Sarah Beth

sarahbeth365:

(2/7/12) Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread.

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 cups white sugar
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

*recipe source*

Because sometimes I just get in a baking mood. It’s been a long time, really since I’ve baked anything. I usually bake cookies for Christmas but I was being quite strict with my diet before going to Hawaii so I didn’t this year. Right now I’m being a little naughty but hopefully I’ll get over it soon & get back on track. I figure that I deserve to treat myself a little after officially dropping about twenty pounds. 

This is the day that we went on the Sea Quest rafting & snorkeling adventure! I can honestly say it was my favorite part of the trip. A few years ago I wanted to try out snorkeling but didn’t get to. This was an awesome first time experience and I highly recommend them!

Right after we departed we spotted a small pod of dolphins that swam right up to the raft.

They were wonderful at taking us right up to the shoreline.

And into sea caves!

Manta rays!

Mom in her snorkel mask. I was a little uneasy jumping into the deep water with how paranoid I am of sharks but once I saw all of the beautiful corals and fish I was hooked!

The first place we snorkeled was Pu’uhonau o Honaunau (Place of Refuge). Sadly the underwater bag that I used on my camera ended up blurring most of my photos :( I wish I had an underwater camera.

More arches & caves.

Whale!

Our other snorkel spot was the Captain Cook monument in Kealakekua Bay, which is supposed to be one of the best snorkel spots in the state.

I could literally snorkel those crystal clear waters all day.

Yellow tangs = pretty darn plentiful.

Dad.

On the way back we spotted these two guys cliff diving.

On our way back to the resort we stopped by Kua Bay (Manini’owali).

*le sigh* So beautiful!

One of the things that I wanted to see this trip that I didn’t get to see a few years ago was the summit of Mauna Kea. So we decided to go visit a beach early and be back in time for the trip to Mauna Kea to watch the sunset on the summit.

We decided on Mauna Kea Beach (Kauna’oa Bay) since it’s supposed to be one of the best beaches on the island and we hadn’t seen it yet. Now that I think of it, we only saw a couple last time. Anaeho’omalu & Hapuna. 

This beach is pristine! It’s perfectly crescent-shaped with powdery white sand, and enough trees for some shade. The water is a calm, crystal clear blue, perfect for bringing the kids to teach them boogie boarding on the tame waves. Another thing that’s really nice about this beach is that there’s only forty or so public parking places so the beach isn’t crowded at all.

At the south end of the beach there’s a rocky point with a shoreline access path behind it perfect for exploring. 

Dad, looking at two sea turtles sunbathing on the rocks.

After going back to the resort for lunch and grabbing our winter clothes we were on our way down Saddle road to Mauna Kea.

We were watching the wild goats at the resort while eating. Dad was pretty much obsessed with them. By the end of the trip I was all goat-ed out.

The whole drive down (actually up) saddle road was very interesting. First of all, it isn’t exactly a smooth ride. It reminded me of an old rickety roller coaster. It’s very long, narrow, & winding with one lane bridges, and many ups & downs even though we’re ascending to 6,600ft at the “saddle” between Mauna Kea & Mauna Loa mountains. It was a little crazy. We went from lava desert to grasslands, ranches, forests, fog, mist, rain, back to desert, & even a sand storm!

Finally, at mile marker 28 you start taking the road up to the Visitor Information station which also happens to be the mid-level altitude acclimatization center at 9,300ft.

Sadly this is about as far as we made it. Our weak little four cylinder rental car could barely make it this far up and would have surely died before we reached the summit at 14,000ft. Talk about disappointing! Since we were there we decided to make the hike up the large hill across the road from the visitor’s center. You can really tell the air is thinner up there making the steep hike! I think that the blowing wind actually helped my breathing while going up. Weird.

Above the clouds!

As you can see, I’m wearing a sweater, jacket, gloves, & a hat. It was quite cold & windy up there!

As it got closer to sunset quite a few others who couldn’t make it to the summit joined us.

The sun setting over the clouds next to the island of Maui.

After sunset we made our way down the freezing cold & windy (really, I felt like I was back in Minnesota) hill back to the visitor’s center where they had some telescopes set up for stargazing.

Our first full day in Hawaii. We decided to run over to Queen’s Marketplace for a few things and I ended up renting some snorkel gear for the week with dad at Blue Wilderness Dive Adventures. That was one thing that I regretted about last time I was in Hawaii, none of us did any snorkeling. So I was determined to this time.

