Our last day in the Big Apple.

Monday was our last day in New York City.  We wanted to make the most of it, and the one thing we hadn’t done yet is Central Park.  We knew we didn’t have a whole lot of time, especially since the park is so huge, but we really wanted to experience the feel of it.  What better way to do that then a horse carriage ride?

They also call the carriage rides “handsome cabs.”  We found out why when we met our carriage driver, Joseph….

 

 

 

Isn’t he adorable?

 

 

The views from the park are so beautiful!  It was a short ride, but well worth it.

 

 

And of course, I had to kiss the horse goodbye! (Plus, I really liked my hair in this pic! hehehe)

 

 

After our “handsome driver” dropped us off, we found this awesome little bridge and did (what else) a photoshoot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked past The Met:

 

   

 

Then walked by Tiffany's:

   

 

 

On our way to the airport, we stopped at a little restaurant and had an Egg Cream which is native to New York.  YUM!!!!!

 

 

We go to the airport with time to spare, only to find out that our plane was going to take off late due to bad weather.  So we sat…and sat…and sat on the airplane.  3 HOURS LATER, we were finally in the air.  See the line of planes behind us when we finally took off?  I counted about 25 before I lost visibility….

 

 

Once we got in the air, we could see the reason for our delay- major thunderclouds.  They sure were beautiful, though!  Goodbye, New York!

 

 

     

 

As much as I LOVE Seattle, I left a piece of my heart in New York. What a fantastic city…I can’t WAIT to go back again!

 

I’ll end this blog with my favorite picture taken during the whole trip….My girl in her true form.  Don’t kill me, Jesse…it was too good not to share!  Love ya, hunny!!!!!

 

Day 4, New York- THE WEDDING

Sunday was THE BIG DAY- the day I got to shoot a wedding with Ryan Brenizer.  I was so excited/nervous/scared…I mean, I’m a decent photographer, but I was WAY out of my league next to Ryan.  I had no idea what to expect when I got there. 

 

I ended up having a blast- the bride and groom were FANTASTIC, the venue was amazing, and Ryan was great to work with.  I learned a lot about how he lights his shots that I just can’t wait to try out!

 

Here are the highlights of the day:

 

The bride got ready at her mom’s house in the Lower East Side of the city. 

 

 

 

 

   

 

Her dad was SUCH a goofball…I wanted to adopt him!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ceremony was held at  The Lighthouse at Chealsea Piers, a beautiful venue right on the Hudson River overlooking the Jersey Skyline.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

And ya gotta love those Wedding Details:

 

   

 

 

 

I had a blast with their beautiful rings:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The reception was a total HOOT!  The groom is Jewish, so they did the traditional Hora dance!

 

 

First Dance:

 

 

Again, the Father of the Bride just cracked me up!

 

   

 

  

 

   

 

The sunset over the skyline was picture perfect.

 

 

And I’ll end it with one of my fave shots from the day:

 

 

Thank you, Ryan, for giving me the opportunity to shoot with you and learn from you. I had a blast!  You rule, man!

New York Blog- Day 3

Saturday, our 3rd day in New York, dawned rainy and muggy.  It was the one day we got all dressed up in skirts, and then it rained the whole morning.  Let me just say that the humidity of New York is NOT kind to two girls with curly hair….it’s also not good for a girl’s complexion.  Anyway, we started out the day at what turned out to be our favorite restaurant, and it was just around the corner of our hotel!

 

 

 

After breakfast, I saw this sign on the subway….Asa is my son’s name, so I had to make sure and grab a shot of it to send to him.

 

 

 

I have to say, Jesse and I were both really proud of how well we did on the subway system…both of us are a little…directionally challenged, so the fact that we managed to find our way around the big city and not get lost was no small accomplishment.  By the beginning of day 3, we had people asking US for directions!!!!

 

 

By mid-morning we made it to our destination- HARLEM!  Yes, I know you might think we are crazy for going to a notoriously bad part of town, but I gotta say, from what we saw, it wasn’t as bad as it’s made out to be.  Of course, we didn’t stay very long, or after dark…

Anyway, our reason for going there was to see the Savoy Ballroom. Jesse is a swing dancer, and the Savoy is basically where Lindy Hop started.  It’s also one of the first places that allowed blacks and whites to dance together.  They have since torn down the ballroom, but have left a small park and a plaque in it’s honor.

