So Saturday afternoon me and my friend went to Southern Season to walk around and look for a birthday present for her mom. First let me just say that WOWZERS, Southern Season is awesome! I’m so bummed to hear that my first trip may be my last in Richmond because it is closing on the 25th (WAH!?)
Well in any case we left the store after seriously swooning over everything and I mean everything (the glasses, the cheese, the bakery, the cooking classes kitchen and oh did I mention the CHEESE!) and as we left I saw it, the most perfect portrait location.Read More »
This snowstorm we just had couldn’t have had better timing. It came on a weekend that I so desperately needed, a weekend to be forced to do nothing but stay in and relax. First let me say that I LOVE snow. Read More »
I should just point out that I am very rarely accidentally prepared. When I meet people who are always “accidentally prepared” I’m always thinking it can’t be so. They totally planed it. Had to. Why do I doubt their constant twist of luck? Well it’s really because I’m the kind of person who has to plan being prepared, double check for things and may even still leave my phone charger at home. (See my last post for proof). I mean one time I left Baltimore to drive home with Sterling to Richmond, got all the way to a gas station in DC and realized I couldn’t get out to go to the bathroom. Why? Oh because I left my shoes at home… in Baltimore… my shoes… I mean… really? Who does that? Me. Alex Robertson.
So when I say we were perfectly accidentally prepared for these images, I really mean it. We were driving down 250 around Charlottesville when I saw it, a soy bean field, not just any soy bean field- it was the perfect soy bean field. By the time I had turned to Sterling to mention my idea, we had passed it…. Now usually I would just say to myself “aw shucks” and move on with my day but I just couldn’t get over the way this soy bean field just said “common, take a picture here, you know you want to”. Plus normally I don’t ever have my tripod with me. My big, kind of heavy tripod. But on Saturday, I did. 🙂
Why did I have it “accidentally”? Well because when I went on my road trip to LA, my friend’s sister took it back with her in their car to RVA (this was in JULY). About three weeks ago I finally went over to her house to pick it up and just hadn’t cleaned it out of my car yet… yeah. So tripod? Check.
So I turned to Sterling and I said “You know, we could stop somewhere and take pictures if you wanted…” in a, ‘I mean only if you want to’ way. Without skipping a beat Sterling goes “Yeah, definitely. Like where?”
So we turned the car around, parked in someone’s side yard (thank you whoever you were), put our hazards on, jumped out of the car with my camera and tripod and went for it. These pictures are a product of the perfect self timer, gorgeous glowy light and just going for it. I don’t do PDA so for me, running through a field to Sterling and dipping for a (smooch) (I even hesitate to admit it, that’s how much I don’t do PDA) while cars were driving by would have normally clammed me up. But that’s why Sterling is the ying to my yang. When I worry about the cars passing by and the property owners who may come and holler, he just says “What’s the worst that could happen? They ask us to leave and we leave.” And so I ignored the cars, set the timer and went for it. We accidentally got the perfect light at the same time we passed the perfect field (on 250, when we usually take 64). The perfect accidental images with the greatest guy around.
So moral of the story, don’t clean out your car? Not exactly. The real moral I have to tell myself is to just go for it. I have to remind myself to forget the noise around me, jump into a field and love the little moments that can be so accidentally perfect.
The image above isn’t perfect but it’s straight out of camera and is what I saw as I drove by.
Months ago I mentioned to my friend Beth that I wanted to go to a big sunflower field and pick sunflowers. Sunflowers are my favorite and I really wanted to get pictures of fields filled with sunflowers. I looked up “Sunflower Farms in Virginia” and as it turns out there is only one, Burnside Farms. Read More »
Well folks, this is the last installment of the cross-country road trip posts. I combined all my wild west memories together to create one epic blog post! 🙂 Read More »
Do you ever have moments when you’re first impression is just wrong. Maybe you jumped to judgement too quickly, or maybe you didn’t, but there is another side to someone, something that you just didn’t see. New Orleans was this way for me. Read More »
It’s that time again, the end of the month means it’s reflecting time. The month of July was all about adventures so I thought I would use this month’s reflection series about my road trip, specifically how to survive a road trip.
I love road trips, obviously I mean I just did a 12 day road trip across the country for the second time in two years. But while I love them I’ll be frank and tell you that long road trips, the ones that take longer than one day of driving, really could go either way… you could love it and have the best time or… it could go sour. It really teeters on a few key factors that can make or break the trip. Read More »
You guys… this trip was amazing! I’m back from my cross country road trip and I have to say I’m glad to be back. I mean I had the best time but I was gone for 12 days and that is a long time to be away from home. Now that I’m still a little stuck in West Coast time I’ve been giddy while editing all the images from the trip. I got a lot of images from the trip because I was determined to try photo journaling. Read More »
I am innately a scaredy cat. Big time scaredy cat. To add to that I’m also a rule follower. Yeah… I’m the girl that wants to ask permission and always weighs safety into my decisions. Sometimes this is good but many times that makes me miss out on adventures because I’m too nervous to just go for it. So what do you do when you want to be adventurous but are naturally a play it safe kind of girl? You make a bucket list. I mean it! This is not just for older people! In my early 20s I sat down and made a bucket list, something that I could constantly adjust, add to, cross off of etc. Something that was going to hold me accountable for the dreams I said I wanted to see/do. My bucket list lets me look at opportunities that come to me and grab them. Instead of just passing up opportunities because of safety scenarios or timing, my bucket list encourages me to take the leap and go.
It’s happening! Again! I’m traveling across the country to LA with one of my oldest friends from Camp! Last time I drove across the country we went from Atlanta to San Diego (view the recap from the blog here) and this time we are driving from Richmond, Virginia to Los Angeles, California!
A few weeks ago I was sitting in my house thinking about how all I wanted to do was a big summer adventure. I have friends that are planning or already went on trips to places like the Bahamas, Chicago and more and I desperately wanted to get up and go somewhere! Well as if I had a direct line up to God and my request was placed on overnight shipping, I got an email from my friend Elysia the next day! She started off by saying she had this crazy proposition for me and little did she know I was looking for an opportunity exactly like this!
She asked if I would join her in driving her car all the way to LA where she is starting a new job in the beginning of August. I responded immediately with a big YES and then proceeded to call my parents to tell them the exciting news. I am pumped to say the least and can not wait to see some similar sites as last time but also some amazing new sites!
We sat down yesterday to plan out the details of the trip and sketched out where we will stay each day. Now I’m turning to you guys, take a look at our itinerary and let us know where we should eat, stop to take a picture or other places we have to see/go along the way!
Stops
Nashville, Tennessee
Birmingham, Alabama
New Orleans, Louisiana
Austin, Texas
Roswell, New Mexico
Farmington, New Mexico
Four Corners (New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado)
