pumpkin beer and cheese tasting party

Halloween, I think because we're not yet in the parent demographic, doesn't mean tons of fun size candies and other sweet halloween treats.  For us, Halloween season (and fall in general) means the beginning of all the breweries releasing their pumpkin beers!  It seems like every brewery has a seasonal pumpkin beer on in their wheelhouse and no two pumpkin beers are the same.  Instead of having a sweets laden halloween party I thought it'd be fun to have a pumpkin beer tasting party instead!  

I picked up a bunch of different pumpkin beers (and I threw in my all time favorite ginger cider from Schilling for good measure), laid out a cheese platter for people to snack on between beer tastings, and everyone sipped on beers!  Whether or not you want to get really into picking apart the tasting notes of the beers is up to you, we found that by the end, the actual tasting notes started to devolve, but it was still a really fun time!

Beers we tasted:

Uinta Punk'n / Dogfish Head Punkin Ale / Elysian Night Owl / Rogue Pumpkin Patch Ale / 21st Amendment He Said / New Belgium Pumpkick / Southern Tier Pumking (and Schilling's Ginger Cider)

Cheeses:

Kerrygold Dubliner / Blarney Castle / Skellig / Dubliner Soft Cheese Spread

tasted on Rustic Rosemary Loaf

sacred femininity

The response to Wildbride has been so wonderful!  Everyone has been so encouraging and I'm so excited for it to grow and to expand and bring it even further than the west coast!  My favorite thing about Wildbride is that every woman comes to me with a story of why they want to do a Wildbride shoot.  Each one is so beautiful, and it feels really special and honoring to be trusted with those stories.  I think sometimes as women we're used to hiding our stories.  So often in movies and television the main stories being told are men's stories, or the stories of women surrounding men.  It's not very often that we hear women's stories purely told by women, about things that are central to being a woman moving through the world.  Sure, sometimes that involves men because men are humans who we interact with, but there is so much more to women's stories than how men fit into those stories.  
Sometimes I get men joking with me saying things like, "why aren't men allowed to do Wildbride shoots?  I want a Wildgroom shoot, LOL!" and it makes me pretty salty.  Like, hey guys, can this one thing not be about you?  This is a space for sacred femininity and you are not invited.  Go find a photographer whose calling is creating photos for sacred masculinity, that's great.  But I'm not that photographer and I'm not about that.  I feel like it can be hard for women to feel comfortable and safe enough to be vulnerable with their stories, bodies, and femininity.  A lot of women have been injured by men, physically or emotionally, and the idea of men being allowed to enter into the Wildbride space creates a space that is no longer safe for women to be vulnerable in that way.  The thing I love about Wildbride is that it's for women.  It was designed and crafted to be for women.  Something magical happens when women are around other women.  Walls come down, hearts open, laugher reverberates.  


 


 



All items thrifted or old.  Photos by me | Liz Morrow Studios

broadening horizons

It's always funny to me how different pieces in my closet want to be worn depending on the season.  Technically this Dear Creatures dress was from their summer collection a few years back, and it's a pretty thin fabric despite having longer sleeves, but I always like wearing it in the fall rather than summer.   But enough about clothes.  I'm so excited for my travels this next year.  Right now I have my travel schedule up on my Studio Website, and I can't wait to add more locations to the schedule as I make more plans for 2016.  I feel like 2016 is a big year for me.  I turn thirty and I'm like, it's time to get this show on the road!  Dan and I have been discussing moving into the Winne, living in a friend's yard for a really affordable rent(/parking space?), renting out our house or possibly selling it, and saving our money for travel and savings.  It's an idea that we've been throwing around for a long time, and I think we'll make a decision soon-ish, but since I'm taking the Brave on my Wildbride tour, it probably won't happen until at least Spring.  I have a feeling that I'll get to Paris and be like, "Why the hell does anyone live in Tacoma!?" Even though I do like Tacoma, I've started, on my bike rides here and there, thinking about how plain Tacoma is in some ways.  And not just Tacoma, but the US in general.  I mean, there are so many incredible cities and geographically gorgeous areas in the US, but the streets with the houses and lawns and such... I'm ready to experience something else.  I like yards and neighborhoods, but I also don't feel like relinquishing to a life of that being my reality.  There are so many different ways to live in community, so many ways community looks so different from what we have here.  And honestly my neighborhood doesn't feel like a community, anyway.  We all hide behind our doors and fences, keep each other at arms length (which is fine by me because my neighbors are some weird folks, and not in the good way.  Like literally as I am typing there are people screaming obscenities and threats at each other in my neighbors' front yard). I always go back and forth between wanting to live in a big city for a year, and just moving to the country, or back to AK.  I love nature and feel like being in a natural setting is so healing, rejuvenating, and inspiring for me.  But I also crave the cultural growth and experiences that come from being surrounded by a big city.  Dan and I have talked about moving to New York for 6 months to 2 years, or somewhere like that.  Maybe after I visit Paris I'll start pushing for an overseas city.


 


 

All items are old (2+years) | Photos by me (Liz Morrow Studios)

paris here i come!