One thing that I wanted to check off of my list this time was to take the Brewery tour at the Kona Brewery so down to Kona we went. On the way there we stopped at the International Market to browse around then took a quick drive down Alii Dr. My dad doesn’t like crowds so we didn’t stop anywhere, plus we needed to get to the brewery in time to sign up for the tour.

We got to the brewery and signed up for the tour just a little after 2pm. I guess that we got lucky because the hostess said that the tour is usually full by 2pm, especially on a Saturday. Just after we signed up the last available spots were taken and quite a few people had to be turned away. The tour itself was pretty short but very informative on the whole brewing process. Our tour guide was able to answer any question thrown his way. After the tour the drinking began.

The group is taken into the brew pub where we got to sample four of their beers for free (the sampler of 4 5oz glasses costs $9 on the menu). Our group got to sample the Longboard Lager, Wailua Wheat, Cataway IPA, & Pipeline Porter. Of course all of them were delicious and suprisingly mom even drank all of her samples even though she doesn’t really like beer! 

So happy :)

My favorite was the Pipeline Porter.

After the beer tasting we grabbed a seat and ordered their chips & salsa and a delicious wild mushroom pizza.

On our way back to the resort we stopped at Old Airport Beach Park to watch the sunset.

As you can see it’s not exactly the most “pretty” beach ever or really meant for swimming because of how rocky it is but it’ll do for sunset watching.

It’s named Old Airport beach because it actually used to be the airport until 1970. Now the old runway is the parking lot. 

White coral & black lava rock is everywhere on the big island. Many people will collect the coral in buckets to bring to the lava fields and arrange messages on it. Pretty much the whole drive from the airport to the Waikoloa resort area you’re driving through black lava fields decorated in white coral graffiti.

The window seat is by far the best :)

After a couple of months of dreaming about Hawaii (it seemed a lot longer than that) I’m finally here! It wasn’t without travel problems though. Since it was so cold and snowing when we left the plane needed to be de-iced. So that took some extra time. Then we were going to take off & were most of the way down the runway when something went wrong with the plane so we had to turn back and have maintenance work done on the plane. After a while they found out that they had gotten some de-icing fluid somewhere that needed to be dried out. So after that we had to go through de-icing yet again and were finally on our way. This whole time we’re worried about our connecting flight since it was only a one hour layover & we were running something like two hours late. When we landed in Pheonix we found out that they delayed our connecting flight for us! So we rushed to the terminal & took off. After about a seven hour flight from Phoenix to Kona and being stuck on the other plane for over five hours we’re beat. 

p.s: While descending to land at the Kona airport I saw a humpback whale right below my window! Awesome!

sarahbeth365:

(1/6/12) This morning I made two huge batches of cabbage soup. Only two weeks left until Hawaii & I want to lose seven pounds by then…

I’m not going to follow the “cabbage soup diet” plan exactly since I’m so active at work. So I’m going to eat only the soup + fruits & veggies on my days off & eat it for dinner on work nights. That should hopefully work for me.

• My dad and I are sitting in the living room watching shark week on netflix.
• Mom: What on earth are you two watching in there?
• Mom: (walks into room) Are you crazy? Why are you watching shark attacks right before going to Hawaii?!
• Me: So we know how to avoid attack.
• Mom: So how do you do that?
• Me: Uhm, so we know how to protect ourselves or fight them off.
• Mom: How?
• Me: Well, you have to gauge their eyes but then you still get attacked. You could still die or lose a limb or two. I guess there's no avoiding it if you want to be in the ocean. If the shark chooses you you're shit out of luck.
• Dad: Well I was thinking about going snorkeling but now there's no way.
• And I can't stop watching. It's like a sickness. I've been having shark nightmares and am still pretty sure I'm going into the ocean in a couple of weeks. I don't want to wuss out even though I'm going to be extremely paranoid about being attacked by a giant ferocious fish.

This year for my families’ Christmas parties I brought along my camera, speedlight, wireless remote, & laptop. The result was a sort of photobooth & was so much fun! I’ll most definitely have to do this for more occasions.

