photography

It’s Been A While

October 15, 2025 — Leave a comment

I haven’t shared a life update with pictures in ages, it seems, so here we go!

I turned 38 back in August. I was spoiled by my BFF and her husband that weekend. They took me to dinner, then I crashed at their place and did nothing but eat junk, watch movies, and swim. (Oh, and indulge in her fantastic cooking!) It was a much needed break from reality and did wonders for my depression. When we went out, I got dolled up and, honestly, I looked cute as hell. So cute, in fact, that we were barely inside the restaurant before a waitress ran over to tell me how cute I was. Lol.

My two work besties showed up, as well, which completed the perfection that weekend was. I spent Sunday with my parents, who bought me a red velvet cake. Then, on Tuesday, one of my older coworkers left a homemade lemon cake for me. I felt very loved.

In early September, I attended the Carbonstone show in Birmingham. They opened for Julien-K, Spineshank, and The Union Underground. Hanging out with Corey and Chrystal again was a balm to my soul. I also got to meet Ryan Shuck and Amir Derakh from Julien-K. I almost chickened out, but Chrystal made me say hi to Ryan when he walked past their merch table, then Ryan was like “Come over here” and led me to their merch table. I bought a vinyl of my favorite album, Death to Analog, and we took a couple of selfies. It was an extremely good night, capped by my college football team winning their game.

Chrystal
Corey
Ryan and Amir

And now, it’s October. My favorite time of year – spooky season – is here. Which means, of course, that I’ve been living on fall drinks from Starbucks and Dunkin, and my mom and I have been exploring local cemeteries. Our most recent day out was spent at Athens City Cemetery. We actually have family buried there, but we kept our ventures to the older graves.

This is the Confederate Circle, taken from a bit of a distance.

October, November, and December are my favorite three months of the year, even if Christmas doesn’t excite me the way it did as a child. This year, though, my brother and his wife are back in Alabama, so maybe Christmas will regain some of its magic!

Hope all of you are doing well ❤️

I Took a Vacation in February…

April 7, 2025 — Leave a comment

I visited my brother in Colorado for his birthday. He and my sister-in-law have moved since I last saw them, and their new home is in the middle of nowhere. Actually, it’s in an area considered to be a ghost town, which is right up my alley, haha! Needless to say, I wanted to explore all the deserted structures nearby, but we also visited Bishop Castle, North Lake, Monument Lake, a few cemeteries, and Lathrop State Park.

It sounds like we were constantly running around; however, we had plenty of downtime, too. We lazed around the house with a fire going, watching horror movies and TV shows (mostly of the cooking variety). My brother caught up on “Outer Banks,” and his wife and I got him hooked on “Squid Game.”

It was so relaxing. I didn’t want to come back. We’re already planning my next trip. I want to go out in the summer, because I always seem to go when it’s cold. On the other hand, Marilyn Manson is touring in September and has stops in both Denver and Albuquerque, soooo…

Anyway, here are some photos from my trip.

The most haunted building in Trinidad
Monument Lake
North Lake
Bishop Castle
Lathrop State Park
This was at one of the cemeteries in Aguilar
Same cemetery
Another Aguilar cemetery
Walsenburg cemetery
Not far from where my brother and his wife live. I Googled it and the area is defined as a ghost town.

Posing as a Travel Blog, a.k.a. My Colorado Vacation

May 25, 2023 — Leave a comment

I spent last week in Colorado. Trinidad, to be exact. I flew out to visit my brother and sister-in-law, and to enjoy five days far away from my job.

We didn’t plan things to do, we just did them. My brother smoked burgers and ribs because I love his cooking. We traveled highway 12 and ventured up to Simpson’s Rest, neither of which we’d managed during my previous trips due to the weather. He took me down to New Mexico, over the Raton Pass, through Carson National Forest, and into Eagle Nest. On my last full day, we drove to Rye and checked out Bishop Castle. I climbed to the second highest level there, but was too chicken to go to the top (especially since it was raining and the stairs and rails were wet).

Other than that, I had downtime with family. We ate good food and watched a lot of Netflix and Hulu. I convinced my brother to sit through the Fear Street films (he actually didn’t mind them), and I think I got him hooked on “Outer Banks.” Oh, and I was introduced to my newest furry nephew, Lucifer.

I could go on and on. However, I’ll just tell my story in pictures. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, after all.

(The cats get uploaded as individual images. I’ll group each day trip into a gallery.)

Lucifer
Lucifer again ❤️
Hanzo
Fishers Peak, taken from Simpson’s Rest
The sis-in-law
My brother
Simpson’s Rest
North Lake
Cuchara
Cuchara
Cuchara
Cruising Highway 12
New Mexico
Bishop Castle
Double rainbow coming down out of San Isabel National Forest
Lake Isabel
Random things

My Kentucky Vacation (June 2022)

June 17, 2022 — Leave a comment

I spent four days in Kentucky with my best friends this week. They moved up there just over a year ago, and it’s been really hard. I miss them like crazy!

