puerto penasco.

Puerto Penasco, Mexico. It's where we spent a week of our summer vacation. It was everything and nothing I thought it would be. What can I say -- we loved it.

Highlights:



The sunsets.

Walks along the beach -- at night, in the morning -- couldn't get enough.



The food! By far one of the best parts of being there was eating the local cuisine. And the fresh tortillas -- yes please!



Getting to practice my Spanish. Soy no bueno!





Getting the much needed downtime. It's was nice to unplug and set my todo list aside. We all needed this break.







Cornrows. Girls loved having their salty hair out of their face for the week. I did too!



Megan got stung by a jelly fish. She said it hurt like crazy, but Adam used his urine, as per the locals advice, to alleviate the pain and she was fine after that. She may need therapy in the future!



Tess caught a fish. Not her first fish, but I believe the first one she caught in the ocean.





Mangoes on the beach with spicy red peppers made especially for you -- to die for. Seriously! I'm going to be recreating these for sure.



To say it was crazy hot would be an understatement -- it was sweltering. I don't think the thermostat said it was ever above the 90 degrees, but with the 90% humidity it must have been well into the 100s. We were sticky & sandy the entire week. Good times!





Hitting the beach every morning when the tide was out looking for crabs, starfish, clams and the kids even spotted an octopus.



Hour and hours and hours on the beach playing and reading a book. I read The Rosie Project and laughed the whole way through.





I received a most delightful massage.





I thoroughly enjoyed just how different the landscape, the streets, the buildings were from home. There was something so captivating about the rawness of Mexico.





At first I thought it would be strange, you know, to be celebrating the fourth of July in a different country, but being there made me appreciate home and so grateful to be an American. I love the USA.

captive island | flipagram

I completely forgot to bring my Canon camera with me on our latest trip to Captiva Island, FL. I know shocking, right? I was dumb founded as I walked into the airport and realized the heaviness from my camera that's usually wrapped around my body was missing.

It was shocking at first, I stood in the terminal a good minute before I could speak and tell Adam what was wrong, but must say I rose above. I saw it as a challenge to make the most of my iPhone and simultaneously get a break from carrying around my heavy camera in paradise.

In fact instead of taking so many photos I took a lot more video. I have plans to make a small film of our time there, not sure when they will happen, but for now I put together this flipagram of the photos I took.



Hope your having a delightful weekend.
xo

my people

Sitting ocean side feeling the sun at my back listening to nothing but the waves crashing over and over against the shore. 

This is heaven -- except I'm alone (adam's in his meetings). 

As much as I believe I'm an introvert I don't love being alone. I need people, no, I need my people.

I want to hear the girls racing up along the beach, splashing in the water, they would love it here. I want to lean over and rest my head on Adam's shoulder, feel him around my waist. It's not conversation I'm craving or just not being lonely, no, it's closeness. It's sharing a delightful heavenly moment with those I love -- and I must say, I missed sharing that with them this morning. 

12of12 | February | Vegas addition

01. Morning view from Treasure Island
02. Getting to sleep in on a Tuesday = great way to start the day :)
03. Adam was gone early, working, so I spent most of my morning in the room reading, exercising, etc.
04. Then I went for a walk down the strip before we met for lunch...
05. at BLT Burger in the Mirage -- totally hit the spot.
06. Adam needs at least 76% to pass his test and they sat us at table 76. I told him it was a good sign.
07. Spent some time walking and shopping
08. Adam studying
09. Togetherness while he worked
10. Couldn't resist some sweet
11. Night life
12. Light show from our the 22nd floor

Despite the fact that Adam is working and I spent most of my day alone, it was so nice to spend this 12th in Vegas to soak up a little of the sun and warmer weather. The high was about 55 degrees today, so not ideal, but it felt great. I guess when you're comparing it to 18 degrees anything is better.

I hope you all had a great 12th as well. Make sure to share it with the rest of us. :)

rendezvous

It was like a scene right out of a movie -- I groggily walked toward the baggage claim after too many flights, ready to find my bed, and turned the corner and there he was. It stopped us both in our tracks, seeing each other there. We weren't expecting the other just then, even though we were suppose to meet -- it took us both by surprise.

Let me go back to the beginning.

I hadn't seen Adam for about ten days. He was traveling the week before, came home for two days and then left again.The day he was due back I was flying out to North Carolina and we missed each other by a few hours. I kept thinking it was fine because I'd see him Sunday before he had to leave again on Tuesday. Or so I thought.

During one of our phone conversations we discussed my flight home and the logistics of it all when we realized he was leaving Sunday afternoon for South Carolina and we'd miss each other once again. As bummed as I was I knew it was something we couldn't conrol. It was just the way our work had lined up this month. We both knew it would be crazy coming into October, we just didn't know how.

And then I got this lovely email with this crazy idea to meet him in South Carolina. I wasn't sure I could really pull it off -- I'd been gone all week and the girls were expecting me home. So I called them, my girls, to see what they thought and they urged me to go mainly because they got to spend a night at their friends and then Lolo was coming to stay. So I did it. I made it happen.


