SoCo FARMERS' MARKET + FIXTURES LIVING GRAND OPENING = A 'FOODIE' WONDERLAND

Yesterday I had the opportunity to photograph one of my favorite subjects - food.  And, not just any ol' food - oh no.  This was delicious (and dare I say, nutritious!), gourmet cuisine created by the team at the SoCo Farmers' Market using nothing but the freshest ingredients found that same morning in the market. Everything was prepared during a series of live cooking demos during the Grand Opening of the all-new, ultra-modern home appliance store Fixtures Living in the SoCo Collection in Costa Mesa, California.

This self-proclaimed 'foodie' photographer was in heaven.

Ingredients ranged from vibrant 'Pluots' (Plum/Apricot hybrids), to locally-sourced honey, to non-pasteurized almond butter and so much more.  My senses were on overload. The fresh produce - particularly the ripe figs & just-picked cherry tomatoes - took me back to my days of living in Rome, Italy.  I'd forgotten just how good produce can taste when it isn't pumped full of chemicals and too much water (like the majority of the mass-produced produce you find in chain supermarkets around the U.S.!).  Basically - I knew it was a good, flavorful produce they were serving up when kids at the cooking demo were willing to devour the raw zucchini! That's the good stuff.

So, next Saturday when you're tempted to drive over to your local grocery store for your weekly stock-up... do yourself a favor. Take a lil' detour and visit the SoCo Farmers' Market instead. It's good - it's affordable - you will help support local farmers - AND you can visit Fixtures Living (and the rest of the amazing stores in the SoCo Collection & OC Mart Mix) for some home-decor inspiration while you're there!

SoCo Farmers' Market, Every Saturday from 9am - 2pm at 3315 Hyland Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Connect with them on Facebook and Twitter!

A LIL' BROTHERLY LOVE

I recently had the fun opportunity to photograph some portraits of my brother, Trevor Clinard, who is a self-proclaimed, "Social Media Enthusiast, Financial Analyst, Student, Husband, Nerd." (www.trevorclinard.com)  Together with his wife, the ultra-chic Holly Clinard (aka, 'Holly in Heels' - www.hollyinheels.com), these two are quite the social media powerhouse. For all things Internet-related, they are my gurus.

Trevor needed some new photos for his web site - some shots that helped reflect his personality, his style and his interest in social media. We shot everything in & around Downtown Santa Ana - here are a few of my faves:

'THERE AND BACK AGAIN TO SEE HOW FAR IT IS' - MY HUSBAND, TIM WATSON'S BOOK - ON-SALE TODAY

Well, it was a long road to get here (quite literally!), but today is a big day. After years of hard work, thousands of miles of motorcycle travels and more dings & dents in my Nikon than I care to remember, my husband, Tim Watson's travel novel 'There and Back Again to See How Far It Is' goes on sale today.

Was I crazy to want to accompany my husband on this 8,000-mile trek on our motorcycles through eight Western states in the U.S., using only two-lane highways & back roads, and living for weeks at a time out of my bike's saddlebags that were barely big enough to carry my camera and a large-Ziploc-baggie-sized bag of clothes? Yes.  Would I do it all over again tomorrow? Hell yes.

We are FAR from what most people would consider 'hard-core bikers'.  Neither of us have ever claimed to be that, nor did we aim to become that. We still aren't. We simply are two people who love riding our Harleys, and after too many years sitting behind corporate desks decided that it was time to drop everything and do what we love to do for a change. For Tim, it was writing. For me, it was photography. Combine the two, and you get the recipe for Tim's book.

It will be on book store shelves in the U.S. on October 1st - a month from today. But, meantime, if you happen to be in the UK or Europe, it's in book stores today. Or, if you're reading this then we know you have access to the Internet! So check it out & order it online on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell's or any other major bookseller.

You can visit Tim's Author Page on Facebook and connect with him on Twitter.  And the Anne Watson Photography Page on Facebook and Twitter.

Tim & Me.  Photo by Amanda Doublin, www.amandadoublin.com

Cover photo by yours truly, www.annewatsonphoto.com

Open roads as far as the eye can see - in the middle of the Nevada desert.

A seemingly-endless road into the mountains of Utah.

We had Lake Abert in Oregon virtually to ourselves and a perfect, winding, newly-paved road along its banks.

Another two-lane highway, all to ourselves. This time, near Joshua Tree in the middle of the California Mojave Desert.

One of the hairier days on the road... Riding straight into a giant 100-mile-long dust storm cloud that transformed the Western part of the state of Utah into what felt like the surface of the Moon.

Winding roads taking us up into the mountains of Wyoming. It was breathtaking. And very, very cold!

This was a familiar scene for me on our travels... Tim was ahead of me on his bike, and this was the scene in my bike's rear-view mirror. Nothing but openness. It was fantastic.