florida, here we come!

that's right!  we are headed to florida the end of may and boy am i ready.  my youngest cousin, clay, joined the army in february.  he is graduating from boot camp at fort benning in georgia, so the family is headed down to see him.  but, on the way we are all making a *quick* pit stop in destin, florida.  i mean, it's on the way, right?  i'm super excited.  if you haven't been to destin, you must go.  it's absolutely beautiful.  white sand beaches and blue water.  i will just plop myself down and relax for a few days.

kj the mermaid...no she's not black...that is what happens when she gets sun.  makes me sick i tell ya!

scott the octopus

any suggestions for this year's sand art????

capri

welcome to beautiful capri...

where it is warm and sunshiny{unlike oklahoma right now!}

this was our greek tour guide...he was quite a hoot!

we went to capri to see the "blue grotto".  from rome we took a bus to naples and from there a ferry to the island of capri.  once we got to capri we took a boat to the area where the blue grotto is.

then we had to climb into little row boats {4 people + 1 local rower} that would take us into the blue grotto cave. 

my favorite photo of chris....through the legs of our rower!

waiting to go into the blue grotto....can you see the little hole in the center of the pic?  the rower is leaning back to pull the boat into the cave.  yea...only a small percentage of the time can you even get into the blue grotto b/c the tide is too high.  i was super nervous b/c i had my brand new camera with me!  i had a hard time deciding...take it in or leave it on the larger boat?  i took it.  i was holding onto it like it was gold and saying, out loud, "please let my camera be okay, please let my camera be okay". 

here is the view inside the blue grotto.....the way the sunlight hits inside the cave makes it glow bright blue.  it is beautiful!  and all turned out well...no camera casulties, thankfully!

the marina at capri

headed up to anacapri

the view from anacapri loooking down on capr.  beautiful island!  from up here we could see mount vesuvius, which is where pompeii is.

and here is what happens when you have been on a bus too long...and you are bored....and have a great 16mm wide angle lens to play with...FUN TIMES!!!

rome

**this was suppose to post this morning...better late than never!***

so, some of you may remember that mymicahel and i took a european vacation this past july.  you probably also remember that it has taken me F O R E V E R to actually post pictures.  i took over 3,000 photos!  i have posted some photos of both london and paris {here also}, so now for a few of rome.  

rome was my favorite out of the three cities.  while they were all fabulous, there was just something about rome.  i think i could live there for a while. 

okay, so by the time we finally arrived in rome we had been on an awful italian overnight train that broke down, had no air conditioning, and ran out of food.  we were starving!  as soon as we got to the hotel, paid for air conditioning, and showered we were ready for some italian grub.  now, for those of you that know me, know i am not a wine drinker.  unfortunately i just haven't aquired the taste...yet.  BUT you would be proud b/c i actually liked the wine we had at dinner that night.  it *might* have been because i was so freaking hungry that anything and everything tasted good, you never know!

ahhh...the trevi fountain....

hundreds of people just casually standing around the fountain while enjoying the evening.  love it!

gelatto....worth the trip to italy

the spanish steps

that's all for now...blogger picture uploader is NOT working well. 

must be the thunder sleet storm that's going on outside right now.....say warm!

paris...day one

to get to paris from london we took the eurostar {a train}.  we left the hotel at 8am and hauled our luggage on the tube to get to the eurostar departure station.  we were on our way at 10am.  once we arrived in paris i finally felt like i was in a foreign country.  we immediately went to get metro {subway} tickets so that we could get around paris and at that point ran into our first language barrier.  the area where you were suppose to get tickets was full of people all speaking different languages.  we tried to avoid the long line and use the kiosk, but apparently some american credit cards don't work on their kiosks b/c of some certain "chip" that is inside them, so we were forced to hop into the long line.  while waiting we were approached by a ton of gypsy's.  each had their own "story" that went something along the lines of, "i'm trying to get money for my sister who is dying and i need money to get her medicine", or some version there of.  we were also approached by a ton of guys trying to sell us metro tickets.  this was the point where mymichael started to feel a bit uncomfortable....lots of people....unknown, confined space....different languages ranging from english, french, german and who knows what else!  we finally got our tickets purchased and headed to catch the metro to our hotel. 

