Mt. Olympus – The Summit

For my girlfriend Jill’s birthday this past Monday, three of my girlfriends and myself met at 7 am and hiked Mount Olympus. I have only been on this trail once and that was about 3 years ago, at that time we only hiked a 1/3 of the way up. But on Monday we hiked to the Summit!! Mount Olympus is a very difficult hike…in fact the last quarter of the hike is climbing boulders straight up. The base of Mount Olympus is around 4800 FT, it’s a 3 mile hike straight up to the Summit which is about 9800 FT at the top.  It was by far the most difficult hike I have ever done. Making it to the Summit and sitting up there with three of my close friends was a remarkable experience and I was so proud of all of us for accomplishing this…I truly feel that when women get together whether it be friends, sisters, mothers and daughters there really is nothing we can’t accomplish together..

This first photo below on the left is of a mailbox surrounded by rocks that sits at the top of the Summit. Inside the mailbox is a pen and notepad..every person who Summits Mt Olympus writes in their name, the date and something they may want to say of significance. It was very meaningful.

You can see the boulders that we are climbing are huge!  But then…we reach the top!! Here the girls are signing in their names…

One of the many views from the top – all of the Valley and beyond!

I encourage anyone who loves to hike to make it a goal to hike Mt Olympus, you won’t regret it!!

a celebration of life

Last Saturday I had the extreme honor of photographing a very close friends party in honor of her mom. My girlfriend Steph and her two sisters threw a celebration for their mom who is dying of breast cancer. What I loved about this…is that her mom Barbara or “Babs” her nickname wanted this celebration of her life..wanted to see her family + friends one last time..and so in earnest in just a few short weeks the planning ensued. They sent out a lovely invitation titled “Ta – Ta for Now.” And with everyone’s help the party came together..a close friend of Steph’s did all the flowers, family brought so much food that the table was overflowing with delicious bites to eat, music was playing, drinks were served and as the day approached…family + friends from all over the country flew in to show their love for Babs on this very special day. There was so much laughter and yes there were tears…but the laughter and the love is what I will remember most about this day. You could feel the love for this woman radiating from everyone…what an honor it was to be a part of such a very special occasion for a dear friend.

Just this past Tuesday, three days after this celebration..Babs passed away peacefully with her loving family by her side..

Slideshow of Bab’s celebration, please turn your speakers up.

Babs Slideshow Click Here

my sweet friend Steph

the three sisters with mom

some sweet moments with Bab’s and Steph’s Dad

Steph and her husband Chad

From left to right: Heidi who did the beautiful flowers, Steph, myself and Kristen

towards the end of the party, everyone had a balloon and in honor of Babs everyone stood in a circle and let them go..it was a beautiful sight.

Hello! I’m alive!! The last couple of days have been a whirlwind..I’m currently out of town in California for business and for pleasure…if you have emailed me, I will respond today. Thank you for your patience!!

Here are some images from the last few days..I still have more to post on my 365 project hopefully later tonight.

xoxo

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Lemon Cake

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A garbage can, I loved the color and the pattern.

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This view is about 50 yards from my parents front door…peaceful, isn’t it?  What I miss most about living here are these rolling hills…Northern California is lined with these beautiful rolling hills and these gorgeous oak trees are my favorite.

Friday…

Happy Friday everyone!!

The texture and the colors is what drew me to this.

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The cherry blossoms…This must be a sign that Spring is finally on it’s way, right? I couldn’t resist…

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This guy was a hoot..I gave him a dollar for letting me photograph him and he gave me a piece of paper with a saying on it..it said “you are loved.” He just kind of spit it out of his hand..like he was a machine giving me my fortune or something.

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Returning

We got back from Hawaii, we had a great time. The first two days were a bit rough since we were missing Jack but we finally  relaxed and started to soak up all the beauty that we were surrounded by.

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