The Mouses get together again

Mouses?  My dearest friend, Connie, says that she is "city mouse" and I am "country mouse".  Right after Thanksgiving....before I had any time to get sad about my kids leaving....Connie came to visit.  

We had an awesome time!  We enjoy just sitting around talking, we can talk for hours.  And, we played tourist as I took her to all my favorite places.  

From the minute I picked her up from the airport...it was go go go.  Or should I say shop shop shop?  

Since we both love Isagenix shakes...meals were easy...except when we ate out, which we did!

I took her to Bonnie's to get a pair of magic pants.  They are magic because they always fit, they always look good and they always make you look skinny.  She was sooooo happy! 

Of course it had to rain on us!  But, we didn't let that stop us. 

Here we are in the Santa chair.  

A friend took our picture on Main Street.  We went to every shop around.

And, then....boo hoo....she had to go home....back to being a "city mouse" again. 

Last chance for fall colors in the mountains

Come take a drive with us!  The fall season is slipping away and we decided to take one last trek up the mountains to see the fall colors and take pictures.  The last time we drove up there, the lighting wasn't the best.  On this day, it was overcast.  Perfect for pictures.  

Our first stop was for this rock formation on the side of the highway.  Hubby took this picture.  I got out and felt that biting wind and ran straight back to the warmth of the car!

We drove on and this was our next stop.  It wasn't windy at all, and not so cold.  Hubby took this picture of me taking a picture.  

One of the main reasons I was so eager to take yet another drive "up country", was to practice my own photography.  Here are a few of my favorites from the day:

This cool, weathered tree was right beside the highway.  

We pulled in to see this bright yellow grove of Aspens.  We tromped around taking tons of pictures.  

When I saw this creek, I thought it was beautiful.

Hubby and I started to think there was something familiar here.  It didn't take us long to figure out that we were on the opposite side of our favorite "waterfall hike".  I don't know why, but this was an exciting discovery.

Right on the other side of Oyster Creek, I can see the familiar hiking trail that I have walked down many many times.

Hubby was off in his own photographer world, so I just looked around to see what interesting things I could take pictures of.  I like the tangled feeling of these aspens.

This is a picture that I took of hubby, taking pictures.  He loved it so much, he wanted to put it on his photography blog.

When I look at this picture, I realize that I have a lot to learn about photoshop. Hubby did his photo editing magic to it and WOW, it looks so much better than it did when I edited it.  You can see his photography at www.farrellphotography.net

I took this picture of a log that had interesting cuts in it.  Did someone have a little trouble cutting this tree down?  Hubby says it's his favorite picture of mine from the day.  He says that the one yellow leaf on top was the thing that did it for him. I would like to say that I placed it there, but no.  It was just as it is.

This is not a great picture, but I wanted to show you this cool tree with blue berries on it.  

I just love the way that the berries make the tree look blue.

They look good enough to eat, but I wouldn't dare risk it!

Another cool tree nearby.  I'm showing it to you because I had walk through bushes to take this picture!

Up the road a little further was a favorite spot of hubby's that he wanted to check out. West Fork Carson River.  It was beautiful.  By this time it was getting pretty cold.  We saw some snow dust on the highway.  Too windy for his purposes.  We started to head down the hill.

You can not drive past this cabin without taking a picture.  It's probably one of the most photographed cabins anywhere.  So, we stopped.  It was FREEZING.  Literally.  It started to snow.  The first snow of the season!  Brrrrr.  
As we drove down the mountain, the sunset was amazing.  By the time we stopped, it was too late.  Those wonderful sunsets are so fleeting.  Here are a few photos I took through the windshield.

Did you enjoy your tour of the mountains in the fall?  I heard it really snowed up there that night and the next day.  Next up, snow pictures?

Santa Barbara

We took a trip to Santa Barbara last week for a wedding.  While the wedding was for a friend, we were working as the wedding photographers.  The bride grew up with my daughter and her mother was my daughter's gymnastics coach.  

We had a nice trip in our new (well...new to us) mini van.  Plenty of room for everything!  It was really long though.  We met up with my daughter and her friend about halfway there.  At one point, I just had to stop for a break and we found ourselves at this really cool place, the Madonna Inn.  We had been there before many years ago.  Hubby snapped a few photos:

Doesn't this fireplace look like something out of the Flintstones?

This place is just over the top!   I would love to go back and spend the night.  One of the things it is most famous for is the men's bathroom.  The urinal is a waterfall.  Hubby checked to make sure that there was no one inside so I could come in and take a look.  I didn't see what the big deal was.  Then he told me that it was only activated by motion.  So, I didn't really get to see the whole effect.  lol.

The wedding was at a beautiful venue.  Everything about Santa Barbara is beautiful.  The wedding went great and when hubby finishes with the photos you will be able to see them at www.farrellphotography.net, check out the blog.

