January 2013

WELCOME TO 2013!!!

"The Calendar said JANUARY!"

 

Time continues to fly doesn’t it, like the pigs on this float!?  And the calendars haven’t even made it to the post office yet!  (At least they made it from the printer!)  At any rate….I vow to have a monthly post of the calendar photo….how about that?  I gave it a valiant effort last year, but something happened beyond August!  LIFE!  Life happened!!!

January’s Calendar photos come from the Rose Parade 2012, the 123^rd Annual Rose Parade.  Which is ALWAYS a highlight of my year.  I don’t sleep, but I see many people that I love, make new friends, and get to watch these flowers float on passed me!  It’s awesome!  The theme for the parade in 2012 was “Just Imagine”….and La Cañada Flintridge had “If Pigs Could Fly”!  It was adorable….and won the “Bob Hope Humor Award”.  Seeing these things go by us?  WOW!  Again, if it’s on your bucket list?  Do it soon…..and I stand by the fact that you should do it with Al Brooks.  They give the best tour, the prices are legit, AND?  The seats on parade day are PERFECT! (Fill out the "contact us" form, and tell them you WANNA GO!)

Now, after the parade, you can go to the Rose BOWL and see the football game, OR you may want to peruse the actual FLOATS from the parade!  It gives you a chance to get up close and personal with the floats!  Really look at them slowly!  (We DO go to the float barns BEFORE the parade, but they are still working on them, so it’s fun to see the PRE-Floats at the Barns, and the POST Floats in the street!!  Again.  Al Brooks.  This inch worm to the right is from the Rotary International Float, as seen from the “Post-Floats”.  JUST WAY COOL!

Last year…2012, the parade was on January 2, the rule of “never on a Sunday” had taken affect!  The Rose Parade is always on New Years Day, unless New Years falls on a Sunday, in which case the parade is done on that Monday!  Such as it was for the 123^rd Tournament of Roses!  We expect to see you there for the 125^th!  No pressure, but get booking.  (jay@albrooks.com) Easiest thing to strike off your bucket list!!!!!

The Calendar said August 2012!

It's the month of my birth.....and honestly....you ALWAYS flip to your month to see which rad picture you have!  When I make my calendars though....I try to pick a photo from that month too....there IS a method to my madness!  Most of the time.  This picture is from my aunt's house in Washington State....post Alaska.  So I was coming off of a glorious Alaskan high....and it was AWESOME to be brought to reality slowly!  My Ant Anona (NOT A MISTAKE) and Unkle Carl live on some land way far from the world, and have amazing flowers, trees, berries, etc.  And this guy....well, I liked him, but then when I saw him on the screen?  I loved him.  And?  I have this dream of living on "Blueberry Lane"....sounds perfect.  White picket fence and all!  So, happy birthday month to me, and all you other August babies!!!!!

The Calendar said July 2012!

I took this photo from a fixed wing airplane...as I'm posing with below.  I was with 6 other people and a pilot, all of which were strangers to me.  I was a little beyond spoiled to have taken this all in alone.  This little jaunt wasn't cheap, but it was worth every penny.  We landed on the "Ruth Glacier"....and I grew up knowing about "Mt. McKinley"...my grandma used to paint it when they lived in Alaska, but then?  Somewhere in my lifetime McKinley no longer existed and there was a new "tallest mountain in North America"!  Or...perhaps we just reverted to calling it "Denali" some where in the 80's!  The original name given to the mountain by the Athabascan people!  Ha!  (Oh....and for when you are next on Jeopardy?  Denali means "High One"!

Denali is the peak that crowns the Alaska Range.....and gives it's name to the National Park, established in 1980 by Carter.  So this Park?  Of stunning beauty and out of the world animal sightings?  Just like 6 million acres large.  And I LOVE the fact that it's larger than the state of Massachusetts.  Ha!  It's beyond majestic and certainly points to an Awesome Creator.

So by now, if you don't want to visit Alaska?  I can't help you...I'm not a photographer, I just happen to own a camera!  So what you see here, is what you'll see there!  Lovely lovely lovely!

The Calendar said June 2012!

I've already blogged about this...and the AMAZING experience that it was....so go back and read, August 2011, but THIS was the photo for the calendar's month of June.  Viva Alaska....a truly amazing place.  Haven't I said that like 8 blogs worth?  Oh...well...July's photo is Alaska too!

The Calendar said May 2012!

Seriously.  Alaska.  Breathtaking.  I’ve only been once, so I can’t said for sure if everything was on their best behavior.  I mean the whales were out…wait for the June Calendar picture.  The bears….the otters, the WOLVES, Denali, and then?  Just perfect weather.  I realize it isn’t always like this….but I don’t know how it would matter.  The scenery is unreal.  The animals are to the likes of which we don’t see, save the zoo!  And the glaciers.  Oh.  The glaciers.  This particular one was in Glacier Bay….where we floated by.  WORTH EVERY PENNY for a balcony on the ship.  You’ve seen movies….you’ve heard the sound…it is EXACTLY like that.  Amazing.  Simply, truly, AWESOME!  And I don’t have a fancy schmancy camera, and I certainly don’t know the extent of how I can use the one I do have, and I still took this picture.  Pieces falling off, to their own creaky soundtrack and SPLASH!  Truly, breathtaking.  There is no way to properly capture the feeling, or the sight, so, you’ll just have to go yourself.  Alaska.  The AWESOME frontier!  Also, on a personal note?  Some of my besties live there, and they made treks to see me.  I mean a couple hours, all for the hang time of a couple hours.  So thank you to my Janelley Belly, Garg, Brands, and Whitey.  True friends.  Also, WAY fun to see some of my Tour Guide friends that spend the summers up with Holland America.  I’ve officially drank the Alaskan Kool-Aid….and can’t wait to get back!

