play time ...

The one advantage to have some down time is that i'm getting to play around with old work, images that whilst i love composition wise i'm not totally happy with the edit. In the past year i have grown tremendously (& yes yes i do believe modest is such an over rated quality) & my style i feel is really coming into it's own. I'm finding much more of myself in my work & i love it. So i'm going back over old work, experimenting, trying new things & walking away happier because of it. Do you ever do that, revisit your old work? Anyway i wanted to share a few of those with you from my trip to Provence in July of 2010. & hopefully soon you'll see some of these available for sale on etsy or possible my society 6 shop which i really must tell you all about later this week ... don't let me forget! 

crossing the pond ... & playing catch up

So once again i have been sucking at this whole blogging thing ... it's been crazy busy here & time has gotten away from me. But tomorrow me & the munchkin are heading across the pond for the next 6 weeks to spend time with family & friends & the hubby who will be joining us in a couple of weeks. To say i'm a little excited it putting it mildly. I will be bouncing my way around california & taking a trip to MO. So with less distractions i'm hoping to get some posts written, the shops up to date (as well as some changes) & of course there will be some sales & a super exciting giveaway. 


So firstly ... whilst i am gone both shops (ooh pretty shiny & love.laugh.believe) will remain open. I will have nothing in stock, & working out of my wonderful mother-in-laws. This means that all items (custom or otherwise) will ship within 7-10 days from California. 


& to start the vacation i have a 20% sale going on in both stores as i cross the pond. Just enter the code "JETPLANE" at check out. The sale runs from about an hour ago to thursday when i make it onto a computer. This doesn't apply to either custom listings or shipping fees. 


& lastly i recently teamed up with the wonderful Cat of Polarity to create some gorgeous lockets available for purchase. I am so so excited by these!


Also stay tuned for an exciting giveaway ... i can't wait to share this. 


I also have a shop over on Society 6 where you can by some of my prints in the form of canvas's, laptop skins & iphone skins. If you have a request for a specific image please let me know. I hope to be adding more items over the coming weeks. 


& don't forget to check out the nelou & laura show ... my current 52 week project that's on week 6!


& lastly be sure to check out some of my new listings from my recent trip to the south of france!

the nelou & laura show + week 6 = "same view ... different eye"

This weeks theme was "same view ... different eye" & we chose a slightly different format to "maximise" or wee visit to sunny france! A photo for every day of the week from the 5 main places we visited. & these are those places:

monday :: meze

tuesday :: la couvertoirade

wednesday :: clermont l'herault

thursday :: saint-guilhem-le-désert

friday :: saint-sean-de-fos

Hope you enjoy our "views" & "different eyes" from vive le france & our interpretation of this weeks theme. & don't worry i will be getting more posts up on the blog in the next few weeks & of course there will be many many new pictures coming from France!

me

nelou

& next weeks theme "there's no place like home ..." ... & we would love to see your "interpretation" (or maybe we're just a little nosy"! 

capturing europe in 2010 ...

one of the things i love about where we live is that i get to travel ... here are some of the places we visited in 2010 ... 

Budapest, Hungary ~ Edinburgh, Scotland ~ The English Channel

Paris, France ~ Saltzburg, Austria

Freidrickshafen, Germany ~ Cambridge, England ~ Bern, Switzerland

Strasbourg, France ~ Metz, France ~ Zurich, Switzerland

Verona, Italy ~ Innsbruck, Austria ~ Cassis, France

feeling the blues ...

So there is all kinds of stuff going on over here ... i've been crazy busy (or at least i feel like it). With work, the growing baby (not that am complaining about that one), the need to clean, de-clutter & organize my house, photo shoots & the horrible nasty weather we've been having i've found myself in a bit of a photographic funk when it comes to my fine art. I'm not sure unmotivated is quite the right work but a combination of things has left me feeling a little uninspired. So i'm throwing it out there for you guys ... what do you do when this happens?

ps. The photos are from our day trip to Strasbourg, France on my birthday. We had a wonderful time with some great friends. 

cassis ...

so i am totally behind on my blogs ... i mean there i was 6 weeks ago sunning myself in the south France & only now am i getting round to sharing more photos with you. & the town in question we all fell in love with. Cassis is a stunning little town just outside of Marselles on the south coast. Yes it was a little touristy but oh so worth it. We went there for the first time on Cassie's birthday (go figure she chose the place with the name similar to her own) ... anyways we fell head over heels. 

