'shop my closet' party

just about two weeks ago, andrea of he calls me wifey asked me to take photos for her 'shop my closet' event. i met andrea about 4 months ago at our church women's retreat and consequentially started following her on instagram and following her fabulous blog. let me tell you, that woman is full of style, so when she proposed hosting a little party for her friends after cleaning out her closet, i was so game.

when she asked me to photograph the event, i was even more excited - & so flattered! the evening was such a success, and i walked away with 2 cardigans, 2 sweaters, a fancy top, 2 pairs of shoes, and earrings for only $40!

amongst lots of laughing and picking out fun clothes and accessories for us we munched on some delicious hors d'ouevres (best hors d'ouevres table i've ever enjoyed), and shopped the night away.

thank you so much to andrea for asking me to photograph her event and for hosting such a spectacular evening! i can't wait for the next one ;]

 

  

 

 

check out her take on the event over HERE & see a few more snapshots!

learning to say 'NO'

this morning was a huge stepping stone in learning to say NO to things.

NO to overextending myself.
NO to using busy-ness as an excuse.
NO to forsaking friendships and falling out of touch because i don't have time.
NO to booking every hour and minute of my week, my month, my semester.
NO to security...& YES to trusting God's provision.

i spent most of last night going through my schedule for the next semester, and quickly went into panic mode. assuming that i would become a manager at work, i created a hypothetical schedule accordingly...and i freaked out.

hypothetically, i'd have to be up and at work by 5:30 two mornings of the week. i'd be taking 17 units - 17 very difficult upper-division units. i'd have absolutely no free time between the hours of 9AM and 5PM to run errands, go grocery shopping, do my laundry, run to the post office or the bank, or clean my apartment. sleep would be limited, quality time with travis and friends drastically reduced, and quiet time to rest almost non-existent.

i lived that life a year ago, and i learned my lesson. REST is so important. time to be still and be refreshed. time to engage in conversation with good friends. time to build into my relationship. time to talk on the phone with my family or skype with my sister. time to support my best friend as she heads into marriage. those things are important to me. much more important than a bigger paycheck.

so, as i walked into my interview this morning, covered in prayer and confident in God's plan, i simply said 'no.'

no, i can't take the manager position.
no, i can't work 30+ hours a week and go to school full-time.
no, i will not let work consume my life and take energy away from my other commitments.
no, i will not do my work halfheartedly for lack of energy and strength.

and you know what? i'm totally fine with it. i have no idea what tomorrow will look like, next week, much less this semester yet, but i'm not panicking.

God honors our willingness to put Him first, whether that's through our service to Him, commitments we've made, or our relationships. i'm simply trusting that He'll hold up His end and provide in every circumstance.

'trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. in ALL yours ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.'

He holds my future in His hands

in the first two weeks of this year, my world has already been turned upside down. maybe that's a little dramatic. things have changed, and are changing, and will continue to change, and sometimes it's overwhelming. most of the time though, i've been pretty ok with it.

this year, i have to take things one day, one event at a time. if i start going through the first two months of this year, i already go into panic mode, and so today, i'm simply reflecting on this day and preparing for tomorrow. because everything past that? there's nothing i can do about it yet.

but for the sake of this post, i'm going to get ahead of myself...

tomorrow, i have a gigantic interview with the District Manager of Jamba Juice. i'm in line for a promotion, either as a shift lead, or a shift manager. one of my best friends just quit her position as manager (and today she got hired at starbucks! isn't God good?!), and essentially, i'm taking her place.

even that position is still up in the air though. i don't know exactly which position i'll get, and because of that, i really have no idea what my schedule will look like yet. i'll either be a manager, which means more hours and more pay, and a little more pressure, or just a lead, which means more pay and more hours, without the pressure. in my heart of hearts, i'd almost prefer the lead, just because it would leave a little more flexibility in my schedule. but this position is totally and completely in God's hands.

i'll be totally honest and tell you that i really don't want to stay at Jamba forever. i'd much rather be working in a coffee shop, or maybe somewhere on campus again, but for right now, this is the door God has opened, and i'm going to walk through it until it's time to close it and walk through a new one.

a week from today, school starts. i haven't even had a chance to think about that yet, and all the e-mails i've been getting from professors are totally catching me off guard! school? what's that?

