It has been a few months since I have shared Instagram photos on my blog. I use Instagram fairly regularly since it is easier to capture everyday interesting things with my camera phone than it is to carry around a bulky DSLR. Unfortunately, I cannot seem to get my SmugMug gallery of Instagram photos to sort in the order in which they were taken. This means that I am not quite sure how to share them chronologically in my post, so instead, I can group them by subject matter.

First, I would like to share about the lens I recently purchased from Katelyn James Photography in Richmond. It is a high end Canon 24-105mm lens that I first used with Christine’s portraits and a recent engagement session with Joel and Rebecca. I have already discovered a few pros and cons about this lens – love the versatility, but I would like more control over depth of field.

The weather has been very Virginian again this year – strange and varying greatly from week to week. Some weeks it may be 80 degrees and the next week it may be a high of 50 with rain. We had a heavy snowstorm at the beginning of March and I was house sitting then with a terrible cold and sinus infection… not too fun, but very beautiful.

 

The next point of interest is family life. Every once in a while, I will turn the camera onto more personal things. The next two photos are photos I took while visiting the cemetery where my grandmother is buried. It is out in the countryside where an ancestor of mine founded a Presbyterian church in the 1700s. The original church building has been replaced, but the property still has a rich history.

I find this next photo striking. I was visiting my sister in Richmond. She was lounging around and looking after her rabbits. I found the light from the setting sun captivating and so I took this photo. My sister is working on a bachelor’s degree at VCU. I am really proud that she is able to be in a program that she is really interested in.

Fancy a cat lounging in the sewing room? A nice afternoon in an old country home? Or perhaps a Valentine’s Day present?

I am still working part-time at Starbucks. Needless to say, I brew gallons and gallons of coffee every week. For the most part, it is a pretty good job. Most of our regulars are kind, my co-workers are fun, and I can receive benefits through my employer. I have an upcoming trip in June to Honduras, and I know my transition back into work afterwards will be hard, because Starbucks is vastly different from a third-world country. We definitely take our lives in the US for granted.

These four photos below are from a local Starbucks community service project on April 17th. Partners from several stores in the area joined together to help pick up trash along the Rivanna River near the 250 Free Bridge area. We found two shopping carts, a lounge chair, among many other oddities! I was glad to help keep our environment a bit cleaner.

I joined one of my childhood best friends for dinner at Bang! a couple of weeks ago. It is a tapas place downtown that has a pretty little back patio area. We tried a few different dishes. Apparently, this restaurant is known for having exceptional alcoholic drinks, but we did not try any… $9 or so dollars for a drink is a bit steep for me.

And last, but not least, I visited JMU recently! My alma mater in the spring is a great place to be. Just after I graduated, JMU started renovating Duke Hall – which is the building I spent a lot of time in as a fine arts student. I wait anxiously for Duke Hall’s grand opening as a renovated high-tech space for the arts!

Of course, I could not pass up a photo of our iconic Wilson Hall. A place of many, many memories for me! Concerts when I was in k-12, orientation for new students, getting essay help at the writing center, exploring the cat walk in the theater, etc etc.

 

That is all for now! The year goes on, so I will post Part II when I have another group of photos to share. Thank you for stopping by today and reading my post!

To see photos from the very beginning of this year, click here: Traveling With Instagram: Chihuly, Liechtenstein, and more.