how to earn points with your wife

i'm pretty sure i have the best husband in the world.  he organized a valentine's weekend getaway to salishan lodge in lincoln city for all three of us.  i had no idea until yesterday morning when he told me that we were going to the coast... and to pack a bag because we'd be there overnight... oh, and that we were going out to dinner, so make sure to bring some nice clothes.  in fact, i had absolutely no idea exactly where we were going until we pulled into that beautiful place.

well, i can tell you that chad earned lots of points from both me and fife.  she was excited that she got to go along, although she's never stayed in a hotel room before, so she was a little unsure of what was going on.  all was redeemed, though, when she got to run on the beach this morning.  

and me?  well, i got the most amazing five course dinner at the restaurant at salishan last night.  duck confit, lobster bisque, salad, filet mignon, and chocolate mousse... complemented by a matanzas creek 04 chardonnay and mayol 02 sebastian vineyard cabernet sauvignon from mendoza, argentina.  not sure what i did to deserve all of that, but it was amazing!  

today, we took fife for a walk on the beach (i gimped along as my knee still hurts from an ongoing running injury) and then chad and i had lunch (and beer!) at rogue brewery in newport.  

this little piggy went to market

i have two very talented friends, bubba and sarah king, who are going to rule the food world one day (soon!).  in attemping to list everything culinary that they are involved in, i'm sure i'll miss something...but here it goes:  canning, cheese-making, gardening, beekeeping, brewing, baking bread, making pasta from scratch, and raising pigs.  yes, there must be more to that list.

they are in the process of putting together a business called the collective and are very excited to have one of their pigs being used at the cochon 555 event in seattle in 9 short days.  yes, one of these pretty piggies will be used at that event - the spotted guy.  sad face.

bubba was gracious enough to let me come out this afternoon and take some photos before the rain starts again tomorrow and before... well... you know... 

without further ado, i introduce you to the pigs of the collective: 

 18mm, 1/60 sec, f/4.5

 58mm, 1/20 sec, f/5

this pic is my favorite!   35mm, 1/30 sec, f/4.5

 32 mm, 1/30 sec, f/4.5

 24mm, 1/60 sec, f/4.5

 28mm, 1/100 sec, f/4.5

28mm, 1/125 sec, f/4.5

28mm, 1/200 sec, f/4.5

18mm, 1/250 sec, f/3.5

 24 mm, 1/30 sec, f/4.5

hazelnut-finished pork = sweet flavor to the meat + other health benefits that other pork doesn't have (i had to google 'hazelnut finished pork' for this line -- you might want to do that, too, to find out more).   32mm, f/9, 1/30 sec

42 mm, 1/60 sec, f/4.8

to learn more about the collective, visit their website or their facebook page. 

vintage action

one of the things i need to do (and soon) is learn how to use photoshop.  in the meantime, i downloaded some actions and i like how this vintage action came out on this photo of chad: 

goals list check-in

on 17 june, i made a list of goals i wanted to accomplish before i turned 30.  i figured since i only have 4 months to go, i might as well check in:

1) run the cascade lakes relay and the portland marathon (training in progress)  i did the cascade lakes relay and had an awesome time!  i'm actually signed up to do the hood to coast in august 2011 with my tnt girls.  we are called the 'fit beaches.'  hehe.  

unfortunately, the portland marathon thing didn't work out because of IT band syndrome.  i'm trying again for the eugene marathon on 1 may, but - honestly - i'm not feeling so confident.  i had IT band problems again on saturday (the first time this season).  i'm debating on whether i want to go through the whole physical therapy debacle again.  it didn't work last time.  i'm running again tomorrow (12 miles if all goes well), so i'll know more once that happens. 

2) sell the house in nz; explore options for buying here in the valley  we have the house back on the market as of the end of november, but not one person has looked at it.  so frustrating!  the market in cromwell is dead as a doornail right now and the realtors don't seem to have anything optimistic to say to us (that is, if they say anything at all - communication doesn't seem to be their strong point).  we might just have to call this goal a wash for now.

