name of this vacation has come to be known by in case you were wondering...

Anyways, it turns out I will have my computer with me... although I'm not sure how much I'll be on it. It would be nice to get some live updates and pictures, but honestly, it's time consuming! Especially on my laptop... my workflow isn't nearly as nice as I have it set up in my office.

Looking back a couple days, our last day with my brother Jay's family was spent at Stonybrook. When we arrived at the park, the water temperature was posted at 58 degrees. I don't really care how hot it is outside, 58 degree water is not my idea of a good time. So when we all decided to hike up the gorge, I was more than happy to leave behind the frigid water and begin!



Somehow, the water wasn't as cold upstream... or maybe it's just that sitting under a waterfall is way cooler than dunking yourself in an arctic pool. I can do that in my own backyard thankyouverymuch.

Thanks to my brother Jay, and my niece Raelynn for all the pictures in this post. I took a bunch as well, but I always like when I'm actually in the pictures :D

In the falls picture from left to right is my niece Natalie, me, my brother Dan.



This kinda stuff is soooo worth getting wet in super cold water and almost killing yourself on slippery rocks... after this adventure, and realizing just how much I enjoyed it and would like to do more hiking like this, I invested in a pair of super fantabulous water shoes obtained by my brother as he works at EMS and got them on clearance for me!



It became even clearer to me that my family is bent toward photography with each shot I went through. Like I said earlier, Jay took the first and last in the post, Raelynn took the middle shot.

There were a lot of shots like this last one from Jay, and it just goes to show ya that the eye is more important than anything! Everything else can be learned... at least that's what I think ;)

Although the family reunion is coming to a close, we will always have the memories made and shared this last week. I'm excited to get on the road this afternoon and begin making new ones!

my career as an auctioneer

Ok, not entirely accurate, but for kicks and giggles, let's just go with it k?

The truth is that I was hired to take pictures at one of the biggest machinery auctions in NY state. They wanted pictures of the actual auctioneers doin their thing, plus shots that would show how much equipment was there, large crowds gathered around it etc. It was a looong, hot day. But we made it a lot of fun, so what I have to show you will look like all we did was goof off the whole time... but we actually did get some pretty awesome stuff.



This is Nicole. AKA my lifesaver. Doing this project without her wouldn't have been nearly as fun.



We got to go up in the lift 3 times to get shots of different things that were going on. A couple people asked if I would be ok with heights, and I was all, of course, why wouldn't I be? But after being asked a few times, I started to wonder... Am I supposed to be afraid of this? heck no! It was totally fun!



In the background you can see all the trailers lined up waiting to be auctioned off.



This reminded me of a crazy dream I had the other night. It was one of those dreams where you're not quite all the way asleep, but enough so that you can definitely be dreaming...

Well, in the dream, I was standing below one of these. And it was as if all of a sudden the scoop thing started dropping down right over me. I woke up so quickly that I jumped just as it was about to totally smash into me. So when I saw this, I couldn't help but get inside and show it who was boss.



There weren't a whole lot of girls there, so it was no surprise the amount of (mostly old) men came up to us and asked for pictures... This guy being one of the more memorable ones... ha!



I remember having huge tires like this at playgrounds when I was little. They were huge then, and they're still huge now!



What do you see in this picture? Well if you said a very hot, extremely attractive blonde, you would be wrong... well, there is that, but I'm looking for something more ;)

Take a look at my feet. Honestly, this picture does them no justice... but let me just tell you, I/we should not have been wearing flip flops! We shoulda been wearin cowboy or work boots! there was so much mud everywhere, it was totally unavoidable. I got stuck more than once and at times stepped through puddles almost up to my ankles.



This was a shot we had to go back to get. The first time we passed by this old MACK there were too many people to pose with it. But we came back after awhile and they had passed.

Anyways, as a whole, it was a great experience. It's crazy how I happen upon this stuff. But it's so great to have the flexibility to decide when and where I want to work, I love it!

Tomorrow is packing day. And then Sunday is NC baby! I don't know that I have formally talked about this on my blog, and I don't really feel the need to write a whole long drawn out thing about it... but I need to say something about it at least.

For the last couple months I've been seriously considering and even planning my move to NC. However, over the last 4ish weeks, I have done some serious reconsidering. Ultimately, I decided that this is not the right time for me to make a move like that. Unless you know me only through my blog, you probably already knew this, but I felt that I just needed to say that on here anyhow. There are a lot of factors that have gone into this decision, but I can say in all honesty that I couldn't be happier about it. Somehow, this whole process has given me new reason and a renewed purpose for being here.

We'll see how I feel once February hits... lol

a post is a post is a post

Today was such a long day... I have taken so many pictures, yet I have zero energy to put any of them up.

I started out with a run at 7:30 followed by some mass chaos as the 12 people in my house currently readied themselves for a family photoshoot. We took almost 2 hours to complete everything and everyone, and although I have yet to even look at them, I am sure they came out great :)

Afterwards, I headed out to Seneca Falls with my friend Nicole. We took pictures to document pretty much the biggest auction in NY state. A friend of mine referred me to one of the owners of the auctioneering company and I was hired to get shots for them to use for promotional pieces. It was a hot, intense and totally fun day!

Tomorrow we are going to letchworth for awhile. And Saturday will be spent packing for the beach! I'm leaving Sunday for North Carolina with Alicia and my brother Dan. There will be tons o pictures from that, but although I promised to blog once a day for a month, I failed to remember this vacation in there. Consequently, I will most likely not be blogging at all down there as I'm pretty sure I'm not even taking a computer.

GASP!

I am really looking forward to that actually :)

Tomorrow I will put up a sneak peek at some of our family pics + some of the great stuff we got at the auction.

fishing with the boys

Today marked the 5th day of our family reunion.

