Orange County's Leading Photographer
First of all, I DARE YOU to watch this video and not want to change your life and start doing something you love IMMEDIATELY.
Now, if you made it through that and are yearning for more, the same way I was, take a look at this performance on Letterman.
Now, run over to Amazon to purchase this album, and listen to “Home” in the car with your family and sing it about each other.
edward sharpe and the magnetic zeroes \\ Up From Below
These people make me feel something.
Wake up.
Get kids ready.
Pack lots of extra clothes because we don’t own snow gear. (Include borrowed jackets from the Mcgarvey’s)
“Bring every pair of pants you own! And lots of socks!”
Check snow hotline and find out that tire chains are required.
Head to the sporting good’s store a few days before Christmas to try and find chains.
Get in what I call a stress fracture fight.
Want to drive back home and THROW IN THE TOWEL.
Get on phone with the friends who are going with us, trying to decide if we should drive up if we need chains.
They call hotline and chains are no longer required.
Then they call again and they are required again.
We just decide to buy the damn chains already and start the drive.
None of us want to deal with chains, so we decide to just stop lower down the mountain to play if chains are in fact required.
But first we have to stop and grab some breakfast to go.
We finally hit the road.
Stop an hour later to meet friends in pre-arranged meeting place.
Everyone has to go to the bathroom.
Laugh that this is the most irritating way to spend a morning – getting ready to go to the snow.
Drive to mountain.
Drive up mountain.
Stop at mandatory chain turn out and start putting on chains. There is no snow to play in yet.
It is freezing and windy.
Jeff doesn’t know how to do it. I don’t know how to do it.
Brett, Billie, Gray start waving at us from up the hill a bit – the mandatory chain rule was suddenly lifted.
So we throw the chains back in the car and start driving back up the mountain.
Kids freak at the first sight of snow.
I freak at the first sight of snow.
Drive a short distance later and come to a complete stop.
For like fifteen minutes.
“What is going on up there? Is it an accident? Is it another required chain stop?”
Hop out of car and walk back in traffic to ask the others what they want to do.
Walk to front of traffic line and see that it is indeed another required chain stop.
At one time, all decide, “Screw this.”
Two cars make a u-turn.
And head down the mountain just a ways to the first innertube place we came across.
Decide it will do just fine.
Get out of car.
Put five children and four adults into whatever random snow gear the 9 of us had brought along.
This takes at least thirty minutes.
The snow pants I borrowed would not zip up.
Wait in line to enter the park.
Start a mean snowball fight and get in trouble because you are hitting random people in line.
Parents lead you to a quiet corner for a snowball fight.
The little guy always wins.
Fill out release forms.
Finally, finally, finally enter and begin sledding.
Spend a whopping one and a half hours sledding before the finger’s start to get numb and the cheeks start to hurt from the cold.
Head out.
Stop at a diner just down the road and order as much hot chocolate and hot tea and beer (Oops, not beer – sorry, no liquor license yet.) that you can handle.
Make the kids sit at an opposite table.
Look at, and share, the Instax photos from the day.
Think that Drew looks like he should be in a Wes Anderson film.
Say good-bye with full tummies and head home.
Sit in traffic for three hours.
Lose your patience more than once and wish for the sudden disappearance of anyone on I-10.
Almost get in an accident – car pulls out in front of me very suddenly and I swerve to miss, nearly hitting someone in next lane. So close I honestly do not know how it didn’t happen. MERE INCHES.
Gain your patience and perspective.
Drive home.
(Do laundry.)
And that my friends, is how the Whitney’s play in the snow.
(The puffy white stuff in your front yard isn’t sounding so bad right now is it?)
xo
Tara
P.S. The Instax shot of the kids in the car was taken while we waited for Jeff who was getting chains in the store. Just saying that now before I get emails about how I drove AND took a photo while my kids had no seatbelts on.
On Friday, the middle school kids didn’t have school. Which worked out great because Mckenna had physical therapy. Mima (Jeff’s mom) was meeting us there and taking Ken home for a special sleepover and trip to see Cinderella the musical.
It was also the first day in over a week that my back wasn’t killing me. I wanted to celebrate. (My back went out two weeks ago.)
Drew, Kenna, and I headed out and took care of her two appointments at the hospital. Mima picked her up and we said our goodbyes.
As Drew and I pulled out of our parking space, I asked him, “If you could go out to lunch A N Y W H E R E , where would you go?”
“Spaghetti Factory!” He grinned at me.
Dang-it. They don’t open for lunch. Try again.
He thought for a bit and then said, “Olive Garden?”
“The Garden it is.” Soup and breadsticks on a rainy day sounded perfect. “So, after lunch, if you could pick one place to go shopping, where would you go?” (I thought he would choose Gamestop.)
But he surprised me with, “Barnes and Noble!”
And so that is how I found myself on a date with my twelve year old son on a Friday afternoon.
We ordered enough Calamari for our entire family, but only the two of us had to share it. Bliss!
I sat and listened to him talk his blonde little head off. With no interruptions.
And then we went shopping and soaked up the bookstore. And splurged, completely splurged, on piles of books for both of us.
I spent a lot of time in art, business motivation, and parenting.
He spent a lot of time in Youth Fantasy and Comics.
As we were walking out, our arms loaded with books, I saw this. precious. little. number.
And my heart fluttered and I fell in love with a book. This beautiful pink book.
Had to share it, as I am sure many of you will fall in love as well.
Notes:
I played and fiddled with these photos after reading this tutorial on the Totally Rad blog.
Have you heard of formspring? I have been answering questions over there for a few weeks. I thought it was a great way to interact with my readers and give back to all of you.
Check it out and ask me anything. I just might answer.
xo
Tara