Girlie Chatter

Girls. I love everything (well almost everything) about being a girl and appreciate our differences from the male gender. I love that girls can spend spend endless hours getting lost in girlie chatter about clothes, make-up, shoes, and of course the proverbial discussion of boys. Our voice-mails are longer, our gmail chats are filled with emotions, exclamations and smiley faces, and our text messages result in full paragraphs sometimes worthy of chapter introductions. I don’t realize a girls need to talk and chat until Ryan makes some remark like “Whoa – that was the longest voicemail ever” or “you talked about all that in a text?!”

I recall one 5-hour drive to Mammoth with Shauna and Katrin.  Ry had made sure the iPod was freshly loaded with new songs and the axillary cord was in place so we could listen to music during our drive up. When we arrived, Ry asked how the drive was and if the iPod worked ok. At that point, when trying to recall, I realized that we didn’t even turn on any music for the entire 5-hour drive and rather spent our time talking with each other. As funny as it seems, it is relaxing and enjoyable and amazing that we never run out of stuff to talk about.

This picture above reminds me of those times. Girls just getting lost in the chatter about the important things in life – you know, what your wearing tonight, someones new hair, or the newest episode of RHOBH!

Cheers to girlie chatter and may it never grow old!

xoxo

Friday | Picture of the Week | Week 39

Reminds me of a secret garden where lots of fun, exciting stuff is about to go down! Who wants to come?!

xoxo

a traveling heart

One of my all time photography idols is Jose Villa. At one point, I was showing Ryan so many of his images that Ryan’s standard reply before he even knew what I was about to show him was: “I know babe, Jose is a great photographer.” To which I would tell him, “But you have to come see this one. It’s so good!” After listening to several interviews and reading articles about him, I came to realize that he does not use filters, Photoshop actions, or even much of any post processing – because he shoots film. Initially, my juvenile experience did not allow me to believe that he could achieve his incredible colors without hours and hours of post processing or using some special Photoshop action. However, I have finally come to terms with the fact that Jose is just a truly great film photographer who relies not on his editing technique, but on his knowledge, schooling, and skill as a photographer. Jose is the reason I was inspired to want to try shooting with film and I have my dad to thank for gifting us his Fm3A film camera to use to go out and shoot away!
{Thanks Dad and I still owe you for it}!

And with that, I am so excited to share these film photographs shot with the Fm3A.

  The beautiful Monica was kind enough to let me snap a few pictures of her while prancing around the pool! It takes a while to get used to traveling with me as I am never far from the camera and will do just about anything to “get the picture” – however, I have realized not everyone shares in this excitement {not even the Hubs}, so thank you Monica!

Yep, and I am just as happy to get my picture taken as I am to take one. Rachel Zoe, I am not, but for those inquiring minds, here ya are with a little outfit insight.

I am a nut for symmetry, so you bet I went crazy for this entrance to the La Quinta Resort. I loved it so much and wanted to capture it perfectly centered, so I walked all the way back down the driveway in 110 degree heat just to get this picture and I am so happy I did!   

I think I might have to blow this picture up and frame it on the wall some where in the house – the colors are just how I like it, all white with a touch of pink and vintage brown!!!!

xoxo

love

i love this picture so much. i love the beautiful colors of the water. i love the serene un-posed feeling. i love the exposure. and best of all, i love that man.

I took this picture with our Nikon Fm3a film camera. The Fm3a allows us the ability to enjoy photography in its simplest form: the subject, the camera, and the photographer. There are no extra ISO settings to contemplate or the vast lens selection to maneuver through {because we only have 2 that will work on it} and best of all there are not hours and hours of editing involved.  The film camera is definitely under used in our house but when each picture costs close to $1.00 it is hard to grant anything in our life film worthy {i am frugle what can i say}! Anyway, I am always so happy when we get the email from Richards Photo Lab letting us know that our film is ready because I love seeing the results and makes me love photography even more!

****And because I have been asked several times the difference between the film and digital pictures and how our film pictures appear on the blog, I guess it is not obvious to all. So here, ya go! We send our roll of film to Richards Photo Labs who then develops the film {just like the old days} based on specific color profiles which I have been working with them on. Once the negatives are developed, Richards Photo Lab then scans the negatives and creates a digital .jpg and sends us an FTP site where we can download the images and store just like our digital files! As a bonus, they will print the roll of film for you for $4 – so you actually get a printed picture as well {i love that part}******

Friday | Picture of the Week | Week 35

xoxo

Getaway.

It feels so great to get out of the normal daily grind and enjoy a few days out in the desert on a girls trip! The heat, lush flowers, summer dresses, and warm pools all make for a wonderful, girlie rejuvenation. The desert clouds were so beautiful over the ever present mountains and made for a beautiful sky and a little bit of shade cover – after all it was 110 degrees with 48% humidity! Good thing there were a lot of pools to spend our time in. And now back to work left with only the fun memories of a great relaxing trip! Happy Monday!

xoxo