Thursday, October 20, 2011

high school reunion

I'm so excited about going home to California for my 30th high school reunion with Schyler! I can't believe it's been 30 years that I graduated from high school. I have so many fun memories with my friend Mara, my moped, and the B52's concert before they became a hit. can't wait to see everyone and show Schyler where I am from!



Monday, August 15, 2011

We got out of the fishbowl!

Woo Hoo! It has so great being up at Fair Point Marina with Blue 30 and great friends, old and new. A couple of weeks ago the marina had it's annual Summer Bash and we were so excited to be there. I was beyond excited that my wedding was the night before and I could be a pirate and have fun with Schyler and everyone else. Here's a few photos I took of the party that was super fun. We LOVE being up there, and I love that I can just walk up to the boat and not row out to it in a dinghy. 




And here is photo of us taken by Arline! I also included the photos of where the boat is now.




Monday, August 8, 2011

Blue 30's big splash!

Finally, after all of Schyler's hard work, Blue 30 is in the water and on Lake Ontario snuggled in her own slip! Here's a peek at her "splash" with our very good friend Jon guiding her in. It was so exciting to see this finally happen, and to start enjoying the summer. 

More photos of the first weekend at Fair Point Marina to come soon! 


Wednesday, August 3, 2011

california fun | part one

I just got back from taking Kinsey and Keefe to California for vacation. Being that this will be the last summer Kinsey will spend at home, I thought it was time to take a vacation and really show them where I am from.  

We started in the Bay Area where I showed them where I grew up, where I went to school, and where I used to play as a child. I really do love San Mateo. It felt good to be back home, and it was so special to be with my kids. I really did have a wonderful childhood with all my friends from Susie, Lori, Bobby, Angie, Joe, Mara and countless others.

Here are a few photos from our second day. After we visited Palo Alto, we drove to Half Moon Bay and walked along Dunes Beach. A favorite high school hang out...

More to follow!




Friday, July 22, 2011

mamma's garden

When Schyler and I bought our little house last March, I thought it would be nice to bring something of his childhood home to him. A few weeks ago, I stopped by Mamma's house and left a note for the new owners about possibly pulling some of the wild blackberry's and rhubard from the garden to give to Schyler as a surprise to plant in our own backyard.  I was so happy when when Robyn called me back and loved the idea.  So,  a couple of weeks ago I spent the afternoon with Robyn and her daughter pulling the plants for Schyler.  They love the house and Robyn's daughter has made the backyard her little wonderland complete with a teepee, birdhouses all over the place, and a new vegetable garden. The house is adorable and well loved by them. 

We now have a little of Mamma's garden in ours. I love you Schyler.



Sunday, July 17, 2011

blue 30 | a makeover

On a warm spring day when I found Schyler under Blue 30 grinding all the old surface off the bottom, I asked him how much all this work he was doing would cost a customer if it was a client's boat. He stopped grinding, looked up, and simply told me through his mask "I would tell them to buy a new boat". Oh, I thought, and continued up the ladder to do my little part of sanding wood for new varnish. I was later stung by a wasp on my rear end for asking such a stupid question. 

When Schyler starting working on Blue 30 back in April when we became the proud sole owners, I had absolutely NO IDEA the amount of work involved in giving her a facelift.  He has been working endlessly almost every night after work, and every Sunday to get her ready for her big splash in Lake Ontario at Fairpoint Marina, her new home. Me, being the newbie at all of this, I simply thought we would just sand the bottom, fix what ever little holes we found and slap a new coat of paint on her. Please, just give me the dunce hat and send me to the corner. Schyler is amazing in all that he has done so far on her. Granted, she may still look a little rough to you in the photos, but she is beautiful to us. 

Just a little list of what he has done so far:
  • Tore out the cockpit floor and replaced the rotting balsa wood. Re-glassed the floor.
  • Fixed the end of the keel that broke off a few years ago when Blue 30 broke loose from her mooring during a bad October storm.
  • Grinded the entire bottom to get off all the old tar so that we could paint the bottom. 
  • Drilled holes into the keel once we realized it was leaking. :-( It took him several weeks to dry the keel out.
  • Re-glassed all the holes in the keel and a new one we found in the hull most likely from a lightning strike. That's a little scary.
  • Faired all the small imperfections with epoxy fairing.
This has been, and still is an overwhelming project, but it also has been very rewarding at the same time. Friends who stop by to say hello find some sort of tool in their hands to help out. The beer at the end is their reward.  No "just watching" allowed. We even got Miller to sand! 
Here are a few shots!

Left,cockpit floor without all the rotten balsa, Right, with new balsa sandwiched between seven layers of fiberglass mat


Here she is in the north bay. We are about to start sanding off the old waterline.







The first coat of epoxy primer.

The waterline all gone after 2 days, and now Schyler is taping the hull for the new waterline.

Pulling off the tape after the new waterline is done!



Yes, Miller sanding. He was allowed to have a beer while doing this. It kept him quiet 

Schyler says I did a nice job on the teak cockpit coamings


More to come...

Saturday, May 14, 2011

2004 | kinsey

My personal mission the past several months has been to organize all of my personal photographs into one location.  Going back to 2003 when I first went digital with my Nikon D100, I am amazed at how many photographs I have taken over the years.  I’m also shocked at how many remain tucked away in folders either on my studio hard drives, laptop, or my G4 tower at home.  They are all waiting to say hello again.

2004 brings me to a folder titled Shamrock B/W Series.  Inside I find the series of studio light portraits I did with my children when I lived on Shamrock Road here in Skaneateles.  Kinsey was only 12 when we took these, and now at 20 I still see these emotions in her.

Kinsey will be coming home next week after finishing her second year of college.  I think I will try to convince her to do a second series of black and white photographs.  I’m sure she’ll agree it’s time.
I love you McGrew, and I can’t wait to see that little beat up Saab come flying into the driveway.

xo



Tuesday, May 3, 2011

newport | part three

Just a little continuation of my graveyard stroll.  What completed amazed me was this little abandoned church within the cemetery that is obviously abandoned and something out of a Tim Burton movie. What a perfect place for the wedding of his Corpse Bride!  This is so up my alley!


my little nieces | sophie | part two

And then there is Sophie.  I'm not quite sure where to start with Miss Sophie other than to say that everytime I turned around, there she was.  She also kept a keen eye on  Keefe as well. I think she liked having us there. I cannot imagine what she would have done if Kinsey had been there too.  I can't wait to see them again!!!







Monday, May 2, 2011

my little nieces | part one | claire

This past Thanksgiving we made the big trip the Charlotte to spend the holiday with my brother and his family.  I honestly cannot remember the last time we all had Thanksgiving together.  I guess if you can't remember it means it was a long time ago. So, I just went through the edited images from that weekend and decided to do it's own little series.  I will start with Claire who is my brother's first born and who looks alot like him, and in the far right photo reallys looks alot like Kinsey when she was that age.  Same hair, same color.  I hope to see more of Claire and her peeps in Charlotte.  

I love you Claire.....and your father.  He is the best dad ever.  Love you too Alain.



newport | part two

Part two of my little afternoon alone in Newport turned out to be the best.  I don’t know about you, but I love old cemeteries.  This fascination dates back to my high school days when my friends and I use to hop the fence of a classmate’s backyard that backed up to an old cemetery. You could find us way up by the Parrott Mausoleum on any given weekend night.  Anyway, as you drive into Newport you pass by these really old cemeteries, and for the past few years I have always wanted to walk through them. This time I found the time.  Don’t take this the wrong way, but I was in Heaven just wandering around aimlessly amongst the rows of crooked tombstones.  Most of the stones in the oldest part date back to 1773, and were almost unreadable depending on what direction they were facing.  Time and weather have taken their toll.  Walking quietly amongst the abandoned souls from the 1700′s was actually quite beautiful and peaceful.  Next time I will plan better and wander amongst the slanted rows at night and see if I see something!  That would be beyond my wildest dreams.  I’ll make sure the Bug is running and ready to roll!

Hope I don’t freak anyone out.





Sunday, April 24, 2011

random newport | part one

Last week was great because I got 2 mini vacations!  A wonderful weekend in Saratoga Springs with Schyler, then a great few days in Newport with Keefe and Kinsey.  I still have to download the Saratoga shots from my phone, but thought I would post a few shots from my afternoon alone in Newport.  Keefe was too tired to go anywhere since he had spent the previous night with Kinsey and her friends at their dorm.  So, with a small window of opportunity I decided to grab my camera and see what I could capture on a very foggy day in Newport!  What a fun afternoon for me and a it ended with an awesome dinner and time with Keefe, Kinsey, Courtney, Jan and Heather at our favorite Mexican joint in Newport. 



Saturday, April 23, 2011

Keefe's 15th

Okay, I am really trying to keep on top of all my personal photos  so I have created a little storyboard from Keefe's 15th birthday that was last month.  Great time was had by all, and it was so nice to have Kinsey home for some of it!

 

Monday, April 4, 2011

Momma's 90th

This past Sunday we all gathered to celebrate Schyler's grandmother's 90th birthday.  I think she was a little caught off guard since it was a surprise, but she recovered very quickly and enjoyed having everyone around her.  She is so darn cute!
 
Happy Birthday Momma.  You look awesome!  


Sunday, March 27, 2011

Alice in Vegas

Alice went to Vegas for this year's WPPI show back in February.  Learned lots of new cool things, saw and held the camera I hope to buy this year, and had fun with my friend Erica who came out with me since Schyler has his own show to do at the same time. :-(   

Had a great time and loved going to the Louis Vuitton store and drooling over these amazing boots.  I at least touched them!  Maybe someday!!!




Sunday, March 20, 2011

Summer Fun with the Pahal boys

This past winter I bought a new system for the studio and was able to bring the old one home and set up a little "studio" space in the basement.  With this being done, it forced me to go through all my back up drives and collect all of our personal photos and put them all in one place! An amazing thing for me since I never seem to have time to edit and organize all my own stuff.  That being said, I am now looking at a hard drive with 8 years worth of photos and about 3 years of those files that I have yet to edit and share, let alone print and put in the photo album.  Sort of embarrassing.  Anyway, today I decided that once a week I will go through this massive hard drive and randomly pull a shoot and edit, share and send off to print. 

Since it is soooooo ugly outside I decided to pull July 2010.  The boys spent a weekend with Uncle Schyler on the Pearson and later found me shooting the Sail School's Pirate Day and joined in.  Ryan was a fearless mate.  Argh.

I can't wait for summer again.




Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Thursday, February 17, 2011

CNY Boat Show

this is the boat half
all the dock and hoist is on the other half

Saturday, February 12, 2011

mid-winter reflections

sitting here on my nice warm couch, checking out the blogs that  I follow , I realize that my own blog is way past due for a post. It's not that I don't care about posting as it is just laziness. I check my friends blogs, web sites, spots and now facebook posts daily. And, I admit that I also check this blog to see if there are any new response posts.
I don't blame you for not leaving a comment
I can only hope to someday generate enough Skylaure interest to get that first fresh comment!
This is my new goal...
I leave you with a few pics of this past summer on the lake. I won't even bother with last winters pics, this winters are much more depressing and I can't bring myself to post them now. I will save them for this summer.