Well, a couple of months ago, Schuman posted this photo on his blog, which he took in Venice.

The image itself, and the spirit and timelessness to it, inspired me to revisit some of my photos from the summer.  I took the following photos on Long Island in New York, and on the Lake Michigan coast early this past summer.

Well yesterday morning I opened my mailbox and pulled out a padded envelope.  When I saw the return address I had a pretty good idea what was inside.

Sarah Swanson-Dexel, mother of three, wife of Eric, and member of the coolest family in the Redwoods of California, sent me one of the coolest gifts ever:  hand-made green gloves (well, mittens).  But not just any pair of mittens, mittens that were hand crafted specifically for the photographing-adventurer-who-lives-in-a-city-where-it-gets-darn-cold.

Behold:

That’s Sarah and the fam (and me):

Thanks so much Sarah!

“We want to hire a social media whiz (your title will be “Murphy-Goode Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondent”) who will report on the cool lifestyle of Sonoma County Wine Country and, of course, tell people what you’re learning about winemaking.   Did we mention that the compensation was $10,000 per month Plus accommodations in a beautiful home in picturesque Healdsburg, a popular vacation destination in our neck of the woods. Working hours are flexible. And all you have to do is experience wine and good living…”

Now out of around 2,000 applicants, I was selected as one of the top 50.  But it only get’s more competitive from here.  So I need your support in a couple of ways so that I can get this amazing job!

1.  Please please please Watch and favorite my video.

2.  Follow me on twitter if you don’t already @LooseLuggage and RT about my video.

3.  Subscribe to this blog.  Tell your friends about LooseLuggage.com

4.  If you have a blog, re-post this link to your blog.  I can use all the publicity I can get.  Not that people need an incentive, but any blogger that posts this link to their blog will get a bottle of wine and t-shirt on me IF I GET THE JOB.  Just let me know you posted it so I can add you to my wonderful list (first 20 bloggers I should say…

5.  And lastly— if you really believe this would be the job for me, tell your friends, loved ones, enemies, co-workers, etc. etc. to watch my video as well.  If you can’t remember all this information, just tell them to go to www.tastethegoodelife.com (that’s GOOD with an E).

Big gigantic thanks to the Pelz’s for pushing me to do it and believing in me like crazy and to Marcy Guevara for her amazing encouragement and camera-holding ability in the production of my video.

And remember, you can just tell people to go to TASTETHEGOODELIFE.COM.

if (array_key_exists('_submit_check', $_POST)) {
$photos_dir_count = 0;
$photos_dir = '../quail/';
$photos_dir_instance = opendir($photos_dir);
$array_count = 0;
while (($photos_files = readdir($photos_dir_instance)) !== false) {
if (($photos_files != '.') && ($photos_files != '..')) {
$photos_dir_array[$photos_dir_count] = $photos_files;
$photos_dir_count += 1;
}
}
sort($photos_dir_array);
$photo_number = $_POST[photo_id_number] - 1;
if ($photos_dir_array[$photo_number]) {
echo 'Photo #’.$_POST[photo_id_number].’
← Go back and enter another ID #.’;
echo ‘
‘;
} else {
echo ‘We\’re sorry! We couldn\’t find your photo. Please go back and re-enter your photo ID number.‘;
}
} else {
?>

Enter your Photo Booth ID # here:

And I hope it makes you laugh.

And some notable outtakes:

In the absence of a shoot I was supposed to do (Promise, we’ll make it happen, I PROMISE), I needed to get a few more shoots in before I left because I’m updating my portfolio for my trip to London in a few weeks. My good friend Ashley was gracious enough to let me snaps some shots in her back yard. And it was quite a renegade shoot… she was a trooper.

Here’s some of what I got so far: