the herman crew

the st. herman crew - 2000

captain leif - 1999

hard at work - aboard the st. herman 2000

some of you may know that for two summers i worked on whale watching boats for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, 5 months a year. we would take tourists and whale lovers out to find and experience the marine life that southeast AK has to offer: sea lions, seals, dalls porpoise, orcas & humpback whales.

some of you may know that i am also an author of a seriously engaging non-fiction novella entitled "the hermanator", which follows the adventures of our boat crew for two years spent together.

as you could imagine, there were entire days where me and my crew mates would be in tears at the amazing things we were fortunate enough to witness. the time spent on the inside passage waters with these people every day, it was inevitable that they would become some of my nearest & dearest friends on the planet. we worked together in 1999 & 2000 and to this day we still are a family.

there would be days that our naturalist, renee would be talking to the passengers [100+ a trip] and she would just start crying -- we all would -- maybe because a mother humpback decided to bubblenet feed RIGHT by our boat and we could look down her throat from above, maybe because a pod of orcas were hunting porpoise and booted one so far up in the air with blood rushing everywhere. days consisted of us running around the catamaran from port to starboard side chasing the whales with our eyes.

you know how there are just people in life that make you smile ear to ear? imagine having an entire group of them, laughing together all day for months on end. yeah, basically, no one is more fun than the st. herman crew.

when a group of people spend so much quality time together in nature, untouched by man, i believe that the bond that that creates is spiritual, dare i say, eternal.

me and tone shooting the breeze. not too shabby a view, eh? - 2004

me and tone - 2001

me & captain - 2004

2003

the herman crew minus renee - 2010

2010

me and my captains - 2010

tony and marlowe met on the st. herman, and married 10 years later!!!

those days were some of the most blessed, special days of my life. and i am so forever thankful for my utmost and deep respect for marine life. and i definitely have a HUGE soft spot in my heart for alaska's humpback whales. so when my friend Laura posted this video, i couldn't resist sharing it. it is so touching and beautiful. they are the most special creatures. fer sure!

the st. herman crew - 2009

HERE'S TO LONGING #16

[#16]

photography by samimi-extremie and quotes by her & her loved ones; 

new piece up every friday. see all of them here.

good to remind myself

that we can do anything we want. even if only for 30 days. SUCH a great talk! only 3 mins, so totally watch it:

some recent film shots

the husband in newport beach.

surfers @ point dume, malibu.

who me?? i'm just enjoying my time in southern cali's beautiful nature.

"It is clear that life in this fast-fading world is as fleeting and inconstant as the morning wind, and this being so, how fortunate are the great who leave a good name behind them, and the memory of a lifetime spent in the pathway of the good pleasure of God."

--> Abdu’l-Bahá

familiar friends in foreign lands.

you may have noticed from my new banner something very special.

i found a new tree.

and this tree doesn't live in beautiful sodak, but on the chumash reservation. isn't she lovely???

 i love the way she hangs to the side, like throwing her hip out. its so rad. and also, it was so lovely to see her there all by herself, strong in her vulnerability, beautiful and unique; like my favorite tree in south dakota, which i am sure you are all familiar with.

HERE'S TO LONGING #15

[#15]

photography by samimi-extremie and quotes by her & her loved ones; 

new piece up every friday. see all of them here.

new homes + kinfolk

hey dudes.

so we're looking for a new place to live. north hollywood just aint cutting it for us anymore. we've been dreaming of the canyon life, close to the beach, eating our meals outside, drowning in sycamores and jacarandas, walking through the forests and high fiving the hippies that are nothing like the typical Angeleno in silverlake. entertaining our lovely guests over delicious meals on eclectic dinnerwares with wildflowers on the tables, just never seemed more appropriate.

i am sure i've mentioned before in this here blog that i love to eat. but even more than that - eating with community is the best thing ever. with family, or friends, or strangers at communal tables.  every night growing up, we'd have dinner together as a family at 6 pm sharp. and you can bet my ass got grounded for being late for dinner. yes siree.  some of my most loved times were living in olympia washington with my best friends. and we had a HUGE table that we would always gather around. some would drive up from portland, others down from seattle and vancouver at least twice a month and we'd share meals, bonfires and nargila. sitting around a table and laughing and eating, then drinking coffee with friends is like the best thing in the world.

happiness and a feeling of being complete through our interconnectedness.

so. as we've been looking for new homes, if i cannot host a big table of lovely people in my house, it is out of the running. and if it has a beautiful big yard under trees for a table, that is where i'll wanna be. so you can imagine, when i heard that the great people of hearblack blog and their friends just started a new project/publication called KINFOLK: a guide for small gatherings, i died and went straight to heaven. this is part of their manifesto:

"Kinfolk is a growing community of artists with a shared interest in small gatherings. We recognize that there is something about a table shared by friends, not just a wedding or once-a-year holiday extravaganza, that anchors our relationships and energizes us. We have come together to create Kinfolk as our collaborative way of advocating the natural approach to entertaining that we love."

i've mentioned before how important community is, and how essential it is to create that space with in each of our lives. now, we have a lovely publication that supports this need. too bad the printed mag. sold out so quickly. but you can view it online here.

three tings

so the past few days i've reallllly been missing my grandpa. we are really close and i like to make him laugh and he likes to make me laugh. we'll just get to hollering on the phone together. i think its the cutest thing that we can have cell phone conversations. i've been meaning to share this photo with you for a while. i mean, how could i not?!?!?! my uncle just got a bunch of my grandparents photo albums and has been so kindly scanning them here and there. and then we all get to see never-seen-before-shots of my Moore Family. my grandfather, Robert Moore was a signalman in the navy, but i really think that he is on a movie set in between shoots in this photograph. i don't mean to brag -- BUT my grandfather would have been the most famous movie star back in his day for his damn good looks.

just in case i needed to clarify -- my grandfather is the tall sailor. :D

and i've been really missing my sister. especially now that she moved to the right coast [boo hiss] and she is so much closer to me now, than she was when she was living in the Holy Land. i miss her even more when i see this picture. speaking of movie stars - this shot is priceless! ;D [don't kill me, booboo].

don't hate me, okay, booboo? :D

are we having a fun summer yet!??! its already almost august! dang/what the?!?! how'd that happen so damn fast? what have you lovelies been up to this summer to make it extra special? and no, i'm not really talking to you, my dear pac. northwesterners, as the word "summer" only brings up feelings of resentment, anger and restlessness. ;D? :)? :(? :D?

this will be me in a couple of weeks with amanda.

"O people of God! Do not busy yourselves in your own concerns; let your thoughts be fixed upon that which will rehabilitate the fortunes of mankind and sanctify the hearts and souls of men. This can best be achieved through pure and holy deeds, through a virtuous life and a goodly behavior."

- Bahá’u’lláh, Prophet Founder of the Baha'i Faith

HERE'S TO LONGING #14

[#14]

photography by samimi-extremie and quotes by her & her loved ones; 

new piece up every friday. see all of them here.

more polas from our anniversary getaway up the kalikoast.

i finally scanned all the lovely polaroids from our trip up north. i so hope you love them, as we did taking them. seriously -- taking polaroids is better than anything else on the planet.

one of my favorite shots of my husband ever.

HERE'S TO LONGING #13

[#13]

photography by samimi-extremie and quotes by her & her loved ones; 
new piece up every friday. see all of them here.

second year for the samimi-aazamis!

the peace sign i'm throwing up here isn't any old peace sign - it stands for 2 years of marriage to my love!

here's a sneak peek in our celebration of our second year of awesome marriage together up the california coast. oh the places we saw; seriously, almost every single mile of the cali coast is so damn beautiful once you get north of LA. we are so happy and fortunate to have one another and i couldn't have dreamed up a better husband if i tried. 

more polas from our second anniversary to come soon!

♥

HERE'S TO LONGING #12

[#12]

photography and quote by samimi-extremie; new piece up every friday. see all of them here.

hey dear readers! so normally i don't really write much to accompany my HERE'S TO LONGING friday pieces, but this week, i felt the need to. i was with my dearest cousin, razi yesterday in 100* heat having amazing dialogues and being really honest with one another. it felt so good to just admit aloud some of the things i've been challenged with. and isn't it funny -- at least it happens to me -- where any time you verbalize your feelings or your tests, or your pains and vulnerabilities, that in some really huge ways, the weight has been lifted, your face feels less strained, your shoulders looser, your inner being lighter.

i hope that you all have someone with which you can trust to speak your mind, speak whats on your heart and the other person listens, receives, responds and loves. i am so thankful in my life that i have an incredible army of people with whom this is true.

while we were talking yesterday, razi introduced me to this mindblowingly amazingly powerful quote by Abdu'l-Baha, son of Baha'u'llah [Prophet Founder of the Baha'i Faith]. then after reading the quote aloud, i realized that this was the perfect longing piece to share this week. i hope you resonate with it, and if so, tell me a little more!

it goes like this:

"The spirit is like the bird; when it flies in the air it is always mounting, but the self is like the hunter who is thinking how to catch the bird. You will see that by one arrow, one shot, it will be brought low. This arrow is the connection with this world, the occupations of this world, the desires of this world, the honors of this world. In many ways the hunter will stop the spirit from ascending. That is why you must ask and implore and retreat: "O God! Protect me from myself".

no words, dear readers, no words for this. wow.