weekend festivities...

This weekend was one of those low-key weekends... you know the kind... the ones where you don't make any plans until a few hours before hand... a good mix of hang-out-time and do-nothing-time... yep... one of those weekends. My favorite kind...

Friday night we headed to Chuy's for dinner with our community group...

As a Texas girl, you can imagine my delight in enjoying some true Tex-Mex food... and Chuy's has amazing chips and salsa... which I personally believe is the mark of a good Mexican restaurant.

Saturday morning was welcomed with hearty brunch from Lynn's Paradise Cafe...

This place is awesome. You really can't beat the fabulous decor...

...or the bloody mary's. Just sayin'.

After our delicious mid-morning brunch, my friend Kim and I thought it would be best to scope out Lynn's variety store at the front of the restaurant... which of course, really means we tried on crazy hats...

Yes. That is a turkey on Kim's head.

And yes... I am armed and dangerous. Do not mess with me when I am wearing this hat.

Then, at the last second on Saturday evening, Lance and I decided to go see True Grit... which was surprisingly good. Really good actually. I was quite impressed.

The girl that played Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) was by far the most bad-ass-14-year-old ever. Hands down.

After the movie, we headed to Ramsey's Cafe on the World for a really late dinner.

We ate at the bar... which is always fun... because you can "people-watch" without being too weird or awkward.

Then yesterday, I spent a lot of quality time in the airport...

Which can only mean I am in Atlanta for work... hanging out with these two awesome girls...

What about you? How was your weekend?

happy monday {sunrise & sunset}

This week's Happy Monday photo challenge over on Allie's blog is sunrises (or sunsets, for us not-so-early-risers)...

I love this photo. Lance and I spent the afternoon exploring our new surroundings in Louisville... enjoying the breeze off the Ohio River... and I just happened to capture this shot of Lance in front of the bridge. I love the soft glow of the sunset against his frame and the lines of the bridge. Definitely one of my favs...

Go check out the other photo entries over here...

thankful thursday

This Thursday I am thankful for:

1) This birthday girl. My fabulous friend and co-worker is celebrating her birthday tomorrow... and I don't have enough good things to say about this girl. She is kind hearted, a great listener, and she snorts when she laughs. She has become one of my dearest friends over the past year, and I wish her a truly happy birthday!

2) Tea parties. Tonight I am meeting up with a couple of girlfriends at a place called the Zen Tea House. I'm not a huge coffee drinker, so a place that stays open late, serves an array of hot tea flavors, and encourages a relaxing environment sounds pretty great. Add in some much-needed girl-time... sounds perfect, actually.

3) Molly McButter. Really, I am. I know you all are thinking this Thankful Thursday stuff is really going downhill... "she must be running out of things to be thankful for..." Not so. Molly McButter is the bomb-diggity (yes, I just said bomb-diggity). Have you tried it on your mac 'n' cheese?? It's amazing... promise.

Soooo... I thought about turning Thankful Thursday's into a linky party and having you guys join in to share everything you are thankful for each week. But I don't want to get all blog-linky-crazy or anything... and I wasn't sure if you guys would be up for it... What do you think? Too much? Or would you join in??

embrace the camera

My picture for this week's ETC is from our weekend in Gatlinburg, TN. I have downloaded the super-high-quality-iPhone-photo-with-flash strictly for your enjoyment. This photo was taken Saturday night at an awesome karaoke bar (awesome: translates to no-name-there-are-5-people-already-here-singing-their-heart-out). All 25 people of our group came waltzing in and took over the entire place in a heartbeat. It was fabulous.

Head over to Emily's blog to link up and embrace away!

cabin fever=home organization

I have a major case of cabin fever lately. This usually results in one of two things... 1) Baking. Specifically brownies or cookies... so I can eat the batter. Or 2) I start organizing things.

I'm leaning towards #2... seems more productive. (although I totally bought a box of Ghiradelli double chocolate brownie mix yesterday... not gonna lie)

I always seem to get the itch to organize things around this time of year. I think it's a combination of putting away the Christmas decor (yes, I am just now doing this at my house), all of those New Year's Resolutions, and new planners & calendars. All of these things seem to inspire me to start fresh...

Some projects I'm hoping to tackle soon...

The planner. Every single year, I always get a new planner. And every single year I stop using it around February. True story. I'm not really sure why. It's like all of a sudden I decide I can just remember what I need to do... but I know that's not right... because I always end up forgetting something. This year I really want to stick with the whole date-book-thing. I have been booking more photography gigs this year, so I feel a little more responsibility to be organized in my event planning.

The junk drawer. Or lack there of. We don't have a junk drawer in this house. We have a total of 5 drawers in our itty-bitty kitchen... and those drawers are precious real estate, my friends. As of now, our "junk drawer" is in the pantry. Basically a wire basket full of all the crap that belongs in a junk drawer, sitting awkwardly next to the cereal and soup. I don't like it. I'm trying to think of an alternative solution here... any ideas?

The laundry "room." (aka, the closet in our bathroom that houses the washer and dryer.) This closet holds all of our cleaning supplies, some seasonal clothing, laundry detergent, and anything else we can't find a home for. It is a fairly convenient set up, but not necessarily the best looking. Functional... just not pretty. My plan here is to create something to disguise the mess... curtains, maybe?

What about you? Do you have any organizational projects coming up?

happy monday...

In hopes of improving my photography skills and forcing myself to think outside the box occasionally... I am participating in Allie's Happy Monday Photo Challenge. This week's theme is shoes... what a perfect week to start, huh? I thought so:)

I will be linking this post to Allie Photography. Be sure to check out all the other shoe photo entries...

elswick family

I had the privilege to photograph the sweetest family when I was in Houston over Christmas.

Meet the Elswick family.

Little Makena ran the show... and quickly became my #1 assistant. She's a doll and is so lucky to have so much love coming from all directions. Not only were Makena's mom and dad there for the shoot, but so were the grandparents, her uncle and even her great uncle. We had such a great time... see for yourself...

thankful thursday

This Thursday I am thankful for:

1) Photography-girl-talks. Last night I spent 2 hours at my friend Shaelyne's house (you remember her... the one that took these photos) so we could talk shop. We shared photography secrets, swapped books, and laughed about small-apartment living. It has been so great to get to know Shaelyne over the past few months, and I look forward to several more photog-info-swap nights.

2) Kettle Corn Popcorn. Sometime I get on these really weird kicks where I will eat the same thing every night for weeks. It used to be cereal (Cocoa Krispies to be exact). Now it is Kettle Corn Popcorn. So good. Love that salty/sweet combo.

3) Weekend trip to Gatlinburg, TN. Tomorrow after work, Lance and I are heading out the door and making the drive to Gatlinburg, TN. We are celebrating a good friend's 30th birthday and sharing a house with 20 other people. No lie. I'm quite certain I will have stories when we return.

embrace the camera

Here's to week 2 of Embrace the Camera!

These pictures are from Christmas and I'm using my new nifty remote for my camera... in hopes that I would actually be in our huge family Christmas photo this year.

Me and my Mama... isn't she awesome?

I'm trying my best to figure out how the heck to use this thing... that is a look of concentration folks. My mom still looks awesome. Then my sister's fiance is probably wondering what kind of bazaar-picture-taking-family he is getting himself into.

Proof that the little camera remote was well worth it. Love this picture.

Head over to Emily's blog at The Anderson Crew to learn more about Embrace the Camera and to join in yourself.

in front of the lens...

Now that most of our January Cards have passed safely through the postal system, I've had several people ask about the photo I selected for the the front of the card...

Yep... that one. Isn't it super cute? It is by far my new favorite picture of Lance and I. And there are more...

Seriously cute, aren't we? I've been holding out on you guys... Back before Christmas, I did an awesome little "photographer swap" with the beautiful and talented Shaelyne Meadows. She took some amazing photos of me and Lance... then we switched places and I was able to capture her adorable family...

See, told you. Adorable, right?

Then we sent the boys home, so Shaelyne and I could snap a few portrait shots...

{so pretty}

{this is one of my favs}

And of course, you can thank Shaelyne for the photo on the right side of my blog... love that one. So, if any of you are visiting Louisville and need a photographer... be sure to check out Meadows Art & Photography!!

top 2 tuesday

This week's Top 2 Tuesday is your favorite looks for spring. And I, for one, am ready for spring.

I am loving the cuffed denim look... especially the cuffed boy-cut jeans. Ann Taylor Loft's spring collection is beyond perfect this year... I love the effortless look... yet all the florals and ruffles make it look like you care... at least a little.

I'm a big fan of layering this year. Cardigans, button-ups, tanks over long-sleeves... you get the picture. I feel like layering allows you to incorporate those favorite spring pieces a little early. I love the simplicity of J Crew's spring collection this year... a simple button-up, a simple cardigan, sunny yellow shorts... and you're good to go. Love it.

Head over to Taylor's blog at the Undomestic Momma to link up and share your favorite spring looks this season!

happy blogiversary!

Exactly one year ago today, I typed up my first little blog post. A very simple little post about living a blog-worthy lifestyle...

And only a year later... I am astonished at the life lessons I have learned from Blogland...

I have learned to take risks.

The importance of setting lofty goals... things I never thought I would do.

I have learned the importance of accountability.

The simple act of following through... completing those lofty goals mentioned above.

I have learned how to be a better writer.

By no means am I great... I know my blog posts contain spelling and grammatical errors... but I am writing. And that is good.

I have learned to be real.

This one is a work-in-progress. It is so tempting to only post the "good," the "clean," and the "perfect." But that is not real... and that is not me.

So, now... one year later... I re-commit to living a blog-worthy lifestyle... (kind of like renewing your vows... only with Blogland.)