now, let me paint a picture for you....4 people...each person had at least two bags {one that was checked luggage and one that was carry-on luggage}, and the girls had a purse or camera bag as well.  to go up and down the stairs mymichael was hauling his checked luggage and my carry-on so that i could haul my checked luggage.  chris was hauling both his and wendy's checked luggage so that she could get the other piece.  needless to say, we were all out of breath and drenched in sweat b/c it was freaking hot!

we arrived in paris in the afternoon, so the metro was busy.  we were having to haul all the luggage up and down the stairs in the metro tunnels and then we were having to cram ourselves & luggage onto already jam packed metro cars.  we were not getting very nice looks!  we had to change lines at least once or twice which just meant more stairs.  when we arrived at our metro station that was by the hotel we started up the stairs, assuming it would just be a normal "flight" of stairs, when we were stopped by a french woman who looking at us like we were crazy, shaking her head, pointing up and talking in french.  chris pieced enough of what she was saying together to get the point that there were a lot of stairs and that we should use the elevator...what a novel idea!!!  the next day we found out why she had looked at us like we were crazy....the stairs that we were about to go up were spiral stairs that went up and up and up and up....no "normal" flight of stairs by any means!  thank you to the nice french woman....we owe you tremendously!

as soon as we came out of the metro tunnel we were in the middle of a lovely little french neighborhood.  cafes with people sipping cappucinos outside, newspaper stands, markets with flowers outside, corner bakeries and the hum of motorcycles on the streets. 

when we got to the hotel we were crossing our fingers that it would have air conditioning b/c it was hot outside.  so much for weather in the high 70's or low 80's.  we checked in and we were not lucky enough to have air conditioning.  there was a large window, so we were hoping that would be good enough.  we were only there long enough to drop our bags before heading to get something to eat and see notre dame.

we ate in this adorable part of town, it was right by notre dame.

i found this fun accessories store...i don't remember the name but they had some super cool stuff and the interior was so fun!  check out those colorful chandeliers!

after grabbing some lunch we headed over to notre dame.  now, this was amazing.  all through college i took so many art history/architectural history/interior heritage classes that at one point i knew everything about notre dame.  it had been studied over and over and over again.  but let me tell you, seeing it in person was unbelievable.  it was just beautiful....

there was a service in session while we walked through.  everything is massive and detailed.  if you look closely at the interior picture you will see how they have brought in flat screen t.v.'s that i am sure they use during services.  there is stained glass everywhere that is just beautiful! 

that evening we planned to go up to sacre coure, which is a church that is located at the highest place in the city.  we had heard from multiple people that it was a great area to bring food and wine and sit around people watching and looking out over the city.  so after notre dame we bought some fresh baked bread, cheese and wine and headed that way.  it was quite a walk up to the top.  i'm sure it didn't help that we took a couple of detours.  as we got closer to the top we realized that it wasn't just a church, but a whole area of cafes and stores with a ton of people milling around.  we found the grassy knoll, as we called it, hopped the fence and found our spot.

and this is where we had our first glimpse of the eiffel tower....

one thing that we were surprised about in both london and paris was how long the days were this time of year.  there were a couple of times in london where i woke up thinking we had over slept b/c it was so bright outside, but when i checked the clock it was only 4:30 in the morning!  the sun didn't set until well after 10:00pm...almost 11:00pm.  it was really weird...no wonder why they eat dinner so late! 

we got back to our hotel and "slept" through our first awful night....90 degree weather...no air conditioning...no fan.....big window with a group of guys goofing around outside until about 4:00 in the morning.  can i tell you how close i was to leaning out the window and screaming something not very nice????  i was close...trust me.

despite the night our first day in paris was a ton of fun!  stay tuned for day two!

paris: the city of lights & love

paris pictures are complete! 

i will post more about what we actually did in paris later, but for now, check out the pictures on my website:

www.rubyjewelstudio.com

go to "travel" and then you will see different galleries. hope you enjoy!

