use real butter

Today’s shoot was sobering in contrast to the exhausted elation of the trip earlier this week. The aspens have taken a serious beating from storms and so there wasn’t much to salvage. Still, despite the fact that the quality of the aspens wasn’t good enough for dedicated shooting, it was a spectacular sunny day with blue skies and gentle breezes that rustled the remaining leaves. We walked through one promising stand of mature aspens on a carpet of golden leaves. Fall is magical here. I told Beth on our last shooting trip that getting outside on a regular basis – into the splendor that is Colorado – makes me say over and over again, “I am so happy.”

kaweah was pretty happy

I had accepted early on that there weren’t many money shots to be had, so Jeremy and I turned the trip into recon for the next fall shoot. While one person might see naked, gray aspen trunks on a hillslope, I see a full green forest in summer, fiery yellows and oranges in fall. I keep thinking to myself that I’ve seen all of the most beautiful places in Colorado, only to discover more valleys full of aspen stands, more jagged mountains draped in snow, more lakes and streams reflecting the blue skies above, more sprawling skyscapes over healthy dark green pine forests to take your breath away. This place is my home. I’m falling in love all over again.

a place to unwind

A storm is blowing in as I type, so hopes of sunset shots were dashed for this evening. Actually, I don’t mind. It was nice to find a local coffee shop in town to chill out with Jeremy while we caught up with work. Driving another thousand miles this weekend gives us plenty of time to discuss future plans. Where to shoot in the coming year? Southern California beckons to me as does Washington, Oregon, Montana, Utah, and there is always Colorado. I’m feeling excited and energized. I’ll post more photos from the fall shoot (and recipes) when I get home on a network that doesn’t feel like squeezing blood from a turnip. Tonight’s adventure – to find decent Mexican food in Colorado: something that seems obvious, but is actually quite elusive.

I’m writing from my motel room and well, I was in this same motel just two nights ago. This time, however, I’m with Jeremy and Kaweah who are joining me for a weekend of shooting, hiking, and hopefully, decent fall colors. Kaweah couldn’t care less about the colors – she’s all about finding Dead Things. This year’s colors are substantially diminished compared to last year. That early season snow storm on the last day of summer and the subsequent wind storms haven’t helped either. In the north, the stands are dull and stripped bare. I think tomorrow might be the last good day of the season before another storm comes barreling through. As with life, as with everything – make the most of it.

aspens aren’t the only color in colorado

This is actually the first time in about three weeks that I get to spend quality time with Jeremy because we’ve both been traveling and very busy. Already, the 5+ hour drive was spent talking and catching up with one another. I love that kind of QT. Kaweah is snoring – she has one queen bed ALL TO HER FURRY SELF! Well, this post is a short one because the wireless in the motel is utter crap, we’re all nodding off, and NaBloWriMo will inevitably involve short, pointless (okay, I guess all of my posts are pointless) ramblings.

Have a great weekend. See you here tomorrow :)

The winner of the drawing: yes, I had a great scheme to pick the winner in San Francisco, and instead, was utterly distracted by our jam packed schedules and all of the beautiful, shiny people I met. So tonight, Jeremy and Kaweah played a few games and Jeremy produced a random number of 469 based on Kaweah’s ability to dig a treat out of her kong toy several times. Congratulations to Maressa! Because I’m hitting the road in less than 5 hours, I will email you at the end of the week (or you can email me) for your mailing address. Thank you to everyone for sharing your awesome autumn memories with me. Unfortunately, I was craving pumpkin and apples ALL WEEK :)

I’m home just in time to leave again! As some of you know, I was in San Francisco over the weekend for the BlogHer Food conference. If you want me to attend anything, hold it in San Francisco or Seattle, and I’ll be there. So while I’m about to hit the road to hunt down some Colorado Gold (leaf peeping), you can peruse the photos from the conference (it will be like you were there, and in some cases, you WERE there!) and read over my random musings regarding the weekend.

But before we get started with the conference, here is what was happening down the road from my house today:

aspen canopy

this guy was huge

a different bull elk, bossing everyone around

Helen (Tartelette) and I met at SFO for the first time! It’s old hat now when you’ve been friends for over a year that when you finally meet in real life (IRL) all the jokes and laughs come tumbling out. We made our way into the city and had ourselves some sushi for lunch at Akiko’s.

helen at akiko’s

white tuna belly sashimi

**Jump for more butter**