sunshine flows and winds do blow.

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”- John Muir

Yes. I know. Two John Muir quotes in a row, but after what I’ve seen over the past two weeks, how could I not quote John Muir here.  On the morning of my 25th birthday, before the sun rose over the horizon in Columbus, Matthew and I boarded a plane due west.  Our hopes were for rest, exploration, rejuvenation, and inspiration.  It goes without saying we found all of those things, and more, in the great state (and my birthplace!) of California.

Traveling for us is so exciting, we are not your typical tourists. With a tight wallet and a desire to get to know the character of our surroundings, we seek out the local corner market and save our dough in cheap hotels.  After two weeks in southern California, I can’t tell you where the finest steakhouses are, or where to find a celebrity, but the things I did learn run a bit deeper, for it’s in those moments of spontaneity, and a “roll with it” attitude that make for the best times.   For the first few days of  our trip we perused the streets of Silverlake and enjoyed the mellow vibe of Venice Beach.  For a couple who built our roots in surf and skate culture, Venice was a mecca for us!

California is home to a lot of family for me, and a few days with my beautiful cousin in San Diego proved to be the perfect “middle-of-the-trip” pitstop! I remember stretching out on her couch after the 2 hour drive from LA. “Man, this is so much better than a hotel.” She laughed, “That’s because it’s a home.” And home is exactly how it felt.  My Dad is a Marine, being stationed at Camp Pendleton in his early years meant he had the opportunity to build a surf stoke all over that San Diego coast.  In fact, the stoke that he found back in the 70’s is the same stoke that’s been passed on to my brother, myself, and now my husband.  It was surreal being able to visit all the surf spots he’d told me about, walk through the campground he stayed at with a hitchhiking surf bum, and dip my toes in the water at the world famous (and now threatened) Trestles.  It was a shame we didn’t have our boards, those waves were killer.  One of the evenings, we ventured down to Sunset Cliffs and basked in the raw beauty that surrounded us.  Each wave, with purpose, came crashing into the cliffs, and with each pounding hit, the rock would quake beneath us.  We just sat there for hours, enjoying the silence of each other and the crash of the Pacific. Just as the sun was setting, we spotted some dolphins surfing the waves, and while I’ve seen my share of dolphin in the wild, watching an entire pod surf in those massive waves was just incredible.  While in San Diego, cousin Heather took us to the Museum of Photographic Arts, which was exciting in and of itself, but once inside Matthew spotted a print by one of his filmmaking/photography heroes, Edward Burtynsky.  If you have never seen his film Manufactured Landscapes, we highly recommend it.  Needless to say, he was pretty happy.

After our brief hiatus in the South, we high-tailed it to the most exciting part of the trip for us, a 6.5 hour drive into the mountains that contain Sequoia National Park for three nights of camping.  It’s a personal goal of both of ours to visit every national park in our lifetime, scratching this one off the list felt good…although I can assure you we will be back.  There’s something about going into nature that just feels right. John Muir, in our opinion one of the greatest men who ever lived, had his fingerprints all over this park.  Having named the grove of Sequoia’s that reside there (The Giant Forest) and explored every canyon and crevice throughout, we felt pretty honored, and even more humbled to be in the company of the same trees.  Yeah. We love trees.  Muir once said of a day spent in the mountains, “I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”  We couldn’t agree more.  We spent our days exploring the giant sequoia trees, and our nights huddled around the fire.  With colder weather than expected, we showed up to our campsite in shorts, only to find it still covered in snow.  With a shovel and high spirits we cleared it out and got comfortable.  On the first night we met two campers in an adjacent campsite, and quickly learned that they, too, are artists.  Mark and Jason are students at a photography school in Ventura, and we spent our first night communing with them, talking about art, nature, and the beauty of man.  At one point Mark raised his glass, “cheers to good, deep, thought-evoking conversation with a couple of strangers.” Our philosophy, indeed. Check out Jason Rodriguez’s beautiful cinematography here, and then head over to Mark Shearer’s website, filled with though-provoking imagery here. The next morning Matt ventured out with the boys, camera in tow, and scratched another item off his life “to-do” list, he saw bears…THREE bears in the wild, and of course, captured them with our 7D.  At the end of our quick escape to the mountains, we left with promises of returning.

While packing our suitcases for our return trip, I found myself thinking about Matt, and how much fun we have together.  This year, in August, we will celebrate FIVE years of marriage, five action-packed, adventurous, humorous, at times challenging, but always fulfilling years together.  I feel so blessed to be one of the lucky ones, my husband truly is my best friend, and just as we honeymooned in Costa Rica after our wedding, we honeymooned together in California five years later, still laughing and holding hands and flirting like teenagers.  We just make such a good team.  And with that, please enjoy an extended 2 week version of our photographs from the week, a compilation of our favorite iphone photos.

Friends, as I leave you today, I encourage you to take a moment this week. Dedicate your time to being quiet, there’s so much to learn in those moments of silence.  Remember, it doesn’t take a vacation to realize your dreams, set your sights, and go running.  Let the rest be an adventure. Take care.

-Katie

stand close.

“We all flow from one fountain—soul.” -John Muir

Friends, as I write today, I feel as if it’s almost out of necessity.  Last night was one of the worst, most fitful nights of sleep I’ve had in quite some time.  While I was tossing and turning, I was thinking of Alix, and while I was sleeping, her beautiful face filled my dreams.  We spoke, she smiled, my trust in humanity was reconfirmed.  The reality of the situation is that while I tossed and turned, Alix waited out the night in the intensive care unit of Grant Hospital, holding on, like a trooper, to this thing we call life.

