Japanese Students

I have been so excited to have the Japanese students here. i teared up at the host family meeting, teared up as i entered the airport, and again as they walked across the tarmac . know the excitement of entering a new Country, surrounding myself with a new culture. i thought this was going to be a breeze, but it's turned out to be more challenging than i anticipated. the google translator is not translating correctly, and when they do try to speak, it's so soft and un-prounounced that i really have no idea what they are saying. we spend our time going places and they just have to follow. i want to know what they want to do, what they want to see, and try. i don't even know if the things we are doing with them are new. who knows..maybe they fly kites at home. maybe their neighbors have horses. maybe pizza, pancakes, barbecuing hamburgers is old hat to them. and i realllly want to know what they think of all the bunnies, chicks and eggs everywhere around town. do they think americans are obsessed with bunnies and colorful eggs, like they are with Hello kitty? or do they know it's Easter coming up? I was hoping by the time they left, i would speak a little more Japanese, and they would speak a little more English. I asked the boys what they thought we should do tonight... "Sleeping Beauty" ballet, or the Firework show at Wildhorse? they thought the Ballet. i said..."it's just dancing in another country..." and Jake said "I'm pretty sure if they go to a dance production in Japan it would be more along the lines of their traditions and culture." i hope so. i just hope that i am exposing them to the kinds of things i should be. they both said they loved shopping in their emails, but today we walked the entire length of downtown, went into almost every store, and the girls walked in, sometimes found the nearest bench to sit in, or just walked aimlessly. i tried to find out what they like to shop for, but we couldn't figure it out. the only thing that really seemed to excite them was Starbucks. i couldn't tell what they were asking for, so i got out a peice of paper and pen, and they wrote "milk tea". i asked the barista if she knew what that was. she talked amongst the other associates and they came up with a steamed milk with green tea. they asked if the girls wanted syrup in the drink. i showed the girls the syrup and they excitedly said yes, smiling and giggling. once they took a sip, they both giggled...one plugged her nose and the other gave a look like i had put drizzled ketchup over her ice cream. Nik offered them to try his double chocolate chip with mint frappacino with whip, drizzled with chocolate. they LOVED it, so that is what they got. they both drank about half of it and then tossed it. the boys and i joked " NOOOOOOO....that's a $20 dollar drink you are tossing", but we just let them throw it away. o well. we tried.

Shopping was a flop. i guess downtown Walla Walla just isn't Tokyo. Although, i do have to say Inland Octopus was a hit. lots of money later, and we left with kites, frisbee, whistles and lots of laughs. priceless.

when we got home from shopping (eating, actually) the boys grabbed the frisbee and were ready to run across the street and throw it. i went to tell the girls and they were both crashed and sound asleep on their bed. i guess we wore them out.

tomorrow we are going horse back riding and they are going to make us Japanese noodles. this really is the most amazing thing for me to experience. i have been choking up for 4 days now, thinking of the experience my boys are having, and hoping that the girls will treasure their time also.

Sianara for now.

Being Healthy

6 months ago, i decided to stop drinking. it wasn't a dramatic step, more of a "i get more done when i haven't had a glass or two of wine" realization. it was a very busy month of photography and i really had no time to waste sitting around sipping wine. i had deadlines to meet, projects to complete, etc...and i just work harder, faster and more focused when i have not had a drink. after week one of no wine (wow that makes me sound like a wino), i approached the weekend, and i initially thought "yippee! it's the weekend, i can have a glass of wine!" then i thought to myself, "well, shoot...since i want to lose a little weight anyhow, maybe leaving the wine "for now" out of my diet, until say, a party, and i could save some calories in the meantime." then a party came along, and i thought "well, shoot...it's been a couple months now, and i really don't want to risk having wine tonight, waking up feeling dehydrated and therefore being less than 100% tomorrow, and i REALLY love feeling 100%." so i decided i would only drink on holidays. then New Years came along. i will just toast the New Year with a glass of Champagne!" i decided against that. what is the point after all? I can toast the New Year with anything! you see the pattern...? and there began the pattern of me not drinking. and i LOVE it. i feel so much better, i never have to pay a cab to drive me home after a fun night out with friends and drinking. i am saving money, i feel so much better. i love knowing i will NEVER have a hangover! NEVER have to have a glass of water with my wine, NEVER spend another $ on wine. (not that my wine budget was that much). i haven't noticed any change from the calories being cut out though. but that's probably because for the first few months, we were drinking hot cocoa with whip and drizzled chocolate every night. All it takes is one mouthful of sour whip cream to end that pattern. now i'm drinking tea every day. here is the recipe for my new favorite. change ingredients amounts based on your preferences. i really like the bite that the ginger gives, so i put a lot of it in.

Half of an apple (sweet) sliced

apprx 4 slices of fresh ginger

apprx 10 sprigs of fresh thyme

put in french press

pour boiling water in

steep for 10 mins.

sweeten to taste

Fishing, not Catching

I had a wonderful day fishing with my boys and my family. It was freezing cold and windy, but we had a lot of fun. We laughed till our bellies were sore, we ate till we were stuffed, told stories, made stories up, wrestled, piggy back rides, teeter tottered. Tim said it was the first time he had ever gone out fishing and not caught a thing. But no regrets were had. Fishing and campfires are a good way to force you to just "sit" and relax.

