Jamie's Photos

South of France 2010

2011-10-25T09:41:00.000-07:00

After Paris, we headed to a tiny village in southern France called Saint Siffret, just outside of a somewhat larger town called Uzes. My neighbor when I was growing up has a house in the village and recommended a long list of things for us to do. (Last year we had Rick Steves, this year we had Ron. I think Ron wins.)

We rented a fantastic house that became home base. Everyday we slept in, got a late start, and then drove to our attraction of the day. The perfect vacation for two pregnant ladies. This was taken at a tiny town we stumbled across on one of our drives.

Some ancient ruins you can drive up to (if you have really good 4 wheel drive...I've never been on such a crazy road.) We were the only ones there and it was amazing to be able to walk in and around them.

Two pregnant sisters.

An old man walking around in the charming town of Uzes.

We spent one afternoon at the Pont Du Gard. One of the highlights of the trip.

There was a beach and a swimming hole under the aqueduct. I really wished I had my bathing suit.

Ron recommended we go to a local bullfight. One where the amateurs try to remove a ribbon from between the bulls horns, one that is non-violent and the bulls are the stars. We asked the tourist office to direct us to one of these "Course Camarguese" and they sent us to this amazing Roman amphitheater in Nimes. As soon as the matadors came out with spears and swords, we realized our request for a non-violent bullfight was lost in translation. After the first bull Alissa and I had to leave.

Taylor acting like a bull.

We spent our last day in Avignon. I still can't figure out how this statue doesn't fall over.

A statue at the top of a hill in Avignon.

We thought this pose was appropriate for the creepy mustache Ryan grew while we were there.

Yes, we definitely love France and hope to go back soon!

Paris 2010

2011-10-25T09:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a year, but I finally got around to editing the photos from our trip to France last fall. The trip started with 24 hours of traveling (I've never been awake for my entire birthday before), but got much better after that. We met Joel and his family in Paris who happened to overlap our trip by a couple days.

We spent the day with them at Versailles. It was a gorgeous day and the palace was beautiful!

Inside the palace there was some sort of Japanese anime sculpture exhibit going on. I don't think they could have found anything more out of place to display.

The next day we met up with Ryan and Alissa. Paris has these Velib stations all over the city where you can rent a bike and return it to any station. Pretty cool. Except when you discover your bike has a flat tire or is missing a chain.

We rode to the Eiffel Tower.

And to the Rodin sculpture garden. (Thanks Sunny and Marc for the tip.)

It was a really great way to see the city, especially when you only have a day to see it.

Venice

2011-08-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

The entire trip I was really excited to visit Venice, especially to photograph it.

Ryan and I woke up early the first morning to catch the good light. Sadly, all we got was a heavy layer of fog.

But we made the best of it and had a fun morning capturing the city.

The fog gave it a bit of a surreal feeling.

The clock in San Marco Square.

You can't go to Venice without getting a photo of a gondolier.

Or his boat.

We took a long walk to a little pier that had some significance that I can't remember.

Our perfect travel companions!

Our last stop was Rome. By this point I was tired of photographing (and I had tons of photos from our previous trip to Rome), but we did manage to get this one.

It only took me 2 years, but I finally managed to finish posting our trip. Thanks Packers for making it a memorable one!

Sienna

2011-08-19T08:33:00.000-07:00

On the way out of the Umbria region we stopped at Sienna. It was overrun by tourists and not my favorite.

But the gelato was delicious!

Italy really knows how to do doors. The first one was in Spoleta and the last was in Sienna. I don't remember where the middle door was, but I found it interesting that they just painted the wall to look like stonework.

Civita and Orvieto

2011-08-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

On Rick Steve's recommendation, we went to a tiny hilltop (more like cliff-side) town called Civita. It is often called a dying city because most of it's residents are quite old and the population is literally dying off.

The town is surrounded by very steep cliffs and the only way to access it is to walk across an elevated bridge.

This women sits in front of her house everyday and charges visitors a small fee to enjoy the view from her backyard.

Near Civita is Orvieto. My favorite thing in this town is the famous striped church.

A tribute to Kimmy. She will know why.

Not to be outdone by us, Al and Ryan had some good poses too.

And one good shot to round out the photo shoot.

This restaurant was across the piazza from the church. I would have loved to eat there, not sure why we didn't.

