During my visit to my Dad's house I drove down to DC for the afternoon to meet up with Elizabeth & Gregg for their engagement session. They are getting married in November at the Equinox Resort in Manchester, VT but wanted their engagement session to reflect the love of their adopted hometown of DC. We met on the mall and went from there - ending up at the Arlington fire station where Gregg works.
How psyched was I when I found out Gregg was a fireman you ask? Pretty darn excited :)
Elizabeth and Gregg - it was so great to meet you and I can't wait for November!
Easing them into the photo shoot with my long lens - I love their interaction
Of course when I saw the Carousel on the mall I knew we just HAD to ride it. During our engagement shoot we snuck onto the broken closed carousel at the Shelburne Museum and got some great pictures so I couldn't resist. Of course this time it was moving...fast....and I was balanced against a horse that was moving up and down. I discovered that as long as I kept the camera to my face I didn't get queasy :)
How cute are they??!!
Oh how I love my wall shots :)
Gregg is a fireman. These have something to do with measuring and testing fire alarm systems without making water come out. Is that right Gregg?? Not to mention there is a beautiful ring that just happened to be perched there ;)
I think Elizabeth & Gregg must have thought I was crazy. I'd see something, make my happy excited noise, and make them go stand somewhere....they were quite cooperative :)
I got very excited when I saw this mirror on our way over to the Jefferson Monument.
I spy with my little eye.....
I know technically you aren't supposed to take photos with things coming out of people's heads but I still like this one :)
I made a BIG happy noise over this one. Here I am channeling my best Mike Romano (who always rocks his reflection shots)
And then it was on to the fire station where the real fun began. Despite a few weird looks from his fellow fireman Gregg was a sport and as you can see even had a little fun :)
I was yelling the line from Pretty Woman: "WORK IT WORK IT OWN IT" (Random Amanda fact.....Pretty Woman was the first R rated movie I saw. Of course I didn't understand half the jokes till years later but I still LOVED Julia Roberts)
I wanted to take a portrait of Gregg in his gear and he kindly obliged :) As you can see Gregg is doing his best to be very serious.
The shot right after the serious is shot is always the best. I've decided that trying to be serious can be very funny :)
Stay tuned (come November) for white asparagus.......
We had a lovely quiet time at the lake with some college friends this weekend. On Saturday we went for a three hour walk and then took some time to do yardwork - mowing, weeding, and general spring cleaning - the yard looks a lot better for it!
Strider and I hung out on the dock waiting for Jeff and his friends to come back from a late afternoon kayak
Dad come closer so I can say hello!
You gotta do what you gotta do......
Wow that was tiring - can I have a ride?
PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE??
What are you looking at?
We've gotta go - they're getting away.
But I think I'll go on your boat. Thanks, Dad.
Alright fine I'll go by myself.
Here I come!
Splash!
WHEEEEEEEEE!
A beautiful end to a fun day.
Now we're visiting my Dad down in Pennsylvania - we'll be here until Thursday with a day trip to DC on Tuesday for an engagement session and a visit with Jessica Del Vecchio!
On Tuesday I drove down to Stamford to meet up with Ethan & Jill for their engagement session. They are getting married on June 7th in Old Lyme, CT at a private home and I can't wait to photograph their wedding. They are such a laid back and fun couple and have expressed the desire to have a wedding that reflects that.
Love the texture in the front and the blur in the back
Meet Finnegan - their first born :) Finnegan came along to frolic and play while we were taking photos and was very well behaved. Jillian said he collapsed from exhaustion once they got home....I do what I can :)
Finnegan is thinking: "Man I'm such a stud"
Ethan & Jill were quite cooperative and willing to go along with my crazy ideas with a smile - "go sit in those bushes! Wedge yourself in that cherry tree! Go hang out on that rusty pipe!"
The many faces of Finnegan :)
Ethan & Jill - hope the last few weeks of unmarried life are relaxed and not stressful - I can't wait to see you on the 7th!
