Interactive Blogging- is anyone reading this?

It's very late and I have taken the liberty of scheduling a very tight itinerary for our last day in Paris tomorrow so this blog entry will be brief. But I'm afraid of falling behind! Not sure there's much point in taking the time to write about all this and post all the photos since I'm not sure anyone is actually reading it. I'm just trying to at least let everyone know what I'm up to. But is this medium too impersonal? Should I be sending everyone postcards instead? I still have a stack of postcards for everyone in my family from our drive through Yellowstone last August- addressed, stamped- just not written on or mailed. So I guess realistically this is just the best I can manage these days. I've said about 20 times this last year that I feel like everything I do lately is at about 65-75%. Not perfect by any stretch, but in the ballpark of decent and that just has to be OK or I would never get to the next step/item on the agenda.

In an email to a dear friend a couple days ago I wrote this: "The renovation (going on 2 years this april), opening a new studio over the last year to salvage my business, living with friends and trying to figure out whether or not starting a family was something Jay and I wanted to do has thrown me for a total loop. Trips like Paris sound incredibly amazing (and LOOK amazing because I'm a professional photographer), but you know as well as i do that they are full of stupid travel delays, lost baggage, weird dynamics with family and friends, credit card bills, etc. Not that I'm complaining at all. When Jay said he was finally ready to start trying for a baby I jumped the first flight I could I was so freaked out. I don't want you to feel bad for me, but i also don't want you to think that my life is so super glam. I'm just trying to balance out the messy and really annoying parts with traveling. Esp. before we have a baby of our own."

I thought that was worth all of you knowing, since only dear friends and family have been invited to view this blog. And if you ARE reading this: A. please let me know. otherwise if no one is I won't bother keeping up with it all. B. don't ask me about the baby thing as we have no idea whether or not we'll even be able to or when and talking about all the time will only stress me out more. so just hold tight until you hear more from us on the subject.

A Boatride down the Seine River

OK, onto the topic of PARIS.

There is a very posh shopping center, the Bon Marche, down the street from our apartment. Yesterday first thing we enjoyed an Elliot Erwitz exhibit in the basement of Bon Marche where the bookstore and cafe is located and then took photos of ourselves in a cool globe over our table.
We filled up our water bottles with wine and went for a very chilly boatride down the Seine River. Beautiful views. Frozen faces & fingers.

After the ride we were chilled to the bone so we stopped here:

for this:

My sisters, of course, will be WELL aware of what this is! the very famous, very adored parisian hot chocolate (although I added some baileys, yum!) Then we went to dinner with the couple we were supposed to photograph the Saturday we arrived. Very nice.

This morning Julie did some sexy shooting with Anne & Paige (individually!) They attempted with me but we all know what i'm like in the morning. So NO sexy photos of me. Just grumpy ones. Then we wandered around the Latin Quarter and had coffee, risotto, wine- the norm and did some shopping. Towards the end of the day we finally found a re-sale shop and I breathed a sigh of relief. It was a frantic 30 minutes because they closed on the dot of 7pm, but I managed to make it out the door with quite a few treasures! Had a fabulous dinner and drinks in the little restaurant, Le Gorille Blanc ("The White Gorilla") that is literally at the bottom of the stairs and next door to our apartment- right under our noses!! Actually quite relieved we did not discover it until tonight as it would have made this trip quite a bit more expensive.

Only one more day here before we leave for Paris. My itinerary has us leaving the apartment at 8:30am (a full 3 hours before our normal departure!) and back to the apartment by midnight to pack for our flight to Ireland the following morning. Eeeek! Need to sleep!

The view from our apartment at night:

Luxembourg Gardens & the Market

Today we visited the Luxembourg Garden for about 30 minutes before the photo shoot. It was raining, quite cold and very bare. Nevertheless, it was a pleasure.

