Snug Hollow Farm

When do we get to go back??? This B+B was amazing beyond my wildest expectations. Well, once we got there. MAYBE an hour into our trip we're suddenly at a dead stop on 75S. FOR TWO HOURS. Poor Brian drove about 3 miles in 2 hours. And with a stick shift folks, that's not fun. An RV had pretty much exploded all over the road. They loaded it onto a flatbed truck and it was literally like a sandwich with each side of the RV stacked on top of the other. Total destruction. So anyways, we finally arrived around 8pm. The thing is, it takes a good 5-10 minutes to get to the farm after turning off the "main" road. You know to turn because you get to the barn with this quilt square on it:

Apparently it's a "thing" to have quilt squares on your barns. I never realized it till I was actually looking for one!
It sure beats confederate flags if you ask me.

You're driving and driving and wondering if you're going to get jumped by hobbits and woodland creatures when you see this sign:

And you think hallelujah we're almost there. 

And then after another 5 minutes you finally reach the cattle gate (which you have to get out and open and then shut behind you).

No hunting. Bummer.

After we got through the gate it was just another minute around the bend to the house. The first time in we saw a little 2-4 point buck! It just stood there and stared at us. We sat there and stared at it. It was very curious, but not scared until we started driving again and the diesel engine wasn't to its liking.

So we FINALLY get there and Barbara made us a delicious dinner. I sadly didn't get pics of any of the food, but I can describe the meals for you here:

Bowtie pasta with lemon cream sauce, snap peas, corn off the cob and strawberry pie

Oat pancakes and poached eggs with fresh fruit and yogurt

Scalloped potatoes, baked beans, corn succotash and cornbread with apple dumplings

Breakfast potatoes, scrambled eggs, biscuits and granola with fruit

Everything is vegetarian and homemade. We of course bought her cookbook. And I found two new products to add to my cooking repertoire: nutritional yeast for some added protein and a nutty flavor and Tamari, a gluten-free soy sauce that gives dishes a bit of a meaty flavor. 

So the first night we were exhausted and after some wine and poking around the house a bit retired early to bed in our beautiful room: 

It had a private bathroom and a little room off the back with two twin beds in it!
Yes, those are fresh flowers by the lamp. :)

The only problem was it felt like Christmas to me. I couldn't believe the place was so perfect. I couldn't believe the people were so nice. And I couldn't fall asleep to save my life.  Saturday morning I woke up about 6:30 (darn you work habits!) and I was so excited I just got up. Nobody was awake yet so I peeked out the back door (which was left open all night, like all the others, for air flow--no central air!) and it was so foggy and misty and eerie it was just awesome. So I ran back upstairs and got the camera and manual to try and play around a bit. 

The problem is the sun was rising so fast that I didn't have enough time to play and get it quite right. But here's a really crummy example of how cool the mist was: 

It was much darker than this photo would have you believe. 

So I sat on the porch for over an hour by myself and just rocked away in a chair. So peaceful. I wasn't actually watching the sun itself rise, but it was wonderful to listen to the world wake up (and get rid of the bat that had been flying around the porch with me!). 

I spent a lot of time out there in the chair and here: 

Heaven is anywhere there's a porch swing.

So Saturday we really didn't do much of anything. It was blazing hot, and Brian wanted to take his first of 75 naps of the day, so we didn't start our little hike around the property till at least 11:30 (not a great idea). I should also mention we didn't go around the ENTIRE property--it's 300 acres--but stayed within the mowed paths to catch some of the highlights quickly: 

I think there may have been horses here once.

A little hill of tall grasses.

A pond by the bigger cabin. Barbara said people used to swim in it
but now there's turtles "as big as you" in it!

Now, many of you may know that I am quite a morbid person and love a good, old cemetery. Snug Hollow just happens to have a little cemetery on it that added to the creepiness off in the distance as the sun rose that morning. So of course I wanted to go check it out and see how old the gravestones are. Turns out--not THAT old. Someone was buried there in 2001 for goodness' sakes! However, still a cemetery and still cool in my eyes. 

There is just something so creepy and wrong and awesome about this picture. I looked down
and realized both our shadows were over the grave and made Brian stay put. It just
makes me think of mortality and life and death, young and old. Amazing.

Handsome husband. He really was having a good time. The cemetery just had about
a million bugs and I thought WE were getting eaten alive, but turns out, as usual
it was just me. 

So after that adventure we headed back towards the house via the vegetable and flower gardens:

Here's a photo of the farmhouse from the path leading back:

The screened porch there is where we ate all our meals.

And one of the cabin we'll be staying in for our mom/daughter weekend: 

It looks SO SMALL but I swear on the inside there is room to sleep at least 9,
two stories, and a mini kitchen! Plus a covered porch on the back with
tons of rocking chairs.

I'm going to have to do a second post of all the awesome little touches that Barbara has throughout the house that just make you feel at home. There's always something new and interesting to discover. Here's us on Saturday, so thankful we found Snug Hollow:

Thank you Barbara for a wonderful weekend!!!

