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Abandoned Auditorium

by Kaylah Stroup
On my birthday, Jeff and I went to one of the places we went on our first date. It’s kind of funny actually, I was SO incredibly shy he didn’t know whether or not I was having a good time. He swears I showed a total lack of emotion that day. I didn’t even pull out my camera once. I was overwhelmed, in a really good way. I was with this cute guy who took me somewhere I thought was incredibly cool. I was looking at all these spots in the building thinking “oh man, this would be a great spot for a first kiss!” At one point we even went up on the roof, and I thought “this is it, he’s gonna do it now!” Nope. Haha! Anyway, ever since then I’ve been itching to go back there and shoot it.Two main things I’ve noticed about this building:
1. There are a lot of shoes in this place. Basically every room has at least one shoe in it. And they’re awful shoes. They remind me of being seven or eight and getting all the shoes my aunt wanted to put in the family garage sale, just ugly bridesmaid shoes. (Totally loved them when I was that young though, nothing better than dress up shoes! I mean, c’mon!)
2. Weird chairs! Are they melting? Jeff says they’ve slowly been doing this for a long time. What exactly is happening here?!
xoxo

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ruins + mushrooms

by Kaylah Stroup

Not too long ago Jeff took me to the ruins of an old power plant that just so happen to be next to a beautiful waterfall. It just occurred to me while looking at the draft for this post that I didn’t even take one photo of the whole thing. Hah! Guess I was a bit distracted by the abundance of mushrooms.

Once again, I’m amazed by all the little things you could miss if you don’t look hard enough. Ohio is a pretty darn awesome state that certainly doesn’t get the credit it deserves.
xoxo

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camping in ohiopyle

by Kaylah Stroup
The weekend before last Jeff and I went camping with my family in Ohiopyle, PA. When talks of a family camping trip came up I suggested Ohiopyle for it’s natural waterslides. We had camped there before over ten years ago and it’s still such a distinct memory. Due to the craaaazy amount of people there we didn’t actually even get to see the waterslides, let alone play on them but it was a great trip regardless. I saw lots of critters, photographed tons of mushrooms (more on those in another post), and Klaus even got to come along. We hiked, played in the water, and ate oodles of food cooked over the camp fire. It was a great little break from everyday life.

Saturday evening it started to rain, and I mean it RAINED. It was such an intense storm. Even though our tent was far from waterproof, and everything got wet it was actually really fun. Klaus was justifiably afraid of the storm so we let him sleep between us. He was quite the little tent hog but it was kind of the cutest thing ever.
xoxo

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another year older…

by Kaylah Stroup

Pictures with balloons on here can only mean one thing. It’s my birthday! It’s kind of become a little tradition for me to take photos with balloons to share on my birthday.  I like how every year in my birthday blog post I also mention something about spending the day watching Jim Carrey movies. Not sure I’ll be doing that this year since for the first time in who knows how long I’m having a birthday party! I can’t wait for today to really get started!!

Hope you have a spectacular Saturday! I’ll be sure to eat lots of ice cream for you.
xoxo

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Sunrise in Cisco

by Kaylah Stroup

Remember in this post when I mentioned that the very first stop on our roadtrip was a ghost town in Utah but my film photos didn’t turn out so hot, and I wasn’t exactly pleased with my digital ones either but maybe the photos really aren’t that bad but are kind of overshadowed by the photos I am really pleased with from the trip? Yeah, that! I went back through all of the photos, edited them, and actually ended up really liking them. So, here are my photos from Cisco, Utah.

According to what I could find in my brief attempt at figuring out what happened to this town, Cisco was settled in the 1880’s and served as water-refilling station for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Cisco met it’s demise when diesel and electric locomotives superseded the steam locomotive. The town is only mere minutes off the highway so vandals rapidly accelerated the town’s journey into decrepitude. And perhaps it will mean more to you than it will to me, but Cisco was featured in Thelma and Louise, as well as Vanishing Point. Neither are movies special to me, but I can definitely appreciate the fact that might be why someone would be interested in this place.

I still hard time believing this really happened. Not just our amazing luck of finding a ghost town at sunrise the very first morning on the road, but the whole trip in general. When I think about it for too long I get a little teary eyed. That was honestly one of the best weeks of my life thus far. I don’t know, maybe it’s not really everyone’s thing but if ever ever ever get the chance to spend a week exploring somewhere with someone you love or even by yourself, DO IT.
xoxo

Updating to add that three years later, this is where Jeff proposed!

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burnt + abandoned factory

by Kaylah Stroup
Not too long ago Jeff and I found ourselves inside a new building. Not a new building new building. Quite the opposite actually, this one had been abandoned and even caught on fire at one point. This is just one of the very few we’ve gotten to explore for the first time together. The building was fairly small, at least compared to a lot of the other places I’ve been in. Inside there were three floors. The first was dark, damp, and full of miscellaneous furniture. The second floor was full of chairs, and the third just had desks. The first floor seemed to be the one most affected by the fire. Charred desks were scattered about. The second and third floor had their own problems, namely reeeally really sketchy floors. I’m honestly surprised one us didn’t have at least a foot go through.

