SPOONING

Kinfolk's Third Issue came out this past month. I was honored to have a short essay and photograph published in the beautiful magazine. You can pick up a printed copy at Anthropologie -- Can I just say how it tickles me to have my name and photograph in a product carried at one of my all-time favorite stores? It's so much fun!

Here's my written piece and image. I hope you enjoy it. I found it rather freeing to write in such a different style/topic for this publication.


SPOONING
About a month or so after I got married, my new husband and I embarked on a honeymoon which would forever change us. We didn't go to Hawaii or spend a couple weeks in Mexico, we saved our pennies the moment we got serious and set out to live in South India, Vietnam and Turkey for a year. We wanted to see a bit of how the rest of the world lives and get to know ourselves in the process.

In every new village or bustling city we settled into, I purchased a spoon. Or two. In Hanoi, I asked a cafe owner if I may buy the neon orange and baby blue plastic spoons we'd swirled our sweetened ice coffees with and she looked at me perplexed, then giggled (silly American lady!), then threw the tall, colorful utensils in with our bill, refusing to accept the bills I insisted on stuffing into her plaid apron pocket. A variation on this routine was repeated in multiple languages, with the same hand gestures and responses, across the world.

 I'm grateful I kept on my happy treasure hunt. I had a hunch this precious collection would delight me with each swirl of my PG Tips and cream, lick of peanut butter in between deadlines or when excitedly delving into a new tub of yogurt and honey while I gaze into the fridge contemplating dinner. Indeed, our worldly gallivants came to an end, and we are now settled into our own cozy palace in the clouds of Portland, Oregon. But I can't shake the sparkly feeling of touching the unknown while on the road with my ritual warm brews and little bites. For a moment, I'm transported . . . We are ducking into a chai shack deep in the coconut groves, motorcycling along the highway with banh mi sandwiches tucked into pockets  and sipping black Turkish tea (sugar cubes clenched in our teeth) with the fishermen on Galata Bridge in Istanbul. And in those memories, with my sweet spoons, I am home.

TRUFFLE HUNT IMAGES FOR WAYFARE MAGAZINE

On a very very cold day in December I was invited by a new online travel magazine to photograph a truffle hunt in Newberg, Oregon. There was a family of totally obsessed mushroom people who took my editor, her sister and myself on a journey into a damp, cool and absolutely charmed Douglas Fir forest (on private property no less!) in search of the white and black variety. We found truffles by the fistful! It was truffle heaven.

See the photos and read the story at WAYFARE, and click "Launch Wayfare" at top right-hand corner of page for optimum, full page viewing experience. My photos and the article begin on page 46. The whole magazine is fantastic, beautifully designed, tells authentic stories and has an accessibility no other travel magazines capture. I'm honored to have been apart of their pilot issue and am leaving tomorrow for San Francisco to shoot a story for their next one!

A note on the design of Wayfare, my great internet correspondence and fellow freelancer, Anne of Pret-a-Voyager, (we met once for tea in Paris where she's based!) art directed the whole shebang and put so much of her heart and style into this publication. She's very good at what she does.

NEW YORK NEW YORK

I'm having trouble keeping up with myself these past few days.  Nick and Kelly's wedding is just around the corner and we welcomed a new little baby into our world!  My brother in law and sister and law are already on their way to being the most relaxed, intelligent parents.  We're all in love with the little peanut.  And, a shoot I did of a fancy condo just went up on the New York Times!  How 'bout that?!  If you want to scroll through my images, they start at image number 8 and continue through image 13.  Taking a break from the blog to catch up and live life! xo.