Monday, December 31, 2007

...Brian & Brittney

A very long time ago, I became wonderful friends with a fantastic kid. Brian, over the years has matured and grown up, and turned into an incredible man of God. When I heard he was head over heels for a girl he met at camp I was thrilled! And, when he proposed, I could not wait to hear all the details. Brian has played a huge part in my life, all through high school and college, and I cannot express how grateful I am that he found Brittney. They are both such a blessing. When they asked me to shoot their wedding, I was honored! I can hardly wait for August!

In the gloomy mid-day sun, the four of us headed up to Pasadena for an e-session. I honestly, didn't have any of it mapped out, but knowing us, it would be an adventure getting lost! We parked on a street off Colorado Blvd, way south of Lake Ave., and walked along the famous street to find interesting buildings, and colors. The construction of bleachers for the Rose Parade on New Years Day has already begun, and the entire town was alive with the bustle of preparation for the throngs of people filing in over then next day and a half. We are first, great friends, and second photographer/client, so shooting was an adventure for sure! Amidst the Target shopping carts, old books, ugly rugs, the dingy lit alleys, and the classic shops, we all giggled and made jokes and teased each other while Zach and I clicked away at our shutter buttons. below are a few of my favorite shots! It was a wonderful day, with memories that will last a lifetime, with lifelong friends! Thank you Brian and Britt for the fantastic honor of capturing your day! I love you both very much!

click this pic to see a slideshow!
We pulled them into an old bookstore and of course, ever the romantic, Brian went straight for the Shakespeare!

The vibrantly beautiful, Miss Brittney Tinker! (only for a little longer!)


This one Zach caught while I was looking elsewhere! For never having shot anyone before, he did an awesome job!

Saturday, December 29, 2007

...amazing day

Today was incredible. I'm going to leave out the details, but, I just wanted to share with everyone my new bed-mate. He is ADORABLE! He's very sweet, kinda the light tan color of raw sugar. He happens to be extremely cuddly! AND he too, is an Angels fan! Check it out!


His name happens to be Noah. Now, 10 points for the first person that figures out the reference...it shouldn't be too hard!

**sorry for the icky image quality, it's an iPhone pic. :)

So, Noah was the first excitement for the day...


...the second was my MARK III, ummm it's pretty much, AMAZING. more on that later.


and third...p.s. i love you is wonderful. grab the girlfriend and go see it. it will make you laugh, and make you cry, but it is more than worth the tears.

there's definitely a fourth...but lets just say it was a perfect ending, to a perfect day! :)

night all! sweetest of dreams!

Friday, December 28, 2007

...Christmas came and went...

Now is the time to let out a big *sigh* of relief! Not that I don't LOVE the Christmas spirit, or the season, and everything else that goes along with it, because I really do! It's just a TON of work! My parents both work at schools (my dads a teacher and my mom a secretary) and, as such, they were working until December 21 this year. That is insane! My poor mother has a habit of waiting until the very last minute possible to go shopping...which in turn creates last-minute wrapping. And this year, with the late break date things just seemed so much more stressful! Not to mention the ridiculous amount of baking we do. Anyway, once Christmas Eve is arrives, the stress kind of melts away, and the excitement and joy really sink in. Here are a few fun shots from Christmas Day at my house with Grammy and Grampy, my great-grandparents, and my parents...enjoy!



Ok, so my mom and I are known for spending entirely too much time on our wrapping. We usually have some sort of a theme going, and our bows, and tags and such are pretty impressive! :) My favorite paper this year was the harlequin-esque light green/dark green diamonds.


Mom and Daddy!
Grammy...my mom's mom, and Spike...their 5 lbs ball of fluffy fury.

Grampy...mid-laugh
My great-grandparents. They are 95 and 94....isn't that amazing!?
Spike being fed from the table, which normally isnt allowed, but it was Christmas...
details, details, details....

a cute necklace, a buckle from a houndstooth pair of Wellies from Banana Republic, a bow from Anthropology, a butter mold from Williams-Sonoma, non-pariel covered gumdrops, and Sprinkles cupcake mix!

