charlottesville – Page 2

I-64 lookouts

October 30, 2013October 30, 2013Posted in life in photosTagged 64 scenic lookouts, blue ridge mountains, charlottesville, fall, landscape photography, photography, valley, virginia, waynesboro1 Comment

I-64 boasts 2 lookouts between Waynesboro and Charlottesville. Since it’s a divided highway they’re only accessible going east from Waynesboro, so I have to wait until I have reason to head out that way to take in the view. This week I remembered to bring my camera along on a thrifting excursion, so I stopped at both lookouts on my way back home.

What a lovely fall day!

I asked the Century Link man who was stopped with me to take my photo. Thanks, Century Link man!

It’s days like these that make me fall in love with Virginia all over again. I’m lucky to live here.

Click on any image to see an enlarged version.

carter mountain orchard ’13

October 28, 2013October 28, 2013Posted in life in photosTagged apple orchard, blue ridge mountains, carter mountain orchard, charlottesville, charlottesville panoramic, orchard, photography2 Comments

Today is a beautiful day! High 60s, sunlight streaming through fall leaves, a light breeze. Since I work early on Mondays, I was free to take a quick trip up to Carter Mountain this afternoon. You may recall that I first visited last year with Daniel and my friend, Andrea, at the end of the season.

Most of the orchard is ripe for picking now, so lots of people were lazily meandering through the orchards with grab bags in hand. I didn’t need more apples, so I just went straight for the trails that looked most appealing, taking pictures along the way. The air smelled like apple cider vinegar thanks to all the abandoned, rotting apples scattered throughout. I watched workers load up trucks full of fruit and bees scramble to consume a fallen apple before heading back to buy some apple cider.

take a walk

October 5, 2013October 5, 2013Posted in life in photosTagged albino deer, bee gif, charlottesville, fall, fall leaves, insect photography, landscape, mountain view, nature photography, virginia, white deer, wildflowers5 Comments

Last Sunday, I took a walk right before golden hour hoping that I’d spot the mystical white deer that roams our neighborhood. I didn’t then – though we spotted it grazing in our yard last night at around 9:40! – but I did spot a patch of wildflowers pouring out from a neighbor’s yard into the sidewalk. It was full of bees and flies and late afternoon sunlight. I love this quaint little neighborhood with a mountain view and mature trees.

surprises

September 27, 2013September 27, 2013Posted in life in photosTagged after hours, almond pave, birthday, charlottesville, downtown mall, friends, life photography, paradox pastry, pizza, surprise party, virginia, vita nova1 Comment

We threw a surprise birthday party for my boss on Wednesday. My coworkers and I gathered at a pizza place on the Downtown Mall while we waited for her daughter to find a reason to get her out of the coffee shop. Once they passed, we scampered to the shop to set up. We ate delicious pizza from Vita Nova and had Almond Pave from Paradox Pastry (delicious and gluten free!) for dessert.

She didn’t suspect a thing. She insisted I take my picture with some birthday balloons since my birthday was yesterday. I love the coffee shop staff, so it’s always great to hang out after hours.

*Photos were kept to a minimum in this post to respect the privacy of friends and family. But there are lots of great ones!

one year in Charlottesville

August 1, 2013Posted in thoughtsTagged adventure, change, charlottesville, growth, homesick, journal entry, list, moving away, review, transition, twenty something, virginia sightseeing, year recap2 Comments

One year ago yesterday, Daniel and I (and a small caravan of Daniel’s family members – mine were waiting for us in Virginia) packed up the final fragments of our possessions, got in my trusty old Saturn, and started the drive up to Virginia. I had never been to Virginia and Daniel had never been to Charlottesville. We’d rented a place with the help of a friend, but otherwise had seen nothing of our new home.

