Promised Photo Post! Luallin Wedding.

Alrighty! Here are some promised photos. These are from Doug and Meagan Luallin's wedding! I got to second shoot this wedding with Laci Adkins! I had a seriously hard time picking out favorites, so I just put them all in a link to the entire album. None of the photos are edited so they might not be as snazzy as they could be. That's okay, I just like the overall feel of them. I also just didn't feel like editing today :) Check it out...here. 

Also, as a form of accountability, I'm starting to post how many miles I run each day over on the little twitter widget to the left. So if you see that I missed a day...give me a hard time! :)

Word Nonsense

Get ready for exciting news! I ran five miles today and got to go to Starbucks to read and journal for a couple of hours!! Ahh...the joys of Christmas break. I'd like to shake the hand of the man who advocated a month long vacation from college because of Christmas. Genius guy, really.

So, on the topic of geniuses, I feel that I must admit something. I was trying to come up with the word "advocated" to use in that last paragraph, but couldn't think of it, and the word "propagated" hit my brain first. I figured it meant what I wanted it to mean, but decided to look it up on Merriam-Webster just in case. Good thing, haha. If you don't know what propagated means, you should look it up before you ever try to use it as a synonym for "advocated." :)

Today at Starbucks, I got to read my Donald Miller book Searching for God knows What and he apparently likes to throw in big words sometimes. I've dedicated a page of my journal to the big words Don uses (Yes, in case you were wondering, we are on first name basis here), and it's been so much fun to learn new words like pariah and anonymity. I always feel so much smarter when I'm learning new words or reading poetry or classic literature. 

Wedding photos to come...

Song of the day: 1963 by Rachel Yamagata

Inspirations! Cecilia Carlstedt, The Cake Girls, Zara, and Loeffler Randall

Wow, do I ever have the coolest things to share with all you lucky blog readers today! I haven't blogged in a few days and things have piled up. So get ready for a lot of artistic inspirations to ring in the new year! First up, check out Cecilia Carlstedt's work...Finding these sweet artists always just makes my day! You really do need to grab a cup of coffee, sit down, and go through her portfolio. Amazing texture and color. I love how imagery is subtly incorporated into the overall composition. Be warned that it is really artistic.

Are you in the market for a new purse? How 'bout a cake? Yep, those aren't purses...they're cakes! Check out The Cake Girls for some inspiration (especially if you're a bride...they bake such sweet, simply designed cakes). Yummm!

Do you need a new place to find some fashion inspiration, lounge-o-licious music, and a bit of the Spanish language thrown in? I thought you did. Try Zara!Finally, I'm in love with the new accessory line from designer Loeffler Randall. His website has some seriously cool ideas for fashion photography (which is what I love most). Best part? The line is available at Target! Go!

P.S I realize that these posts may seem really small and materialistic. Hopefully, if you know me, or if you've been reading for a while, you know my life does not revolve around fashion and trends. But I do find a lot of creative inspiration from these "petty" pretty things. The things of this world are merely a poor reflection of His glory...but when kept in an eternal perspective the reflection can spur us on to rejoice in what is to come.

"Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create." Isaiah 65:17-18

New Design v. 3.0! And the goings on over the Christmas week!

And how do we all like the new blog look? I LOVED the Christmas-time look, but alas, Christmas is already over! Sad day. But I really get into New Years! I love fresh beginnings! I have some serious goals for January/the rest of 2008. I have a blog post from a while back about all my goals, and here are the ones I'm working on right now:

#17 Train to run a marathon. (iPod Shuffle + new Asics = Caroline running several miles a day!!) #11 Finish all of Don Miller's Books (Reading Searching for God knows What at the moment)
#19 Work at a summer camp. (Pine Cove, here I come!)
#18 Play music at a local venue regularly. (Getting my jazz piano skills up to par...it may happen in the Spring)
#14 & 2 Photography. (Purchasing CS3 soon, got a mac, getting second shoot gigs, but I'm reconsidering the website idea. hmm...)