My brand new passport came in the mail on Saturday, which means... I'm going to Paris! After finding a super cheap milage ticket on Alaska Air, I booked my first trip across the pond!  I'll be staying in an artist's studio and even though it will only be for a few days, but I'm thrilled to finally see a little bit more of this world beyond our US borders! Domestic travel for me no longer stretches me out of my comfort zone. I feel completely competent and comfortable traveling in any city in the US, but international travel is definitely out of my comfort zone and I desperately need to push past that comfort zone. I want to fill this passport with stamps and need a new one before it expires because it's already full. I want to understand more of this planet and the people on it in an experiential way. I want to grow personally through stretching myself out of my comfort zone, and putting myself in different cultures.

I've had two different flights across the Atlantic that I had to cancel.  Not this one.  Not this time.

 
 
"What woman does not know this broken promise by heart? 'As soon as I finish this I can go. As soon as I can get away... when the springtime comes, I'll go. When the summer's over, I'll go. When the kids are back in school... Late in autumn when the trees are so beautiful I will go. Well, no one can go anywhere in winter, so I'll just wait till sprint... I really mean it this time.'
... Your dog will try to make you think you are abandoning a child on the highway, but will forgive you...
'I am going.' These are the best words ever. Say them. Then go."
- Clarissa Pinkola Estes Ph.D. Women Who Run With The Wolves

I am going.

So, friends, give me all your Paris advice and recommendations.  Food, drinks, sights, favorite bloggers, all the things!

I'll be there the first week of December, so I'm not getting the springtime-in-Paris experience, which I'm actually fine with.  I tend to prefer traveling on the off-season so things aren't overrun with tourists.

And if any of you are in Paris and want to meet up for coffee, drinks, or do a photo shoot, let me know!  I'd love to!

photo credit //  Georgianna Lane,  Tell Tale Blog, + unknown

wildbride retreats!

Back in April I announced an idea for a second Winne trip.  I knew that the Brave was a creative home for me, and I longed for another Brave journey.  But I also knew that this time I didn't want the trip to be about me.  I didn't want it to be just a sight-seeing trip, or a personal growth trip like it was for my first one.  So I had the idea to travel around and interview cool ladies doing amazing things and create a podcast.  I was really excited about the idea, but I also felt like something was sort of off about it, for me.  I couldn't figure out how to make the project really resonate with me, it was like I was working against the flow trying to get the project going.  I had planned on leaving on the trip about this time of year, but time kept slipping by and the project kept getting pushed back.

When I took my break from the interwebs and started dipping my toes into doing Wildbride photo shoots, I naturally was inspired to involve the Brave in my life again.  I knew that the Brave and Wildbride were connected, deep down they meant the same thing for me.  They were a part of the same story.  So I started thinking of how the two of them could mesh.  The result: Wildbride Retreats!

I knew that I wanted to connect with more women beyond the Pacific Northwest, but that everyone who wanted to do a shoot traveling to me wouldn't always feasible.  But with the Brave, I'm mobile.  I could go TO people.  So starting at the end of January I'm hopping in the Brave with Kristina (the loveliest redhead who you've seen on this here blog plenty of time.  My soul sister and luscious goddess) and driving down the West Coast of the US leading Wildbride retreats along the way.  We have retreats scheduled for the Oregon Coast, Northern California Redwoods, Joshua Tree, and Sedona!

 

The retreats will be on weekends, arrival on Friday, Wildbride shoots on Saturday, and leave Sunday, and we've got so much fun stuff planned.  Kristina is a certified Yoga Instructor and will be leading yoga for us to get us all grounded into our bodies, we'll be staying in some incredible homes (don't worry, we don't all have to cram into the Brave), and eating delicious food.  You can see the tentative daily schedule here, I'm so excited to get to commune with Wildbride women and have a healing, celebratory weekend surrounding the photo shoots.  Each retreat only has 4 spots because I really want the retreats to be more intimate.  I don't want to feel like we're rushing the shoots, or that I don't have enough time to connect with everyone.  

 

Also, I have big dreams for taking Wildbride even further than the Winne can go.  I'm traveling to Paris Dec 1- 5,  and New Orleans Dec 29-31, and while I don't have time to put together full retreats for those trips, I would love to do Wildbride shoots while I'm there!  If anyone is local to Paris/New Orleans or happens to be there while I am, please email me and let's chat!  I'm also dreaming of Ireland, Iceland, and beyond for 2016!  But for now here are the confirmed Wildbride Retreats:

Oregon Coast | Manzanita, OR  Jan 29-31, 2016 (only 2 spots left!)
Redwoods | Mendocino, CA Feb 12-14

Joshua Tree | Joshua Tree, CA Feb 19-21

Sedona | Sedona, AZ Mar 4-6

You can see all the info on the retreats, what's included, what's not, and the tentative daily schedule over at the Retreat website!  I'm offering an Early Bird deal for everyone who signs up before November 30 (and I also have payment plans available for early birds too, so if you're interested in finding out more about the payment plan email me!).  After that it'll go up to full price, so make sure to sign up before then!