2,000 miles

Utah. Beautiful Utah. Although this was my first visit to the magnificent and majestic broad and colorful landscape this fascinating state has to offer. I know it will certainly not be my last visit. Nicho and I love road trips. Love. This one was extra special. Seeing as how it was to celebrate my birthday. Nicho mapped and planned the whole thing out. All I had to do was pack my bag. He is pretty great like that. We left Los Angeles Thursday afternoon, after a stop at yummy's cupcakes for vegan treats of course. Then headed straight to Vegas. No photos of that first stop, not for your eyes. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Friday morning, we got up, stopped at Ronald' donuts for some more vegan treats then hit the road straight to antelope valley. The slot canyons.

 

We meandered through several national parks in Utah. 

Valley of the Gods

Monument Valley

National  Natural Bridges 

Capitol Reef

Dixie

Grand Staircase Escalaente

Kodachrome Basin

such beauty...

                                                 and of course had to drink lots o' coffee

       During the daylight hours all the allure and grace of the land was right in front of our eyes. At night all we had to do was tilt our gaze skyward, and there was a whole other realm to adore and explore.

                                              We covered 2,000 miles worth of desert road.

Thor's hammer.

                                                                    Bryce Canyon.

And the best for last. 

Zion.

Crawled into bed at 4am on Monday morning. Feeling full. And yes, I ate a lot of food. And maybe those in and out fries were not such a good idea at 1am. But not that kind of full. The fullness that can only exist when you breath in deep, that fresh air, open eyes wide to take in all the marvelous colors, stop to feel the texture of smooth sandstone, the breeze in your hair, smell the crisp fresh pine and green growth, listen to the melodic tunes of running water and rustling wheat grass, and to experience the outstanding works of art our sweet Mother Earth offers us.

Good golly Miss Mollie

Weddings are such a joyous celebration of love and family. This particular wedding was exactly that, and then some. I am lucky enough to have known this beautiful bride, Mollie, for 6, maybe even 7 years.  And can think of no better way to celebrate with my friend Mollie than to capture this beautiful day as it unfolds with my own lens. Mollie and Evan are the picture perfect idea of a truly happy couple. And I am truly happy with the perfect pictures of this picture perfect couple!

The hottest new fashion accessory

Smoking kills. I wouldn't be caught dead without one.

Eka Pada Rajakapotasana--say that 10x fast

I vividly remember looking at a photo of a woman doing Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (king pigeon), a couple of years ago while thumbing through a yoga book. The image stuck with me. It is such a  graceful expression of the human form. While marveling at the beauty and complexity of the posture I recall thinking to myself  'My body will never be able to do that'. Another image of that pose was brought to my attention the other night. My friend had posted a photo of her in king pigeon on facebook. The spirit of the pose, the energetic brilliance of it just exudes beams of love shooting out of your heart center. So obviously I immediately wanted to test the limits of my body and hop right into that pose. Now that I have a strong yoga practice I assumed it was a done deal. I grabbed my nearest yoga mat, rolled it out on my kitchen floor and tried to shimmy my way into it. Right leg, left leg, nothing. Utter failure. I took a deep sigh and went back to my computer.  The next morning I went to class, chipper as always, not thinking anything of trying to revisit the pose anytime soon. My teacher happened to be the same friend that posted the photo on facebook. Without even requesting or asking her to work our way into the pose that day, she did. Without knowing it we were warming our bodies up to eventually get into the fullest extent of that pose our bodies are capable of. By being patient, using props, and moving with my breath I was delighted and astonished that I could actually touch my foot to my head! Less than 24 hours before I thought couldn't. I could all along, I just needed to use all the tools I have gained through my yoga practice to get to that point. King pigeon was such an important reminder that anything is possible. As long as you are willing to do the work and not get caught up in today's need for immediate gratification.

I am so grateful for this body, mind, and spirit that guide me though my practice.

Buddha

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make our world~

This is such a true quote from the Buddhist philosophy. I live by these words. Always seeing the light, staying positive, and optimistic. I find profound logic and reasoning up top in that great brain of mine. However, I have come to the realization that I am sometimes up in my head much too often. I need to release some of the power and control of my mind. Instead, react by sending the intuition I feel in my heart out into the world. React, and be completely engaged in the here and now. Stop. Feel. Live. Love. Breathe. Be Free.

Holy Cow

I had the joy of volunteering some of my time at the Gentle Barn. If you have not heard of this organization, you must check them out. It is an animal sanctuary that saves and rehabilitates animals from severe abuse, neglect, and slaughter.  Each and every animal has their own story, it is not easy to listen to, some really fucked up shit happened to such sweet beings. It is truly amazing that the animals they rescued are capable of love and trust after they had been so mistreated and had horrible previous lives. These animals are ambassadors of compassion. While spending my time there, it was hard not to fall in love with every single animal. I mean, did you know turkeys LOVE to be hugged!? Out of all the sweet little faces there, I felt the deepest strongest connection to the cows at the barn. Their curious, round,, brown eyes captivated my heart. I am sure you can see why.

I have this photo hanging in my kitchen above my stove. She is the only cow allowed in my kitchen.

power of the portrait

It amazes me what I am capable of when I am focused on the creative process of a photo shoot. My sweet little camera is a magical box. I am the magician with the power to transform people, to invoke a mood, emotion or a feeling. My goal was to take two completely different photographs of the same person. One portrait of what she looks like. The other was to create a sense of mystery using shadow. On this particular day I had the enchanting Kristelle in my clutches to preform my vision. The day ended up being so beautiful, a day  full of laughs, smiles, matcha, sunshine, rain, music, nuts, yoga, shadows, tears, love, and rainbows.