Category Archives: Personal

05.31.11

Weekend Recovery

Happy Monday/Tuesday everybody! Hope you had an awesome long weekend, for those of you in the States. Mine was jam-packed crazy and I have no shame in saying I’ll be going to bed tonight.:)I’m still working on processing the hundreds of photos I took, but I did grab some quick Instagrams (surprise).

Ellingsen Photography Instagram Love Memorial Day Weekend 2011

  •  My lovely new external hard drive arrived Friday – 1 TB of raw nerdy sexiness! It’s blazing fast.
  • Feeling the green for my latest polish endeavor
  • The Candy Basket in Julian – pure heaven!
  • No visit to a historic gold rush town is complete without some antique-ing
  • Chopping up asparagus for our joint Mothers & Fathers Day BBQ yesterday
  • A near miss – Potter was oddly determined to sample the asparagus!

So what did you guys get up to? Relaxation or lots of BBQs?

xo

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05.26.11

Here Comes Summer

Summer is pretty much here (it’s supposed to be 80 degrees again today), and I’m eagerly awaiting the deliciousness that is fresh tomatoes off the vines in my parents’ backyard.

Ellingsen Photography Moms Tomato Vine

Once they’re ripe (in the summer), I love to go pick a handful and throw them in a bowl with a Persian cucumber chopped up and some Vidalia onion vinaigrette. Yummm…

My parents are both amazing gardeners – mom has a magic thumb with succulents and the vegetable patch, and my dad’s roses are in full bloom all across the front yard right now.

Ellingsen Photography Moms Seedling Labels

Speaking of the front yard, I grabbed some shots last week of my parents’ decorations for Syttende Mai:

Ellingsen Photography Syttende Mai Norway National Day 2011 Decorations

Happy Huldra here (named for the Norwegian mythical creature) is a stone troll my parents had shipped home from Norway; she was made by a well-known Stavanger artist who passed a few years back. They’ve collected several of his awesome trolls – he used a formula that makes them slightly sparkly and I believe the story is the recipe died with him.

Anyway, dad dressed her up and of course put out as many flags as possible. Dante could care less.;)

Hope all you US kids have a wonderful long holiday weekend! Any fun plans? I’ve got a crazy schedule going – a vintage sale Saturday morning (mistakenly thought it was last weekend), photographing a new pharmacy my mom helped design, the aforementioned day trip with the girls Sunday and then Monday we’re doing a joint Mothers-and-Fathers-Days BBQ.

Woohoo for the start of summer!

xo

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05.25.11

Music To Drive To

I’m taking my girlfriends day trippin’ this Sunday (to an undisclosed location, it’s a surprise for them), and for me half the fun is putting together music for the drive! We all love singing along so of course I put in some fun ones (I’m looking at you, Glee) that we can belt out together.

Ellingsen Photography Road Trip Playlist

Unfortunately the iPod/Phone stereo hookup I had put in my car a few years back died, so I’m confined to CD-length playlists, but I’m okay with these songs on repeat!:)

What do you guys listen to on long car trips? Anything you have to have?

xo

P.S. Pay my telephone bills…. There. Now it’s in your head, too.

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05.19.11

Anja’s First Birthday

Like most rescue pet owners, Lars and Sarah arbitrarily picked a date to be Anja’s birthday, and they went with Cinco de Mayo. Makes it easy to remember, right?

To celebrate, Sarah picked up some torture instruments props at Party City and requested photos – how could I resist?:)

Ellingsen Photography Pet Portraits Anja First Birthday

We had a little trial and error when it came to posing…

Ellingsen Photography Pet Portraits Anja First Birthday

But when we let her lay down she was all smiles for the camera – what a ham!

Ellingsen Photography Pet Portraits Anja First Birthday Treat

She got to eat her special birthday bone as soon as we finished, of course. But she’s so easygoing she wouldn’t have minded if we took it and gave it to Dante instead!

Ellingsen Photography Pet Portraits Anja First Birthday Treat

I can’t believe she’s a year old already! Lars and Sarah are so lucky, you couldn’t ask for a happier, more relaxed dog than the lovely Anja. She brightens the mood of everyone she meets!

xo

P.S.  My dad couldn’t resist the props, either. Send help.

Ellingsen Photography Pet Portraits Anja First Birthday Crazy Dad

 

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05.17.11

Happy Syttende Mai!

Ellingsen Photography Stavanger Harbor Norway Norge

Today is Norway’s National Day, the day a new constitution was signed in 1814 that declared Norway an independent nation (even though it was tied to Sweden for almost 100 years after).

For my newer readers, you may not know I was born there and moved to Cali when I was four, and we go back to visit my dad’s side of the family as often as possible. I speak the language (terribly) and technically have dual citizenship.

So just imagine this photo of the Stavanger harbor (that I took in the summer of 2008) shows parades of people dressed up in national costumes and waving flags instead of beach volleyball courts, because I really wish I could be there to celebrate! Instead we’ll be hanging flags and toasting to the motherland’s good health.:)

If I find a photo online of the parade that goes past my grandfather’s flat, I’ll be back to share it! In the meantime I’m enjoying watching these photos of celebrations in and around my family’s hometown, Stavanger.

xo

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