So there we were, after days/weeks of absence we found ourselves walking toward each other a little bewildered at how easy it had all been. We smiled and eagerly embraced standing there in Charleston, both of us with our travel bags.


Here are a few photos of our rendezvous (24 hours) in South Carolina.










I can't even begin to tell you how much fun it was to ride my bike through the seagulls. I couldn't help shoot pictures as I went. So worth getting mud all over my back.

Remember how Adam dropped me off at the airport and we talked about a trip together next year.
Remember when Chris wanted to sit next to the exit so he could help people get out of the plane safely--just in case something were to go wrong.
Remember when all of us stood in the Seattle airport and had a conversation with a couple we pretended to know because they clearly knew us, but we couldn't remember who they were?
Remember when we figured out it was the people who bought our childhood home and how sad we were that our conversion could have been so much more personal?
Remember when we couldn't find Enterprise car rental?
Remember when the man stood in front of the Enterprise shuttle bus and yelled at the driver?
Remember when Chris timed the server to see if she could really bring the food in 10 mins like the menu said?
Remember when Grandpa kept wondering why I was taking so many self portraits?
Remember when we drew all over the table?
Remember how the four of us downed a bag of peanut m&ms?



Remember how I got all teary waiting for her to come in the door knowing how happy she'd be to have us in her home?
Remember when we almost gave Jeni a heart attack as she came around the corner and saw us all waiting for her in the living room?
Remember when we surprised Taylor at her soccer game?
Remember how lovely the weather was and how chilly it got once the sun went down?
Remember how we were so hungry we accidentally didn't save Scott any dinner?
Remember how the boys watched sports?
Remember when Poppy, the guinea pig, had her second set of babies and lived?
Remember when we went on a hike and the beautiful view?
Remember when we went to Levenworth and we ate your fondue?
Remember when we didn't have much time to shop or stop by the local farm stand?
Remember how good that cabbage salsa was?



Remember when we saw Moneyball and how cute Brad Pitt was?
Remember when I ran 7 miles?
Remember when Alan's team played an amazing game?
Remember when Chris wouldn't tell you what he ordered for lunch because he didn't want to influence your decision?
Remember when our hilarious volleyball game and how we never wanted it to end?
Remember how bad we all were and how ticked Chris was getting?



Remember when Jeni turned 40?
Remember when her friends all dressed in black?
Remember when we were suppose to go around and say something we loved about her and ended up roasting her instead? :)
Remember when she made another cake because she didn't think mine would be enough and we had a full cake left?
Remember how delicious it was and how no one complained about the excess?
Remember when Alan beat Grandpa at an arm wrestling match?
Remember how sad it was to watch Jeni and the kids get smaller and smaller as we drove away?
Remember how lovely and misty the 2 1/2 hour drive was?
Remember when we arrived 2 hours early for our flight?
Remember what it felt like to be home?
Remember how much we miss having Jeni close?

While she's at Squam... (guest hosting)

Each time Amy flirts with the subject of leaving for a trip I make it a habit to respond with a cool brand of nonchalance born from the experience that she will get distracted or indifferent and circumstance will quietly slip in and make the trip become an “almost” or a “maybe later”. So I never put much stock into a newly mentioned getaway because of the sheer outsideness of the odds it will ever actually hit my credit card. Even when she graduates to serious sounding things like booking cars and tickets the entire thing still feels more like an abstraction, at best a laboratory impression of a journey and no matter how flimsy the logic, I always end up picturing myself in the car, or on the plane because it seems so much more likely that I will be the one that leaves. While this potentiality is still floating in the air like something that may soon be, in her mind she has already jumped to the inevitable conflicts and assorted technical problems that, in her mind, are inherent in her departure. Now take just a minute and locate with a mental magic marker our two disparate dispositions and plot them if you will on an imagined map. You will notice that we couldn’t be further apart.
She is the one that is actually ticketed to a faraway paradise, but due to her death fixation and fear of flying she isn’t picturing the beach or the trees, but is actually wondering what the inside of a body bag smells like, while I, the one who has a first class seat to nowhere, am already getting mad that the lady flying next to me is taking up more than her fair share of armrest and smells like tacos.












So when it came time to drop her off at the airport and power squat her incredibly
heavy bag onto the curb (seriously, anybody less good looking than Amy would earn the undying hatred of the skycap guy and the eternal love of his chiropractor).
Friggen bag was forever heavy. But as soon as I pulled away from the curb I was genuinely shocked that she had gone anywhere, almost like she had sprung it on me in an underhanded sort of way. Let’s call it a mild panic, not at all like you feel when the bank emails you and then leaves you two voicemails later that same day, but more like riding as a passenger in the car while your mom drives and talks on the phone at the same time, you know, focused concern. So as I am driving home I am thinking of all the things I should have asked Amy long before now, like where you going again? it says here the girls finish school at 3 in the afternoon, that can’t be right… who has dance and who has soccer? As I am listing the things I didn’t remember to forget, my worries melted to the background with the abrupt recollection that I don’t have to worry about any of this stuff. Darwinian evolution solved this mess a long time ago with the sister mechanism that painted poison frogs the same color as Mc. Hammer’s pants.

















