Hello March!

Despite this wet, cold weather on {SPRING BREAK}, today was simply a wonderful day! First of all, I had an appointment at the day spa. We'll just call it the day spa so that you'll be thinking I went and got something fancy like a facial (when I actually went to get my eyebrows waxed...oops!). Then I went up to the coffee shop where my roommate works. You might think that since we're roommates that we see each other all the time. Not the case, my friend, not the case. We are both so busy and on different schedules that this was the first time in a long time that we have just gotten to chill out together. It was so relaxing to be cozy inside with a hot coffee when it's so bitter and cold outside. :) After that, I got to eat lunch with my mom! Yum! Finally, I got to go hang out with one of my clients/friends for a little while. Yay! All in all, a superb day.

P.S. I got this new devotional book called "The 52 Greatest Stories of the Bible." It's so great! Instead of just being a devotional book with random inspirational thoughts, it takes you in depth in a Bible story each week. I love it! Check it out!

Heart, heart, heart.

Hi all! Well, I hope you love Valentine's day just as much as I do because I am not ashamed to have a cheesy Valentine's blog background! :) I'm so excited about getting to be in an elementary class during V-Day, because we'll get to do the whole Valentine's Post Office thing! I am most definitely making Valentines for all my kiddos! I simply adore Valentine's Day. I don't know why. It's not that I love the super romantic take-you-on-a-fancy-date-just-to-impress-you kind of thing...I just love all the cute stuff at Target! And apparently I buy lots of it too! :) Leave a comment if you do too! :)

Anyway, I just realized that 2009 begins my THIRD YEAR of blogging! WHOA! I can't believe I've been blogging that long! I remember when I first started! Crazy. Well wahoo!

Brrr...

Today was freezing AND we had a teensy bit of "precipitation." You know what that means! The whole town shut down! I love living in a town that freaks out about a little cold weather and uses any excuse to pull out fancy titles such as "Ice Storm 2004." So, today I reaped the wonderful benefits of that--school was closed! Which meant I got to sleep in, spend a wonderful morning sitting around in my PJs, and then finally got to catch up on some of my lesson plans in the afternoon. Throw in a little fun with friends at the end of the day and YAY! I needed this oh-so-lovely day! It was like a mini vacation.

Well speaking of mini vacations, sorry I haven't been on the blog-o-sphere for a few weeks! Lots of things have been going on though! The biggest thing is that I started Student Teaching! It's wonderful! My mentor teacher is simply amazing and her teaching style is similar to mine/what I aspire to, so it's very easy to mesh in and work with her class. My only complaint about student teaching is that I hate having to go to bed so early! :) I miss being a night owl.

Weddings on the weekends have been a little draining, and my last one until May is this coming weekend! I'm so glad I made the wise decision of not taking any more weddings until I graduated. I'm not sure if I could have handled it all! But come May, I'm booked with weddings for almost every weekend until the end of August! I'm so thrilled and blessed. It's going to be busy, and I just can't wait!

Let's see what else is new? Well I don't want to bore you to death with in-depth musings. Life is good. I've been re-reading the Christy Miller college series (Cherith, that's for you!) and they are like my little escape after a day full of crazy kiddos. Want some good music? My new favs are Brooke Fraser's album Albertine, Taylor Swift's new CD Fearless, Sufjan Steven's Michigan album, and Coldplay's Viva la Vida!

Well it's bed time for me! G'night!

A slice of Happiness.

The days after Christmas were just as sweet as the days before! My family took off to Dallas on the 26th to spend time with my brother and sister-in-law. It was such a great time! My parents and I stayed at the Gaylord Texan (Hey guys, let's go Gaylording!) which was so much fun! I get a kick out of staying in fancy hotels! The whole place was decked out for Christmas! I love Christmas. :)

So the whole trip was filled with good times with the fam including Christmas Dinner, Christmas light looking, and shopping (I bought a coat and a swimsuit in one day. Yes, weird.). The last day, I split with the fam to go shoot a wedding in Ft. Worth. It was a crazy fast paced day, but the wedding was beautiful! I've started editing the photos and they are awesome! Have a look on Facebook...I've uploaded some new ones!

