Long time - No post

I haven't got a ligit reason for not posting. Or maybe I do... I'm a stay at home mom with no internet and a 3 month old. So yeah I have an excuse.

Nothing too terribly much is new except learning how to be a Mom which is incredibly new and wonderful and scary. I never know what to expect with Alec except general cuteness!

I wish I had more to post but sadly I don't... And my little man is calling for me. So toodle-loo!

Inspiration time

 Spring is here! Which means I've hit my inspiration/I really wanna do something kick.

Loving the fresh airy look - too bad I can't redo my entire house!

 

Looking at maternity pictures for ideas for our shoot next weekend.

 

Trying to pick a hair cut for this summer. Getting it cut next Thursday.

 

Bangs or no??

 

And inspiration for little bit's room. These are basically our colors, except our walls are blue.

 

 

 

 

What inspires you this spring time??

 

Today I...

Today I...

Folded laundry

Washed dishes

Cooked

Dusted

Cleaned

Baked sugar cookies

Had a tea party

Put away stocking goodies

Cleaned some more

Read

Traced hands on paper and decorated them

 

Today I...

Hung out with T. Lynn

Kissed my handsome husband

Laughed at America's Funniest Home Videos

Saw my Pawpaw and Nana

Saw my in-laws

Sat on pillows on the floor

Cuddled

Slept in

 

Tomorrow I'll...

Go to church

Go to a Christmas Party (last one!)

See friends

See family

Finish last minute wrapping ;)

Finish the last bit of housework (yay)

 

Monday I'll...

Start housework all over again!

Love,

At Home

So lately I haven't been the best house keeper and I haven't cooked much and my poor husband is usually stuck taking care of me. I have a million excuses of course... Nausea, round ligament pain, fatigue and the latest one: a cold. But I have managed a few things and my loving, sweet husband has been so understanding.

My "pantry" filled with canned goods, baking goods, tea and recipe books.

 

My stove and white pantry thingy. We live in a 1940's farmhouse which explains the green stove and not so lovely wall paper (thankfully this is the only wall with this particular wall paper).

That's bread dough rising for cinnamon rolls on the stove top there.

 

Thanksgiving center piece that Lys and I did for the big Thanksgiving dinner my family does every year.

 

Cinnamon rolls I made one day when I had an energy spurt (please let me have another one of those).

 

The view from my back door. Lovely, huh?

 

 

 

Your sorta home-maker,

So Much Going On (Exciting News)

Life is taking so many turns for me right now. Not bad ones, just lots of them. It feels like everything has happened so quickly.

December 2009 - Started seeing Chad.
Spring 2010 - Lost my dear Grandfather (who was a really close friend as well and Grandfather).
Summer 2010 - Graduated.
December 2010 - One year with Chad.
Feburary 2011 - Engaged.
Fall 2011 - Started photography school and wedding planning.
December 2011 - Two years with Chad.
February 2012 - One year engaged.
Spring 2012 - Bridal Shower/Uncles Wedding.
Summer 2012 - Married!!!
So far Fall 2012 - Moved to a new house. Almost completed photography school (got my first perfect score on an assignment) and...

 

Little bit - what we're currently calling the baby - is estimated to be due June 3rd (just 13 days before our first anniversary). That would mean I am currently 10 1/2 weeks along! I've not had anything but blood work done though, so the due date could change.

 

Well, as I'm currently feeling a bit sick (I don't have morning sickness, I have all-day-comes-and-goes sickness), I'm gonna run.

Love your new mom-to-be,

Updates from Ri!

July 18^th 2012

It’s gray and dreary right now. The skies have just let lose what is promising to be quite a severe storm. I am sitting on the sofa drinking chai tea, thankful to have just finished a few thank you notes for belated wedding gifts. I should go bake cinnamon muffins for me and superman to eat for breakfast tomorrow, but that can wait a bit. He won’t be back for hours anyway, so I figured I’d post. Now, we don’t have internet at our house yet, so I’m typing this up and will post it when I have access to internet, be it at the library or at Mom’s Friday.

Being married is wonderful – maybe not perfect – but wonderful. Chad is such a sweetheart and an amazing husband. I hope every one of you girls reading this (who don’t already have an amazing man in their life) find someone as sweet and caring as my husband is.

