Archive for the 'Photography' Category

Cox wedding

Published at September 6, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

This past weekend, Chris and I had the privilege of shooting my cousin’s wedding.  Congratulations to Zach and Christa!

I have been very sick the past three days, so I only have about 25 photos edited at this point, but here are a few.

 

Zach and Christa got married at Hurricane Hill in Bedford, VA.  We weren’t supposed to go romping through the fields since the facility owners don’t actually own all of the land.  However, I was able to get them this far and take advantage of the amazing mountain views.

 

Zach and Christa share a strong love for cars.  This has been their favorite shot so far.  :)

 

 

More shots here!

Baby Robinson

Published at September 6, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Wow.  I haven’t updated in a long time.  This past Friday, Christopher and I had our 22 week ultrasound.  This was “the big one” where we found out the gender.  And of course we found out.  So, Baby Robinson is a healthy baby BOY!  We’re so incredibly overjoyed and thankful for this wonder blessing.

As you may be able to tell from the photo, he had his legs up over his head and was playing with his feet with his hands.  It was adorable.  I’m not sure what yoga pose that is, but I was thoroughly impressed.

Ivy Lake

Published at June 27, 2010 in Gardening, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Christopher and I have been beating the heat with frequent trips to Ivy Lake.

Abed-nego has not been beating the heat by playing with golf balls with Christopher.

And I’d like to introduce you to the first zucchini of the summer, which will be made into zucchini bread.  In about ten minutes.

baby time!

Published at June 11, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

I don’t think that I have mentioned on here that the Robinson family is extending.
Yep, we’re having a baby!
Here is my ultrasound from today.  Nine weeks and six days!  Due January 9th!

 

 

We decided last November that we felt ready to start trying come spring.  So there you have it!

sneak peak at the Riverside Park wedding

Published at June 6, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Sneak peak at Stephanie and Bernard’s wedding photos at Riverside Park

Grayson Highlands, take II

Published at May 18, 2010 in Hiking, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Last weekend, we went out to Grayson Highlands State Park again.  Last time we went in August, the blue berries were ripe, it was hot hot hot during the day, and cold cold cold at night and morning.

This time, it was freezing all around.  Here in Lynchburg, the weather has been nice, the trees have been fully green for over a month, it feels a lot like summer.  Well, the Highlands were a different story.  It felt like early March!  Cold, breezy, bare trees…  But, as always, it was an amazing trip and totally worth the four-hour drive.  It is just interesting how different areas can be due to elevation–and, just so you know, Lynchburg is indeed in the mountains as well, just not that high up I guess.

Anyway, the main point of the trip was to celebrate my friend Kimmy’s 24th birthday.  Kimmy and I have know each other since kindergarten, so it was tons of fun to show her around Lynchburg, take her camping, introduce her to the ponies, and all that.

Kimmy and her husband, Josh, at the campsite.

Kimmy and Josh hiking to find the ponies.

Christopher and Josh on a crazy rock-mountain that they climbed.  I still don’t know how.

Christopher and a pony.

Me talking to a pony.

Group shot at an overlook.

HDR at the overlook.

More shots on flickr.

weekend in Chesapeake

Published at April 21, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

We spent last weekend in Chesapeake visiting family.  I hadn’t been back since Christmas!  And now a couple of shots of my niece and nephew.


I love that Matthew always wears a cowboy hat.

After dinner and helping with dishes some, I went outside to see Chris on all fours in the grass having a growling contest with Matthew. So silly. I jumped on Chris’s back for a “double monster,” but Sydney quickly wanted a turn and I gave her my spot. After a little while, I realized that Sydney had an accident…. Here is Chris crawling around in the grass, growling back and forth with Matthew, with Syndey clinging to his back, and she has peed on him, yet he didn’t notice yet. It was hilariouss.

 We came home to see that my salvia has bloomed!  Stokeddd!  I’ll post photos some other day of our garden all coming together.

Natural Bridge, VA

Published at April 9, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Christopher and I were feeling like an adventure today, so we drove out toward the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Then we had the sudden idea to just head on over to Natural Bridge.  Why not?  In the nearly three years of living here in Lynchburg, we hadn’t been.  After only about forty minutes of driving, there we were.