This day before New Years eve, I'm at Starbucks, editing all my dear little photos. I've also found a new respect and love for Coldplay. I've never been too much into them, but now I am! Their short album Prospekt's March is rocking my world!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

What a happy day! I just love Christmas. I hope yours was wonderful.

So today ends the Christmas Countdown! :) I woke up and had a feast of cinnamon rolls (my fam always gets Grandy's cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning) that were delicious. Then we got ready for the "Casey Christmas 2008." Every year, my grandparents have ALLL of us Casey kids, cousins, aunts, uncles, grand kids, great grand kids, and such over for Christmas dinner and a pick-steal Christmas present thing. You know, commonly called Yankee swap, Chinese Christmas, Dirty Christmas...it seems like every person I meet has a different name for it. Where did all these names come from? Anyway...

Last year we had the Casey Christmas at Prime Time, a local family fun center. This year we did the same thing. The exciting thing here is that Prime Time is closed Christmas day, meaning the whole huge Casey side of the family gets the place to ourselves (yes, we have connections). Free games, free bowling, free drinks, free go-karts, free lazer tag, free putt-putt, free pool. Yeah, it's AWESOME! So we got there about lunch time, ate, stole presents from each other (I ended up with a Chick-fil-a gift card--yeah!), and then PLAYED GAMES! Man. So fun. It really brings the family together too. :)

After being gamed out, six or so hours later, we left, smiling, and headed home where I got to spend some time with my lovely best friend, Emily! It was so great to see her! We exchanged Christmas gifts, and then just caught up! Emily is so special to me...we've actually been friends since we were born! Literally, and even though we don't live in the same town anymore, we still keep up and make time to visit! That kind of friendship is priceless to me, and I don't know many people who have a friend like that. I'm so blessed! :)

Merry Christmas Day! :)

The Christmas Eve of Christmas Countdown 2 0 0 8!

Merry Christmas Eve friends!

This day was just all around wonderful! Let me share the ingredients of this wonderful day with you:

1/2 tsp   Sleep til Noon

3 tsp      Wrap more Christmas presents!

1 cup      Hang out with Scott and give him his kick-tush Christmas present (a Sufjan Stevens                          VINYL record!)

2/3 cup Beltway Christmas Eve Candlelight Service (simply beautiful)

1 gal       Open Christmas presents with the fam!!

Keep reading if you want the long version, otherwise Merry Christmas Eve! :)

Yay! It was such a wonderful day! I did sleep til noon, but that was because I stayed up til 4 AM the night before editing photos and re-fabulous-ifying my website! Go look! New logo, new pictures...I'm so proud! Anyway, when I did wake up, I hung out around the house with my mom, wrapping presents, drinking coffee, and enjoying the day. Scott got off work early and so he came over and I gave him his awesome Christmas present-- a Sufjan Stevens Vinyl record! It was awesome and he loved it! :) Then we ran around town and met with huge success as we tried to get his costume for his family Christmas (they all dress up at Christmas for a family picture...different? yeah, but definitely funny!). 

Later that night, my parents and I went to Beltway's Christmas Eve candlelight service. It was such a beautiful time, I hardly feel like trying to describe it because I know I just won't do the sweet time justice. Let me just say, the Lord spoke His love over me...and it was such a gift! There are a few song lines that we sang tonight that have just been so powerful to me:

(from Amazing Grace)

Twas grace that taught my heart to fear

And grace my fears relieved

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed.

I really understand those first two lyrics now...I've lived them. As I sang them, the truth of grace was so powerful and undeniable. Grace is a beautiful mystery! 

As we left the service and headed home, my family and I were so content and joyful. It was lovely! A little later, my brother and sister-in-law came over and we opened Christmas presents! Oh how fun! I LOVED the gifts that I got everyone this year, and it was so fun to watch them open their presents! I, as well, received so many cool gifts from them, including a vintage camera, an owl lamp, and a necklace from Anthropologie! :)

To top it off, right now I'm listening to Amy Grant's Home For Christmas album (which I grew up listening/dancing to). Hearing those familiar songs and thinking back on the blessed memories attached to the songs just brings joy to my heart. Check out the songs "Emmanuel God with Us" and "O Come All Ye Faithful." They are a couple of my favorites.