So since the last time I posted I’ve gotten married, moved into a different house, legally changed my last name, gone to see the Biltmore(yay!), cut my hair, and got blue bands put on my braces J

Today I had my braces tightened, which is an experience that always makes me feel rather torn. I have an awesome orthodontist. He and his wife (who works with him) are so sweet. Such a cute couple! And they are so nice, I love talking to them and catching up. But – and there is always a but – my mouth is always sore after I’ve gone there (that or I’ve gone there because a wire came lose and is jabbing me in the cheek). Today he put on thicker wires (he’s been doing that, but apparently these are really quite thick) and they are going to make my mouth even more sore then the last time he tightened them. I believe it – I already hurt bad enough that chewing bread is very painful. Oh well, they said the thicker the wires the farther along I am in treatment – which is good. It means I’m just one step closer to getting them off, right?? Next time I go he’s gonna put on these rubber band thingys that are all attached and fit over the brackets. Not sure what they are called, but he said it would help close the remaining gaps from where they cruelly ripped pulled out four teeth to make more room.

Yesterday was peach canning day – I’m sure Mom will post about it at some point, probably detailed about how to can them properly and the exact light syrup recipe (which is something like 3c sugar, 9c water), so if you want more detail, her button is on the side bar J Anyway, it was fun, although we only got one canner load done. I think we’re going to do the rest of the peaches Friday along with canning our own Rotel recipe. We’re also going to have dinner with my Pawpaw.

I think Friday Chad and I may go swimming, or rather Chad will swim while I stay in the shallow end and try my best not to drown! I sink like a rock, it’s awful. I don’t have any float in me… He’ll hold me up to try and get me to float and the instant he lets go down, down, down my body goes! He’ll teach me eventually I suppose, he hasn’t let me drown so far anyway J

Well I best go – various household chores await me!

Xoxoxo,

In which I ramble

So I am weird and the things I love completely prove that... Let me go over a list!

I couldn't find a picture with just the mild jalapeno ones. But those are the ones I love. I never tried the other two, but I am seriously addicted to the mild jalapeno chedder ones! I'm drooling now!

Purple nail polish. I love blue for toes, but for finger nails purple all the way. Right now I'm wearing purple. It graduates from darker purple at the tips to lighter purple at the buttom (none of it is particularly light though). I am loving the purple :D

Color palettes! Don't know why, it's probably the blog-designing-soon-to-be-house-wife nerd in me, but I can't help it and I don't plan on stopping soon.

Paper lanterns! I am in love and obsessed. I have some hanging in my room now! Of course I also have two bows, many many arrows, a fishing pole, pratically a whole art studio, camera stuff and stacks and stacks of books in my room, so adding paper lanterns isn't odd at all... No, not at all.

Disney movies, particulary Tangled and Sleeping Beauty.

Love tv shows like Bones, NCIS, Numbers and Criminal Minds.

Ruffles - ok, yes I can be girly and yes it just killed me to admit on our blog to 30 readers that I like pink (or teal or blue) ruffles, but I do... So I figure being honest is best.

Lighting, light flares, slight over-exposure (when properly used), spherical abberation (aka bokeh), octogonal abberation (still bokeh) and such like. I adore them and feel a flutter in my stomach when I see it. One of the many reasons I love the new Star Trek movie. It's full of those and I am in lighting imperfection heaven.   

Books - I love them, adore them, pour over them!!

That's it!

 

all pictures via my pinterst boards

Long time no see!

Hey Y'all!
It's been a long time since I've been in blogger world... there is so much catching up I need to do! But first, here is a look into my life:
The new year started off kinda slow but that didn't last! I spent several days (when I wasn't working) watching the Passion conference online - it was amazing! Wish I could have been there in person, but it all worked out :)
After the Passion conference ended I had a few days with a regular schedule (and a small cold) and then there was a 12 day revival at my church. That was incredible! There were so many people that came from all over the world to be there (and waited in line all day to get in). Each night there was a different speaker, and each night God showed up :) Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to the final night of the revival in person...I was sick :( But thankfully it was streaming live online so I was still there in a way :)
Now, a week after it ended, I am almost completely better! YAY!

I'm super excited for the end of February to get here because that's when I am going to Riah's house! YAY! Its been forever since I went. :(
Well, it's time for me to sign off - got more laundry to do - hopefully you will see me around more than you have....
Night!!

Great night!

First off, I wanna say how GREAT it was to see my bestest friend in the world, Riah, yesterday! She is so sweet :) She brought me a pair of new earrings without a reason to! :) Love you Ri!

Anyway, so I've been watching Passion live on my computer for the last 2 days (today being the 3rd) and WOW is it good!!!
Hillsong United played last night at a little after 11:30 and I didn't get to bed until 2:30 :)
God is so good!!!
more later (hopefully) :)

What do y'all think?

You guys are probably on post over load from me - plus most likely you are shocked that I have managed to post so much, seeing as how I've practically abandoned y'all for awhile! I am going to try and remedy that by giving myself things to post about...