Jesse was thrilled to get a chance to dance in the same spot where one of the greatest ballrooms was built.  Of course, we had to do a photoshoot, and she got to dance a little tribute dance..

 

  

 

 

As we were getting ready to catch the subway back, I looked up, and there, looming in the distance was THE Yankee Stadium.  One thing you need to know about me is that I LOVE baseball.  I love the game, I love the players and I LOVE the history of it. My favorite team of all time is the Yankees.  This is where THE baseball legends were created- Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Phil Rizzuto, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Roger Maris….the list goes on and on.  To be standing on the same ground that my favorite player, Lou Gehrig once walked…well, let’s just say I was in tears pretty much the whole time.

 

 

   

 

They are tearing down the old stadium because they built a new Yankee Stadium.  While the new one is really impressive, don’t EVEN GET ME STARTED on how ticked I am that they are tearing down the old one.  I mean, c’mon, people, it’s THE HOUSE THAT RUTH BUILT!!!!!!!!  Still, we did enjoy walking around the new one as well.

 

   

 

We ran across some NYPD and of course had to have our pics taken with them:

 

 

After a tearful few hours at the stadiums, we hopped back on the subway and headed to the Staten Island Ferry.  Not before I got this ROCKIN shot of Jesse in the subway terminal, though:

 

 

After exiting the subway terminal, we ran right smack dab into the middle of a movie set! We asked a nice man what movie was being filmed and he informed us that it’s the new Nicholas Cage movie The Sorcerer's Apprentice.  Then this nice gentleman informed us that he was Nick Cage’s stunt double!  We stood and talked to him for a good half hour before getting booted off the set so they could start filming.  We found out that he’s doubled for Nicholas Cage, as well as Clive Owen…he looks like a great combination of both!  What a nice guy!!!!  Of course, we got a few shots before we took off:

 

 

 

A car crash scene from the movie:

 

 

There’s Nick getting his makeup put on.

 

 

 

And the pretty car that they were rigging to blow up later…sad face!

 

 

 

After the movie set, we headed over to the Staten Island Ferry to see the statue of Liberty.

 

 

While waiting in the terminal, we ran across this group of ADORABLE boys who were just hanging out and performing.  They perform all over the city to help raise money for them to go to school- they ultimately want to end up on Broadway.  They were INCREDIBLE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turns out that they were performing later that night at Times Square.  Jesse and I told them that we’d go see the Statue of Liberty, then meet them at Times Square to photograph them.  You should have seen how happy they were to have their very own paparazzi!  SO cute!

 

As our ferry was leaving the station, fireworks were going off over the city.  We never figured out what the occasion was, but they sure were pretty!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

And there is Lady Liberty herself!  She is MAGNIFICANT!!!!! I didn’t really get any great shots of her because I left the lens I needed at the hotel.  Whoops!

 

   

 

We ended our night back at the 42nd Street Subway Terminal near Times Square to see our boys back in action.  They are awesome!!!!  I really hope they can go somewhere with their performances!

 

 

   

 

Finally, we headed back to our hotel for some sleep before my big day on Sunday…shooting a wedding with Ryan Brenizer!!!  Next blog will be the wedding blog!

New York Blog- Day 2

Even though we were exhausted after our late night the night before, we got up early on Friday morning, Day 2 of our trip to meet with a tour group to see Ground Zero.  In typical Sarah fashion, we were late and missed the tour.  Being the laid back people Jesse and I are, we decided to grab breakfast and then explore Ground Zero on our own.  We happened to head into an amazing restaurant called Ellens Stardust Diner.  OMG this place was fantastic!  All of the waiters and waitresses sing while they are taking orders, with each of the staff taking turns doing solos.  It was decorated in 40’s and 50’s decor…it was AWESOME!  We ended up enjoying our meal for almost 2 hours while we were entertained by the singers!