 

First, we drove through the Safari Park (which is much more expensive than it used to be) because Chris had never been!  Everyone should drive through the park and feed the zebras, llamas, long horns, and all the other animals at least once.

 

 

We also got to feed giraffes.   It was an unbelievably windy day, so my hair was one, big mess.

 

Also, we went by Foamhenge, a life-size replica of Stonehenge made of, well, foam!  Don’t worry; this one was free.

 

 

By then, it was dinner time and we had major hunger.  Off to the Pink Cadillac Diner, a “restaurant” with just half a star.  It did have this giant gorilla, though, which made it all better.

 

 

[ More photographs ]

cherry blossoms

Published at March 31, 2010 in Gardening, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

The cherry blossoms!

 

in the garden

Published at March 28, 2010 in Gardening, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

The time for planting is almost here and our yard was not ready to receive anything at all.   A while ago, Chris and I decided that we would cut in a new flowerbed along the back fence in our yard.  Last summer, we cut in a vegetable garden by the shed, which was incredibly difficult because we were just using a shovel and rake, the ground was super dry and hard, and there were all sorts of huge mystery roots.  It took days in the heat of August, and we decided that next time (this time?) we would rent a tiller.

Well, the time came to cut in the new flowerbed and Chris kept reminding me, asking if we could do it, and I kept saying, “Later… later…” because I didn’t want to have to deal with the work again.  I remembered last time.  And I wasn’t entirely sure how to go about renting a tiller.  In the end, Chris said not to worry about the tiller, that he’d just do it himself if I simply showed him where I wanted the flowerbed.  How nice, huh?

That idea lasted for a few moments, but then I was actually kind of having fun with helping out.  Chris did all of the shoveling, I bagged leaves and raked up little roots and clods of grass.  It went a lot smoother this time.  Few large roots and the ground was softer–probably because it had recently rained and we weren’t dealing with the same dry dirt as last summer.

So, as of yesterday, it was all cut in, but we need to do a little more raking.  We filled up our trash can completely and decided we should probably take a break.  Not completely finished, but really close.  We did find a ton of bricks, though–easily ten–buried in the dirt.  And two snakes!

Here is our yard as Chris got working yesterday.  Since the grass looks so awful in the winter and early spring, we plan to plant some grass seed in the fall.

 Chris also trimmed back a giant rose of sharon that needed some pruning, which our dog enjoyed devouring.

A hike at Sharp Top

Published at March 15, 2010 in Hiking, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Weekend four

Published at March 15, 2010 in House renovations, Photography and Blabber. 1 Comment

We have come to the end of weekend four of our bathroom adventure.  Seeing as we took it all back to the studs and none of us had tackled such a project before, complete with tiling, I think we did it quite swiftly.  However, it has felt that it has taken forever because of all of the canceled weekend projects in between due to snow and life in general.  We started the demolition on January 4th, so we have been tub-less and down a bath for over three months!

This weekend, though, has it brought it nearly to the end.  I have been saying all along that this weekend would be the “fun” one because nothing should have been too hard aside from the tiling.  Everything was difficult enough, though, and I learned a lot.

Let me remind you, internet world, what we started out with:

 

Behind the badly-weather wood and stained plastic insert stood crumbling, broken tile and rotting, foul wood.  I don’t think that the “before” photographs quite show how awful it once was.  I didn’t like showering or taking a bath because it all felt so dirty.  The bottom the plastic enclosure did not even have caulking anymore where it met the tub, but instead horrible-smelling black mild dew.  So gross.  And rust-stained.  And it was sooo hot because the radiator was really keeping it too toasty and the fan didn’t work since someone had blown insulation over top of it in the attic.  I hated it all and was so embarrassed by it when family would visit.

We ran into a lot of surprises and there were times that I worried about ever finishing.  I guess things just come up every step of the way when working with a 72-year-old house.  But now it is nearly done, and I couldn’t be more pleased.  I think we freshened it up a great deal while maintaining the cottage-y feel authentic to the house.  Even though it took a long time, I think our weekends went rather quickly.

Weekend 1:  demolition–took it back to the stubs and the plumber updated the plumbing.
Weekend 2:  pre-liminary re-building–re-did the wiring, framed and put in the glass blocks, leveled the floor with concrete, took out the radiator, bought the green board and concrete board.
Weekend 3:  re-walling–put up the walls and spackled.
Weekend 4 (this past weekend):  re-prettying–sanding the walls, painting the walls and ceiling, tiling, installing the wainscoting, installing the molding, installing the shower faucets and handle, installing the lights, installing the mirror, installing the toilet.
Weekend 5 (next weekend):  having a professional re-glaze the tub, installing the last two pieces of crown molding, painting the molding and wainscoting, and hooking up the sink.

 

weekend 3, day 1

Published at February 27, 2010 in House renovations, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

 More bathroom work, more insulation, more wiring, more green board, more spackling.

More done.

All of the green board is up and first coat of spackling doneee!  It all feels so much better, so much closer, so much more like a real ROOM!

 

 

 

 

I also recently purchased this chalkboard from an Etsy store.  It is made from old barn wood and sits perfectly on our kitchen wall in a bare spot that we simply were not sure what to fill it with.

 

bathroom week two

Published at February 21, 2010 in House renovations, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

With the snow melting, we’re back to renovating the bathroom!  By Friday night, Christopher and my dad had completed the wiring (two new outlets, the new light fixture, the new ceiling fan, and fixed the light switch box), put up insulation, removed and capped the radiator, and put cement down along the edges to level the floor.  We had hoped to salvage the old tile, but it had many cracks and was severely damaged by the radiator.  Instead, we selected a nice laminate floating floor that will hold up well against moisture and look similar to the rest of the flooring.  Not only is laminate incredibly inexpensive (less than $80 for the whole bathroom), but wood and bamboo floors are not suggested because of water issues.

Saturday brought a new day with new goals and another trip back to Lowe’s.  Chris and my dad picked up the greenboard and concrete board.  I’m not sure how they managed to carry all those boards–so heavy!  Instead of putting in a window, we opted for glass blocks since, well, it is in the shower.  Creating the frame was quite a pain because, as you can see, the original frame wasn’t even level.  I was so thrilled to see the window finally uncovered.  It let so much light in!  I can’t express how dark and grimy our bathroom used to feel.  Then they managed to get some greenboard up.

I picked up these knobs from Anthropologie to dress up the new vanity.  They have a ton of great hardware.  Kind of pricey, but very nice.  These were $6 each.

We thought about shifting plans around and getting a clawfoot tub instead of tiling for about ten minutes.  I wish we could, but it would just be too expensive.  I know it will look great anyway.  So, next weekend we will get back to work again, take a week off, and then hopefully be in our last weekend of work.  And be done!  I am planning a red ribbon cutting ceremony and everything.  I think that my dad should be honored with the first shower because he has been such a big help through all of these projects.

As the upstairs bathroom project is coming kind of near a close, I keep thinking up new projects.  Too many. Ahh!  Home renovations are fun, but I could go broke with all of my ideas.

Winter kept us warm, covering/Earth in forgetful snow

Published at February 6, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Another six inches of snow.

 

in the trees

Published at January 31, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 2 Comments

So, I like the snow and all, but it gets kind of ridiculously boring not being able to go anywhere.  I thought I’d brave it last time and ended up getting my car stuck, causing me to never want to drive in the snow again.  This snow, we got “just under a foot,” according to the news, and they didn’t plow our street until around 4:00 pm.  No luck in getting out at all.

Fortunately, our house is within walking distance of a lot of great places to eat.  Chris and I decided we needed out and headed down to The Caviler.

Afterward, we grabbed the sleds and headed over to Vista Ave, a very, very steep road in our neighborhood with trees on either side.  This road is so rough that it has been closed down twice for the snow, making it awesome awesome awesome for sledding.  So we thought.  We took turns using the old traditional sled that belonged to Chris’s dad and also a green, plastic, modern sled that resembles a trashcan lid.  Both worked great, but the newer sled did now allow for as much control and usually left the rider spinning.

After a few trips down the road, a snow plow truck came through.  And as you can see in the last picture, this road is so bad and crazy that the snow plow actually got stuck!  We never did see that situation come to a resolution and I sure hope that he isn’t still sitting there in his car.  Poor guy.  That road is nuts!

So, we decided to pack it up and head home when I had the bright idea of filming a sled ride from “my perspective.”  I chose the green sled since it lends itself for a more crazy ride.  Yeah.  Bad idea.  I spun out of control, cruised right over the road’s curb, flew straight down about six feet (at least!!!) into the woods.  And ended up sitting on top and kind of inside of a little tree.  You can see the video here.

It was so fun and crazy and I’m lucky that I didn’t slam into a larger tree.  Goodness, this could have been so bad!  I have bruises all over and am super sore, but I certainly cannot complain much.

And I plan to do it all over again tomorrow.

second snow

Published at January 30, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments


Lynchburg got about nine inches of snow, our second of the season.

 


Neko was not so sure about us going out into the white stuff.

 


Chris shoveling out a path in the back yard.  He kind of looks like a marionette puppet to me.

More photos

Point of Honor

Published at January 18, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Free museum day in Lynchburg!

We toured Point of Honor.

2010!

Published at January 6, 2010 in Photography and Blabber. 2 Comments

I haven’t really been thinking about the fact that the year has indeed clocked over to 2010.  Now I keep wondering how I will say it.  “Twenty-ten” or “two thousand and ten.”  The former is much short, but I don’t like it.  So I won’t say it.

Here are my goals for 2010–not resolutions, just goals:

-Finish the Ed.S. after this summer.
-By the new year, have 3/4 of my doctorate coursework completed.
-Come up with an awesome dissertation topic.
-Maintain a 4.0.
-Write fiction or CNF at least three times a week–whether or not I feel inspired.
-Submit three manuscripts for publication.
-Politic with MFA department heads.
-Teach three English courses per sub-term for LUO.
-Try to teach English  as an adjunct residentially with a local college.
-Work on my family history project.
-Get my family involved in my family history project–see, you guys didn’t even know I started one!  Months ago!
-Get that bathroom remodeled.
-Exercise consistently.
-Eat healthily consistently.
And now…  2009 in photographs.

K for Katie at the apartment!

So much thesising happened.

Ice storm at the end of January.

After the worst job fair ever.  Our worries for the days after graduation grow.

Snow in March!  The next morning, I was offered a job interview in Tampa.

A few hours after my Tampa interview.  I guess they decided that they didn’t have a position after all? It was for the best.

Mt. Pleasant.  One of my favorite places.

Graduation!  M.A. in English.

We got the jobs in Liberty’s education office on the drive to vacation at Pompano Beach (but this was taken in Key West).

And then we vacationed in Nags Head.

Chris was hired to teach English for LUO.  We began our doctorates.  And we bought a house in Lynchburg’s historic neighborhood, Rivermont.

Backpacking with ponies (Grayson Highlands).

Apple Orchard Falls

We adopted Neko in October.

McAfee Knob

Hosting our first Thanksgiving

I was hired to teach English for LUO.  Snow in Lynchburg!

Building a gingerbread house with my niece and nephew, Sydney and Matthew.

gingerbread

Published at January 1, 2010 in Cooking, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

I guess I should be updating about the new year, but I won’t quite yet.  I forgot to post Christmas photos.

 

I gave Sydney and Matthew a gingerbread house.

 

 

 

Other Christmas adventure photographs

Did I mention…

Published at December 20, 2009 in Movies, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

…that it snowed?

(More photos)

Like, a lot.  Over fourteen inches.  Man, the last time I saw so much snow in Virginia was when I was nine.
Fortunately in Lynchburg, we seem to get at least one good snowy storm a year.  Last year was seven inches.  But, really, I don’t know when we’ll be able get out.  Until then, it is time for Star Wars (particularly Empire), Lord of the Rings, and Indiana Jones.  Epic-movie time.

vulturezzz

Published at December 18, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

 The other day, there were at least 100 vultures in trees and soaring around our neighborhood.

 

Published at December 9, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

We finally decorated our tree last Sunday

 

And I tortured the pets by pretending to hang them in the tree like ornaments.

got the tree!

Published at November 30, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

In between the short rain splatters, we got our tree.  :)

 

 

 

I always knew that surf rack would be good for something.

 

Christmas decorations

Published at November 28, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 1 Comment

 Thanksgiving is over.  Time for Christmas, then.  Finally.
We have candles in the windows, but decided to put small wreaths in the windows and we’ll put a large, real wreath on the front door.  So, we picked up some wreaths and bows from Michael’s, which I put together.  Simple and so much less expensive to just attach the bow itself.  Tomorrow, perhaps the tree?

 

Thanksgiving 2009

Published at November 26, 2009 in Cooking, Photography and Blabber. 1 Comment

I suppose Thanksgiving is nearly over and I haven’t updated in quite some time, so, might as well.

Last weekend, we had pre-Thanksgiving festivities with my family.  Unfortunately, we forgot our cameras (rawr!), so I don’t have any pictures to speak of.  Just a couple of shots taken on Christopher’s phone and a few videos, but nothing worth publishing.  It was great to be home visiting with the family and we brought our new kitten with us–for some crazy reason.  She cried for the first two hours in the car and then nestled on Mr. Rufus’s cage (our rabbit).  It all is rather silly traveling with a dog, rabbit, and cat just for a couple of days.  I felt like one of those circus wagons riding along the road and our’s happened to be part of the zoo.  I’m glad that we brought all of them, though, because my niece and nephew really love the rabbit and the dog and got to meet the kitty whom they also fell in love with.

Now on actual Thanksgiving, Chris and I were hosting for the first time and his family came to Lynchburg today.  We woke up to Neko and Abed-nego having a vicious dog-cat battle on our bed.  Chris managed to take a video with his phone (is this the hey-Chris-has-a-phone entry or what?) and I posted it here for all the world to see if it so chooses.  I think you have to have Quicktime. As you can see in the video, these fights are always started by the cat, she always goes for Abed-nego’s neck, and he always lets her win.  How sweet….

We got up and I did last minute cleaning while Chris prepped the turkey.  We brushed butter and herbs on the outside and stuffed the turkey with celery, onions, and herbs.  The turkey stood prepped and popped in the oven around 10:30 am and we waited for family to arrive.

His family came in around 11:30 am, hellos and talks and how-cute-is-that-kitty and yes-Bendy-we-still-love-you and then we smelled it….  A hint of burning.  The turkey–which we expected to be done around 2:30 pm–was completely done at 1:00 pm!  So, we quickly made the rest of the sides (corn, broccoli with cheese, cranberry sauce, hand-made mashed potatoes, stuffing, and rolls).  No, I’m not a casserole person.  Sorry.   Had there been requests, I certainly would have complied, but there were none.  Anyway, we threw it all together while Chris and his dad carved the turkey.

p.s.  How cute is my sister-in-law, Elizabeth?

Everyone seemed quite happy with the food, so I think it was quite the successful first Thanksgiving.  Then, as we were doing dishes, someone (I don’t remember who) pointed out that we completely forgot to put the rolls on the table.  Ahh!  They’re the best part!  After dinner and clean up and dessert with coffee, we rode around to look at the silly people camped out in front of stores and wandered through Wal Mart to look for silly people.  Picked up Funny People from a Redbox, but turned it off about 20 minutes it.  Too over the top.  Sorry.  Instead, we watched bits of Home Alone and Love Actually.  And now it is time for bed.

Tomorrow:  catching a movie and crazy shopping.

 More photos

bike ride

Published at November 17, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Blackwater Creek bike ride with Stephanie and Bernard!
Ahh, I love that my house is so close to the park.  So awesome.

apple pieee

Published at November 12, 2009 in Cooking, Photography and Blabber. 3 Comments

 

 

new curtains

Published at November 8, 2009 in House renovations, Photography and Blabber. 1 Comment

Chris and I hung some curtains in the living room.  It has been a mostly brown room, so I thought some curtains would help bring in more color.  I’m not much of a curtain person and don’t really plan to hang more in any other rooms.  I like simple, open, bright windows.

 

 

With the curtains, new lamps from Ikea, and pictures, I think the living room has come a long way from when I first posted pictures of our house renovations.

We also got these antique-style, crystal door knobs to pull them back.

 

pet photo time

Published at November 6, 2009 in Gardening, Photography and Blabber. 2 Comments

Mr. Rufus in the garden.
We planted the collards just for her, but she wasn’t interested.

kitty

Published at November 4, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 2 Comments

Kitty loves to play.  And killl.

door knobs

Published at November 3, 2009 in House renovations, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Wouldn’t it feel nice to always be clasping a piece of artwork when opening or closing a door?

I am on the lookout for old doorknobs.  I am happy to say that all of the doorknobs in our house are old, worn, and I believe original to our 1938 home.  However, the backdoor does not have a door knob at all–just a big hole where one once was and metal plate around it.  So, I’m trying to figure out how in the world we can find one to fit.

This past weekend, my dad and Chris were able to put a back light up along with a few other things.  It is quite cute.

Chris drilling the hole into our brick…

And…  Tada! 

We have some significant home improvement plans coming up.  We’re going to tackle the upstairs bathroom and it is going to go down hard and be a big pain and somehow we will tile the shower and then it will be awesome.

By the way, isn’t this kitchen from Design*Sponge amazing?

It kind of reminds me of my own, which makes me pretty happy.  I guess that is why I like it.

McAfee in October

Published at October 26, 2009 in Hiking, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Hiked McAfee Knob today!

 This weekend was supposed to be the peak of fall foliage for Lynchburg, so what better way to celebrate than to hike to one of the most photographed spot on the AT?  McAfee Knob it was.

We hadn’t hiked the knob since last November.  Late November.  In the middle of a mild snow storm.  It was a fun hike that day with an amazing view, but I knew it could be better.  I knew in a different season, it would be more amazing.  And today, it was.

We took a different route to get there this time, coming in from the back of 311, I suppose, and picked up a hitchhiker on the way (but don’t tell my mom).  He had been on the trail for five weeks and came down from Maryland.  He needed a ride to the parking lot to hike Dragon’s Tooth on his way south since he had gone into town for supplies.  Since it is such a popular section of the trail, the parking lot was quite crowded, but we surprisingly did not run into that many people on the trail and were able to enjoy the summit alone for quite a while.

Here are some summative shots:

Closer to dangling my legs off, but just not quite there.

Christopher!  The trees were awesomeee.

And a couple of HDR shots.

A local day hiker and a nice couple from New Jersey.

MORE

pruning the salvia

Published at October 25, 2009 in Gardening, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Pruning my spriggsss.

 You know, it’s funny.  I planted three salvia plants about four weeks ago.  Salvia is supposed to like direct sunlight, though some can handle partial shade well.  I went against suggestions and planted one in direct sun and the other two in partial shade, worrying all the while.  Well, the one in direct sun is doing kind of all right whereas the two in partial shade are doing great in full bloom!   Whaaat?  I cut off the dying sprigs today, so that should help some.

Yesterday, we met Christopher’s family in Charlottesville for lunch.  Right in the middle of a crazy rain storm.  And as soon I stepped out of the car, I went right into a huge puddle.  My shoe was completely soaked along with my pant legs.  Grosss.  To make things worse, someone hit his parents’ van in the parking lot while we were sitting down for coffee and didn’t leave a note.  The bumper is so messed up that it didn’t look like they could open the trunk.  Man, Charlottesville, we’re going to have a serious discussion soon if this keeps up.  It was nice to see them, though.

An Autumn Stroll Through Our Neighborhood

Published at October 23, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 1 Comment

I love our neighborhood and our walks and our trees with their orange leaves.
I would have a lot of difficulty moving away from this side of Lynchburg.

Neko and Abed-nego are laying on their sides, taking turns walloping one another in the face.  They will do this for a little while and then take a nap together.

 

James River Foot Bridge in the fall

Published at October 20, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Yesterday we visited the foot bridge.

 

More photos

khat

Published at October 17, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

I am layin on yo billz.

box of bunny

Published at October 10, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

But does Tom’s shoes also have a one for one policy with bunnies?

 

Yes, Mr. Rufus put herself in that box.

Bringing home kitty

Published at October 8, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Bringing home kitty.
I thought we agreed on naming her “Neko,” but Chris keeps testing out “Mittens,” which is typical of us.
Abed-nego was originally named “Camino,” like from Star Wars, but everyone just thought we were referring to something Mexican.  Oh, people.

 

 

 

I didn’t know cats could be as nice as her.
Constantly purring, like a light saber.
Constantly rubbing against us.
I think she was glad to be rescued after spending six months in a cage.

 

More pictures

bear on the rocks

Published at October 8, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 1 Comment

Did I ever mention that on the way to Chesapeake we saw a bear in the bed of someone’s truck in Appomattox while we stopped to get gas?

 

bear on the rocks

The guy kept piling ice on.  He shot it with a bow an arrow.

 

I still can’t decide if it is kind of sad or kind of awesome or kind of gross or kind of weird.
It does seem kind of small, though.

Chesapeake, Grizzly Bear

Published at October 7, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Our Chesapeake adventure has come to a close.   There is never enough time to do all that I want, see all the people I miss.  I try to keep family as my first priority, so we spent Sunday and Monday evening with my family. The kids just keep on growing and I feel like I am missing big parts of their lives, but every time I get big hugs anyway and they tell me that they love me.

 

On Tuesday, we visited Christopher’s grandparents.  Later that evening, we had dinner with Kimmy and Josh and checked out their apartment.  They have quite a cute little place.  Ah, cities.  Chris and I headed to the show where we saw Beach House and Grizzly Bear.

It was a really great show.  Wonderful voices that I just couldn’t understand how they were real.  And that bass player.  Ugh.  The amazing sounds!  I didn’t know how Grizzly Bear could pull it off live, but with the help of loops, it was unreal.  They had light bulbs hanging in mason jars all along the stage which would shine with the intensity of the music.  I wish I could go back to Grizzly Bear world.

This morning, I ate with my parents and then went off off off back to Lynchburg.  It is always hard to leave.  I regret that I live four hours away.  The drive isn’t terrible, yet is kind of exhausting.  I wish it were only two hours.  So much of Chesapeake is filled with great, wonderful memories, but other places are still associated with hurt.  Chesepeake is complicated.  Either way, seeing the mountains again is incredibly reassuring–relieving, even. Back to my simple life in Lynchburg.  Luckily, I still get to see my family about once a month and we see Christopher’s once a month as well.  It is hard having family in two separate places, but we get by.

name

Published at October 2, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 6 Comments

Still can’t come up with a good name for Kitty.
Chris wants to name her something Japanese and I have no clue why.  If she were a boy, I’d totally go Sailor Moon on her and settle with Artemis.  Then again, Artemis was a female in mythology.  Can I name a grey kitty Luna?  I don’t really want to go with Diana for some reason.  Ehh.  These names aren’t even Japanese anyway–they’re just from Sailor Moon.  Chris keeps saying Chibi.  Or Ponyo.  But I haven’t even seen Ponyo.

I, on the other hand, want classic kitten name, like Mittens.  But Chris says Kitty doesn’t haaave mittens.  And I agree.  But Muppet sounds similar to Mittens.  But it just isn’t quite there.  And Chris says that we’ll probably just end up calling her Kitty half the time anyway–which is true.  So, I suggested Maddy.  Then I remembered that the dog next door is Madison.  That would be too weird.

I’ve never had so much trouble coming up with a name for an animal.  Hellppp!

 Cuuuute face.  Mine, not so much.

Later:  NEKO!!! Duuuh.

October rolls in

Published at October 1, 2009 in Gardening, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

October?  Really?  I always forget how many days each month has, so I was just certain that today would still be September.  Here it is, though:  October.

Planting the fall garden

The past week has been quite busy with gardening.  We’ve planted or tended to something every day despite work and school.  I never really cared for yard work, gardening, landscaping, and all of that when I was younger.  My parents always did a great job piecing their yard together.  Their gardens always looked great and all that I saw was how much of a pain it was to bag holly clipping (big owies!) and spread mulch.  They had to get so much mulch every year–a truckload full dumped on our driveway–and I hated how endless it felt.  But now that I have my own house that did not come with nice, well-kept gardens, Chris and I have had so much fun planning them out, tilling the dirt with a shovel and hoe, selecting our plants, and seeing it all come together.  I can recognize that my dad and Chris did so much more work than me with that hedge, and I’ve had it rather easy just digging through the dirt and turning up the grass.  It has been so much fun, though, watching the house come together.  We’ve had it for almost three months now and I’d say it has been a complete transformation.  So much better than I had hoped for!