Yikes, so I just realized that I haven’t blogged since October, when I made a whopping two posts, both about my north shore trip. Whoops, I really don’t know how that happened. Maybe now that I’ve left facebook I’ve been spending less time online? I feel like I’ve been so busy, but in reality I’ve had plenty of free time. So perhaps I should use bullet points to catch up:

• Jessie & Phil’s wedding was September 16th & was beautiful! It was outdoors at her family farm & was actually quite chilly & windy for September. She chose a lovely grey & yellow theme and I was totally in love with her vintage looking dress. So beautiful! 
• On October 8th I got to see my cousin Jenny! I hadn’t seen her for years since she lives in Montana.

My brothers, Amanda, Jenny, & I.

• On October 27th I got to see Kayla since she was in Minnesota & Wisconsin for her grandmother’s funeral. Sad event but glad I got to see her!

Amber, Kayla, & Julie at Ralph’s Bar.

• On Halloween weekend we went to downtown Hudson

• On November 5th Craig brought home a new puppy! It took him a couple of weeks to finally name her Gypsy! She is just the cutest, smartest, craziest thing!

Gypsy & I the day that Craig brought her home, at 6 weeks old. So teeny tiny!

About 7 weeks old.

Nov. 23rd.

Gypsy & her daddy a couple of days ago.

And last night. She has already tripled in size & is starting to look more like a dog now. Still crazy cute though! Luke & Grace haven’t warmed up to her yet. Hopefully that will change soon.

• On November 6th I started painting my room. No big deal, right? Wrong. What I thought would be a quick one day project turned into a four day nightmare. I went through 3 gallons of paint & put 5 coats of paint on my walls. 5!  It should have been 6 but I gave up. I even used the special, fancy dancy paint + primer in one crap. Lesson learned: just buy some freakn’ primer & normal, not crazy expensive paint. BTW I was painting over dark blue. Now thankfully my room is a beautiful vintage mustard yellow.
• Thanksgiving was spent at my aunt Carol’s house of course everyone stuffed themselves silly & did a lot of laying around :)
• Brandi started hosting a game night at her place now that she lives only 7 miles away! 

• Yesterday my new Fujifilm X10 came in the mail! I’ve been wanting a good advanced point & shoot for a while now & this seems to fit the bill quite well :) 
• Last night into this morning we had our first significant snowfall of the season. It did snow a bit and mess up the roads back on Nov 19th but this time it looks like it’s here to stay.

Well, that’s about it I guess. Hopefully I can get myself to post more often :)

We got up a little before sunrise and had planned to eat breakfast at World’s Best Donuts but they weren’t quite open yet so we drove up to a scenic overlook for a view of the harbor at sunrise:

Then we decided to go down to the beach for a better view of the sunrise:

Then we ate our delicious breakfast of donuts and coffee :)

I found this door on The Beaver House to be quite creepy.

Sadly the giant walleye is missing it’s tail.

Judge C.R. Magney State Park isn’t too far north of Grand Marais and we had never been there so off we went!

The first little waterfall on the trail.

There were plenty of stairs on the trail. They are my enemy. I hate them. First you hike way up, then go down so many stairs that you get dizzy, then find the first waterfall, then go up more stairs to get to Devil’s Kettle Falls. Then you know what? You have to somehow get yourself back up all of the stairs you just went down. Yup, I’m really out of shape.

Devil’s Kettle Falls. One creepy & mysterious waterfall. The river splits in two as it goes over the falls. To the right the water continues down the river. To the left the water plummets into the deep, dark unknown. Really, nobody knows where it goes. Hence the name “Devil’s Kettle”. 

Back up those devilish stairs. 

A small section of stairs. They just keep going…

Then it was time to head south again. We made a quick little stop at Good Harbor Bay because Craig wanted rocks. Weirdo.

Next stop: Cascade River State Park:

Craig, thinking that he’s going to catch some fish with his bare hands.

His prey.

Trying another method.

In the end he just ended up finding a freshly dead one. Oh well.

On our way out of the park Craig spotted a male ruffed grouse in full display.

Of course I didn’t have my telephoto lens on me so I had to carefully get out of the car and quietly sneak closer & closer. This bird must have been a little on the dumb side because this photo was taken with my 18-70mm lens. I pretty much got right next to him.

Next stop: Temperance River State Park:

The river runs through this giant gorge.

Our last stop on our way home was Tettegouche State Park:

Since we didn’t have much time left before we had to get back home we just hiked straight to the “High Falls” of the baptism River. I was not expecting the steep hike to the trail. Oh man, I was like “when does this level off? I’m dying here!”. Yeah, I already told you I’m out of shape. So after that steep hike, then hiking on the trail for a ways you come to this. the top of the falls. I was like “Oh crap, you have to hike all of the way down into the valley to get a good look at the falls?! That means that I have to go all of the way back up. Ugh, stairs are my nemesis!” But what was the point of going all of that way to just see the top of the falls? So down we went.