And here was one of my favorite images from our walk to the bridal gown shop.
We have visited the corner market daily since we arrived to stock up on the essentials: wine, cheese, yogurt, apples & chocolate. Tonight the owner felt very comfortable with us and tried to start selling us the most random things like a glass eiffel tower filled with some sort of liquor, some random candies and whatever. After a fashion shoot I was in no mood to be triffled with so I took his photo and left Julie to deal with him.

A Fashion Shoot in Paris

Today we met with two French photographers that Paige had been emailing with. They had set up a shoot for us here in Paris. Not my deal, but I decided to tag along. We met two beautiful, but more importantly very sweet and fun! models at a wedding dress boutique. They were modeling two very expensive gowns created by a Parisian dress designer. The French photographers had hired a limo for the day to take us around Paris wherever we would like to shoot. We found out very quickly that limos are extremely uncommon here so everyone who saw it assumed the girls were movie stars or something and flocked around. Surprising, amusing and exhilirating at first. At the end of the day when people actually started getting rather agressive and were pushing me out of the way to take their own photos of people they thought must be famous I was fed up. Plus it was freezing cold and the girls were not only cold but tired as we had dragged them out into the middle of the Champs-Elysees (the busiest 8-lane highway in Paris), in front of the old opera house, down to Pont Neuf and then out to the Eiffel Tower. And I was tired and totally over the gawking and the overall kafuffel. It wasn't my shoot. Paige and Julie were really the ones interested in getting the fashion/bridal images- I just shot more documentary style, but thinking back I just kind of shut things down. It would have ended very soon anyway. But I couldn't even get one of the models into the limo there were so many people gathered around it and trying to take her photo with their cell phones, etc. I was completely unenchanted. And I don't like to be pushed. So I got pissed. Somehow I clearly communicated to the limo drivers that they needed to get people out of the way and I just started yelling at everyone. Ahh, the bossy big sister. I just told everyone to get out of the way and told all the photographers to get in the limo right this second. After a couple glasses of wine I calmed down a bit, but I don't think fashion is my calling. It makes me bossy and mad. But here are a couple pretty shots I managed to get.

And here is the crew, minus Anne who shot the photo. She did some videotaping of the shoot. But as much as I dislike photos of myself, multiply that by 100 million when it comes to seeing myself on video. Ugh. I prefer to live in denial and believe that I am charming, witty, agile and overall gorgeous and elegant. So I don't think any of you will be seeing video footage. Except perhaps on Paige or Julie's blog.

Paris Flea Market Pups

I seriously cannot resist. People seem to love their dogs here in Paris and there were many that seemed to spend all day with their owners at the flea market. A funny way that people seem to play with dogs here is to pretend to be kicking at them as the dog approaches and the dogs kind of jump up into the air towards the leg. It was startling to all of us at first but it was very obvious that the French were in very good humour about it and so were the dogs- tails wagging, laughs, happy shouts. So, all was right with the world.

I have arrived in Paris!

Paris is lovely, of course. The travels here were a bit crazy with missed flights due to delayed flights, lost baggage, etc. We spent the day at the markets yesterday which was an adreneline rush and a sensory overload! Here are a couple images:

Thankfully I did not loose it completely and bought only a tiny fraction of what I loved. Here is the shopping list: (1) pastel painting of a french bridge in a pale gray frame, (1) antique watch with a silver floral-designed face on a black ribbon band (no more casio!), (1) antique silver ring, (1) antique black floral pillbox locket necklace, (1) set of vintage cotton & lace pantaloons. Ahh. Now I can soak in the rest of what Paris has to offer!

All three girls with whom I am traveling took off on their own this morning after our luggage was finally delivered so I have a delicious day to myself for a little quiet and order. Our apartment is right in the middle of the city on St-Germain so the Louvre, Luxembourg Gardens, and Pont Neuf bridge are all within walking distance.

Here is the view as you walk out of our apartment.