It was nice to get away, if only for a short while. We went out and explored some areas of interest, including the historical community of West Point and a pet cemetery that was on the way to Shepherdsville. But our big adventure was a trip to Bernheim Forest.

If you don’t know about this forest, it is located in Clermont and covers more than 16,000 acres. It is a wildlife sanctuary, an arboretum, a campsite. There are miles and miles of trails to hike and things to see. What Bernheim Forest has become known for, though, is the giants.

Created by Thomas Dambo, the trio of giants are made from local recycled wood and are positioned throughout the area. It was an absolute delight discovering each one, though the map we were given at the entrance left something to be desired – it took us much longer to find the last two giants than it should have. Still, there was plenty to do along the way.

If you’re ever in the area, I would highly recommend a visit to Bernheim Forest. We had a lot of fun, and my friends’ kids loved the giants!

James Young Family Cemetery
A marker showing the water levels of past floods. Check out 1937!
Little Nis, the son
Mama Loumari
Little Elina, the daughter
The view at the end of the Canopy Walk
The Spirit Nest
The memorial for Bernheim

Unsettling Images (#1)

April 29, 2022 — Leave a comment

I started out browsing for pictures of abandoned amusement parks and ended up diving down a rabbit hole of the strange on Pinterest. Some of the uploads were actually creepy, but most of them just gave me an uneasy feeling – especially the ones that are real places/things. There was a whole lotta nope, and locations that, were you in a horror movie, it would all start going wrong there. Haha 😛 Below are a few of my favorites. I’m sure there will be multiple installments of these types of images: I love this stuff.

Colorado (In Pictures)

April 7, 2022 — Leave a comment

We almost missed our first flight, our second one was delayed (because some genius put us on a plane that wasn’t equipped to fly/land in snowy conditions, despite the fact that we were headed to Colorado Springs), and my mom had a mild case of elevation sickness on our third day there. Other than that, the trip to visit my brother and his wife was an absolute success!!!! I had visited last year, but we didn’t get to do a lot of sightseeing, and this was Mom’s first trip – and first time flying. The whole area is so beautiful. (Raton, New Mexico, wasn’t that impressive, though. Lol.)

We’re both dying to go back already. I’m aiming for some time during the summer so we can get out and explore a little more. Below are pictures I took during our excursions, and one from the plane because I’m that person 🙂

This was captured about 10 minutes from DFW
Driving towards Trinidad
The Raton sign
Scenic overlook coming into Colorado from New Mexico
Their cat, Hanzo, who was sad because we wouldn’t allow him in the guest room

A Quick Hi From Colorado!

March 22, 2022 — Leave a comment

I will do a longer blog about my trip early next week, but for now I wanted to drop in and share some pictures. I just didn’t want to break my posting streak while on vacation (as lame as that is).

We fly back home tomorrow, which sucks. It has been a fantastic five days – complete with much needed family time, lots of snow, some exploring, and really, really good food. I can’t wait for our next trip out here!

Central Park
The view from 12
We took a drive down to Raton, New Mexico

Too Busy For Blogging

December 11, 2019 — Leave a comment

I keep trying to get back into a regular posting schedule, but life has been determined to intervene. After my grandmother passed in October, my best friend’s mother-in-law died. I was there for her and her husband, and to be honest I was emotionally drained. My dad noticed and planned a spur-of-the-moment trip to the beach.

I can’t tell y’all how much I needed the three days of sun, sand, and sea. Despite the fact that it was November, the weather was gorgeous. I was able to wade in the water and bask in the sun (with a lightweight jacket on). I even got a touch of sunburn.

Since then, it’s just been…change. I’m searching for a new job and trying to get things ready for Christmas. Last week, I took a day trip to Cathedral Caverns with my parents, which was nice.

2019 has had its ups and downs. I won’t say the year has been bad, necessarily, but I am hoping 2020 is better. And it will certainly start that way — I’m going to see Alter Bridge again in February.

Anyway, for those who care, I wanted to give an update. I also wanted to let y’all know there will be some end-of-year posts, I’m just not sure I can keep up with the Playlist Challenge or a weekly featured band right now.

Here are more pictures from the beach and the expedition in Cathedral Caverns! I hope this blog finds you all well.

Gulf Shores

Cathedral Caverns

This is Goliath, one of the largest stalagmites in the world, 45 feet tall and 243 feet in circumference.

“The Improbable”: a 27-feet high stalagmite, growing on a 3-inch base and at a 45 degree angle to the stone below it.

Concert Photos: The Resurrection Tour (4/29/18)

May 1, 2018 — 1 Comment

blessthefall

Asking Alexandria

Black Veil Brides