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Hi friends! Escape to my cute one bedroom beach bungalow just...

Sat, 22 Sep 2012 08:19:00 -0700

Hi friends!

Escape to my cute one bedroom beach bungalow just one and a half blocks from beach/boardwalk & right off west cliff drive (the best neighborhood in Santa Cruz).

Perched on a quiet breezy hill—walk everywhere from this location; trails, gorgeous ocean views, great coffee, Pacific Garden Mall, Santa Cruz Boardwalk, good restaurants, famous surf spots, sand volleyball & shopping—this cozy bungalow is the perfect beach retreat.

What you will find: a fully furnished private 1 bedroom bungalow. Full kitchen (stove/oven/microwave/fridge & stocked for cooking), Bedroom (full size new bed, desk, 2 cozy chairs), Living room (with a single day bed ready for sleeping), off-street parking (a parking spot directly in front of the door of the bungalow). The bungalow is not on a through street so it is wonderfully quiet with very little traffic (this will be fantastic for summer tourist season) & in the short distance from your parking spot-you can see the ocean.

*There is a bus line right across the street that goes to UCSC and the downtown metro station is about a 10 minute walk away.

$99/night at Airbnb.com

Click on the picture to see more photos, view calendar and booking.

-Shannon & Travis

smoke, sleeplessness & ghetto girl survival skills

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 01:44:15 -0700

I have not felt ‘compelled’ or ‘inspired’ to write a blog for a long time. In fact I can not remember the last time I had several urges in one day to write! What has brought on this sudden urge to process through written word? Starting a 10 week summer job at a mega-camp. Just moments ago I brushed 4 giant ants off the bare blue mattress that I am sleeping on (I have blankets but no sheets yet), it’s 12:53 am and I drank a three shot americano to survive the evening and arrive here…in Alaska, the dorm style room I am sleeping in. First week shock. This morning I woke up, slowly sat up and blinked my eyes open and closed very slowly—am I still at camp? Where am I? What have I done? I have left the land of the gypsy to the land of the mega camp and smack dab in the middle of a boot camp style orientation. Despite my foggy thoughts, I decided it was time to take a shower, I really don’t know how many days its been since I’ve been here—I think 3 in real life but it feels more like 6, well anyway, I haven’t taken a shower. I walked across the brown carpet to the shower room, after waiting for 14 minutes for the shower to get hot (it didn’t), I decided it was time to take my ‘get away with no shower’ survival skills to the next level. I’ve already used the following techniques in appearing clean when being dirty: a. put you hair back, twist it, braid it….ANYTHING to draw attention to your face & not your potentially dirty hair. b. put a head band on—-a wide one is preferable to cover as much of your afro or stringy hot mess as possible. c. wear deodorant over and over and over. d. put perfume on e. repeat these steps for as many days as you can and then in case of emergency proceed to the RED ZONE The ‘Red Zone’ is when your ‘grace’ period of appearing clean when you are dirty is CLEARLY over and you attempt to actually get clean and to your surprise and equal horror——your attempt is blocked by an unforeseen circumstance. Waiting fourteen minutes was like watching all my free time for the day be swallowed up in an unproductive attempt to recuperate some self-worth. After it was over and I still had a 10 minute walk through the forest to get to the last few minutes of breakfast, I knew it was time to pull out some ghetto girl survival skills. I whipped out some baby powder and started patting it into my scalp (this works wonders) to suck up any visible signs of greasy hair, I grabbed anything that smelled good and splashed it, applied it and poured it on & the final step was to grab a hat, throw it on, braid my hair and hike down the mud hill outside my door. Despite being an incredibly tired and dirty girl, I had a moment of peace about 90 seconds into my walk on the dirt road…I smelled burning garbage. Every singly time that smell enters my nose, I’m instantly in Africa—-walking on a dusty road, feeling the vibrancy and heart of the people, seeing brightly dressed women carrying 5 gallon jugs of water on their heads, breathing in the joy of the bright white and perfect smiles of children wearing simple clothes and flip-flops….I took a deep breath, thankful. Thankful to only be able to ask God for strength to make it through one day. Thankful to be uncomfortable. Thankful to be disoriented enough that I must ask God for his help and mean it. *I also want to throw a note in here to all you moms out there…I think maybe I am experiencing a fraction of what you must feel when you have kids and no sleep—-all your time monopolized minute by minute & you find that a week has gone by since you felt like your own person. You are amazing. Keep giving. Good job. Whoa! You are awesome!

Overwhelmed? Ask this question: If I wasn’t overwhelmed,...

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:50:49 -0800

Overwhelmed? Ask this question: If I wasn’t overwhelmed, what would I have to do?

Nothing like a walk to refresh the heart and mind.

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:27:11 -0800

Nothing like a walk to refresh the heart and mind.

I feel loved by God when I see whales.