then again, this will be the first semester that i'm taking a teaching class, and i'm looking forward to that! the past 5 semesters have been strictly focused on history, but i'm not planning on becoming a historian - i want to become an educator, so i'm excited to finally gain some exposure to that field.

in just about three weeks, my best friend is getting married, which is HUGE and so exciting. her brother just got married on saturday (a vegas post is coming, i promise!), and now it's her turn to walk down the aisle and say her 'i do's.' so that's just another little thing coming up; it's not big deal, really.

as soon as i fly back from the wedding, valentine's day is just around the corner, and then T's birthday, and then our one year...which will just be one romantic and a little chaotic whirlwind, but i'm looking forward to it!

on top of starting mission trip leadership training, raising support, and organizing the team, as well as the many changes that are happening at church, and all the uncertainty that entails as well, this year so far has been one big lesson on trusting God - releasing control to Him and just walking behind Him as he leads.

in light of all those changes, i've been thinking a lot of my priorities - what's important to me, what i want to give the most time to, and where i want to best invest my life. this is the list that keeps coming to mind:

#1 God - church, college group leadership, service, missions, rest, quiet time.

#2 Travis - spending quality time with him, encouraging him, and working and growing alongside him.

#3 Friends and family - honestly, these don't fall very far behind T at all - in fact, i'd almost say it's a very close tie. the time i had to reconnect with friends this past semester was so precious to me, and i don't intend on giving that up on behalf of 'busy-ness' again. no thank you.

#4 School

#5 Work

and somewhere in there, photography and growing in that art, is also incredibly important to me. the good thing about photography as that it just fits into every area of my life - i don't need to fit my life around it.

 i keep hearing jeremiah 29:11 in my mind...

' for i know the plans i have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future '

God's plans are long-term, and even in the learning, growing, stretching, and challenge, His plans prevail. i don't think this year will be easy by any means, but it will be so so so rewarding. 

wedding nightmares

i have had three wedding nightmares in the last month, and i'm not even getting married! it's getting to the point of ridiculous, and they're so bizarre i thought i'd jot them down. maybe you'll get a laugh out of it ;]

#1: in real life, my best friend asked me to schedule nail appts for the bridal party, and that night i dreamt that i had forgotten to, and the day was chaos! not the worst dream ever, but that's how it all started.

#2: a few days before my best friend's brother got married, which was just this past saturday, i had the weirdest dream ever. it was a mesh between my best friend (les)'s wedding and her brothers. i was the maid of honor, but her sister in law was the bride. and somehow, i was wearing the wrong dress (blue instead of fuschia - ew), managed to find the right dress in my purse right before the ceremony started, changed quickly, and walked onto the stage (instead of down the aisle...i'm telling you, it's weird), and realized that i had forgotten to put my shoes on! thankfully, the dresses magically lengthened on stage to cover my bare toes, but then i looked up to realize that the bridal party wasn't holding bouquets, we were holding styrofoam cups! styrofoam cups - where did that come from?

#3: last night's dream was by far the most realistic and the most upsetting, because this time, it was about my wedding (which is not happening yet, p.s.). somehow, a dance recital where we all forgot the steps, my best high school friends, and a foreign exchange student were all thrown into the pot, as well as my mom, les' college friend, and a mish mash of over random friends. first, my friend marissa had moved into a gigantic house, and from there, a group of us were strolling down the street, and suddenly we were in this old mom & pop shop, getting ready for our weddings. here's the kicker, three of us were getting married on the same day. i remember that my ceremony was at 1:40, and les' friend was getting married shortly before.

this is where the nightmare begins.

i went to the closet, more like the storage closet in the old store, and discovered my dress was black - BLACK! i didn't remember trying it on, didn't remember choosing it, but there it was, and it was mine. i started putting it on, only to realize that it was one of those dresses that came with a million different pieces and options...

i could wear a black sparkly dress that didn't quite touch the floor, cover it and wear a gray jersey dress, or a white velvet dress. how ugly is all of that?! anyway, i finally decided on the white (because who gets married in gray or black?!) and started doing my hair. which i realized i hadn't dyed or cut, and looked just like my everyday plain old hair. the clock was ticking, it was 12:45. i had no idea where my bridal party was, who the photographer was, much less if we had even hired one, and was so distracted with the two other weddings happening that day, that i couldn't even remember planning any of mine.

then i woke up.