I don’t think there was a way I could have fully comprehended what this first move totally away from anything familiar would mean for us, or how it would change us. It has been lonely, exhilarating, difficult, and joyous. Daniel and I cemented our relationship here like never before. I learned to enjoy cooking for myself. I survived a winter that lasted longer than I anticipated, but not without long bouts of depression. I wrote 314 blog posts, visited lots of new places, cried innumerable times, and got caught up in the beauty of my new surroundings. I decorated (and redecorated) the apartment, made some real money selling vintage, and learned random new skills.

August – Got a job at a local coffee shop (best job ever) / Bought pet rats / Watched a meteor shower on a farm / Saw Ralph Stanley in concert / Saw Obama on the Downtown Mall

September – Started ballet classes / Decorated the apartment / Celebrated my birthday alone / Visited Waynesboro and Staunton / Joined the Evening Choir at church

October – Attended the Black Voices Gospel Choir concert / Dressed as a flapper to attend a Halloween party / Fell in love with Cafe Au Lait / Survived Frankenstorm

November – Toured Luray Caverns and Woodstock, VA when Daniel’s dad was in town / Discovered the Saunders-Monticello trail / Hosted Thanksgiving for my friends and sister / Visited Carter Mountain Orchard / Attended the Tree Lighting ceremony

December – Saw snow / Went to Baltimore for the first time / Celebrated Christmas with Daniel’s mom and sister / Got a 50mm lens

January – Started Style Wise / Visited llamas at my friend’s farm / Wrote some poems

February – Questioned everything (the cold darkness of winter seeped into my heart) / Found meaning in practicing Lent / framed Daniel’s great grandparents’ marriage certificate

March – Presented a homily and got Freshly Pressed / Had a snow day / Visited Richmond / Celebrated Easter

April – Started a new job / Went to the Tom Tom Festival / Visited Jacksonville for my sister’s graduation

May – Had an article published for Relevant Magazine / Questioned everything / Went to Richmond for Memorial Day weekend

June – Visited Skyline Drive for the first time

July – Traveled to Baltimore for a family event / Celebrated Independence Day in Harrisonburg / Visited Baine’s in Scottsville / Celebrated Daniel’s and my 3 year wedding anniversary / Wrote a guest post for a friend’s blog / Explored the Virginia countryside

Phew! I know the above summary is more for me than for readers who are interested in actual writing. So where am I one year later?

In some ways, I feel like I’m starting from the beginning. I have a full time job that I’m still adjusting to, a good friend is moving away, and many of the social activities I enjoyed in the fall have been made unavailable to me due to work hours. I like myself better and I love Virginia, but I’m more homesick than I anticipated; it’s starting to hit me how much we’ve missed out on in the development of our friends’ lives due to distance and busy schedules. To be enveloped by the mountains can be a comfort, but it also serves as a visible sign of our isolation. Because, as much as we’ve tried to reach out, to branch out, we still feel alone much of the time. Life never gets easier.

But overall, I’m pleased that we moved to Charlottesville. I could settle down here and stay for a very long time. I hold out hope that things will get better soon.

at the skyline

July 31, 2013Posted in life in photosTagged blue ridge moutains, charlottesville, day off, friendship, landscape photography, national park, roadtrip, shenandoah national park, skyline drive, summer, virginia photography, wildlife1 Comment

Taylor and I became fast friends this summer. She’s moving to Georgia at the end of the week and I wanted the chance to meet her husband, newly arrived from Wales, before they departed. I took the day off and we all took a trip to Skyline Drive.

