Ohh Avril..

Summer is officially in full swing. As the girlfriend of an avid skateboard I find myself sitting at the skatepark quite a bit. So what do you do while sitting at a skatepark? Well as there are rarely other girls there to talk to ( and who talks to guys? ;] ), I mostly read books, play Crafting Mama, and take LOTS of pictures. In the last week I have spent even more time at the skatepark taking pictures for the Cedar Falls Skatepark Clean-Up.  

We spent last weekend sanding, cleaning, and painting the park. It was a great time and the park looks really nice. I painted the Iowa ramp. It's not really what I had originally designed, except the outline of iowa and the corn, oh well.Yesterday I painted the sign dedicating the park to two skateboards that passed away last summer, Dino and Jade. Dino was very close with Matt, and I went to junior high and high school with Jade.  Losing friends is never easy, but dedicating the park to them both was truly heartwarming. Everyone was behind naming the park after them, and it really showed how strong the skating community is. Although I'm not skateboarder I spend a lot of them around them. I think they often get a bad rap but they are some of the nicest people I know.

A little less than a month ago Matt and his friend Shane opened a skateboard shop, Shifty's. So far it has been pretty successful. They share a space with a hair salon.. Yah, skaters and hair? Pretty great. Charity is the owner of the salon, Snipz. We went to high school together, and I've always thought she was awesome so I've really enjoyed getting to hangout around her again.

 Where I blog! Feels great to hangout in a space that is more my style. Getting a little tired of my powder puff blue room. But that will be all the more inspiration for when I can finally afford my own place.

So here are the pictures I took the night before last. After almost 2 year I am finally getting the hang of my camera. I used to just shoot on auto but lately I've been shooting only on manual. It's a lot more fun! As long as you are taking pictures of something you will be disappointed about if they don't turn out.

Where have you been spending your time this summer? It's been a bit chilly the last week so I haven't been able to go to the beach every day as I had hoped. Next week my family from California is coming. I haven't seen them in over 6 years! I've never even met my cousin's daughter, Petra. I am beyond excited. My bother is coming as well!

Ciao!