More Seattle...

So, once you've wandered around Pike's Place Market, catch a ride over to the University area (yes, Husky grounds!) where you can rent a kayak (Agua Verde Cafe & Paddle Club) to paddle around Portage Bay, into Union Bay and through parts of the Washington Park Arboretum. If it's a warm day, it will be the perfect afternoon activity and a unique experience of being in the city and yet removed from the hustle and bustle as well...and, lots to see (beautiful waterfront homes and houseboats, the Montlake Draw Bridge, particularly friendly water fowl, and lots of people hanging out in and near the waterfront). Upstairs from the Paddle Club is a great little Mexican Cafe...yummy food and perfectly blended drinks!



If you want to spend more time outdoors, and like to people watch, the evening hours are fun at the Seattle Center. From downtown, it's a quick ride on the Monorail which ends in the heart of the Seattle Center. Between the Space Needle, the amusement park, the live music almost always happening there and the International Fountain, there is always a steady stream of entertaining sights and sounds!

Photo-a-Day! Another peek!

Okay, I can't help myself! Another peek at Ashley & Byron's engagement shoot! I am so in love with these pictures...and the two of them...! :]

Photo-a-Day! And...a little message about authenticity!

your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's
life. don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of
other people's thinking. don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out
your own inner voice. and most important, have the courage to follow your
heart and intuition. they somehow already know what you truly want to
become. everything else is secondary.

- steve jobs

Photo-a-Day! Yes, I'm a cat person!

Don't judge me! I do love my cats, all three of them! I also love dogs, and have a huge energetic Malamute to prove it!
This is Jackson. He's a lover. And a shedder! He doesn't judge people too harshly...if you have a lap and you are willing to have him in it, he loves you! He was my Christmas present many years ago...came scampering across the living room with a big bow around his neck! (Thanks Allison!)

How I spent my winter vacation!

Remember those essays we all had to write at one point or another in grade school…"what I did for summer vacation” or something along that line…? There was always some kind of fabulous adventure to write about…a new bike, a new best friend, a trip to see the grandparents in Chicago, a trip out west to see the Oregon coast for the first time (I grew up landlocked in the Midwest).

It is only now, more than a few years after grade school, that I know…I never really did anything that spectacular during those vacations, though it was surely spectacular to me at the time…never really saw anything that unique…and I know this now because I got to experience a truly spectacular, wonderfully unique place…the island of North Caicos.

I will write about it a little more, in a later post, but here is a visual preview of my “how I spent my winter vacation” essay!

Mike Ryan Photography

My husband will be updating his website soon...(as soon as I get to it!)...so be sure to check it out periodically for new images! http://www.mikeryanphoto.com/

Grand Teton National Park

So, the sun finally came out and we headed to the Park for some kayaking! Yay!