and now i'm afraid to ever get married.

then again, i vividly remember constantly dream-reminding myself that the wedding day is just a day. what mattered most was who i was marrying, and why i was marrying him. and in regards to him? there wasn't a doubt in my mind that he was the one.

maybe that was the point of all the madness, to remember what's truly important.

then again, this whole morning is off-kilter now. and i'm deathly afraid of wearing a black dress down the aisle, holding a styrofoam cup.

yesterday...

once upon a time, i woke up and left my house to find a parking ticket on my windshield. merry christmas.

then i was driving to T's house and an old lady cut me off and i was literally within an inch of my life, or the hospital.

after that wonderful start to my morning, T taught me how to change my oil, which was definitely a fun success!

i met up with miss emily for a delicious lunch date at crema, where we talked about life, the future, patience, trusting God, and then took photos of each other - of course.

that evening, t and i had invited our friends over for dinner, & i was so excited to try out a new recipe for them. last week, i had made a lemon-cream sauce with chicken that sent T over the moon, and believe me, it was absolutely delicious. but for some reason, last night ended on the same note my day had started on:

the sauce was overly lemoned and too runny
the chicken i baked was as dry as chalk.
and to top it all off...
i burnt the pasta.

who does that?! never in my life have i burnt pasta before, but i blame it on my pot...it was second hand, and the bottom was charred by the end of the whole smoke-alarm/open all the windows/fan the door ordeal.

so, the pot went into the trash, we pigged out on garlic bread, and headed over to yogurtland for dessert. most importantly, the company was wonderful and our evening was filled with uplifting conversation (well, for the girls at least. the boys discovered an old computer game and were cheering and yelling in front of the screen until 11pm...boys ;]).

and this morning, it's time to pack for a quick trip to vegas to watch my best friend's brother get married!

really, nothing about this was incredibly profound or deep, i just thought you might enjoy knowing that bad days happen to me too, from parking tickets to burnt linguine. at the end of it all though, life is about loving people and loving God (and really good food, sometimes).

much love dear readers!

bridal shower-ing

as i was recapping our week in norcal, i skipped wednesday because well, wednesday was a day of all days. from dress fittings in the morning, to baking cake pops and setting up for the bridal shower, and then hosting all evening, the day was jam-packed from the moment i woke up.

half of me was so excited to plan, organize, and host the shower. my selfish half, however, was a little bummed that this big day fell right in the middle of our very relaxing trip. it was the one day that i was running around all day and would have absolutely no time to spend with T. then again, wednesday made me realize that i am dating the most patient, supportive, and easy-going man on the planet. he made the day a breeze for me, and i could not love him more for that.

i'll let the pictures do most of the talking, but despite a lot of the stress and drama surrounding the shower, it was an honor for me to celebrate my best friend. she will make one beautiful, beautiful bride, and one fantastic wife. today marks the 'one month' date, and i'm starting to get the wedding jitters! everything is becoming extremely real. i'm having wedding nightmares, more like M.O.H. nightmares and writing lists of things i still have to do (hello, speech!). i'm starting to picture her in her dress, walking down the aisle, saying 'i do' and leaving a married woman. i remember dreaming about this day with her years and years ago, when we'd have play dates and watch The Parent Trap together, or when we thought we were total hot stuff as we caked our faces in make-up and sang along to shania twain in our oh so epic music videos. and now here we are, in our twenties, on the verge of the biggest moments in our lives. and, here we are, still best friends after having gone through thick and thin. i'm so grateful that i'll be there, standing next to her, sharing every moment of that special day. and now i'm starting to get weepy...

here are the pictures from the bridal shower! not all of them were taken by me, but i did all of the editing and compiling...what a fun morning it was bringing these photos to life...

the shower was wonderful, but my favorite part of the night? going over to my best friend's house, with some of our best girlfriends and our guys, eating burgers, and laughing the night away...so much has changed, and yet God is taking us onto wonderful new paths...

love tip

i once heard someone say that if you're ever having a disagreement or argument with your spouse/significant other, it is important to maintain physical contact, whether it's reaching over and grabbing their hand or sitting close to them, especially when you just don't feel like it.

it helps remind you that they are a person, as a person you love, and not just some being that you're upset with. it's a reminder that love conquers all, that it's more important than you being right or wrong.

i think that whoever said that was a pretty wise person.