Anyway, I'm also glad to say that I totally love my hair now! :) And I'll be posting pictures of it soon, so don't worry! :)

Merry Christmas Eve! God is with us!

Christmas Countdown! The Short Version of 2 Days Away!

It is SO late...so here's the short version (like my hair now ha!).

Christmas-y things: Tonight my family and I drove around a looked at Christmas lights! Yay! Then we came home and ate a lovely dinner and watched the Polar Express! 

Told you it would be short! :)

P.S. The total hair changing process is now finished! Today I went back to get some high and low lights put in. It looks awesome! I'm getting much more used to my short hair, and am liking it!

Merry Christmas!

3 Days Left! Christmas Countdown 2 0 0 8

I drove home late tonight with the most gorgeous night sky as my companion. It was simply breathtaking with the dark blues contrasting the swiftly moving grey clouds. The moon lit it all up, causing the sky to take on a much more ethereal mood. This lovely sight was relieving to take in; Today was a day of massive change. I don't really feel the need to explain it all in great detail, but a while ago I decided to cut my hair and give it to Locks of Love, and today I actually went through with the plan. Maybe it sounds like no big deal, but it was to me personally.

10 inches. TEN inches. Ten inches. 10.

I cut off ten inches. Going to the beauty shop on this blustery winter day with my mom and sharing the excitement and thrill was an absolute blast! So much fun! I loved the experience and I loved how my hair turned out. But of course, it's going to take some getting used to, and that's been sort of difficult. I keep exclaiming to myself, "I can't believe you cut off all your hair!" Crazy. But I'm glad I did it. It's such a great feeling knowing that my hair will be used to make someone's life a little brighter. :) :) Let's just hope I get used to my short hair quickly!

Anyway, on to the Christmas-y thing of today! I initiated Scott into my Christmas tradition by making him watch "Fay's 12 Days of Christmas" with me! Oh I just knew a guy with his kind of humor would really appreciate that video, and he did! :) 

Merry Christmas!

Countdown to Christmas! 4 Days Out...

The Christmas-y things that I did today were:

(a) enjoyed a lovely Sunday morning where we turned our focus to the sweet, beautiful, sacred truth about Christmas. It all comes down to four words: God is with us. :)

(b) bought my own Christmas wrapping for the first time and wrapped all my Christmas gifts! So fun! I love wrapping paper...no cop-out gift bags for me! :) Usually I just use my parent's wrapping, but this time I wanted to leave my own personal style on my gifts! I'm a nerd, I know :)

Merry Christmas in 4 days!

The Countdown to Christmtas! 5 Days to Go!

Thursday and Friday I was engulfed in Wedding World shooting the amazing Lauren Yeater and Klint Bratcher's wedding (It was awesome!!). So when I woke up on Saturday morning, I was so shocked when I looked at my phone and it said December 20th! Christmas only 5 days away?! It totally snuck up on me, so I decided I was going to enjoy the pants off this week! Each day I'm going to do something to celebrate/focus on beautiful Christmas and what it means (and you'll get to read about it because I'm going to blog about it!).

So today, I enjoyed this wonderful season with my family. Scott and I met up with my parents, brother, and sister-in-law to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" at the Historic Paramount Theatre! We even dressed up! Even though I've seen that movie many times, I was so into it! What a great movie and message. :) Afterwards, we went to my parent's house to eat homemade apple dumplings and hang out. It was so great to spend time with them!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Decorating Around Our Apartment!

So despite crazy schedules, Megan and I finally managed to decorate our humble abode. :) It's about time!! Matt and Scott were both able to be around, so we turned up the #1 Christmas jams and just had so much fun! Our decorating this year was not quite as involved as last year (we just managed to get our stockings hung and tree decorated), but we've just been so darn busy! With Meg in grad school and me finishing up my last semester of undergrad...well ya know. 