Something everyone should know by now, my family really knows how to do food! :) Christmas dinner at my house is traditionally prime rib, creamed corn, mashed potatoes, and this year we had roasted brussel sprouts (at which most people turn up their nose, but these are AMAZING). It was sooo wonderful, even though the pic doesn't fully do it justice. Spike...in all his little white glory.
How adorable is my Grammy!? She has snowmen on her toes!

This is my Maddy girl...my Golden Retriever. She is 11 years old, and as gorgeous as ever!
Mom and Grammy being silly in the kitchen

the Brussel Sprouts!!!
This diamond belonged to my great-great grandmother...so it's from the late 1800's (probably) how awesome is that!? I am sooo stoked it's still in the family, that means, one day, I'll get it!


some of the pretty ornaments on the tree...



and of course, the entire reason we have an amazing day called CHRISTmas....



I pray everyone had a splendid Christmas! Love love!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

...

Hi all!

I have photos to post from Christmas, and a couple from Christmas Eve, but at the moment, I'm too tired to wait for them to upload! I'll do it tomorrow.

Instead, tonight I have a question for you...
When someone is being described as "on a hunt for a wife," is that such a bad thing? I mean, isn't that the natural course of relationships? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I have always thought that the progression of a relationship is somewhat as follows: friends (if you're smart), date, seriously date, become engaged, then get married. Isn't that the whole reason to date? I'm sure people date just for the companionship, or the fun of it, or maybe even to make themselves feel better, but when most people are going on dates isn't it to see if you're compatible with that other person? If it doesn't work, or you find out they are not someone you're truly interested in, then you move on. So, I return to the original question. What, on earth, is wrong with dating people with an end goal of marriage with the right person?

I've been told by several people "oh, he's just on a hunt for a wife." Well, what if I were on a hunt for a husband? And what would that look like? Does the fact that I've gone out with more than two people classify me as such? If so, then I'm desperate, because I went on bunch of dates with all different guys in college. It's really kind of ridiculous. I know people care about me, and my heart, and my reputation, and my life...etc...but seriously.

I don't expect anyone to understand. Honestly, I'm not sure I completely do. There's history. Lots, and lots of history. It includes, but is NOT limited to: friendship, admiration, a (not-so-secret) secret relationship, hatred, "i never want to hear from you again," and much more. All of this adds up to one thing....love. No, I don't mean the ooey-gooey, high-school scribble his name all over my notebook kind of love. I mean the profound, genuine, care-for-the-other-person-no-matter-what kind of love. The kind that spans the peaks and valleys of adolescent years, the kind that wonders how the other person is (even though everyone thinks, including them, that you couldn't care less) the kind that can go from pure hatred to swooning in the same breath, the kind that no matter what happens, I will always care. Who knows how things will go. What twists or turns will take place or who could walk back into someones life. Who knows! I most certainly do not.

I do know that tongues are wagging behind my back, and people are speculating, and believing they know everything that goes on. People talk, they gossip, they whisper, they silently condemn with little or no regard to what might actually be the case. Many people (women esp) live for the latest gossip about so-and-so, and would die if they didn't have the chance to pass on the news. I only wish I could be a fly on the wall to hear the things being said. I want to make a couple things clear...if someone has something to say, it really should be TO me, and not about me..and if you THINK you know everything, or what's going on, you're probably wrong. However, if you'd like to grow up and come ask me about it...I'd be happy to share. People change, they grow up, they experience difficult situations, they grow apart...then back together. Personally, I'm not a very public person. If my relationship is on the rocks, or going downhill, I'm not going to share that with the world...and most definitely NOT with the people that I am confident will pass it along. Of course I will share with a couple select friends, and loved ones, but I am not going to broadcast it like a national emergency (as so many do) several months before it's officially over. Nor am I likely to cater my actions to "how everyone else feels" about how I handle things when there will be talk no matter what. I'm not living my life to please the quick-to-judge people at church. Instead, I am living my life as worship to my maker. If I feel like He is happy, satisfied, and encouraging with the way I live and love, then I am content. While I sort-of care what other people think, His opinion is the only one that truly matters. Please, feel free to rake me over the coals about rebounding, or perhaps even being "on a hunt," but before you do, remember that you have probably been in a similar experience, and that things are not likely as they appear.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