Thus today has been a relaxing and fun girls day....my favorite :)
We started off with lunch at a local Sushi joint. I'm not sure what's up with me lately but I have been craving (and indulging) in sushi and guacamole. We ordered so much sushi that they brought it to us in a boat....yes I should have taken a picture but I didn't want to delay eating the sushi.
Then to digest our food we headed over to West Hartford Center to get Pedicures. Carla's shade of nail polish was called "I'm a princess and you're not." :) - Mary is clearly excited about the massage chair!
Carla just got back from Mexico so is super tan....and we are super jealous :)
We followed pedicures up with a good old fashioned chick flick. We can't WAIT until the Sex and the City movie comes out at the end of this month and plan to do a girls movie date followed by cosmos :)
(yes I know....we're really very cool)
Pretty toes!
Thank you Mrs. Marantz for such a fun day - we need to do it again soon!
This morning I went to the post office with our invitations and a bag of cookies (gotta sweeten the deal sometimes!) to have them hand canceled. This means that instead of having them pass through a machine (which can damage them) you stamp them yourself. I realize that stamping over 100 envelopes isn't the most fun job in the world....hence the cookies :) Well the post office at 8:15 in the morning was busier than I had anticipated so my friendly postman set me up with the stamp and I stamped to my little heart's content until they were all done.
Last night we drove to Boston to visit one of Jeff's best men and go shopping for outfits for the guys. Giles was a hammer thrower in college so doesn't fit in traditional size clothing...thus our first stop was Rochester Big & Tall :) We tried on a few suits there but nothing was working so we headed over to Brooks Brothers.
They were SO helpful in terms of suggesting many different combinations and spending endless time with us. By the end of the night we had success! We bought them out of one pattern of ties and still need two more so before I shoot an engagement session in Stamford tonight I'm going to hit up their Brooks Brothers and hope they have one!
T-67 days :)
Alright - back to regularly scheduled programming :)
Well I'm back from my first European vacation - we spent a week in Portugal in honor of my Mom's 60th Birthday. We started our vacation in Lisbon, then traveled to the eastern coast to a small hilltop town called Marvao, then drove down to the south western coast to visit Sagres, and then back to Lisbon via Sesimbra. We had a fun time despite different travel styles but it's always good to be home :) Prepare yourself for an onslaught of photos!
We arrived in Lisbon on Sunday morning. Mom was a bit tired so while she took a power nap Jon and I went out to explore the hilly, cobble stoned streets of Portugal's main city. Up on the hill where we were staying the streets were very narrow with endless twists, turns, and small paths running between. You had to be quite careful because Lisbon's drivers often drive very fast and like to play chicken with pedestrians. We took a cab the first night to dinner and I wasn't sure we'd make it out of there! They also like to drive at fast speeds approximately two inches from your bumper...very fun :)
Everywhere there were beautifully painted doors - some in better repair than others. It would have been a dream to shoot an engagement shoot in this town!
Jon volunteered to stand very still while I snapped away with my new Canon G9. I realized that I really didn't want to lug around my 5D or risk damaging it or getting it stolen so finally purchased the point and shoot that I've been meaning to upgrade for over a year. The camera is so lightweight and small but is also much slower than my DSLR so that was an adjustment. It does allow you to shoot manually which I liked although you can only do so using the screen- not using the viewfinder. But overall I was pleased with the photos and the quality.
A local wine bar with sardine wrappers on the wall
Glory light! Jon snapped this one of me and my Mom walking back to the hotel.
Sun flare!
At the beginning of day 2 Jon agreed to be my foot model and show off the sign :)
The view from the Castle of Sao Jorge atop the highest of Lisbon's hills. Notice the terrace near the bottom with the colorful couches. We had drinks and watched the sunset from there both nights we were in Lisbon and it was beautiful.
Jon conquers the castle (and Amanda stays on the ground due to her fear of heights!!)
A cute pooch watches us go by.
