How very Seattle of you

Seattle series, Part 3

Just little snippets of life that seem to be typically Seattle

Because you should be able to get coffee no matter what kind of store you are in

All around Capitol Hill, there are little dance patterns, showing you the footsteps for some of the traditional dances. Because even waiting on the sidewalk can be an opportunity to learn something and try something creative and new.

You just would not see this in Durham.

Even the neighborhood library is artistic and interesting looking

Using rocks to create art and beauty. Everything can be turned into art out there. Love it.

Why wear a normal hat when you can wear one like this? 🙂

So in love with this little girl. Bright coat. Fun scarf, big tall rain boots. Yes!

 

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For the love of light

Seattle, Part 2: Fun light fixtures, fun statues and interior art

I so completely love this shot, and loved the coffee shop it was in. They were playing super happy music, and the cafe workers were all singing along as if it was the most important thing they had to do that day. My kind of place.

Same coffee shop, a tree with blue glass bottles. I love how it looks like a painting, a little out of focus but still fun

 

Brother Aaron’s light and red wall. Just loved the colors, shapes, the kind of abstract feel.

One of my favorite statues, I think. Sure, I could get all  deep about the rich man who owns the world, and how he doesn’t even notice the men beneath him holding him up…but really…I like him because he’s cute. That’s as deep as I get sometimes 🙂

Big, proud moving girl statue = LOVE 🙂

It’s like a big giant ice cream light fixture. Maybe for the giant girl above.

I am a total glass ho. Love love love glass. This window display is happiness.

I wonder what he thinks about? He looks like he is contemplating something

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Signs of Seattle

We just got back from five days visiting B’s brother in Seattle. It was my first time in the city, and I really loved it. We walked around a ton while we were there, something I miss living in Durham. You can walk around your neighborhood, but unless you live downtown, there isn’t really any destination walking. or going for a lot of photo walks. And even downtown, you walk for maybe 45 minutes, you will see pretty much all there is to see. We wandered for hours and didn’t even come close to scratching the surface. I love walking around a city with my camera, it is such a good way to really see the city, especially the parts that can be overlooked easily.

I love shooting signs. I find them fascinating, and you can get a good flavor for an area based on the signs you find.

I am going to break my Seattle adventure into a few different blog posts, starting with signs that caught my eye.

Yes they are, so much so that I want to do it as my job.

Seattle is a big foodie city. And even better, it is a city where it is relatively easy to feed a gluten-free, dairy-free, more vegetarian than not girl.

Shot with the 35mm lens, no flash. I love the lighting. But yeah, I also love the sign that says Rub Me.

Ha! I just liked this, although I admit I don’t know…are regular utensils designed for right-hand use? Most of what I have doesn’t seem to specific to one hand or the other.

Down below Pike’s Place.

Congratulations? This would never have been something I would have thought to aspire to.

What can I say? I thought it was funny and witty. And the other side reads Happy Spanksgiving. Ha!

Absolutely. What’s the point if you don’t?

If I were in Seattle, this would be my coffee shop. It looks like a coffee shop for spies. I would go in every time with my finger gun and walking all spy-like to the music from Mission Impossible. It might even be required to do that.

Other than “very carefully,” you have to admit you are curious.

I always do, Mr. Sign. I always do.

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Tales of a weekend getaway

Hubby and I needed a recharging weekend, he’s been very stressed at work, and I needed some relaxing, outdoor time.

I found Pilot Knob Inn, a charming B&B located about two hours away from home, out past Winston-Salem.

Before checking in, we went to Hanging Rock State Park, hiked up to the bouldering field and got to try our first attempt at outdoor bouldering. Now because we didn’t have any bouldering pads or anything, we stayed really low to the ground, so we wouldn’t get hurt if we fell. It was frustrating, because we very much wanted to climb higher and play on the rocks more, but we were suitably wary of broken bones or worse.

The bouldering field was incredible, I described it as a giant’s playground. Huge big rocks, climb a little path and find even more around the corner. We will definitely be going back!

Then we went to check in to our little log cabin!

