Mother's Day Project by Caleb and Elyssa

Being the crafty person that I am, I thought it would be fun to make Mother's day gifts this year. For one of the projects I decided to use some of the photographs I had taken earlier this year at the Tulip Festival to make note cards. I just love a good project, so i headed to my favorite craft store - Ben Franklin (a scrapbook's dream) - and spent hours picking out the perfect card stock and other various items I needed to complete the project ... ok, and maybe a few extra things that I just couldn't pass up. The project was shaping up nicely but something was missing ... what was I going to put these note cards in? Then it dawned on me - Caleb can make something!

We headed into Seattle to a speciality wood store (aka Caleb's new favorite place.) This store carries more wood than you can ever imagine! After finding the perfect piece of wood and giving Caleb a general idea of what I wanted (size, closures and hinges) I left the actual 'look' of the boxes up to him, and I was not disappointed!! See for yourself...

I took the finished projects and did a mini photoshoot with all of them before I sent them off to their various destinations. I was happy with how the cards and boxes turned out, and I love that we created everything from scratch!

Caleb and I make a pretty good team, huh?!

5k or Bust!

We did it! Caleb and I ran our first 5k and it was a blast! The race was down in Tualatin, OR and we actually ran through one of Caleb's old neighborhoods. It was great doing a race down there since Shelley, Dave, Danielle and Aubrey were there at the finish line to cheer us on! I am very proud of myself for running even though I had a pretty bad head cold, but having my hubby by my side and family at the finish line made all the difference!
For a little background ...
Last October, Caleb and I bundled up and headed out into the rain to cheer on Scott while he ran the Seattle Marathon (where he ended up qualifying for Boston!) After that I decided I should put my words into action and actually sign myself up for a race since I had been talking about doing it for years. So later that month I signed up to run the Portland Half Marathon on 10-10-10. I figured it would be a good idea to get a few races under my belt before then so I signed up for a 10k in April (which I wasnt able to run since I injured myself), a 5k in May, a half marathon in July and a 10k in August all in preparation for the half marathon. I was so very excited when I asked Caleb to run the '5k Rum Run' with me and he said YES!!



Caleb getting a victory kiss from Miley pup. Is there anything better? :)


Celebrating our finish with a refreshing Mojito! Part of our registration fee went to cover one Mojito and one beer (so Caleb had both!) It was just what we needed!


I am currently training for the half marathon I have coming up July 17th at Lake Chelan! Wish me luck!! 13.1 miles is a bit longer than 3.2, but I am young right? So I should be able to do it! ;) hehe

Ambiance - check!

As I'm sure you have all figured out by now (since I have mentioned it in a few different posts) I love our back deck!! It truly is my favorite "room" of our house. Since we both love to entertain, and in the summer (assuming it isn't raining) and we do that primarily on the back deck, I thought it would be fun at add some ambiance through lighting!

Pictures Before:


I have always wanted to put up lights, but since we have had our house on the market I figured there would be no point. But now that we are assured to be here for the whole summer I figured there couldn't be a better time! I came up with the idea and ran it by my personal contractor who can build me anything I can dream of ;) We then made our way to Lowes to get some rebar and spray paint for Caleb to make the sheppard's hooks. Earlier that week I had run across a STEAL on outdoor lighting at Target and they actually had exactly what I had pictured in my mind.

Pictures After:

I was going to post more 'after' but it is a bit hard to see unless the picture is bigger but you can get the idea! And here is one later in the evening ...

I cannot wait to have our first party on our deck!

Exciting day!!

So I was busy working away in the office when I heard a knock at the door and of course seconds later lots of barking from the puppies wondering who woke them up from their afternoon snooze. I went to the front door with my fingers crossed that my special package was awaiting me, and it was!! What was my special package you ask? A beautiful new shiny LENS!!! I have been saving up and doing a TON of research for a new 'walk about lens' and it was worth the wait! I cannot wait to go out and shoot with it!! We are off to Portland this weekend (Caleb and I are running our first 5k together!) so I am sure there will be not shortage of pictures being taken. Photo's coming soon! :o)

Summer days in Spring

I cannot even begin to explain how much I love the sun. Living in the PNW you learn to enjoy it EVERY time it decides to make an appearance, and yesterday was no exception!

A few months ago, Caleb and I had been driving around Duvall and decided to take a road we had never been down before. To our great surprise we stumbled upon what looked to be a Nature Reserve. As we drove along the bumpy dirt road with the heavy moss covered trees surrounding us, I mentioned to Caleb that I would love to come back when the weather was nice and take pictures. So that is exactly what we did, yesterday! We got our Starbucks and headed out into the woods!

I love all the big green leaves - shows that summer really is right around the corner!


Probably hands down, my most favorite part of our house is our deck that Caleb built. Being on 6 acres you really cannot beat the peace and quiet that surrounds you.

Miley decided to take a break from running around with Koda and take a snooze on one of our chairs on the back deck.

Below: Koda soaking up some Vit D. He is like me - he LOVES the sun!
What better way to finish up a perfect day outside than to go to one of our local Mexican Restaurants and eat out on their deck!! We got there early because we know that sunny days bring out the crowds!

Keep the good weather coming our way!!

Seattle Center

What is the first thing that pops into your mind when I mention the Seattle skyline? Probably the Space Needle that has been around since the 1962 Worlds Fair. What some people might not know is that the area around the Space Needle is just as popular to visit and is called Seattle Center. The Seattle Center has many different attraction like the Key Arena, EMP (Experience Music Project) and the International Fountain where you will find kids and pets of all sizes and ages running down to try and touch the fountain without getting wet.


For my field trip a few weeks back, I had an assignment to go photograph 'people' at Seattle Center. We had a set time to meet which is before the crowds arrive, but the advantage is ... drum roll please ... free parking! Ok, so maybe it is more exciting for me, but it is so hard to find FREE parking in downtown Seattle!! Since we had arrived so early I spent a few hours that morning photographing reflections and monochromatic patterns. Here are some shots of the amazing EMP building ...





It really is amazing that any time I have been to Seattle Center, no matter what the weather might be, there are always kids running down into International fountain to try and touch the water. For those who have never been, music plays while the fountain displays a beautiful timed water show. When I was there photographing, it in the high 50's and breezy, so by no means was it "warm" out. But that didn't stop the kids! You can always find people watching, running or even snoozing round the fountain ...

Every weekend in Center House there is a different "theme," and the weekend I was there they were celebrating the Japanese heritage. They had some amazing drummers that were challenging to shoot but amazing to listen to!

I can seriously keep myself entertained for the entire day with a camera in my hands :)