LONDON

well, i have made my way through my london photos.  i'm still trying to figure out the best way to show these.  directly above this post you will see a small thumbnail of the photos.  you click the link below and it will take you to a gallery to look at them.  or you can go here:

http://rubyjewel.smugmug.com/Travel/london/13044374_QAQGs#952498441_ghAww

warning....this is a long post! 

london was the first of three stops on our european vacation.  it reminded me of a large city in the united states....except the people had thick accents.  it was super clean, very pretty and i totally did not feel like i was in a foreign country.  i have no idea what the people do that live there, but they make a ton of money!  the cars we saw on a regular basis were bmw's, mercede's, ferrari's, lamborghini's, audi's and saabs.  i mean, what do these people do?

we arrived in london around noon or a little after and we had dinner reservations for st. john's at 10:00 pm that night. it was going to be a long day considering none of us had really slept at all on our 12 hour flight from atlanta. our hotel was a bust. the reviews online were bad, so we weren't completely surprised. our room was on the "mezzanine" level...we had to go down stairs through 10 different doors and then up half a flight of stairs to get there. there was no air conditioning and our window was about 18"x 24" with absolutely no air flow. i asked if we could get a room that wasn't on the mezzanine level so we could at least have a bigger window. they told us they could move us the next day.


after we checked in we headed to the benjamin franklin house for a tour.  come to find out there was a gay and lesbian rally going on, so many of the streets around that area were closed.  the festivities were going on in trafalgar square...tons of people and a huge stage set up with performers and everything.  after the benjamin franklin house we found the closest pub and had our first meal which was fish and chips...super yummy and a great way to start the trip out.   after that, and fueling up on starbucks {which were on every single corner}, we hit the streets to look around.  we walked by buckingham palace and through hyde park.  people love to just hang out in public parks.  tons of people just lounging around and listening to the orchestra that was playing.  oh, and chris almost got run over by a cab....literally.  the whole "driving on the opposite side of the street" thing really gets confusing.  we were about to cross the street and we were all stopped, he looked the correct way, in the states, for crossing the street and took a step out as a cab was flying around the corner.  i screamed "chris" and grabbed at his arm...he felt the air off the cab!  the cab stopped and the driver got out, we were thinking he was going to cuss us out and try to start something, but he was genuinely worried and checking to make sure chris was okay!  luckily he was....it would have been the beginning of a long and not fun vacation had he not been!

our dinner that night was at st. johns.  michael had heard about it from anthony bourdain's show.  he has a list of restaurants that you HAVE TO EAT AT before you die.....so by golly we figured we had better try out the #1 restaurant on the list.  it was good, but by no means the best restaurant i have ever eaten at.  we did try some very interesting things though.  michael and chris did most of that, but i figured i had better at least try it.  for an appetizer they got bone marrow and pigs cheek.  then chris had ox heart for his dinner {tasted like steak}.  i tasted....not my faves....but at least i tried!

we took a cab to dinner, and boy are their cab rides expensive!  b/c of this we decided we would either take the tube or a bus back to the hotel.  unfortunately the tube closed before we could get there, so they told us to go up the street to the next bus stop.  we did and the right bus never came, so we walked to another one and waited and the right bus never came.  we continued to do this for oh probably an hour and a half...walk a little, wait, walk a little, wait.  eventually we found a bus that would take us almost to our hotel.  so, after a 2 hour commute we were all beat to say the least.  none of us really know how much we walked that first day or how long we were actually awake.

the next day we did the double decker bus tour.  it was great b/c it stopped at all the sites and we could get on and off as we pleased.  we saw all the typical sites around london, buckingham palace, parliament, big ben, etc.  we also took a river cruise where we had a great view of the tower bridge, house of parliament, and the london eye.  that evening we stopped in at another english pub for a great dinner.  the guys enjoyed some guinness as well.

the following day we did a tour to windsor castle, stonehenge and bath.  the castle was beautiful and amazing.  the gardens were breathtaking.  stonehenge is literally in the middle of nowhere and people still have no idea how it was really constructed.  lots of speculations, but no hard evidence.  it's amazing that it is still around after all of these years.  the town of bath was a pleasent surprise.  we knew we were going to a roman bath, which i thought was going to be all by itself, kind of like stonehenge.  boy was i wrong.  it was a whole town that was adorable.  you could easily spend days exploring that town.  beautiful flowers everywhere, great bakeries, etc.  we got to see an old abbey and then walk through a roman bath.  it's hard to believe that something has been around that long.  they said the water is full of bateria and could possibly have been there for 10,000 years.  i tried to push michael in, but wasn't successful. =)

once we got back to london we ate at a moroccan restaurant.  we were seated in a back corner room....low table and benches with pillows...cool light fixtures and rich colors.  the drinks and food were wonderful and our meal was complete with a belly dancer!  woo hoo!  after dinner michael and i went to take night pictures of big ben, parliament, and the london eye.  we were cutting it close on the tube closing, so we literally only had about 5 minutes for me to snap the pictures and then we had to run the half mile back to the tube station to jump on before it closed.  we made it, barely.  i love public transportation!  wish we had it here in t-town! 