 

 

 

 

 

After our FANTASTIC meal, we took the subway to Church Street in Lower Manhattan.  From there we walked down to the spot where the Twin Towers used to stand.  This is all that is left today:

 

 

Visiting Ground Zero was the one thing that I knew I HAD to do when I went to New York.  911 affected me so much.  I will never forget the way that I felt when I watched those towers fall, or the way I feel every time I see footage of it.  I will never forget that it was the first time I realized how small I am in this world, and how the whole of humankind can be so impacted by a few evil men.

 

St. Paul’s Chapel is located across the street from Ground Zero.  There they hold the memorials of that horrid day:

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Does God Have Enough Hands?” A memorial quilt by Deborah Fell

This art quilt is a response to the horrific events that changed the United States forever. It is an abstracted image of the toppled World Trade Center Towers. The rubble below are the photographic transfers of newspaper articles, headlines and photographs. It is unorganized with chaos reigning everywhere. The quilt is unfinished- the batting is exposed and charred and threads are not trimmed- reflecting the vast number of lives that were so unfinished when the World Trade Center was destroyed.

 

 

   

 

 

 

After a tearful, emotional 3 hours, Jesse and I headed from Ground Zero to Battery Park, where we could view the Hudson River and the New Jersey skyline.

 

 

This is where we met Barton, who we later discovered is not only FDNY, but also just got back from serving in Iraq.  What a fantastic guy!  Of course, we had to have our picture taken with him because, well, c’mon, we ALL know about my obsession with Firefighters…..

 

 

 

Then I did a mini photosession of Barton and his two adorable puppies:

 

 

After that, we went back to our hotel to get ready for Swing Dancing in the city!  On our way there, we stopped at Grand Central Station:

 

 

This is one of my fave shots from the whole entire trip:

 

 

Grabbed this shot somewhere along the street, but I’m not sure what building it is. Anyone wanna help me out?

 

 

We went to a fantastic club called Swing 46 Jazz Club on Restaurant Row near Times Square. The George Gee Orchestra was playing that night…

 

 

   

 

…and I even convinced George Gee himself to dance with Jesse!  She was on CLOUD NINE!!!!

 

 

 

After dancing, we decided on a whim to go to the top of the Empire State Building.  We were 102 stories up at 1:30 am- it was BEAUTIFUL up there!!!!!!

 

 

Betchya can’t guess where Times Square is?  Hehehehe…

 

 

 

We couldn’t believe it when we saw that the moon was out over the city…it was picture perfect!!!!

 

 

At 2:30am we were enjoying our first New York hot dog at Gray’s Papaya…..YUM!!!!!

 

 

By the time we got home at 3:30 am, we were totally and completely wiped out.  We’d already done SO MUCH in the day and a half that we were in NY…but as you will see in my next blog, the fun didn’t end there!!  Stay tuned!

New York Blog- Day 1

Well, after 5 days in New York City, my best friend Jesse and I are home and mostly recovered.  We did and saw SO MUCH in such a small amount of time.  We walked about 6 miles a day and slept about 3-4 hours a night…needless to say, we were pretty tired puppies when we got home.

I have a lot to say about New York City in the next few blogs, but the first thing I want to say is that The Big Apple is NOTHING like we expected it to be.  We expected it to be dirty, stinky, and filled with grumpy, rude thieves.  I bought a thing of mace just for the trip, and was extra careful about my things being stolen. We thought that it would have a sense of high stress, and that everyone would be running over us trying to get somewhere.  We thought that people would either ignore us if we asked for directions or help, or that we’d get yelled at for doing so.  We could not have been more wrong!

The people of New York were just as kind and laid back as they are here in Seattle.  Anytime we needed help with directions, not only did people stop to help us, but they were completely friendly, some of them taking  the extra time to talk about the city that they love so much.  New York is definitely busy, but not the kind of high stress busy that we were expecting.  In all honesty, I felt just as safe anywhere in the city as I would in my own town.  Really!  It was amazing!  So I have to say that if you are thinking of visiting NYC, but are concerned about the stigma that goes along with it…DON’T BE!  It’s a really really awesome city!

