a day away

 

some of the best moments are the calmest.

we're fortunate to get to spend some time with kyle, vanessa and baby without a big event to-do list (not that we haven't had fun on their last visits!). in the spirit of a schedule-less day, we took off to pine mountain, ga over the weekend. we were there a little less than 24 hours, but it was just the kind of restful rejuvenation that would be hard to achieve in 24 days at home with "so many things to do."

 

we spent most of our time on the deck and on the banks of the lake soaking in sun, fresh air and lots of laughter.

 olive, the newest chupp, even got to travel down south with us (mostly because she's so new to the family we weren't sure what would happen if we left her).

  

bryan was quite content to spend half the day practicing photography and the other half fishing:)

 

 and after lots of hard work and a move across the country to ontario, i think kyle just enjoyed the time to hang out with family a cast his line out into the lake.

 the misters: talkin' and fishin'

 fishing with my soon-to-be niece!

 ah, the joys of the hammock and a soft breeze

 

 she seems to enjoy her new life

 bryan caught this awesome reflection of the blue sky and clouds in the lake as the sun fell for the day!

 

 and kyle kept fishin' till night fall and caught the biggest one we've ever pulled out of this lake!

 wow, what a wonderful time. 

i think i've forgotten how nice it can be to just step away from everything for a short while. an unplanned 24 hours. just enough time to hit the refresh button.

a simple, joyful day

on this my twenty-eighth birthday

my day started like this

and ended like this

it just doesn't get much better than this! oh wait. 

my brother, sister-in-law and baby-on-the-way flew in from canada this afternoon and tonight we had a huge family meal. now that's just about perfect.

berry productive day

 many of you know my cupcakery job is only part time...so what am i doing the rest of the time?

weekends tend to include wedding and/or portrait work while monday and tuesday stand as editing, writing and general clean-the-loft days. this has been one of the first mondays in a while in which i've had an entire afternoon to just sit with my camera and practice some new techniques.

thanks to my mom, these raspberries were a little more than a delicious snack today. and i'm pretty excited to post these pics straight out of the camera (no post processing)!

hope everyone else has a berry wonderful day as well!

happiness factory

bryan's mom got to drive up from tampa for the holiday weekend, so we decided to experience something very "Atlanta" while she was here with her friend, susie. (they have driven through downtown many times on their way to jacksonville, so the shorter trip was almost excitement enough!)

so we headed off to the new happiness factory (aka World of Coke)

we may not be avid soda drinkers, but there's nothing like coke to refresh old memories: coke tickets after playing ball games, coke floats by the pool and the like.

did we mention we're big happiness factory fans? 

an excellent marketing job, for sure:)

perhaps he tried too much of the beverly!

don't worry, we managed to sample every soda available--touring each continent!

full of fizz!

cracking open some salt and pepper pistachios to balance out all that sweetness! i highly recommend a salty snack during or after such a visit.

and speaking of visits, we really loved having family come see us for the weekend!

other stops this time around included the square in Marietta (and miss mamie's, of course!), grilling out with my parents plus carly and andrew, and just nice mornings with lots of coffee and conversation.

the newest chupp pup

with a special interest in rescuing creatures who deserve a good home, my parents invited us on a trip to the pound (well, it was mostly at carly's pleading--deep down i think she must be on a mission to save every sad dog she saw when she adopted lizzie). 

it was here we met #3181 (who shares carly's long-limbed nature).

although it's surely hard to choose only one doggie to save, this little one was bound for chupp-hood, bonding with all of us there.

my dad says she's the "so ugly she's cute" variety, but there's no denying her lovable nature

so tuesday morning, this little pup became an official chupp--and smiled the whole way home:)

but we're thinking she deserves a better name than #3181. although she seems to be mostly italian greyhound, perhaps something to do with giraffe legs. or the way she barks like a seal. 

any ideas???

while we await an official name, we've just been calling her "tall girl." and master charles is showing her the ropes!