One last time around...

Summer is going to be over before I know it! I'm planning on making the most of the "lazy" days that are left by swimming plenty, taking a little road trip, and eating at least three sno-cones (I haven't even had one this summer yet!). Secretly though, I've been really excited about the coming of Autumn! The cooler nights, the crisp air, the fashions, the change in everyone's attitude...I'm in love with it! Autumn also brings me back to my college campus. I'm looking forward to the normalcy that school brings to my schedule and life...but this is going to be the last time I experience a Back-to-College Autumn since I'll be graduating in May. I got a little nostalgic last night realizing that next August, I won't be heading back to the dear old college campus.

But even still, I've been nothing but excited about graduating and moving forward in life, especially since most of my friends graduated a couple months ago, and are moving away, getting jobs, and starting families. I'm so excited about what the future holds! I don't really know what I'll be doing yet, or where I'll be living, but I'm not too worried about it yet. Things will fall into place.

I do know one thing though. Whatever happens, I desire to live with the deep purpose of serving my Father in heaven. (Get ready for a big run-on sentence!) Daily life is good, and I do a lot of things on a daily basis, but I've been realizing, the older I get, that I do things just to get them done...which is good...but I want to get things done with my eyes on the hand of my Father. Watching for Him to move. Listening for Him to speak. Knowing that this world is not my home-- I have a heavenly home which I will soon see! That is what gives even the most mundane, daily tasks deep "purpose." I LOVE that the Lord didn't just put us on the earth to get things done. I love that we have gifts and callings and a joyous reason for living, found ONLY in seeking Him.

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. 

Shhhhh...Secret Preview of My Biz Card!

Okay, I'm so super stoked out of my mind because of this sweet little biz card design that Scott did for me. He KILLED on this design!! I couldn't be a single bit happier with it! I ordered them yesterday and I was going to try really, REALLY hard to wait to show you until I had the actual card...but I can't! So scroll down to the bottom of the post to see a preview!! It's perfect! I just smile every time I see it.

And you may be thinking, "What, no picture on a photographer's business card?" But it's a pretty daunting task to try and choose ONE photo to represent your entire photography career to the general public. So instead, I opted to go with a fresh, fun, and funky design that will hopefully convey my enthusiastic love for life and photography, AND make people stop and stare at it! :) ALSO, this is only the front side. The back (which is also yummy delicious) has all my info artfully stated on it. Cool!


P.S. It may be about to rain right now! I sure hope so! :)

P.S.S. Happy August!

Life Can Spring Again

I get a devotional eMailed to me every morning and today's words were powerful...I just wanted to share them. It grows terribly burdensome when you just "don't look" at your sin so that you don't have to deal with it. But there is sweet freedom that comes in just saying "It's my fault." The first sentence really speaks to me. Take a minute to read:

"When we call sin what it really is, we can embrace truth, sin can die at the cross, and life can spring again through Christ's resurrection. Confession makes us real. It stops us from creating a web of lies to cover up our sin, and allows us to acknowledge our shortcomings to ourselves and those around us. This humbles us, but living in humility is living in honesty. Trying to hide our fallen-ness only makes us think more highly of ourselves than we ought...Jesus is so good to forgive us though. When no one would cast a stone at the woman caught in adultery, Jesus' words brought shock and relief: "Neither do I condemn you." How sweet these words must have fallen on her ears. Jesus had just saved her life! Then Jesus added, "go, and sin no more" (Jn 8:11)."

Life can spring again...I just can't get that beautiful phrase out of my head! Thank you Jesus!

Mmmmm...

Can I just say that I am so proud of this photo!? Is that strange? I mean, I know it's a stack of cookies, but I am in love with it! The lighting, textures, colors...everything is perfect! Doing this cookie shoot yesterday for Jerita (the owner of local cookie biz, One Smart Cookie) kinda made me want to go work for Martha Stewart Living and take pretty pictures of food all day long :)

Enjoying the Blog

First of all, I feel like I should apologize for the profuse amount of blogging that I've done since I've re-opened this blog. I never realized how much I missed it! I blog for many reasons, but one big reason is so that I remember (and focus on) the good things in my life. It seems like if we don't record the things that go on in our lives we easily forget them...and for some reason we tend to forget the good things first! Maybe I'm just in a strange stage or something, but since I've started blogging here again, it is SO MUCH easier to be thankful, content, and joyful! I love it :)

Anyway, I came across this post from Jessica Claire's blog the other day, and really appreciated it. So I though I'd share it with you!

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? :)