Occasionally, I still pull out my camera to do a bit of portraiture, and last time I went home, I had the opportunity to photograph one of my lovely sisters in our favorite barn. We’d just had another sister’s graduation party there, so the barn was still clean, and the sunlight was absolutely gorgeous.
And speaking of gorgeous, ladies and gentlemen. My sister.
Category: Photography

A Retirement Party
One of the things I loved most (and there were a lot of things to love!) about working at a public library during high school was having so many amazing people as co-workers. Sadly, I’ve been away from them for two years now, but I do my best to drop by and shelve some books every so often when I’m in town. I always look forward to visiting, and catching up with my librarian friends there!
This past weekend, I had the honor of being able to help with & attend a retirement party for a friend from the library. We have a long history together, since she ran story time at the library when I was a little pipsqueak. She has passed on a love of books to so many children (myself included), and I’m so thankful that I was able to work with her!
Obviously, part of “helping” with a retirement party means sneaking my camera along and taking photographs. The venue was a community cabin on the cliffs overlooking the Chesapeake Bay – so absolutely beautiful. After setting up for the party the night before, L and I snuck down to the beach and watched as the sun set pink and orange and gold over the Bay. The waves slapping the shore were occasionally interrupted by a jumping fish. We watched the horizon for mysterious creatures (stingrays, apparently) and searched for sharks’ teeth. It felt a bit like being a kid again- you know, the wide-eyed fascination with nature, the exploration, adventure…
I’m so thankful for good friends, beautiful parties, and all-too-short weekends.

April Instagram Collection
first row: 1. summer reading. 2. home for Easter. 3. strangers at Starbucks.
second row: 4. Killer ESP. 5. Mother’s day/recital flowers. 6. the farm at sunset.
third row: 7. exam-taking. 8. the Potomac at sunset. 9. final papers.
fourth row: 10. Easter flowers. 11. tea for a 10-3am work shift. 12. springtime at Marymount.
I’ve never been a huge Instagrammer, but lately, I’ve been a bit addicted to it. This is partially because I’m now following a lot of fashion and lifestyle bloggers on there, and I love seeing their photos. I personally posted a bit more over the past month and a half, and I’ve picked a few of my favorites for this post. April (and a bit of May) spanned several conferences, Easter and finals, hence the amount of coffee/tea posts. It’s kind of fun to go back and think about how much has happened in the last five or so weeks. But seriously – how is it already the middle of May? That’s just crazy.
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Travel: Espania Revisited
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I’ve been wanting to post some more photos from Spain last year, but never ended up getting around to it because of Oxford. So, I went through my archives and dug these out for you. My one regret is not carrying my camera around with me more. I hiked many kilometers on the Camino while I was there, and I wish I’d captured just some of the landscapes and towns we’d gone through.
Below are photographs from Burgos, Salamanca, Madrid, Santiago, and a few from the Camino. In the future, I plan on sharing a bit more about specific cities we stayed at – especially Santiago, and some thoughts from the Camino. In the meantime, I’m proud to say that my travel narrative from that trip/class was published in Marymount’s Magnificat (nonfiction journal). The online website will be updated soon, so feel free to pop over and read it if you’d care to (here).