music to my ears.

I'm back home in the dreary Pacific Northwest after an amazing, sunny, and warm (well, warmer than it's been here in SW Washington) four day vacation in the Bay Area. Since I've been home I've spent much time processing and reliving this wonderful weekend meeting friends and spending some quality time alone with the husband. 

The most amazing thing to me about meeting these far-away friends whom I only know through photography and blogging was finally hearing their voices. I've spent years reading their blogs and hearing my own made-up version of their voices. It was music to my ears to finally hear them in real life. I've got a lot to say about my wonderful time in California, but still haven't found the words to express how I feel about it all. So for now let me just say - 

it was sunny,

it was warm,

I could have spent the entire weekend on those beaches,

and I enjoyed just being Andrea for a little while.

frosty.

I've lacked any sort of motivation or inspiration the past few weeks - with my photography and just about everything else. It's like I'm still in the midst of the holiday hangover that is Christmas and New Years and Max's birthday. And we still have one more birthday to come - Eric's - on Wednesday (though he is in San Fran, so we won't be doing any celebrating till the weekend.)

It's been cold and DRY and luckily, sunny. So on Saturday after my parents left to head back to Seattle, I put on my 105mm 2.8 and headed outside to see if I could capture some of the frostiness outside. I had a moment of inspiration after looking over the two new (new to me) lenses my dad brought me - a Nikkor N 24mm 2.8 and a Nikkor Q 135mm 2.8.  I will have to take some time to figure out how to use these lenses on my D700, since neither is an auto-focusing lens. (Did I say that right?...I'm not known for using the correct photography lingo at times.) Anyway, both lenses are for film cameras, not digital. But there is a way to use both on my D700 - so I've been told.

Until I figure this out and get over my holiday hang-over, enjoy the frostiness. :)

all that rain = lots of green.

A little fern fun with my new macro lens. :)