Alexandria Reese and I were never close friends.  I can’t tell you her favorite song, how many siblings she has, or the name of her cat. Beyond a mutual deep love of “LOST” we haven’t had many conversations, but as a best friend to a couple that I keep so near to my heart, I know that this girl carried with her adventure, spark, spunk, and a smile that could quiet a room.  Yeah, she’s that stunning.  Without shame I can admit that anytime Matt and I are heading out to enjoy some local music, he casually wonders if Alix will be there.  And then Thursday happened.  While just driving in her car, Alix was caught in the middle of serious gang activity, and with a round of crossfire she was shot in the neck.  How does one comprehend that? Does that happen? I still struggle to wrap my mind around it.  Saturday I sat in my friend Jack’s mom’s kitchen.  “You’ve now lost your innocence” she says.  These things do happen.

So what can I take from this? Through a gamut of  emotion from anger to disgust to pity to confusion, I struggled with finding a life-lesson, one that can apply to my everyday being.  With the help of the previous weekend, I think I’ve found it.  UNITY.  This past weekend, ironically, was one of the best weekend’s I’ve had in such a long time.  Matthew and I surrounded ourselves with friends, from Friday night through Sunday night.  We feasted, we toasted, we gathered with hundreds of Columbus’ finest to play music and raise funds for Alix.  We kayaked, we played soccer, pool, air hockey and football.  And we laughed.  We experienced the good stuff, what life is really made of, and in that, I saw the potential we all have as human beings.  Alix may have reconfirmed my trust in humanity in my dreams, but my friends unknowingly spent their weekend doing the same.  Life is good, life is unexpected, and life is a journey in which none of us have a roadmap.  We’re all left guessing at every fork in the road, and that’s okay.  We are only human.

As Brundlefly stood on stage, an unexpected and last minute reunion for Alix, Jack told the crowd, “…put your arm around the person next to you. stand close. take care of each other, look out for one another.” From my stage-view, I watched hundreds of people link up. become one. UNITE.  Humanity, a single vessel in this storm-tossed sea.

Friends- this week take this lesson with you.  Look out for one another, stand close, and don’t be afraid to lean on the shoulder of another, as long as you’re willing to provide your own in a time of need. If I don’t tell you enough- I LOVE YOU. take care of yourselves, it’s a crazy world. -Katie

-photos of the week-

-for updated information on Alix including where you can donate, “light a candle”, and show support, I urge you to visit prayersforalix.com as well as join her facebook support page.  and finally folks, please pray for alix reese.

…in the flicker.

“Like a flash of lightning between the clouds, we live in the flicker.”- Joseph Conrad

I can’t believe it’s the last week of May already!  I remember when we rolled into January 2010, June and summer goodness seemed so far away.  You see, we Denis’ are summer people.  While I’ve grown to appreciate that which is winter…to an extent, I much prefer Winter’s fun-loving sister Summer. As mentioned before, I’ve been off keeping busy on a photo catalog shoot, therefore the past few weeks of warm weather have been a tease for me.  I found myself staring out the window, or finding an excuse to go to my car just to briefly rendezvous with my good friend the Sun.

As we are rounding the corner into June, our schedule is about to get HECTIC! 25 is just 8 days away, which means that tomorrow begins birthday week! In our home, birthdays are a big deal, there’s just something about having a special day set aside just for you that I love.  Every year Matt tries to top the year before, and I think that this year he will succeed… in just 8 days we will be flying west to sunny Los Angeles for a much needed vacation. Matt and I work together, which means it’s so difficult to draw a line between work and rest for us, and sometimes we find that the only conversation we’ve had all day has revolved around our business.  To be clear, we love what we do, we feel incredibly blessed, it makes us so downright happy…with that said, the “off” switch is necessary sometimes, and for us, Los Angeles is that button.

Bella may not be as excited for our vacay.  She’s gotten quite used to my being home again, and we’ve tried to do something exciting every day with her, whether it be a fun swim at Antrim Park or a brisk walk through Blendon Woods, she appreciates the exercise and is wiped out for the rest of the day.  If it was up to us, she’d go everywhere with us, despite her bad habits…(like chasing every moving thing that she encounters, including but not limited to bees, squirrels, bunnies, dogs, humans…) she behaves SO much better once she’s gotten ample attention. Don’t we all?

-our weekly photos-

Friends, that’s all for today.  I encourage you to be mindful of your thoughts, your actions and your deeds, if even just for today. Peace.

-Katie Ann

two is better than one.

and that’s why I’m introducing another blog!  As I’m nearing my 25th birthday (don’t worry, I’m actually really excited to hit the 1/4 mark!) I’ve been reflecting on the direction that my life is going.  Life is good.  Life is darn good, and while I share it with my family in bits and pieces, I find it’s so hard to keep those near and dear to me updated on my every happening.  So here we are, a personal blog, meant for nothing else than the relief of getting out my thoughts in whatever way I know how.  I encourage you to leave comments, and while I’ll be doing most of the writing, Matt is right along here with me, and of course Bella too.  Thanks for being here!

Matthew and I have been working like maniacs lately (me on a photoshoot for Longaberger Baskets and Matthew on various 12 hour shoots over the past 6 days) and haven’t had much time to spend with the Bean.  Despite our walks every evening after I get home, she never seems to lose her energy.  This girl ALWAYS has a tennis ball nearby, on the off chance that something will send it into motion, only so she can chase it and bring it right back again.  I snapped this photo of her two days ago, thought she was too beautiful not to share.