two months later.

i heard that the makeshift boston marathon bombing memorial comes down on tuesday, but i hadn't seen it yet. i finally got out there yesterday and it was absolutely moving. boston is my city and to see everyone come together like that and to see a memorial the size of this just form, seemingly out of nothing, is amazing. as far as i could see, life had resumed on boylston street, aside from the dozens of people silently milling about the hats and jerseys and running shoes, hundreds of running shoes, that lined a small section of copley square. at the finish line, a few tourists, or maybe locals, snapped pictures. it was settling to see it back to "normal"and it made me so proud to be a bostonian. or a 45-minutes-south-of-the-city-bostonian (;

june.

LOVING the fact that i just uploaded that collage full size to flickr. so it's june, school's still not out, and i's still not hot. welcome to new england. but there are birthdays and daisies and peonies and puppies. it's june and i'm happy.

longing for summer | reminscing on an adventure [part four]

"And if the city never sleeps then that makes two." -Ed Sheeran, The City

here's the thing about london: it's not a city, not a lifestyle, not a tourist trap; it's an addiction. there's no curing the lingering need to return. the exchange rate is as bad as the weather but the people are kind-hearted and the living is easy. we stayed on campus at the university of london and the dorms are enough to make me want to go to uni abroad- think single rooms. we spent twelve days there and saw the city from most touristy spots to least.

the london eye was on my bucket list. in one sense, it was just a ferris wheel, but in another it was ten times better than the best ferris wheel you could ever imagine. i felt like i'd be able to see all the way across the pond back to boston. yeah. that was the height we got on that thing. of course, i mostly saw big ben and buckingham palace from it, but maybe i wasn't looking hard enough. the little boy thrown into this set was seen in hyde park. it's totally a sniper shot and i have no regrets.

can we talk about that top photo? the day you'd see a sign like that over here is the day pigs fly. it's fabulous and at the same time i just want to scream "thank you, captain obvious." well, maybe it isn't obvious that it has 84 steps, but why would you need to know? that's what i'm saying.

this was easily my favorite day of the trip. if you ever do anything in your life, just go to portobello road. also, if you'd like to read a very detailed account of my day there, hop on over to fernweh! seriously though, it's a world in itself. the streets are lined with vendors who sell scarves and jewelry and antiques as well as little coffee shops. the houses were painted as if just to make your day and the rain couldn't even put a damper on things.

so one day we went to stonehenge. i have to say, it wasn't a place i feel the need to ever go back to. don't get me wrong, it's amazing...but it's a bunch of rocks. plus, as a photographer it's nearly impossible to get a shot that hasn't already been taken. on a completely different note though, all i ever want to know in life is exactly how the rocks got there. it's fascinating, really. (and hey, that top picture got an honorable mention in the scholastic art awards yay!)

in contrast, this field of poppies in the cotswolds is somewhere that i want to go back to every single day. poppies are easily in my top three flowers, and they were before this too, i swear. in true london fashion, it was raining and damp and generally it kind of set the scene for a miserable time. i kid you not, it was incredible. i actually left with my jeans soaked up to my hips and my hair in knots but it was the kind of place that couldn't be miserable if it tried. (there are some more shots of it below because it was too pretty for one set)

and then we went to oxford. i'm not sure what i was expecting, but this was not it. it was ten times more touristy than i expected and overall bigger. but still adorable. i'd kill to go to college there.

after we saw stonehenge (these are mostly in chronological order, but here's the exception) we ate at a traditional english pub with a thatched roof and everything. there were bacon wrapped sausages. also, i used the word "wanker" just as there was an awkward silence in the entire place. in the states- not a problem; in england- kind of a problem. no one stared for more than fifteen seconds. anyway, after that, we went to an ancient burial mound that is probably associated with stonehenge but i wasn't listening because THE DAISIES. they went on for miles. this was the field of my dreams. along with seven or eight other, i just laid there for a while and it was perfect. we took portraits hidden in them and then picked them and strung them for our hair. i love england's fields.

next stop: east london. home of the olympic games, the artists, and the locals. i loved feeling like  a traveler here. i wasn't a tourist anymore, i was a traveler documenting east london and that was so special. i took portraits of artists, whistlers, produce men, and meat men. i told the story of the area surrounding the dalston-kingsland tube stop. this was the last "working" day. the rest of the days were spent having fun and running a gallery. this day we ate lunch at a cafe that had never been visited by americans. the bathroom stalls were painted in chalkboard paint. 

this was the trip of a lifetime. if any of you received the national geographic student expeditions catalog, keep an eye out for me! you can find me on the page with student experiences. i can't believe i didn't get around to a full blog post about it earlier, but it's fun to reminisce now. oh, and those candles in the last picture? that was on the fourth of july and we were trying to do sparklers with sparkling candles (it didn't work out). and the people laying in front of buckingham palace? i was one of them (we wanted a unique angle). soooo if you've stuck around to get to this paragraph, congrats! and thanks for reading. happy weekend!

longing for summer | reminscing on an adventure [part three]

"We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came." -John F. Kennedy

there were two days left of summer and we wanted to go sailing. so we did. we ventured to newport, rhode island for the day and rented a sailboat. it was the perfect day for it, too. we cruised past the mansions on the cliffs and pretended that we were about to dock at one of them. afterwards we wandered the cute downtown area and indulged on peanut butter cupcakes.

i like to reminisce because reminiscing is warm and january in new england is not. happy monday.