Here are the girls I'm traveling with. Julie Harris is the blonde in front (do you remember her from our wedding? She was my wedding photographer and we have since become very good friends! The middle girl fixing her hair is Paige Elizabeth (also a photographer). The girl with the pink bag is Anne, a good friend of Julie's.

We have a full little kitchen so we've been preparing most of our food here- esp. since we were all in our "traveling clothes" and Paris is rather posh so no one felt comfortable going "out". There is a corner market just down the street which is stocked with all the essentials and the owner calls us each "princess". In a very sweet way. We are subsisting on a diet of yogurt (which comes in little brown clay pots and is so rich and whipped it almost tastes like creme brulee- but not sweet), cheese, fresh bread, espresso, apples & strawberries, and wine. Lots of wine.

It has been perfectly overcast so the light is soft and diffused. It has been in the 40-50's so it is quite comfortable with a jacket.

In case you're curious about what will be in fashion next year for women, here they are all wearing mid-thigh-length dresses over tights or very tight pants and high boots. All browns & blacks & grays. Hair is worn either very long or very short. So I seem to fit in alright with my super short platinum hair cut. (Masyn cut quite a bit more right before I left!) Extremely low maintenance which is nice.

We missed the photo shoot that was arranged for Saturday with the newly married couple here in Paris. We had been scheduled to arrive at 8am but didn't make it until close to 6pm. But tomorrow we have a different shoot set up with a few French photographers, a wedding dress designer and a few models. Fashion isn't really my interest, but hopefully we'll take them to the Jarin des Tuileries which is a garden full of white sculptures primarily of women. I think that might be gorgeous. I'm also trying to convince the whole lot to shoot in Flavigny-sur-Ozerain which is the little village where Chocolat was filmed and is about 2-3 hours outside of the city. I am dying to go there, but we don't have a car and there are no trains or buses that go there, so, yes, a little selfish manipulation! I doubt they'll go for it, but doesn't hurt to try!

Last night we passed Gérard Depardieu who was arm-and-arm with a very thin gorgeous girl and walking ever so slowly down a side street near our hotel. I recognized him immediately but just smiled non-chalantly and kept walking. Anne also quickly recognized him but did about 3 double takes (does that equal 6?) and because she thought he said "Hola" replied "Hola!" He actually said "helo" in a very French sort of way and so she was later mortified. Julie realized a few feet away who we had passed because Anne started talking a mile a minute so she picked up the pace in case our fellow-travelers became hyper-touristy and started gawking and even worse doubled-back to ask for his autograph. I was similarly inclined. It was just too quiet and romantic of an evening to impose that kind of frantic & excited energy on them. They seemed quite content just to stroll. But two blocks away a couple did just that- stop them and take a photo. He was actually quite pleasant and engaging with them so upon seeing that Anne & Paige suddenly thought we might be lost and wanted to stop to consult the map. And oh- wait! Gérard is getting closer- perhaps we could ask for a photo with him! Nope. Julie and I refused, and we had the cameras. We got inside to our 4th floor apartment and opened our windows to sigh over the view of the sparkling (literally it was glittering!) Eiffle Tower just as it started to rain. I wished I had brought a copy of Cyrano de Bergerac. He was so wonderful in that film.

My Valentine Loves

I was busy cleaning off my hard drives before I left for Paris and came across these wonderful images of the two loves of my life. They were taken this summer up in Winter Park when we spent a weekend at the Perzee house. The boys fished while I read a book (and stole a couple photos!!) Could they be any more adorable?

Homeward Bound

On our homeword bound journey we had a full 55 minutes to kill.

And so we headed into the old college which has no been transformed into an arts center/gallery with little restaurants tucked in the gorgeous old buildings as well.

The inner courtyards were particularly soothing and very charming. We happened through no fault of our own to be in the city during the Buskers festival. we unfortunately had no time for Buskerers and saw no Busking. There was a tent set up in the middle of the courtyard and it did look like alot of fun but alas it was not to be.