Apparently this worn down lion was very exciting.

Assisi

2011-08-19T08:03:00.000-07:00

I didn't have high expectations for Assisi, but it turned out to be one of my favorite cities.

Assisi is famous as the home of St. Francis. He is buried in this basilica.

I'm assuming this is a statue of St. Francis, but I'm not positive.

I loved all of the nuns running about.

Consulting the guide books.

Why don't we have more fountains here? There are gorgeous ones all over Italy.

Alissa and I went shopping for souvenirs.

The flying buttresses of the Basilica of St. Claire made a nice backdrop for this pigeon.

A trip to Italy would not be complete without Taylor acting like a tool.

Trevi

2011-08-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

On the outskirts of many towns, we found random pieces of exercise equipment. We dubbed them Communist Training Camps.

The one we found outside of Trevi was the most elaborate. All sorts of fun toys to play on.

Al is showing off her muscles.

This one may look fun, until you get to the end and it sends you flying.

Trevi was a fairly typical hill town. Very quiet with cute little streets.

This pattern of colored rocks was used as a door mat.

We found a doorway just Alissa's size.

A heart-shaped rock.

Umbria

2011-08-17T14:31:00.001-07:00

For the middle portion of the trip Alissa and Ryan found this great house in Umbria. We used it as a home base and then did day trips to small hilltop towns.

Our first town was Spoleto. It was a Sunday so things were kind of quiet, but we did find one restaurant open. Contrary to Taylor's expression, it had a nice terrace and great food!

Something in this photo was really old. I think it was the steps, but could have been a wall.

The Duomo.

Alissa decided to give us a sermon.

Just outside the city was an aqueduct we walked across. I didn't get any good photos of it, but the view from it was gorgeous.

The start of the aqueduct.

Lucca

2011-08-17T14:20:00.000-07:00

2 years after the trip, and maybe I'll finish posting these photos!

After the Cinque Terra, we had a brief stop in Lucca. We rented bicycles and cruised around town. I think this was one of the highlights of the trip!

There is a bike path on top of the wall that surrounds the city. It's a nice little ride with a great view.

We went down into the city too with our bikes. It was a really charming town.

Cinque Terre

2010-02-28T16:39:00.000-08:00

It is slightly ridiculous that it has taken me almost five months to get these photos edited, and the sad part is that I've only gotten through the first city. But I figured I would post what I have so far....

We flew into Pisa and did a very quick tour of the tower before hopping on a train to our first destination.

The grounds surrounding the tower were also really beautiful. I wish I knew what all of these buildings were for...like I said, it was a very quick side trip. And sadly I spent the majority of the time there looking for a camera shop to replace my broken filter.

The first stop on our trip was the Cinque Terre. I've been wanting to go there for ages. I'm afraid it has turned into a bit of a tourist trap (thank you Rick Steeves), but it was still gorgeous and we all had a good time. This little bridge was on the walk down from the train station.

We took Rick's advice and stayed in Vernazza. It seems a lot of other people did as well, but for good reason.

The little town had it's own harbor full of boats and sunbathers. It was really nice to go for a swim after a long, hot hike.

The first day we decided to explore Vernazza and found an amazing cemetery up in the hills. There were walls and walls of these graves.

I really loved the striped walls. I'm not sure of the significance, but we found the same stripes at other churches throughout our trip.

There were a handful of graves in the ground. What a beautiful place to be laid to rest.

This was a church we saw on our way up to the cemetery.

During our exploration we came across this tower.

What manly men they are!

Al and Ryan looking down from the top of the tower.

My favorite part of the Cinque Terre was all of the bright colors.

On the second day in the Cinque Terre we got up early to do the hike between the 5 different towns. The rest of the photos are taken during that hike.

All of the towns were covered in stairs. I can't imagine being old and living here!

Not exactly sure what Taylor is doing, but he seems to be enjoying it.

Oh Ryan.

There was a part of the trail that was called the "Via Dell'Amore" (or Lover's Walk). For a couple hundred yards there are locks everywhere, put up by couples to symbolize their love.

The last section of our hike was really beautiful. Sadly we didn't have much time to enjoy it as it was getting late. Ryan, Al, and I ran most of it in order to make it to Vernazza in time to photograph the sunset. But I couldn't pass up this bridge.

