melon & avocado salad with lemon basil olive oil dressing

Summertime is upon us. My grandpa's patio is gleaming bright with all kinds of greenery. Chirping from the birds, the sweet "hello's" I hear from Lola our Cockatoo, and the sounds of the peaceful waterfall remind me that I am blessed to be spending my summer months here with my wonderful grandpa.

I've had salads on my mind for days, and began scribbling down combinations of ingredients whenever they had come to mind. Maybe it's the warmth, or maybe it's just my lack of consuming enough healthful foods lately, but I've been craving all things fresh and grown from nurturing soil.

I've recently become aware that my small hometown finally curated a farmer's market. It's about damn time, Spring Hill. I paid a visit a couple of weekends ago on my way to go thrift shopping, and although it didn't compare to other farmer's markets, I'm still proud. It's a start, albeit a small one. It seems that this town may slowly be learning the importance and appreciation for food grown with love. I was disappointed, however, that I couldn't find my arms full of rhubarb like I had hoped. It's been on my mind, too. 'Tis the season! 

I don't know what influenced me to come up with this salad. To be honest, I think I was craving watermelon as I was grocery shopping one day, and it all flowed from there. I tested out the recipe a couple of weeks ago, with the intentions that I'd have it up on the blog days later. When will I come to the realization that as long as I'm enrolled in some form of a physics class, all things blog/food/photography related will never go as planned? Sigh.

The good news is, my professor is pretty freaking awesome, and this salad is insanely delicious & simple. Two things to keep me happy for at least a little while. And hopefully you, too. (The salad part, I mean.)

Utterly refreshing and juicy, I found myself eating almost both servings after I finished shooting today. And I wasn't even that hungry because I had already been snacking on the melon throughout the day. That's kind of saying something. I say "kind of" because I've known myself to eat purely for taste rather than for hunger on multiple occasions. And I know I'm not alone on that!

end-of-summer blues

....my last adventure of summer 2012

Every August, myself, my brother, and a group of close friends travel to Blue Ridge, Georgia to spend a few nights in a luxury wood cabin over-looking the mountains. Although each year has been filled with unforgettable memories, this one may possibly take the cake. Justin, my good friend and the planner of it all, booked the biggest cabin for our trip this year. It lived up to my expectations and more.

        above photo taken by Justin DeMutiis

 

The view from the back patio was incredible. I am sitting here typing, then deleting, typing again, deleting once more, trying to convey to you all just how breathtaking it was. I think it might be better to let the photos speak for themselves. Keep in mind that these are very minimally, if at all, edited to preserve just how naturally beautiful Blue Ridge is.

If I could choose a moment to go back to, I would be standing on a beautiful deck in the cool, calm air, admiring the sun set over the mountains on our last night. It wasn't an ordinary sunset, and it actually wasn't our deck either. While driving back from hiking, Justin and I stopped at the peak of a road close to our cabin to capture a shot I've been wanting to get from day one. He pulled into the nearest driveway, and instead of standing in the middle of the road like I thought we were going to do, he decided to walk up the driveway a bit to see if we could get a better view. It just so happened that the owners of this beautifully landscaped, perfectly located cabin were sitting outside, and so generously invited us to watch the sunset from their deck. It turned out that they have the best view in the mountains. The older gentleman was so kind and inviting. We talked about the changing of the seasons and enjoyed each others company while the sun began to sink behind the tips of the blue mountains. It was a view, a feeling, and a moment I will not soon forget. Not only because I have these photos to gaze at whenever I please, but because it was just that beautiful.

Justin didn't bring his camera, but I asked if he would take some photos with my camera because I wanted to make sure this was captured perfectly. He took the first three. Aren't they awesome? I love how the sun is peeking through the leaves of the tree. I did take a few myself, however, such as the last photo. The kind gentleman warned us that once the sun begins to reach the mountain top, it sets quickly. He was right on point.

I had a really enjoyable time hiking this trail, as I think everyone else did too. It followed the river, which eventually led to a couple of waterfalls. Fallen trees completely covered in bright green moss, huge boulders, a hidden waterfall.... It was wonderful.

      above photo taken by Justin DeMutiis

        above photo taken by Justin DeMutiis

 

       above photo taken by Justin DeMutiis
Hiking back we encountered what looked to be a Black Bear footprint! We also came across all of these stacked stones, which I loved!

On the drive back to the cabin, we stopped along the mountainside to get a shot of this amazing view.

******

This was a perfect way to end my last days of summer. Hope you all enjoyed yours as well :)

photo faves from NYC

I mentioned recently that I took a trip to Manhattan with my dad and younger brother a few weeks ago. We had such an enjoyable time, despite the fact that it was so much hotter than Florida. It was unreal. My solution to this was to wear decently short shorts and tie up my shirts. My dad however, had no such options. (I felt for him and his half-drenched clothes after being outside for a mere five minutes.) And although I still felt like I was going to melt and become part of NYC's sidewalk, every minute was worth the opportunity to travel to a city I admire so much.

I always snap so many photos when I'm on vacation. My Nikon pretty much lives around my neck. I've tried to narrow these photos down to my top favorites, but out of over 500 photos this was quite challenging! I also excluded any photos of restaurants/foods/us. I decided to save those for another post where I'll review some of the restaurants we went to and include some snapshots of me and the fam. For now, I hope you enjoy these :)

 

This last photo may just be my favorite, although I still can't really decide. Let's just say that I really, really love it. 

This seems very unrealistic, at least for a long while, but one day I hope to add Italy, Sicily, France, and Scotland to the places that I've been able to travel to.

Where is your favorite place that you have traveled or wish to travel?