Saturday night after dinner Barbara taught us how to play Fast Scrabble (awesome game) and then we retired pretty early again. Since I had been up since 6:30 I was ready for bed!!

This is the second time we've stayed at a B+B. The first time was for our first anniversary, and it was really more like staying in the guest house. It was our own little cottage separate from the main house. Peggy brought us breakfast each morning and then we did our own thing for the rest of the day. It was very nice and relaxing and the food was delicious, but it wasn't Snug Hollow. 

I really, really enjoyed being in the main house. I was a little apprehensive and couldn't remember if we had a private bathroom or not. But I loved getting to meet new people. I know this sounds weird, but at the end of every meal I would be racking my brain to make sure I'd really never met any of the other guests before. They just seemed so familiar that I felt like maybe I actually did know them in "real life." Everyone stayed for 30 minutes to an hour after every meal just talking and sharing stories and getting to know one another. 

And I couldn't end the post without mentioning Barbara's wonderful helpers that we met: Olivia, Nikki and Connor. Everyone was just so nice and accommodating. They would introduce themselves when they arrived and then be sure to come say goodbye on their way out. Such thoughtful, hard-working people. 

Needless to say, we'll be back again and again and I think I may have found my new preferred mode of travel: B+B to B+B.

(Check out the second post about Snug Hollow here)

Tim Flach Animal Photography

This man is amazing. You'll want to click on all of these images to make them bigger. And then put them all over your walls. 

How do you make your photos look like paintings? 

Capture pure POWER?

Make me laugh out loud?

seductive bat

Transport me to a landscape that looks like it's out of a fantasy movie? 

Visualize shots like these before they become reality? 

Make a pig seem sad? 

Capture human-like emotion in a Husky's eyes?

Thank you to 2Photo RU [NSFW], Daily Violets, and Hemmy.net for the beautiful photos. 


Here's a link to Tim's website where he has wonderful galleries to look through. And lucky for us he also has two books! Check them out here. 

Designing my Wedding Album

So some time ago (at the end of May according to the time tags on my documents) I decided I was going to start playing with our wedding photos in InDesign and see what happened. I wanted to make an album--specifically a Leather Craftsmen flush mount album. I was so excited, and almost a year after our wedding it was wonderful to look through all the photos again and from the point of view of a designer, and not just the bride. Before I knew it I had about 10 pages (20 sides) finished. I know some very talented designers (Exhibit A) but ultimately realized that when I saw my finished album and knew that I had created this for us, it would be a wonderful feeling. Which led to me bumbling through InDesign, having no idea if my files are set up correctly or if I'm doing the right things so that they're ready to print (I still have no idea), etc.


It was time to start researching Leather Craftsmen! And once I did, all my hopes and dreams just flew out the window. Because only professional designers are allowed to use them. FAIL. So I was really annoyed and just completely stopped working on any more pages. But 4 months later, Imagination for Sale was born! And Leather Craftsmen actually let me on their site to view pricing. That was quite an exciting day. I thought for sure they would reject me.


But the funny thing is, I was so busy making cards that I didn't have a spare second to even think about making an album. So I completely forgot about the project again until this morning, when I decided to take a look at some of the spreads I'd designed. Man was I surprised. It had been so long that it was literally like looking at it all for the first time again. (And this is super conceited, but I was kind of impressed with myself.) So now, it's back on! Full steam ahead! 


I don't know if I could ever do this on the side for other people. I have no idea if I would have the time/talent/know-how, etc. Or any clients interested in using my services! But for now, I'm just so happy to be able to play with our wedding photos and hopefully turn it into a book we'll cherish forever. 


Here's some spreads I've created thus far. Click on them to make them bigger. Enjoy!

I Hate Winter

It's depressing. It makes my brain produce too much melatonin, causing me to wonder if it's time for bed at 7pm. You're always achingly cold or being precipitated on by achingly cold snow, sleet and freezing rain. My heart palpitates when I have to drive on the ice (Legitimately. I've ended up sideways on the highway two years in a row now...). There never seem to be enough hours in the day. And certainly not enough daylight hours. And what's even more torturous is the fact that I have seen that my mornings are brighter, earlier (very slightly)...but when can I get more daylight in the evening? In a show of solidarity for the warmer months and a hope for some springtime in the near future, here are some photos of TULIPS from our wedding. My most favorite flower, and the epitome of spring. 

All photos by the amazingly talented Steph Carson. 

My beautiful bouquet Mom made. 

Pretty drooping tulips over the tables--exactly how I'd pictured it.

I still haven't found the cake topper I bought! Tulips were the perfect backup. 

Post-Holiday Relaxing

Thursday was a pretty awesome day. We get early release at work on the day before we're off for a holiday, so I was home before 2pm. We decided to go to the art museum to see our wedding photographer's (Steph Carson) photos hanging in the wedding exhibit they have going on right now. Yes, that's right, she has a ton of photos hanging in an exhibit at the Cincinnati Art Museum. 


