Ruffled leaves.

Spring came and went. I barely noticed. The weather went from being super cold to hot & humid. I miss living in place where there are distinct seasons. I want to be able to enjoy the transition from a gloomy, depressing winter to a sunshine-y, breezy spring. I think I'd appreciate the change in seasons more. Because right now, spring sucks. And spring should never suck; it should be fun & full of life, like being a kid again and being able to go outside in shorts for the first time to play around in the grass.

This is the spring I want.

Let's do something new & exciting...

I woke up pretty excited today. Like a kid on Christmas day, I jumped out of bed looking forward to what the day would bring. Of course, it sounds silly now what I was excited about; regardless, it was nice to have something to look forward to... besides the usual: getting out of work. Well back to the story, I was excited about hitting up the park in downtown Houston, Discovery Green. Because it's located in the heart of downtown, I rarely ever go there because of parking issues as well as dealing with all the one way streets. Today they had the farmer's market (which by the way was pretty pathetic... there were like 6 stands total. Only one of which had any fruits/vegetables) and the outdoor ice skating rink. It was fun walking around, taking pictures. I wish there was more stuff though. One of these days I'll make it to a REAL farmer's market. I just somehow got to convince myself that it's worth waking up at 7am on a Saturday. Good luck to me.

Too busy to do any shooting.

I'm getting my last few days of work done. Thursday is my last day at my job. I'm very happy about leaving. But until then, I just gotta suck it up and keep trucking and telling myself:

Two more days... just two. more. days!

Leaving the city life behind

I spent the better part of yesterday hanging out at the hubby's work. Did I mention that he works in the middle of nowhere? Well, he does. The town's called Hockley, it's about 40 minutes northwest of Houston with about 300 people residing in its city limits. There are sprawling, acre wide properties with cows and horses grazing every mile or so. A small one car dirt road takes us to the barn-like building where Michael works. The property itself is on a huge piece of land that Junie loves to run around in. Of course, she has to be watched or else she crawls under a fence trying to follow a cow's scent. Regardless, it's refreshing being out of the city and into the carefree environment of the country.

Fresh new world

There's been a palpable change in the air here in Houston. I think this last cold front will be here to stay. This is definitely my favorite time of the year. Not only does the ridiculous heat leave, but it's the holiday season that so strongly draws me to autumn. There's a certain calmness that comes with the season change. I can feel it in my core. It's exciting!

In fact, I went out and bought a whole bunch of Christmas decorations a few days ago. A little premature, sure, but I was in the holiday spirit :) I can't wait for scarves, hats, boots, turkey, holiday cheer, and Christmas Christmas Christmas!


My only complaint, and it's a small one, is that I wish we had a TRUE fall. A fall where the leaves change from bright green to dashing reds and yellows. I wish we could experience the breathtaking scenery that fall can offer.

Adventures in the backyard

Today started off with a cold front and dreary weather. I went to walk Junie this morning and was hit with a surprising cool gust of wind. Usually this is no big deal (I mean, we welcome the cold here in Houston), but I was totally unaware of this when I got dressed this morning so I was shivering in my short shorts and t-shirt as I was walking her around. NOt cool. But as the day progressed, the clouds parted and we saw some gorgeous sunshine peek through. This is what we Houstonians call perfection. A nice cool day along with Mr. Sunshine shining our way :)

My mom has been nagging at me to come home for the past month (what can I say? I'm a busy girl) so I finally went home today. It's funny... it doesn't feel like home. I was reminded of a quote from "Garden State" (my all time favorite movie!). Zack Braff's character talks to his love interest about the meaning of "home":

"You know that point in your life when you realize that the house you grew up in isn’t really your home anymore…all of the sudden even though you have some place to put your shit, that idea of home is gone…or maybe it's like this rite of passage…you will never have that feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, for your kids, for the family you start. It’s like a cycle or something. Maybe that’s all family really is: a group of people that miss the same imaginary place."

It's exactly how I felt as I walked into my old room and looked through all my old belongings. There's a lot of memories in that place. I spent all my high school years in that room and now it felt like a lifetime ago. In a way, so insignificant. It was definitely an odd feeling. Regardless, I got to spend some quality time in the backyard. The backyard that had fostered so many inspirations for pictures. It felt good to be back.