I took this image on the Big Island of Hawai’i on the tippy top peak of Mauna Kea, by far the most romantic and dramatic place to experience the sunset. If you time it right, you may even get to surf in the morning and have a snowball fight in the afternoon- surprising as it may be, Hawai’i does get snow up there!

This month’s photo challenge over at I Heart Faces is In the Distance. The challenge is open to professionals and photo-enthusiasts alike and the site offers tons of inspiration and community support. Come join the fun!

This month’s photo challenge over at I Heart Faces is Beautiful Black and White. This image from Matt and Amy’s wedding also graced the cover of their wedding album. I love the texture and urban feel of this location.

Can you believe these two days were only about two weeks apart?! What a crazy winter we’ve had here in Seattle. I’m not a huge fan of snow (I mean, I moved away from Minnesota for a reason, right?!) but even I can’t deny that the novelty of snow here makes it fun for a few days. Snow angels, snowmen, snow balls, digging holes to China, you know, the usual snow activities. ;) If we had a yard, I have no doubt there would be loads of holes – the Zoë girl seriously loves to dig.

Two weeks pass… the snow melts at the first hint of rain, and in comes the clearest blue sky I’ve ever seen here in the winter. Jake and I are such suckers for warm, glowy light and Zoë couldn’t pass up a chance for a good game of fetch. I love that having a dog is an added excuse to get outside – she makes it extra fun. ‘Twas an afternoon to be savored!

What did you do in the Seattle snow and sun? Tell me your stories in the comments below, I can’t wait to hear ‘em!

Can’t believe how much I love her! She makes me laugh every day and is so much fun to have around.

My little Zoë Bear (the shelter we adopted her from had called her Polar Bear so we thought it’d be fun to remember that in our little nickname for her). She has such a great personality with a perfect mix of chill and spunky. Her hobbies include sleeping under my desk while I work, chewing on rawhide sticks and pigs’ ears, playing fetch, eating fish, squeaking her chew toys, and running around our apartment like a bee’s in her bonnet. She also likes to cuddle in the morning and perch on the top of the back of the couch. I swear she thinks she’s a monkey. One of her ears sticks straight up all the time and the other does as it pleases.

Yes, I am officially a pathetic dog owner who’s baby is her dog. ;)

Update: So excited to announce my image placed 3rd out of 401 submissions!! I’m truly honored. See the other beautiful winners HERE.

I can’t even remember how I heard about this fun website and online photo community. I think it was through a few different blogs I follow, because they say that it takes multiple exposures to something before we decide to give something new a try. I must’ve hit the tipping point because I finally decided to join in the fun this week with their photo challenge theme being “By the Book”! Fun! Check out the other entries at I Heart Faces.

Jake, Zoë, and I wish you a happy happy Christmas time!

This is Zoë, our new little puppy! If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know I’ve been wanting a puppy for soooo long.

I love dogs, but it turns out I’m kinda picky about the kind of dog I’m willing to give a chunk of my life to. I grew up with Samoyed (the big whited fluffy dogs with curly tails) and Samoyed mixes, and they were the best dogs ever. Samoyeds are wonderful people dogs, but their fluffiness can get a little out of control. So a Samoyed mix it was! Problem is, they are hard to find.

I searched petfinder.com for a long time, and after several disappointments, I gave up looking. But Jake, being the sweetie that he is, kept looking every few days for the next year.

Then on a Friday night a couple weeks ago, we were chilling on the couch and he pulled up petfinder. Up popped a huge litter of Samoyed mix puppies… in Arizona. It was a big gamble to fly so far to adopt a puppy but last minute flights were reasonable so several hours later, I was dropping Jake off at the airport. I would have loved to have gone myself, but I had a commitment keeping me in Seattle.

Jake got to the Petco where they were bringing the puppies for adoption just before they got there and was first in line. A nail-biting couple hours for me later, I got a text with a photo of a puppy. We got one!

She’s the cutest lil dog we’ve ever seen, and already love her to pieces. I called my mom while I was waiting to hear from Jake in Arizona, and she said Jake must love me a lot to go all that way for a puppy! He says he loves me even more than that. Awwww! Now feel free to roll your eyes. ;)

Please excuse me as I’m off to clean up Zoë’s most recent mess!

Cupcake Royale has it down when it comes to beautiful, yummy cupcakes. I could just sit in there forever smelling the lovely sugary aroma, taking in the oh-so-beautful cupcake display and washing my own down with a latte. And if I were one years old again, I’d probably really enjoy smashing my face in one! Still, grown-up me can’t help but leave there happy!