Monday: Damsel's Daybook
Tuesday: A Peek At...
Wednesday: Randomness Wednesday
Thursday: Out Fit Of The Day
Friday: Photo Friday/Le Happy
Sat. & Sun.: I'll post if I can :)

I'll try this out for about 2 or so weeks and see how it goes! What do y'all think? I'll add a link if y'all want to link up one of the days... Would y'all be interested?

A bit of catch up

We've been strangers around here lately. Our lives are pretty busy. I'll try and give you a run down.
I started online photography schooling and am working toward my diploma and learning a whole lot. I got a PS CS5! I am super excited about that.
We had a big Thanksgiving dinner Saturday and will have a smaller, simpler one on Thanksgiving day.
Wedding planning is going. But at a nice slow pace. Lys and I got our dresses ordered and are waiting for them to come in. We have the officiator, but not the venue. Everything else is going alright.
I got a car Monday. A silver Mercury Sable. It's really nice. I haven't a license yet, I'm gonna get one in January. I have driven it twice and will take T. Lynn to her dentist appointment tomorrow.
I was sick with some sort of stomach bug for almost two weeks and am finally starting to feel alright again. I didn't eat much though for two weeks and now I feel like I can't get full. It's pretty annoying.
Let me see, what else, what else? (Ugh, I'm annoyed with my glasses - moving on.)
I am sadly behind on Christmas shopping/sewing. I need to desperately clean my room and I painted my nail deep purple ;) My iPod is in sad shape (the stripped ear phone plug in is getting worse) and I am dying to get started with the rest of my blog designing and some sewing. I miss Lyssa to bits!
I think that is everything. If I think of anything else, I'll try and let y'all know!


 Hugs and Kisses,
 xoxoxoxoxoxox,

...

I miss Riah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cried when we said bye on Monday. Never missed her like this before.
The end.

Polkadots and Moonbeams :)

Dontcha like that name?! It is inspired by a song by Frank Sinatra. It is awesome!
The quote is also based off the lyrics of the song, but changed to fit us by our lovely Miss Mariah :) Ain't she gifted??? I thought so. I was trying to make the quote and called upon her for the use of her amazing brain. Yep - I surely did and it paid off :)
Well, I gotta go add wedding pictures to a disk to take to the photographer -
See ya!
Oh and be sure to leave us a comment to let us know what you think!

Wedding!

I shot a wedding today - it was super fun...tons of hard work, but still fun!!
Learned a lot! Here is a picture I took at the reception - enjoy! :)
*Note - all I added to this image was my signature and the faded white edging - thanks :)

Hi!

You must think I've neglected you... I promise I'm not trying to :)
A lot has been going on lately - I haven't even been able to talk to Ri about it much which is very sad!
I am going to be quitting my bookstore job next week and working with the photographer almost full time - when I'm not working with her I'll be working at the kids hair salon my mom works at as a part time receptionist - that will only last until my photography picks up.

There is a chance I will be in Australia in January or July of 2012 - I was at a Hillsong United concert on Tuesday (AMAZING!!!) and when I was waiting in line to get a t-shirt I saw that they had a sign up sheet for a free semester at their college and I signed up for it! Now I hope that I get it!!
I am going to another Hillsong United concert on the 19th (next Friday) and can't wait - now I just hafta figure out how to tell someone I don't want them to go and I want my mom to go instead.... :/

I'm making some changes to my room - taking some stuff off my walls and adding other stuff - and I actually cleaned it! YAY! Summer really took a toll on my cleaning time... now my room is clean and mostly organized. So happy about that.

I miss Riah - we haven't really talked in what feels like a month :(  -  We don't really know what each other is doing!

I started my Bachelors course in my online class a couple of weeks ago - it's boring - I despise it - but it's something for now!

I should go get out of my pjs and get a move on my day - yes I know its 1:30.... but it's my day off (until 6:30 tonight) and I am enjoying it! :)

Captain America! and more...

I saw Captain American (in 3D I might add - amazing!) on Sunday afternoon - it was AWESOME! It did help that the guy playing as the Captain was super cute!! :) You should have seen me and my friend Kellie and her sister Anna, after he got his muscles -  hahaha - Dakota (the young fella that was with us) was laughing at us. :)
Kellie, Anna, Dakota and myself are all staff at the summer camp I've been doing. Anna was actually a counselor in training... but still staff - lol - Dakota is 15 and has kinda a hard home life - we won't go into it. Here is a picture I took with my awesome new iPhone 4:

Yes - He has a Mohawk  - but it's actually pretty cool - Kellie and I put those 3D glasses bags on his hair because it was hilarious. His hair is great entertainment. hahhaa.

