I See London, I See France...

So, this past weekend, Chris and I drove up to Pennsylvania to see his little sister graduate from college (good lord we're old!). :)

We had a whirlwind weekend full of graduation-type activities and celebrations. I was a little stressed because of the long drives, etc, but mostly it was a great weekend. And it's always a pleasure to spend time with Chris's family; we definitely don't get to see them enough.

I packed a new skirt to wear Saturday and then one of my favorite sun dresses to wear on Sunday. It has a "keyhole" in the front in the shape of a triangle. One of my good friends once told me that it looked like I got stabbed with a Toblerone. So, Chris and I call it The Toblerone Dress. Anyways, that's besides the point.

Toblerone (www.toblerone.com).

The Toblerone Dress. Picture by Laura Smith.

Right as Chris and I were getting ready to leave on Sunday afternoon, his family asked if I would take a picture of them for their Christmas card. Naturally, I said "of course!" Unfortunately, I had on The Toblerone Dress that day, and it was quite windy.

So, as I had my hands up holding the camera, a lovely breeze kissed our cheeks, and then blew up my dress, revealing my bright red underwear with white polka dots to my entire family of future in-laws. I literally died on the spot. Like, really- I'm not actually alive anymore. But, my dead self had to suck it up, laugh at myself, and then keep on snapping photos. Oy. It was seriously a moment out of some kind of sick, twisted movie a la Meet the Parents. Chris was all, "at least you had on underwear..." and I was all "I can't actually answer you because I'm dead."

Have you ever embarrassed yourself in front of your in-laws or SO's family?

What's Your Favorite Position?

Get your minds out of the gutter. This post is about bunnies!

Bunnies sit/lie in all sorts of different positions. It's quite amusing, really. With rabbits, the harder it would be to get up and run from a position, the more relaxed they are (makes sense!). Some of these have been given names by the "Bunny People," others have been given names by yours truly or by my family/friends. So, what's your favorite position?

Not sure what this is actually called... Chris dubbed it The Ballerina

This is called The Flop or The Dead Bunny Flop. This is one the "Bunny People" named. This is what happy, relaxed buns do!

The Flop II

Chris calls this one Loaf Bun, my sister calls it Blob Bunny.

This is Basic Bun.

When buns do this, it's called Presenting. It means they would like you to pet them.

Super Bun!

Super Bun II

This is called a Half Flop.

Sphinx Bun.

This is called Lamb Chop (This actually isn't the best picture of this, but I couldn't find a better one!). He puts his feet off to an angle.

This is sorta better, but not really.

Perhaps this post was an excuse to post pictures of Coltrane. Perhaps it was an excuse for me to click through the all of the (hundreds of) photos I have taken of Da Bun over the past few years. Anyways, most people don't really know how awesome and interesting and fun rabbits can be, and I consider it one of my life missions to spread the word.

A November Stroll

I have been wanting to go on a hike with my camera for over three months now, I think. Our summer weekends got eaten up by gigs, travel, bad weather, and then, when our sailboat was finally ready for the sea, with sailing. And maybe it was good we didn't go when it was hot and humid (Virginia can be unrelenting weather-wise in the summer). So, yesterday, Chris and I went on a 3.5 mile hike around a local reservoir (we had done this hike only once before, right when we moved to town), and the leaves were gorgeous, and the weather was perfect. So I snapped about a hundred pictures. Here are some of the better ones:

Sign at the trailhead.

The trail.

Pretty tree!

Fuschia leaf.

My sister, who is a much better photographer than me, told me that good photos feature interesting angles. I thought this fallen tree might fit that criteria...

Winter is coming...

And now, a series of pictures of Chris balancing on things...

Blanket of color.

The reservoir.

We came upon a series of trees that seemed to have lost their lives to beavers. What a way to go...

Staircase.

The trail takes you across the dam... here's the resevoir from the dam.

The sun was obviously in our faces... this is the same picture we took on this same hike like three years ago!

A picture Chris took of me... no making fun of the backwards baseball cap please! I wore it that way so I could snap pictures easily.

Oh no, which way?

The old dam house, which is now falling to pieces.

An abandoned farmhouse at the end of the trail.

I really liked this tree.

I hope you all had lovely weekends and got to enjoy the weather!

Beach Pictures

Update: I still have Vertigo. For the past five days, it has felt like my entire life has been uprooted and moved onto a cruise ship. One that's cruising across the North Atlantic. Except there's no Ledo Deck and no little drinks with umbrellas.

Anyways, I have a Dr's appointment Saturday morning, so hopefully it will be something that is easily treated. Of course, if you google "vertigo," the results are almost all related to brain tumors. Sweet.

So, anyways, as promised, here are the pictures I took while on my vacation. Sigh. Vacation.

Currituck Lighthouse

Someone else's family photo

The long, narrow walkway that started the Vertigo issue

Very tall grassy-type plants

My dragon fly friend

Pretty

The lighthouse, from the sound

Canadian Geese

The Captain reads the sign

Pretty again!

Ridiculous squinty picture of me

Blade

My monarch friend

Support your local hookers

Signs, signs, everywhere are signs

Sunset through a foggy lens