Photo shoot in Venice

Nothing brings more joy to me than traveling for my work. I've been to Montana to shoot "A day in the life of the Bledsoes", to San Franscisco to shoot "A day in the life of the Baughs" and to Italy to shoot "A day in the life of the Day Family". I'm looking forward to many more travels!

Day Trip

Yesterday Tami and I decided to take a day trip to Joseph, OR. If it wasn't for all the doubled over in laughter moments, I might have focused on the fact that there was snow, and i am currently in Spring mode. Way too much coffee was drank and everything from blogging and emarketing to business and relationships was talked about. Our conversations covered the gamut. The question of the day was "What do you think people in Joseph do all day?" that question was answered.

Joseph is filled with creative people. if we had decided to stay over for the night, we could have attended the local Indian dinner, gone to a movie, hit the ski hill (a surprise) taken a painting class, got a massage, a facial, and quite possibly have made a few more interesting friends!

By the end of store one, we had canvas, paints and paintbrushes in hand, (and a book on how to bring the creativity out of us). Store two, we had two new friends, the owner of Simply Sandy's and her Partner. Simply Sandy's is full of Anthropologie styled hardware and unique antique furniture and finds. We stood and brainstormed with them about the benefits of e-marketing, websites, photos, life and business. Before we knew it, Sandy was asking me if I would consider managing a store for her in WW. Then we went to BeeCrowBee. I walked into the store and was instantly in love with not only the space, but the jewelry, the paintings, furniture and his bath and body products.

We explored great restaurants, abandoned homes, side streets, trains, and down the paths of self enlightenment. By the days end, we were not only closer friends, smarter business owners, but also refreshed and ready to apply all our gains to our daily lives. And i have another great hat to wear!

The first signs of spring

These early signs of spring

give me so much hope, joy

& anticipation.

Walla Walla Valley

Girls

I love boys. boys are all i know. i have two boys. and i grew up on a farm with two brothers, playing in the creek, climbing hills, pretending i was a box car child. i don't know what i would do if i had girls. but i love girls too. several of my friends have girls and i just love being around them! i've always wanted to adopt a girl, even though i don't think i would know what to do with her. if i had had a girl, i'm pretty sure i would not have dressed her in girly clothes. she'd be more comfortable in brown then pink. cowboy boots instead of sandles, her hair would be red, curly and wild. she would probably talk back to me just like i did to my mom. she'd be feisty for sure. i remember when i was a little girl, and when we were in the car, i would gaze at the side of the road, in the ditches, just hoping i would see something, a stranded baby maybe, a little baby girl (yes, i was pretty dramatic then too), daydreaming that we would take her home and i would help take care of her.
last weekend i went and watched my friends little girl in her ballet class. here is a couple photos from the girls dancing, and after seeing them in their pink tights and tutus, i have to say little girls in pink are super sweet! to all the moms out there that have only boys, you HAVE to go watch the little girls ballet class at least once in your life.

reflecting on saturdays past

I grew up going to church every Saturday. and i liked it. all my friends went to church, so it was another place for me to be social. i also loved how after church each week, we either had company over for lunch, or if we got invited by friends, we made the trek into town and would spend the afternoon with them. Saturdays consisted of Church, potlucks, go for walks, drives, often to Whitman Mission, South Fork, or Jubilee lake, to name a few. i remember on the drives to South Fork (Harris Park), which was just three miles from where we grew up on the river road, my parents would let me and my brother sit in the back side passenger windows and we would try and reach across the hood of the car and hold hands, while my dad drove 20mph down the gravel road. we didn't watch t.v. from sundown friday until sundown saturday.....5 4 3 2 1. TURN ON THE TV! Fantasy Island is on! (just kidding mom...i know we weren't supposed to watch that). For my brothers and i it was a countdown to get back to daily life, but looking back it was such a quiet, relaxing, no stress time. other than the quarrels that happened while everyone was trying to get ready for church on time, or fight over who gets the window seats in the car, Saturdays were a day spent around family. I still remember the excitement of waiting for church to get over so i could go to Charmi's house to play, or have a friend come over and play barbies by the riverside, or picknicking at a park.

Saturdays now. alarm at 7. check my planner, my phone, both emails, respond to texts, make french press coffee and drink whole pot before 8. photo shoots, chores, make appointments, errands that didn't get done during the week. appointments with clients who want to look at prints, follow up with clients, deliver photo books, clothes shop for new basketball shoes, sports, snowboarding, boys doing homework, going to the gym, working on donations, marketing, blogging, trying to get my hour long walk in, farmer's market, and the list goes on.

Forgive me God, for EVER giving my poor mom grief because i was "bored" on occasional saturdays. I realize now, she was doing everything in her power to give us a family oriented day, filled with food and wonderful friends and for teaching us about you, a day with no business phone calls, no extra haircuts during the weekends, to make extra money. she sacrificed and worked hard, long hours during the week, so that we could have the family and friends time together on Saturdays.

THEN there were SUNDAYS. ugh. chores chores and more chores. after all, we had ALL day saturday to play.

It's not often that i get to see photos of me, taking photos of others, but i always find them intriguing when i do! I would love to have a photographer come along with me on all my ventures, capturing all the interesting things I've encountered. Here is a photo taken on assignment by me, followed by a photo taken by Denise Shives capturing me. A great thank you to her for sharing it with me!