the next day we were paris bound....i still have lots to go through on paris so stay tuned!

this and that

i feel like the past month i have been running around like crazy!  between getting ready for vacation, tons of stuff at work and spending time with family and friends, i haven't had much time to sit down - - or think for that matter!

the day has finally come (tomorrow) for us to leave on vacation!  woo hoo!  i am more than excited...and a bit stressed b/c i still have a bunch to do + work until noon tomorrow.  for those who don't know, mymichael and i plus another couple are going to london, paris and rome.  it's the first time i've been to europe and i have wanted to go for as long as i can remember.  it still doesn't seem possible that tomorrow evening (central time) we will be in london.  i think it will be one of those things that once we get there it will seem like a dream or something and then when we get home we will wonder if we REALLY were there.  however it works, i am going to enjoy every last minute of it.

i do have to say that i have been loving my fed ex and ups guys.  i have had goodies delivered quite frequently.  here are some of the goodies {some of you all gave input in what i should get...thank you!}:

new camera...canon 5d mark ii

camera bag {the black and grey ones are on back-order.  blue isn't my fave but it will do!}

ecco gladiator sandals....they are comfortable!  i originally got a pair of merrell ones, but after ordering 2 sizes and one being too big, the other too small, i went with these.  so far they are great.  i'll put them to the test!

a rented wide angle lens...canon 16mm-35mm/2.8.  just got it yesterday and after the few minutes i have played with it, can i just say "holy moly!"  this thing is awesome.  it is going to be great on vacation!  {http://www.borrowlenses.com/}

i'm the worst packer ever, so last weekend i visited my sis in stillwater and she helped me pack.  she said to bring some clothes with me, this is what i brought...

what to pack, what to pack?

kj is awesome with fashion.  she can put an outfit together in no time flat and and have you looking your best.  we had a good time...see packing can be fun!  oh, and i haven't mentioned yet, but mymichael is CARRYING ON!  yeah, he is not checking a bag like a normal person would do, he is packing in his GYM BAG.  i tell you is C R A Z Y! =)

monday night my friend allison took me and kelly to downtown for a night photography crash course.  enough to hopefully allow me to get some good night photos.  it's so different than photography during the day.  we had a blast.  thank goodness downtown tulsa is dead at night b/c we were literally in the middle of the street, at times on our stomachs b/c one of us was using a table top tripod.  i'm sure the few cars that drove by thought we were crazy.  anyways, here are some practice shots.

check out those star bursts on the stop lights...and can you see the car tail light trail on the right side of the pic?

the pic below is achieved by zooming in or out when your shutter is open.  pretty cool affect!

and finally, here is just a cool sihloette {sp?} shot in my front yard

i hope everyone has a fun 4th of july...please light some firecrackers for me and eat lots of good food.  we'll be stuffing our mouths with bangers and mash...that is what they serve in london, right? 

it's booked & confirmed!

this weekend we booked our vacation for this year!  a month ago in this post i mentioned how we were deciding between either an all italy trip or a 3-cities european trip.  well.....we decided on the 3 cities. 

so that means we will be headed to:

london

paris

&

rome

i have wanted to go over to europe for so long, it's kind of hard to believe i will be there in less than 2 months!  since mymichael is getting his masters degree, we have to go before his fall semester starts.  obviously july is about the busiest time we could possibly go, but that's okay!  we are going with another couple and we will have a blast.  i think we will actually be over there during the world cup...you know how those europeans like their soccer! 

so far we only have one "excursion" booked.  we are going to visit stonehenge and the windsor castle.

it still doesn't seem quite real yet.  i'm sure the long flight {although, not nearly as long as going to australia} over there will give us plenty of time for it to sink in. 

so, i am off to stock up on compact flash cards for my camera b/c you know i will be taking thousands of pictures!  i probably need some more batteries as well....

if you have been to any of these fabulous cities, comment and tell me where we should go.

happy vacationing!