Packing & Unwinding

Hi social media world! I've been on a bit of a hiatus the past few weeks. Not on purpose but just because of life and because I'm smack dab in the middle of my four week rotation of night shifts and when I'm on night shifts I'm always a little MIA. Tonight Brandon (photographer behind Blue Ridge Imagery) and I were planning on going out to Shenandoah National Park so he could teach me a few things about astrophotography. Unfortunately Mother Nature had her own agenda and our 0%-chance-of-clouds-night turned into partly cloudy with a chance of rain and maybe a thunderstorm or two. Hmph. So I am currently snuggled up with some tea and sorting through the thousands (literally thousands) of pictures I dumped on my backup drive about half a year ago and it's driving me crazy that they're not organized into folders. But I'm having fun looking through old hiking pictures and reminiscing on the fun summer I've had outdoors!

So I don't know about anyone else but lately Richmond had been having some INSANE sunsets and sunrises. I'm amazed at how much color has been appearing morning after morning, night after night. Granted most of these were taken with a cell phone and touched up in LightRoom (the iPhone app) but still the colors blow me away! I had to post some of my favorite recent pictures, including the mushroom because fungi are fun.

Michael and I are getting ready to leave for a two week vacation to Iceland and I couldn't be more excited! Packing has already commenced and I've been diligently sifting through our mounds of gear to figure out what we need and studying up to make sure I'm investing in some quality stuff that'll last us a long time. Next week Michael and I are planning on getting out to do a hike and some kayaking before we leave! As much as I wish I had done some more hiking these past few weeks I'm so happy for the relaxing days and nights at home- I've gotten SO much done it's unreal. But the occasional walks to watch the sun rise and set have been good for me :)

I hope everyone is spending these next few weeks savoring the last little bits of summer. It's so bittersweet for me when summer ends, I love it so much but... FALL! Fall is literally the best season and I think everyone can agree when I say I wish it was a month longer... or I'd also be cool if we skipped winter entirely and just had one big long fall season that morphed into spring? Anyone else?