First session in Mobile!

As a thank you for our awesome realtor and mainly for his wife, Erica (we searched for houses for over 8 months = lots of trips in and lots of saturdays away from home) I offered to do a free portrait session. It was a great way to say thanks and also gave me willing participants to explore some of the city!! They were awesome and you will definitely see more of them since they are expecting baby #1 this spring!! If you need a realtor in/around the Mobile area definitely check out Phillip Curtin with Remax.

Thanks Phillip & Erica!!

joellynn

Anyone need some antiques?

In September, Trey and I headed out to Charles Phillips Antiques http://www.charlesphillipsantiques.com/ in search of some old shutters to complete the facade for our shed. After a couple wrong turns we finally found it. There were several really amazing items out there... we left empty handed - which was probably a good thing since we are famous for buying and then finding a place for things... We will definitely be back!!! Here are a few pictures from our antique hunt!

Awesome old boxes

Some of our initial choices...

And then we saw more, lots more!!

Love this sign...

Happy antiquing!
joellynn

Paradise found....

After 9 days prepping/climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, 4 days on a bumping/dusty safari, 5 days relaxing on the beaches of Zanzibar were the best possible way to end our trip in Africa. Once again we lucked out on getting a phenomenal deal and spend our final days in pure paradise at the Azanzi Beach Hotel. Having coincidentally scheduled our trip during Ramadan and the end of the European vacations, we basically had the hotel to ourselves!! At first we were nervous about traveling during such a holy time, but the hotel staff were awesome and made sure we enjoyed our stay and kept us informed of the proper customs when we finally ventured out for a day of shopping. It was hard to leave the beach chairs, even for shopping!! Few pictures of paradise below:

Loved the hedge message upon arrival!

Our hotel - Azanzi (aka paradise!)

Still a little cold for our visit, the pool was breathtaking.

One of the dozen fishing dhows along the beach.

Local children I befriended one morning.

Aside from spices, Zanzibar is known for it's intricately carved doors.

Another beautiful door.

View from breakfast.... wish Zanzibar was closer, I'd go back tomorrow!

Loving Zanzibar,
joellynn

Lions and tigers and bears!!!

Okay, well no tigers or bears, but plenty of giraffe, elephants, zebra and baboons!!! As mentioned below, part of my delinquency in keeping my blog updated can be blamed on my 3 week trip to Africa this summer. After hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro we headed out on safari with Safari Images http://www.safari-images.com/ While not the most luxurious of companies, we definitely got our money's worth!! Tom, our guide for 4 days, was incredibly knowledgeable and we stayed in the same places as the other high-end companies for a MUCH lower price!! The trip was awesome and we saw the big-5! Couple pictures below:

First day in Ngorongoro Crater - this was the only time we were allowed out of the truck!

The lions have figured out how to use the caravans of tourists as "cover" to sneak up on herds...

smart kitties.

Meow...

Just pure awesome.

This was the only time our guide told us to still/quiet... we were SO close to the elephants!

Gorgeous cheetah right after she killed a gazelle.

Last night on safari at the Manyara Serena Lodge... the infinity pool overlooked the park below.

Wish we had more time to relax by the pool!!

Not your normal traffic stopper!

Happy travels!
joellynn

More of the *1,000* checked off!!

Love to travel? Then I highly recommend picking up a copy of the "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" book! It's a great "checklist" of places to visit in the world. Last year for Christmas I surprised Trey with a trip to Africa to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, go on safari and relax on the beach!!! No, we are not mountain climbers. For the past 3.5 years the majority of our outdoor activities involved sand, surf and umbrellas... but hey, we go skiing once a year out to CO! :) Needless to say, we had some work to do and looots of gear to buy. The trip was seriously one of the most amazing things I've ever done.

We went thru Marangu Hotel www.maranguhotel.com for both our pre/post-hike accommodations and our guide services. I can not recommend this company enough. Marangu is locally owned/operated and their guides/porters are all salaried full-time employees of Marangu, which is a very unique qualification for guide groups. Marangu's owners were also instrumental in creating a porter's "union" for Kilimanjaro - essentially ensuring fair treatment/pay for porters/guides. I can honestly say that I would not have made it to the top without the support, trust and guidance of Joseph, Charlie and Howard. Our cook and 5 porters were also amazing and I would 100% use them again if I were crazy enough to attempt a 2nd summit! :) (not likely)

Here are a couple of the images from the trip.

Ready... Set... HIKE!!!!!

Coming into Horombo, our first look at the "Dr. Suess" plants...

First glimpse of Kili on the Mtn, this is morning of day 3 from Horombo Lodge

"Squish the Mountain"...In hindsight, probably not the best idea.

On our rest day we took a hike up to Zebra rocks to keep our muscle moving.

Long, long way to go. They call this the saddle due to its leveling out - which only means there's no way to hide from the wind!

The most amazing sunrise EVER.

View down the trail we just spent 7 hours climbing UP.

View of Mawenzi - the "little" peak - from the top.

The 4 of us and our amazing guides at the top of Gilman's Point

After 6 days, 96km and some seriously sore muscles, we were done.

Done. Done. Done. Celebrating with our team back at Marangu Hotel.

Rest of the pictures can be viewed at: http://joellynnjones.smugmug.com/Travel

More pictures to follow!! Happy traveling!

joellynn

Moving on over...

Most of my clients know, but in July we moved from Pensacola (tear, tear) over to Mobile, AL. Last fall Trey transferred from the Navy to the Coast Guard and we were stationed over in Mobile this summer. At first we thought it might be commutable, but quickly changed our mind after it took over 3 hours for him to get home one Friday afternoon... So move we did. We rented out the Pcola house and purchased a beautiful, nearly 100-year old house in the Midtown area of Mobile. Little did we know that Mobile was the rainiest city in the continental US... I'm not kidding. Its CRAZY rain. See below:

The streets around here flood all the time... my favorite is the businesses that keep sandbags out all the time...

Notice the crazy colors over Mobile and Pensacola sitting pretty???? Sigh... who knew?

Hope you have rainboots!

joellynn