California Living

Today is my first of a ten day trip to the gorgeous bay area of California. For the next nine days my calendar is full of showering my niece & nephew with kisses, chatting with my sister (not over the phone!) about nothing, while drinking lots of wine, and taking pictures for six families. That's a whole week full of stuff to be happy about. : ) Stay tuned for lots of pictures to come...

Project LiFE

Hi everyone,

While in Mexico I dreamt of a new project I'd like to start...or at least explore. As I lie under the warm Mexican sun, I wondered what it would look like to take labor and delivery pics. Nothing invasive, just the details - the superstar (i.e. mom), the dad, doctors, nurses, monitors, details of the room, the baby exposed to the world for the first time, the happy, brand-new parents...you get my point. Set it all to music, make a video/slideshow and end up with a final product that will truly be priceless. (I cannot imagine having pictures of the day my mom birthed me.) I see the final product being incredibly beautiful and artistic.

What I need next is for a couple to allow me to invade (in such a way where I'd hope you wouldn't even know I was there) on their labor and delivery in order to explore this possibility. It would be completely free and all the pictures and music video would be included. If anyone knows of or is pregnant and might be interested in this free offer, please email me at jessica@503photography.com. If you live in Cincinnati, that obviously would be best, but Knoxville might work as well. Anywhere else - if you're getting induced and know of your date, that might work, too. Send me an email! Thanks!

Until then, here's a whole slew of random pics of our time in Mexico. The four of us had a blast and often times found ourselves in places that looked like they had come alive from the pages of a travel magazine. We are all now home, and although we're happy, rested and tan, we're all missing Mexico...

when we first got on the boat, we sat down to read our "cruise compass". I noticed our reflections and snapped a few pictures of myself, Kate and Corey. It wasn't until I got home and viewed the pic on a large screen that I noticed the boys in the bottom of the picture. They were on the other side of the window and I believe thought I was taking pictures of them. The boy on the left, in the yellow, is sticking his tongue out at me. ;)


a sleep deprived resident...during the day:

a sleep deprived resident...at night (during karoke with one too many slow songs. everyone thought the poor guy had passed out from drunkeness.):

Cabo, in all it's splendor:

Mazatlan - not much to photograph here so I stuck with the faces and the food:

yum.

Our friends Seth & Kate, all smitten with each other.

Puerto Vallarta, in all it's perfectness:
*note to cruisers: when porting, rent a car - they're relatively cheap and the easiest way to get away from all the other 2,000 tourists you just got off the boat with.

when you do, you find yourself in empty, little restaurants like this:

with a view like this:

surrounded by Mexican goodness like this:

...along with hotel owners who don't mind if the Gringos use the pool for a little cooling off...

back on the boat - dancing the night and all life's stresses away...

Eastern Europe

I am so glad that I married someone who deems travelling the world as important as I do. I literally have to get out of the country every 1-2 years. If I don't I get so consumed by my little "world". It's just too easy to lose sight of the big picture. Every time I see a little more of the world I have a greater appreciation of how God made us all so different, yet so much alike. Latin Americans, Europeans, Asians, Australians, New Zealanders, Africans...I have had the utter joy to spend time with each of these people groups and I can attest to that fact.

To celebrate my husband's graduation from medical school we planned a three week trip through Eastern Europe - Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. If you have not seen Eastern Europe, get there fast. It lived up to everything we hoped it would. The people. The history. The architecture. The landscapes. The food. It was all well worth the money.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Off the coast of Korcula Island, Croatia

Lake Bled, Slovenia

Leaving Ljublijana, Slovenia

my love

The Hapsburg's Summer Home - Vienna, Austria
Lake Bohinj, Slovenia

Ljubljana, Slovenia
This was a 20 foot long strawberry shortcake they were serving for $1 a piece. It was delicious!

Africa

If you haven't already, you need to get and watch the documentary, Invisible Children. It changed my life. So much so that I planned a trip to Gulu, Uganda for our church. Ten of us went to see the crisis, the children and the story for ourselves. None of us will ever be the same. Here are a few of my pictures from our amazing trip. Africa and it's people are beautiful.