Jon snapped this of a couple dining at the next table - it seems very European to me :)
The Monument of Discoveries in the Belem district of Portugal. A beautiful statue that "celebrates the Portugese that took part in the Age of Discovery." Beautiful up close and just enormous - the figures must be 20 feet tall! You can get a sense of the scale by seeing how teeny Jon looks next to it!
On Tuesday we rented a car and headed to the eastern coast of Portugal - stopping in Evora for lunch. Here we visited the Chapel of the Bones. You enter under the inscription: "We bones that are here - we are waiting for you." Yikes! Jon had visited a bone chapel in Rome and said it was much bigger, but this one sufficiently freaked me out thank you very much!
We saw a lot of peacocks in Lisbon and beyond just wandering around. These birds are just so unusual looking and you wonder what could have possibly made them evolve to look like they do!
The stunning view from Marvao - a town near the Spanish border. This is a small town built at the top of a mountain with ripping views. We asked our waitress who lives there and she answered tourists and old people :) It was so uncrowded and it made us happy to be visiting in April - the very very beginning of the tourist season. One thing that struck us at almost all the places where we visited was how unregulated tourism was. It was so refreshing to be able to wander freely around most of the sites and not be bombarded by gift shops and ticket sellers. The Southern coast is definitely more touristy than the eastern but even so it was nothing like site seeing in America.
The other thing is that most of the western coast is a National Park so while in America you would see million dollar condos for miles in Portugal it is all wild and undeveloped - very beautiful.
An Orchard Cove like tree :)
Before heading south Jon and I walked around the entire city on the ramparts (I think that is the right word). As we did I had visions of what it must have been like to defend this castle back in the day and see your enemies slowly advancing towards you.
This purple plant (not lavender...we don't know what it is!) was in full bloom and just carpeted the meadows as we drove south to the coast.
Jon's Portugese friend recommended we drive by Arrifana - a little known surfing beach on the western coast that is not yet in most of the guidebooks. What does this mean? Not many people on a mile of beautiful beautiful beach - I think we all agreed it was our favorite spot.
After Arrifana we drove further south to Sagres - the south western most point in Europe. Again there were very few people around so I was able to take time and walk out to the point where I saw nothing but ocean. I walked by this graffiti on my way out.
Portugal is known for it's colorful fishing boats so Mom was happy to drive by the harbor in Sesimbra.
Sibling happiness :)
Some individual photos at Cabo Espichel - a promontory overlooking Lisbon.
Inside the chapel on the cliff (information from THIS WEBSITE): "Situated precariously on the edge of the Cape, a few metres from the main church, is the primitive little white chapel at the heart of the legend of Our Lady of the Cape. Various versions tell the same basic tale that many moons ago a brightly lit image of the Virgin would appear and save sailors from shipwreck in storms. One such lucky soul sold all he owned to build the chapel in her honour, where he would live the rest of his days alone and requested that his crew visit his hermitage every year, hence the annual pilgrimage which continued for many centuries. Cabo Espichel also attracts dinosaur enthusiasts, especially for the rock containing a footprint attributed in the legend to the mare which carried Our Lady of the Cape, but in fact apparently belonging to a dinosaur of which there is much evidence in the area."
Let me just say that Portugal has A LOT of roundabouts. Jon drove and I was navigator and may I also say that I didn't always know where I was going. Thus sometimes I would tell Jon to "Big Ben it" which meant drive around the roundabout two or three times while I figured out what the scoop was. This clip was what inspired the expression :) (from National Lampoon's European Vacation) - Hey Kids - there's Big Ben!
Now I am even more super psyched for Jeff and my honeymoon in Italy which we are hoping to take next spring. :)
This is your history test for the day. In honor of my Mom's 60th birthday my Brother and I are taking her on a family trip to the country above (hint...it's in Europe).
I don't travel a lot in the first place but for this trip we've done pretty much no planning at all (intentionally!). We have hotel reservations for the first two nights and the last night and other than that we're going to wing it and see how it goes.
I cannot guarantee I'll have email so if I don't I'll respond to all inquiries when I return. Have a great week!