...back to SB...

oh how I miss Santa Barbara! It's incredible! I drove up Friday morning for one of my best friends graduation from Brooks. I left home about 6:30am, and it took me 2 hours. As I descended the big hill from Thousand Oaks area to Camarillo I breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled as if it were a homecoming. There is something about the quality of life in SB that just seems to elude me here in the OC. Graduation was great, as always. And thankfully fairly short. This time, there were less than half the number of students as in my graduating class! After the ceremony, I caught up with a couple of old friends, and then headed to SB Brew Co. for lunch with Katie's fam. It was wonderful, as always!

I'm so incredibly thankful for Katie Grace. She has a passion for the Lord, and a smile that doesn't quit! I love her so much! Here a few quick shots from my PS.

Congrats darlin!! I love you tons!



...frost yourself!



Name that chick-flick!

Last night, we frosted. There are no words. Just colors, and sprinkles, silliness, and chit-chat and sugar, lots of sugar....see for yourself...

4 best friends, more like sisters, really! (including me, of course!)



at this point, I do believe there was blue frosting in Meg's hair....






needless to say, I am SO sick of frosted cookies...lol...I dont care if I never see another! However, it was a wonderful few hours of bonding, and fun!

Friday, December 21, 2007

...mmmm, cookies!!

I only have like two seconds to write this. It's 1:30 am, and I'm supposed to be getting up in 4 hours to hit the road up to Santa Barbara. My sweet friend Katie Grace is graduating from Brooks tomorrow! YAY!! Congrats girl! The ceremony is at 10, then lunch afterward, then I'm back on the road to home (hopefully avoiding traffic!). Then decorating Sugar cookies with Meg and her mom in the evening, and hopefully making it to the triple date we had planned at the beach with Brian and Britt, and Alex and (I don't know her name! oops!) Needless to say, it's going to be a very long day.

Anyway, back to those cookies. Snowmen, big trees, little trees, big bells, little bells, Santa's, angels, and stars. If you know anything about it me, you probably know I LOVE to cook, and bake. Well, I learned that from my mom. You maybe have never had her food...if not, you are seriously missing out. Back in the day, my friends used to come over just to eat whatever my mom was making. It's amazing. Her cookies (esp the Christmas variety) far exceed any preconceived expectations you may have about cookies. They are incredible. I've had friends ask for her recipes as a birthday present! It's kind of a tradition that she and my Grammy and I bake Christmas cookies every year. The favorites, by far, are the sugar cookies. With just a hint of lemon, and the time and temp down to a science, we create these amazingly addictive, oh so yummy treats. I like them best unfrosted, but there's not a whole lot of fun in that...so after baking them, we usually sit down with our best friends and frost until our wrists hurt, and our fingers are dyed. Everytime we make sugar cookies, it's automatically a double batch. This time...we made six of them. Six double batches! Thats 30 cups of flour, 12 cups of sugar, 18 cubes of butter, 24 eggs, and a whole lot of salt, baking powder, and lemon. Wow! It turned out to be 31 dozen cookies. And thats only with 4 batches baked! Around 12 am we started getting a little delirious...I spit my tea all over the place, in the midst of side-splitting laughter, and quite honestly, could not care if I baked another sugar cookie in my entire life! (although that will change tomorrow, of course!) Finally, both of us covered in flour and full of cookie dough, we finished around 12:45, and after 4 hours of cookies, we were glad to be done for the night. Here's a brief glimpse of the beginnings of our work...Snowmen, big trees, little trees, big bells, little bells, Santa's, angels, and stars...
I grabbed it with my iPhone before the stacks got too out of control. When we finish the rest of the dough I'll try to catch a more detail depiction of the adventures in the kitchen!! In the mean time, if you need some cookies...you know where to look! ;)