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Birthday at the Cabin

Just returned from the cabin with the fam where we laughed a crazy amount and celebrated summer. The best gift I got this year for my birthday was an extra year! At some point this year (I think around Holly's 40th birthday) I started to think that I was 36. On Saturday I was talking to Jon and saying something like "well, you know we aren't getting any younger, I am turning 37 tomorrow" blah blah blah.

Later that night Jon said out of the blue..."Hey, you are NOT turning 37, you were born in 75, do the math- you are turning 36." And I think my eyes popped out of my head and I jumped off the couch and started to bump and grind with happiness. How awesome is that!?!? On the eve of my birthday I gained back a year just like that! But then I was a little bummed because I felt like I lost a year of enjoiyng 35. But whatever, Happy 36 to me.

We had such great weather yesterday. The paddleboards were a huge hit with the boys. Pretty much... *Summer perfection!

 

Original

We had a yard sale and while we were setting up, we met the original owners of our big kitty. These brothers had her/he first, then they moved to a place with a "no kitty rule". So, they brought their kitty back to Grandma (aka the cat hoarder) on our street. She has sooooo many cats that they all bullied kitty and she ran away to our house. And then she lived happily ever after.

The brother on the right spotted kitty and said "he wasn't fat like that when he lived with us" and I wanted to say "Well, maybe because he had tapeworms and  giardia when you had him". The cat hoarder is moving and I am worried about what will happen to all the cats & kitties. I told her that we would help however we could. She ended up bringing three baby kitties to our yard sale. I felt a little weird having them out, but they really need someone to love them. I was so tempted by this tuxedo one. I was really thinking about keeping it but then the coolest couple pulled up and decided to take him back to Portland. Look at those whiskers!

I imagine that this is kinda what our kitty looked liked as a baby....

(before she got all fat & hairy)

The whole point of the sale was to clear space and to earn money for a condo on Kauai this winter. We are hoping to stay for at least a month. I think the sale got us enough $$$ for 10-12 days. We are looking through our closets to see what else can go :) We would love to have friends join in on our Kauai fun. I am pretty sure Kate is coming for round two. Most likely it will be February. You should come too!

 

Swing

Today I had two very nice hammock sessions. While in San Juan we have been staying at a Hilton resort thanks to our low bid being accepted on Priceline. But here's the thing, we are figuring out that we are not "resort people" We rarely swim in pools and we hate hotel/resort food because it's not very good and overpriced. We've hardly been at this resort during our stay yet we are still stuck paying the extra "resort fee" which Priceline failed to mention when we put in our bid. Am thinking we will be staying clear of resorts from now on.

After two days of roaming the city we decided to have a low key beach day. But our attempts were a bit foiled. I had a great plan in place thanks to our "Lonely Planet" guide. But thanks to a bad taxi driver, a whole bunch of wind and maybe not the best book description our visit to the Isla Verde and Pinones was a bit of a bust. After paying $60 in cab fair we decided to put our "resort fee" to use. The best part of the resort in my opinion is the grove of palm trees with hammocks strung everywhere. I got some afternoon sun and read my book and loved every minute of it. After that we took a dip in the pool and even braved the hot tub. Later on we bundled up and headed out for sunset. I had to get one more hammock session in. As the sun went down Jon photographed the water and waves and I finished another chapter in my book.

About a year ago I did a family portrait session for some other wedding photographers, Scott and Laura of Wallflower Photography. During the session I was taking photos of Laura and their baby Caleb, Scott was looking over my shoulder at the images on my camera. Laura had a bit of a double chin in some of them and Scott said "Turtle Laura, remember Turtle!" I looked perplexed. Then Scott explained that during a photo workshop they took the teacher explained that if you tell your clients to stick their necks out like a turtle they won't have double chins. They swore it works and they often ask their clients to do the "Turtle." We do not encourage or teach the "Turtle" but today when I was trying to get some shots without a double chin while laying down in the hammock I thought of it and gave it a try...

The next time you find a camera in your face, remember "Turtle". Your eyes might bug out a little and your smile might be forced but you won't have a double chin.

After a botched morning, swinging at sunset was a lovely ending to our stay in Puerto Rico. Tomorrow we are off to Newport Beach to photograph a backyard wedding, then an early morning flight home on Sunday.

Vieques

We are now over in San Juan enjoying this pretty little city but I thought I would share some of my favorite shots from the little island of Vieques. Plus a sneak peek of our bride & groom. The wedding was at the W resort and was pretty snazzy.

A lovely little art gallery. Wouldn't it be fun to own this?!!

The most peaceful beach I've ever seen...

Sunset at the pier. Below the welcome "BBQ" at the W.

Renee & Josh

Renee's dress was pretty cool, I'll be posting more photos later. I want this chair for our house but I am sure it's at least 10K. Not going to lie, I always miss our kitty a whole bunch when we are away. It's awesome knowing that Sylvia is there giving her love. What I love about Puerto Rico is that there are kitties EVERYWHERE! So, I don't miss her as much. There was even one at the airport today, which was the perfect distraction and calmed my nerves as I prepared to get back on the tiny plane.

On the way there I was in the very back and on the return flight I was front row. Both times without Jon next to me (what's up with that?) See that guy behind me in the plaid shirt? He was ten times more scared than me. I dominated the plane today.