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:30:54 -0800

I feel loved by God when I see whales.

Be the kind of friend you want to have. This is one of my...

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:35:00 -0800

Be the kind of friend you want to have. This is one of my beautiful friends and photo assistants Brianne Halverson. She’s a style guru & awesome encourager and someone I ALWAYS want to be around.

Location today: Kihei, Maui Two years ago I had a great idea...

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:31:00 -0800

Location today: Kihei, Maui

Two years ago I had a great idea that I needed a break from being so transient. Working as a photographer, I had been traveling about two-thirds of the year——making me known to my friends as a ‘high-end vagabond’ and to myself as accidently insane.

My great idea was to stay in Maui for two months, I had a wedding to shoot there and a friend offered to rent me a condo for pretty cheap. This was it—a cure all in paradise! I moved into a little one room condo, did a little work and then collapsed into my short term island life. I had some interesting ‘awakenings’ in Maui like when a hare kishna would chant with bells under my window at 9am every morning and a mysterious trail of blood stained the concrete stairs outside my apartment or when I thought that I was tough enough to learn how to wake board on the ocean and instead got reacquainted with a knee injury from college—an instance when my determination didn’t really pay off.

In all the beauty of Hawaii, what I had not accounted for in my idealism was the fact that I had been traveling for two years straight and although I thought I had taken care of myself, I quickly realized that all the emotional fatigue from life on the road was hitting me like a tsunami wave. I woke up one morning and while walking in the bright sun next to the beach like in picture perfect paradise brochure, I thought to myself “Paradise starts in the heart”. It doesn’t matter where in the world you are, how much money you have and how amazing your life appears—unless your heart is at rest, nothing else matters. I quickly called an amazing woman and counselor I know and started processing through the waves of emotions that were hitting me.

Today I am waking up in Maui and although it is one of the most beautiful places on earth and I can’t wait to eat Shave Ice, I know that what really matters is that my inner life is beautiful today which happens through connecting with God and with people.

Favorite coffee on Maui: Maui Coffee Roasters . Don’t even think about going to starbucks. This is in my top two favorite coffee shops in the US for fantastic bold flavor. mmmmmm….love it and it is the first place I stop when getting off the airplane (located a few blocks away).
Favorite Maui Quick Stop: Ulu Lanis Shave Ice (real fruit and Ulu Lani is soooo nice) This place is definitely number one, while other shops won’t leave you disappointed—-you might have dreams about this one.

In October I took a trip to Carlsbad, New Mexico and had a blast...

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 10:49:09 -0800

In October I took a trip to Carlsbad, New Mexico and had a blast shooting some fall photos. Today I am out the door to Central California for thanksgiving.

www.redcouchphoto.com (southern bride magazine)

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 08:26:50 -0800

www.redcouchphoto.com (southern bride magazine)

www.redcouchphoto.com

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 07:33:41 -0800

www.redcouchphoto.com

Work day. At my desk

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:17:47 -0700

Work day. At my desk

“let love and faithfulness never leave you.”

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 23:30:26 -0700

“let love and faithfulness never leave you.”

Somedays I wish I was in Europe. When I lived in Texas I made...

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 10:05:30 -0700

Somedays I wish I was in Europe.

When I lived in Texas I made myself come up with a list of characteristics I loved about it so anytime I felt my mind wondering to the beauties of the West Coast—-I could stay connected to contentment. There is always something good where we are, even if it is different than our expectations of ‘beautiful’, ‘comfortable’ and ‘good’.

An extreme and amazing example of that attitude comes from two sisters who were put in a concentration camp together. They were moved to a barracks that was covered with fleas (or maybe it was lice…one of the those), one of the sisters was horrified (that would totally be me), the other gently insisted, “In everything give thanks”. This example of thankfulness blows my mind. It ended up that because of the infestation of fleas, the guards wouldn’t go near the barracks giving the sisters freedom to love, comfort, teach and pray for others.

Get off the computer and make something. This flower headband is...

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 11:28:46 -0700

Get off the computer and make something. This flower headband is what I made in Portland while rebelling against sitting at my computer too long.

Lunch with Travis on a glorious sunny Sunday afternoon. :)

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 13:40:48 -0700

Lunch with Travis on a glorious sunny Sunday afternoon. :)

Cleaning today

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 10:16:43 -0700

Cleaning today

Friends.

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 21:43:05 -0700

Friends.

Friendly tsa at the pdx airport today. It has been a while since...

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 09:33:40 -0700

Friendly tsa at the pdx airport today. It has been a while since I”ve flown and surprisingly—it feels good.

Traveling with one of my favorite co-pilots tomorrow—the...

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:43:55 -0700

Traveling with one of my favorite co-pilots tomorrow—the talented Bri Halverson. We are in LA this weekend.

www.redcouchphoto.com

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 09:13:13 -0700