Summer has officially arrived in Seattle! We have waited long and hard for it. Now, we are rewarded with sunny days, full of cheer. The flowers have come out in full splendour. Here are some pics from a walk around my neighborhood. Enjoy!

Adventure on,

Kristen

I am heading to Belize in a mere 10 days! If you’ve been there, please send any suggestions or tips! I am going for a dear friend’s wedding, but will stay for an extended time and traipse throughout Central America (including Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras) with my sister, who is meeting up with me. All together, I will be gone just over a month, so plenty of time to soak up some rays and some beautiful culture.

This picture was taken near Roatan Island, in Honduras back in 2006. Best way to get around the island was by hailing one of these boats, usually run by young boys! Not a bad way to travel.

Adventure on, and send me your thoughts!

Kristen

(For more great photos, check out DeliciousBaby’s Photo Friday post.)

Splat!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend, everyone!

Adventure on,

Kristen

Today is National Bike to Work Day. Dust off those handlebars, fill up the tires, and start pedaling!

Not only is bike riding one of the cheapest ways to get around, it’s a fun way to exercise and it reduces pollution at the same time. Talk about a win-win situation!

Luckily, where I live in Seattle, we have a pretty good biking community. Bike lanes, bike trails, and tons of fun mountain-biking, too!

This bike photo was taken in Cambridge, England, which has one of the best biking scenes around. Other cities I’ve visited that have excellent biking cultures include: Oslo, Amsterdam, Gent, and Hanoi. Chicago’s got a great lakefront bike trail that goes on for miles and miles, with excellent views of the city. Even when I lived in NYC, my friends and I rode our bikes everywhere: over the Brooklyn Bridge, throughout Riverside Park, and alongside the buses and cabbies all the way up 8th Avenue.

So, wherever you are, hop on the saddle, bike to work, and take a two-wheel tour of your own hometown. If you really want to get into it, you can join the League of American Bicyclists here: http://www.bikeleague.org/

Pedal on,

Kristen

p.s. For more great pics, check out Photo Friday.

Happy Mother’s Day to caring women everywhere!

This first picture is of a young mother and her child at the local market in Sa Pa, Viet Nam. The marks on their foreheads are from hot ash poured into a horn and placed on the forehead, which is meant to heal one’s sickness.

The second picture is of a beautiful woman named Li.  She is carrying her youngest child, Xu, on her back. She also has a 4-year-old at home, and is only 20 years old herself. I walked for miles with this woman and she was so nice and very curious, although she couldn’t understand how I could be my age and not have ever been married nor ever had kids. This was quite a shock to her and her culture!

The whole experience made me think about how incredibly different our two lives were, but also about the commonality between all women, no matter the culture.

Women the world over learn from their mothers, and in turn, teach the next generation through their examples. I am lucky to have the best mother in the world, who instilled in me a belief in myself and in the power to do good. Thanks, Mom!

Kudos to all of you moms out there…and to those of us who try to emulate you!

Enjoy your day, and adventure on!

Kristen

(For more great photos, check out DeliciousBaby’s Photo Friday post.)

What a week it’s been! What with everyone stressing out over swine flu and the media feeding the paranoia, what are we to do?

I say everyone needs to chill out, put your trust in Our Lady of the Bean, and relax and enjoy a cuppa.

Oh, and don’t forget to wash your hands!

Adventure on,

Kristen

(For more great photos, check out DeliciousBaby’s Photo Friday post.)

Happy Earth Day!

Photo: Olivier Bekaert

Want to participate in a fun lil’ project in honor of Earth Day? Help out the folks over at Earth Mosaic, who are collecting hundreds of thousands of photos to create a mosaic of our planet. Simply take a picture of your little piece of earth, and upload it here.

For more pictures of this beautiful world, check out my Earth Day Photos.

And remember, be kind to Mother Earth. Turn off a light, walk or bike instead of drive, reuse and recycle. Don’t make Mother angry!

Adventure on and go green,

Kristen

Happy Record Store Day! Actually, it’s tomorrow (April 18), but I’m giving you a heads up so that you can hustle your way down to one of your favorite record stores to pick up some special discounts and in-store performances. You can thank me later.

As someone who spent the better part of her high school and college days working in a record store, I have a personal bias for urging you to celebrate Record Store Day. Not that I made ANY money at this job. I spent 90% of my earnings on records, high-quality tapes on which to record these records, band posters to cover my dorm walls, concert tickets, and CDs (even though I did not yet even own a CD player). Basically, I was broke, but happy.

In these poor economic times, things like candy and lipstick go up in sales. Why? Because they are simple, inexpensive ways to help make ourselves feel better. Why not give yourself the gift of music? Sometimes shopping for music is just as much fun as listening to it!  Plus, you can walk out of any music store and get yourself a dose of happiness for under a tenner.

Perhaps you need the new Doves or Silversun Pickups album? Or how about grabbing an oldie but goodie? I recently found The Jam’s The “The Gift” (for $5.00 – what a steal!) at Jive Time Records in Fremont the other day. Did you know that Paul Weller just played here in Seattle on Wed night? I missed his show, but I might just go back to pick up that record!

Or, how about this gem that I found: The Cult’s “Sonic Temple”. I remember seeing The Cult when I was underage at The Metro in Chicago…on a school night, no less! I think my mom thought I was studying with friends. Little did I know then just how formative music would be to my life. And, what better place to indulge that passion than at the record store? That’s where all the kool kids are, anyways!

If you’re in Seattle, check out:

• Sonic Boom


• Easy Street


• Silver Platters


• Everyday Music


• Jive Time Records

Who needs match.com when you can go to an actual  store and meet persons of the opposite sex who have similar musical tastes sifting through the CD bin right next to you? Why not get your eye candy and ear candy at the same place? Try that one on for size, iTunes!

Now step away from the computer and bust a move down to your closest record store and buy yourself something. You deserve it!

Go broke and get happy.

For some crazy stories of my days of working at a record store in Chicago, see my post from last year’s “It’s Record Store Day!”

I swear we had this Fisher Price player growing up!

Kristen

p.s. Don’t forget to check out other great photos on DeliciousBaby’s Photo Friday!

This photo is called “Roadside Religion”. Being that today is Good Friday, I wanted to post a picture that uses a traditional symbol (the cross), found in an unusual place…with the sun in the background representing the resurrection and the light.

I am more of an outdoors person than a church person, and feel that you can find your spirituality and inspiration from just about anywhere. Even in the middle of nowhere, where this picture was taken.

Amen, and adventure on!

Kristen

Take two on the fabulous view from Brooklyn Heights looking over Manhattan, this time at night! It was so cold on this day, that my nose was running, my fingers were frozen, but I could not tear myself away from the scene and the awesome lighting. We photographers live for lighting and clouds like this!

After the shoot, I grabbed a jacket, met my friend, and headed out into the big, bold, beautiful city!

Adventure on after dark,

Kristen

(Check out the other wonderful photos on DeliciousBaby’s Photo Friday!)