Living What I Love

Bon voyage!

10 countries in 52 days. Ready, GO!

Sorry for the radio silence for the next two months, but I'm off to travel Eastern Europe with my husband! Lots of photos + stories when we return. Have a great May + June everybody! xo - Kate

preparation

Chad and I are prepping for our big backpacking trip through Eastern Europe, Greece and Turkey. We leave 2 weeks from Monday (!). Since Christmas when we handed over half of our life savings to REI for new packs, stuff sacks, and other ephemera, we've been slowly but surely collecting the "stuff" we think we're going to need over 8 weeks of traveling. We're allowing ourselves one mid-size pack each, plus a smaller day bag. This is tough for me, the notorious over-packer; I've been mentally planning my outfits and each piece of clothing I'll be able to take for months. Because that's the kind of thing *I* think about: how I want to look. If I really can get away with only two pairs of shoes for 2 months. If I'm bringing too much grey. Etc. Stupid stuff.

My husband, on the other hand, ever the logical and practical person he is, has been reading blogs and websites and asking friends what kind of "stuff" exactly we should bring in our packs to be sure all our bases are covered. I'm not really sure we're going to need 8 travel rolls of Charmin, but I'm sure Chad would have the last laugh if I got myself stuck in some Slovakian bathroom without any toilet paper to be found. So, thank goodness for planning, both Chad's kind and my kind.

Getting so excited!!!

This is one set of all the stuff we've collected. Meaning for a lot of these things, we each have our own. Luckily we won't be schlepping our packs for hours and hours on end; mostly just from train station to hotel/hostel. But still: I'm trying to practice NOT whining. I can be rather good at it so hopefully I can keep it to a very minimum on this trip. ;) So basically we'll be carrying the above, plus a small set of clothes, and 2 cameras.

My pretty pack, probably going to be a lot less pretty once we get back at the end of June:

2 weeks to go!

vacash.

Ah, Florida. So sunny, so warm. Had an awesome time over three gorgeous days with my mom, sister, aunt, cousins, grandma + grandpa. Things we saw: dolphins off Sanibel Island. Things we didn't see: alligators (bummer!) Things we did: ate (had the best steak of my life, probably), chilled at the pool, played cards with my grandpa, shopped, watched the sun set over the Gulf, and listened to old stories while we looked through photo albums. Some of my favorite shots:

Back to real life, at least for another month. Then: two months vacash in Eastern Europe! That was probably an annoying thing to say, but I can't help it: I'm really, really excited for this next trip.

Up next: BC | KM Collabo 2!

Vacation, all I ever wanted

And it starts now! Okay, in a few hours. I'm leaving for Naples, Florida tonight for a long weekend trip. So excited! This has honestly seemed like the longest winter EVER.

I've been traveling to Florida since I was little to visit my grandparents, and it's always sure to bring lots of great breakfasts out, beach-going, shopping, and enjoying being outside without a jacket. I'm flying down with my aunt and we're meeting my mom and my sister who are there already on their spring break.

Here are a few photos from my last trip there, in 2008. Looking at them reminds me that my photography (and editing skills) have come a long way in three years! Looking forward to sharing some great shots when I get back. Here's also to hoping the thermostat warms up a bit (it's been in the 20s/30s in Michigan this week!) when I get off that plane Monday night! Happy weekend everybody....

 

Sunny Friday

The sun is shining today in Michigan, making me suffer *marginally* less from S.A.D. than usual... but I still feel like I could use some cheery imagery to kick off the weekend. And anyone living anywhere but California or Florida will probably agree. 2 feet of snow? Your car's still buried under a drift the size of Jay-Z's yacht? Three days after the blizzard and your Sorel boots are still no match for the piles of slush? These are for you:

Big Sur, California coast. This was in February, too, I believe, about 4 years ago.

Look at that dog, lovin' life. Dogs have it good in CA.

Green! Remember that color?

My husband, the gymnast.

Feeling a little better? Me too.

Happy weekend, friends!

 

on road trips (and side of the road stops)

last weekend, chad and i drove up to the sleeping bear dunes area with nothing on our agenda but climbin' some dunes, swimmin' in some lakes, and maxin' + relaxin'. happy to say we accomplished all of the above. road trips are so fun, no? good tunes, good conversation, plenty of candy and a few hours later, you're there, man.

