Into the Valley: New Hampshire's White Mountains

When my lovely teacher/mentor miss Banafsheh (founder of Boston Photography Center) put up a photo trip to New Hampshire in our meetup group, I got really excited and had to go! Me and Anthony love traveling and we didn't get to do much of it this summer, so I jumped at the opportunity. It was a short day/night trip, we went up on Friday morning and came back the next day. It was part vacation and part photography adventure. We were challenged to document it in under 60 images (I think-I can't remember exactly now). I exceeded that number (bad student!). It was really hard given all the beauty!

Banafsheh emphasized choosing your moments as oppose to click, click, click. It totally changed my perspective. Some moments I had to be quick about, like the red cars driving by, but others I stared at and analyzed trying to find the right details and angles. I was reminded how much I loved photography given the freedom to take my time and capture it in my own unique way. I loved capturing the beauty through my personal viewfinder :) Banafsheh knew the area well so we saw sooo much in such little time. Honestly it was hard to take it all in while I was there. I was on sensory overload!

It was such a breathtaking and introspective trip for me personally. You never realize how much influence your surroundings have on you until you get away from them. Being surrounded by so much overwhelming beauty, the art of the ultimate Artist, you can't help but feel so refreshed and grateful for everything. Whenever I feel like I want more or that I'm not good enough at something or whatever else insecure ideas that pop up in my head, I remember to be thankful because we are always more blessed than we know. ALWAYS! I truly felt blessed and renewed after this trip!

Hope you enjoyed these. Did any of you take an introspective trip this past summer? Do you guys get re-energized by nature?!

Falling for Fall

In general I haven't been a big fall person in the past. This fall is feeling quite special this year and I'm slowly falling in love as if we're just meeting. I'm getting into purple a bit more which is really strange for me because I'm more of a pink person but I've found a few magenta-purple shades that suit my coloring. I'm trying to get out of my comfort zone and experience life in different hues. My style and color palette keeps evolving and I think that has a lot to do with just getting older. I feel like I prefer to be a bit more classy boho looking these days as oppose to just bum hippie boho (saying this while typing in my bum clothes). Hope that makes sense?! I'm still not into the whole pumpkin-cinnamon-squash everything yet. I basically hate the taste of all of it. Pumpkin latte, NO PLEASE!! One step at a time right?!

This outfit I wore to a Boston Fashion Week event this Monday and I got so many compliments on it. I feel like it doesn't quite match correctly but oh well..sometimes I don't match! The cool thing is it's almost entirely thrifted. My favorite is the scarf which I believe is vintage. The print and colors of it are so unique. The jacket was thrifted but originally is H&M and the dress thrifted and originally an old Liz Claiborne gown. It has long sleeves and it's really funky! The proportion is sort of strange on me but I still love it! The rings seemed to get a lot of attention too. My friend Dina sent them to me as she wasn't getting much use out of them. They are from Lebanon if you are wondering;) The bag and head scarf are from TJ Maxx.

Shapes of Light, Shades of Fall

Some of the pretty plants still in bloom in the backyard. Loving these shades magentas, greens, teals, and burnt yellows!

Getting Cozy For Fall

I bought this sweater from the goodwill a few weeks ago. I couldn't resist it even though it's a few sizes too big on me. I love how warm it is. It's like walking around with a blanket! Picked up the scarf on the same trip. Yay for good finds! The necklace was bought at a flea market in nyc. Isn't it so strange!? I love looking at it and it was also a good steal at $5! I'm such a cheapo so if I'm going to be posting more outfits get used to my cheapo (but still amazing) style!

Stay warm out there! XO
Feda

Canvas of Possibilities

For the longest time I thought I would never get this palette full of paint again. When I started painting as a teenager it was a dark time in my life. As much as it was a saving release for me as a teen, as I got older it was a reminder of a time I'd rather put behind. I picked up my camera and put my brush behind.

Lately I've been shedding a lot of layers and that core is starting to shine again. I'm seeing things in a different light. They say time heals but for me it's wisdom that has helped the most. That and determination. I keep dreaming of setting up my easel in a field and just letting that brush stoke every color within. I thinks it's time to come back to my home away from home. I'm ready to get my palette dirty again and stare at a blank canvas of possibilities.

It's allll about the love! and the story about why I have so many rabbits!

More love please!! If you follow me on instagram then you've seen this image before. Meet my girl Moona. Can you tell I'm obsessed with my animals yet?!?

I  realized I never told the story about my rabbits on here. Or did I? I have such a bad memory.