Ryan and I didn't have tripods so we had to make due with fences, rocks, and anything else we could find. I think between the two of us we took over a hundred pictures while the sun was setting, with only a couple turning out. Next time, I guarantee we won't make that mistake again.

Year One

2009-11-14T18:52:00.000-08:00

One year down...an eternity to go. So far, so good. Here are a few highlights from the year. (90% of the photos are from our iPhones, so please excuse the quality.)

One of the only photos from our honeymoon in Cancun. Tulum was definitely a highlight.

Our apartment is right on Central Park which we love! We try to spend as much time there as possible.

Even though we live on the park, we are technically in Harlem. We love it and hate it at the same time. This is one of the love moments....view from our balcony.

One of the other things we love is our neighbors. These three cute girls lived just upstairs for the first year. (Sad to say they all moved on...we really miss them!) Mary, Sarah and I had memberships to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens so we brought Christine along to see the roses.

For Memorial Day, I joined the three of them on a road trip in our new car. First stop...Falling Waters (Frank Lloyd Wright house), second stop....Niagra Falls, and final stop....Cooperstown. So much fun!

We are really loving our car and made good use of it this summer. We went on our first "couples trip" to Cape Cod for the 4th of July with some good friends we made in our new ward.

Taylor's hair got a bit crazy on the ferry to Martha's Vineyard.

Lunch in the Vineyard.

We brought our bikes and toured the island. One of the cutest places ever!

For lunch we apparently had the finest fish 'n chips on the Cape. We even got Emily, the vegetarian, to partake. Mmmm!

To train for our triathlon, we rode with a few of our friends to New Jersey.

Our second couples trip was to Newport, RI. The Cliffwalk is my favorite part about this quaint little town....beautiful ocean on one side, huge mansions on the other.

We did a day trip to Block Island. We brought our bikes once again and wandered the entire island.

The beach where Emily and I "frolicked." Don't you wish you could see the video?

The ferry ride home was gorgeous! Kind of makes me want to move to Newport.

During the course of the year, I saw various members of my family 12 times...pretty good for living across the country. During one of these times, I got to take Ella to the zoo for her first time. She didn't quite know what to think about it all.

Being a freelancer, I had lots of spare time and tried to put it to good use. One of my various projects was making onesies for Ella. We also made them at a baby shower for my friend Mary (see photo of Fish 'n Chips). They are really easy and tons of fun. Too bad I can't make a living at it.

Another major highlight of the year was going to Italy with Al and Ryan. The photos from the trip will be coming later, but I found this one on Taylor's iPhone. This was our attempt to make a homemade Italian meal. Would have been amazing if we had salt and olive oil.

Kimmy and her boyfriend (now fiance), Chris, came out for a weekend visit. We took a drive upstate and ended up at the Sleepy Hollow cemetery.

For our one year anniversary Taylor planned a weekend getaway to the Catskills. We stayed in this cute little cottage and went shopping at an amazing outlet mall...he knows me well.

There was a lake with a rowboat. Taylor quoted some lines from "The Notebook." It was fantastic.

The love of my life.

Part Three...The Reception

2009-07-16T12:07:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my cousin Natalie for the gorgeous flowers, Brittney for the amazing cake, Cafe Terigo for the delicious food (I actually got to eat a whole plate...which turned out to be a bad idea with such a tight dress), my aunts, cousins, grandma, sisters, and mom for the decor, and once again Matthew Turley for the beautiful photographs. (And thanks to Alissa for showing me how to post the larger photos.)

Part Two....The Temple

2009-03-25T11:56:00.001-07:00

Wedding Photos....Part One

2009-03-02T11:14:00.000-08:00

A huge thanks to Matthew Turley for flying out to New York to take these amazing photographs. And also to Taylor, for enduring the 7 hour long photoshoot....with a smile (a surprisingly good one) on his face the whole time. You're the best!

The colors didn't quite translate on the blog, but you get the point. Part two soon to come....

Ella Bella

2008-09-08T08:36:00.000-07:00

Ella Jane is finally here! After only one week, she had her first photo shoot. One white sheet, a window, and a fleece blanket later and this is what we came up with.

Fine, so you all win

2008-07-20T17:50:00.001-07:00

I finally caved! After resisting the constant nagging to join the world of blogging and facebook for over a year, I am swallowing my pride and starting a blog. But don't get too excited and expect a play by play of my life...the sole purpose of this blog is to share my photos with those of you who requested them. With that disclaimer, I begin.....