Christmas was so good this year. It all comes down to four words: God is with us!

It was wonderful to have my family around for four whole days. The entire Casey side of the family got Prime Time (a "family fun center") all to ourselves because my aunt pretty much runs the place. We had a blast playing laser tag, bowling, playing Dance Dance Revolution :) and racing in the go-karts. The best part though was being together. To quote from my brother's blog, "As typical as all these things are of Christmas’s I have celebrated in the past, it is still just as special."

Two days after Christmas, I got to shoot my first wedding by myself! It was so fun! Beautiful wedding and couple. Pictures to come soon!

Okay, I realize a while back I mentioned something about blogging a huge road trip...well...it didn't work out. I was going to go to Nashville with a couple friends, and it would have been awesome, but it didn't happen. That's okay though! It's been a great break!

A formal letter from Caroline that has more impact if you use a british accent while reading

Dearest Readers,

I do not know what kind of computer you are using to access this page; however, I feel it is necessary for me to inform you all that I am writing this blog post from my new Mac. If you are utilizing an Apple Macintosh computer at this moment, by all means leave a comment. Cheers.

Sincerely, 

Caroline Casey

 

The shortest post ever about reading

Still waiting on the delivery of my mac...oh the building excitement!

I love to read. And do you want to know something exciting? I've gotten to just sit and read the past two nights. Christmas break, at home, with the parents, with not much to do = wonderful time to feel legit about spending two evenings reading. And do you want to know something else exciting? I got a new book tonight! Only one chapter in and I can already recommend it to you. Yes, it is that good. Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller. I am super stoked about reading it!

And I started/finished all my Christmas shopping today. Deuce.

The Rundown of My Weekend! Get excited!

Here are the words that come to mind when I think about this weekend:


Wow.
What.
A.
Great.
Weekend.


Man, it was good and busy and whirlwind-ish and full of life! That's exciting! Would you like the rundown? Because I'd like to tell you the rundown! We'll start on Saturday because that's when all the excitement happened. I'm in a listing mood, so we'll go with the list format+top 5 format :)


Saturday:
1. First of all, I was off work. That equals "sleep in" which equals "YAY!"
2. I got to second shoot a wedding!! It was a blastin' blast!
3. HSU graduation was Saturday. I didn't get to go but...
4. I got to go to all the after-celebrations!
5. The best was by far getting to hot tub it up with my best friends!

Sunday:
1. I helped my brother lead worship at church and it was a beautiful experience.
2. I took some quick family portraits of Chase's family (and they turned out radtastic!)
3. I had another family portrait shoot! It was beautiful. This family loved each other so much that every picture is oozing with happiness and joy! :) It was so fun (plus there was a baby!).
4. Went to dinner with dear friends. I set my camera on the table and everyone freaked out taking pictures. Try that the next time you go out to eat with friends. You'll get some interesting pictures!
5. All kinds of friends came to the apartment that night and we watched Seinfeld, drank hot chocolate, and played with Ellie (Tino's puppy!). The best part was that the apartment was so messy that it actually felt cozy. How weird is that?

Monday:
1. I was off work AGAIN so I got to sleep in...YAY!
2. Had a dentist appointment...who cares.
3. Ate lunch with Megan at our favorite locale...Chick-fil-a. Yes, it's true!
4. Then we headed back to the apartment and decided to HARDCORE clean it. In the middle of cleaning, Megan said, "Hey Caroline, what if we swapped rooms?" And so we did. Until one in the morning. You might not think moving furniture and cleaning is much fun, but we make it a party!
5. Mr. Davey Davis came to help us too and it was nice to see him since he graduated and is leaving for Dallas soon. Graduating friends are weird. Not the people of course, the fact they are graduating and leaving. :)

Tuesday:
1. So far the greatest moment of today has been ORDERING MY MAC!! Excitement!!

Needless to say, I have quite a few sweet photos to post, but I'll be waiting til my Mac gets here. I'm in the mood travel. My brother is in Canada...Why, oh why can't I go to Canada? Eh?

