Le Robin's Nest

Puppy Love

2013-03-25T18:02:00.000-07:00

i wuv him.

The Journey of Few

2013-03-25T13:03:00.000-07:00

Painting by William Blake

The Journey of Few

Kent Robinson

Sharp, jagged corners

Smooth, deceptive curves

Letters and symbols, slashes in stone

Spawned by dust and time and the minds of beasts

The shapes collaborate and conceive a monster

A breathing notion that stands in a line, a continuum that follows through the ocular into the mainframe

Tugging on neurons, tickling the frontal lobe

Wielding cognitive dissonance as a flaming sword

Bringing war to the fat and happy certainties snoozing between the ears

And the temple walls crack

The minutiae of canon loses clout and seeps out

And the walls crumble and fall

Into a blank slate that yearns for technicolor dreams, a sovereign system, an uncut trail

O Great Mystery! Guide our hero through the dark night of the soul!

Let the shadows of uncertainty illuminate the way

Koda bear

2013-03-13T12:42:00.002-07:00

I can't believe this cute little fluffy pup is ours. We bought Koda for $5 off a farm full of stray dogs one week ago. He had his first visit to the vet on Friday and we're going to be bringing him home with us in May. He loves going for walks in the morning, cuddling in bed, and is already good about doing his business outside!

So excited to bring you home with us, little man!

Serendipity

2013-03-03T13:48:00.000-08:00

Comida

2013-02-26T05:49:00.000-08:00

It's always a good day when Sandra invites us over for a meal. These are shots from a breakfast she made a couple weeks ago before Julissa moved back to the States. We are so happy we met Julissa and her mom, Sanda, soon upon our arrival. They've been key people in helping us have an incredible experience here. And lucky for us, Sanda is an amazing chef! She owned a restaurant here in Chimaltenango for a good chunk of time. She lived in New Orleans for almost 20 years and brought a lot of tips and taste tricks from her time there and can piece together anything. We've been fortunate to experience her take on Guatemalan dishes. The breakfast shown was poached eggs on corn tortillas, with a homemade salsa, fried potatoes and freshly made papaya juice. First image was our appetizer - figs and a delicious miscellaneous fruit local to Guate. And of course, a meal isn't complete without a cup of joe. Sanda brews the best coffee, too. She owns a coffee farm and we went picking with her a few weeks ago! ~~We might have also got carried away and brought 200+ bananas back from the farm, too~~. So this is our early exclamation of excitement for our dinner at Sandra's tonight. Don't worry, I'll document it for you. No doubt it will be picture-worthy.

Yesterday

2013-02-25T11:02:00.000-08:00

febrero

2013-02-18T18:29:00.000-08:00

We hit our three month mark in Guate last week. Even with the unexpected (and expected) difficulties of living here, I haven't doubted for one second that this is where we need to be. While last year was empowering and exciting for us is in countless ways, we were also dealing with some emotionally draining situations. It has been healing to be away from anything and anyone familiar and to allow ourselves to recoup. What we've learned through it all is how truly fortunate we are to have one another. When we decided to be together, we promised to always encourage each other to explore and to not be afraid to wander. We feel lucky that everything we find moving and of value individually align perfectly and because of this, we've been able to share our most inspiring experiences together. What we have is a rarity and we never forget it. Although this is a late ode to the holiday of love, I didn't want it to go unsaid on here...I love you, Kent.

We love it here

2013-02-07T05:58:00.000-08:00

Yes, yes we do. We're fortunate to work with a great group of people, we have time and means to travel on the weekends and we get to experience something new every week.

Last weekend we road tripped to San Pedro with our friend, Juli. We spent a night at a colorful hostel, ate good food, watched the sun set over Lake Atitlan and listened to live music.

Not the hostel we stayed in, but where the live music was the night before. More photos of this trip were caught on film!

Tuesday night salsa dancing with Juli in Antigua

...and last night's sunset view from our roof

Shepherd for a Season

2013-01-23T15:13:00.000-08:00

Ray stoked the fire in the iron-cast stove and placed an old, sturdy kettle on top. The trailer warmed,
fighting back the veins of frost on the windows. We sat solemnly in the same dirty clothes we’d been
wearing for the past several days, liberally drinking cups of black coffee to combat sleep while a small
battery-powered radio blasted local news and hits from the 90’s in between screeches of static. It was
our fourth straight day tailing the ewes across the Uintah National Forest. The feed atop the snow-
capped mountains was sparse and the lambs were sold, which meant it was time to get the mammas
down into the valley for the last of the fall grasses. The day before we had moved the herd 15 miles to
a corral up Chicken Creek, a small valley just north of Strawberry reservoir, and we had another 15 until
we hit Center Creek on the southeastern hills of Heber City, UT. From there, the herd would have about
a month and a half of feeding before being shipped to the desert for winter.

The sun had yet to peak over the thick forest of yellow pines and aspens that litter the west side of the
canyon, so we waited for it to thaw our path. We sat cozily in the 7 X 15 ft trailer while Ray reminisced
on his herding pastimes and childhood. As a young Navajo growing up on the reservation in western
New Mexico, herding appealed to him at an early age as a means to escape the cycle of poverty that
swallowed most of his peers. He dropped out of high school, moved to the mountains and never looked
back. Over the next fifty years he ended up working with numerous herds throughout New Mexico,
Colorado, California, and Utah.

via

Although Ray didn’t know exactly how old he was, the contours of his face and the wrinkles in his hands
spoke to his age, while his toothless, child-like smile revealed an innocent soul. He claims that the
mountains keep him young and staying away from liquor, the “white-man’s poison” keeps him alive.
He’s been sober for ten years, but prior to this stint of sobriety he spent decades in a drunken stupor.
He would drink morning, evening, and night. He would drink while riding. Sometimes he would be
passed out for days and not move the herd, leaving them without food and leaving himself without a
job. One time, a fellow Navajo herder named Isaac stopped by Ray’s camp and the two of them inhaled
whiskey like water. Isaac woke up in the middle of the night and headed home, but he never made it. A
week later a search and rescue team found Isaac’s body at the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft. Ray
hasn’t touched a drink since then.

We gulped down one last cup of bitter comfort, put some cookies in our pockets, and left the warmth of
the camper. After saddling the horses we untied the corral gate and ushered out a flood of screaming
wool. Turning the herd north up the dirt road, we moved slowly to give them time to suck from the
stream and eat some of the large foliage around the water before shepherding them through the thick
of the forest. The herd was approximately 1,300 strong, although many had been eaten by coyotes
and black bears over the past year. By this point in our journey there were several ewes which had
solid limps in their steps from getting tangled up in sage brush and twisting their legs on rocks. The day
before, one of the older ewes got caught in some bushes and broke her back. She persisted to stay in
the flock but we could see her dire injury better than she could feel it. We had to leave her behind.

My guide across the wilderness was a trusty steed named Desert Horse. My boss had bought him
years back from the Idaho State Correctional Facilities where he was trained by inmates. I was also
accompanied by Yellow Horse, a lean mare with a white mane and matching tail who never left my
side, as well as two dogs, Porcupine and Chubby. Porcupine was a border collie and Chubby’s breed
was unknown. The two of them were never properly trained, so while they did okay staying with the
herd, they would often get too aggressive and bite the sheep in the ass, causing a huge group of them to
rumble off in the wrong direction. Half the time we were chasing sheep through the forest because of
those goddamn dogs. At one point the flock was completely scattered. Ray got off his horse and started
using Chubby as a target for the handfuls of rocks he collected out of anger. In contrast to their typical
uselessness, occasionally they would surprise us by chasing down some wandering sheep that went lost
and herd them back into the flock. I’m still convinced it was pure luck that they ever pushed them in the
right direction.

via

The sun was still too low to penetrate through the thick of the trees which allowed the thin sheet of ice
to remain blanketed across the woodland undergrowth. As we moved through the forest the frozen
ground crunched under the weight of all 5,200 hooves, causing a loud crackle to echo through the hills.
The first freeze of fall had come and gone, and with it a kaleidoscope of color smeared across every
hillside, leaving in its trail a wave of red, orange, and yellow that dispersed among the thick dark pines.
We rode slowly and watched as the sun illuminated Mother Nature’s autumn canvas.

