Accross the World... and 3 Months Later

Hi to all you readers that are still out there!

So... I took a trip to a few countries, was gone a few months, and took a blogging break [I'm sorry to those of you I left behind, I did miss you.]

Australia...




Indonesia...



and Thailand...

were all good places to me these last few months, but you know what they say-- nothing beats home... so, how have you all been?

I'm not sure I'm going to be back on the bloggy train "full on" (as they'd say in Aussie land) but what I am on is Instagram! Add me (@laurcath) , keep in touch... I'm off to check out your blogs! Oh I've missed ya...

Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Go Home My Dear

With the last segment of 'Hit Me With Your Best Shot' is Nikki, a young sweet blogger who always has the sweetest images and words.
***

Hi Outside Voice readers!

I don't have to tell you how excited I was when Lauren gave me the opportunity to be a part of her new series! I share her love for photography and even though I'm the amateur of the amateurs, I believe I'm getting to know the tricks of the trade pretty fast. Anywhoo, first things first, let me introduce myself.

My name is Nikki. I'm a 19 year old blogger from Belgium that is currently struggling to find the right voice for her blog. I am a mess, so naturally my blog is a mess. I blog about my life, my inspirations, my travel stories, my photography, my cooking experiences and my pets. Occasionally I drop an outfit post. You can state that I blog about eve-ry-thing. Maybe you can stop by sometime so we can get to know each other? You can find me at Gohomemydear.

Now, on to the real reason why I'm here. Lauren asked me to tell you something more about my favorite photo.

In this photo you can see a part of the Barcelona harbour. I took this picture halfway down descending Montjuic. We (my boyfriend and I) had already walked about 15 miles that day when we decided not to take the cable cart, but to walk to the top of Montjuic. One thing we forgot: it was 37°C, and we had no more water. It was hell, but we made it. The view over Barcelona was incredible and compensated the pain. After we stocked in on water we walked all the way down again too. After we got lost a few times we managed to get back on La Rambla and make it to our hotel. Exhausted as we were, I am still proud I walked a grand total of 40 kilometers that day. Next time I'll go on vacation though, it will be a beach holiday!

Thanks for giving me this opportunity Lauren! It's always great to do be part of your blog!
***

Thanks for sharing Nikki, you are a wonderful, young talent!
Visit her blog here.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Polaroids and Kisses

I'd like to take this time to introduce one of my very first blog friends: Laura. She is a gorgeous young wife who happens to take just as beautiful photos. Her blog is so sweet and I just love seeing the images she posts. Every time she tells stories about a trip or her weekend, I find myself scrolling up to drool over the photos.

Thanks Laura, for 'hitting me' with some awesome shots:)

***

Hello Outside Voice lovers :)

Im Laura, I love life, art, my husband & adventures!

I am passionate about photography & traveling and love to share those tangible memories through photographs on my blog.




Our recent adventures have been to Seattle, a treehouse resort here in Oregon & San Francisco!!!
***


And if you loved these photos as much as I did, visit her blog and check out some more!

Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Piloting Life

The next segment of 'Hit me With Your Best Shot' is brought to you by Ashley from Piloting Life. She has been such a constant friend and positive part of my blogging journey. So I couldn't be selfish and keep that all to myself, could I?

***
Hello Outside Voice readers! I just love Lauren and the joy she finds in seeking out life's adventures, and I'm really excited to be here today sharing a little bit about myself and a some of my favorite photography. There's a lot of world out there, and I love capturing it on camera!

Let me introduce myself. I'm Ashley, and you can find me blogging about a little of everything over at 'Piloting Life'. My husband is a commercial pilot, and I started blogging as a way to keep occupied while he was gone on trips. Blogging is such a great way to share your life with people all over the world. Plus you get to 'meet' some really great people as well!

I mostly blog about my life, but that is a very broad generalization of what I write about isn't it? Travel is something that I love to share the most. However, I also share my photography, food and recipes, books that I'm reading, and sometimes even just the thoughts running through my head. Today, I'd love to share with you a couple of my favorite photographs.

The photo above is one of my very favorite photos for a few reasons. Airports are one of my very favorite places! I took this photo of a fountain while traveling through the Detroit Metro Airport, and I was snapping photos of everything while passing through the airport. I really love the way this photo captured reflections of the ceiling and light! The architect in me was really excited about the building, but this fountain really stole the show.

The Christmas holiday is one of my favorite times of year, so naturally this photo makes my list of favorites. The colors, textures, white lights, and heart-warming torches make me excited about this picture. To top it all off, I snapped this shot in one of my favorite places near where I grew up in northern Michigan. I love everything about it, and the flames make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Thanks, Lauren, for allowing me to share a little bit about myself and some favorite photos! I hope you'll come visit me at Piloting Life. Have a wonderful day!

