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!

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!

I've gotten so into this...

I can't get enough! Yay family! :)

So much fun...

I'm so blessed right now to be in the middle of a FABULOUS weekend! So far it has been just so much fun...and with all the school stresses and such recently...well, I needed some fun. :) The rundown is pretty quick and easy: Last night I got together with fellow photographers/friends Erin, Chad, and Tressie and we had a "just for fun" shoot! It was insane! Nighttime, graveyard, awesome models, and lotsa flashes/pocket wizards/umbrellas/equipment! Yep we had a shoot in a graveyard at night. So fun! If there hadn't been alot of us, I probably would have been creeped out! But as it was, we just had a blast and got some killer images! Head to the photog-blog to see some of the photos. My new flash had just come in the mail this week too so it was perfect! What fun!

Next, I left the shoot a little early to head to the opening night of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3! :) :) Yea! I'm not ashamed...it's so peppy and happy I just can't help but love it. I went with my awesome friend Nicole who loves it too, so we just had a blast! I'm pretty sure I sat next to a 10 year old girl who kept telling me how much she loved my scarf and how cute Zac Effron was. It was pretty funny :) After that, Nicole and I went to get coffee at Starbucks which was delicious and fun. I love hanging out with her! Pumpkin Spice Latte all the way :)

By the time we left Starbucks and I was driving home through a bunch of blinking yellow lights, I realized it had been a long time since I had been out so late...fun! It was refreshing to get to stay up late to have fun and not worry about having to wake up for anything in the morning.

This morning, I woke up to my roommate Megan waking me up telling me she had made eggs and biscuits for breakfast. Amazing!! :) :) And today, I've just gotten to do little things I've needed to do (that have NOTHING to do with homework--yay!) and it's just been relaxing and great. What a joy. I am just so thankful beyond anything right now for this weekend of simple fun! Yay!

Saturday Happiness!

On any given morning, as soon as I'm awake enough to roll out of bed, my tired feet walk my tired body over to the window for some sunshine. It's deliciously rejuvenating and refreshing! Saturday morning, that sunshine was especially appreciated.

I was up and at 'em super early, getting ready for a photoshoot and a long (but happy) day. My dear friend Cherith had scheduled a shoot with me for her beautiful growing family. The day before, when I was getting all my inspiration together for the shoot, I was just becoming more and more excited! Family shoots (especially with little kiddos) have got to be one of my favorite things to do! There's just so much love and happiness that come through in the photos. Life gets hard and stressful, as we all know, but the thing I love about a photo, is that it can absolutely remind you of the good. Looking back though my family's photo albums, I remember we had hard times, but the photos show all the good. And there was so much good! We need to be reminded of that sometimes, I think. Anyway, here are just a couple of my favorites.

After the shoot, Cherith invited me to come over for breakfast. It was so great to spend some time with her!! We've been friends since middle school, and I love it that we still keep up :) Good times. Anyway, I had to be back in town by 11 for my *yoga* class and it was great! After being thoroughly stretched and strengthened ;) I jumped on over to Starbucks to edit, edit, edit. I had the most productive time up there, getting ALL my recent photo sessions completely and totally edited and finished. Man, it feels good! Once finished with that, I went home and had a lovely afternoon nap (which I NEVER get anymore). Afternoon naps are indescribably wonderful :) To finish off this great day, Scott and I went to see The Dark Knight at 9:45! IT WAS SO GOOD! If you haven't seen it, you must go!

So Saturday was just an all around good day. Don't you just love good days? :)

Cool Phrases to bring to America!

I watched the movie "Once" last night, and really enjoyed it! Notwithstanding the fact that they drop the f-bomb about 400 times (mostly at the very beginning), it was a refreshing change of pace in a movie. Un-Hollywood style. And I like it. Be warned though, I'm not exaggerating about the language. Be ready to tune it out.

The most valuable lesson learned, however, was all the cool Irish/England phrases. :) Let's all get together on this and bring these phrases over to free-town USA! Phrases include: "That's brilliant," "Cheers," "Delightful," putting "Yeah" at the end of every sentence, and unfortunately that's all I can remember.

In other exciting news, I bought Photoshop CS3 & Lightroom!! Finally! I can't wait to start playing around with it! I already use Lightroom and love it, but I'm so excited to see what Photoshop can do. Man, it's an extensive program...

A much smaller purchase, but still exciting: I got the Norah Jones piano sheet music book! I'm so glad to be playing the piano again!

School starts soon. Oh boy.

Inspirations! Kareem Iliya, J. Crew, and Across the Universe

I've decided I want to start sharing things I find that inspire my artsy side with all you blog readers out there. First up, this is a little random, but I found that I really enjoyed looking at all this cool, silhouetted, fashion art by Kareem Iliya. Definitely not something you'd see everyday. I also loved that her website is so simple and you can look at everything without having to click millions of buttons and wait for load time :) Check it out!!



Second is freaking J. Crew. I'm in love with them. Too bad I can't afford 'em. But if you want some free inspiration, sign up for their catalogue! Seriously awesome photography, amazing locations, sweet fashion ideas...perfect. Not to mention, did you know J. Crew designs wedding dresses?! When I get married, I want one!


Third and last is the movie "Across the Universe." Wow. Ok, so just know it is a little trippy and weird so if you're not up for that, wait til you're in the mood. But the music and cinematography is SO FASCINATING! And...be warned...you will need the soundtrack. :)

That's it for the inspirations this time! Enjoy the end of October! Hope you have a great day. :)

What time is it?!

Yay, High School Musical 2! I just loved it and wanted to show my 21 year old enthusiasm towards this movie made for 9 year olds. :) It makes me want to get up and dance. Bill O'Reilly even had a little segment of it on "The O'Reilly Factor." I was so proud. He had a great thought though-- 17 MILLION households watched it Friday night on the Disney channel. Does that mean clean entertainment is making a comeback with kiddos? We'll see... :)

Meg gets back tonight!! So does Erin!! I'm so very excited! This morning, I drove past HSU and saw all the new lil freshmen running around playing "Campus Tag." I remember that like it was yesterday! It's wild that so many people will be graduating this year. But still, I'm really excited to see what the Lord has in store for us this year. Father we trust you.

Hope you all have a good day!