Wonder: Renwick Gallery

The Renwick Gallery, which recently reopened after two years of renovation, has filled the museum with art installations in an exhibit is called Wonder. The walls have signs that say "photographed encouraged," so naturally I had to take a lot of photos, because the rooms were so interesting and perfect for some cool portraits with Meena. We spent a couple hours in the packed museum, taking pictures and watching the colors change in the first room featured in these posts.

Brittani + Connor

I'm back from a long, tiring, and stressful semester! I have several blog posts planned, and the first one up is pictures of Brittani and Connor from Thanksgiving!

When I went home last month for Thanksgiving, I got to see a lot of my family, which included seeing my cousin Robby and his wife Brittani, and finally meeting their cute little guy! Brittani and I had talked about taking some pictures of Connor while we were all back in Virginia, but it proved difficult to find the time between my quick visit, all the family and holiday things going on, and the bad weather. We ended up taking pictures hours before I left to go back to New York, and thanks to the rain we were stuck inside in my aunt and uncle's living room. Brittani and I made do with limited cloudy morning light and a tired, crying baby for some quick shots before possibly doing a full photoshoot when they come back for Christmas. 

Chocolate Bundt Cake

Today, I want to talk about nothing bundt cake.

(I'll show myself out.)

This chocolate bundt cake, in particular. It's so good, guys.

Shae's Visit: DC

A couple weeks ago I posted photos from my adventures in Virginia with Shae. I didn't include photos we took in DC because the Virginia post was already really long; we took so many pictures that week that cutting down the amount of photos to include in two posts was very difficult.

Anyways, our DC adventures took us to many museums, monuments, and food. Going to museums is one of our favorite things to do. We spent many afternoons in museums in NYC last year, so when we were both in DC, home to many free museums, our planning revolved around visiting them. We started off our first day in DC by immediately going to the National Gallery of Art, one of my favorite museums in DC and in general. 

Books: August 2015

I didn't get to read for fun for months, thanks to college, as I had to read hundreds of pages each week and just didn't have any time left to relax with a book I wanted to read for fun. When I got home in May, I added to the already large pile of to-be-read books in my room by getting more than a dozen from the library and buying another dozen at the used bookstore. (I have a problem.) People usually write about books to read over the summer, but instead I now have recommendations based on what I read this summer. Fall reads? End-of-summer reads? Reads for anytime? Whatever. Recommendations and thoughts on the books below!

1. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
“Don’t you want to be alive before you die?”

All the Light We Cannot See was one of the books I was most excited to read this summer. Doerr's book won the Pulitzer for fiction this year, and I had heard only glowing reviews of the book; I wholeheartedly agree. This book is beautiful. The two central stories, of a German boy and a French girl around World War II, build until they start to come together in a way that I won't forget for a long time. It is so many things: a war story, a coming-of-age novel, a narrative about morality and harsh realities.

It was a surprisingly quick read for me, despite being more than 500 pages, with a beautiful and elegant style that doesn't make the often heavy material dense. Doerr does things with words that are simply stunning, constructing a narrative and descriptions that are fully realized. The setting hauntingly transforms from idyllic to war-torn and lonely. The world of this book is sad, grieving, and hurting, but it is also full of hope, thoughtfulness, and human goodness.

As Doerr explained that the deeper meaning of the title is "a suggestion that we spend too much time focused on only a small slice of the spectrum of possibility," this book illuminates a unique story. I highly recommend it; overall, it is haunting and bittersweet story about human connection and ordinary people whose lives are inexplicably linked.

More after the jump!

Shae's Visit: Virginia

Earlier this month, my best friend Shae came down from Boston to visit me. We had talked about this for a few years, so it was so much fun to be a Virginia and DC tour guide for her at last. We spent five days eating lots of food, baking, going to areas for both tourists and locals, and taking hundreds of photos, of course. We took so many that I'm going to split my post into a Virginia post and a DC post that will come soon.

Just a couple hours after picking her up at the airport, we got in the car to drive out to Front Royal, VA. We took the route with the prettier views, passing farms and old estates with the mountains in view throughout the drive. We stopped for apple butter donuts at the Apple House in Linden (which I highly recommend) and coffee at Happy Creek Coffee in Front Royal (which my dad loves), but the primary purpose of our drive was Skyline Drive.

Blogging, Plans, and Cinnamon Rolls

I've been following blogs - food, photography, books, travel, style, and writing - for years. As both a writer of sorts and new media enthusiast, I've always wanted to blog. I've probably signed up for and started a dozen blogs over the past several years, and never followed through with them. This time, I'm more determined to stick with it.

I started this blog with the intention of using it for my photography; I linked to it on my portfolio and started putting together posts of photo adventures and shoots. But I do more than take photos, so I plan on incorporating that into this blog. I bake (and eat) too many desserts, so I want to post some recipes. I watch too much television and love theater and buy too many books, which I would like to write about on here as well. Along with living in NYC during the school year, I'm going to Europe for a study abroad semester next year, so I plan on writing posts both to update my friends and family about what I'm doing and to create a record for myself of photos, experiences, and thoughts on my first time out of the country while I live in England and travel. I also try to motivate myself to write all the time. During my first year of college, I found myself only writing essay after essay for classes, instead of anything creative or journalistic. My hope is that this blog will help me write more.

Anyways, to start that off, let's move on to the truly important thing: cinnamon rolls.

day at the met

During my last week in NYC, I took my last trip of the year to the Met, and I spent the day wandering around the museum by myself, people watching and taking pictures and enjoying the galleries.

winter in new york

Between being really busy at the end of first semester and freezing whenever I went outside, I didn't get to take many photos, but I did take my camera out with me a few times.

Before finals, Shae, Moorea, Molly, and I went to Rockefeller Center to be touristy for the night, going to see the tree and other holiday decorations, but we didn't even make it to the other side of 30 Rock to see the tree, because the area was so packed with tourists.

fall in new york

I finally decided to start a blog after meaning to do so for a long time. I actually signed up for blogspot a while ago and never used it, and I used to have a photography tumblr as well. Here's an compilation of some photos from my first few months in New York City, which I spent exploring the city, hanging out with friends, eating lots of dessert, going to Broadway shows and concerts and TV tapings, and taking pictures as I went.

day in dc

I'm home in Virginia for spring break, which is a much needed week of relaxing and no classes after several tough, stressful weeks of school. This break has been mostly spent by watching TV and movies, reading for class, baking, and updating my portfolio, but my mom and I decided to go into DC on Sunday.

Thankfully spring is finally on its way and it was a beautiful and breezy 55 degrees in the district - I've never been as excited for this weather as I have been this year. From the metro we headed across the mall to the National Gallery of Art, one of my favorite museums in the city. 

I only took pictures when we crossed over to the east building - I've been obsessed with the walkway that connects the east and west buildings of the museum, where there is a cool light installation wrapping around the side and the ceiling.