So i'm not sure where to start but we can with the beach ... i hate the beach. Ok let me clarify i like the beach to look at, & of course it's perfect for taking pictures ... i hate sand. it gets everywhere & wasting away the day lying on it is not my idea of fun. So whilst my two travel buddies got some sun i took a whole lot of pictures & in the days that followed & our returning visits explored the town. 

The town itself centers around the harbor ... full of restaurants & some wonderful little stores where i spent a whole lot of money. 

& where there's a harbor ... there are boats ... & we all know how much i love the little things in life ... 

From the harbor are winding streets & alleys where i was able to get throughly lost & enjoy the wonderful bright colours, & gorgeous french architecture. I also got to witness "french passion" at it's best as two men fought in the streets whilst being chased by of course a women!

& off the coast of Cassis we were able to take a boat trip to the Calanques a stunning range of cliffs leading skyward from the water, full of natural harbors & inlets. & perfect it would seem for a day spent sun bathing. We actually tried to find some to hang out on but everywhere was so busy ... although possible choosing Bastille Day (France's version of independence day & their biggest holiday) may not have been the best option here. But never-the-less they were amazing. Nature really never fails me!

a brief update & some provence ...

So i've been totally flaking recently ... i won't lie life has been & still is a little all over the place. There's been a whole lot going on in my little bit of the world & something's have been put on the back burner. Fingers crossed i will have some news to share soon but for the moment i hope you can be a little patient I'm hoping to get back on track. 

Anyways here are a few whole lot of photos from provence ... to be more specific Parc Naturel Régional de Camargue (i fell in love with this place many years ago & couldn't wait to go back with my camera), Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, Les Baux de Provence & Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. 

provence ...

So i have to say i'm sorry to you guys for the lack of posts ... for a while there i was on a roll but thing's have been happening at my end (you know as life does) & so i haven't posted as often. So now for some more photos from my trip to Provence, it's hard to believe i've been back for 3 weeks already. Work is as exciting as ever & the weather sucks but anyways it's nice to curl up on the couch. 

Ok back to the photos ... these were all taken on our first full day down in Provence. It was a day where we got to do a whole lot of driving, partly because somehow i forgot my camera. Yes i had everything else including my lenses but no actual camera. So we had to return to our hotel to get it, thankfully we weren't that far down the road. & the first few photos are from our wanderings down the back roads of Provence, being the driver it was easy to make my fellow travelers stop, lucky for me they didn't mind. 

Being as it was Sunday we weren't sure what would be open (if you've ever lived in Germany you'll know the whole country seems to shut down on a Sunday) but i'd read about this town up on top of the hills & an abbey that was open on Sunday's. By the time we reached Gordes we'd been in the car a wee while but it for sure worth the effort. 

& this was our view at lunch ... 

The town itself was stunning, very quaint, very french, & possible a little touristy but gorgeous all the same. 

From Gordes we headed down into the valley to visit the Sénanque Abbey. It's hard to explain just how stunning the Abbey was. It's still inhabited by monks, & surrounded by the mountains & fields of lavender. 

You can't go inside the abbey unless you do the tour (which was in French) but i knew me & the camera needed to check out the insides so i paid my money & whilst the guide gave us a history of the abbey (i have a flier in English containing the short version) i wandered with the camera, exploring everything i could. 

The details everywhere was stunning not to mention being incredible peaceful. The monks who live there belong to a silent order ... so well you can imagine the effect if has on you. The calm & tranquility, nothing to "spoil" you just life at it's simplest. 

Anyways from there it was back to Aix-en-Provence for dinner ... but of course we stopped a couple of times along the way ... with views such as this who wouldn't?

market day ...

There's something incredible special for me about market day in France, i'm not saying there aren't markets around the world that have the same feeling i just have yet to experience them. Market day in a French town is about more than just the food, it's the experience. The narrow streets packed with stalls & people, voices loud telling the world what they have on offer (when this is done in French it sounds so much better) & of course the opportunity to try everything first. Sometimes i think you could have your lunch right there at the market without having to buy a thing. They sell more than just food but it's the food that i love. I love the presentation, i love the colours, i love the smells, i love the total lack of anything resembling mass produced & with the sun shining down on you it's a little slice of French heaven.