(ps: should part four be a big giant london post? should there even be a part four?)

longing for summer | reminscing on an adventure [part two]

 

“The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea”-Isak Dinesen

the entire island was underwater following hurricane sandy. thankfully, i spent a few days with my best friends on long beach island in new jersey this summer. it was the jersey shore; it was tacky and hot and expensive. but the sunsets were perfect. the salty water was never too cold. the sand was soft and the soft serve was delicious. we rented beach cruiser bikes and rode five miles to the end of the island and we parasailed and we went to this ice cream place where we had to sing to be served. i'm no snooki, but looking back on it, i could get used to the jersey shore.

(these are all from my point and shoot because apparently i just didn't want to bring my dslr?)

the swedish dj.

two words: vsco film. i've been going back looking at/editing photos from london and i came across the swedish dj. we met her on portobello road and i had to have her portrait. she knew she could and so she did.

for ava.

ava rosemeyer. gone too soon, we remember her every year with a tea party.

it's a simple thing, really. no need for extravagant china, or white gloves. just two best friends, and tea. and fun photo props.

we experimented with photography techniques, and laughed. we talked, and talked, sipped raspberry tea, and sometimes, were just quiet. words weren't always necessary.

neither of us could actually play guitar, but it modeled for us.

at one point, maddie said to me, "this is so nice. just sitting here and enjoying this last week of summer while everyone else is running around, or on the computer; tumblrfacebooktwitter". and it was so nice. the day was perfect, warm and sunny, and the company was perfect too.

happy birthday superprincess.

jetlagged. or just plain lazy.

i guess jetlag really isn't an excuse two weeks later. i've been lazy. yesterday was the first time i actually picked up my camera since my trip. i could make up some excuse about how busy i've been, but honestly, i've just relaxed. it's nice to just sit, and have friends over, and do absolutely nothing. last night, we laid in the grass as the sun set, and danced on the driveway. i love summer.

thanks for all the nice comments on my last few posts by the way! i love getting comments, and reading what you all have to say. happy friday!

south africa. [part two]

where did i leave off? oh yes, the game park! so we left the game park after an amazing three days and headed to the north coast for a week at the beach. 

have you heard the song 'knee deep' by the zac brown band? if not, click! anyway, it was stuck in my head every. single. day. we were at the beach. not a bad thing though!

 this here was our little piece of paradise. it was right on the beach, with very rickety steps down. it looked small from down on the beach, most likely because of the houses around it (huuuuge!), but it was perfect for us.

the rocky beach had tons of tide pools and little crawly creatures living in them. i almost stepped on this, and i have to admit, i freaked out! it was bigger than it looks!

also found on the rocks were fishermen. they would usually fish close to sunset, making for gorgeous silhouettes. (entering this in kate's little somethings photo challenge!)

meanwhile, i turned my eight year old cousins into little photographers (woo!). they were constantly taking pictures on my point and shoot, and they aren't bad! i have to laugh at the posing in some of them though: one boy on the beach, with his hands at his sides, standing very straight and tall, while the other takes the picture with no zoom from up at the house.

we took a trip to my dad's cousin's farm one day, where he grows gerber daisies. that greenhouse was the most gorgeous thing i've ever seen. 

the flowers grew in rows by color, and they were insanely healthy and colorful.

this picture makes me want to say "this one's just for you."

after, we headed to his house. he has a pet hawk. you don't see that everyday! 

the rest of our days were spent on the beach. it was breezy and cool, but the water was so warm! i was happy to sit with my feet in the warm sand and watch the water, but i did get soaked hunting for cowries (i found 52!) and i could get used to that temperature water!

one of the twins found this dead fish all wrapped up in some sort of shawl/wrap/scarf thing that had washed up. they had hoped it was alive, but were happy to show it to me for a picture anyway.

bricks were washed up all over. kind of interesting, kind of strange.

down the beach a little ways, the houses ended, and all you saw for miles was sugar cane growing along the coast. it rippled in the wind, and glowed in the setting sun.

being the middle of winter, the sun set around 5:30 each night. the moon became very visible even sooner than that, and the clarity was better than i've ever seen anywhere.

i never wanted to leave.

(thanks for all the comments yesterday, i love hearing what you think!)

summertime.

its slowly approaching. just forty days until i see taylor swift, and forty two until i leave for my trip. to say i can't wait would be an understatement. day after day of glorious sunshine, warmth, staying up late, and sleeping in. summer's coming.
(p.s. new header...what do you think?)

i miss you.

There's a giveaway going on over at Pastor Girl's Ponderings! All you have to do is leave a comment saying what your favorite season is (and a bit more if you'd like extra entries!) and that got me thinking about summer.

Late summer to be exact. The end of August when you spend every day with your friends because you realize school starts the next week. The sun sets late, and its warm, but with a hint of fall in the air. I miss that so much.

I could go for some summer right about now.