But yes, Captain American was an excellent movie - I will see it again and then will own it when it comes to DVD. That's all I will say about the movie - Don't wanna ruin it for you too much :)

So I just started my last week of camp - I'm so excited that it's almost over - I've been sun baked for too long - haha

- I might have another job along with the photography job - we are going to give it a try before saying yes or no to it - but I'm almost hoping it works out so I can leave the bookstore and not deal with them again! :)

And now I'm off to sleep - got another long day of camp and then work ahead of me!

G'night!

Surface of the sun... and HI!

Hey Y'all!
I feel like I am completely out of the loop in blogger world! I miss you! Life has been quite interesting the last few weeks. I'm really excited about most of it. :)
To start... as you know I was doing a Photography internship for a couple of weeks at a Sunflower field - it was AMAZING! I don't think I have had that much fun in a long time (except at Ri's house of course :D). I learned so much from the photographer; more than I thought I could in such a short amount of time. She taught me about the camera settings, lighting, framing...ect. I even got to shoot along side of her some (look at previous posts to see some of the pictures). I know I still have so much to learn, but I am on the fast track to improvement!
At the end of the internship Julie (the photographer) told me that she has loved working with me and that I have been a great help. She then proceeded to tell me that the internship was really like one big job interview and that if I wanted the job she would love to hire me! So, I'm sure you know what i said! YES! I have been praying for a job in photography come the end of Summer and here I have one! God is so good! We still have to talk about all the details, but it's basically locked in. :) YAY!
If I can get enough hours/pay with her then I can leave my current job! I hope that is how it will work because I am so DONE working where I am. (I have some snotty co-workers) Ehem... moving on. lol

Life has really kept me on the move this summer - on top of interning there has been camp all day/ working at the bookstore at night. The only time I'm home is to sleep and then several hours on Saturday and Sunday. Ask Ri - I've not even had time to talk to her much. I don't wanna think about it though because I miss her something awful and I might cry if I keep on... **Sniff**

So today it was SO HOT outside - one of the campers actually got sick (as in sick sick) in the barn - she got too hot, didn't drink enough water and just threw up right there on the floor. I couldn't handle it - i turned around and walked into a stall so I didn't hafta see it. (I don't handle throw up very well...). No worries though, Jill (the owner) took care of it! YAY! And moving right along back to weather.... the heat index was about 105 degrees I believe. When I walked outside it felt like a was slapped by a warm, and damp towel - gross! Humidity in the south is super high - but hey, at least we don't get bad snow storms in the winter! To every negative there is a positive! lol.

I'm going to see Hillsong United in concert on the 9th and 19th of August! I'm so excited! Ri was gonna go with me to the one on the 19th but our plan didn't work. **sniff sniff** It makes me sad - but I'm so excited about going! I've waited for this for YEARS!

Moving on to yet another topic....
Riah mentioned to y'all about the friend of my family with cancer.... I don't know much about what's going on. This woman and her daughter used to live in my neighborhood and we went to the same church for years. Our family kept her little girl during the day time while she worked from the time Hailey (little girl) was 10 mos old to 4yrs old. Hailey was just like a little sister! Stuff happened and we stopped keeping her... long story...
We haven't seen them in about 3 or 4 years, maybe less. My sister was online looking at some blogs or something and saw that Lauren (Hailey's mom) posted about the cancer. It's a very big shock. My mom emailed Lauren's mom to find out more - now we can hope and pray for a response!

Well, I'm off to bed - I have a VERY early morning -
YAY for the last day of camp for the next to last week all together! lol
Love and many yawns!

I am beaming!

If you could see me right now, you would be almost blinded by my smile. Not that I have super white teeth or anything - I am just super happy! I am doing my photography internship right now and am learning so much (such as my ISO in my shots has been WAAAAAAY too high... lol) - You know that you're doing what you're called to when you come home at the end of the day smiling and excited for whats next!
I was able to shoot with the photographer a little today (with my own camera)!!! I was so excited - I will post my favorite shot in a little bit - Gotta go clean first -
With love and smiles,

Ouch!!!

So today at lunch time during camp, I was going around the tables filling up cups of water... there was a chair sitting too far back and I didn't see it.... My foot hit it really hard and I heard a crack. My toe next to my pinkie toe hurt soooo bad. I started to laugh hysterically because it hurt so bad. Don't ask me why I laugh when I get hurt but I do!
My toe turns out to be broken, swollen, and black and blue! Yay me... lol
SO I am going to go wrap it and go to bed!
G'night!

A birthday tag.

Stella made a birthday tag for herself and I thought I'd do it simply because it looks fun!