Like I mentioned above, the first floor was dark, and damp which is the absolute perfect condition for mushrooms to grow. I’ve spotted mushrooms in abandoned buildings before. It’s always exciting but there were SO many here. In the past I probably would have admired them briefly before deciding it was way too dark to shoot and moved on. Buuut I am learning my camera, and I have someone who is always encouraging me to push myself. With the flashlight from my phone and the perfect camera settings I was able to shoot these photos. I’m obsessed with them. I couldn’t wipe the stupid grin off my face after I saw what I captured. I love that the mushrooms look like they’re about to be abducted by aliens!

xoxo

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abandoned truck stop

by Kaylah Stroup
Recently Jeff and I stumbled upon this incredible abandoned restaurant / gas station / truck stop / former motel. From the road it just looked like it would be a quick stop but we really had no idea how awesome it would actually be. I’m not one hundred percent happy with all of these photos but I do think there are a few winners in the bunch, and the others just help give a better idea of what this place was like.

I’d really like to head back to this place to shoot it again. Like I said, I didn’t expect the building to be as awesome as it was so I was kind of having a difficult time concentrating on photographing it. I just kept wanting to see what was around every corner. Not to mention it was fairly dark inside, and I didn’t have my tripod on me.

xoxo

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Where I work…

by Kaylah Stroup
The space I call my ‘office’ has changed so much over the years. I worked on a coffee table at my parents for a while before they gave up and made me a little tiny room out of a corner in their home. I moved into my own home a while later where I worked out of the dining room while my dad built me an incredible craft room in the basement. Flooding and low light forced me into the spare bedroom of that home, where I stayed for a while. Finally, I changed rooms again in that home one last time before moving out and getting an adorable apartment of my own. I don’t have a spare bedroom in this apartment so I decided to make the best of my space and set up camp in the back corner of my living room since I didn’t really need the space anyway.

I’m really liking this space. I’m sure it will continue to evolve as time goes on but for now it’s perfect. This is one of the first times I’m working from an open area as opposed to being in a room where I’m kind of cut off from the rest of the home, I like this a lot.
xoxo

Source list:
Paranoid pennant, , astronomy poster, , moon calendar, muscular system poster, globe mirrors, stay home pennant, patches, be optimistic patch, girl holding tooth print, desk

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Happy Anniversary, Klaus!

by Kaylah Stroup
One year ago today I met the sweetest little guy ever. This pup is seriously one of the best things to ever happen to me. Even though I don’t think it’s possible to like him any more than I already do, each day I do just that.  Can I be dramatic for just a second and say that I don’t even know what I’d do without him? He’s the best company a girl could ask for.

A few of my favorite posts about Klaus:
Newest member of the TDS crew – his very first appearance on the blog.
Just a pupdate – some precious pictures of my puppy in a bow tie.
Klaus + Crum – my two favorite puppies playing together.
Another pupdate – cute pictures, and some silly facts about my boy.
What I wore + a pupdate – a puppy afraid of the beach.
10 things making me smile – Klaus playing in the snow!
A girl and her pup – a post full of pictures of Klaus and I. It’s one of my favorites!

While looking through the posts about Klaus, I found this one with a list of “Klaus facts” which are hilarious to me. To this day he still rolls over to show his belly to anyone who approaches his crate. Sometimes he won’t get up until you give him some belly scratches. He’s still not much of a barker, although in the last few weeks he’s started barking at some strangers on the sidewalk oops but still he’s so quiet in the apartment. He loves being close and will always do his best to squirm his way in between Jeff and I. He LOVES tennis balls more than ever. One of his favorite things to do is bring all of his tennis balls into my bed one by one.

Something that is new to Klaus since that post is that he’s finally starting to get along with the cats. Wait, let me reword that – the cats are finally starting to get along with him. Kind of crazy to me that it’s taken a year but better late than never, right?! Klaus so desperately wants to be friends with them. On more than one occasion I’ve caught Klaus trying to give Professor a ball or bone. The cats have actually gotten to the point where they’ll lay in bed while he’s in there too. Professor is even sometimes tolerant enough to let Klaus groom him. I have to fight the tears when I see that big goofy puppy licking that tiny kitty’s ears.

He’s also taken quite a liking to mud puddles. I still haven’t convinced him that the beach is fun. I’m thinking that will take the help of another dog who actually likes waves. But while he was at my parents my mom sent me this photo. Apparently he likes to play for a while then take a break, and cool off in the mud.

Glad you’re mine, Klaus! Here’s to many more years of petting your belly, and playing the cheese game.
xoxo

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