Isn’t it darling? We completely fell in love with it. It was the honeymoon suite 🙂

Our front porch! We stood out here and watched an awesome thunderstorm.

There were four kittens who lived under our porch. They were happy to sit on the porch with us, but wouldn’t let us pet them. Their mom checked us out, and decided we were mostly harmless.

I love pink kitten feet

Kitten pile!!

Isn’t this peaceful and beautiful? I felt so relaxed staying here.

Our birdhouse at the cabin

Hubby and a pup who lived on the property, love at first sight for both.

A rare mermaid on a bridge sighting

Hubby on swinging bridge

Some of the  yummy fruit spread I had for breakfast today

Today, we drove up to Pilot Mountain.

Then went to a nearby vineyard

I didn’t know there were fast grapes and slow grapes

But even though they are slow grapes, they are hard workers

And they make lovely wines!

And that was our weekend! We came home feeling relaxed and that we had a chance to unwind, and really get away from everything, even though we were only gone for two days.

Hooray for mini getaways!

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dreaming of tropical breezes

The winds outside are cold, certainly for down here, with temps in the 30s and 40s right now. I’m itching to play in the sunshine, feel the tension of winter melt away in warmer weather, wander around with my camera, sit outside and sip coffee, feeling the unhurried sense that seems to come with warmer temperatures.

But even more than spring temperatures, I am dreaming of tropical breezes, turquoise blue oceans, wandering around barefoot in the sand, and playing in the water. Oh, how this mermaid misses the ocean and playing in the water. And this mermaid used to be a proper mermaid, one who spent much of her youth diving off the coast of Massachusetts, scuba diving, snorkeling, playing with fish and lobster in their native homes. Sadly, it has been a long time since I spent any length of time underwater.

And like most mermaids, I was born with a strong desire for travel and exploration. Mermaids are naturally curious creatures. And it has been far, far too long since I have done any proper travel. My travel of late has been home to New England, either from North Carolina, or before that, Oregon. Nothing exotic really.

But not for much longer, dear reader! I just booked a very special trip for B and I to go to Belize….a honeymoon, you might even say 🙂 Is it May 24 yet? I can’t wait! And we have three days of scuba diving booked. B is going to get certified before we leave, and your Mermaid Truly is going to take a refresher course, just to be safe and comfortable. I am a mermaid who is all about safety, especially when playing underwater. I haven’t been diving in years, I can’t wait to do it again, and to get to share it with B, who has dreamed of diving his whole life.

This is where we will be staying

This is one of the renowned snorkeling/dive spots,where you can swim with nurse sharks and rays!

This is one of the most famous Belize dive sites but it is a full day boat ride, so I don’t know if we will make it out there. But it is lovely to look at.

This is the island we will be staying on – Ambergris Caye

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Photos from a weekend in Louisville, KY

I just got back from a few days in Louisville, KY, where I was staying for the American Medical Writers Association conference. The conference workshops I attended were helpful and informative, and I actually had some time to wander around the city. I had never been there before and I enjoyed it. The city has some really beautiful architecture, and I actually (surprisingly) did mostly ok with food (traveling is often challenging because of my food allergies). I tried Ethiopian and Persian food (the Persian stew I had — vegetarain Fesenjoon, OHMYGOD, it was amazing) and ate at this really fun, funky cafe (where there are frequent Elvis sightings!) and had this amazing sweet potato/baked apple/fried tofu salad.

I took lots of pics, here are just a few:

Some neat building reflections downtown

Obviously, horses are a big theme throughout the city, and there were many cool horse art pieces throughout the city. I asked this horse if he was missing any pieces.

Lots of cool light fixtures

View of the Ohio River right behind my hotel

This bike was actually chained up, so I think someone actually rides it. AWESOME. And there is an orange Dell flag on top of the stick, because, why not?

The Belle of Louisville

Fun little section of Downtown, with lots of restaurants and bars, and a stage for bands to play. I saw a bit of the free Lonestar concert.

