Almost Everything

Though our plans were almost blown, Andrew and I took headed to the mountains to take a picnic. He packed some yummy PB&Js, some chips, etc. Can you tell by the picture below where this is going?

Cut us some slack. We passed three of them on our drive up Chapman Highway. We finally succumbed once we hit Pigeon Forge.

We actually never really made it to the mountains. Once we had the buttery, garlicky, hot Crazy Bread in the car, we didn't exactly want to wait through the Gatlinburg traffic to get to the picnic area.

So we found a sweet spot by the river near the Apple Barn.

And my new lens lets us take the cliche self-portrait.

We had one minor mishap during the ride. Mostly we had great conversation talking about the future and how we love almost everything about each other. :) While on the romantic drive through South Knoxville, we began noticing a cigarette smell in our car. The person next to us at the stoplight was smoking so we huffed and thought it would disappear soon. Minutes later the smell was actually getting worse. We spent much of the drive sticking our heads out the window and spraying air freshener.

Andrew even lifted the hood thinking a cigarette had gotten in there somehow. No luck. We both ended up smelling like a lit up Marlboro - uh - lets make that a Virginia Slim.

With Andrew not willing to miss any of the game, we turned around and headed for home.

But not before a quick stop at Five Oaks!

I would like to record the fact that we went shopping for some pants for Andrew - and we left with only some pants for Andrew. I didn't even enter a dressing room. I barely even looked over the women's section. Guess I'm saving it all for the annual Atlanta trip coming in a few weeks.

In the past I've totally felt like a poser. An English teacher pretending to be a photographer. However, on my last two sessions, I've shot full manual. I've known I needed to for a while, but was scared to take the leap. Add to that my new L series Canon 24-70/2.8 lens and you have a real photographer. Yes, I'm going to claim it and own it. I am a photographer.

Thanks Cox family for being my guinea pigs for the new lens! Click here to see more.