On that note, today I took my last final!! It's so not even real yet that I'm pretty much done at college. I mean, I've got student teaching, but I won't be on campus at all next semester, so it's pretty much the end. :( Five years went realllly fast! I'm so happy though. :) :) I'm looking forward to the rest of my life :)

So high fives for being done with school! Bring on the holidays! I've got a busy break with weddings and such but, of course, I'm excited about that.

Random Deep Moment: I've been realizing just how careful I need to be about not overloading myself next semester during student teaching. This is extremely hard for me, since all I really want to do is keep moving forward full speed ahead with photography. It is the most difficult, frustrating, humbling thing to have to let 

awesome opportunities pass me by. But, despite this, I'm feeling really "mature" ;) about making wise decisions. I'm kind of weirdly excited to be absorbed in something other than photography for a little while. Variety in life is good!

Okay, enough from me, let's check out the decorating pictures!

Here's me putting lights on the tree (dad would be so proud) while Scott puts lights on me. :)

Carefully putting the star on top.
All of us high fiving for our tree-putting-up success! 

 

Home sweet home

My head is a Christmas tree?
And as a final visual treat...Megan and Matt gave me an early Christmas present--a vintage camera from the 1940s!! How fabulous is this?! Perfect condition, with the flash and 3 unused flash bulbs!! I'm so excited! Did I mention that I've started collecting vintage cameras!? I have and I love learning all about them. The history of photography is fascinating! :) Cool huh?

Christmas Shopping

Hi friends! I've been looking for Christmas gifts for my dazzling friends and fam lately, and I just wanted to share a few fun and unique gifts I've found to hopefully help you out as you're shopping! It's almost like the old Top 5 posts (remember those? ha) but...not quite! :)

1. Urban Outfitters was a surprising place where I found tons of cool stuff! I always thought of Urban Outfitters as expensive clothes, but that's not all they are! It seriously may be my one stop shop this year. They have a huge variety of stuff. We are talking not clothing here, but sweeeeet stuff for guys and gals such as: vintage cameras, retro electronics, really fun home accents, jewelry stands, etc. Really great stuff and such affordable prices! I can hardly write enough about how impressed and surprised I was about them! You will be blown away at all the clever stuff :) Go on! Check them out!

2. Although you can't shop online, I was impressed with Pier One's collection of little doo-dads. Again, some fun little vintage toys and such "for the person who has everything." :) 

3. The article in the December issue of InStyle has a GREAT gift guide in it! Buy the mag if you want, or just steal a glance while you're waiting in line. I was inspired by their selection of fun gifts for everyone! 

4. Shop Anthropologie.com for the girls in your life. I'm sure you can't go wrong. I enjoyed their selection of note cards and jewelry, especially their array of "statement" necklaces! 

Well, it's just a little, but I hope it helps!

Happy Holidays

Happy December 1st! It's so exciting to finally be writing "December" down...it just sounds like cold weather and cozy fires! And the holiday season is officially here! Yay!

Thanksgiving was fabulous, as expected. I just LOVE being around my family, and we were all together! I actually stayed home at my parent's house too which was fun :) We had fun just relaxing, eating, watching football, playing with my brother's dog, and decorating the Christmas tree! Yay! 

So, I realize this is a super short post, but I have homework that needs to be done. But, I wanted to share something insignificant! I painted my fingernails today!! Probably the first time ever in my life (except for times I've gotten a french manicure for a wedding or something). Anyway, it's so fun! I cut them short and then painted them this awesome dark, dark, dark shimmery brown color. They are so rockstar-awesome I can hardly stand it! :) Anyway, I was excited. 

Just about a week left of school! :)

Happy December!

Hello November!

Hellooooo friends! Let me see...I haven't blogged since the election and while lots of things have been going on...it seems like I can't remember any of them! :) Ahh, life. 