But our tranquil moment didn’t last long. Within fifteen minutes one of the black ewes, or as we
called them, the “black bitches,” had led a group of a couple hundred sheep off the path and down the
backside of a rocky hill. I took off after them at a steady pace and began hollering to get their attention.
“Hey, Hey, Hey!” I yelped with one hand cupping the side of my mouth while galloping down the hillside,
when all of a sudden—SMACK! My vision immediately went black as my head shot backwards and
my neck snapped. In the midst of my pursuit I took my eyes off the trail and Desert Horse afforded
me a face-full of timber. I managed to remain on the horse, but my hat went flying and the branch left
me with blood dripping down my face. My naiveté in equestrianism quickly and painfully set in as I
dismounted my horse and tried to gather my surroundings. I hiked back up to my hat, wiped the blood
from my face, and then led the horses on foot for a bit while shaking off the ringing in my head.

Besides the occasional group of misdirected ewes that would scatter off, the flock was familiar with the
journey. For many of the seasoned mothers they had made this trip on several occasions. They knew
where the water holes were and the easiest routes between the valleys and hills. The pace was slow but
steady, which gave Ray and I time to continue all the conversations that were cut short and provided
us much needed piss breaks. During our down time, Ray taught me some basic Navajo phrases, and I
inquired as to what a shepherd does with his money. Up until the last couple years he would send the
majority of his earnings back to his family on the reservation, until one day he returned home to find
them blowing his earnings on drugs and booze. Nowadays he saves his money and doesn't talk to his
family.

With only a couple miles left we began ascending down out of the forest and into the valley where we
found our route blocked by a newly fashioned wood fence. The confusion caused a mix up that sent
a small number of ewes trekking the wrong direction. It took us a while but we eventually turned all
the sheep around except one. Every time we yelled and tried to turn her back, she would venture off
further into unfamiliar territory. After a thorough attempt to shuffle the lonely ewe down the mountain
Ray said, “She’s blind, and deaf. She’s only made it this far by staying tucked between the others.
Without that touch she is dead. Leave her.” We watched her scamper off to a certain demise.

Once we arrived in the valley the sheep scampered off to their familiar feeding spots and water holes.
Ray and I dismounted, removed the horses’ saddles and laid beneath some withered shrubs. We pulled
our hats down past our eyes while the whistling wind sang us to sleep.

Budapest

2013-01-21T18:09:00.001-08:00

There is so much to see in Budapest. We were only there for a couple days and were able to cover a lot of ground. If you visit, you have to go the public baths. It was the best 26€ we spent!

2012 Recap: May

2013-01-20T07:03:00.000-08:00

We spent a lot of time with friends and family in May. It started off with me bringing out my old film camera and playing with my expired film. I would make several trips to Walgreens in one day wearing my trusty wellies to get me through the rain showers. I love Spring in Spokane.

At the end of May, Kent graduated from WSU with his masters in Health Policy and Administration. It was such a happy day! We're so thankful my family roadtripped up to celebrate with us.

The family, minus one.

After graduation, we went out for Thai food and walked around one of our favorite parks. (You can see our previous visits to this park here and here).

After graduation, we celebrated Kent's birthday and then headed to Seattle for a few days . Immediately after our Seattle vacation, we jumped back in the car and headed to Boise. I'm realizing that two big roadtrips in one month was a norm for us in 2012 :) (Full post of the Boise roadtrip coming up next for the June post!)

recently

2013-01-19T09:45:00.000-08:00

Happy Saturday to you! I'm going to start weekend posts with a recap of what has been going on over on my business blog and my photography work in general.

Since this is the first time I've done this, I'm going to reach a couple weeks back.

Some of you may have seen my travel post on Maui as a part of the 2012 recap 's that are in the works. The beautiful wedding I was in Maui to photograph hit my blog just over a week ago. You can see all the romantic elements this way ---->

One of my most exciting news is that one of my images from my first film session was chosen to be on the cover of the Lemonade and Lenses' Film issue! You can see the full post to this shoot this way ---->

This week one of my favorite weddings from 2012 was featured on Style Me Pretty. You can see the full post of this gorgeous wedding this way ---->

To be updated when new posts hit my photography blog, you can subscribe HERE.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!
meg

Bruges

2013-01-18T19:01:00.000-08:00

When we first backpacked Europe in '09, we didn't have a blog and only shared a few photos on Facebook. I have been wanting to post these for quite some time and finally organized all these images while I've been working on a cool section coming to the blog soon.