In what seemed like a prudent move at the time Jay and Regina decided not to fly from Christchurch to Auckland to LA to Denver. and decided to take a 30 hour lay over to allow them a quick drive up north. The color of this is hard to describe much less convey over a blog, but imagine if you fed a new born baby corn and pickles for a week.
This car had a supercharged engine, 18" alloy wheels, a unique pickles and corn color, and a country that has a top speed of 62 MPH. How I wish that the speed limit was higher so I could have put my foot down and seen what this car could do, but the law is the law and I never speed ;) Regina was good enough to put on some rockin' music for our leisurely drive north from Auckland. I swear I never went over 60, but maybe I was looking at the Tachometer?

Well worth the drive is the Waipoua Park that is the dwelling place for the Maori Cosmology story of the beginnings of the earth. Indeed the oral history of the Maori tell of the first great seaman who travelled from the home land of Hawiki to the inlet river not far from here, a scant couple hundred years before the Europeans discovered the new world.

I think this gives some pretty good scale to the size of these massive Kauri trees, I'm probably 20 meters or so from the tree. The girth of this the 'father of the forest' is 16m, and sprouted about the time of Christs Birth.

Regina and Jay were both quite taken with the ancient lush forest and the startlingly huge treese that were not near each other. A 10-20 minute walk would suddenly round some foliage and a giant would suddenly supplant the peace of the forest with the grandeur of the ancient. Very glad we made this stop.

On our way from the west coast to the east for the drive by of the Bay of Islands Jay spotted this little gem set back from the road. Regina made a point of photographing the most beautiful churches, and this is maybe the best of the lot.

Here is a little glimpse of the countryside near the ocean up north of Auckland, a striking difference to the south island, Jay and Regina both wished we had more time to spend here. I guess we'll just have to go back.


Good bye to Auckland, New Zealand, summer, and our much needed soul mending break. We are already picking out our locations for the next time we are fortunate enough to make it to New Zealand. Then again this might be the trip of a lifetime and we're glad to be alive.

Queenstown & Arthur's Pass

With the striking scenery, dashing damsel and brilliant looking beard you might mistake this photo for a scene in the Two Towers. Indeed this area is where Gandalf was photographed for his promotional stills, and was depicted as the trail to Helms Deep. Specifically just behind us is where Legolas miraculously mounted Gimili's horse after shooting Wargs. After taking this brief photo we jumped back into our Helictopter! We were then whisked back towards the airport flying over Queenstown. We had tried to land on the top of the mountains of Mordor, the Remarkables, but gusting winds forced our retreat to this lower landing. Both Regina and Jay's first time in a helicopter, and very memorable! Thanks for this Christmas present!
This view shows the incredible cloud patterns and weather movement of the 'high' country . We are riding the chair lift to the 'Luge' after riding the Gondola to the top of Bob's Peak. The Luge was Regina's favorite activity in Queenstown, however there were slim pickings: 60 Mph Jet boat ride with 360 turns, 2.5 hour horse trek, LOTR helicopter ride.

A view from the gondola as we ride down. The gondola rises 1200 meters vertically at an average angle of 39 degrees, very very steep and impressive to ride. The Remarkables are in the background where we tried to land on the far left ridge before retreating to the lower hill in the foreground.
In Queenstown we also took a trail ride that followed a creek through a canyon and then turned back to follow the ridge back to the stables. This brief instant is when we may or may not have had actuall control of the horses during our 2.5 hour ride. The scenery here was very stark and very beautiful, a little on the hot side it was a nice feeling when crossing the stream (we must have done this over 20 times) and the horses ahead and behind would splash water on us. A bit of an adventure: one of the other "experienced riders" took a tumble when 'cantering' on the way back. The guide leading us inexperienced green horns took off to check on the lady (she was fine, with not harm done to her Mercedes Benz brand sunglasses and matching water bottle) Jay took this smile of fate and tried to get his own horse 'Sid' to a canter. Sid wasn't having it though having just hauled 90% of his body weight around the hills and had had quite enough work for one day. Jay did succeed in getting Sid to trot for about 30ft. Jay didn't consider this a defeat, it was definitely a tie. The guide mentioned that Jay made their biggest horse look small.
With the sunsetting on our Queenstown adventures we headed up the Crown Ridge Road (The highest paved road in NZ) on our way out of town. We are headed back to Christchurch, via the scenic route to fly back to Auckland and ultimately back to our cover identities as business owners in Colorado.

