* Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

I hope everyone enjoys their holiday celebrations and rings in the new year with a bang. Take the time to look back on this last year of your life. Think about all that you've achieved and what you've learned. Be grateful and thankful, love your family and friends. You're happy, healthy, and alive. Breathe and smile. Just think how amazing this next year 2012 will be.... !

Snow dusted buoys and chairs at my little house on Peaks Island, Maine.


If you look hard enough, you can actually see how delicately designed each snowflake is.


Half moon peaking over the top of a building along the waterfront in Portland, Maine's Old Port.


Casco Bay pilings and a little sea smoke on a crisp, sunny morning towards the East End of Portland, Maine.


A worker and wharf cat at Harbor Fish Market seek the sun on a chilly winter morning in Portland, Maine.


A bench buried in snow along the tree-lined Eastern Prom in Portland, Maine.

* Reid State Park in Georgetown, Maine

Happy Official First Day of Winter!!! I know I just posted snowy goodness on Morse Mountain, and I still wish for the white stuff to dump, but I can't help but still equally love summer in Maine. Reid State Park in Georgetown, Maine so gorgeous that I had to keep this many photos in my edit! The waves and undertow are strong; lifeguards were on duty. There is plenty of beach to relax on and hot sand to sink your toes into (I nearly burned the skin off mine this day!). I love how the dunes rise above your head and the rocks fall right into the ocean. If you need a place to stay, the Pryor House bed & breakfast is in nearby Bath, Maine. It is absolutely adorable and serves up a delicious family-style breakfast in the morning. Bath has a nostalgic feel to me with a plethora of antique shops to peruse. So add Reid State Park and the Pryor House to your To Do List for next summer -- you won't regret it.

The Pryor House bed and breakfast in Bath, Maine.



A little pool on the opposite side of the dunes where the kiddos can safely wade in the water.












Lifeguards keeping a watchful eye over the busy beach.






My new beachfront property!


On a brief break from frantically digging holes in the sand like a honey badger. This kid was on a mission.


















My friend Kevin: Old Guys Rule.






A view from the front...




... a view from the back. Both are gorgeous.








Bring your lunch to enjoy the seaside picnic table area with amazing views of Sheepscot Bay.

* Pinhole Press: Holiday Gifts

I just received my second shipment of holiday gifts from Pinhole Press, and I have to say I do love these notepads. They are fun, affordable, customizable (just enough), and have that nice clean feel I love. The weight of the paper, the size of the pad -- love 'em. They look better in all their tangible glory than on this post! Taking the lead that lovely NC-based photographer Lucy Parker did, I sent some out as little holiday gifts to the folks I worked with this year. Lucy attended the very cool Roots Workshop with me last July, for another amazing, hardcore week of documentary storytelling.

For access to some additional premium photo products, feel free to access Pinhole Press through my professional link here.

* Morse Mountain in Phippsburg, Maine

Can you believe it is December, only days away from Christmas?! I am craving snow and winter hiking like this during a storm at Morse Mountain in Phippsburg, Maine. The trail ends at the beautiful Seawall Beach, though breeds some killer horse flies! At low tide you can attempt to wade across the river to Popham Beach State Park, just to the northeast. "

"The Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area is a nature preserve managed by Bates College for environmental research and education. The 500+ acre conservation area fronts over a mile of stunningly beautiful beach and dunes."