a post about photos, the present, and the future

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can you say photo-heavy? sorry about that. last week was my whirlwind college visit trip to baltimore, washington d.c., and new york city. i loved the traveling and seeing new places (okay, only baltimore was new) and the food, and yeah, the colleges. 

the most poignant picture in this post though, has nothing to do with colleges. it's that one from washington with the flags at half mast. for my city. for boston. i was born and raised here- seeing those flags lowered not only in my own town common but almost 450 miles away was something else. like it was really real once i saw that. it's been two weeks and i'm talking about it now because a) i just hadn't gotten around to it before and b) it still feels so surreal and i don't even know what to say. so that's now and that's the front page of my newspaper everyday and the hushed talk everywhere, even two weeks later.

on a much brighter note, in new york we saw annie on broadway and ate incredible italian pastries from cake boss cafe. oh, and b&h photo- i have no words. it has to be the actual north pole, right? 70,000 square feet of cameras and lenses and conveyor belts and $6 viewfinder cushion things (unfortunately that was all i needed there).

also, art schools are really cool. they have dark rooms and mac suites and camera equipment libraries and book libraries designed by tiffany & co. one more year and that's the future, which is scary and ridiculously exciting and intimidating all at the exact same time.

confessions of a scarfaholic

so i jumped on the scarf bandwagon a while ago and it's the best jump i've ever made. one cannot have too many scarves, of that i am certain. but they are so. expensive. which is really kind of dumb because they're either a) fabric or b) yarn. and i'm paying upwards of $20 for that?

solution: joann's fabrics. raid the clearance fabrics and buy half a yard. that gold striped fabric? $1.50. that's a $1.50 scarf. okay, so you need minimal sewing machine experience, but when i say minimal i mean really, really minimal. 

also, i retaught myself how to knit. why is it so limited to old ladies? i took a class when i was in 5th grade and then i just kind of forgot how to knit but i realized that i could be making scarves. so i watched some tutorials and bam! i have a chunky cream infinity scarf coming my way. 

my total savings wasn't anything incredible, but essentially i got 3 scarves for $18. and i feel really crafty doing it. if you're on february break this week, make it a week long project. if you're not, i'm sorry, that's really unfortunate.

happy scarf obsessing.

(oh yes, there's a new blog design! also the sidebar doesn't work [yet] so if anyone knows why the html gadget isn't letting my image be clickable, which it is coded for, please help a girl out!)

concrete jungle where dreams are made of.

from the top:

1. top of the rock 2. the statue of liberty 3. pigeon at the 9/11 memorial 4. liberty island 5. tourist in bryant park 6. taxis 7. one world trade center 8. 9/11 memorial 9. nyc architecture 10. times square at night 11. the view from central park 12. central park carousel 13. nbc studios

i only live 3 hours from new york city by train, but we hadn't been in about six years. the first time i went was super structured and scheduled so this time, we just kind of decided to see everything we could in two days. and so we did.

the pictures are in no particular order, just arranged in a pretty way. i think the only thing that requires me talking about is the 9/11 memorial. wow. i knew it would be amazing to see, but i never thought that it would have the impact that it did. walking around the pools and seeing the names engraved around them and seeing one world trade center being built made me so proud. i was so proud to be an american and say that my country was rebuilding after such a devastating occurrence. if you ever get a chance to go, please go.

in other news, i think the top of the rock has better views than the empire state building, bryant park is where i would bring my coffee every morning if i was a local, and if you're ever looking for dinner in times square, go to carmine's. best italian food ever. trust me.  so there's new york in a nutshell! also-- if you watched the today show on wednesday, you probably saw me. if you didn't, you're in luck! here's a link if you'd like to see me dance daring julie andrews! (in case you don't know- a dance dare is when you dance behind someone until they notice, or maybe they never notice. ellen started it and this one is probably a stretch, but i'm still going to say i dance dared julie andrews.) i was also behind the interviewers during interviews with some of the olympic hopefuls and emily blunt. so that was pretty cool.

have a great weekend!

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!)

south africa. [part one]

south africa is the most gorgeous place i've ever been. this was my second visit, and it was the perfect relaxing, exhilarating, eye opening vacation.

we flew into johannesburg from paris, and then down to durban to spend two days with my great aunt and uncle at their house, with an ocean view and short walk to the beach. i spotted monkeys in the backyard one day, and again on the way down to the beach.

even in the middle of their winter, gorgeous flowers bloomed. i told you it was beautiful!

i think this sign we passed on the way to the beach has seen better days. but it's still an interesting picture. they drive on the left side of the road there, and since we've been home i keep thinking, "oh shoot, we turned into the wrong lane!"

the beach was incredible. the sand was soft and warm in the golden light, and the foamy sea rushed in and out over your toes.

like i said, it's a gorgeous place.

one day, we headed to oribi gorge, and were treated to incredible views and a little coffee house hidden away that served delicious coffee milkshakes!

from there, we headed north to the hluhluwe game reserve (pronounced shish-louie) with my dad's cousins and their kids. we drove in at sunset, and the light could not have been more gorgeous shining through the brown grasses.

 last time we were in south africa, we spotted 4 out of the big five (elephant, rhino, lion, leopard, and water buffalo) and this time we felt pretty confidant about seeing a leopard to complete our big five sightings. we left the game park three days later without a leopard sighting, but having spotted the big four, as we call it, again.

as we drive through the game park, i found myself staring, just intrigued by the beauty and mysteriousness of these animals. not just the giraffes, but all animals we spotted.

this shot absolutely takes my breath away. this is shot with no zoom, me leaning over my brother to get a closer picture, and this zebra munching away happily.

i'm in love with this picture. so maybe sitting on the frame of your car is forbidden in the park, but when zebras call, rule breaking may be necessary.

we saw kudu, isn't the reflection perfect?

and wildebeest. (is he looking directly at the camera?)

and lazy rhino.

and at the end of the day, we saw this.

stay tuned for part two tomorrow! i couldn't show you 3 weeks of pictures in one post...i've gotta drag it out.

Sugarloaf/USA

I love to ski. And take pictures. So I buckled my ski boots, popped on my skis, and hopped on the lift...with my camera around my neck. That allowed me to get awesome views from above, (picture 1) and great views of the mountain (picture 3). It was a great vacation.

Cousins! and Brothers...

To say I played a little dress up with stuffed animals and dolls this week would be an understatement.


I played A LOT of dress up this week, with my cousin Audrey.


We also went to a carousel near the water. (Jack actually posed for me!)

And Audrey investigated how it worked above her!


(Will posed too! I'm surprised... brothers can be a pain!)

After a long day of carousels, my cousin Reid feel fast asleep on the way home.

"Cousins are those childhood playmates who grow up to be forever friends."