I know, I know, what woman doesn’t love chocolate, right? But I’m not talking just any old chocolate here. I’m usually a only-European-made chocolate kind of girl (the Canadians also have it going on) but when I discovered Theo Chocolate, I broke my boycott on American chocolates.

Not only is their packaging beautiful, but the chocolates are to-die-for. All their chocolate is fair trade and organic, with super fun and creative flavors like Chai Tea and Coconut Curry as well as single origin chocolates. Even better, their factory is located right here in Seattle. Not only can you taste the chocolates right there in the shop, but if you’re lucky or plan ahead, you can get in on one of their tours to see how the chocolate is made. Sooo fun!

So all that to say, I was thrilled when Theo Chocolate was on my list of locations a travel guide guide book commissioned me to photograph (I’m bursting with that news but am sitting on that until the book is published – stay tuned in a couple months for that announcement and a book give-away!). Their shop is so beautifully set up, I really enjoyed the shoot.

Now go treat yourself to some chocolate!

Ever since I was a kid, I loved making things. I just love the feeling of having something tangible to show for my efforts, and even better if it serves a purpose! In second grade, I made these paper ties (compare to the cloth version men tie around their necks) by coloring A LOT on a piece of paper and folding them to look like a tie. I convinced Tim, the kid who sat in front of me, to buy them for 10 cents a piece. It was great! This thing I made with my own hands turned into cold hard cash! Back then, 10 cents was enough for three pieces of bulk Brach candy samples from the store.

Now, I get the same satisfaction from making a delish dish, taking photo candy for my eyes, and putting the yummy in the tummy! The only thing this mango and sticky rice is missing is the taste you get from eating it from the Chiang Mai night market in all it’s sticky sweetness (sweaty arm pits included. Did I just say pits?!? I think so.).

Happy day!

Pitter-patter, snap, snap. I love the creative process of wandering around taking photos of whatever suits my fancy.  When I decided to make photography my way to make a living, I wanted to make sure I kept it as my way to still have fun.

In the winter, I just want to stay inside and be warm and cozy, and it often takes a friend visiting from out of town to make me get off the couch and let go of the warm coffee mug in my hand.  Once I get over the hump of putting on shoes and coat and mittens and scarf and hat and grabbing the umbrella (I know it’s no tundra, but I freeze in Seattle’s winters, and yes, I know, it’s not cool to carry an umbrella in Seattle. What does that make me?  Dry. At least semi. ;) ), I know I’ll enjoy the fresh air and the quest for the perfect image.  However unattainable that quest may be, it sure is fun to try!  So when my photographer friend Ben came visiting from Chicago, out we went!  It’s great to get an outsider’s fresh perspective on the city I see day in and day out.  It inspires me to look again and see it in a different way.

Ben’s updating his website and wanted a few artsy head shots of himself to include in the new design.  And with three photographers out running around, no one’s left out of the portrait-making fun and Jake and I got our fair share of in-front-of-the-camera time, though I much prefer the experience from the back side of the camera!

Of course, no Seattle visit is complete without a visit to Espresso Vivace for the world’s best cuppa!  Their beans are always in my hopper at home, so even when I’m forlornly looking out at the dreary wet weather from my window and not wanting to venture out, I can stay warm and caffeinated!

I’m stoked to about my new iPad and in celebration, I’m giving away a fine art wallpaper that will look great on your iPads, iPhones, 13″ Macbooks, even (gasp, PCs) Netbooks. This image was taken in Bergen, Norway on my ’round the world trip exactly three years ago. This city is a dream and I’d go back in a heartbeat! With its quaint little streets, sweeping views of the fjords, and summer midnight suns, Norway is a place of dreams and like nowhere else I’ve ever seen. Click HERE to download. Enjoy!

If all Seattle winters were like this one, I might look forward to them rather than spending the summers trying to soak in the sun before it goes south for the winter. I, for one, have certainly been thrilled with the summer-like winter we’ve been having and joined the masses in bee-lining it for Green Lake the other weekend. Jake and I converted my old camera into an infrared camera (okay, HE was the one with the screw driver taking apart the camera while I watched), which basically filters out visible light and takes in only the infrared spectrum of light. It turns the sky black, anything green becomes white, and makes skin appear uber soft. We had lots of fun playing with the new toy! (Last image by Jake)