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. :)

Honorable Mention in Jessica Claire's contest!! Wahoo!

Guess what? The beautiful and talented Jessica Claire held a photo contest yesterday on her blog and we were supposed to capture the thing we were most thankful for this year. I didn't win...but I got an honorable mention!!! How exciting is that? Jessica Claire is probably my favorite photographer. She is so inspiring and I respect her so much. Check it out here! My photo is the first on the left in the Family section! Yay! Here's the photo: it's my brother and his wife (married just a few days over a year!) in the super stellar snow that fell yesterday!