Italy, Here we come!

2008-07-20T15:43:00.000-07:00

As most of you know I just returned from a week in Italy with Mary and Taylor. Right before we left I purchased a brand new camera....lets just say I had a little fun with it. Here are the ones that made the cut from the 500 photos I shot. Enjoy!

Our first stop on Saturday was the Colosseum. What a great way to begin!

Gladiator, looks like you die. So sorry.

View from the Colosseum.

Our first meal in Italy! We had pizza almost everyday, but I never got tired of it.

Taylor's new dream car. I think it suits him.

Our first of many, many churches. This was one of my favorites.

Taylor mimicking a sculpture of Moses with horns.

Mary posing as a statue....this became a common theme of our photos. All of the pedestals were just too tempting.

The Palatine Hill is next to the Colosseum and is covered in ancient ruins. Foot races were held on the track shown here.

Mary dubbed herself Tour Guide Barbie...a role which she played exceptionally well! She constantly referenced the 2 or 3 guidebooks she carried at all times. Thanks for lugging around all that weight!

From any overlook in Rome you can see a handful of domes.

We stumbled upon an amazing overlook of the Forum. The is a close up of one of the ancient buildings.

And some statues in the Forum.

I loved the lemon trees! Why can't we grow those here?

Mary basks in the sun while Taylor reads her a little poetry.

This might look like a good idea.....

...until Taylor jumped down and broke his sandal. This was just the first of our podiatric mishaps. About 5 minutes later Mary missed a step and sprained her ankle.

Fortunately I was a bit more careful getting down.

Down in the Forum.

The Piazza del Campidoglio, just above the Forum on Capitoline Hill. The statue is of Marcus Aurelius.

Doesn't Taylor look just like him, particularly the bulging muscles?

The Piazza is surrounded by a couple art museums.

The colossal head of Constantine. It appears somebody had an ego.

And Taylor said you are supposed to kiss his foot. Not sure where he got that, but we went with it.

Apparently this little area was Rome's version of Temple Square. There were bridal parties everywhere shooting photos.

Mary particularly like this bride's veil.

I had a little fascination with doors. Why don't we have such beautiful and unique doors in America?! These were a few I found, all on the first day with the exception of the Gates to Heaven (gold one) which was in Florence.

And the death march continues....

2008-07-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it wasn't really a death march, but man! Mary has got some energy! Secretly Taylor and I decided Mary's sprained ankle was a blessing in disguise....at least to us. It's not that I didn't feel horrible that she was in so much pain, but at least she slowed down a bit so we could keep up with her.

We took a little break from all of our walking to rent this 2 (or 3 if you squoosh) person bike and ride around the Villa Borghese.

Apparently Taylor and I were having some fun on the bike.

Everywhere we went we came across nuns. I'm not sure why but I just found them so cute.

Another piazza...I don't remember the name. They are all over the city!

I believe this is the only photo of all 3 of us....taken on our way home after wandering the city lost for hours. Apparently Via Julia and Via Julio are not the same street.

Sadly, the Pope was out of town

2008-07-19T07:53:00.001-07:00

Monday was our day for the Vatican. We started at St. Peters Basilica. I'm not positive but I'm assuming this is St. Peter as it is the statue at the front of the church.

We decided to save the couple euros by walking to the top of the dome rather than paying to take the elevator. Word of advice to anyone who visits St. Peter's in the future....pay the money! Poor Mary did the whole thing on her sprained ankle and I honestly don't know how she survived. But the view of the dome was beautiful.

After getting an up close view of the dome we walked a few more hundred steps to the very top for a spectacular view of Rome.

This is Taylor being Italian (or at least Mary's attempt at making Taylor look Italian.) Apparently the "in" thing is the roll up your sleeves and wear your collar up.

Mary has an obsession with lions and made me take a picture of every one we came across. These were on an ancient Roman bath in the Vatican museum. She tried to hide it in most pictures but notice the wrapped ankle.

Mmmmm!!! We lived off gelato! Breakfast, lunch, and dinner...no exaggeration.

One of my favorite evenings...we strolled from Campe de Fiore, the piazza pictured here, to Trevi Fountain. As we found out, Italy is very much a night town. They shut down for siesta and then everyone comes out in the evenings.