***

Thanks a ton for sharing your photography, Ashley! I hope you all enjoy her blog and friendship as much as I do.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Hudson's Happenings

I'd like to introduce you to another amazing blogger-photographer: Ashley! You have already seen all of her photography already, right? ...right? If not, head on over to her blog. It is always full of beautiful (and I mean beautiful) photography of her family and their every day happenings. It's always a peppy place with fun writing and awesome style.

Thanks, Ashley for being part of "Hit Me With Your Best Shot"! I appreciate it!

Hi to all the lovely inhabitants of sweet Lauren's beautiful blog! I'm Ashley and I am so happy to be here guesting today! I write a little blog of my own called Hudson's Happenings, where I love to share my everyday musings on love and beauty and life's fleeting moments. I probably take way to many pictures, but I thrive on nostalgia...and can't wait to look back on my life as a young mama one day.

When Lauren contacted me about sharing my favorite photo, I knew that I couldn't resist...hanging out on one of my most favorite blogs AND talking about photography? YES, please! :)

It always seems as though the best photographs are the ones that aren't planned. One summer weekend, as I wandered around the Southern downtown streets of our hometown, an unexpected rain shower burst through the clouds. Instead of seeking shelter from the light downpour, we trudged along...stumbling upon the most lovely European style fountain. Dogwood petals had fallen all around the cobblestone walk, and our little Hudson ran happily through the puddles to look at the rippling water in the fountain. It was a happy moment, that resulted in one of my most favorite pictures.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Ramblings and Photos

Today I'm introducing a new bloggy friend and gorgeous photographer: Ashley Sisk. It was a pleasure to meet her recently, and enjoy the beautiful eye candy on her blog. I was amazed by the natural light and sweet composition found in her photography. I wanted to include her in this series because I know you'll love her too! Thanks so much Ashley!

My name is Ashley Sisk and I live in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. I married my best friend on October 17, 2009. I've always loved art and photography, so shortly after our wedding, I bought my first DSLR and started Ramblings and Photos. As a result of blogging, I re-discovered my creative spirit, enhanced my photography and editing skills and made some incredible friends. I'm passionate about my faith, my love affair with photography, building community and sharing what I know.



After spending most of the day with my parents (to celebrate my birthday), my husband and I came back to the house. We had plenty of chores that still needed to be done, so I quickly put away my birthday goodies and was walking back downstairs (probably to start the laundry) when I noticed him taking a moment to himself in our bedroom. He's actually filing his nails but I'd like to think he was just being reflective.

There's something magical about the morning sun. Each morning, as I'm trying to wake myself up, Kitty Paw (my cat - if you don't already know her, you certainly will) will jump off our bed and walk into the next room to feel the sun's joyful glow. Even on a cold winter morning, I can't help but smile as I see her beautiful silhouette against the morning rays.


You can visit Ashley's blog here.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Janette the Jongleur

Hey dudes!

I so loved reading all your "challenges" for Get the Picture last week. Did you see all the awesome submissions?
***

Well, as you know from the Get the Picture photo shares, I'm a bit in love with photography, and vacationing (how about you?)... and it just so happens I'm off to do both this week!

I'm off to celebrate a beautiful friend's wedding, a new baby cousin to coo over, a bestie's brithday, and the Calgary Stampede! I'll be sure to take photos, but in the mean time I've been tugging on a few gal's camera straps so this blog didn't get too lonely.

I'd love to introduce a few awesome blogger-photographers over the next week with a new series: Hit Me With Your Best Shot.

And, well, the very sweet and lovely Janette has done just that.
Tell me you already follow her... and if not... go! do it! But first, read what she has to say... she's one of the sweetest, you know.

Hello Outside Voice readers and fellow Laurenlovers!!! My name is Janette! I’m a long haired lass and proud owner of my humble lifestyle blogaroo, Janette the Jongleur. There you will find heaps of extraordinary nonsense, too many collages, and my life adventures with Lovey (my husband). Anywho! I’m delighted to be Lauren’s cohort today on her new series, Hit Me With Your Best Shot! So I’m about to fire away… Pow! Pow! (Aren’t onomatopoeias thee greatest?)

I took these shots on a sisterly-love photo shoot a few months ago ( I'm a photographer by day...well not every day!!) and they’re still pretty much my favorite captures ever. It was the first time that the vision in my head was translated to pixel-ation perfection... This was a momentous feat for me folks, cause rarely do things come out the way I envision them! So needless to say I was most pleased with the outcome…(Did I just say a movie line?!) Anywho, thank you kindly for reading and happy trails!

God bless you,

Janette the Jongleur

PS. And a HUGE thank you to Ms. Lauren for this invitation! (Love you girl! You’re awesomecakes!)
***

Told you she was awesome... now go drool over more of her eye the eye candy on her blog!

