I’ve been photographing a lot of pit bulls this year and put together this slideshow recently. Take a look! Also, once you hit play and see where it says 480p at the bottom of the video player, you should click that number and select 720 or 1080. That will make it look much nicer. I don’t know why it’s not defaulting. Stupid internets.
Yes, I know I still suck at blogging. Yes, I am a lazy bastard. Yes, I will say again that I will remedy this. But no, I don’t think I’m lying this time. I know I’ve said it a million times before, but I really think I will this time! I’m settling into my SLC groove and shooting more, I’m getting out on a ton of adventures (yes, my feet are FINALLY getting better), and I have a new toy coming tomorrow that I’m pretty stoked to play with. Other good news is that my point and shoot camera is finally fixed. It went bonkers during the honeymoon and stopped working. So even though I’ve been getting out on all sorts of truly beautiful hikes, I don’t have much to show for them except photos from my cell phone. Similar to this post, where I had all sorts of fun stuff hidden deep in my memory card, I found tons of fun stuff buried on my phone this weekend. I will keep the pictures pretty and nostalgic-looking by posting the ones taken with the Hipstamatic camera app. I know these things are so overdone these days, but the colors and flaws of them make them seem so much more real than plain old boring shots, even if they are fake. Anyway, here’s a collection of some of the goodies hidden in the innards of the phone… everything ranging from my bridal shower and the honeymoon to hikes and of course dogs.
by Sarah
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Since Keeley and Jackie are on the cover of this month’s magazine (newsstand edition), it seems fitting to finally post some of these photos! Took these a few months back and since I’ve been sucking at blogging, well, you know the story…
by Sarah
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Well folks, it’s official. Little Sarah is growing up. I done got married! Pim and I tied the knot about two and a half weeks ago at a campsite in the Uinta Mountains. I might be biased, but it was pretty much the best wedding ever. It was infinitely more beautiful than I ever could have imagined, and totally DIY and awesome. I don’t really understand how people can spend a fortune creating some huge, staged production when you really only need one thing: love. Not just between the bride and groom, but all the friends and family too. We crafted a beautiful homemade wedding for less than what a lot of people spend on their cake. And we were able to do it because we’re totally rich in the love department. We didn’t want some pricey cake from a random bakery… we wanted one made with love by our friend Pam!… and modeled after Monty Python’s holy hand grenade! And let’s not forget the boozy cupcakes that got Pim’s 90-year-old granny DRUNK! We didn’t have a catered affair… we got a bunch of veggies from Costco and let people make their own hobo dinners to toss on the grill. Pim and his friend Dal brewed all the beer themselves. Lizzy and Magen designed labels. Terrah sewed colorful fabric flags that adorned our campsite. Bonnie made little paper flowers. Molly, Angela, and Amanda took awesome photos. Ginger did my hair. September made pretty hair clips. Lindsy made our beautiful stefana wedding crowns (a Greek wedding tradition to honor Pim’s heritage). Pim’s aunt provided the crazy hat collection, so we could have our own ROYAL WEDDING. Ha! We rented a generator to run an iPod stereo, but we didn’t use it… lots of people played guitar instead, and Rich was brave enough to sing (and he even sang “I Think I Love You” by the Partridge Family!… the song I sang Pim when I first spilled the beans that I loved him). Mike performed the ceremony for us, which we wrote up ourselves in the days right before the wedding. Everything was done by the people we love, creating something a lot more special than anything a big bank account or some cookie-cutter mold can get you. Friends and family from all over the country came, and it was so wonderful to be able to get everyone together. When Pim and I were deciding whether or not to plan an actual wedding (versus running off to Tahoe and doing it on the small), the reason I decided I actually did want a wedding was because it was the only time I could ever get so many people I love together in one place… because let’s face it, the only other time you might get that is your funeral. So we went for the wedding, and I’m so glad we did. It took some planning, but it was awesome, fun, creative planning, and it was essentially stress-free (how many brides can say that?!). And I got to party hardy with some of my favorite people in the universe… oh yeah, and seal the deal with Pim! I guess it’s implied with weddings, but that dude means more to me than anything that could ever be strung together into words. Regarding him, I don’t like words like love, cherish, adore, blah, blah, blah. Those all mean nothing compared to what I really feel for him. Those words are too small. And being used by billions of people, how can those words accurately describe what each person who says them is feeling? One size does not fit all. But, I digress. Considering most people come to my blog to look at photos, I will stop rambling (you get it, I love him) and let you see sneak a peek into our totally Kickass and Awesome wedding! Behold!
ALSO, my name has officially changed! I’m now Sarah Ause Kichas. To those wondering if I am now Skichas instead of Saussie… no, I am still Saussie, and always will be. I’ve been Saussie since the first grade, and a marriage sure as hell won’t change that. This domain won’t change either. But you can call me Skichas if you want… or Sarah AK, Awesome Kickass, Kickawesome… or, you know, Sarah works too.
by Sarah
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Very well said, Sarah!! It truly was a great, great wedding! May you cherish the memories forever! Love, Mom
Long-time readers may remember when I backpacked Paria Canyon three years ago. It was one of the most glorious experiences in my life, and I took some absolutely incredible photos. Well, I finally did it again last month, only this time it wasn’t very glorious (and I didn’t take many photos). Honestly, I quite despise that canyon right now. And yes, I am bitter about it.