The 60ft High Falls.

Then we were back up, down, & on our way home :)

I had been wanting to go up to the north shore this fall since I hadn’t been up there since 2006 and this year was going to be perfect to see the fall colors. Craig loves northern Minnesota and is up there all of the time for work so he agreed to go with me. We ended up leaving on Wednesday and coming back Thursday since I had to work on Friday. I was a little worried that two days wouldn’t be enough time to see much but we actually packed quite a bit in!

We decided to get an early start and left at about 5am Wednesday while it was still dark out. after about an hour and a half we made a quick stop to gas up & get some coffee. For some reason my coffee cup kept leaking & neither of us had any napkins so we had to pull over. I transferred the coffee into my travel mug and set the mug in the car on the passenger side floor while I tried mopping up some of the coffee off of myself when all of a sudden the mug tipped over and spewed hot coffee all over me like a scene from the exorcist! How does that happen?! How does coffee become pressurized enough to explode? Well anyways we got it under control and were back on our coffee-soaked way. The first place we decided to go was Jay Cooke State Park. We had been there a few times before so we didn’t spend much time exploring but it’s always a beautiful stop.

We got there just as the sun was rising.

The fall colors were in full force!

The swinging bridge:

The view from an overlook:

By now we were hungry so we stopped at Betty’s Pies in Two Harbors.

I would most definitely recommend this place! It was very quaint & friendly and the food was delicious!  Both Craig and I decided on the bumbleberry pancakes (blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, & raspberries) YUM!

Craig in breakfast food heaven.

After breakfast, and even though we were happily stuffed and shouldn’t have we ordered pie. I mean, how can you go to a place named after pie and not get pie? Craig got strawberry rhubarb and I got the great lakes crunch. I think that this place will be a must for each north shore trip now :)

A ways up the road was our next stop at Gooseberry Falls State Park. We had been there a couple of times before but stopped anyways.

The upper falls.

We hadn’t ever made the hike to the fifth falls before so we decided to do that. I ended up being a bit puzzled though because when we got there we didn’t really see any waterfalls. It was more like small rapids. I guess that it probably looks a lot different in the spring when there’s more water.

Back to the middle & lower falls.

Then we decided to make the hike along the Gooseberry River to Lake Superior.

The hillside along the river.

Agate Beach.

It was more than a little windy at the lake.

The view of the middle & lower falls on the hike back to the car.

Craig wanted to show me Palisade Head:

A few other people were actually laying down on the edge of the cliff of a better view but I must admit that I can’t even walk to the very edge of places so high. Yeah, I get vertigo & feel like I’m going to fall.

The view of Shovel Point from Palisade Head.

Before the trip I had been searching around online for places to go & found Caribou Falls Wayside. From the road you just see a gravel parking lot but after a 3/4 mile hike & some stairs you come upon a beautiful waterfall.

The view from the stairs.

Definitely worth the little hike. This waterfall felt like a hidden gem. 

Craig found a little cave to play in on the way back up the stairs:

Then Craig wanted to show me part of the Sawbill Trail.

This was probably the most colorful part of our trip but we couldn’t spend much time there because we wanted to get to Grand Marais before dark.

Huge red leaf.

Cute little squirrel getting fat on pine cones :)

We got to Grand Marais and found a place to stay then got to the harbor just in time for the sunset.

Exploring Artist’s Point.

A woman offered to take a photo of us together & I’m glad she did. I love this photo!

A view of the harbor with the Sawtooth mountains in the background.

Craig took some berries to plant at home.

The view of Artist’s Point from the beach.

We ended the day at My Sister’s Place where we were served beer in mason jars. Craig got one of their many burgers (he has a goal of trying each one) and I had their fungi burger (made with a portabella mushroom). Sooo good!

Gracie found a raccoon today. She also got into a little brawl with the critter & got a little nip on her ear. Don’t worry though, Gracie has her vaccinations.

