I enjoy being a tourist...

I just came back from a long weekend in DC. my cousin and her husband live in Arlington and they invited a bunch of us to visit for a few days. we spent most of Friday in the city playing tourists. it was J's first time in DC so he wanted to see all the major sites. the weather was chilly and the skies were overcast but we made the most of it. also, most of the cherry blossom trees were bare already because of the early spring. but we managed to see a few and they were quite beautiful. I thought I would share just a few of the pictures I took...

here's a view of the Capitol behind a cherry blossom tree

the next three pictures were taken inside the Botanic Garden center

after lunch in Chinatown we headed towards the White House...it's kinda big...haha

next up on our tour of the city, the WWII Memorial...I got the Washington Monument in the shot as well

we stopped to see the new Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial. all I can say is...powerful.

our last day there we drove out to the Air & Space Museum which was awesome. here's a photo the Enterprise rocket.

okay, so this final picture wasn't taken in DC. this is one of the baby birds that hatched while I was gone. their nest lives in one of the light fixtures by the garage. so cute!

 

Blooms & Butterflies

this past Tuesday I went to EPCOT for the annual Flower & Garden Show. and my oh my, was it ever gorgeous this year! seriously, so stunning and I'm so fortunate to have captured it. obviously seeing it all in person is so much better than via my photos but for most of you, it'll have to do! 

I hope you take time to get out and enjoy the gorgeous spring weather and all of nature's beauty!

happiness is...

a little bit of fall...even in the Sunshine State! 

happiness is...

Happiness is...lovely, delicate flowers

Something Wicked This Way Comes...

so for the last few years my family has gathered at Disney for a weekend in October. we dress as Disney villains (because what's more fun than being a baddie?!) for the Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. as there are generally 9 of us who attend, we manage to make quite a statement walking around the park. not only do we compete to see who collects the most candy (my uncle, aka Syndrome from The Incredibles, won this year), but we also compete to see who gets the most picture requests (again, my uncle won this year...gack!). it rained on us this year but thankfully it was only for the first hour or so. 


the other big event we attend on this auspicious weekend is the Food & Wine Festival at EPCOT. now, this is perhaps my favorite special event that happens at Walt Disney World. who doesn't love to eat and drink their way around the "World"?! it rained on us. again. but we managed to enjoy ourselves in spite of the nasty weather. the only thing we really missed out on over the weekend was some pool time because yes, it rained all day Saturday too. though the young ones (6 of us) did hang out in the hot tub a little at night. in the rain. and that was kind of fun.

to recap the weekend: trick-or-treating in the rain Friday night. playing games and drinking in the room all day Saturday. eating and drinking around the "World" Sunday. yep, I'd say it made for one memorable weekend. and Monday when we left, that's right, bright blue skies and lots of sun. go figure. 


below are just a few interesting pictures from the weekend:

30 Day Photography Challenge: days 26 - 30

well, we have reached the end of the 30 day photography challenge. I really enjoyed having different subjects, photog styles, and creative ideas to focus on. I'm sure I'll remain on the look-out for more challenges to do over the course of time. it's important to continually challenge oneself no matter what you study. this group includes another self-portrait. let me tell you, those are hard to do. between coming up with a concept, attempting to fulfill said concept, scratching the original idea, and ultimately doing something else instead...well needless to say, self-portraits might just be the most challenging photo ops of all. but eventually I took a picture of myself that I was happy with (for this challenge that is). enjoy!

Day 26: close up

White Peach - day 26

Day 27: from a distance

White Peach - day 27

Day 28: flowers

White Peach - day 28

Day 29: black and white

White Peach - day 29

Day 30: self-portrait

White Peach - day 30