lately....

things i love lately.......

 

printing my own photos. 

its a good feeling. 

gnocci. 

i don't mean to brag, but this was the best meal i've ever made.

the lake, by aqualung.

product redesign.

can you guess what i'm redesigning?

planners. they save my butt. 

african stories

have you ever had a moment when you knew things with such exactness and precise knowledge that it moved you to your very core?  a knowledge so sure and so powerful that it seems as if every single thing in your life all connects to that point, because that one thing that you know is so strong, it must have everything to do with it all. have you ever felt that?

i distinctly remember feeling that one day. it overtook me like a wave of emotion and power mixed and sent clarity through my heart.

there was a girl in africa. she was young, probably in her early teens. and she was sick. very sick. one day as we closed the clinic for the day, turning away patients, her father dragged her in by her arms, and gently set her by us, not saying a word.

the rest all happened so quickly, its sometimes hard for me to remember it all.  but throughout seizure after seizure, and several episodes of passing out, our small little group of clinic helpers became very worried about this girl. we knew she must go to the hospital, because it was beyond our nurse's help. but making it there - even making it home - was what troubled us all. i thought it was sure she wouldn't make it back. she could barely stay conscious, let alone sit up straight on the back of a little moped scooter for more than 10 miles on the dirt road.

"can you go get the other men to give her a blessing?" the sweet nurse asked her husband, believing in a power far greater than what we had, putting aside religious prejudices (her family was not from the same church) and calling upon something she knew to be an answer.

and in the middle of that barren land in kenya, africa, she was given a blessing.  and just as simple as it was given, she left with her father again.

through the next few days as the nurse and her husband spent time with the girl at the hospital, they discovered malaria that had traveled to her brain, and treated it. and with more kindness, they decided to sponsor her education at the school we had worked at, and give her a better life there.

that moment comes to me time and again. the moment when i realized of the intricate plan we all have.  things have been set in motion for us, that we may not even comprehend. things that are hard and burdensome, that we would rather live without.  but then those things can bring us blessings that would have never come about without those hard things.  and to look back at all those things, i couldn't help but know with such preciseness that there is a God, and He is in our lives. and that moment - that powerful moment - was so simple, that it brought me the clarity that i know could have only come from Him.

hi, i'm back.
in case you didn't know, i went to my best friend's wedding a little over a week ago. and in case you were wondering, it was so wonderful, fabulous, and happy.
i also got to be her photog, with my other best friend as my co-photog. two huge experiences meshed into one? fabulous.
i think i've become a little bit of an insomniac. i find myself staying up until all hours of the night, pushing off sleep.
maybe its because i keep having dreams that i'm in grey's anatomy. and that includes all the drama it comes with.
the other day it snowed while it was 47 degrees and sunny. the sun was out. am i in hell?
sundays feel abnormally long lately.
i keep pushing off loads of homework. i think i'm at the end of my semester rope.
is it funny to anyone else that all of the people that i don't like suddenly decide they want to like me now? like, really. these idiots can't get timing right.
also, i have three other weddings booked for the next two months. THREE. happy happy.
this whole no sleep, over stressed, tired body, over working mixed with the above said business of the semester has proven to be a toxic mix. and yet, somehow i'm still managing.

lately i feel like this. 

i plan on fixing that this weekend. 

with lots of work, 

grey's anatomy in the background, 

and more picture editing than you can imagine. 

oh and some focus. 

happy weekend!

lately......

things i love lately......

this big fancy flash. 

i feel legit. 

oils. 

yep, i'm one of those crazy oil people.

i am SERIOUSLY addicted to this show.

my gold necklace. 

let's be still. 

this lotion saves my dry dry hands.

Summer and Jon

And to top off all that love, here's a look at Summer and Jon's engagement photos. Don't they look so happy?? It's adorable and it makes me happy. Summer was my roommate for a semester and she and Jon are so great together. Congratulations to them!

i love love

I am so full of so much stinkin' love and mush, its not even funny.  Legit.  I keep "aww"ing and smiling and laughing and giggling, and I don't even know why. My best friend got married and I'm a wreck over it - a fabulously good wreck though - I am so so happy for her because she's so happy and that leaves me a happy mushy mess. (Jace, you really were right about love all those years of gushing over it. You knew it was better than anything and you went and found it and proved everyone wrong. Here's those three words - you were right). And then my roommates are all gushy and sweet with their boy toys and instead of the usual, I'm over here finding myself just wanting to be around them all and bask in their happiness so it can add to mine. And on top of that all, I find myself enthralled in work with people that love. I take pictures and document love, while newly engaged and married couples forget that I'm around them and escape into each other's eyes. And I don't mind one stinking bit. Guys, I don't know what it is. Is it possible to be in love without having anyone to love? Probably not, but whatever, here I am. Admit me to the psych ward now.

You know that feeling you get when you've had a break? It's like everything you usually do should have been put at a stand still hold - school should freeze, friends do nothing without you, and the rest of everything in your world should all pause for just a minute while you just take this break. But its like when you come back, everything kept going on without you, and you're flabbergasted that it did. Not only that, its now taking turns kicking you in the butt and stressing you out. That's where I'm at.  I'm so worried what I missed out on, I haven't checked anything at all. I'm even debating not going back to school tomorrow. Or at all. It's really too bad that's not an option.

monday

i have no time to take a picture today. oops.



i force myself to eat healthy now. and sometimes finishing that plate of veggies for lunch can be rough.
also, does that cancel out the cupcake i had earlier? having a baker for a roommate can be bad for my figure.
i had two meetings for wedding photo shoots this last week and i have never been more excited.
i feel like i'm picking up speed on the things i want to do with my life and it makes me so happy.
its snowing like crazy here. really. its like a snow tornado, flying every which way. and for once, i kind of wasn't happy about the snow.
the song 'hot and cold' has never made more sense to me than it does now.
i had an assignment to take landscapes, and while i normally dread them, i was happy with how they turned out.
i love talking to the twins on the phone. they are the funniest and it makes me miss them.
i am upset over phillip seymour hoffman's death. who is going to play heavensbee? no one else can do it that well.

february looks like