3) start a 401k (i.e. finally be a responsible adult) - plus some other financial goals  started the 401k, but then stopped contributing in january, as i am now working on my debt snowball.  according to my schedule, i should have my two student loans paid off in 18 months!!  how amazing will that be?  

4) buy a nikon d90, keep reading photography books and blogs, and see if we can't create some acceptable images!  i am extremely happy to say that, due to my amazing employer, this is underway!  i got the camera last month and started photography classes this week!  i'm SO, SO, SO excited!!!

5) go to nz for dane and julia's wedding and christmas with the douglas clan  due to dave ramsey, i opted to forgo this trip.  chad and i went solo for a few weeks -- i went to michigan for the holidays and he went to nz.  it worked out very well, as i hadn't been back to michigan since the previous christmas.

6) book trip to chile and peru (even if the actual travel doesn't happen until after my 30th birthday)  the plans for this trip are underway, although it has been edited to include peru and argentina!  we have a whiteboard on our fridge that is tracking our savings goals and we should be on track to book flights in june for travel in november.  we're tentatively going to peru to hike to machu picchu, followed by a couple of weeks in argentina -- mendoza, salta and buenos aires.  


i guess - overall - this isn't so bad.  goals 1 and 2 are kind of out of my hands, goals 3 and 5 got amended for bigger goals, and goals 4 and 6 are very much underway.  

pressing déglacé

this morning, our winemaking team pressed frozen pinot noir grapes to begin the process of making a dessert wine we call deglace.  these are grapes that we grew in our vineyards last year (harvested in october 2010) and they were sent to a commercial freezer until the winemaking team was ready to make the wine.  once it's made, it needs to be bottled right away (i.e. this style of wine doesn't take too well to sitting in a tank), so they are preparing it for a bottling run we have scheduled in april.

if you click on the deglace link above, you can read about why we freeze the grapes and how the wine is made.

in the meantime, here are a few shots from this morning.  it was a frosty, but very sunny and clear day!

66mm, f5.3, 1/3200 sec.

18mm, f/3.5, 1/40 sec

18mm, f/3.5, 1/6400 sec

18mm, f/3.5, 1/3200 sec

28mm, f/4.0, 1/30 sec

40mm, f/4.5, 1/15 sec 

life on the farm

i had my first fundamentals of photography class at newspace last night with 10 other students.  the instructor, jason, is a funny guy and, since he's been photographing for 20 years, definitely knows his stuff!  after we introduced ourselves and talked about what type of cameras we all had, we jumped into a discussion of aperture and shutter speed and how these two functions affect depth of field and showing/freezing motion.  thankfully, my friend jessica had already told me about the book understanding exposure, so i had a very good theoretical background in shutter speed, aperture and ISO.  thank goodness because i think if you were starting from scratch, you'd be pretty lost!  

our assignment?  to take a series of photos showing variations in depth of field and we will review them in the next class.  i'll post those as soon as i take them - i already have an idea in mind, which, of course, involves fife!  :)  we'll see if it comes to fruition... 

next week, we're talking about metering, and i think reading the understanding exposure book will have been helpful here, too... but i'm grateful that the holes in my (admittedly little) knowledge are getting filled in.  

on that note, i'm sharing a photo i took from our bedroom window yesterday.  you can see the cows that belong to our neighbor (he's actually the grandfather of our landlord - they live basically on the same property).  

here is case in point about universal focus or lack thereof.  i took this at f/3.5 because i wasn't really thinking and many of the elements are unclear - like the detail in the evergreens.  i was more concerned that the sun was coming up and lighting up the tree - it looked so pretty!  however, it really should have been taken with a smaller aperture to get a clearer image.  or at least that's my (amateur's) critique...  not to even start on the composition conversation...

it's one thing to know what to do in your head.  it's another thing to actually do it.  i'll just have to keep practicing!!

coasties

chad, fife and i went out to cannon beach today for a change of scenery.  i always feel so refreshed when i get back from the coast.  the fresh air, ocean, sand, and sun... well, the sun was there for about 20 minutes... but still, it was so, so nice.  

 i have such a hot hubby!