Get the Picture: Challenge

Challenge:a photo share.

|ˈch alənj| noun

a task or situation that tests someone's abilities.

-This photo share is now open. See link up tool at bottom of page-
________________________


The nitty gritty:

1. This post will be open NOW until the 8th (next Friday)

2. At any time from now until the 8th, post your version of 'challenge' on YOUR blog (include a link or button to Outside Voice)

3. Come back to Outside Voice, and use the linky tool to link up (it's easy! Promise! And don’t hesitate to comment or email with questions, I don’t mind answering and helping out!)

4. Be sure to read all the other wonderful posts about home… drool over their photos… and meet new bloggers, cuz dudes, that’s what this is all about.

Link tool found below.

photo via my favorite photo website.

Royal Wedding: Firefighter Style.

You’re invited to…
The most elegant(hah) party of the season:


The boy, and his crew of forest fire fighters hosted their very own royal wedding themed party last weekend. And if you thought last year’s theme open the opportunity for cross-dressing, well just you wait! (what’s with that anyways?)

The musts:

-Come as a royal wedding themed guest. Somehow this ended up including, The Burger “King”, Elvis the “King”, the Queen Mum, The Prince himself, and a myriad of wonderful and questionably-related costumes. Made for some awesome laughs!

-Bring your dancing shoes (or just suffer through the rest of the work week with blisters, like me.)

-Have the most ridiculous facial hair you’ve managed to grow over the fire season so far.

Exhibit A: boyfriend’s mutton chops. What do you think? Do we look like an old English couple attending the wedding? I think so.

-Bring your booty, and be prepared to seriously shake it-- which we did, for most of the night.


...And, for the record, I think one of the most wonderful things about the party was that the day after: we spent the day alternating between sleeping, movie watching, and maybe squeezing a couple chores in there. Don’t you love when you can get away with Saturday’s like that?

***

Oh, and a lovely start to my work week was my good bloggy friend, Gentri Lee, featuring me in her lovely space. You’ll love her blog if you aren’t already a follower-- check her out here.

Hope you all had a booty-shakin’ kinda weekend.

Get the Picture: Theme Announcement

Hey Shutterbugs!

I'm happy to announce the third edition of Get the Picture!
This month’s theme is: Challenge.

|ˈch alənj| noun
a task or situation that tests someone's abilities.

Get the Picture is a monthly photo share; all readers are welcomed to share their photos relating to the month's theme.

Can you guess what my recent challenge is? :)

___________________________________________________

Here’s how it works:

1. I will open this month's theme from July 1st-7th

2. Post, in any manner you'd like, with a photo representing 'challenge' on your blog

3. Include a button or a link to Outside Voice in your post {thank you, sincerely.}

4. Come to my "Get the Picture: Challenge" post that will be created on July 1st and use the linky tool provided to link up!

{This way people can come visit your blog by clicking on the thumbnail of your photo. I promise it's easy to do!}

______________________________________

Now... get creative! Gather/ take some photos and show us your 'challenge'. What is challenging? What challenges you? The link up will open July 1st-7th, at this time you may post about the theme on your blog and link it here.

I’m honoured to have you all involved:)

I heart libraries

Erica and I at our old University Library

...do you ever just wander through the library and thumb through books you dream of reading one day, listen to the tapping of pencils, and feel minuscule against the backdrop of millions of written words?

I loved this create-your-own library call card site. Ever tried it?




Photo Credit: Scott Jennings (2009)

Ballerinas

After attending the year-end recital of my old dance school this weekend, my ballerina heart strings were pulled tight.

...and I may or may not have come home, put on my old pointe shoes, and just wore them around my house for a while. Can you blame me??

Alas, as a few years have passed, so have the times of grace and flexibility.

But, flexible or not, it didn't stop me from drooling over The Ballet Project on tumblr: it's a creative dance/ photography project set against NYC city scape and it's wonderful.
Check it.
**

Find rest of the collection here.

Happiest of Tuesdays to ya, dudes!

bloom

"Bloom where you are planted."

This weekend was a total girls weekend. And, oh how I needed that.
We curled hair for dance recitals, had fun going to dance recitals, then of course celebrated the dance recital by going out dancing! And, you should know, this girl can't turn down a reason to shake it.

me and A after her dance recital

I'm realizing more and more how deep my roots are growing into this small down. This is the first time I've felt sad about digging those roots up and temporarily transplanting them to Australian ground for my teaching term this fall.

I feel like that will be a bit more painful than I thought when I made the decision--drunk with excitement of adventure. But, I suppose, it's good to plant little seeds of experience all over this world. And this week made me excited to return from Aus and cultivate my small-town-BC roots some more.