It's been about a year since we've had them now. One crisp fall afternoon last year Anthony was heading out to practice with a friend. I was in the mood for taking pictures so I went along with him because I knew there was a scenic area around where he was going. When we arrived I got out and started walking toward the outdoor area and saw these rabbits hopping around. I was like woaah, so cute! I noticed the rabbits were white and different variations of tan and realized these were not wild rabbits! As I walked closer, I saw a white rabbit on it's side dead near a tree. Then I noticed the large cage with the door wide open close by. Someone had abandoned them there :((((

I got extremely sad and I even shed a tear or two for the dead bunny (I'm a huge baby when it comes to animals). After I figured out what happened I decided we had to save them. I went to get Anthony and he along with the lady he was practicing with and her neighbor got together to find and catch them. We ended up taking three rabbits home in our car that day. The neighbor reported the fourth rabbit and animal control found her the next day. We went to get her for fear of animal control putting her to rest (little Moona pictured above, glad we went back for her!).

We originally only planned to keep one, Brownie, because when we found him he was sitting next to a tree all ready to give up. He was limping and looked really sad. When Anthony caught him and gave him to me, he snuggled right into me so sweetly and I fell in love with him and knew he was coming home with me. After that I knew this all happened for a reason. 

 (Brownie and Moona. These two bonded quickly and as you can see are attached by the hip to each other, which is why we ended up keeping two)

We got in touch with an animal shelter to find a home for the rest and when we got there they told us they would probably have to kill them because they had mites. They didn't want to risk spreading it to the other animals which we understood. We had just saved them so there was no way we were saving them only for them to die anyways! The shelter gave them shots for the mites and they eventually went away within a week or so (don't worry mites do not spread to humans-we were not in any harm). A friend referred us to an organization called house rabbit network (they are a no kill organization) where they take in rabbits, treat them, and find them foster homes until they get adopted. We got in touch with a lady named Allyson who helped us sooooo much. She bought us food and supplies for them (SO SWEET). We still keep in touch with her! We ended up fostering all four rabbits, two we eventually adopted ourselves and the other two we fostered. Azlan (below) got adopted a few months ago. He was the baby of the bunch and such a funny guy. We miss him!

Little Bobo is still searching for his forever home! People get scared of him at first because he has red eyes but once they see how cute his personality is they love him just as much as we do. This guy is sooo adorable, soo sweet and really smart. Our birds seem to have really taken to him too. They will always sit next to him and sing for hours, especially Pep. If we had room and were more financially stable I think we would keep him too. We have SO much love for him, it's going to be hard to let him go. Love his little brown paws!

So that's why I have so many rabbits...

Stripes

Some wear their stripes heavy on their hearts and others just put them behind and call it a day. 

Anthony B-day and Garden Grille Cafe in RI

I'm just getting around to blogging some of my summer adventures. Me and Anthony are both born in July (we're only 9 days apart actually and yes I'm older by 9 days! hehe ;)) We went out to one of our favorite regular, our definition of "fancy", restaurants called the Garden Grille Cafe in Rhode Island (about a 40 min drive from us but worth it!). This is a vegetarian restaurant (some dishes contain dairy but in general the restaurant is also vegan friendly). If you didn't know I've been a veggie burger (vegetarian) for 6 years or so. I eat fish and seafood so I I'm a wannabe veggie burger (pescatarian).  Anthony is a Lacto-Ovo blah blah. I'm not much for labels!!!

We went on two separate occasions. The first was the night before his birthday and we sat indoors and the second time sometime after that and we sat on the pretty patio. The patio is small but during those summer days is sooo purdy. I love the plants they have out there!

Anyhoo we have loved this place for years. The food is soo different and soo interesting. There are some dishes with "fake meats" but most are just beautiful veggie dishes. They always have a seasonal menu of the day with dishes that are not on the menu. They use I believe local, natural ingredients. It definitely tastes that way at least. I highly recommend if you're in the area to give this place a go even if you don't like veggie restaurants. This place is always packed with people from all walks of life.

 

 Gazpacho

 Raw rasberry cheesecake

 This was an awesome salad! Quinoa, feta, parsley, and WATERMELON!

 Wood grilled mexican pizza.

Are any of you vegetarian? or like an occasional veggie burger?!?!

We went out with a small group of friends the day of Anthony's birthday at a traditional Vietnamese Pho restaurant. I didn't bring my camera :( but this is him with the candles I sneaked into his flan!! LOL

Afterwards Anthony had this idea to buy burgers and pass them out to homeless people. I was like, heck yes! so we went to burger king and bought 20 cheeseburgers and he spent the rest of his birthday giving them out to homeless people on the streets of Boston. I'm only mentioning this because I thought it was so inspiring and would maybe inspire you to do something like this one day. He has such a beautiful heart and that's what I admire about him.

Until our next adventures... <3 <3 <3

Pointy

Ring: House of Cach