Weekend Adventure

Last weekend we traveled to a neat new place and explored with nothing more than a spectacular packed lunch, a few bucks, and a camera.

Is spring here yet?

The lunch was homemade tuna salad wraps, red grapes, pistachios, yogurt with fruit and granola, and chocolate milk!

Here are some things we saw:

Some of the tallest trees I've ever seen

Beautiful and tall

This little old squirrel was very squinty and slow-moving

Cold water

 I also had the chance to see the artwork of Lenny Lyons Bruno.

The pictures of her work in the link above cannot compare to the warm and intricate layers I saw up close in the gallery.  Her interesting use of antique found objects had me peering into each chunky and complex three-dimensional piece like my favorite hidden object puzzles.  Each part of her Coal Camp Series had a really neat narrative that could only be recognized after lingering for several minutes at each piece.  I found this thoughtful article about her in Virginia Living.

I hope you are able to squeeze in a special adventure of your own soon.  I felt like my internal well of imagery had been sufficiently refilled and I was creatively inspired by the time we got home that afternoon.  I've found that when you work from home and you live out in the middle of nowhere, it's so easy to become a hermit.  Planning these weekend adventures is my way of making sure that doesn't happen.  :)

Today in the home office

Some shots from around the home office today. 

The view out my window today.

My colleague, the quiet writer, is tapping away contentedly on his keyboard.

Little did I know, just before I took this picture he was in the other room digging through the garbage.

And my administrative assistant is always busy.

It's shaping up to be a productive Wednesday around here.  We are excited to be receiving visitors soon for Christmas and New Year's!

Thrifty Finds

We went thrift shopping today and I found some sweet little trinkets.

Also found two nice sweaters.  Katie's Closet had the best sweaters, and they were giving away free apples too.  Here's what else we saw today:

What are you doing this weekend?

Things I wanted to get done:

{ paint my nails some pretty pink color } (Done!)

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{ go to the TC Makers Market } (exciting blog post forthcoming)

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{ catch up on some laundry } (Almost Done!)

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{ take some pictures } (Done!)

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{ catch up on Project Runway } (Done!)

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{ go for a walk } (Done!)

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{ work on getting new photography shop opened } (not done...)

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Things I didn't know I was going to do:

{ try a new restaurant } 

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{ go thrift shopping with my grandma and my partner } (found an interesting vintage crochet booklet)

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{ play a really hard hidden object computer game for way too long }

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And in case you were not already aware:

I learned this from my dad and my grandma at a very young age.  My older sister (working on her PhD) is aware of the magic of computer games as well.

What did you find yourself doing this weekend?

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Hiking Around in the Woods

It was a hot and sunny day as we headed down an old trail towards the Boardman River. We came upon a familiar old bridge.  I remember a long time ago, standing on that bridge and looking down into the river and seeing a big beaver swim right under me.  The rest of the city seems to have changed and grown, but this corner of Traverse City has stayed the same.  What a difference in temperature when we got to the tree line and entered the woods.  It was like some kind of cool, mysterious fairy land in there.  I couldn't stop taking pictures, everywhere I looked was some fantastic, magical view.

We found ourselves pondering how long it would take the river water we stood in to reach the Bay.  So many different greens, browns, and shimmering blues in this river.  The water was very cold, but it was so hot outside that Josh decided to take a dip.  I waded in and so did Gilbert, which is a statement about how hot it was.  Gilbert does not like swimming and only enters the water when he absolutely has to.  He toddled around with us and didn't seem to mind the icy and swift current of the river.

I hadn't been to this area since I was young and had fun showing Josh where my sister and step-sisters and I had posed for our pictures here as young girls.  The trees and steps were still there after all this time.  Which was comforting.   

I crunched on one of these wonderful apples growing wild, which my grandpa said are called "greenies."  And Josh tasted the wild grapes, which were not sweet yet.  I daydream about revisiting this place and spending the day frolicking, reading in the sun, and taking more pictures.  I can't wait for the leaves to change.

This photo of me in the woods was taken by my dad sometime in the early 90s.