This sign on the inn (used as the inspiration for the Prancing Pony) just made sense as we drove past.

'Speights' The beer of Rugby players. Regina had a sip and had high praise for its bouquet of rich barley and hops with a strong medium flavor and a smooth finish. She commented "it's nice, we could have been drinking this the whole time." Jay thought it unwise to spoil the moment with the common Rugby terms revolving around Speights. "Getting Pissed, Piss-up, and Shit-Fight, came readily to mind but Jay thought "why can't this beer be all things to all people?"

Here is a photo of the now most wanted thief on Interpol's most wanted list. Jay and Regina always keep a wary eye out for the forces of darkness that would prey on the blissfully ignorant and naieve international traveller. However, this local was a born natural with a real talent for deceit and betrayal. The heist began with a darling touristic photo op of the perpetrator in the trees. Regina and Jay were lulled into a sense of awe and wonder at this most beautiful native, the furthest thing from minds was the sense of danger that should have presented itself. Our little friend then started to lull Regina and Jay into a sense of amusement as he came closer and comically ate a cracker that Jay gave him after a loud 'awwwkkk'. Little did they know this was just the cold calculated movements of a real professional.

As soon as the novelty of the feathery visitor wore off, the game was afoot. The kea first feigned fatigue and moved to the creek for a sip of water returning nonchalantly to the campervan and displaying the "i am so cute, would you happen to have any other snacks in there" act, morosely pecking at the crumbs of the first cracker. By this time Regina had busied herself organizing the front of the campervan and Jay was reluctant to dole out any of the heavily rationed lemon crisps. The kea then wandered back down to the water and pulled the "pitiful" card by lifting out old scraps of food left in the creek by previous campers.
Suddenly the wind seemed to shift and Jay realized something was not right. The kea had been spending too much time by the creek and Jay decided to investigate. The awful truth struck home when Jay discovered one of the waterbottles that had been placed in the creek to cool after boiling drinking water had been pecked through. But the nightmare had only begun. With an outtcry of disbelief Jay alerted Regina to the predator in their midst. It was, of course, too late. The bait had been too finely laid and the trap had been sprung. In half horror and half amusement, Jay watched as the kea disembarked the back of the campervan with the entire tub of canola-oil softened margarine table spread gripped firmly in his curved-fruit-eating-forager beak. Regina was just in time to see the kea loping across the campsite because the weight of the butter tub denied the crook a clean flying get away. The kea had set its sights high and scored big. Awkwardly, yet expertly, he disappeared across the creek, over some logs and into the underbrush, gone forever. Jay and Regina opted not form a possee to attempt a recovery as they were both stunned and surprised into paralysis. Paralysis gave way to tears of laughter, the tears stung when the realization of their betrayal took hold and finally turned to the bitter taste of ashes in their mouths. That dinner of noodles, corn and black beans could have used more butter.
Talking to locals in a cafe the next morning they were consoled. After telling our story to the lady behind the counter she said "Oh, cheeky Keas. I've seen one unzip an entirebackpack with it's beak!" Another lady came out of the back to say, "Are you talking about keas? They are so cheeky!" We learned that this type of bird is apparently the most intelligent creature in the entire animal kingdom per brain size. This information would have been useful to us YESTERDAY.

On our way through Arthur's Pass going to Christchurch we saw some unique Kiwi engineering as exhibited in this photograph.