Neat building art, right next to my hotel

closeup of the paddle wheel on the Belle of Louisville (anyone know what it is actually called? I’m guessing it’s proper name is not paddle wheel)

This guy was carving really cool walking sticks. I would have bought one for B, but I wasn’t sure how I would get it back home with me.

From this awesome, funky thrift/vintage store that I found (if you are reading this, Hello Louisa!)

68 beers on tap. 30 Frozen Drinks. 1 Giant Lizard. Ok then!

This sign totally cracked me up. I didn’t go in but I was admittedly very curious to see the size of the burritos after this!

That’s it for now, I will probably get some more shots up tonight or tomorrow!

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I’m here!

Yes, I know, I’ve been a horrible bloggy girl lately. But I think life should be returning a bit more to normal  now, which means more time for bloggly happiness.

I had my mom’s 60th birthday over the weekend and flew up there to celebrate. Leading up to that, I was working tirelessly on a scrapbook for her, which was so much fun. I saw pictures I had never seen before and really enjoyed putting together a visual story of her life. And when I gave her the scrapbook (which she loved!), she told stories that went with the photos, so it was a great bit of her history that I got to hear and learn.

Flying up north for the weekend also meant I got to see B (yay!) and got to play on my beach. How I miss the ocean. I was out for a run, running down streets I have run down for years, breathing in the tangy-salty-cleansing air of the ocean, breathing in life. The ocean is life and breath to me. I felt calm and revitalized just being near it, I felt my brain begin to spin in new creative directions, and words and images began to dance in my head.

Now that I am done with the scrapbook and won’t be traveling for a few weeks, I need to focus my energy on writing and photography and break out my paints and get colorful. A lot of my energy and time has been spent outwardly, giving my creativity and time (willingly, of course) to others, but now I need to do things for me. A good sign that my creativity needs to come out of my head — my dreams have been getting more intense, and I’ve been having more nightmares. It always seems when I stifle the words and images in my head, my nightmares become more frequent and more vivid. I need to make me a priority, make creating for me a priority again.

I have some cool shots from my beach, I will post those later.

Happy Thursday!

Love

The Flying Mermaid

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Walking around Portsmouth, NH

I went to college at the University of New Hampshire, and used to spend a fair amount of time in Portsmouth. It is one of my favorite cities, and this past weekend, I wandered around (in the freezing cold) with Brian and couldn’t stop taking pictures. So many cool things, everywhere you looked. It doesn’t hurt that I absolutely love the architecture and brick buildings.

So, come on a stroll with me through downtown Portsmouth.

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Leaving on a Jet Plane…

I will be heading up north tomorrow night, going to Massachusetts and maybe Vermont. The trip was originally planned as a belated Christmas visit to see friends and family. Yesterday, I learned that my mom had a health scare, so the trip has a different color today than it did earlier in the week. She’s ok, but now my trip might mean less visiting with friends and more staying closer to home.

Blogly goodness will probably be limited to non-existent for the next week. Don’t worry, I’ll take lots of pictures and have stories to share when I return.

Remember…Love your neighborhood Mermaid, it does a body (and heart) good 🙂

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some fun, old (and embarrassing photos)

These are photos from my birthday scrapbook, which is very possibly my favorite gift ever.

A friend I made while I was in Ireland. This was one of the Irish isles, Innishmoore, I believe. My dad loves this photos, because he is not sure who looks more uncertain.

I have always been a mermaid (with land legs, unfortunately), so it makes sense that I would want to learn how to scuba dive and snorkel so I could spend lots of time under water. This is from a christmas morning, when I was in early high school. Photographed with me is Baby, from the short-lived show, Dinosaurs. He had a string on his back, and if you pulled it, he would say things like “Not the Mama!” and “I’m the baby, gotta love me.” For some reason, he cracked me up.

Oh the pants. The humiliation of seeing this pants. And the horror of the knotted shirt. And yet I am blogging about them. What is the internet for, if not to show off embarrassing moments? This was on a nighttime party cruise in Aruba. I went there with my parents after my high school graduation. I remember thinking how great I looked in that outfit. Ah, the wisdom that comes with hindsight….

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