Well, I made it through my week of teaching 2nd graders and it was awe-some. Very great. Gotta love kiddos! :) School is wrapping up supa-fast and I'm so happy! Can't believe this is it for me and college...well the college campus at least. Let's not forget I'll be student teaching all next semester. I'm excited about it, but totally looking forward to the Christmas break and doing NOTHING (yeah right). :D

I just love this time of year!! (Who doesn't?) It's so great! Meg and I are putting up our Christmas decor right after T-giving. Yea! Remember our cool decorations last year? Check out the blog post!

Photog is rockin! I'm finished with big purchases for now, which is nice, but I'm so happy with all my equipment! I bought the 70-200mm telephoto lens last week and it has rocked my wedding photography world! Kick-tush! :) Today, I finally purchased a nice new blog for my photography schtuff. I'm SO EXCITED! The biggest plus is the extra large photos! Can't wait to get it all set up!

I also shot a wedding last weekend in Ft. Worth (awesome) which marks the beginning of my winter wedding season. I'll be a busy girl in December and January. OH! And! Exciting news! I'll be taking part in a bridal fair in February! First one I've ever done! I cannot even tell you how excited I am! You know me with organization and decoration--I love it, so this will simply be a blast! :) :)

Life's good. God's good.

Olympics, Photography, Yoga, and Grandpa's Birthday (All rolled into one post!)

Who's in love with the Olympics?! I AM!! I'm watching them every chance I get! If you ever want to come over some night and watch with me, I'll cook for you!! :) When I watch the Olympics, I'm always reminded of the '96 Olympics when Kerri Strug took the U S of A to gold! Man, good times! I was so freaking out when that happened.

Anyway, it's always been a big dream of mine to go to the Olympics...just to watch, you know. :) Now that I have my cameras, I REALLY wish I could go. Just look at some of the cool photos (remember, I did NOT take these):

And also, on the note of photography, you might want to zip over to my photography blog. I posted a few sessions that I'm proud of :)

Next, you might wonder how my yoga class is going since I made such a big to-do about it...it's going GREAT! I adore it while I'm there and miss it when I don't get to go! I've been going three times a week which has been incredible. I can already tell a difference in my overall health and feel-good-ness. If you ever wanna come with me, I can bring guests. ALSO, I just bought a new yoga mat while my mom and I were in San Antonio. Isn't that fun?! I got a little too excited about it :) It's purple with a sweet damask design on it.

Important Side Note: I've always wanted to know the name for this design, because it's so popular, and I found out: it's called damask. I know you've seen it before. Just type "damask" into Google Images, and you'll soon be saying, "Ohhh, THAT'S what that is called!" (Unless of course you already knew it...then you would just be cool).

Finally, my grandpa's birthday was this past weekend! The whole family got together to celebrate, and it was wonderful. Here's a photo of him opening his birthday present from all of us...an Ice Cream Maker. He loved it! My grandparents are so inspiring...they are just as active, spry, God-loving, and sharp as can be...at 80+ years! I want to be like that!

Nothing Brings People Together Like A Wedding!

Another one of my dear friends got married-- what a special time I'm living in! :) Hailey and Adam's wedding was last night and I have to say, the word to describe this wedding was precious. It just filled me with so much happiness. They were both so radiant and overwhelmed with the other all night! It was beautiful and I'm so glad I got to be a part of it. I've known both Hailey and Adam since Middle School! I'm so thankful for their friendship. They are both the most loyal friends and just have such a spirit of peace and contentment about them. I love it!

Hailey's eyes were just shining all night!
Hanging out with all my married/engaged friends...crazy!!
My favorite thing about their wedding was that it was like a reunion of all my dearest high school friends! I hadn't seen most of these people in years, so it was great! Most people want to forget high school, but I was totally blessed by my friends in HS. We were all in choir together and loved it! :) This is a group picture of all of us...4 years later! I have so many memories with these special people. 

Megan's Birthday!

Megan's birthday was on Thursday, so on Friday a few of us girls took her to the Homeplace for dinner! We had the most delightful home cooked meal! This place is just so West Texas, and I love it :) After dinner, we explored a little bit, and then sat on the porch and had wonderful conversations about where we are in our stage of life. Yay for girl talk! Here are a few photos!

