Honey, I'm Home

Hello Friends!  Man its been a long time since i posted... If anyone even noticed! Its ok.  We can be honest with each other.  Although I missed posting, its been a nice break.  I really didn't feel bad at all and even felt relieved that there was no expectation to post. But recently I've been thinking about getting back online and seeing what happens.  I've had ideas and thought maybe you'd want to hear about them!  And by you, i mean the 5 people i know read this from time to time [wink, wink]

First, I thought I'd share with you some of the things I have been up to.

FALL ADVENTURE DAY

My roommate and I try and get away from the city every fall, just for the day.  We rent or borrow a car and then drive upstate. This year we stopped off at Mohonk Mountain Preserve and did a little hiking.  We also were lucky enough to find the old abandoned house that we found on our first Fall Adventure day in 2009.  

PHOTOGRAPHY FUN

I hadn't made my photography a huge priority over the last two years but when one of my closest friends, Kristina, from Big Apple Mami, asked me to take their family portraits, I jumped at the chance.  She has the best little family!

MY LITTLE SHOP

I have an etsy shop, City Girl Creations 98.  One of my favorite things to do is to find new things to create and even to try things on my own.  My latest adventures have been these coffee cozies as well as slouch hats.  I've also tried my hand at fun kids hats. Those pictures will come later, but they are super cute.  Keep an eye out at my shop for sales, discount codes and new creations.  Some of the things I create haven't made it to etsy but you can see some of those items on Facebook Page or my Instagram Page. Feel free to email me or message me for custom orders!

That's what I have been up to.  More exciting things will come later.  I even have a review and giveaway happening later this week!  

Have a lovely week!

MIA

WOW... so its been a while since I posted anything. 

Didn't notice? 

Yeah me either :)  

But I am back.... atleast I think I am.  

Been working on a few things that I look forward to blogging about some time. I have been busy living life, enjoying friends... you know... stuff.  

I'll leave you with a few photos.

Another day in the Park: Fort Tryon

 One of the things I LOVE about New York City is that its really just one big museum.  It also has some of the prettiest parks.  Fort Tryon is one of those parks.  It is one of the largest parks in Manhattan and hosts The Cloisters.  Fort Tryon is in my neighborhood but sadly I don't get to go nearly as much as I should. So yesterday, after a meeting, my camera and I went for a nice spring stroll up to the park.  Because Spring is so late, the blooms were a little sporatic. Some were late and some were already on their way out.  But I got some pretty great tight shots of the ones that were there.  Some of these prints will be in my shop later this week for digital download.  If you see something you like let me know and I will make sure it goes up soon.  Enjoy and if you are ever in the city, make sure you take a stroll through the Fort Tryon Park.

Central Park in the Spring

This summer I will celebrate 10 years in New York City and I still love it like I did when I first arrived.  In NYC, Central Park is one of my favorites!  Especially Central Park in the spring.  Each year I love to see what they will do and what they will plant.  About 2 years ago, I discovered the Conservatory Gardens at the North East part of the park.  They usually have some amazing tulip gardens but this year they had other types of flowers.  They weren't my favorite this year but I still had a great time checking them out. I also love Shakespeare's Garden.  Its in the central part of the park near the west side. This week, I took a walk through the park and explored what Spring had to offer the park.  If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook then you probably got inundated yesterday :)  I thought I'd share with you what I found.  These guys are also available for purchase at my shop, City Girl Creations.

 

 

 

These photos helped me make a dent in 2 of my 13 in 2013 goals.    I not only got to play tourist with my camera, but I am attempting to also build up my photography business.  I am taking it slow but I am at least taking a step.

I hope you enjoy them.  You can purchase a digital copy through my etsy shop. They would be great on many craft projects or framed on your wall.  

Instagram Blog Hop

Welcome to week eighteen of our Instagram Blog Hop! New to the party? The Instagram Blog Hop is a place for you to link up your Instagram account and find FUN, new Instagram friends!

Here are the RULES:

1. Follow your HOSTS on Instagram: 

Ashlyn | @loveeashlyn of Let It Be Beautiful 

Emily | @mrsmeshhh of The Pink Elephant 

Kimberly | @anightowlblog of A Night Owl

2. Follow your CO-HOSTS on Instagram:

Kim | @kimpossible76 of Singledou[b]t

You can find Kim here: 

Instagram :: Blog :: Etsy :: Facebook :: Twitter :: Pinterest

***

Jade | @justplainjade of An Organized Mess

You can find Jade here: 

Instagram :: Blog :: Facebook :: Twitter :: Pinterest

3. Check out and follow a couple fellow IGers. 

Tell folks you follow that you found them through the Hop!

4. Spread the word! 

Share the Hop on Twitter or Facebook when you link up! Grab a button for your sidebar!

