Bake Sale?

I stumbled across this group of women cooking and selling their goods in an Istanbul neighborhood. I'm calling it a bake sale, since I don't quite know what else to call it. I loved that it felt both familiar - something I'd see in my small home town, and get unique and different (sitting on the floor, the mats, the long sleeves and scarves.)

The more I travel, the more convinced I am that people across the world are more similar than they are different and that those differences are what makes the world a better place.

I mean, this collection of balloons including Hello Kitty and SpongeBob - could be taken from any place on earth. What similarities surprise you the most when you travel?

Joshua Radin - Anywhere Your Love Goes Pin It

Playing Photographer: Family Photos

I played real photographer for my sister and her family this summer. Mostly it reminded my of all the reason I'd never make it as a pro. Getting everyone to look the same way, smile and open their eyes - not an easy task. Still I had a lot of fun trying.

Instead of posting the "good" ones - i.e. the ones my sister will have printed and hang on walls, I thought I'd post some of my favorites, mostly outtakes - photos that made me smile and brought out personalities.

M and T weren't particularly in the mood to play model, so we moved fast and used frozen white chocolate chips as bribes - it was the only food I could think of that wouldn't result in messy faces and clothes.

We were attempting to copy a pose we'd seen on pinterest in this photo - let's just say it didn't quite go as planned....

My favorite of T - he looks sweetly mischievous, which is correct.

 

We never did get a good one of Miss M that evening, so the next morning I convinced her to give me another try. This ended up being one of my very favorite shots of the entire experience.

I recently downloaded the newest Josh Radin, the entire album is amazing, but his The Greenest Grass seems to be a great match with this photos.



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Street Food

I was raised in a small town - so street food wasn't really something I was familiar with - but now after living a few more places, I find I'm fascinated by the variety that pops up around the world. The simitci carts seem to be the most common in Istanbul so far. They remind me a bit of bagels, a round shaped bread, but these come with toasted sesame seeds, I'm guessing they are a food that is eaten at any time of day, because the carts can be seen throughout the day. I haven't tried them yet, have any of you?

The second most common cart I see around town is the one for roasted chestnuts - which given that I spent the month of December in Istanbul meant that every time I saw one the old Christmas song, "chestnuts roasting on an open fire...." popped into my head.

All of these photos were taken on a Saturday evening in the Beyoglu area - one of the most vibrant and fun parts of town.  We spent a couple of hours exploring the main street before going out to dinner.  Some were taken just after the sunset, and some quite late. If nothing else it gave me some much needed practice with night photography - and made me wish for a tripod, or at least steadier hands.

I haven't tried the chestnuts yet, either. I think I'm hesitant to give street food a try after a bad experience in India. I'm sure I'll work up the nerve soon. Do you love street food? Or are you a bit hesitant to give it a go for some reason?

Speaking of streets, it's been a while since I shared anything by Joshua Radin, here's his "Streetlight."

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Another Surprise

Photo from Gigi's Cupcakes

Back in May I posted about the "surprise" birthday my work team threw for me - the one where the surprise was on them because my birthday wasn't for several months, well they surprised me yet again last week.

I've mentioned work is pretty much full on for the next month, we are working long hours, seven days a week, it's just the way things are this close to an event.  Someone had asked me how I was going to celebrate and I'd laughed and said I was going to Gigi's to buy myself a cupcake and planned to eat it without guilt and I'd save the rest of the celebration for next month.

Late last week, we were all pulled in for an emergency briefing, I was afraid something had gone seriously wrong.  We all go in the room and they pulled out Gigi's cupcakes for everyone.  Somehow in all of the craziness they took time out to help me celebrate, and best of all figured out how to cover my shifts so I could have an actual weekend off, I really couldn't have asked for a better gift or group of friends to work with.

I'll share how I spent my weekend in other posts this week, but I had to start the week by sending out a huge thanks to the great group I'm lucky enough to work with.

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The Sunday Creative - Connect

I spent last weekend connecting with two of my best friends in Nashville, one who was visiting for a conference and one who lives there.  My life means I spend most of my time away from friends and family so I truly cherish those opportunities to sit down and catch up.  I've been blessed with amazing people in my life and I love spending any time I can with them.

I'm planning to post some of the photos of my adventure at the Ryman Auditorium next week, but today I had to share the photo I captured of my friend's twins.  This adorable boy and girl are so fun to be around and are just the most beautiful babies.  I can't think of people who are more connected than twins - so capturing them holding hands felt like the perfect picture for this week's assignment.

I've been listening to mellow music at work this week - hoping to keep calm as things get busier.  Joshua Radin has been on the list, so I thought I'd share his beautiful "Everything'll Be Alright."

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In the neighborhood

Over the weekend I had some meetings at the main office, and I finally remembered to take my camera with me so I could get a couple of pictures of the surrounding area.  It was a perfect day - bright blue sky, grass that has seen recent rain so it was bright and vibrant.  The horses were out enjoying the day.

I hope I never get used to driving through this amazing part of the country, I hope I always remember to look around and take in the beauty of this place I'm lucky enough to call home for a few months.

In the same area there is a tiny rock church that makes me smile every time I drive past.  It is meticulously maintained and oh, so beautiful.

In honor of the lovely blue sky that allowed me to collect these photos, here's Joshua Radin & Ingrid Michaelson's "Sky"

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One of Those Days

Yesterday was rough - one of those work days you wish you could live over - except you don't really want to go through that again unless there was a guarantee it would turn out differently.

I was very grateful to get home at the end of the night - and to know that Glee was going to be on -the first 50 minutes of the episode was a bit of a disappointment after last week's amazing Madonna episode.  But Mercedes' version of "Beautiful"  had me in tears.  I love this show.

While I was waiting for Glee to come on I listened to a little Joshua Radin - his mellow music was the perfect cure to my desire to chill out.

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Temples of Chiang Mai

During my very short trip I must have seem dozens of temples in and around Chiang Mai.  They come in all shapes, sizes, materials, age and condition.  I took hundreds of photos while exploring the temples and since I was also exploring the various settings on my camera there are many more poor photos than good ones.  Some day I'm going to set aside some real time to understand my camera and photography - until then I'll just rely on beautiful subjects to make my photos look good - and Chiang Mai was a great source for that.

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