Roomies!

I love these girls!!

Photos from Spring Break! And a bit of where I've been. And a lame post title :)

Hello! Here are a few of the photos from Spring Break! Honestly, we took more videos than photos, so there weren't that many to choose from. If you want to see the big ol' video that we compiled, edited, and set to swingin' music, come ask me some time! It's well worth a watch. At least Megan and I think so :)

So...wondering about my blogging absence recently? 

Well, as soon as I got back from the wonderful Spring Break, I got sick. After a week of fun with that, I had what the education majors refer to as "Hell Week" (where we are teaching a class in a local elementary school every day, finishing our observing hours at a different school, completing our tutoring projects, and taking our 2/3 exams--all in ONE WEEK).

On top of all that, my grandmother passed away on Tuesday morning.

Needless to say, last week was one of the longest, roughest week of my life. And even though I don't have deep spiritual things to write, I know the Lord is good. I'm in a quiet place, I'm in a confusing place, I'm in a stressful place...but I know the Lord is good. Not because of some awesome experience, but just because His word says so...and I trust that. Especially in a time of confusion. Hopefully I'll have more clarity on it all soon and can write wonderful and inspiring blog entries. :) But in the meantime...yep.

Love you all! Promise I'll be blogging more soon. And don't forget to be watching for the two surprises.

Honey, I'm home!

I'm back from Spring Break '08 and it was...GREAT! The secret destination location was Rockport, Texas! Meg and I left on Saturday, drove all day, and then arrived on the beach! It was such a fun week filled with fun on the beach (like laying in the sun, playing in the waves, and flying kites!), shopping trips, ferry rides, renting a new movie every night, DELICIOUS food (including my favorite restaurant: Charlotte Plummers!) and the Texas State Aquarium! Wahoo! I needed a week like that. :)

Pictures/Videos will be coming soon!

Now it's back to reality, and I'm really not complaining. I feel more focused after having a week of total fun and relaxation. I'm a little nervous about how much homework I have to do before Monday...and the week after that, teaching every day...but I'll get it done!

Right now I have photography fever! My creative juices are flowing, and I want to make some stellar shots! I've got a few engagement sessions coming up the next few weeks, and I'm SO excited about them! I keep getting lens/equipment lust though! The 24-70mm is a'callin' my name. ...Caroline... But don't forget about my exciting news from my last post. Still a "secret" but I'm sure if you run into me somewhere, I'll spill the beans. :)

I really can't explain how refreshed and refocused I feel after this week. Simply wonderful. :)

One night, after hanging out on the beach all day, I ran across this verse: "Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment...when I fixed limits for it when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt'?" Job 38:8-11

The next day, that's all I could think about while watching the ocean waves roll in and out. God, my God determines exactly where those waves stop. Wow. Our God is so powerful and so in control! And He is good. In the deepest sense of the word, He is good. I got to experience some of His goodness to me this week. Beautiful.

Make sure to watch out for some photos from the week in a day or two!

Spring Break is upon us!

My blog post average per month is going down fast. Looks like we have a critical situation on our hands. I have a really good reason though...but it's top secret. So...sorry. I can't share it. But I'll give hints.



Hint #1: There are two reasons.

Hint #2: One is .net

Hint #3: One is blu.

Hint #4: You'll see both of them very soon.



I bet half of you can make an accurate guess now. :)


Well, in other news, Spring Break is coming up! That's so exciting. I can already tell you it's going to be a good one-- full of wholesome, non-alcoholic fun. :) And hey, my birthday is coming up too! I won't be blogging in honor of Spring Break this coming week...


But don't lose hope in the dear ol' blog...exciting things are in the future.



In the meantime, here's an simple, classy outfit that you'll LOVE for Spring Break!

The Dress that is WAY comfy, on sale for $15, and even cuter than it looks in the photo.
The Jean Jacket that provides for the cool nights and everyone needs one anyway.
Lastly, the Shoes that make the outfit!