i normally try to keep my photo projects separate from my flowers, so excuse me this time. i'm a bit tired now although wedding season is about to start. weekly deliveries, valentine's day, more weekly deliveries had somewhat taken a toll on me earlier this year. and then i had to think about the unsavory side of running a business -- bookkeeping, paying sales tax, filing income taxes and then digesting my net income for all of 2014 (ugh). why can't life be about playing with pretty flowers, planting my garden and breathing fresh air?

somewhere between all of that, pete and i made an escape to iceland for our spring break. witnessing the northern lights have always been high up on my bucket list. and it's still on my bucket list.... (we never did see it and the week after we left there was an epic solar storm - such is life.)

yeah, we went to iceland instead of somewhere warm.

i'm not much of a beach person. actually, i cringe at the thought of it -- sand in my bathing suit, salt water drying my hair, sun damage on my skin, and absolute boredom from relaxation (i'm sooo my mother's daughter). so off we went to iceland with wide-eyed hopes of seeing something truly remarkable. and we did. we loved every moment of it, including the hail storms, fierce winds, cloudy days, snow, rain, etc. except for the moment that i dropped my brand new camera into a glacier lagoon. we spent most days waking up early for sunrises and staying up late to catch the northern lights (that happened somewhere above the cloud cover). between all of that were naps and long bus rides and a lot of food. i'm currently working off my spring weight.

we are going back sometime in the near future, at least TWICE. we never did see the northern lights although my camera was able to capture something my eyes couldn't see. and how wonderful it would be to visit during midnight summer, particularly with lupine in bloom.