The Local Treasure I Found

While going to a few places with my mom one day, we stumbled upon a local coffee place! I had no idea it even existed and as soon as I walked in, I didn't want to leave. The girl at the front counter had a big smile and I felt like I'd just walked into a place I'd been a million times. We talked about coffee and it was just a very comfortable place. The warm colors on the walls and the smell of that amazing coffee aroma just took me over and I had to take pictures. I was so happy I had brought my camera that day :) 

They had coffee, sandwiches, and even WINE....wine... I was definitely at home there lol! I asked to talk pictures and I'm glad I did start taking them at that moment, because it started getting really busy. So I was able to take a few shots of it before everyone started filing in. 

Just a reminder for everyone, please try and stay local. Support these small businesses, the family owned, anything that will help keep your town, or even your city, personal. I feel like these big businesses come in and there's not the same connection you get if you go to a local store with people who might want your area to be just that much closer. So I challenge you all to take some time and explore the local places in your area, you might be surprised in what you find :) 

Sun, oh how you tease...

We were teased. Last weekend was warm and amazing! Sun, cool clouds and I was just in awe of how amazing Oregon looks when everything is green and bright :) I feel like we don't get enough of that up here. I'm writing this while it's raining, hailing and windy outside lol! I'm really excited about the photos I took last weekend, they are kind of random, but some of my favorites are in this bunch. I went on a walk with Fluffy aka Austin, but I prefer Fluff... poor kid lol! We walked down to our river that's literally 2 minutes from my house! At the moment, the water is a little muddy from the rains and everything so I didn't take any of the water much, but on our walk there, I stumbled upon some interesting shots :) 

Clouds Part 3

I was so excited while driving home one evening and looking out to see these clouds! My mom was driving so I was able to roll down the window and take the first one while the car was moving HAHA! I'm surprised it turned out as well as it did, I didn't really care too much about the trees, I just really wanted to show you all how amazing the clouds looked! Thanks to my Lightroom 4, I was able to adjust them enough to look exactly how I saw them :) 

I look at these and I find myself completely captured in these shots, not wanting the moment to go away and ignoring life completely. The beauty I see when I look at these clouds just reminds me of when I was little, spending time at my grandparents house, before my grandma passed away. Innocent days when life wasn't so complicated and days seemed a lot longer. I'm sure we all have moments like those that flash you back to a less complicated time and you find just a moment of peace :)

Stevie's First Steps... Outdoors!

Stevie is my husband's cat, so when he left for his contract job overseas, of course, I brought him with me while I'm staying here with my parents. I moved us up from a busier area in Southern California, so we just never let Stevie outside. Now that we are here in beautiful Oregon, he's seeing how his step brother, George, get's to go outside whenever he wants. So I finally opened the door for him and I was able to take some shots of one of his first outings lol! He is the biggest baby I know HAHA! So I knew it would take him a while to get used to being out there, and this is how he reacted, enjoy!

The Epic Tulip Blog

Ok, so there's nothing too Epic about this blog, it just took me a few days to get all the right ones and get them all pretty :) I love Tulips! They are my favorite flower and they are only around for a few weeks. So I went out a few times and took as many pictures as I could and adjusted them to how I wanted them to look :) 

I moved up to Oregon about 6 years ago, I'm originally from Southern California, and we didn't have Tulips down there! So when I first saw them in person, I fell in love :) I hope you enjoy them!

Where's the Muffin?

I have to start by saying how sad I was about this photo set I took yesterday. I'm still learning about all the buttons and switches on my camera, so when I took my friend, Austin, to go take some photographs I had forgotten something very important. The last time I had used my camera, I had it on my tripod...and had the stabilizer off.. and forgot to turn it back on for the shots I took below. I can't explain to you how disappointed I am in myself! The pictures I took of my friend were really cute and we were just running around a forest having fun, that I didn't check back on the camera to see how most of them turned out. So with that in mind please forgive the blurriness, I now know to double check all my settings before taking any other photographs, especially ones with people I  care about in them.

Now for the fun, this post is a form of "Where's Waldo", but I have nicknamed my friend, Austin about 6 years ago, Fluffy Muffin. HAHA! I can't really explain why I named him that, but it stuck and he's a great sport about it. Throughout the years it's strictly "Fluffy" now, although I do still love just calling him Muffin :D While frolicking through the woods we decided to step off the path and go into the crazy growth area and he came up with the "Where's the Muffin?" idea! HAHA!

The first photo is the best of all my blurry ones that I could find of Fluffy :) You can tell in the photo he's just a sweet kid, outgoing and always up for an adventure! Even though it's kind of blurry, I still think it looks kind of cool :)

Let the games begin!!! Where's the Muffin??

