Photo by Tom Fowlks

I found a new (to me) site called Art Hound.
I don't know if I like this photo because of the blatant juxtaposition of its elements, or because those Elk heads are so huge and look to be in a conversation about how they got themselves in this crazy predicament.

There are other, less taxidermic, photos you might enjoy on the site.

Couple of cute ones of the couple

This last weekend I had the pleasure of taking a few photos of my dear friends for their engagement. I've been going through them today a bit, and am getting ready to send them up to Trish and Crissy. Here, take a peek!


I had a little extra time today to play with the files, as I caught The Sickness and worked only as the register girl and delivery driver. Home by 11:30 is nice!

Tomorrow I hope to share the two custom pillow orders I sewed together, and maybe a cute pic of the kitties. Thankfully, always something going on!

Trish and Crissy

Trish and Crissy are getting married next September. The 3rd of September, to be exact. They unveiled the date and their wonderful blog Serendipitous Soulmates at their engagement party last night. In T & C fashion, the food was wonderful, the venue was fun and festive, and their friends and family were a fun bunch to hang with.

While taking their photos yesterday morning, T & C were explaining some of the events for the evening and the "games" they would be playing. All the guests were encouraged to come up with a new last name for them, as they are hoping to come up with something that would blend both of their current names. It was a hoot! Heffren and Malott were twisted and rearranged and the things that came out made for some great, infectious laughter.

To get the crowd mingling, they also had a human scavenger hunt. There were descriptions of people with things about their life or a fun trait. My clue, for instance, was "sews with a cup of joe." One other that stuck with me was "deflects with carrots." The idea was a friendly way to learn something that might not come up in a mingling conversation, and in fact, was quite detailed info of stranger. Brilliant!

I'll post some photos from the morning's shoot after I get them cropped and sent off to the ladies. It wouldn't be fair to share them with the world first.

The weekend has been super fun and rejuvenating. I love my friends and have had the distinct pleasure of giving and receiving support. How do people make it in the world without friends? I hope I never have to find out.

So many pictures!

If you would like to see all of the pictures I took in Guatemala (both good and maybe not so good), you can click over to my flickr page, http://www.flickr.com/photos/ariel_jane/. It is so much faster to upload them there (with there being 250+). I hope you don't begrudge me the convenience.

But, because I know how great it is to look at pretty things, here is a pretty thing I found over on Mustard and Sage

Pictures from 2000's

When ever I come home I look through Dad's pictures. Dad has file cabinets full of pictures that he is starting to digitize and put on his computer. Some are recent, like the one above of my dad and auntie Linda, and some are older, like me and Miah back in high school playing tennis.

New Camera!

I've been shopping and saving for a camera since last fall when mine was taken/lost while in Juneau. With all the fun trips I have coming up this summer, plus the creation of my Etsy store, I got determined while in Spokane to end the search.

I settled on a Canon Power Shot G11. I've been having fun with it, to say the least. Here are some shots from Spokane since it's purchase.

Painting

Man, this picture looks like crap, but here it is mom. The tree I was telling you about. I can share it, now that I gave it to my dear friend, Danny. I'm really bummed I didn't take a better picture. Oh well. I guess this is even more motivation to save my pennies for this. Recently, there have been many opportunities to use a camera, and I'm feeling sad that I haven't made it a priority to replace the camera that was taken in Juneau.

Other picture news, here is a recent one of Miah, me, and Ciara, while C was flying through on her whirlwind job finding adventure! We probably won't all be together again until Josh's wedding, and then all 4 will be together! (Miah and I used to be thought of as twins growing up. I think you can really see it in this pic.)

And I don't know why the font and size is all over the place. I promise, I'm not trying to shout at you.

Visit pics

Turns out I have less pictures than I imagined. Here are two great ones of Cecilia, Ben and Ciara. Isn't my family beautiful?

Ben is quite taken by flight. RC planes, helicopters, blimps, jets, you name it, he wants to talk about it and see pictures of them. You tube has been great. His reaction above is to an awesome video he and Ciara were watching - he just couldn't contain his joy! And Cecilia is getting big and strong. She is six months now, and loves her mom and dad. She is all smiles when they are around.

Weekend with the kiddos!

Miah and Jessie celebrated being a couple for 11 years this weekend! I went up to Champaign to watch Cecilia and Benjamin. Here are some pics. Cecilia is sick, with a runny nose and a cough. Sick babies are a sad sight. She was out of it on Saturday night, lethargic and wheezy. Ben was a happy two year-old.

(I like this foot picture because I do the same thing, tangle my big toes together.)





