I wish I was this talented...

So I thought I would share with you the talents of my wonderful childhood friend, Amber.  Since I've seen her last, she has created Live It Out Photography and I'm amazed, bewildered and flabbergasted at the incredible photos she has created.  Lucky for me, she's even agreed to fly to France to shoot my wedding!  "I'm so excited I could pee."  =)

Amber and Jon are a husband and wife team specializing in portrait and wedding photography.  They have a very relaxed, photojournalistic style where "your loved ones are captured just as they are -  doing the things that make you laugh everyday."  You can contact them at amber@liveitoutphotography.com.  Don't hesitate to ask them to shoot your wedding, kids, or pets!  Amber also does engagement shoots, boudoir shoots, and family shoots.
Check out their website, blog, and facebook page!

Here's a little about the crazy couple:

JON.  ...can usually be found a) playing video games, b) cooking, c) reading harry potter.

AMBER.   ...is obsessed with all things music, has a love for peanut butter bordering on the ridiculous, and has been known (on numerous occasions) to terrify jon by jumping out of moving vehicles to save wounded animals.

Live It Out has been featured on Rock 'n Roll Bride, The Loveliest Day, as well as It's a Wonderful Life.   We just can't get enough!  Here are some of my favorites:

 

 

playing

Last weekend Pan and I decided to go fly a kite.  When we were in Rhode Island last summer (sweet sweet Newport...) we bought an awesome kite.  A competition kite, but, unfortunately there wasn't enough wind in Newport to actually fly the kite.  Ironic, I know.  So we took it out for another spin, and it worked out ok.  Here are some pics.  I got a little carried away with my photo editor...  so the pics aren't actually representative of the weather.  =)

We went to "le roquet" which is on top of a mountain and it's a big piece of land that belongs to our favorite shepherd.  The view is amazing, and the air is fresh, and there's wind.  There are also bales of hay, sheep, cows, and wind mills.  A s**t load of windmills.  Take a look!

all organic. =)

So lately I've been spending a lot of time in the vegetable garden...  It's quite refreshing and nice to see things grow and evolve.  A few months back I planted lots of seeds and small small plants.  Now I have HUGE plants and lots of vegetables.  Not everything is ripe for the picking, but soon...  So far we have eaten onions, garlic, potatoes, salads, radishes, and some cherry tomatoes.  Soon we will be able to eat eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, carrots, peppers, cauliflower, cucumbers and beets.  And in the fall melons, pumpkins, and leeks.   If you click here you can see what some of these plants looked like soon after I planted the seeds.  Huge difference.

cherry tomatoes

yes, I did eat all the ripe red ones.  delish.

tomatoes

onions

pumpkins.

beet roots.

a red bell pepper

soon to be eggplant

an eggplant

my huge zucchini plants...

love that zucchini

cauliflower

hot peppers

soon to be cucumbers...

cauliflower, beets, and peppers, all in a row

canteloup

it's ok to dream...

So a friend of ours lives in this small village not too far away.  His neighbor died a few months ago and well, we just fell in love.  It's not for sale yet, but sometime soon...

Ok it's not a beautiful chateau... but it's a house.  Not what we're interested in, but it's a plus!  Take off the stucco to reveal the stones...  Anyways...

Theres the barn in the back that we love and that we'd turn into our house.  The green house is behind us and if you go through that little door in the middle, you go too the garden.

Theres the garden with the amazing view.  The weather wasn't so great that day, so you can't see all the mountains in the distance, but you get the idea.

One hectar of land to the right of the property..  to the tree line.

The barn from the "view" side, the view is down behind me.

Can't you imagine a huge bay window overlooking the valley and mountains??  Actually, two bay windows.  One on the 2nd floor (the living room) and one on the ground floor (the parental suite).

yes, that view!

To the right, it's a garage I guess, with a stone wine cellar underground.  If you go through that little door you arrive at the green house and the street.

Isn't it just wonderful?  Lots of work though!

from scratch...

A few weeks ago I planted some seeds in this nifty "seeder" (?) and have lately been seeing some sprouts!  It's very exciting, I check on them maybe every 30 minutes.  =)

my plantastic seed organiser

In the front you can see my cucumber sprouts, and in the back they are cauliflower sprouts.

zucchini sprouts

cucumber sprouts from a different angle

I also planted beetroot seeds in the vegetable garden and I noticed for the first time today some tiny little red sprouts.  Aren't they cute???

nature and nurture

Our beautiful vegetable garden...

(my camera takes horrible pictures, so these are courtesy of my soon to be sister-in-law =) 

The "tuiles" or roof tiles that we use to protect the plants when the weather is bad.

carrots

big blooming salads

a gorgeous salad

potatoes

some cherries...