I did take a total of four hidden shots of him, but these two were the only ones that came out well, I hope you had fun!  :D

Puffy Clouds = Cotton Candy

Whenever I see clouds like these, I have some serious craving for cotton candy, and then my teeth start hurting. I've had a lot of dental time, thanks to cotton candy along with other amazing sweets, and it's a shame when you start growing up and you become responsible and stop eating certain things, it's depressing actually. Haha! Yes, yes, I've given up my precious cotton candy, and now I stick to gummy candies :D I'll learn my lesson someday lol

The Beauty in the Flaws

Good day fellow bloggers :)

I'm still under the weather and haven't been able to leave the house much. I was especially sad when I got up to a beautiful warm and sunny day, so I let Frank know that we'd be able to have a small adventure today, he didn't say anything back, but I'm sure he was very happy about it. HAHA! I stepped in the warm sun and just took there as I felt it soak into my skin and warm my bones. I walked over to my neighbors house and was happy to see that the flower I wanted to feature today was still there. My neighbor told me about it last week and I was curious as to what it looked like, after that I was too busy to stop by and then got sick.

As I gazed unto the flower I was taken by it's beauty. It's the weirdest Daffodil I've ever seen in my whole life, but because it was so different looking, it made it just that much more beautiful. People take things or maybe even other people who are different and can't see past how different they are. I see the beauty in the flaws and often find different things or people more beautiful then the norms. God decided to give me something amazing to photograph yesterday and share with you all :) Enjoy!

Storms on a Sick Day

I don't mind the rain so much, as long as I'm sick and forced to stay indoors. I've been sick for the last couple of days so I haven't been able to take poor Frank (my camera) out on our usual adventures! It's been rainy and stormy and today is suppose to be pretty bad, so I'm thankful I don't have to stay inside while it's beautiful! This morning I woke up to the sun and almost cried, but the clouds are coming back and I'm ready to sit and read for a while.

I just recently started the Hunger Games, it's a surprisingly good book! I wasn't sure I was going to like it, but the writing style of this author is a lot like mine and it's just a unique story. So here are a few photographs from our last sunny day here, they aren't the best, but I don't have a lot to work with at the moment haha! Enjoy :)

The Alice in Wonderland Effect, sometimes while taking flower or plant photos I like to lay on the ground and take them from this angle. It's my favorite view to a flower, makes me want to be as small as one and my imagination goes crazy with the idea of it :)

George and Stevie

So it's been a while sense I've posted a blog about my cats, I know everyone has been dying to know how they are doing! HAHAHA :P I have to tell you the cutest thing about George, he's my black and white cat, he's 10 years old and he's just got one of the most interesting personalities! My family likes to call him, The Devil, because he's just spoiled rotten and knows it, and meows in the middle of the night so that one of us will let him outside. Yes, he's a handful, but I'm crazy about him :) Every time I leave in my car or go for a walk, I get home and he runs up meowing the whole way, greeting me with his eyes all innocent, and I sit there and pet him for a few minutes. I just think it's the cutest thing and I love that about him! Luckily, I got a picture of him running up and greeting us during one of our walks and my camera was on! I was so excited to finally get a picture of him doing that. As I walked up I saw my other cat, Stevie, also waiting for me in the house! HAHA! I love these boys :) 

In case you didn't have enough eggs this weekend...

Yes, this is an Easter Egg themed blog lol! My mom and I woke up this morning and instead of going to church we had a little Bible study of our own, and just enjoyed the quiet morning. My youngest brother stayed home to do homework and my mom mentioned dying eggs, why not! We're all grown up and so my youngest brother came in and just dyed one egg, mainly for our amusement, and my other brother decided to relax at his own house. So it was a little quiet, but my mom and I had fun just playing around with all the different dyes, and later dipped our fingers in bleach to get rid of the stains HAHA! So, in case you guys didn't do anything with eggs this weekend, I'll share mine with you :) I hope you all enjoyed your weekend, if anything, I hope it was just relaxing. 

This is what my table looked like this morning lol 

Come Fly With Me

Today started out boring. I get up, ate breakfast and slowly got to cleaning our three bathrooms. I turned my iPod on, I looked out the window and saw God's beauty. I can't even explain how beautiful it looked in person, first off, the sun was shining, again! We've been getting quite a bit of sun lately :) But it wasn't just sunny, the clouds were dancing as well! I ran to get Frank (my camera), and we had the greatest time! HAHA! The first photo was taken in my bathtub, I sat in it while taking them, nothing weird about that lol! Then I decided to take an adventure and drove by the lake and took the second photo, the other two were taken out the windows of my house again. When I see clouds like that I think of sitting on them, traveling with where the wind goes, I think about cotton candy, and then I get hungry, haha! I had the so much fun taking these photos, I just couldn't believe how amazing it looked :) 

Enjoy!