Pinhole Fire, Vacation Recap, Toe Readings

Gary, Emily and I drove out to see the fire that was burning on the west side of Phoenix this past summer. Gary was daring and jumped the fence and walked towards the fire. Emily and I stayed behind, keeping our feet moving due to the GIANT ant hills and equally giant ants.  Check out the blog he wrote this summer! 

SO! I am back and totally refreshed from my vacation. I even took an extra week off. It feels good to be back in Phoenix, although I totally feel in LOVE with Santa Barbara. What a gorgeous city. I am making plans to go back as soon as I can! Radiohead was unbelievable, I am so glad to have shared that experience with Gary, who recently became a Radiohead fan… thanks to moi! Watching their show was like watching a video game, the lights and effects were techno-tastic! San Francisco was gorgeous, but way too cold! I always wanted to move there, but I think I’ll pass after visiting. I’d definitely like to stay a week or longer to fully experience the coastal city, but I would freeze to death if I moved there.

We met some really neat people in California. We couchsurfed with Dawn in Oxnard, spent quite a bit of time talking and photographing One Feather’s art piece in Santa Barbara (photos to come), spent some time with my friend Samantha and her family and went on a photo stroll through Golden Gate Park with Erin Malone.Oh Yes! We also ate at Cafe Gratitude in San Francisco. Some of the best raw food I’ve ever had! I even bought the recipe book and already made the I AM LOVELY apple cobbler! So Yum! Today I’ll be making a strawberry milkshake! I would eat there every day if I lived in SF!

Next stop on my trip was Concordia, Missouri! I spent a wonderful week with my family during the only excitement of the year: Street Fair. Went to my 10 year high school reunion as well… was a little disapointed in the turnout… and then, well, a tornado warning happened and after it was over, half of the people that showed up didn’t return. I did get to see Sarah! I haven’t seen her since her 21st birthday! Liz, Tracy, Sarah, Joel, John, Erin, Melanie…. there were a few more that showed up, but I didn’t even get the chance to talk to them. 

I spent a lot of time at The Hanger, the most awesome music venue in our country, run by my brother. I am so excited for his place… I see great things happening in there. I had the pleasure of listening to some great acoustic music and playing with his white kitty and 6 turtles. I also took a lot of pinhole portraits of my family. I cannot wait to get my film developed, I have about 20 rolls to develop!

All in all, it was a wonderful 3 weeks and now it’s time to get back to work! Daily blogs! Daily flickr photos! Booking wedding jobs! Booking pinhole portraits! Getting work into galleries! Getting great PR in magazines and blogs! I am so grateful that I get to spend all my time doing photography! It’s a pretty powerful feeling!

Oh Yes! One more thing before I forget! On Saturday Gary and I went to Angel’s Serenity, a beautiful store in North Phoenix for their Healing Health Fair. I had a reading by the super gifted Ashley Celeste. You can’t help but smile when you’re around her and her reading was eye opening. The few things I learned I have already started working on. I intend to get weekly readings from her. Then Gary and I had our toes read… Yes, we had our toes read! It’s pretty amazing what your toes can tell you. It was an unforgettable experience, that is for sure. During our toe reading I was also asked a very MAJOR question and have spent the weekend thinking about it. It was so major that every time I open my mouth I stop and think before I say something. I’m not going to tell you what I learned but if you know me well enough, you may notice a slight change!! A very positive change!