We saw wildflowers galore, dozens of butterflies, bees harvesting nectar for Wildflower Honey, deer, a turkey, a groundhog, and panoramic mountain scenes. We even got the chance to stop in to the Visitor’s Center to purchase some memorabilia; while perusing the gift shop, we witnessed a Junior Ranger excitedly – and somewhat bashfully – getting sworn in. We clapped for the new ranger, exchanged group photos with a family parked at one of the overlooks, and marveled, once again, at the breathtaking Blue Ridge Mountains.

madison county, va

July 28, 2013July 28, 2013Posted in life in photos, UncategorizedTagged charlottesville, country living, countryside, frienship, hound dog photograph, landscape, landscape photography, madison, madison county, rural america, southern, virginia, wood crate1 Comment

We took a trip out to Madison to meet up with my friend, Taylor, before heading to a local peach festival. She lives with her mom, three dogs, a couple cats, and some feisty goats on a few acres surrounded by mountains and lush Virginia countryside. I’m so glad I got to see it before she moves to Georgia next week. I’m going to miss her a lot. But it’s ok because we bought friendship crates at the (otherwise lame) festival!

grounds

July 14, 2013Posted in life in photosTagged charlottesville, college photography, grounds, hoos, rotunda, summer, thomas jefferson, university of virginia, uva, uva campus, uva chapelLeave a comment

I wandered around UVA’s campus on Saturday while Daniel picked up some books from the library. It’s an overwhelmingly majestic place, full of secret garden pathways with blooms and buzzing insects, and century old buildings set in the valleys and hills of the Piedmont.

hue

May 19, 2013Posted in life in photosTagged after rain, binoculars, brick, charlottesville, chimney, cicada exoskeleton, hound dog, life, nature photography, photography, rain drops, virginia, walkLeave a comment

Gray days always bring out the most beautiful hues in nature. The bad and the good balance out in the end. (My neighbor stole that dog from its negligent owner’s backyard.)

surprise!

May 4, 2013Posted in life in photosTagged cat, charlottesville, college, family, flight, florida, fun, graduation, jacksonville, jacksonville beach, life, plane, reunion, sisters, surprise, surprise party, unf1 Comment

After I heard that my friend Gillian was flying to England to surprise her mom for her birthday, I decided it’d be perfect to surprise my sister by showing up for her college graduation in Jacksonville, Florida.

I’d been homesick for awhile anyway, and with a new job that provides generous personal leave, everything fell into place. I boarded a plane from Charlottesville last Friday morning and arrived in Jacksonville (after a bout of nausea, serious sinus pressure, and a nearly missed connecting flight) before 11 am, just in time to catch Jenny before extended family arrived. Even though my dad had explicitly mentioned my name in connection to weekend events the day before, Jenny didn’t suspect a thing. In fact, she called me while I was in the grocery store parking lot 5 minutes from the house to talk to me about post-graduation plans.

We enjoyed post-graduation hors d’oeuvres courtesy of our mother,

spent some time relaxing and shopping on Saturday,

and hung out with my Florida friends (and the kitten) on Sunday afternoon.

It was a wonderful, albeit brief, trip home. I’m so glad I survived my first time flying alone to see loved ones and enjoy the Florida weather. Congratulations, Jennifer!

i’m still here

April 23, 2013April 23, 2013Posted in thoughtsTagged article list, charlottesville, christianity, contentment, happiness, hot air balloon, language, list, news, relationships, style wise, the atlantic, time, workLeave a comment

Hello, y’all. I’m not gone; I’ve just been posting up a storm on my fair trade blog, Style Wise.

I’ve also been reading some thought provoking and inspiring articles:

Slow Down! Why Some Languages Sound So Fast, Time

It’s an almost universal truth that any language you don’t understand sounds like it’s being spoken at 200 m.p.h. — a storm of alien syllables almost impossible to tease apart. That, we tell ourselves, is simply because the words make no sense to us. Surely our spoken English sounds just as fast to a native speaker of Urdu. And yet it’s equally true that some languages seem to zip by faster than others. Spanish blows the doors off French; Japanese leaves German in the dust — or at least that’s how they sound.

Relationships Are More Important Than Ambition, The Atlantic

Reflecting on what he went through when Ruthie was sick, he told me that the secret to the good life is “setting limits and being grateful for what you have. That was what Ruthie did, which is why I think she was so happy, even to the end.”

