Hampton Court (& Shadow Shot Sunday)

When we first arrived to the UK Hampton Court was on our list of places we must visit before returning home. Some 3 years later and with tickets booked back home to Sydney we realised we still hadn't made our way out to Hampton Court!

Why is it that we always leave everything to the very last minute?!?! Having unusually awesome weather here in London we finally woke up one morning and jumped on a train to Hampton Court. The sun was shining and it was actually quite hot!

We checked out the various buildings and rooms - the tudor kitchens being one of my favourite bits, cause I love to imagine all the hustle and bustle going on in those big kitchens, wood fire roasting pits and the like, when the King is in for dinner!

Stepping out into the formal gardens was really really pretty. Manicured lawns, trees and flowers of all colours surrounded us with a lovely fountain smack in the middle. The best bit was there wasn't really any restrictions on where you could walk and we could plonk ourselves right on the manicured lawns and relax for abit.

We read somewhere that Hampton Court is meant to rival Frances Versailles. Well we'll soon see as we're off to visit there this weekend!

Oh and as i'll be away this weekend i'll post my Shadow Shot for next Sunday. Here it is - some of the perfectly manicured trees at Hampton Court.

Special Of the Week - Admin

I've decided to update my weekly specials on the right side bar from now on instead of doing a new post each time.

So to check out my weekly specials just have a little squiz to the right and you can click on the photo to see what the special is for the week!

Hope you remember to keep coming back each Monday to check out what the new special is!

Badlands NP (& Shadow Shot Sunday!)

Here is my latest entry into Hey Harriets Shadow Shot Sunday collages. This was taken at Badlands National Park which is also known as 'The Wall' in South Dakota . It's a photo of my husband standing in the 'window' overlooking the canyon.

The Badlands was one of the first national parks we visited on our USA trip and it certainly didn't disappoint! I was blown away by how specatcular it was! I'd never seen such jagged edges that went up and down, up and down. It was big but you could still see grasslands around it. So strange to just see these mounds of rocks every now and then surrounded by green grass.

We had high hopes to get there for sunrise but we woke up at 5am and it was already light out. We still made our way there for the early morning sun to enjoy the beautiful colours of the rocks. We came across some people doing yoga and I thought what a fantastic place to do Yoga - it was peaceful, serene and really what better place is there to do yoga but in nature!

This is a photo me in awe of the natural formations! Can you believe this was all created years and years ago by the forces of water. It was so hot and dry that I couldn't really believe water once flowed there!

This scene was the view from the Badlands Visitor Centre. How great to work at the Visitor Centre, having to drive through all this natural beauty and then being 'forced' to look out at this view all day long!!

SPECIAL OF THE WEEK!

This weeks special is another BOGOF!

Purchase any matted photo and receive a 5x7 photo (valued at $15) of your choice FREE!!! Just tell me the name of the 5x7 photo you want in the 'notes to seller' section when your purchase your matted photo.

Just below are the matted photos I have listed in my shop...but just about all my prints are available in 4x6 matted to 8x10 so if you like another photo just convo me and i'll set up a listing for you so you can take advantage of this deal. [click on the photo for details or to purchase]

I Want!

Cocozas: Granny Bag

See that gorgeous red and white granny bag just up there? Well I got this bag from fabulous seller Cocoza. I was on the search for a gift for my friend and I luckily found Cocozas shop and this pretty red granny bag in there! It was perfect!!! I received it in the mail recently and was very tempted to keep it for myself cause it was so pretty and nicely made ... but I somehow managed to control myself (only just!) and passed it onto my friend today.

It made me revisit all the bags I hearted while in the search for my friends gift. Now I am very tempted to get myself one! I'm quite liking the solid colours and simple but stylish styles at the moment. These are just a few of my favourite finds so far: [just click on the photo or shop link for more details]

Infusions: Blossom Bag

Iragrants: Multitask Bag

Morelles: Charlotte Bag

Morelles: Truffle Bag

Now if I can just sell a few more photos.....and then they will be mine, all mine muah ha ha ha :) (er that was meant to be evil laugh!)

Shadow Shot Sunday!

Here's my next entry to Hey Harriets Shadow Shot Sunday collage.

This one was taken on an early morning Sunday as the sun was rising. I love how the sun is streaming through the trees and casting shadows onto the frosty ground with a gorgeous gold mist in the background.

Usually shadows in a forest scare me but these ones look so pretty!!!

I got this one printed out to 8x12 to see how it looks and the colours, glow and mist come out really well so i've gone and listed it in my shop incase anyone wants to check it out!

Morning Light

SPECIAL OF THE WEEK!

This weeks special is Deserted Gas Station I and II!

Photos always look better as a set so for this week if you purchase this photo you will receive it's matching partner for FREE! That's two photos for the price of one!

(Click on the photo for more details or to purchase)

Shenandoah & Great Smoky Mountains

Shenandoah and The Great Smoky Mountains were the very first National Parks we visited in The States. It was green, lush and beautiful. Unfortunately I had grossly underestimated our driving times as I didn't realise that the scenic drive was so windy!! Never mind we just extended our time there by a couple more days (ahhh, the beauty of road trips!)

This is just a little bit of what these beautiful parks had to offer of us:

Shadow Shot Sunday

Here's my first ever entry into Hey Harriets Shadow Shot Sunday collages! This is the quintessential camel/desert shot that everyone seems to take when making a journey into the desert on camelback.

Um, i just realised i'm posting this on a Friday and this photo was shot on a Saturday...hmmm...hope it still qualifies for Shadow Shot Sunday!

SPECIAL OF THE WEEK!

Edit 11/07/08 - I've decided to finally clear my shop of my earrings and focus on the photography. As such the Special of the Week will no longer exist for the earrings - instead ALL Earrings are on sale NOW - just go here to check it out! A new separate Earring Store will open soon...I'll keep you posted.

I've created a new section in my shop called Special of the Week. I'm going to select 1 photograph and 1 earring each week to be discounted for just that week, so keep popping by my shop to see what's on special!!

This weeks specials can be found here and are:

Hazel Harmony - Only $8 (was $10)

New York City Skyline 8x12 Photograph - Only $18 (was $25)

Back From The States!

In my haste to get ready to leave on our vacation some 6 weeks ago, I forgot to put a little message in my blog to let you know where i'd be! So incase you've been wondering where i've been these past 6 weeks, i'm back to tell you I was in the USA!!!

Our long awaited trip to The States has come and gone by so fast. We spent 6 weeks starting from Toronto (ok this is Canada) making our way to Boston, NYC, Philly and DC. We picked a car up at DC and started driving towards sunny Miami. After that a short flight to New Orleans and then another short flight to South Dakota to start our next driving trip from Mt Rushmore all the way to San Fran stopping by lots of National Parks on the way.

Had an amazing trip! All you US based Etsians are so lucky to live in such a huge and varied country. There's so much to do - lots of beautiful nature, lots of weird and wacky, lots of everything and anything - oh and lots of great food (and a little too much fast food - sorry!).

I loved how every state is different from the other - from the landscape change to the people change to the food change, even the architecture and history change. Each new state was something fresh for us to enjoy.

If only we had more time - 6 weeks just flew by!

Will post more photos up soon but here's a few of one of my fav spots we visited:

Antelope Canyon