My favorite part of Tahoe is its beaches — hands down. Early morning. Middle of the day. After dark. When I was sitting in a smoky casino and on a dry-air mountain peak in Heavenly Valley, that beach is where I wanted to be.
On Sunday, Maggie and I snuck away from the mountain condo where we had met up with family during the week. We joined some of her local friends on the beach for an eclipse-viewing barbecue. It was early afternoon. The air was cool and refreshing. The sandy beach was rough and golden. It felt relaxing and calming (especially after we dealt with altitude sickness, learned that Maggie’s apartment had been burglarized and found out my uncle lost his battle with cancer that morning). Beach air was definitely needed. A minute with out feet in the water, priority.
Maybe it was the eclipse or maybe it’s just Tahoe, but it was a pretty perfect evening. There was great conversation with interesting, friendly people. Children laughed and played for hours in the golden sunlight. And, I saw my first eclipse.
Here is a little peak into one of my evenings in South Lake Tahoe, taken with film, digital and the iPhone. Did you see the eclipse?
We used welder’s glass and paper to see the eclipse. I was too scared to photograph it after I read it can completely ruin a camera censor.
The kids. Oh man. Adorable.
I tried to use my phone to catch the eclipse. There were some interesting effects:
Hallie made a collage of Jen’s engagement photos in an old window. It’s so beautiful.
Don’t be fooled by all the flowy green gowns: These girls gots ghetto!
I recently had the pleasure of photographing Cooper, a beautiful local teen with a refreshing and genuine spirit. She made me miss high school, and reminded me why I love young people so much.
Last week, a friend lost her husband and a city lost a fire captain. It was one of the hardest parts of the week, but the funeral was beautiful and honored a man everyone loved. 
It was a bittersweet day. There were tears of sadness, but I so enjoyed seeing my aunt in the quiet of her country home. We had dinner and walked around her garden, eating her strawberries and petting her chicken, who thinks she is a lap dog. 
Later in the week, I visited my uncle. We’re all praying hard, and I hope you will too. Doctors are going to try one last thing, and we all have tons of hope that it will do just the trick. He’s beat it once, I know he can do it again. 
And, of course, yesterday, I celebrated Mother’s Day with my mom. We had a houseful of friends — mine and my sister’s. I think my mom enjoyed having a house full. We started the morning off with our first-ever run together. My mom loves to run, and she was so happy Maggie and I went with her. It was a great way to start the day. The rest of the day, we did things like eat pineapple, watch Kayla’s dog jump in the pool, lounge outside and drink homemade iced coffees.
A hot air balloon floated over the lake as the sun was coming up one morning.
I like that an Instagram friend named this sprinkler photo “Peacock.”
My tin can garden is flourishing slowly. My peas sprouted quite a bit in just a few days.
Love and technology. (Katie and Dan).
… which I did not touch : ) Instead, I waited for my egg white veggie omelet and fresh fruit.
Cone of shame.
Jen’s adorable kids testing out the photobooth.
The photographer at work.
Sunday evening was for unwinding and digging through the bead box.
I read funny old emails from a friend who is no longer here. Instagrammers suggested I make a book out of them. I think that’s a great idea.
I knew I’d been nominated for two awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association. But this weekend, I found out I won two first place awards. One was for Best Feature (about a man living with mental illness) and another for Lifestyle Coverage in Lodi Living, which is a great honor because it’s my every day project.