Song of the day: All My Loving by The Beatles. Video of the day: FREE HUGS!

12 days til Christmas...

...and I haven't done any shopping yet! :) That's just the way it happens for me though. After finals is when I get serious about Christmas shopping. And...oh yeah...I'M DONE WITH FINALS! 18 hour semester: FINISHED! Man, it feels good. Actually, as I'm writing this, I have the worst headache in the world. Earlier today I was whining to Megan wondering why I felt so terrible and her reply was, "Well it probably has something to do with the fact that you're sleep deprived, malnourished, overloaded on coffee, dehydrated..." It just struck me as funny. Isn't it funny how we forget about our physical state when we're concerned with...school.

Okay, no. Not funny. :)

But sweet home here I come! Home is the place where you get better! A mom to feed you, a dad to make you laugh, and too much free time to sleep. Mmmhmmm.

And now for the main reason for this post...

So I wanted to share with all you blog readers out there (and thanks for reading by the way, my blog stats are pretty high for a personal blog and it makes me stinkin' happy!) the music that got me through these weeks. Music is vital to me and I've been blessed to find some AWESOME music recently! Here goes:

*And as a side note, I chose to put links to each artist so you can hear them right now! It always stinks when people recommend music and you read it and forget it. Now you have no excuse- you can hear it and get hooked with no effort on your part! It's all right here!

1. Paramore: Riot! I mentioned them before so you know they are good if they get two blog mentions! A bit punk, with the awesome hardcore girl front singer. Misery Business and When it Rains are my fav songs!

2. Sara Bareilles: Little Voice. Man, what do I say? She's just awesome! Love the piano leads in most of her songs. Every song is sweeeeeet! Vegas, Love Song, One Sweet Love, and Many the Miles are my favs!

3. Hillsong United: All of the Above. Such good worship! This is my favorite album Hillsong has put out because it's a studio album (I don't really enjoy the 2 minutes of clapping where the band plays the same note forever at the end of all the songs on their live albums). :) My two favorite songs are Hosanna and Lead me to the Cross.

4. The Once Soundtrack. Alright, this one took a little time for me to appreciate, but it is very good! I'd call it "weird music." The movie is one of those independent, artistic films and the soundtrack echos that. If you don't feel like getting into all of it, just buy Fallen from the Sky. It's weirdly cool and uses old school keyboards. Whoo!

5. The August Rush Soundtrack. It's got an awesome variety of songs on it and I just love the whole mixture of orchestra music with underground rock.

Done with THIS class...Done with THAT class!

I'm so close! I've taken FOUR finals this week and have TWO more to go! Christmas break is getting so close! I love that feeling when you are repacking your backpack for the next study session, and you get out the book from the final you just took, and you realize, "HEY! I never have to look at that book again!"

Mmmhmm...so liberating.

And the pictures? Megan and I put off studying for a few hours to (what else?) take pics of ourselves jumping on my bed. We have close to 100 pictures. :) That's what finals do to you.

Song of the day: Our Song by Taylor Swift

Holiday Shoes!

Here's a tribute to your feet this season-- my favorite shoes of Winter!

1. Wellies! Keep your feet dry and look britishly happy in some crazy colorful rain boots! Wear 'em with your favorite long wool coat. Grab a pair at Target or J.Crew.

2. Chunky leg warmers will keep your feet warm when you wear flats! Try them over some straight leg denim or tights with your favorite ballet flats.
3. Satin Heels. Perfect to add a little shine to your party outfits. Don't know why, but I'm in love with these shoes. I want some so bad! It's a shame they are really expensive (J.Crew, you know). If you find some good knock-offs, let me know!
4. Furry snow boots! These are my shoe of choice this winter. Foot warm-ness always comes first to me :) Suede or sweater material, they are always wonderfully warm! Go for the real-deal Uggs, or find knock-offs anywhere!5. Knee-high tube socks. Take it back to the old school and look like a cool girl soccer player from the 80s! Knee socks are great for warmth when you don't want anyone to see because you can hide 'em under your jeans...but you know how cool you look. Or you could be hardcore about it and actually pull the athletic shoes, tube socks, soccer shorts, and sweatshirt combo. GOAL!!

