Durango and a Dream

Paul's dad, Paul Sr. and his wife Betty Ann drove into town from Durango to celebrate all our birthdays.  They have been trying to get us to come visit them for awhile now and thought I should just drive back with them.  I could only stay for four days but thought it would be worth it.  

Paul and I have been working on our wills and planning everything out if something happens to one or both of us and so has his dad.  They just let us know that they would like us to have their house in Durango if something happened to them.  It's a huge responsibility and something we don't take lightly.  That means we would continue their dream home for both sides of the family to enjoy for generations to come.  

They gave me a tour of every nook and cranny of the peaceful home.

They have a daily routine and even their baby Windsor enjoys every second of it.  

The Durango and Silverton steam train is their daily alarm clock.  I snuck out of the house early the first morning to watch it truck on by full of waving passengers.  

They squeezed in a full tour of Durango and didn't miss a stop.  

 The love they have for Durango is completely evident in their hearts and we hope to carry it on for them way down the road.

Love, Sarah

YELLOW FALL IN DURANGO

I just returned from Durango, Colorado and before I even tell you why, I have to share with you the color of the fall season... yellow.

I don't think I've said the word, wow as many times before in my life.  

Nature is breathtaking.  

Love, Sarah

Paul's Birthday!

Happy Birthday to the best husband in the whole wide world!

Last night after my high school reunion, I had a helium tank and streamers hidden at my house waiting for me to decorate while he took the dogs out.  I set everything up and he was so surprised when he opened our bedroom door to find it birthday'ed out at two in the morning.

...only problem is in the middle of the night a balloon got sucked up in the fan and blew fan dust all over us while we were sleeping.  Pretty dang gross, but that's how most by surprises go.

Back to Paul.  This shy, intelligent, big hearted, one of a kind guy doesn't have a Facebook (that he uses) so PLEASE give him a big shout out today!  

Love, Sarah

ART party 2.0

I'm counting down the days until Oct 6th!

Three years ago I put together an art show of several of my friends art and had a party.  It was so much fun and I'm finally doing it again!!

I'm only showcasing four artist this time so we can see more of their work.  Oh and guess what?!  I did a deadly shoot of all four of them and will be showing at the party too!

Please come and party with us and celebrate being alive and the world of art.

Click here for the Facebook event page with all the details.

Love, Sarah

LAST DAY OF SUMMER

In the spirit of the last day of summer - here are a few pictures of my favorite Costa Rican jungle flowers.

Jose always creates these wonderful flower pieces to greet us home.  We always joke that he could come to America and get a job with Dr. Delphinium no problem.    

They really add color and life to the house.

...and you can't beat that they're free.  He sure does know how to create beauty, huh?

Love, Sarah

Gone Girl

I rarely get on the bandwagon with books.  I've never read a Twilight, Harry Potter, or any Shade of Gray that's out there.  Most the books I read are completely random that I find just searching bookstores.  For some reason I wanted to give Gone Girl a try (click here for a detailed description of the book).  

Now, I loathe surprises.  If you give me any kind of hint that there's going to be a surprise coming up, I'll do everything in my power to figure it out.  This book got me in the gut turn after turn.  You could imagine my restraint I possessed to not read the last chapter to solve the mystery.  I gasped out loud, shrieked, and called some people cray-cray throughout the story.  It was like a Kardashian episode; you know it's fake, but too entertaining not to watch.

Have you read Gone Girl yet?

Love, Sarah

Candy Store

This sweet man knows that I hold no value on jewelry, but if you have to get me a gift, Competitve Camera is my candy store. 

Paul has also hooked me up with a job for his company.  I will be taking all his interior shots of his work for magazines!  How exciting is that?!

I added a few necessaries and this little bad boy to my camera family...

It's just like the one I already use 90% of the time but is upgraded with better glass.  I also added a clear glass UV filter for mostly protection.  Good thing since the next day it fell of our friends counter in my case and it shattered the filter to pieces!!!  Thankfully it didn't damage lens!  Whew  ...I almost cried just the thought of it happening.  

Ohh and please cross your fingers for me...  I'm doing my first "artistic" shoot on Thursday.  It's going to be deadly.  I'll tell you all about it on Friday! 

Hope your week is going swell!

Love, Sarah

   

SIERPE MANGROVE TOUR

On one of the attempts to take my parents on a relaxing sightseeing experience we took them on a Mangrove Tour in Sierpe, Costa Rica.  The amount of animals we saw were amazing.  It was quite difficult to get a good shot on a moving boat, but here are some of my favorites...
(Don't forget you can click the picture to scroll through them larger)

  

  

Love, Sarah

Reunion

In less than two weeks is my 10 year high school reunion.  The last time we were all together in one place was our high school graduation.  

Since then some of us have...

moved

went to college

gotten married (twice)

been fired

traveled

made new friends

had children

been in love

changed

But the one thing that we all have in common is our alma mater.  The place that we learned, partied, cried, and laughed.  The place where we all are connected to no matter where we are or what we've been through since.  

We've lost a few friends since.  For some reason in the back of my mind I feel like I'm going to be able to hug them there.  It hurts to know that premonition won't happen, but the people I do hug will know exactly who we're missing.

I honestly thought I would care more about what kind of shape I am in or what I'm going to wear.  Honestly, I don't give a shit.  I just want to be surrounded by a room full of friends for a night full of memories.

Love, Sarah

MY LIFE CHANGING NEWS

I love to take pictures.  

It doesn't matter if it's a bug, a plate of food, or a smile.  It makes me happy.

In life you have to take chances to fulfill your passions, no matter the size and I'm doing just that.  I'm striving for my dream to take pictures as my career full-time.  I don't know where I'm going to end up, but I'm elated to start my path.

Will you be part of my beginning?  I would be ecstatic to shoot you, your family, or even a pesky bug in your house.  You name it, I want to shoot it.

To kick this off, I want to have a giveaway!  

One free photo session, which includes:

- 2 hour shoot in the DFW area

- Planning session, including wardrobe/location details

- 15 edited pictures

- All digital pictures for your own use

$200 value

TO ENTER: please follow my blog on either Google or Facebook and leave a comment with your name and email address and the city of where you live.

    I also want to give all my Kittens and Pitbulls Followers a $50 discount on any service booked in 2012.

Thank you to everyone that supports me in this decision and has given me the confidence to make this step.  And a huge shout-out to my husband that always gives me the courage to chase my dreams.

Love, Sarah

ICE CREAM SOCIAL

We always take the family out for lunch and ice cream every trip and every trip the kids want to order a banana split but their parents tell them no saying it's too much.  Well, I can't over rule the parents authority in front of them so I invited just the kids over to our house for a secret BANANA SPLIT PARTY!!

They yum-yum'ed and ate every single bite.

They love my camera and to see their picture in the screen.  So we goofed around and had a fun time.  I then print the pictures from each trip and bring it for their photo album.

Then they asked for the iPad and our social time was over. 

Love, Sarah