1. If you could be born any day of the year, what day would it be?
Hum, it would be interesting to be born February 29th (leap year). Then you could pick whether to celebrate your birthday either on Feb. 28th or Mar. 1st when it wasn't leap year!

2. What do you want your wedding dress to look like?
Oo Oo! I know this one! I actually have a wedding dress picked out!!! Finally I can answer this question with more than a "I don't know nor do I really care". Wait, I'm not going to answer it. I want y'all to be surprised when you see the pictures! So never mind!

3. (confessions time) What is an odd thing about you that nobody knows?
Uh - well this isn't going to work... Lyssa knows everything. I guess I'll have to settle for something y'all don't know. I do not like fireworks unless they are on tv or REALLY far away from me. I think they look cool and all, but I hate the noise! Plus I've always been afraid I might get burned by the sparks or some such thing.

4. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Character or feature? Either I'd want to be taller (I'm like 5' 3" or 5' 4") or I'd like to be more patient...

5. Random time - tell us anything:
My "Something Blue" at the wedding will be blue toenail polish. Fun, no? We accidentally stumbled upon this when I was trying on wedding dresses and my toes were painted blue. It looked SO cool. I have a picture somewhere...

6. Mac or PC?
Uh, PC? I've never used Mac.

7. What is your favorite song right now?
Probably Cheek to Cheek sung by Fred Astaire. Or maybe I Do by Colbie Caillat or even Make you Feel My Love by ADELE... Hum... yeah Cheek to Cheek wins!

8. Do you get very tan during the summer? Doing what?
Its depends on the year, some years I go out more than others. Mostly gardening, mowing/weed eating and sitting out reading. I got really burnt one year when I hadn't been out much since it was the end of May. I sat out and read almost an entire book all day. I got really red, but after that I go an awesome tan! Rambling over.

9. How long do you consider too long for hair to be?
It depends. Some people look good with longer hair and some with shorter, plus weight/thickness has a lot to do with it. I have really thick hair and I can't have it long unless I keep layers in it.

10. Big earrings or small?
Again, it depends. I like dangles, but only of a certain width or length. I don't like those really big hoops. Plus big jewelry doesn't look good on my because I am small.

11. Do you like lowercase?
In it's acceptable place. I like using proper capitalization. I only use lowercase a lot when I'm IMing Lys.

12. Is there anyone famous that you (or any part of you) looks like?
Um, no? I have been told twice I look like Anne Hathaway, but it was after Ella Enchanted came out and I think it was just the hair or maybe our over all coloring is similar? I don't think I look like her at all, she is prettier!

13.What is the weirdest thing you have ever photographed?
Um, an up close of a chess board,  falling puzzle pieces, a shoe, a cellphone. I don't know what all. It depends on what you qualify as weird.

14. What is something you say more than five times a day?
"How am I supposed to know?" - generally to one of my littler sisters who think I should know everything, but sometimes to Kay or my parents.

15. Which do you think is better or worse: Facebook or Twitter?
Oh, a lameness compitition? Um... probably twitter. I seriously think it is ridiculous to "tweet" about every little detail, plus there is the question about how it makes everyone else feel. It becomes a popularity contest, it makes people feel like their life isn't as interesting enough, on and on. But Facebook is pretty silly too..

16. (time for a super typical question) What is your favorite food?
*just a note: I am quoting her questions exactly. Anything bolded are her exact words. I'm not being rude by adding the things in the parenthese.
Chicken n' Dumplings (my mom's only) and maybe stuffed Strawberries

17. Do you like Antique stores or Thrift stores?
Antique for sure! I bought the cutest charm bracelet at an Antique store once!

18. What is something you've always longed to do, but never did?
Most of the time I want to do something I just do it. Dance for sure. Any and all dancing.. well any acceptable dancing. Ballet, tap, swing, ball room.. most any kind.

19. Do you love or loath peace signs?
Can I go with neither? I really don't have much of an opinion on them. T. Lynn loves them though, so when I see a peace sign I think of her. So maybe leaning more towards the "love" side since they make me think of my "baby" sister. (She isn't really a baby - she's ten.)

20. What is a guilty pleasure of yours?
I don't have one. If I like it then I'm not going to bother being guilty about it. Let's just pretend it's Ben and Jerry's Half Baked and be done with it :)

Ok... finished ;) Now a list of things I should post pictures of soon:
1. My blue toe nails
2. My charm bracelet
3. The necklace and anklet I was given yesterday
4. My bedroom since I just rearanged it. This one is mostly for Lyssa's benefit, that way she'll know what the room will look like when she comes to stay in August!

-Riah Chelle