December's Top 5!

Okay, I'm a little late on the Top Five for December...but I have good excuses! :) Here goes!

1. Oh man, go see this movie!! August Rush! Saw it last night and just loved it! It is so dreamy and NOT realistic AT ALL, but who cares?! It's fun to watch and there is some RADTASTIC music in it! I just got the soundtrack and am loving it. That's the only problem with this movie: if you spend $7 on a movie ticket, you will inadvertently be spending another $15 for the soundtrack within 24 hours. :)

2. Don't forget! Get the Mars Hill Church Podcast on iTunes! They are doing all those wonderful Advent sermons AND Don Miller gave a great sermon there the other week! Hear it all by subscribing to the podcast.

3. I've been learning that things are a lot more simple than they seem. God is in control. And He is good.

4. Another great Christmas Album! The James Taylor at Christmas Album! Everybody loves James Taylor!!

5. And finally, have fun with friends and go hot tubbin' in the snow! This is on my to-do list this winter! Apartment complexes make great hot tub destinations if you don't have one...just pretend you live there. :)

*by the way, the photo on #3 was taken by my dear friend Emily Spurlock!

Humor Me

Hello friends. You probably won't find this blog post even remotely interesting or funny, but I still just wanted to post it. If nothing else, I can look back and have a good laugh at myself. I love laughing at myself. You should too.

First of all, today while I was standing outside talking to Jen Jackson (it's a BEAUTIFUL day outside!), about 13 ladybugs landed all over me. It was a very strange feeling to have so many bugs on me. Thirteen really is a lot of ladybugs. They were climbing around on my sweatshirt, getting in my shoes, and flying into my hair...very strange. Assault by ladybugs. Good thing those little guys are friendly!

Next up, my equilibrium must be confused. I've been running into walls and doors all freaking day long. But it's hilarious because I can just imagine how stupid I look. And these are hardcore run-ins; not like I almost ran into a wall, no, but like I plowed into a wall. Several times. Awesome.

I had lots of coffee yesterday which is always fun. New fav at Tuscany's: Irish Dream Frappe. Mmmm. I think I'm going to get another one today. During this crazy time of the semester, I need to pick up an extra job to support my coffee habits. Yes, it's that bad.

To finish out this pointless post: a corny joke. What do you call an illegally parked frog?
Toad.

Things that are comin' up...

Good gracious. I have been a blog-slacker this past week! I apologize for my huge absence recently. School has been kicking my bum...and it will probably continue to until December 13th. I can't wait til it's all over! It's really strange though; this is the first semester where I have close friends graduating or moving. I guess it's hitting that time of life. Hm. I love life though...this semester has been very hard but the good most definitely outweighs the difficult. It's been a semester of making friends. I almost hang out with ACU people now more than HSU people. :) I like to laugh about that irony.

This post will be scrappy, I won't lie. But after December 13th I will have many amazing and wonderful things to post! Here's a few things to watch for:

*My very first bridal session and wedding as a photographer!! Can't wait! They will be sweeeet!

*A second-shot wedding (I'm helping Laci Adkins out)

*A super fun road trip to a surprise location that's AWESOME! I'll be blogging every day to chronicle the event...get ready for your own vicarious adventure. :)

*Oh and most definitely CHRISTMAS and a cool, cool countdown with tons of fun ideas to celebrate the best season of the freakin' year!

Maybe a few other surprises will be thrown in along the way too :) For now, I'll leave you with the band that's getting me through finals. PARAMORE!! They are amazing! A little on the punk side with the hardcore front girl singer, every song on their CD Riot is so good! My favs: Misery Business, When it Rains, We are Broken, and Hallelujah. The other super-cool thing about this band is that they are all Christians and their lyrics are profoundly spiritual, but they are a secular band and all over MTV. Yay for Christians putting superb music out there to reach the lost!

Hope you guys all survive finals too. :)