One week ago out of the blue (or boredom) I decided to start another 365 blog. I think it’ll be a little easier for me to keep up this time since I tend to take quite a few photos with my phone anyways. Of course all of them on the blog so far have been taken with my phone, not my camera. Maybe I should try to get out of that habit a little bit but it’s just so much quicker/easier/lazier. I did just finally get a wireless remote for my camera in the mail today so maybe even some self portraits are in the future :)

I had been contemplating leaving for quite a while after being on the site since 2005/06? Not quite sure but a really long time! I was tired of it. I don’t even know why I spent so much time on it. When I got bored & needed to kill time I would go on facebook, wasting time, and end up feeling like shit. Why am I fb “friends” with all of these people I hardly know anyways? It had just gotten out of control. It was pointless. Then this morning I discovered that for some reason all of my photo albums had just been deleted. Gone. The only photos left on there were the ones I was tagged in from others. “OK, that’s it! Facebook, you are dead to me!” And now that I’ve finally deleted my profile I feel so much better! I’m free! Of course they tried to guilt me into staying:

Uhm, yeah. I’m pretty sure that leaving facebook means that I’m leaving my friends. C’mon! I see these people in REAL life & they have other means of contacting me besides facebook! Then I realized that deactivating my account doesn’t actually delete it so I had to find the link to request permanent deletion. I couldn’t find it on the site so I actually had to do a google search to find the link on facebook. Then they gave me the option to repent my sin against them:

Yeah, not going to happen you sneaky snakes!

After all, I still have Tumblr, Twitter, Flickr, & Google+.

So the other day while thinking about a camping trip to the north shore I had a little thought process that went something like this:

But where am I going to stay? -> I guess camping is cheapest -> I’ll have to camp in my tent -> I hate setting that thing up & taking it down -> & I’m probably going to freeze -> I always feel like bear-bait in tents -> A raccoon ripped through Josh & Lynsie’s tent so a bear would have no problem at all -> I wish I had a camper trailer -> yes, a trailer offers much better protection from mischievous and/or ferocious wildlife -> what kind of trailer would my car be able to pull? -> (does internet search) -> (finds something called a “teardrop trailer”) -> Holy crap that ($13,000) is waaay to expensive! -> wait, I could make one?!  -> (finds DIY plans for making said trailer) -> hey, I could probably do that!

Yup, I’m pretty much obsessed with the idea of building one now. Just look how cute & convenient they are!

Tonight I got to meet up with my photo/college girls, Ashley & Jessie :)

I’m calling this “the year of the tomato”. Really, our garden has been producing vast quantities this year and I’m almost certain that I’ve been eating them every single day. We’ve been harvesting them by the bag & basket full and there’s still so many out there ripening up. Today I brought in two baskets and made salsa. Lots and lots of salsa :)

Oh yes, there was a photo booth at Jamie & Bob’s wedding :) :) :)

My Brothers & I.

Mom & Dad had a go at it too:

This past Saturday was my cousin Jamie’s wedding :)

My cousin Brett with Jamie’s mother & daughter, Renee & Maci.

Bob & his mom.

My cousin Jake, Jamie’s brother.

Uncle Chuck & Jamie.

The ring bearer (Kaleb, Jamie’s son) & flower girl look so enthused ;)

My dad & brothers.

My brothers & I.

Dad & Mom.

Sidney, Hannah, & Amanda. Sidney totally always hams it up for the camera.

Aunt Carol & Andy.

Uncle Gregg & Robbie.

Teri & Anna.

Grandma & uncle Mike.

Me & Grandma.

Family photo! A very rare occurrence. I think the last one was maybe early 2009?

My uncle Paul dancing with the girls.

Denise, Kathy, Jeff, & Paul.

Christie & Kristie.

Father-daughter dance.

Mother-son dance.

Bouquet toss. My cousin Samantha caught it :)

Aunt Mary & Mom.

Aunt Amy sneaking more booze into drinks.

Amanda, Hannah, Sidney, & Gage.

(2/8/12) Mmm, vanilla porter. *review*

(2/7/12) Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread.

*recipe source*

(2/6/12) Home from a yucky day at work and ready for my three days off :)

(2/1/12) Ah, painting mason jars pretty colors :) (idea from here)

(1/31/12) My Bean boot’s first encounter with snow.

(1/30/12) Craig chopping up some delicious rutabaga.

(1/29/12)

(1/23/12) Sea Quest adventure, snorkeling Honaunau & Kealakekua. Kua Bay.

(1/22/12) Mauna Kea Beach (Kauna’oa Bay) & Mauna Kea Mtn.