  <center><a href="http://anightowlblog.com/category/instagram-blog-hop"><img border="0" src="http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m523/ashlyn_williams/instagrambutton400x200.jpg" width="200" height="100" /></a></center>

5. Link up your profile from any Instagram web interfaces like these listed here: 

Followgram | Ink361 | Webstagram | Gramfeed | Extragram 

Just log in with your Instagram account, grab your profile URL and enter it in the linky below.

Want to co-host an Instagram Blog Hop? 

Email Kimberly and she’ll get you on the calendar!

Now, on to the HOP! 

Remember, please link up your INSTAGRAM account, not your blog.

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Photo A Day June. Lets Get Started July

I can't believe June is officially over... Man, I feel like it was just January!

So, this month... i mean last month... in June... I participated in FatMumSlim's Photo a day challenge.  I missed a few days but I didn't do too bad.  I thought I'd recap the last 15 days.  To see the first 15 visit, Photo A Day Catch Up.

So here they are!  To see a bigger version, visit my Instagram Page!

I can't wait to start July


If you want to get hooked up visit @fatmumslim for July's List


Or for a quick reference:

{Post Sponsored by This Lovely Lady}

Photo A Day: Instagram

Last month, I saw my friend, Kristina, over at citycorporatetosuburbmama.com, was doing this photo a day thing.  At first, I thought it was too much to take on, but as I watched the month unfold, I was more and more intrigued and jealous that I didn't take advantage sooner. So when I saw others posting about a new one starting in June, I quickly committed to participate.  

Join Chantelle, Kristina, and many others as we look at June through the eyes of our camera (or cell phone)! Visit @Fatmumslim for a detailed explanation of the challenge. If you are on Instagram or Twitter, or Pinterest, follow me!  I will follow back!

GWB

One of my favorite places in NYC is UP UP Uptown Manhattan along the Hudson.  Most of my runs are there and many of my walks.  The GWB (George Washington Bridge) is one of the many landmarks in NYC.  It bridges Uptown with New Jersey.  My roommate/bestest and I decided to take a walk down there a few weeks ago.  I brought my camera with me.

Springtime

Its been a while since i posted any pictures.  So I thought I'd start doing that more since i call myself a photographer... at whatever level that might be.

These are all taken at the Conservatory in Central Park last month. I got there just in time. One more week and these would have been very different.

Also,

Visit May Day Follower Fest! Great Way to discover new blogs

Fall Adventure Day 2011

For the last three years, my best friend and I have had a "Fall Adventure Day".  It started out as a day where we rented a car and just drove north through the pretty rainbow of colors that Fall provides.   We had no real destination, just to drive and find some things to take some pictures of along the way.    We took a GPS so that we could find our way home but we really didn't have any solid destination.  That's where we found little treasures like these.

The first trip was just a few hours, starting right after church and ending when the sun went down.  The next year, we decided to make it a longer event.  We borrowed my sister-in-law's car on a Saturday and then drove for the day, found a place to stay that evening and then drove some more the next day.  Driving and pretty pictures was our main goal but other then that no real destination.

This year, we borrowed a friends car again on Friday.  This year we added a 10K race in Sleepy Hollow, NY.  We decided to drive north as far as we could get and then we'd come back down to stay near where the race would be.

This is my best friend, roommate, sister (in our hearts, not by blood).  She's pretty awesome and I am glad she's my best friend!

We drove north along the Hudson river on the Jersey side.  We watched out amazing city disappear.

And then looked forward to the sights we were about to see.

We met this guy along the way.  

We stopped for the night in Terrytown, grabbing dinner in town.   We had a 10K the next morning that we had not trained well for at all.  

Somewhere in the night, Ashley began to feel bad.  It turned out to be a really bad case of food poisoning which meant she couldn't race.  I went through with the race, feeling awful about leaving her behind. The entire ride to the race and the preparation before, i was contemplating when in the race I could stop and go back to take care of her.  I ended up running the entire race.  The course didn't allow for getting off track.  I have to say it was one of the hardest courses I have ever run.  I swear some of the hills were 45 degree angles.  I had to walk down some of the hills because my knees couldn't take the incline.

The race was the week before Halloween in Sleepy Hallow.  The Headless Horseman was parked throughout the course as were other creatures, figures, etc.

This was on the roadside about 5 miles in.

This was the view during part of the race.  Made the killer hills somewhat bearable... somewhat, I said... 

This was at the beginning of the race. Notice the cow at the front of the line.  There were all sorts of costumes.  I was truly impressed that anyone could run a 10K in a costume.  

I finished the race with a really good time (for me) especially given the hills. I ended up having to walk own about 2 or 3 hills which I was sure would slow down my overall time.  

This was the end of Fall Adventure Day (Take 1). It was definitely an adventure.  Sadly, it was cut short so we could get Ashley home.  No worries,  we finished the trip, just a few weeks later.  Stay tuned.