I snapped this shot in a little village in Co. Cork.  I was with my friends on a girls weekend and we were driving through some of the little seaside villages on the South Coast of Ireland.  We stopped for some chips and refreshment   at a little pub in one of the villages.  Across the street a man was exercising his horse by letting him swim in the bay.  I was amazed at this scene while my Irish friends were like, “We see this everyday…we’re going to the pub.”

Cancer.  I hate cancer.  Just when you think you’re safe, let your guard down, it strikes again.

My cousin Chet (his name is Keith, we call him Chet…of course) went through a hard battle with Leukemia about 15 years ago.  There were some close calls but he made it out.  Not unscathed however as his wife who he met because she also had Leukemia died 6 months after their wedding date.  So with a broken heart, he rebuilt his life.  He married again to a fantastic person and now has two amazing boys.  So we all relaxed a bit…let the snake sneak up on us.   He is now facing another hard to treat cancer with a tumor in his esophagus.  It just makes me swear.  And say “It’s not fair!” over and over again.  Because it just isn’t.

He sent me some PJ bottoms I had made for him probably 20+ years ago to use as a prayer shawl.  I cried when I got them.  I can’t believe that he has kept them all these years.  There are some serious holes in these things!  Chet, by the way, is a fantastic photographer and one of my photography heroes.  I have a few of his prints up in my dining room so I put his PJ bottoms up on my wall by his prints.  It’s my Chet shrine.  So if you come over and wonder why there are pants on my wall.  It’s for Chet.

I love you Chetter and will continue to be praying for you all as you start treatment next week.

So fun!!  I freaking love this job!!

I want to lead photography tours in Ireland.

There it is.  Out there.

I’ve actually been working on this for a while now.  But I’ve never posted anything about it so I’m hoping that by posting I’ll keep my motivation up, let people know and eventually give my dream life.  I’m going to add a category that is solely dedicated to Ireland and our time spent there as part of this process in getting this tour going.

I have always loved photography.  In my past life as an architect, I dreamed about changing careers to photography and admired those who had made it happen.  I tried to soak up photography knowledge from anywhere I could but it wasn’t until we moved to Ireland that photography changed from a hobby to something totally new.  It was a way to record, process and savor my life there.  It was a way to tell a story.

Now, I take what I learned about myself, about my camera into my new career as a photographer.  I think my shots aren’t just interesting photos but actually feel a little like you’re there.  A time capsule to be relived again and again.  That skill all came from my time with my camera in Ireland.

I want to take people to Ireland and not only show them my favorite spots and some good craic (Irish word for fun – sounds like crack) but also teach them to use their camera to tell a story.  Something that they can take with them that is more powerful than learning just how to take properly exposed shots.

That is my dream.

So proud of you, H!!

So for today, I’ll leave you with some photos from our family outing on Sunday. This is my best kind of day – dinking around Seattle, people watching, being with my family and then finishing it off with ice cream at Molly Moon’s!  Oh Yeah!

We went to the Conservatory in Volunteer Park.  I’ve never done that before.  Super interesting.  I imagine it’d be great to do that on a really cold and rainy day because it’s like visiting a rain forest and desert -

I made a comment that the only thing that would take that day from good to great is going to a market… I love markets!  Flea markets, framers markets …whatever!  So we headed into Fremont to the Sunday market but you can’t go to Fremont without visiting the Troll -

G bought some glasses at the market so I snapped a shot of her with her new shades -

Umm..to cool for school!   No?

I don’t know why but I love taking photos of the backs of my girls heads.  There is a painting by Gerald Richter that I saw for the first time in my big “Art Book”.  I’d never heard of him before and I don’t know anything about his other paintings but this one is one of my favorite paintings in that whole giant book.  It stops me every time.  It’s his daughter and it’s titled “Betty”-

Here’s my “Betty” –

It was a good day…

See you back here soon!  xo  Christiana

Haha!  Are you looking at my bum? Are ya?

B is for Broncos!!

B is for Beautiful family -

B is for…oh!  I can’t thinking of a ‘B’ word for yummy cheeks! Just enjoy the rest from the session!!

Look at that little curly curl!  So sweet…and it’s of course from Yakima, my home town…

Our brilliant friends the Judys let us borrow their wicked cool old trailer.  The Beatties let us borrow their car to tow it in.  We do have the best friends, do we not?!  I loved having the trailer so much.  I could happily live in there….if I didn’t have such slovenly roommates! 

Does my daughter not have thee most impressive bedhead?

My parents have a 1960s VW camper van.  It’s really cool.  I wish I would have gotten some better photos of it.  You can see a bit of through the trees above.

I take offense to this bag of candy -

As I mentioned above, it was really cold.  Sadly, I did not venture to the beach much because of that.  It’s a bummer because I love the beach!  But the wind was blowing so hard.  It made really interesting sand patterns though!  I don’t know why this is but I can’t look at this image very long.  It gives me the heebies.  Anyone else with me?

And the requisite cousin shot…  I took a lot of photos of the kids and this one was the best.  Less than half of them are looking at the camera!  I guess they are at least mostly smiling…except my daughter

One last one of Blue who had the time of his young life!

Cute ‘er what?!

Now a little back story on the actual session.  We stopped in Leavenworth on our way back home from a weekend in Chelan.  Whatever you might think about Leavenworth, if you bring with you someone from Switzerland…well, then…it turns embarrassing.  It might be fun and kitschy go and buy taffy and pretend to be in the Alps when you are with other Americans who understand that we tend to fabricate charm because we don’t have the years behind us to make charm on it’s own but to bring someone who lives by the actual Alps…you get my point, right?   Also the piped yodeling/accordion music made me want to step in front of a bus!  So C’s boyfriend is from Switzerland and was with us for the trip. I got some great photos of C and M while there.  Knowing the back story, this one is pretty funny, don’t you think? -

Here are a few more.  It was hard to pick just a few!

Aww!  You kill me, you two!

After the session we went to this amazing Mexican food place called South…in Leavenworth…next to the Australian shop…Anyone getting this?!  Anyway, this place was so yummy.  I’d even brave the yodeling to go back.  And they give the kids those little wax sticks to play with while you wait for you food.