I like giving Ben the camera and let him take over. His understanding of how and where to shoot is much improved since November (sans the bathtub shot.)

I need to look up an animated character named Kipper. It's his new favorite thing. That and airplanes.

Photos

Two posts today!

I wanted to share some photos that have been on my camera. Some from here in Juneau, some from Portland, and then a new one of Kodak - because it is too adorable not to.

Fire weed at Brotherhood Bridge

A coffee cup planter! I was so excited to see it. Mom suggested making a bigger "saucer" for it if I decide to copy it at my shop.

I don't remember what flower this is, but I love it.

Ciara, looking loads better after getting out of the hospital, and mom, taking a break from lots of flower shopping at C's favorite nurseries.
This chair is great.
Another lovely plant
Mom, Ciara and I about to send Mom off to the airport on the MAX

View flying into Juneau
Kodak, sporting his new name tag. I will not have two kitties go missing.

Fund raiser

Just got a message from Trish letting me know how my trio of photos did at the ABC fund raiser last month - my trio ended up going for $100! That makes me so happy! I was hoping they would go to a good home :) The picture above is a view of how part of the silent auction was set up.

Trish was amazing to put this fundraiser on. I didn't get an exact idea of how it all came together in the end, but I know it went off well because that awesome lady was the mastermind behind it. I was thrilled she asked me to donate something.

These are the three I donated.

Today I have off! I'm playing with the idea of finally getting the new running shoes I've been needing. My feet have brought it to my attention that my current pair should be retired, but I procrastinate so much when it comes to shopping. Maybe I'll just go for a run instead :)

Happy Friday! It's already the 10th of July! Dan only has 11 more days in India!

Weed whackers are blazing outside. There are construction crews and back-up beepers sounding from all over town. Winter has left Juneau!

I had an easy day, and I'm meeting with Carrie tonight to see her house.

I'm exploring the world of Flickr. I'm not happy with photobucket, Facebook is too exclusive, Adobe Bridge isn't linked, and I have Picasa, but wasn't impressed with my first run through. I don't like that Flickr only lets you post 200 photos for free, but I'll play with it and make up my mind later. If you want to be my friend on Flickr, my name there is Ariel_Jane. I'll probably post my Alaska pics there that don't make it here.

I spoke too soon about my tendon. I was feeling great yesterday, and so went for a long walk. Still feeling good this morning, so I walked to work, but half way through the day with going up and down the stairs on the bus, I hurt it again. So more rest is required. I hate this! I told Kristy I'd be running here so when I get back we can do the ISU Homecoming race together. I need to get better!

In other random news, I bought myself a present. One of the stores here was having a grand opening sale and their amber jewelry was 70% off. It was a steal! So I bought a ring. It was $12. Nothing like petrified sap to make a girl feel pretty :)

Fjordland Tours

Work today wasn't work at all. Eleven drivers went out to the end of the road to see a specific stop that we'll be picking up passengers from. We went through the specifics of the turn around area, then were taken on a boat tour of the bay. We were out on the water for two and half hours and saw some incredible things.

Right off the dock there was in wonderful flock of Skim Scooters (sometimes called Snorkel Ducks). These ducks would line themselves up, maybe 400 of them, in a long row leading out of the bay. Starting at the front, they would dive underwater, the ones behind not diving until the progression made it's way down the line, stay under for 20-25 seconds, then pop back up some 30 yards away from where they dove down. It was a wonderful ripple of dunking under and resurfacing, almost like they teleported to a different area of the bay. They dive for small fish and muscles underwater. After they ate, they'd all fly off at the same time, settle out farther in the inlet, then reform their line and start over.

We also saw sea lions. A huge gathering of sea lions. There were a three bulls, all with their harems surrounding. The noises they were making seemed more like a football team having a belching contest than a herd of sea animals. And they were so loud! After watching for some time, we notice there was one female off by herself. Then there was something moving that was red. She was having a baby! A pup was being born, right there on the rock! The second picture below has the mama and pup. We took a second pass, to get another look, but mom had moved the pup to her tummy side to feed and we lost view. But what a moment!


This is Erin and I. We had fun last night listening to bluegrass, and happened to both have the same duty today. She was taking tons of pictures with her new present to herself, which I'm hoping to get copies of. The whole group had fun joking on the way out the road, then back again when it was over.
The boat was manned by two, Captain Glen, and deck hand Sierra. I shared with them that they shared my dad and sister's names, telling them I'd have no problem remembering. Glen built this business from scratch, his wife as marketing manager, and kids as workers. Sierra is one of their hires from California. She's been with them for six years now.


Harbor seals hanging out on a buoy!





It was such a great day!