The Story Of Us

At the end of February my sister in law was blessed with a baby.. so we packed our bags and flew down to Houston to meet the munchkin. This was not our first trip to Houston.. and since most of the family was house bound with the baby we thought we'd take a little drive to New Orleans before heading back home. We got a rent a car and drove the six-ish thank god almost uneventful hours to the Big Easy.. 10 minutes away from the rental car office H threw up in the car. We had to pull over and clean everything.. returned the car and hoped in a taxi to our hotel. Not a great way to start the trip. We were staying at The Whitney don't you just love the name. A little history.. The Whitney is a Louisiana based bank.. and the hotel is based inside the city's first Whitney Bank branch dating back to the 1980's. They have restored the bank's original lobby to function as the hotel lobby. We got cleaned up and headed out to dinner.. just a short walk away. Just like Florida...

Chained - The rusty chains that secure the locks on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, Canada. The Rideau Canal, also known unofficially as the Rideau Waterway, connects the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston, Ontario, on Lake Ontario. It is 202 kilometres in length. The name Rideau, French for "curtain," is derived from the curtain-like appearance of the Rideau River's twin waterfalls where they join the Ottawa River. There are a total of 45 locks at 23 stations along the canal and most are still hand operated. The area around the Rideau Canal makes for a lovely walk. This photograph can be purchased here Want to know more about our trip to Ottawa and the yummiest scones on the planet? here I drank the kool aid and joined Instagram.. come along and follow me on my photo journey here Get my post directly in you inbox with  Bloglovin Newsletter Sign Up - Let's Stay Connected, Shall We?

A few months ago a dear friend moved across the country leaving us with all her Groupons. While M called dibs on the free massage, D and I went to Art Around the Corner to paint some pottery.. there was a large shelf full of various items that we could pick to paint.. I picked the gift box and D picked the treasure chest. He had a blast picking various paints and just going to town on the treasure chest. We were to come back after a week to pick up the final product.. Since every inch of D's treasure chest was different I needed to take several pictures to even attempt to do it justice.. and he painted the inside too. Mine of course pales by comparison.. Get my post directly in you inbox with  Bloglovin I am now also offering ad space.  See  Sponsors  for more information .  Newsletter Sign Up - Let's Stay Connected, Shall We?

Caged In - I have a particular fondness for this photograph because it was a photograph I took when I was still in college, it was a photograph I took with my film camera, one that I processed myself in the dark room. Now all m photographs are taken with a DSLR and I haven't set foot in a dark room in eight years! This is a cross processed photograph of a stores steel shutters. Cross processing is the procedure of deliberately processing photographic film in a chemical solution intended for a different type of film which results in increased contrast and stronger colors. This photograph was taken in Karachi, Pakistan. The photograph is available for purchase here Get my post directly in you inbox with  Bloglovin I am now also offering ad space.  See  Sponsors  for more information .  Newsletter Sign Up - Let's Stay Connected, Shall We?

As a book lover the moment D was born.. even before that I was planning all the books we were going to read, first me to him then us together.. I have all the Harry Potter books on my shelf waiting for D to turn seven.. eight so that we can read them together.. follow each book with the movie. Of course we started with the simpler Goodnight Moon, Chika Chika Boom Boom and similar. M's boss at the time sent us a basket full of books.. :) Since then we have read countless books.. some over and over again.. and some not so much. We make regular trips to the library and when we run out of new books we reread the old.. A few weeks ago we reread I Love You Stinky Face and while I always loved this book it got very little love from D until now. He was now old enough to understand it's meaning.. After reading it he let out an enormous bugger filled sneeze and when I called him bugger face he asked me.. 'but you still love me right?' What was interesting was not just th...

Break From The Pack - A lone wild pony breaks away from his herd on the Assateague Island, to explore and graze in solitude. Assateague Island is a 37-mile long barrier island located off the eastern coast of Delmarva. The northern two-thirds of the island is in Maryland while the southern third is in Virginia. These ponies.. more commonly known as the Chincoteague Ponies, whom legend states are descendants of Spanish horses shipwrecked on their way to Peru in the 16th century.   Every year on the last Wednesday of July is held a pony run.. also known as Pony Penning.. where the ponies swim across the channel. It takes 5-10 minutes.. Larger foals are auctioned the next day and the majority of the herd, including any young foals, are returned to Assateague on Friday. Some ponies are purchased under "buy back" conditions, where the bidder donates the money to the fire department but allows the pony to be released back onto Assateague Island.  This print is availab...

Our last day in Orlando was spent at Sea World. The park was a mix of highs and lows.. but at the end of the day how could you not leave happy after seeing whales and dolphins. This was another cold day.. it was a bit disappointing to leave the snowy Jersey weather and fly down to the Sunshine State only to be cold and in our winter jackets! We started the day off with some pictures with Shamu.. Our first stop was at the Turtle Trek.. we were not exactly sure what to expect.. we walked by Manatee's and Turtles.. until we got to a round room with a round 360 degree dome ceiling.. there was no place to sit.. everyone was to simply stand and wear their 3D glasses.. what began was the tale of one little sea turtle emerging from its egg and onto an epic journey through the sea, the challenges it faces as it grows and makes its way back to the beach it hatched on. It was amazing.. I have no words to describe the awe we all felt.  Next we hurried over to the Dolphin Theater t...