Survival instincts kick in, the amygdalae glows red with activity and the little door knob- licking kids that normally can’t figure out how to butter toast without getting it on the ceiling subconsciously remember that everything they have ever witnessed lends testimony to the fact that dad doesn’t give half a crap about the details and that if they don’t watch out and captain their own ship then they’ll be late to everything and find themselves eating cereal three meals a day. And sure enough, as soon as I got home and began interacting with the girls the whole thing went without a hitch. I just put out this kinda man-confidence vibe and acted like there couldn’t be anything more normal than having them call all the shots and take care of everything while I just sat back and stayed out of their way. I kept busy with work, making calls, reading and would occasionally ask calm questions like “who’s mess is this?”, “what are you guys going to do until bed time?” and to their credit, they all just started taking care of themselves. Smooth N Easy like a home perm.

12of12 | July | the iPhone addition

I did actually take pictures today with my canon that I will eventually share when I get home, but like I said earlier, not having the internet made using my phone the best way to improvise. It definitely does the job & captures the bits & pieces of our day--well, at least the bits & pieces when I pulled out my phone. I must say, i actually quite liked the change.

01-04. all finds from my morning run--a delightful morning it was.

05-08. a day at the beach

09-12. resting after a long day at the beach & shakes just because

Another month down--we are half way to our goal. Crazy to think half the year is gone already. If you played along make sure to share with mister linky.



P.S. for those interested, i put these photos together using the diptic & instagram apps for iPhone.

Have a good one!

hitting the road again for blue skies and warmer temps.
our spring break starts now...

Amy Vacation Day 2 - Adam guest blogs

o it seems only natural that I would seize the opportunity to do a stint guest blogging while my wife is taking a vacation from spending upwards of 8 hours a day alone in a 4,000 sq. ft. house with three computers and four monitors. You gotta think that would wear on even the toughest of candidates (I like to grab my audience right from the start, you know, get them on my side). I should mention that she not only left the house on the cleaner side of the scale, but also gifted me the new Kings of Leon album, “Come around Sundown”, which seems like a rather riskily titled album to be throwing around as you leave your husband unsupervised for better than a week, at least from a Freudian standpoint. But I couldn't recommend the CD with any more enthusiasm; it’s a strong buy if you don’t normally corrupt your senses with the likes of Taylor Swift, Shakira, or anything endorsed by the cast of Glee.

This whole trip to the Carolinas is something I really support. From a talent perspective, I think Amy has mad skills and never gives herself enough credit, so the opportunity to see other people's work and receive instruction should not only advance her as an artist, but also help her see just how good she is. I am a big believer that passion gets us where we go in life, for the better or the worse, and the biggest disasters are when we seriously jack up our chi by doing the safe thing, and in a classic over-correction, we end up putting off what we really want in life so long that when we least expect it we finally make some knee jerk reaction and explode into a phenomenally ill-advised career move.

So there is nothing more laudable than taking time out of life, which let’s face it, there is never really a good time, and getting some distance from the disquietude of domesticity, the endless whining of husband and kids, and reorient yourself by the compass hands of what really lights you up. For my Amy it is photography, creativity and self-expression. For me it is old architecture, interior design, dark beautiful woods, and anything involving Sofia Vergara. What?? Too soon?

next 6 days

Whenever I go on a trip, I think about all the homes I've had & I remember how little has changed about what comforts me. -storypeople



There is something so comforting about this storypeople as my bags sit ready for me in the next room to leave home for the next 6 days. I'm usually so anxious when I travel, especially alone, but this morning I'm feeling elated. Excited. I can't wait to walk out the door and have this adventure. So while I do love home and those who reside within it, I can't help but be excited for what's to come.

For those of you who don't know I'm heading to North Carolina for Squam Art Workshop. As I see it, it simply can't come at a better time as my thoughts have been geared toward making changes and growing creatively. I can't get over the feeling that I'm meant to go and that this experience is and will be exactly what I need.

I'm so looking forward to focusing on art.
I'm so looking forward to learning something new.
I'm so looking forward to challenging myself.
I'm so looking forward to connecting with other woman.
I'm so looking forward to spending time with friends.
I'm so looking forward to making new ones.
I'm so looking forward to using my camera.
I'm so looking forward to walking on the beach & feeling the sand between my toes.
I'm so looking forward to smelling the salty air.
I'm so looking forward to visiting lighthouses.
I'm so looking forward to seeing the fall in North Carolina.

What more can I say...I'm bursting.

Have a great Tuesday.
xo, amy