A 7-Step Path to Enjoying Work, Becoming Minimalist

While honest compensation should always be sought with both humility and pride, the pursuit of riches and wealth as an end goal is always a losing battle. Riches will never fully satisfy… we will always be left searching for more. People who view their work as only a means to get rich often fall into temptation, harmful behavior, and foolish desires.

Taking Things Literally and Why That’s a Bad Idea, Defeating the Dragons

And when you believe that minuscule imperative statements trump entire narratives, you miss out on the complexity that is woven into scripture. You lose stories like Deborah and Junia and Phoebe and Tabitha and Lydia and Anna and Priscilla– because these stories about powerful women conflict with the limited suggestion of one author to one friend. You lose the ability to learn from the value of contradictions, because instead of recognizing contradictions as the human component of individual perspective and human narrative, the contradictions become something you have to explain away or deny

Why I Don’t Witness to People on Airplanes, Rachel Held Evans

Somewhere in my mid-twenties, I drifted off the Romans Road and stumbled onto a bigger, wilder Gospel in which salvation is less about individual “sin management” and more about God’s relentless work restoring, redeeming, and remaking the whole world. Salvation isn’t some insurance policy that kicks in after death; it’s the ongoing, daily work of Jesus, who loosens the chains of anger, greed, materialism, and hate around our feet and teaches us to walk in love, joy, and peace instead. It’s good news, not bad news, and I can’t, for the life of me, believe that only evangelical Christians like myself have a monopoly on it.

What have you been up to?

*Hot Air balloon over Charlottesville, by Reid Kasprowicz on flickr

tom tom founder’s fest

April 14, 2013Posted in newsTagged 2013, charlottesville, downtown mall, enjoyment, event photography, flowering trees, good weather, life, live music, outdoor photography, people watching, spring, spring festival, tom tom founders festival, virginia2 Comments

The banner went up for the Tom Tom Founder’s Festival about a month ago when I still worked downtown; I kept telling myself I’d look it up when I got home. I started to hear of food trucks and live music and talks. Friday night, Daniel told me that he was having an awesome time perusing local art, enjoying a bustling downtown atmosphere, and attending a poetry reading. Since I worked ’til 10, I was determined to make the most of it on Saturday.

My friend, Greta, and I headed downtown around noon. We stopped in for some bing (dumplings) and peanut salad at Song Song’s Zhou and Bing, then headed over to Low Vintage, my favorite vintage shop in town, where we bought a few items and chatted with Nora, the owner.

The weather was perfect for a lazy stroll down the mall. Eventually, we meandered over to Lee Park to enjoy the live music. We sat on the grass and ate locally made popsicles – I had the Strawberry Hibiscus and Greta had the Banana Macademia Nut. We took our time people watching and generally enjoying the atmosphere.

Spring festivals make sense. We’ve suffered through the dark winter months and we need to celebrate. We need something to gather outside for, to come out of the woodwork for. We need to be reminded that we exist together in a community and that we collectively deserve to enjoy the moment before it passes.

If you live in the Charlottesville area, think about taking part in the final events of the weekend – they’ve got a few interesting talks lined up for this afternoon.

on the trail

March 10, 2013Posted in life in photosTagged blue ridge mountains, charlottesville, hiking, landscape photography, monticello, mountain path, photography, saunders'monticello trail, snow covered trail, snow damage, spring, trail, virginia, walking1 Comment

Spring is here!

I went on a long, meandering (physically and conversationally) walk on the Saunders-Monticello Trail with my friends, Kristen and Amy, this afternoon. Parts of the trail were damaged due to Wednesday’s aggressive snowfall, so we courageously maneuvered through blocked pathways and locked gates to make it to the end.

It’s incredible that this mountain landscape is only an interstate exit way. As soon as the snow clears and flowers start to bloom, I’d like to take a tour of Monticello.

I’m looking forward to a long Charlottesville springtime.