We loved Brugge and always talk about how it was like another world. Every corner and view is romantically quaint and the Belgium waffles and chocolate were as delectable as you imagine.
Go visit NOW.

our little tank

2013-01-17T12:28:00.000-08:00

Okay, so she's not ours. She's our boss's pup and we got to play with her all day yesterday in between filming. Her name is Tanque (Tank), because she's the chunkiest little things around...you just want to squeeze her! And we did. And she loved it.

hello

2013-01-11T18:28:00.000-08:00

Recently stumbled upon this pretty design and couldn't stop staring at it. If anyone knows who I should give the credit to, please let me know.
Hope 2013 is treating you all well so far.
xx k&m

2012 Recap: April

2013-01-11T17:13:00.000-08:00

Right after we returned from Utah, I took a solo road trip to Seattle to visit Jill, even though I had seen her only a month earlier.

Many days in April were also spent with my dear friend, Pam, planning photo shoots, as they're one of our favorite things to do.. :)

**the park we're in is incredibly beautiful. to see more of it head this way ----->

rain, walks, friends..

At the end of April, we headed back down to Utah for Kent's sisters' wedding! Kim and Bryan are the cutest and their wedding was amazing. It was so nice to see family two months in a row..

On the drive back to Spokane, we stopped at my grandma and grandpa's house in Blackfoot, as we always do. The first signs of spring were in their garden and we were, once again, spoiled with the yummiest meal.

and before we knew it, we were home again.

2012 Recap: March

2013-01-05T18:44:00.000-08:00

February ended with us painting our chalkboard wall. (We also made our table!) And March began the perfect way - with my best friend, Jill coming for a weekend visit. We took a lot of pictures, per usual...

The month ended with a road trip to Utah. My brother was about to leave for an LDS mission in Sierra Leone, so we spent a week with him before he left. I'm so so glad we did, but that drive home was really tough. I miss him.

Our cousin was also about to leave to Barcelona!

Wish I had a better recording of him. He wanted to see how much of this song he could play with his eyes closed :) Yes, he wrote this on a whim. Yes, he's one of the most talented people I know.

2012 Recap: February

2013-01-03T15:12:00.000-08:00

Only about 5 days in February stand out to me. One of my couples flew me to Hawaii to photograph their romantic wedding in Maui (it was so incredible!). At the time of planning, we weren't able to get Kent a ticket, as he was thick into a new semester of school. Thankfully, one of our best friends, Randi, was able to meet me on the isle. We only had 3-4 days in Maui and only one full day to explore. On this day, we drove along the coast, stopping by the coolest local farms to purchase fruit, then to the black sand beach, and we ended with a hike through a bamboo forest...

cave exploring

2012 Recap: January

2012-12-31T13:16:00.000-08:00

2012 was undoubtedly one of our most exciting, adventurous years yet. We made some amazing friends and saw many new and familiar (all beautiful) places in the world. In the beginning of January, over our favorite lentil soup, we opened our new leather journals I had gotten us for Christmas. We wrote down our goals and discussed how we could achieve them. It's such a good feeling to look back on what we had written and see that we accomplished so much. We are going to be doing one blog post for each month of 2012, since we can't sum it all up in one. Plus, we didn't blog as often as we wanted to for the most part of the year and we didn't want these photos and memories to go unnoticed.

In January, we were still in Utah after the Holidays visiting family (best way to start the year)....

As we started the 15+ hour drive back to Spokane, our car started to give out on us. Thankfully we made it to Blackfoot, where my grandparents live, and always a main stop of the long drive. Grandpa and Kent replaced the belts to try and fix our dead battery problem.

And the next day, we were back on the road. Only a few hours out of Blackfoot, the car started to die again. We ended up being stranded in Drummond, MO for a night in a shady little hotel. We were able to find someone kind enough to jump start our car and we only made it to Missoula (about 30 minutes away) before it died again. We ended up renting a car in Missoula and bought jumper cables. I drove the rental and Kent drove ol' Vennie, and we had to pull over and jump start the car every about every 30 minutes until arriving in Spokane. Yes, it was absolutely insane. But it makes for a good story. Pulling into our driveway again was one of the best feelings ever.

Thank you for all your love & support throughout the year. Your kindness and friendship mean the world to us. Wishing you all the best in 2013! Cheers! k&m

Guatemalan Christmas: Part 1

2012-12-24T13:22:00.001-08:00

We came to the coast to spend Christmas with Megan's family in Coatepeque and to experience our first non-white Christmas, no pun intended.

Here are a few pics from yesterday! We'll enjoy some sun for you if you enjoy the snow for us.