It also marked the 9th day of my "running without stopping" training. I decided a couple weeks ago that I needed to break the habit of starting and stopping while running. So since I already knew that I could do a mile without stopping, that's where I started. I ran to the stop sign (1/2 mile) and back the first day. The next day I went to the next drive-way. The next day, to the next mailbox and so on. Today I completed 1.6 miles... with no stopping. I'm still kinda slow, but I figure once I get myself up to running for like 30 minutes at a time, then I can start working on some speed :) I'm almost there! Today's 1.6 miles was just over 20 minutes.

Anyways, continuing on, I have more than just running to talk about today. Oh, I have lots more. But I'm only choosing one thing to expound on right now.

We (dan and I) went fishing at the Elim pond with the 4 nephews.


Here they are... I do believe they all caught at least one fish at some point... though, some caught more than others ;)



Maybe it was because of their mad nasty huge-normous night crawlers?









Or maybe it was because they just have mad fishing skillz





Whatever the case...



They had fun doing it :)

family reunion part 2

Like I said, Sunday was fun.

Hangin' out at the house, with lots of family, a few friends and some crazy dogs running around. But what it all boils down to with family reunions in the summertime is going to the lake! Yes, it's true, we do have some water in upstate NY and sometimes if you're lucky, you might find a decent beach.

Yesterday was one of those days. On our way down to Conesus I realized I hadn't brought sunscreen, and while I'm a little tan just from bein out a lot this summer, my legs are blindingly white still. Giving those full-on sun exposure at midday would surely end up in disaster. When we got to the lake, I was going to put some on right away, but got carried away and jumped right into the boat. I kinda figured it would be the only chance I'd have to do anything fun in the water before all the kids came out. In my excitement, I totally forgot to get the sunscreen and consequently got some nice color. But not too much :) I kept a towel on my lap so I wouldn't totally fry... buuut... I usually look at people who have sunburns and think, "man, what a loser, don't they know they can prevent that?" haha, look where that gets me ;)



What was so cool about going out was that it was just the four of us. Honestly, I don't remember a time where the 4 of us siblings have done something together... meaning, just us and noone else. It was pretty cool.

And you would think, because I'm like a little obsessed with taking pictures and all, that I would have a nice picture of the four of us... but no. Somehow, it never happens, and this picture above is as close as it will probably ever get.





My big brother Rob and I. This is where it's at. The front of the boat, wide open and good company... ahhhhhh :)

Today is just a real relaxing day. My brother Rob and sis-in-law Dyan left a little while ago to go back home to MD, leaving their hooligans here for another week ;) My brother Jay and his whole family will be here until Saturday.

family reunion part 1

Saturday marked the first of an almost week long family reunion.

We drove out to Conewango Valley to reunite with my mom's side of the family. More specifically, the great grandparents descendants... meaning, lots and lots of people I really don't know that well :)

Family reunions are (usually) a good time, and this one definitely was. It was good to sit and talk with some of my cousins I haven't seen or talked to since the last family reunion a couple years ago.



This is in fact one of my nieces, Halo. A couple of the younger cousins ran her around the perimeter of the enormous property my uncle (or maybe he's my cousin?) owns. Probably about 2 miles after the second lap... she was kinda pooped.



I so wish I could find tractors like "big al" for some shoots. Seriously, how cool would that be?



We did a lot of this, and also a new game called nuke em, which I liked a lot.

Then yesterday, we had my dad's side of the family at our house for another get-together... we had so much fun seeing everyone and playing tether-ball, nuke em and a little volleyball. Also, they played, let's make sure Aunt Amanda gets thrown in the pool with all her clothes on...



But back to Saturday, this is a picture of my generation. And hey guess what? I'm the youngest! yayayaya! Well if dan had been there, he would have been... but I'll take what I can get :)

flowers on a sunday

When you have a vase of gladiolas on the table, what do you do with them?

If your name is amanda, you take pictures of them...

That's all :)

vintage

I've decided to learn the ways of yard saling...

I tried my hand out at it yesterday... with not much luck. But I still had a good time. Yard saling is definitely a great way to find under-priced antiques though. And this china plate was no exception. Two mis-matched pieces $.50 each. I'm kind of a mis-matchy type of girl. The kind who does not like symmetry or perfection. I love that old mis-matchy things have a story behind them. Years of people before me enjoying their not quite perfect shape... and the conversations had over dessert on these pieces now separated from their original mates. Something about that is more special to me than pretty things bought from the store, straight out of the box, wouldn't you agree?

pools and kiddos... again

A couple months ago, when I finished my job as a nanny, I had every intention of putting pictures of them up and writing some sappy post that would make me cry at just the thought of it. But I never did.

Not that I didn't have the pictures... not that I didn't have the words.

The truth is, I was just too sad about it at the time. And the less time I had to think about it, the better I was.

However, it's been a couple months since then and I'm doing much better. It's so much easier now to look back and remember the good times... and those sad feelings are fading more and more each day.

Last Sunday they all came over to go swimming and we all had so much fun I had them over again today.



When I was little I used to do the jumping into stacked up tubes thing, like Claudia is doing here... and for some reason, although I can't recall the memory explicitly, I feel like I had some sort of head-smacking-on-the-side-of-the-pool-or-deck accident doing that...



Also, in case you ever wondered why photographers don't like to shoot at high noon, let these pictures serve as a classic example. They are blown out and I had to work pretty hard to get them to even look like this. I mean, there's things you can do... but seriously... let's just shoot later on, k?



Tomorrow I'm going to be going down to the name of some valley I can neither pronounce or spell for my big family reunion. Before that though, I have a shoot in honeoye falls! In the morning... when the light is nice :)