So here is Day 1 of a 5 part blog.  I don’t mean to be like one of those annoying people who sends you a Christmas card once a year and only brags about their wonderful vacation…wait a minute, yes I do!  Let the bragging begin!!!!!!

 

We started out at 4am to catch our flight.  We were both tired but really excited!

 

 

 

No, he’s not actually our pilot, but he is A pilot and let us wear his hat! 

 

 

 

Waiting…waiting…waiting….

 

 

 

Once we got to the city, we dropped our stuff off at  OUR HOTEL and immediately headed out on the town!  Of course, the first place we hit up was a store called  SHOEGASM, which is only the coolest shoe store ever!

 

 

 

After shopping for a few more hours, we were famished and found a cute little Italian Restaurant to grab some food.

 

 

By the time we were done with dinner, we were pretty tired.  We figured we’d wander back in the general direction of our hotel and then hit the sack.  As we were walking, we noticed that down the street, the buildings seemed to be glowing…we realized that it just HAD to be Times Square!  We hadn’t planned on going to Times Square until later in the week, but we figured since it was only 25 blocks away, that’d we’d just go!  I have to say, it was a lot more fun sort of stumbling upon it that it would have been to plan out our visit there…made it a lot more exciting!  We felt SO adventurous!!!! 

 

 

 

Jesse was a little star-struck…okay, so was I.  Times Square was BEAUTIFUL!

 

 

   

 

Yes, that is Jesse sprawled out on the sidewalk in front of Hard Rock….we got a lot of weird looks this trip.

 

 

 

On our way home (at 2am, might I add) we found this cool spot and did a mini photoshoot.

 

  

        

 

Day 1 in New York was FANTASTIC!  Keep your eyes peeled for my next blog on Day 2!

FYI

My wonderful husband just activated the comment section here on my blog!  Now when I write my super awesome blogs, you all can leave comments showing me some love!  WHOOPEEE!!!!

Seriously, I have the greatest husband ever, don’t I?

Keep your eye on the blog in the next few days…I’ve got NY pics coming up!  YAY!

Roughin’ it in Eastern WA

Last weekend Sam and I and the kiddos met with our good friends Erin and Jon and their daughter Zoe, and went camping at Steamboat Rock in Eastern Washington.  We had such a blast!  We were really crazy and decided to camp in the Primitive Area, which was about a mile hike in the sand and through the lake from the entrance to the park.  I know, it sounds nuts, but for me, my idea of camping isn’t some campground next to 30 other families in their RV’s.  I want to cook all my food over an open fire.  I want to sleep under the stars to the sounds of crickets and frogs. I want to pee in the woods!!!! 

The weather was great- about 90 the whole time, which was perfect for swimming in the lake.  The kids played and played and played…they were SO DIRTY when we got home!  I was really diligent about the sunscreen with them….not so much with myself.  I got a really good burn, but on the bright side, it’s now turning into a GREAT tan! 

I would totally recommend this site to anyone who likes primitive camping.  It is SO beautiful and SO peaceful!

I got to do some fun landscape and nature shots…I haven’t had time to do some of those in a while!

 

 

 

This place at sunset was just BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Jon wandered off and found a cool lookout point to relax on:

 

 

There were all kinds of fun flowers and reeds to shoot, too:

 

      

  

      

 

Day 2 of camping was a whole lot of relaxing in the sun. Erin and Jon brought a hammock…there were LOTS of fights over who got to sit in it. 

 

 

 

Erin and her daughter, Zoe, just chillaxin:

 

  

 

And of course, when we weren’t being lazy, we were swimming in the lake!

 

 

 

The kids stayed permanently dirty most of the time:

 

 

    

 

Asa was totally worn out by the end of day 2.  He got more bug bites than anyone else combined- and then the ones on his face swelled.  You can see how his left eye and the left side of his lip are totally swollen.  Poor baby, he didn’t even complain.  What a trooper!!!

 

  

 

Dirty, goofball children:

 

 

Doesn’t Zoe have the most beautiful eyes????

 

 

 

Asa picked some flowers for me:

 

   

 

I wonder how long it will be before I get ALL of the sand completely cleared from my car……Oh well- totally worth it!