(1/21/12) Kona Brewery & Old Airport Beach.

(1/20/12) Hawaii :)

(1/12/12)

(1/11/12) New love = grapefruit. I remember years ago not really caring about it but now I’m eating it all of the time. It’s strange how tastes change.

(1/6/12) This morning I made two huge batches of cabbage soup. Only two weeks left until Hawaii & I want to lose seven pounds by then…

(1/5/12) Game night :)

(1/4/12) My latest purchase from Novica arrived from Mexico today :)

(12/31/11) Goodbye, 2011.

(12/29/11)

(12/25/11)

(12/24/11)

A few shots, just for the heck of it.

Self Portrait (10/17/11)

A couple of weekends ago was my friend, Lynsie’s wedding. Although I was there as a guest and Jessie was in the wedding we couldn’t help but snap a few portraits of beautiful Lynsie before the ceremony. Here’s what I ended up with: 

= lots of bunnies & clover.

This past May I got to meet up with my beautiful cousin Betsy & got to meet her fiancé, Mark for an engagement session in Minneapolis.

I can’t wait until their wedding next April!

Back in February I got to visit my friends and their then four month old, Dexter. I hadn’t seen him since he was born back in October and he had changed so much!

Eric in my parent’s basement.

Notice to prospective brides and grooms: Sorry but I am currently not accepting any new wedding photography inquiries at this time.

This was my very first chilly freezing outdoor winter portrait session. We only spent a few minutes at a time taking photos and then would have to run back inside a few times for some warm up breaks.

Brandi’s puppy, Dylan didn’t want to sit still at all and had no interest in having his photo taken. Luckily they were able to hold him down long enough for a couple shots.

Anthony was kind enough to take one of Brandi & I  :)

So last night on the spur of the moment Craig said that he would like some old fashioned photos of himself before he trims his beard. He found a shirt and jacket to wear and I put a part in his hair and tried slicking it back a bit with some pomade. Here’s what I came up with:

Here he is! Waylon Glenn, born November 22nd to Kayla & Travis.

Eric and Craig are back home this weekend for MEA break and I was actually able to get a few photos out of them. For the past few years they have had some sort of comradery and a bit of competition with each other concerning their facial hair (which is always changing).

Eric fluffing Craig’s beard.

Craig’s beard is thick enough to be embellished with leaves.

Acorns aplenty. 

Gracie girl.

Eric & Luke. Can you tell that Luke is over 11 years old? Pretty soon he’ll be mostly grey!

Who says that toads aren’t cute? This little guy was hanging out in our window well. It must be getting chilly for him. Whenever I see toads I think back to when my brothers and I were little. We would keep toads in the window wells as pets and play with them like they were little dolls. Poor little creatures.

My last post was Jessie’s maternity photos and now I am very glad to introduce you to the little guy that she was carrying this whole time:

Dexter Lincoln. Born October 12th, weighing 7 pounds 2 ounces. Congratulations Jessie & Max!

I can hardly believe that Jessie is having a baby! It seems like time has just flown by since I first met her in college. Since then I’ve shot her engagement photos, her wedding in St. Croix, and now she’s getting ready for a baby to arrive very soon!

Here’s a little sneak peek of what I’m working on from this past weekend’s maternity session with Jessie.

socialsurvival:

Amen.

victimize:

victimize:

Paul McCartney

oh sweet

Kinfolk | Cape Lookout, OR

thinknorth:

(via It’s Nice That : What’s On: Scott’s Last Expedition)

myidealhome:

• DIY: decals on kitchen jars (full instructions and free printables on thepaintedhive)

youngmanandoldsoul:

Home Visit : Nikki Garcia

lostinamerica:

I’d be completely content with a simple home like this.

@ Lemon Wolf Cafe.

Craig having an oatmeal stout at My Sister’s Place.

Mothership Wit. (Organic Wheat Beer)

Brewed By:

New Belgium Brewing

Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

Style:

Witbier

ABV: 4.8%

IBU: 12

Availability: Year-round

Mothership Wit. is a nice little wibier and perfect for these warm summer months. The aroma & taste are one in the same. Ever so slightly sweet with hints of citrus & coriander. The mouthfeel is refreshing and light with a dry finish. I would overall recommend this as a good session beer especially for warmer months up at the cabin. My father even liked it and in no way is a craft beer fan so I think this is also a good introductory beer to those who are used to light macro produced beers, especially since it has an IBU of only 12.