we were especially blown away by the color of the water in this part of lake michigan. this mighty great lake has many sides; the one both chad and i are used to seeing is from the milwaukee/chicago viewpoint. from there it's always pretty, but a much deeper cobalt blue and not exactly the most inviting for swimmers (who knows what's in the water over there...). in northern michigan, though, there aren't any nearby big cities to invite runoff or chemicals or otherwise nasty things in its waters, and the water is SO clear you almost think you've landed in the caribbean instead of the upper midwest. behold:

after we had sunned, swam, and eaten ourselves silly for two days we decided to hit the road back south-bound. (or, as we overheard some local folk at a gas station call us, 'down-staters.') it wasn't long into our drive that i saw a bright blue antique chevy truck with a flatbed full of firewood and a sign propped against it that read: "morels + firewood" morels?! as in, the mushrooms i'd read so much about and always wanted to try, but not being an educated mushroom hunter myself, unable to sample? (and somehow the bag of dried morels at whole foods i saw once wasn't very enticing, especially since it was .5 oz for about $21, i think).

anyway, since my husband is awesome, he pulled over right away and we moseyed over. from the other side of it came two slinky, wary-looking german sheperds. hmmm. not exactly inviting. but then we spied a set of dirt-and-age-gnarled bare feet under the truckbed and this amazingly gnome-like off the grid woodsman guy stepped out and said, 'howdy, folks!' he was probably 5'6" and 110 lbs, late 60s, had a long gray beard and wore sunglasses, a winter cap, rolled up jeans and a blue button up shirt that looked like it had stood the test of many, many years. i was immediately intrigued. we told him we were interested in his morels, and he proceeded to educate us on not just the mushrooms in questions and the best ways to cook them, but his various inventions (wood burning stoves that heat his whole house off the grid; a variation of rose that looks like it was splattered with four different colors of paint) and the trials that followed (damn the man - patents are expensive!). i have no doubt that he worked on that truck and kept it running himself, too.

we paid up for our one ounce bag of dried morels (which we can't wait to try ground up like pepper over chicken and baked, like he suggested) and *tried* to be on our way, but the guy was so intent on sharing stories with us that we didn't end up leaving for about fifteen minutes. after we'd thanked him and gotten back on the highway, i was immediately bummed that i hadn't asked him if i could take his photograph. because guys like that are not a dime a dozen, and he certainly wore his adventurous and unusual life on his face. what an interesting man.

i do, however, have a photo of our spoils:

morel mushrooms with a side of storytelling. you never know what you'll find on a road trip! just have to keep your eyes peeled.

stuff I bought in Seattle

I don't know about you, but when I travel, one of my favorite things to buy is art. Not major, antique oil-painting kind of art, but smaller, unique, fun kind of art. Here's what I got:

The green one is actually a greeting card from Elliot Bay Book Company - but I love screen prints and I think Seattle has such a cool skyline; I'm going to frame it eventually.

I know, you're thinking: Stamps? Really? But I found a whole tray of these at Wilson Kennedy and the orange and white fish jumped right out at me. What a cool image. I decided I had to take him home but he'd be lonely in a frame all by himself, so I picked out five more in similar colors to keep him company. Also, there's nothing better than getting a handwritten letter in the mail with a cool or interesting stamp in the upper right. The U.S. needs to make better stamps. Coolest I've seen lately are the California Marine Life ones.

 

This is an original watercolor + ink drawing that I picked up at CakeSpy in Capitol Hill. I already framed it and I think it's so beautiful.

Okay, I didn't get these in Seattle (I got them at Notice in Lake Geneva, WI) but these Momiji dolls just made me smile and are now watching over my desk while I edit photos. ;)

want to go to there.

The Terrace, Madison, Wisconsin. Meeting place for all good things: a beer (Spotted Cow, naturally) with friends, live music, those great iconic chairs, the cow sailboat, and best of all front row seats to the gorgeous views straight out - Lake Mendota. Whiled away many an hour/day/night at this spot, both during undergrad and on my visits after I graduated. Really miss it there this time of year! Hope to see ya soon, Madison. <3

summer 2009

Lake Geneva

I was home this weekend to see family and also to shoot some senior photos of three soon to be Elkhorn High School seniors. More to come from their session, but as I was scouting out good photo locations with my sister, I had to stop and snap a few Lake Geneva shots. I grew up on this lake, worked on this lake, have swam in it and sailed on it and read many a book by it, and it never ceases to take my breath away. Such a beautiful place. These photos were shot down at the Riviera docks and they're of Gage Marine's cherished old fleet of touring boats. Such craftsmanship. The first one below is the bow of the Lorelei, my favorite.

Chicago

Went to visit friends in Chi-town last weekend and were blown away by the gorgeous early spring weather. Perfect for walking around downtown.

After staying at my hs friend Allison's apartment Friday night, we checked into our super-luxe room at the Four Seasons.  We had a free hotel stay from hotels.com....didn't mind that one bit!

I could have lived in that bathroom.

 

A (slightly blurry) parting shot - our friends' bulldog Regina - so cute!