See, something happened on this trip and my feet stopped working. Not really sure what exactly did it, but it’s pretty safe to say that something in the combination of high and filthy water, miles of quicksand, and the heavy pack put super-strength stress on my kickers and totally raped my metatarsals. It began on day 3 (days 1 and 2 were pretty cool though, I will admit). By day 4, I basically couldn’t walk at all. However, when I took off my shoes, I could. It was weird, my shoes weren’t really fitting any differently, but something only felt right when I took them off. I proceeded to hike eight miles that day with no shoes on. That must have caused all sorts of its own problems, because now, three weeks later, I still can’t walk right. I have even gone to a podiatrist and everything. Of course, it hasn’t helped that the day after getting out of that blasted canyon, I had to pack up and move across the state. Then a couple days after that, I had to walk around Los Angeles for a week. Now I’m trying to stay off them, but it’s not really doing much. They are totally and completely wrecked. I’m sure I’m just being dramatic and they will heal sometime, but the idea of not being able to hike is really freaking me out. I’m getting married in four days and will embark on our epic honeymoon, and well, I’m afraid I won’t be able to walk for any of it! I know there are children dying in Africa, but my feet really hurt!
Okay fine, I get it, and I will shut the hell up now, but while you look at the few photos I took on this trip, I will sit here whining in my mind about how I hate that stupid canyon and its stupid, filthy water.
by Sarah
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I’d be soaking those tootsies in warm water with epsom salt, a lot of soaking. Warm water can cure almost any foot malady if employed long enough. You’ll get a bit “pruny”, but so what.
On my last day working at the sanctuary, I took these mind-explodingly cute photos of the ever-adorable Carrie Smith and her even-cuter foster kittens (no offense, Carrie!). They were just two weeks old when they were discovered in someone’s garage… their mother had gone missing! Carrie became their new mom, bottlefeeding them and helping them grow into stinkin’ WONDERFUL little cats. They are named after booze, as all of Carrie’s foster kittens seem to be. These ones are Porter, Stella, Guinness, Foster, and Miller (I think?). Anyway, the day after I took these shots, they moved into a new foster home, because Carrie was getting some new fosters as well… MINE! See, Carrie moved into my house to be the new foster mom to Jack, Kizzy, and Mitzi (and Josie moved in with Molly). I’m not going to get into that too much right now because I miss them LIKE WHOA and might start crying, but anyway, it’s all good, and everyone is doing well (including my two cats who are SO HAPPY to be the only cats in the house now). I’m sure I will expand on that later, but for now, just go ahead and let your brain melt by these shots…
by Sarah
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Terrah just reminded me that I still suck at blogging. Here are some baby bunnies in a lousy effort to remedy that. But seriously, who doesn’t love baby bunnies?
by Sarah
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Last week, I dug up this baby photo of me for work. It’s our all-staff week at Best Friends, and a video containing childhood photos with pets was displayed at our department meeting. Anyway, they wanted a photo with our first pet, but it shouldn’t surprise you that I had a lot of first pets. However, it might surprise you that I was born on a farm in rural Minnesota. I think my parents had 14 cats (barn cats, mostly), four dogs, four horses, four goats, and a few random others (like some chickens that one of the dogs killed). So basically, it’s hard for me to choose a “first pet,” but I decided on Huckleberry for this exercise (the kitty laying on the steps with me). My parents had gotten him before I was born and he made it up to just a month shy of my 18th birthday. So considering that he witnessed my entire childhood, I felt he was worthy of the title of “first pet.” If you look closer at the photo though, you’ll see there are two other cats in there as well. And it just kind of reminded me of this other photo that Molly took of me a few weeks ago with my current kitty crew of Stella, Baby, and the four fosters (although, Molly just took on Josie, so I am down to three fosters). It kind of weirds me out how much I look the same.
by Sarah
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My days in Kanab are numbered. I think officially it’s like 10. Unofficially, it’s feels lower because I’m going on a five-day backpack within those ten days. Anyway, I began moving stuff into our new house this past weekend, but I don’t have any photos to show for it. Just trust me that it is awesome. It has a few quirks and is far from perfect, but it will do. I really do love it. However, it’s not all peaches and daisies…
I blame PMS, but not entirely. This move is going to be a little harder on me than I expected. I cried when I was up there this past weekend. We were driving home from Pim’s mom’s and as we were getting off the freeway, all I saw were bright lights and lots of cars… and I started crying. Even hyperventilating a little. I figured it was PMS, and sure enough it was (TMI?… too bad)… but even a few days later, I still felt small pangs of that original agony. BIG CITY. Okay, so Salt Lake City is FAR from big, but compared to a town like Kanab, it’s enormous. There are more people in a block of Sugarhouse than there are in all of Kanab. And while Kanab is not a place for, well, most everyone, I really do love it here. Funny thing is, when I had my job interview down here in 2007, I called my mom crying that I absolutely could not live in this town… because people had cars PARKED IN THEIR FRONT YARD (I swear, I’m not as much of a cry-baby as this post is making me out to be). Anyway, by the next day, I’d gotten over it because I was born for this job and adored my soon-to-be coworkers. And now, despite all its redneck quirks, I still love living here.
It’s still kind of shocking to me that I’m moving back to SLC. When I lived there five years ago, I didn’t really care for it too much. I loved my job (and all the aspects that city life offered it), but I had no friends and all I saw were traffic lights and billboards. I had just moved from small-town Wyoming, and even though I was raised a city-kid, I had been converted. And now, it will take a little readjustment again, but I will be fine. I always love my trips north… I just think this last one had the PMS/too much at once combo. It’s a lot to take in at once… moving AND getting married?! But I’ll be fine. For four reasons really… first and foremost, Pim is totally worth it. Second, I have a lot more friends up there now. Granted, most of them are up in Park City, but same diff. Third, we live in a nice, quiet neighborhood. And last, I’m ready for a little shake-up in my job, and this is perfect. I’m gaining back what I miss most about working for newspapers – getting invited into strangers’ homes and sampling a little bit of their lives. So am I a little scared about this move? Totally. But stoked? Infinitely more.
by Sarah
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I’ll miss seeing your fabulous animal photos from the Sanctuary.
by Sarah
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