This week has been busy school work-wise and then the intensive on Friday and Saturday.  Ugh.  I don’t know how I’m going to get my assignments done in time, but at the same time I know that it will.  It always gets done.  I always say that, and it always does.  No matter how overwhelming, what needs to happen always happens.   So, I just need to get going and not stop until I’m finished.  And then…  Chesapeake vacation for a few days.  Sunday through Wednesday we’ll be in Chesapeake, so find me if you want to do something.  Then on Thursday, it is back to work and we pick up kittyyy!

meet my cat

Published at September 30, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

8 month old kitty we are rescuing from the humane society.  We pick her up next Thursday.

Name suggestions?

snakes pt. 2

Published at September 29, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 4 Comments

Dear Christopher,

We need a cat.  And this is why:

Third snake in a matter of a few days!  I mean, I know this is just a garter snake and the other two were harmless black snakes, but I still don’t want them nipping at my heels in the house eventually (Genesis 3.15).  Look at him hugging the wall!  He is just trying to break in.

So, get that silver tabby from Petsmart.  Your sister said we were allowed to get one.  And Mr. Rufus loves cats.  And so does Abed-nego.  And so do you.  And me too.

new plants

Published at September 28, 2009 in Gardening, Photography and Blabber. 2 Comments

It has been an interesting past couple weeks for yard work.

Weeding the front flowerbeds and pulling up roots.
Taken with Chris’ enV touch.

 

Chris and I aren’t too big fans of bushes and the bushes we had were very oddly shaped and not taken care of.  So…  We just pulled them up.  Instead, we are planting herbs and such to continue the whole cottage look.  At this point, we have salvia and lavender planted.  Soon we’re going to add lemon balm and perhaps rosemary.  It looks so much better.  I’ve read that deer won’t eat salvia or lavender, so our plants should be safe.  Come spring, we’ll plant wild flowers along the back.

 

Salvia!

north cunningham

Published at September 22, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 2 Comments

I’ve been thinking of the past a lot.  Been thinking of undergrad.  Been thinking of being 19 and dorm life.  My dorm was built on a graveyard, land that the college didn’t actually ever buy.  They kind of just took it….
I loved all of the history of that place.  I was so real, but the streets felt utterly haunted at times.
A lot has changed.

And Chris had really, really long hair.
Girls in the dining hall and the library would tell him that he looked like someone famous.

 

It was a good experience and a big part of me misses it while feeling thankful to be where I am now.
Everything felt so far and impossible back then.

Apples and hedges

Published at September 19, 2009 in House renovations, Gardening, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

It has been an interesting weekend.  My parents and grandma came to visit with plans to do some yard work.  The house we bought came with a huge, out-of-control hedge that must have been–I don’t know–twelve feet tall.  It had to go.  So, my dad and Chris cut it down to about three feet with a chain saw and a trimmer.  It was quite an adventure and a neighborhood event.  At least five sets of neighbors came to check it out, say how happy they were to see it go, and compliment their work.  The little boy next door even helped throw away some twigs.  That is, until his grandfather pointed out that there was poison ivy in the pile as well.  Ha!  And now I can actually put my car in the driveway once the trashman picks up all the shrubbery.  They also pulled up all of the bushes in the front yard, which were all mis-shaped, so we are planning out new plants to put in this fall.

My dad using the chainsaw and Chris pulling away the branches

My mom and I had some other serious work to do:  apple picking.  We went to Gross’ apple orchard in Bedford to get apples, which she plans to use to make apple butter.  I have been wanting to go apple picking since we moved here over two years ago, so it was nice to get out there with mountains all around, wander through a country store, and pick out our fresh apples.

The orchard

engagement photos!

Published at September 15, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

I’m trying to not overload this blog with photographs.  Here are my favorite pictures from Stephanie and Bernard’s engagement shoot this evening.  I think they came out great if I say so myself.

More!

four hours of painting

Published at September 14, 2009 in Photography and Blabber. 1 Comment


The collison of summer and autumn.

 

We spent the day painting the hall.
Four hours of painting and all we have to show is one coat on the wood work,
but the hall and stairwell have six doorways and a window sooo…

I like our fall wreath a lot.
I really enjoy creating new traditions and following old ceremonies.
I look forward to the thought up putting up this same wreath every year from now on
as we welcome in the fall.