Maybe we could catch the sunset

This blog's title comes from my ever amazing boyfriend, Nick. These pictures are from my most recent trip to my home away from home, Santa Cruz, CA.

If you have read my blog or ever had a conversation with me you will have heard mention of The Abbey, a fantastic coffee shop in SC that I'm obsessed with. Nick and I sat in the court yard for the first time this past weekend. He should have known better than to give me such a beautiful place to enjoy my perfectly made vanilla latte.

Nick's mocha(left) and my vanilla latte(right). He was rather put off by the fact that after we decided to try each other's drinks that I decided to have a mini photo shoot with them. Then he admitted that my drink was good and we were happy again. (*giggles)

My drink made such a good model against the perfectly mosaic-ed(cause that's a word now) table that we were sitting at. The colors were amazing! (I enhanced them a bit as you can see compared to the previous picture but it was for the sake of art, I tell you!)

I could sit here and never leave! Still in the court yard of The Abbey. I wouldn't mind if the people who decorated this miraculous coffee shop decorated my home someday.

Wonderful mirror that I wouldn't mind having in my home. I love how the decorators bring the outside in and the inside out with their combinations of traditional home and garden decor in this little court yard.

Mostly I had fun editing this picture. It is a magnificent table that was near us. I decided to drain most but not quite all of the color from it. What do you think of my little monster?

I enjoy the fact that my camera would not focus on these odd little fruit (?) things growing out of the plant in front of us due to the breeze. These sort of make me think of a really well painted water color masterpiece.

A more focused view of one of these peculiar little plants. If anyone knows what they are, please let me know! I really loved the hanging basket with the fun plant in it and this whole view, really.

Another attempt at editing for the sake of art. In this photo I didn't enjoy that the flowers in the background were really distracting from the beautiful chairs and table so I tweaked the colors so that the yellow would fade out (I'm not a big fan of yellow, generally speaking) and show off the table. Side effect, the pretty blue planter in he back got to show off it's awesome placement.

There's that silly boy. He is so sweet to me. Not only does he not complain about my constant need for coffee, but he also encourages me to spend our time together taking pictures obsessively and gives me fantastic ideas!

After purchasing the stuff to make dinner, Nick posed the though, "maybe we could catch the sunset;" hence the title of this post. He is brilliant. If you ever get the chance to see the sun set in SC, I would highly recommend it; particularly if there are a few clouds in the sky so as to show off the beauty of the changing sky. 

The photo above obviously underwent some editing so as to bring out the clouds and down play the fact that I was in the passenger seat of a moving vehicle in a residential area.

After we found a spot to park I hopped out and started shooting. No re-touching on this picture. Just the fantastic painting done with God's hands through the sky.

Basically the same view but with a few enhancements of the colors.

We really had the best spot to see this sunset. The Monterey Bay is amazing.

Possibly my favorite shot. Unfortunately we didn't see the green flash that supposedly happens just as the sun hit the horizon but it was absolutely beautiful out.

More rocks. If you've ever looked at my pictures of the ocean you will notice that there are always pictures of rocks or strongly incorporating them. Something about knowing that they have been around for probably millions of years is really stunning to me every time.

Proof that I can cook if made to. Only kidding of course. I love feeding people, I just don't like the cooking part. This was my attempt at teaching Nick to throw together a quick tofu, veggie stir-fry. I could tell the things I did wrong but Nick loved it so it was a success.

I hope you aren't too bored of Santa Cruz and Nick stories, there are just so many good ones! Soon I will be putting up pictures from the conference I went to with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship at Alliance Redwoods in Occidental, CA which should keep you entertained, unfortunately, I took a million, yes, a million, pictures that need to be sorted and re-touched! 

I hope everyone is having a blessed and enjoyable fall. Hard to believe that it's almost December! Also, almost time for Jesus and I to celebrate our birthdays!

“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” Mother Teresa