Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

Category: my life

  • Happy 2009!

    I don’t consider myself to be a particularly superstitious person, but I love fun traditions like eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day. Well, I don’t actually love black-eyed peas…in fact, I loathe them. The texture is just gross to me, or maybe it’s the beady little black “eyes” staring at me. But I love the thought of the peas affecting my luck for the whole year. My mom usually served the lucky legumes with our meal on New Year’s Day, but Chris and I tend to just eat an obligatory spoonful, sometimes right out of the Goya can just to get it over with. This year I did put them on a plate with the rest of our dinner (and later photographed them like the dork I am). Do you have any New Year’s traditions?

    Wishing you and yours peace, love, happiness and lots of luck in the new year! 

  • Making Christmas Happen

    As many of you know, my parents moved out to Colorado earlier this year. Chris and I visited them for the first time in November for Thanksgiving. This is actually my first Christmas ever that I’m spending without seeing my mom and dad, and it feels weird! My parents have always had a way of making Chrismas really happen whether you’re in the spirit for it yet or not. If I know them well enough, the house has been well-decorated all month long. The tree and decorations are up, lights are in the yard, and my dad probably gets a Christmas tune stuck in his head every day or so and hums or whistles it around the house. In contrast, my own house shows very few signs of the holidays. I just now put our little Charlie Brown tree up and that’s about it – I’ve just been too busy lately. But my mom still found her way of making sure the Christmas spirit is extended to us, even across all these miles. Yesterday we received a package in the mail with this adorable little ornament, so I’m feeling a little more Christmas-y now (I’m even inspired to get a real tree next year). And in honor of my dad, I’m humming some Christmas tunes around the house today. Love you both!




  • Hiking Hemlock Overlook

    Hiking Hemlock Overlook

    Today I was able to cross #28 – Go hiking off of my 101 in 1001 list. Chris and I went to Hemlock Overlook Regional Park based on one of the trails listed in the Hikes in the Washington Region book that I picked up at Eastern Mountain Sports last weekend. I honestly had never gone hiking “for real” before, wearing proper shoes and navigating a trail map. We had so much fun! I know it might sound a little crazy that we went in 37-degree weather, but it was perfect considering my main concern about hiking: bugs. I didn’t see one bug. We saw a few other hikers though, so it wasn’t so crazy that we were out there. The trail was rated as moderately difficult, and I feel like I did really well with the 3.3 miles of it (I only tripped a few dozen times). I commented on how muddy it was (see post title) and Chris said I was probably the only person there today that said that. I’m a beginner at this outdoorsy stuff! I get the appeal of it though – it was so peaceful and nice to be disconnected for a while, and the fresh air was good for me. I only brought the little point-and-shoot camera along since my main purpose was to watch my footing, but we did take a few pictures:

    My fearless guide:

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    The expert and the newbie (I feel like I look wide-eyed in surprise or shock or something):

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    It may have been cold, but it was a gorgeous day.

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    My cute new hiking shoes before they got muddy (I’m proud of getting them muddy!):

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    Chris exploring a creepy Blair Witch-like structure. Actually, it’s the remains of Virginia’s first hydroelectric plant.

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    And a nice little message on a building back near the parking lot as we were leaving:

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  • Tri-Training

    For anyone just tuning in, I’ll briefly recap the 101 in 1001 list that I created earlier this year. In the interest of spending some time doing things that I want/need to do in my life, I created a goal list of 101 things I want/need to complete in 1001 days. The list includes some tasks that will enrich my life in various areas: mentally, physically, and emotionally. Some of the other items simply needed to get done, and other items still are just for fun. Fifteen items are complete, and I have just a little over two years left to finish the list. There are a couple of really big ticket items on my list that just might take the full two remaining years to do them. Snorkeling might have been one of the hardest things for me to do mentally, but biking the entire length of the W&OD trail and back will probably be the hardest for me to do physically. And while it’s not on the list, I decided that in the interest of completing my swimming, biking and running goals, I just might as well sign up for a triathlon. Not the Ironman or anything of course, and not even a full-length event, but a shorter triathlon designed as an introduction to multi-sport events. My good friend, Kim, did the same triathlon a couple of years ago and I was just so completely proud and inspired by her accomplishment, so hopefully I’ll be able to follow in her footsteps.

    So in the interest of getting a move on, I am hereby starting my training to complete this goal, and I want you, my fabulous blog readers, to be witness to the fact that I am officially starting. This is something I’m doing for myself, but just knowing that anyone supports me in these goals will give me additional strength to push through the tough times. And knowing that I’m publicly putting this out there just might give me the accountability that I need as well!

    To commemorate the start of training, here are some really goofy pictures of me! I don’t have a running-related photo, so will you settle for one of me in pink boxing gloves (taken with Chris’s BlackBerry) trying to make an intimidating face?

    EDIT: I updated this post to remove the idea of updating on Tuesdays. 🙂 It’s sort of a weird day for me to update on because my training week runs Monday through Sunday. But I promise I’ll post updates when I can!

  • Smashing Pumpkins…Again

    Smashing Pumpkins…Again

    Chris and I found out that out of the two nights that the Smashing Pumpkins were playing at DAR Constitution, the second night was the more “nostalgic” night with a set list that included more of their classic songs. So, we decided to go again last night especially since those are the songs that I’m a fan of. I definitely enjoyed last night’s show more than the first night. We had better seats, although our view was still blocked because of the one girl that was standing up in our section (we couldn’t stand up to see over her because we would’ve blocked the people behind us). Regardless, we still had a good time. As a side note for my photographer friends, I smuggled my 5D, 50 1.2 and 200 2.8 inside to get some better shots this time. It was still tricky trying to work around the girl in front of me, but every time she’d sway to the right or at least put her arms down, I could get a fairly clear shot of the stage. If anyone was at the show and wants to borrow these images from my blog, feel free! Please just link back to my blog and/or leave my photo credit on the image if you post them somewhere else online.






    These next two are for Gary, who was sitting next to me and wanted a shot of Jimmy all lit up: