Jedi mind tricks

Monday in Portland was gorgeous.  GORGEOUS.  Sunny, not a cloud in the sky, warm enough to go without a jacket.  A stunning day.  We spent the morning out shooting with Geoff and Julia and then I conned B into driving into the Columbia gorge for a stroll up the Herman Creek Trail.  He has a lot of photos to process and I keep distracting him on my days off work.  Well, I gave him Saturday in exchange for Monday and judging by the weather forecast for Saturday, I made one great deal.

Don't quit your day job.

When B shoots a wedding on his own, he needs to have someone assist and be his second shooter.  Sometimes, that second shooter is me.  Well, there was only one time that second shooter was me, but you get my point.  He usually takes our friend Alyson with him who may I say is fantastic.  Not only does she know where to hold the flash and the reflector and such, but she takes great photos.   

Our good friends, the Lodges, wanted some updated photos of them so B took them out for a portrait session on Monday.  Well, I had the day off and they were our friends so I got to go along as the "photo assistant."  And, I think I now know why I usually don't get "hired" for the job.  I have a slight problem focusing on the task at hand.  Yeah, I can hold a flash and reflector and all, but I seem to have the attention span of a rabbit and eventually start wandering off doing my own thing.  It drives B nuts and I don't blame him, a photographer needs good light!  He needs his eyes shaded!  Seriously though, had I been an employee, I'm not so sure I'd still have a job.  Ha!

Well, the day was gorgeous and I had our little digital camera in my pocket so of-course, I was off doing my thing, clicking away.

And this?  Well, this is classic Gayle.  Get out of the car, climb on something and then tell B to take your picture while you almost break your neck jumping on it.  

Despite the shoddy help, he got some really cool, beautiful shots of Geoff and Julia.  Check out the site in the next couple of weeks:  www.bryanhoybook.com.

All Aboard the S.S. Pumpkin Patch

Since Sunday was another epic autumn day here in the Northwest, we tagged along with the Lawson's to the pumpkin patch.  Jonah is actually old enough now to appreciate pumpkins, oh and tractors too.  We went out to a farm about a mile from our house and rode the hayride out to the pumpkin patch where B took some really cute shots of little Jonah and all the pumpkin excitement.  

Can you hear that?

It's the sound of hundreds of people collectively saying, "Woah, that is so sick!"

That's right, it was the Portland showing of the new Warren Miller ski porn movie on Saturday night which is for us, the unofficial kick-off to ski season. We went with Geoff, Julia, Steve and Rhiannon and now (as if it isn't always this way), ski fever has struck the Hoybook household. It really needs to snow soon.

If you get the chance, and you like ski movies of-course, go see this new one, "Children of Winter." The reasons it is "so sick" are threefold:

1) There is a lot of footage of women hucking themselves off lots of crazy stuff. Normally, girls only make it into the tamer parts of these movies, but in this one, they got some of the best clips.

2) Adam from Guster makes several appearances and they even play a Guster song. Plus, he's a skier so I think that pretty much explains that.

And 3) There was footage of three guys who lived on a sailboat off the coast of Iceland for a couple of weeks and skied some amazing slopes right off the water. Skiing from a sailboat. Oh, my heart just skipped a beat.

Tuesday morning

Five Year Anniversary

Today marks my 5th year as a resident of Oregon.  To commemorate this great day, I bring you a blast from the past.  That is, a blast from my first few months as an Oregonian.  Oh, the memories!  Oh, the good times!  Oh, how things have changed!

Kristina, Jody and me snuggle cuddle on the couch.
Oh, this was a great day.  The first January I was here, we had a snowstorm followed closely by an ice storm.  The ice was an inch thick on everything.  In this picture, I'm sitting in the middle of the street right after I slid down Travis and Jody's driveway on a UNL cafeteria tray.  Priceless.
One of many good birthdays at the duplex.  A surprise party for Jen's 23rd.  Marissa, me, Jen, Kristina and Sarah.
Me at Cape Lookout, or maybe Cape Meares.  Me at some cape on the coast.  I think we went to the beach at least once every two weeks.  

Me and my first Mt. Hood summit in May of 2004.  Bryan says it was our first date. :)

Ahhh, sweet relief.

It's been a rough couple of weeks for me lately.  I've been this tight little ball of yucky stress, which will explain my obvious lack of new posts around these parts.  I was up to my ears at work planning an event for Sunday night and my Girls Inc. project culminated last week so I had been spending my days off actually still working.  Blech.  Let's just say the work/life balance did not swing in my favor last week.

(By the way, I need a new way to deal with my stress.  Right now, you know what I do?  I watch TV.  Some people eat, some drink, some work out, some shop.  Nope, not me!  I come home, sit my little hiney in front of the TV and watch for hours, grateful that I don't have to answer another question or make another decision.  And I'm not particular about what I watch either.  On one of my "days off" last week, I watched an entire episode of the Tyra Banks show.  I think it had something to do with daughters being mad at their stripper mothers.  Misery.)  

As of Sunday night, everything is now over.  Yesterday was a day off.  And all I felt all day was relief.  Shoulder relaxing, hot tea sipping relief.  I spent some time at the gym, finished a book and started a new one, took care of some errands.  Today, I sewed us a new set of curtains and baked some brownies.  And, I'm back to the blog.

Welcome back me, it's been too long. 

Ladies! It's 8:07pm.....

....do you know where your husbands are?

Well, if they are with my husband right now, they are at a Celine Dion concert.  

Julia, Geoff is safe and sound and you know that his heart will go on.