I videotaped the wedding and am excited to make a wedding video for the couple.  It was a fast moving day, as all weddings are, for the photographers.  So much to do and never enough time.  The groom is from Australia and there were a lot of people there from "Oz".  I loved the accents.  Something about the way they talk is just fun.  

After the wedding we were worn out!!  The next morning we met up with dear daughter and had some brunch.  The restaurant was right on the beach.  

They went home and we spent the rest of the day as tourists.

This was my chance to learn some basics about photography.  Hubby really needs a "second shooter" at the weddings.  So, I'm it.  

Here are my first attempts at being a "real" photographer.  My son, who is also helping me to learn, told me to just take lots of pictures.  He says that getting a good shot is part luck anyway.  And so I did.  These are my favorites.

This is the Moreton Bay Fig Tree.  I read about it on the internet.  It's so big that it provides the largest amount of shade of any tree in California.  I liked this picture because of the closeup of the fig.

Without a person in the picture it's hard to see just how big this tree is.  It looks like something out of Avatar.  I liked this shot because of the sun peeking through.  And, speaking of peeking.  Hubby said that he saw an old man pop out of the center of the tree and is convinced that there is someone living there.  On the other side there is a person sleeping in the grass.  He looked homeless but very young.  I'm not sure, it IS a college town.

Hubby took this one of me....so you can see how big the tree is!

I had fun taking these pictures, but at the same time, it was stressful.  I was intimidated to just hold the camera.  I'm fine with my little point and shoot camera.  It doesn't send any message, other than that I just want to take a picture.  Holding this serious camera seems to say "I know what I'm doing.  I'm a pro."  Just embarrassing.  Plus, hubby is really good at what he does.  When I compare my meager attempts, it just seems so pointless.  Rome wasn't built in a day.  And, hubby has been a photographer for probably 40 years.  So, I plan to give myself some slack.  At least that's what I keep saying to myself.

After the tree, we headed over the the Mission of Santa Barbara.  I love the old missions.  This one was wonderful. We followed the tour and quickly realized that we took a wrong turn and were following it BACKWARDS.  Par for the course with us!

Here are my favorite shots of the mission:

We had to make our mark, of course!  We placed a pin for where we live.

This was another big fig tree.  Not as big as the Moreton, but really pretty.  In this area were many graves of priests over the years dating back to the 1800's.

Hubby tried to tell me that this shot wouldn't work out.  Instead, it is one of my favorites.  I stuck the camera in between to posts and the flash was concentrated only on the figure in the middle.  I like that.  Art is in the eye of the beholder, right?

I took this picture because I thought it would be a fun craft.  I can just imagine the glittering light reflected from this glass dish.

Inside the church.  Just to show you how good hubby is...this is my picture:

Here is his:

He says it's all about lighting.  


This is the main courtyard.  So peaceful and pretty.

After that we headed out to the beach to catch the sunset.  By the time we were heading down there it started to feel like a race.  We made it in plenty of time and enjoyed a relaxing evening watching the sun set over the pacific ocean.  

 Watching this doggie, really made me miss ours!

I'm always in hubby's pictures.  Now it's his turn to be the model!  He took this one of me:

While I was just watching the water, I saw a dolphin.  Twice!  But, I could not capture him on film.

I took this one of the setting sun:

I liked this pic because of the people just walking with the setting sun behind them.  And, below is my video camera.  I set it up to record the entire sunset.  I don't know what I will do with it, but it's really cool.  Complete with the sound of crashing waves.

I love the colors of this picture and the seagull on the right.

And suddenly I was STARVING!  We headed downtown for a bite to eat.  It was filled with college students.  We chose an Italian street cafe.  The food was incredible and I loved the atmosphere.  It reminded me of the movies.  Hubby took this picture:

In the morning we took our time.  We stopped at the original Pea Soup Andersens.  It was good, but my favorite is still the Santa Nella one.  Since we were so close, we decided to take a look at Solvang.  A Scandenvian village nearby.  We didn't even get out of the car....because the streets were lined up with people waiting for a parade!

We decided to stop at Pismo Beach on the way home.  I just wasn't ready to say goodbye to the beach.  And, I wanted some more practice with the camera.  This time I tried out the telephoto lense.  

I took a few of this lady.  She kept getting closer and closer to this pelican.  I thought it would be an interesting picture if he decided to take exception to her close proximity!

A fun day at the beach.   My very first telephoto pic.

I really had fun trying to capture the surfers.  I had to anticipate the wave they would try for and then THEY would have to stay up.  

Aha!  Got one!

Small waves.  All that waiting for a 5 second ride.

The star of this show was the pelicans.  

I loved this solohette.  

Then he started to stretch out.

Like something out of Jirassic Park!

I told my son that my best shots were copies.  Like this one.  I just went and stood where hubby was and took the same picture.  My son told me that this is the best way to learn.  Whew.

We had a fun trip, but I was sure glad to be home!  I missed my "boys"!