Mango Street Photography

before the craziness of this week begins, i thought i’d post the rest of the photos from our sweetest day weekend last week….

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after lunch on sunday, we headed out of our cabin and spent the rest of the day (literally until sunset) exploring the area. we found a scenic drive on the blue ridge, ga website that takes you through the gravel forest service roads and tells you about points of interest along the way….we loved it! and i’ll warn you, i am a very indecisive person, so this post may have more than a few pictures.

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our first stop was an old abandoned house by a creek…it had been around for over 100 years and had some really cool history. places like this make me curious to know the stories that this house has seen.

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fun birdhouse that went with the old house.

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so this outdoor chapel was by a family cemetery that is still used today. we found gravemarkers from the mid-1800s.

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the pews had layers and layers of faded paint.

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andrew grabbed the camera for this shot of me.~

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oh man. the trees were absolutely incredible. we’ve had a warm fall here in ga (until this week!), so the colors weren’t as vibrant as last year, but the light was amazing as we travelled through the roads in the mountains. absolutely breathtaking!

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did i mention we were in the mountains? what i wouldn’t give to see what this looks like in another week or two!

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highest lake in georgia…completely empty and so peaceful.

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taken from the dock.

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i had always wanted to visit the cohutta wilderness….it just sounds adventurous.

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we saw a lot of these signs…

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…and these.

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you can’t go to n. georgia without seeing little white churches everywhere…

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another one of my sweetest and me.

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ok, so our last stop on this drive was definitely our favorite. this crazy beautiful stream next to a field of grazing cows. talk about serene.

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i can’t resist posting a few of these cows…they were HILARIOUS. this particular field had smaller, younger cows and they were so curious! when i started clicking the shutter on the camera, they all started heading towards us and crowding in to see what it was all about. the more i clicked, the closer they came.

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this ended our drive, but guess what we saw on the way back home?

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speechless.

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i hope you enjoyed looking through these….stay tuned for some sneak peeks. i won’t tell you how many family sessions we did this weekend.

so after going through my pictures, it is looking like i need to break this post into 2 parts.

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one of the things we love most about our little getaway is that it is so easy to get to. there is something so UNrelaxing about getting in the car for 6-8 hours to go relax somewhere. our little spot up in blue ridge is about an hour and a half north of us. it’s an easy and beautiful drive with literally, 2 turns. beautiful. anyhow, take a look at the first part of our weekend….

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my sweetest and i under the trees by the toccoa river.

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saturday we ventured to mercier’s apple orchard, home to over 25 types of apples (not to mention tasty home-made fudge and fried apple pie goodness).

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our cabin was so open and cozy.

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there was a vegetable garden right outside with green bell peppers, cilantro, tomatoes, and this really good looking lettuce.

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fun little birdhouse by the garden.

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andrew gathered and carved some sticks for us so we could roast marsh mellows by the campfire that evening.

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fun fire built by my talented husband…i was so impressed~

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stay tuned for the second part…our drive the next day through forest service roads. gorgeous.

today i’ve been listening to priscilla ahn’s song “dream.” it’s one of those songs i could listen to over and over again without tiring. the simplicity of it strikes me and inspires me all at the same time. in this election year, it seems that the one thing both parties are coming together on (though the answer looks different on each side) is a dream for a hope-filled america.

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i know this is a new blog and i may not have any “regular readers” yet, but for those of you who have stopped by, i’d love to hear from you. what is it that you dream of? it may be a dream for our country, our world, your life, or any combination.

time is short as i am preparing to go out of town this afternoon. andrew and i are headed to the mountains to celebrate sweetest day (a holiday dedicated to sweethearts that is not so commercialized as valentines). it has become a tradition for us, and we are so looking forward to being together and enjoying the fall weather. yes, i will be bringing my camera. and, yes, i’m sure i will be posting pictures when we get back.

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i hated to leave for the weekend without posting any photos from last weekend. we are still loving going through them, but here are a few that have stood out as favorites:
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The Graham Family

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The Thrower Family

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The Powell Family

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The Dasovich Family

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The Upton Family

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Thanks for looking and enjoy your weekend. I’ll be back next week with more pictures…

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i had an eventful weekend with 5 (!) family photo sessions. this was my first time doing sessions back to back, and i was so amazed at how completely different each family was. each group had their own rhythm, their own personality, etc. i absolutely loved it.

sneak peaks will be coming soon…stay tuned!