Feliz Navidad!

Mamita (my great grandmother) showcasing our dinner :)

hey there

2012-12-17T18:26:00.000-08:00

What have you all been up to lately? Sadly we were internet-less for the past week and haven't been able to update. But we're back on track with new internet coming this week so we can post and chat and skype much more!

Lately, I've been trying to get creative with my cooking. We're a bit limited by ingredients here, either because they aren't sold in the market or at the stores, or everything I need is quite separated in town. Breakfast has been my favorite. I recently decided that I need to document these meals better, they are really pretty! Thanks to my amazing mama for sending me gluten free flour and coconut oil, I've been baking plenty of cookies, pancakes and granola.

How pretty is this homemade orange jam? (Courtesy of our new friends). It tastes like Christmas. They're going to show us how to make it soon and I'm planning on documenting for a tutorial. Trust me, you'll want to try it out. This would be the perfect present!

winter wonderland

2012-12-05T19:22:00.000-08:00

Two years ago for our first Christmas in Spokane, we set out to get our Christmas tree after the first big snowfall. I love this shot I overlooked all those years ago of my Quinto in a winter wonderland.

Ibiza | Part I

2012-12-04T18:10:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is the part where I have to pause for a moment and remind myself that this really happened. In October, Kent, Danny (one of our best friends), and I boarded a flight bound for Barcelona. I was invited to hold a photography workshop on Spain's whimsical island, Ibiza, the last weekend in October, so we all decided to make a backpacking trip out of it. Kent and I backpacked through Europe a few summers ago and were excited to see some new and familiar places. I'm still trying to find the right words to portray how incredibly awesome this entire experience was. There were so many new people and places, I'm going to have to do them all in separate posts. So, today, part I of Ibiza.

We arrived on the isle at night coming from Barcelona. We thankfully found our hostel easy enough in the dark, unloaded our things and head out to find some dinner. All we could find was KFC and Pizza Hut. Gross, I know. Unfortunately, my celiac didn't allow me to eat anything at either place, except a salad. I'm used to eating salads, and I like salads. But they're a bit different in Europe. Just big chunks of ice berg lettuce and...nothing else. Maybe a tomato or two, maybe a piece of chicken or two. It's always interesting to travel somewhere new and realize how different our pallet is relative to other parts of the world (ie. dairy products in the UK taste sour to me, pasta in Europe tastes bland and needs more salt, and everything in Guate just tastes like it was on the shelf a year past due and shouldn't be sold in stores). Not trying to complain, just wanting to paint a picture.

The next morning, we headed out to familiarize ourselves with our area and met the prettiest, coolest gal, Rainbow Moon. She showed us around and even invited us to her magical house (the first photos were taken on her roof!) and we all met up for Indian food later that night. That entire day, the boys hung out with me while I scoped out Dalt Vila, the part of Ibiza where Day One of the workshop was to be held. I found the perfect locations and couldn't stop gasping every time we turned a corner. This entire island is truly one of the most beautiful place I have ever ever seen. Go visit, you won't be disappointed.

Rainbow!

Quinto and I.

Seriously, this place is not even real.

They're looking at this...

To get to Dalt Vila, you have to walk through this 800 year old castle. nbd.

And..a preview from Day One of the workshop. To see a few more previews, you can head over to my photo journal and my facebook page.

Hello from the top of Volcán San Pedro

2012-12-01T07:35:00.000-08:00

Preview of our trip to Panachel and San Pedro, two towns on opposite shores of Lake Atitlán.

Kent is writing a few words to go with this full post. What I can tell you now is this: I can still barely walk because of this hike. And the boat ride back to Panachel from San Pedro (45 minutes) was the most (laughably) frightened I have ever been.

The last image is the view of the volcano from Panachel. The town San Pedro is tucked just to the bottom right of the volcano.

collection

2012-11-30T15:43:00.000-08:00

I was very excited to start my collection of colorful tapestries and dishes here. This week we went to a few must-see places in Guate. I'm happy we were able to go to Panajachel and Chichicastenango, I knew Kent would love them both. We had a great time. Our preview for Panajachel is up next, but this post is to showcase our finds from Chichicastenango where the biggest market in Central America is held. Can you believe these handmade cups were only $3.75 each?! And it was in a store where bargaining wasn't even an option. Our hand-stitched tablecloth was only $12. Winning. Here's to colorful mornings.