Sierra Nevada Kellerweis Hefeweizen

Brewed By:

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Chico, California, USA

Style:

Hefeweizen

ABV: 4.8%

IBU: 15

Availability: Year-round

Pours with a large, fluffy white head that quickly dissipates and leaves little lacing behind. The color is of hazy, golden honey. The aroma and taste are one and the same with lots of yummy, sweet banana bread goodness backed up with a little clove spiciness and citrus zest. Nothing overwhelming but complex enough not to be boring. The mouthfeel is light with mild carbonation and it finishes smooth. A great session beer. This is an old standby of mine that is perfect for warm weather festivities like BBQ’s, weekends at the lake, or just relaxing outside with some good company.

Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat

Brewed By:

Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co.

Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, USA

Style:

Witbier

ABV: 4.90%

IBU: 13.5

Availability: Year-round

So, it may sound odd but this beer brings me back to my childhood. No, I wasn’t a little beer-drinking hellion. It’s just that this beer tastes like….. fruit loops. Yeah, it really does. You could drink this stuff in place of your morning orange juice if you wanted (but that’s not advisable).  It pours cloudy yellow with a big sudsy white head and the scent has a sharp, citrusy (and may I say muffin?) note. The taste is very lemony-orange with a blueberry afterthought. Maybe it’s the blueberry that tastes like children’s cereal? Anyways, the aftertaste is most definitely that of fruit loops. The mouthfeel is fairly thin with carbonation that is very sharp but quickly fades. This is a very drinkable beer for hot summer days. It was almost too sweet for me but if you’re a fan of fruit loops cereal I think that you’ll like it.

Finnegans Irish Amber

Brewed By:

Finnegans Inc.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Style:

American Amber/Red Ale

ABV: 4.63%

IBU: N/A

Availability: Year-round

Pours an amber color with a white fluffy head that quickly dissipates and leaves splotches of lacing behind on the glass. The scent is of light grain & caramel. The taste is very mellow and slightly sweet with a hint of honey and earthiness (potatoes?) with crisp carbonation. The body is on the weak/thin side. I would describe this as being a very average beer, nothing special. If you are feeling charitable 100% of the proceeds go to the Finnegans Community Fund.

Sierra Nevada Glissade Golden Bock

Brewed By:

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Chico, California, USA

Style:

MailBock/Helles Bock

ABV: 6.4%

IBU: 42

Availability: Spring

Since it’s the beginning of spring and the snow is finally starting to melt away I thought it would be the perfect time to review Sierra Nevada’s Glissade Golden Bock. The appearance reminds me of apple juice. It’s bright, clear gold with a very thin head that quickly dissipates with little or no lacing. The faint aroma is slightly sweet like bread with some floral and citrus in there.  The phrase “lemony fresh” comes to mind. The flavor is somewhat sweet and a little spicy in the beginning with a lemony citrus hoppy bitterness at the end. The mouthfeel is light to medium with mild carbonation that adds to the crisp taste . I could see this being a good session beer.

They were dead on with the illustration on the bottle. It tastes exactly like that scene. Crisp & refreshing. Like mountain air. 

Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout

Brewed By:
North Coast Brewing Co.
Fort Bragg, California, USA

Style:
Russian Imperial Stout

ABV: 9%
IBU: 75

Availability: Year-round

I didn’t get to do anything for St. Paddy’s day last week but I did split my last Old Rasputin with Eric. I have to admit that the first time I tried this beer I didn’t much care for it at all. I had never tried a Russian Imperial Stout before so I think that I just wasn’t prepared for how different it was. This time around I grew to appreciate and yes, even like it.

Old Rasputin is aptly named as it’s appearance is very dark and sinister. The body is almost an opaque black which no light can penetrate (much like the “mad monk’s” soul?) and is topped with a plentiful, frothy tan head. The aromas and flavors are of malty, smooth dark chocolate and coffee with bitter hops balancing it out. Thankfully the alcohol is more present in the aroma than the actual flavor but provides a warming finish. This is most definitely a sipping beer as it is quite robust.

Oddly this time around I enjoyed drinking Old Rasputin while eating a Little Debbie Swiss cake roll. Delicious! I would most definitely recommend trying Old Rasputin with a chocolate dessert!

I would say that Old Rasputin isn’t for the faint of heart but if you know what to expect you will enjoy it more.

One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer ~ George Thurogood