35mm ISO 100 1/1600 sec at f/4.2

i think this dog wanted to say hello...

18mm ISO 100 1/1600 sec at f/3.5

chad was playing fetch with fife with a football.  it was too cute.  the football was actually a christmas gift for chad, but as soon as he left for nz, she claimed it as her own.    

18mm ISO 100 1/1600 sec at f/3.5 

18mm ISO 100 1/1600 sec at f/3.5

fife was playing in the tide pool, but the tide was coming in!

18mm ISO 100 1/400 sec at f/5.6 

18mm ISO 100 1/250 sec at f/5.6

fife was scoping out some playmates...

98mm ISO 100 1/250 sec at f/5.6 

the tide was coming in around haystack rock

105mm ISO 100 1/1250 sec at f/5.6

a little yoga on the beach?  don't mind if i do... 

105mm ISO 100 1/400 sec at f/5.6

here's fifey girl with her football... my little kiwi likes american sports after all!  

105mm ISO 100 1/1000 sec at f/5.6

chad wanted to join in the photo-taking fun.  i think he did a pretty decent job!  and i have to say, i adore my new crumpler camera bag!

portlandia

this morning, after running 10 miles with team in training in northeast portland [time 1:43], i decided to wander around and take some photos of the city.  thankfully, the weather cooperated very nicely.  it was pushing 60 degrees with partly cloudy skies - not bad for the end of january!

admittedly, what i really wanted to do was take photos of people, as i think that is truly what tells the portland story.  i seriously saw a guy today that looked like mc hammer -- à la the early 1990's!  there is just so much creativity and expression to capture in this city... but i just felt really strange about pointing a camera at random people like some kind of stalker.  i'd be really interested in talking to some street photographers about how they do this without offending people.  perhaps then i'd feel a lot more comfortable about it and actually give it a try.

anyway, here are a few shots for your viewing pleasure.  i'm proud to say i shot most of the photos today in manual mode.  the light meter is now my best friend.  i did use the aperture priority mode a few times and the shutter priority mode once or twice as well.  

i call these first ones my 'gritty southeast portland' shots.  i had a hard time getting inspired over on that side of the river today.  it just seemed very void of people and very industrial.  as such, i added a lot of grain in the following shots and changed them to black and white.  [actually, now that i've typed that, i realized that the second shot was actually on the west side...but i'm sure you get my drift.]

28mm ISO 100 1/640 sec at f/4 

80mm ISO 100 1/100 sec at f/5.3

28mm ISO 100 1/640 sec at f/4

the following were taken on the west side.

this looks like something the college might use on a promotional postcard or an annual report. 

48mm ISO 100 1/100 sec at f/4.8

i was trying to play around with slower shutter speeds on this one and catch the bike in motion.  it didn't really work that well, but i'm posting it anyway so you can see my first attempt at trying.

24mm ISO 100 1/100 sec at f/4.0

can't have a portland series without a brewpub!

18mm ISO 100 1/50 sec at f/3.5

21mm ISO 100 1/200 sec at f/4.0

this was a fountain that i came across.  it was dedicated to someone for their support of the arts.

38mm ISO 100 1/50 sec at f/4.5

38mm ISO 200 1/200 sec at f/4.5

this was taken at barista.  i love the variety of colors and textures in the bricks.  it makes such a complex look, especially given that most bricks look so straight, clean and boring.

35 mm ISO 200 1/60 sec at f/4.5

this might be one of the few times that you'll see a photo of chad.  he usually gets kind of annoyed when i stick the camera in his face!  

18mm ISO 200 1/200 sec at f/3.5

and because she's such a wonderful, beautiful wee girl, here is a shot of fife.

66mm ISO 1250 1/6 sec at f/5.3

now, in honor of the title, i'm going to watch the latest episode of portlandia online.  gotta love that show!!

p.s. chad bought me a crumpler camera bag today as a late christmas present.  so excited!