So we go to the art museum and we're walking along and so exited to see the first grouping of her photos, and I look at the wall and my jaw drops and I just stare. Because I see this: 

I think Claire was in front helping/balancing me. Ladies--your backs are hanging in the art museum!

These are my bridesmaids!!!! I think it was cropped a little closer, and all her photos were in black and white, which was lovely. Brian tried to get a photo of me with it (there is very strictly NO photography in the exhibits) but he wasn't stealthy enough. The people watching the rooms have eagle eyes for this stuff. I have the original and that's good enough for me. :) (But for the record, if I had been in the photo, I'd be posting a pic of me with my photo right now hahaha. We would have fought security for that one!)


I've been renewing an interest in Groupon recently and got a $10 Groupon for $20 worth of pizza at Mt. Adams Pizza. When I was checking out on Groupon it said I had $10 worth of Groupon credit (I have no idea how I got that) so the Groupon was free! After the art museum we drove to Mt. Adams. It was way too early for dinner so we parked and just walked around. 


It sounds sad, but I've never walked around Mt. Adams. I've driven around it, but never actually been "in" it. It was warm out and the weather was beautiful. We looked at the gorgeous houses and all the crafty ways they get more space. And then we stood and looked out over the Ohio River for awhile and then looked out over the city skyline at the top of the steps at the Church of the Immaculata. We have such a beautiful city. Once it was about dinner time we walked back to Mt. Adams Pizza and got dinner to go and then came home. Streamed The Big Lebowski on Netflix on the TV (I had never seen it--pretty darn good!), ate dinner and relaxed. It was such a nice evening. Our beautiful tree was lit: 

You can see Finn in the bottom right guarding his precious.

And we had the candles going in the fireplace for the second time in almost two years. 

These will now be lit more often--so peaceful.

The cool thing about this day, besides getting to spend so much time with the husband, was the fact that it cost us $8 total. Yep, you read that right. $4 for parking at the art museum and a $4 tip to the owner of  the pizza place (since our meal was free from Groupon and all!). I was seriously impressed with us! 


Whoops. Just forgot. Brian ran out and got us milkshakes after the movie. Make that $15 for the entire day. Not quite as impressive as $8, but it'll do. :) Regardless, it made me realize that if you plan ahead (i.e. use Groupon, special discounts at places, free entertainment, coupons etc) you can really enjoy our city and have fun date days/nights for really cheap. I'm inspired and motivated to make this happen more often! 

Our Wedding Photographer--Steph Carson

I've been meaning to share about our wedding photographer for some time. I get questions about our photos regularly. And we consider Steph our "life" photographer. We want her to document everything important that happens in ours lives--starting with our engagement photos a year and a half ago. 


Brian and I decided 3 things were super important for our wedding: an awesome live band, a great and beautiful location and an amazing photographer. We were SO LUCKY to find Steph Carson. It was like hanging out with a great friend all day. We had so much fun laughing and taking pictures and just experiencing our day and knowing we would be able to relive it when we got home from our honeymoon, and then for the rest of our lives. 


You have to pay money for great photography. If someone is just giving away their talents for free all the time...how good can they really be? I just feel like if you're good and you know you're worth it, then you charge the money your artistry is worth. (I have this issue when pricing my cards--I have to remember that I think my stuff is worth something, as well as the time I took to make them!) You can't skimp on this. You have this one day to get married--make sure it's documented to the best of your ability. What would you expect to get for $250? Probably not much right? Then why sell yourselves short and even consider that option? I discuss money because weddings are so budget-driven. Everything has a dollar value when you're planning a wedding. And it's easy to see bigger numbers and panic. The important things with your wedding photos is you have to think long term. 


Anyways, here is everything you need to know about Steph. She recently redesigned her brand. It looks just wonderful. Shows off her photos even better if that's possible--they stand so well on their own in any context. Her blog is a great place to get a feel for Steph. You get to see previews of what she's working on and keep up with her life vicariously through the blog. (This woman has some cool experiences--believe me it's not a boring read!) :) 


Her professional site has galleries you can get lost in for hours. You get a real sense of her style and what you can expect. [A good side note my friend Mary has mentioned before: you have to make sure the style you want matches what your photographer does. You won't be happy with modern or more edgy photos if you are really a more traditional person. And your photographer might not do their best work or enjoy THEIR day if you make them shoot in a style way outside their specialty.]


Something that is very exciting? Steph's work is at the Cincinnati Art Museum right now for an exhibit called "Wedded Perfection: Two Centuries of Wedding Gowns." Brian and I can't wait to check it out. 


And finally, here's two more of our favorite photos of Steph's from our wedding. :) You can find our whole gallery on her website. It's under "Megan and Brian" and well, you know our last name for the password. ;-) 

We're hoping to get some "just because" photos done soon with the kittehs. It's time the babies got the Steph treatment. :) See--Finny is so good at posing. He's ready for his closeup. ;-) 

Finny says it looks like he's got Viv in a choke hold, but it's really a "hug."