The Calendar said April 2012

Good Morning St. Louis!

It's secretly fantastic.  Seriously…the arch is awesome….and it’s our tallest monument!  So SIT DOWN Washington!  The Arch is 630 feet tall and it’s just incredible!  So why is it there?  Extra metal laying around!? Nah…the Gateway Arch is intended to commemorates Thomas Jefferson and St. Louis’ role in the westward expansion of the United States…you’ve heard of those guys Lewis and Clark right!?  Great.  (If not…get reading!)  It’s a real treat to see, cooler than you thought.  And yes, you can go up into it…it’s not overly huge up at the top, but it’s overly SWEET!  You go through the normal bit of security of course, then load into these neat little “pods”?  They seat 5, and it’s like riding a ferris wheel I’d say.  Takes about 4 minutes to the top, and then you have a spectacular view of the Mississippi, the ball park, and the whole of St. Louis!  Plus?  Then you’ve officially been to the top of America’s tallest monument!  Ooooh! Book your trip.

The calendar said March...2012.
“Start spreadin’ the news…..I’m leaving today…I want to be a part of it…..


"




Oh Thank you Frank Sinatra for giving us a great start to our NY soundtrack! This picture is my March…and yes I took it in March, with a great group FROM St. Augustine, Florida-did you read my February Calendar blog? Lol Anyway, this was taken from “Top of the Rock”…which is the top of Rockefeller Center, and an AMAZING view of the city! Sure. I love the Empire State Building, and a whole lot, but when you are IN it….you can’t very well enjoy seeing it! (Plus…let’s not ignore the drama of lines that the Empire tends to have more of!)

It’s a beautiful peaceful spot at the top, and the views are truly breathtaking. Every time my group goes up, I go, and not because I have to, but because just BEING up there is quieting. It’s hard to describe, so you’ll just have to experience it for yourself!

The calendar said February...2012

Well, the photo is as it says! St. Augustine Florida! And again, warmer than here in February! I took this picture IN February...but February of 2011. I flew down to Florida to see the shuttle launch, and experience for which there are no words, perhaps some tears, but you can't be explained the emotions felt! I've already blogged about the awesome, amazing, word-less, experience that it was. That blog is "Shuttle Launch. Best. Thing. Ever.".

I stayed with some dear friends with Green Light Group Tours....(Fab company by the way. Normal people. Great tours. Great prices. BOOK IT!) They were more than kind to let me stay, lend me a car, let me play with their kids, AND? Let me ditch my lawn chair there! :-) (Sometimes I blog on that site too, so, take interest, and stalk their page too!)

At any rate....St. Augustine is a wonderful little tourist town, at any season. Of course it's better to see it with friends, and it's a glorious sort of sunshine, but please....don't leave without having a sticky bun from the Bunnery Cafe on St. George Street...WOW! Y-U-M! From a historical stand point, it IS our oldest continuously occupied settlement of European and African-American origin here in the US! It was founded in 1565...forty-two years before the English colonized Jamestown! Fifty-five years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock! So it's fun, warm, yummy, AND educational!

The calendar said January....2012....

January….it’s cold here, so a healthy reminder of WARM is always good. I took this picture in Oia, on the island of Thera….one of the five islands that make up Santorini. Picturesque is the word that books will use to describe this place….I think that’s hardly the tip of the iceberg beauty! It’s simply stunning, and for a couple reasons. 1. Of course that it’s STUNNING! 2. Every picture you’ve ever seen of Greece, woo’ing you with it’s history and magnificent beauty has a picture from this little town of Oia, unless it’s the acropolis. Magazine articles about Greece cause us to believe that there are two things to see…the acropolis….and these blue houses. Now, while that’s not true of course, as Greece is awesome in every corner, it IS true that these are two MUST SEE’s! Now, sure, I travel for a living….and I’ve been to Oia more than “a lot”, yet way under “never enough”! I want to move here for a month, hang with the locals, and learn to be annoyed with the hoards of tourists that run all over until about 5pm! (Who cares if that’s how I do it!). BUT, until that moment…I’m forced to steal beauty in small doses. This picture…taken during too short of time on a shore excursion, and I am surrounded by OODLES of people. You don’t see or feel that in this picture, and when I flip open January? I don’t feel that either. I’m caught in the moment of beauty looking over the Aegean. There is no need for a fancy camera, a special secret location from where to shoot, and certainly no need for photo shop, with the exception of the words stating where it is! It’s stunning. Period. I know, I’ve said that already, but there aren’t words for this place. As always, I encourage you to go, put it on your wish list, or order and print it up to a huge canvas like I did! So now, its not just January…it’s bliss all year long.