Along the way we stopped at the Pantheon.

According to Mary you throw in one coin to Trevi fountain to come back to Rome and two coins to find love.

Mary of course threw in two.

How did we get Florence from Firenze?

2008-07-18T21:46:00.001-07:00

Tuesday was our daytrip to Florence. As we only had a day, we hit just the major attractions.

The Duomo was quite impressive, but a little too ornate for my liking. And the surrounding crowds were unbearable.

This is a literal hole in the wall. You order at the door where there was a tiny kitchen and eat out on the street.

To escape the crowds we hiked up to the Piazza Michelangelo where there was a gorgeous overlook of the city. The Duomo is the church on the left.

We could have spent hours there, but unfortunately we had to rush back to catch our train.

There were David replications all over the city. Earlier in the day we were able to see the original which was breaktaking. And unlike most people there, I obeyed the no photo rule so sadly I don’t have one to show.

Ponte Vecchio, the bridge at the horizon, is another of Florence’s masterpieces.

Scoot, scoot, scoot along

2008-07-18T21:24:00.000-07:00

I think I speak for all of us in saying Wednesday's scooter ride was a major highlight of the trip. After walking miles and miles the first 4 days, a set of wheels was a very welcome sight.

Steve happened to be in the city that day so he met up with us for the scooter ride. I'm not discounting Mary's communicating skills, but Steve's fluent Italian was a huge plus in negotiating the Vespa rentals.

We also saw the Pantheon on Wednesday. Of the many churches we saw (and Mary saw even more), this was my favorite. They say when it rains it comes right in the church and down a drain in the center.

No idea what church this is. There are hundreds in the city. I just liked the cross.

Taylor and I went to dinner while Mary had a date with Edward in the piazza. For those of you who have read the Twilight series, you understand.

Ponza, a little piece of heaven

2008-07-18T20:18:00.001-07:00

On Thursday we got up VERY early to head out to the island of Ponza, a destination for Italians on holiday.

One benefit of getting up at 4:30 is the beautiful view of St. Peter's.

The view from the ferry on the way in.

Our cutest little bed and breakfast....Villa Laetitia.

We were in the cinnamon room. I've heard B&B's can be a bit sketchy, but this one was really quite deluxe! And breakfast on the patio was amazing.

Ponza had the most narrow and steep streets I've ever seen! And the cars whipped right up them as if they were nothing. This photo doesn't quite do it justice, but this street was almost vertical.

The town was simply adorable.

One of Mary's daily rituals was to buy a peach (or two or three) for the day.

To get to the beach we had to take a little boat across the harbor.

Because everyone has asked...that thing on my head is a bandanna, caught in the wind.

The water was delightful! Brilliant blue and crystal clear. Sometimes we (i.e. Taylor) forgot it was salt water until he dove in and got a noseful of it. Apparently salt water is a great way to clear out the sinuses.

The actual beach wasn't quite as delightful. Notice the pebbles instead of sand. But we still had a great time listening to American oldies and enjoying the sun.

The view from our bed and breakfast.

This was my favorite tree. Now I just need to figure out how to grow something like that on my patio.

As Mary said....Ponza was just a little piece of heaven.

A day on the water

2008-07-18T16:21:00.001-07:00

We spent most of Friday exploring the island on a rented boat similar to the one on the bottom left. Another highlight of the trip!

Taylor and Mary took turns driving. I spent the entire day lounging in what Taylor called the "princess quarters."

Ponza has its own version of Arches. But I think Moab still wins.

While Mary was basking in all the sun she could get, poor Taylor wasn't really enjoying it. My skirt made a great turban to shield him a bit.

Not much to say...just a pretty boat.

Anzio was the port town where we took the ferry to and from the island. It was a very charming little town with a lively piazza, though this picture doesn't really show it.

Italia, Ciao!

2008-07-18T10:21:00.001-07:00

Our last day was spent shopping and roaming the city (no pun intented).

Mary gave new meaning to the term rapid fire. We just wanted one photo of us dancing, but we got a whole photo montage. I made them into a little video...hope you enjoy (because it took me hours!)

But Taylor and I didn't have all of the fun...Mary got her share of dancing.

Delicious!

On the last day Taylor got a little camera happy. My face probably says what you are feeling now....enough with the photos!!