sealed with a kiss...

A rainy day could not have been any more beautiful.

Congratulations to the bride & groom. {more soon}

goin' to the chapel...

Sorry I missed Thankful Thursday yesterday... I was in the car heading to Joplin, MO for this lovely couple's wedding. They will be tying the knot today!! Be looking for a sneak peek soon!

why i blog... {and why i don't}

Everyone has different reasons why they blog. Some blog to cover a specific topic (cooking, photography, organizing, crafting, etc). Some blog to share their lives and photos with loved ones that are far away. Some blog to record funny stories of their spouses and children. Some blog simply as an escape from the real world.

Sometimes I need a gentle reminder about why I blog. Why do I make time to sit in front of my computer and record my thoughts? Why do I take pictures of the food I eat and the things I do? Why do I make lists and lists of silly blog topics? Why do I blog?

Personally, for me... this blog is a personal journal of sorts. Hence the name Black Tag Diaries. This is a place to record my thoughts, ideas and memories... some deep... and some, not-so-much.

This blog is for me.

And I want to remember that. Don't get me wrong... I love reading up on the lives of my invisible (yet, very real) friends in the blogging world... and I absolutely adore your comments... knowing that my blog is actually being read... but sometimes I fear that I adore your little comments too much.

It becomes so easy to write what I think you want to hear... to alter my words so they sound more appealing to you... to post thoughts and inspiration from blogosphere, rather than my own...

Then all of a sudden, before I know it... I've lost my voice.

My desire is that this blog is a true reflection of me. Not what I think you want me to be. The good, the bad, the ugly. I have been thinking about this a lot lately... about my strides for perfection and how they always seem to come up short. I'm learning that my strides will always fall short of perfection... and that's okay. There is beauty in the mess... beauty in being real.

black tag photography... website updated!

Here's what I've been working on lately...

My photography website! Go ahead... check it out. I'm still finishing up a few details... but it's coming along.

www.blacktagphotography.com

some may call it card-hoarding...

...but I just call it a sentimental collection.

I have a slight problem. You see, I can't throw cards away. It doesn't matter what kind... birthday cards, thank you notes, birth announcements, wedding invitations... you name it, I keep it. I'm not quite sure where this compulsion comes from... but try as hard as I may... I just can't bring myself to discard something that someone else took the time to send me.

I've had the card-disorder for as long as I can remember... I've always had shoeboxes stored away, overflowing with notes and letters... since middle school probably. Well... lately, I've been trying to think of a way to make my card-saving-obsession feel more like a card-saving-collection. So, I hereby give you the ring-o-cards...

I decided that, for me, the simplest way for me to save these bad boys was to punch a couple of holes in the cards and put a ring through them. This corrals them all together, but still allows me to flip through the sentimental handwritten notes.

I recently upgraded to a larger size of rings, but I still have a feeling I will have 2 bundles of cards per year. Even after upgrading to the 7gypsies medium chrome cable rings, my ring-o-cards is already busting at the seams...


Being slightly OCD, I like to keep them in chronological order... which gives me a pretty mix of thank you cards...
...wedding invitations...
...and even my recent stash of birthday cards...

My bundle of cards looked pretty fabulous as it was. Just the simple fact that my cards were all together and not in a billion piles and drawers around the house made me very happy. Just look at that pretty stack of organized happiness...

But I still wanted some way to add the year to this bundle of goodness. I didn't really want to make a huge cover that hid the cards themselves... because, to me, that is the true beauty of this project. So... I decided to just add a little decoupaged chipboard bird, with "2011" handwritten on the bottom. (maybe a how-to post on mr. birdie later?)

But there you have it... A simple way to turn card-hoarding into card-collecting...

Linking this to Running With Glitter.

cremeens family {louisville family photographer}

Meet the Cremeens family.

This family is extra-special to me... Kari is a dear friend of mine from Troy University. We played college volleyball together and she led a Bible study that I participated in my freshman and sophomore year. Kari played such an instrumental role in my walk with the Lord.

Well... now we're all grown up and Kari lives in Indiana with her husband Abraham and her beautiful little boy Liam. Isn't he precious? (Liam, that is. I mean, Abraham is pretty awesome too... but just to be clear, Liam is the precious one:)

Well, they drove through Louisville recently and made a quick pit stop for a little photo session. It was well worth it. What a beautiful family... which one is your favorite?

{be sure to show some love... for every 10 comments the parents will receive a complimentary print}

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grateful.

It's been a rainy, gloomy day here in Louisville. And the clouds have completely ruined my plan to lay out by the pool all day. But...

I will be grateful for this day.

I am grateful that the Farmer's Market opened back up for the summer. I am grateful for the super yummy "straight-from-the-farm" salad I ate for dinner. I am grateful for the cool crisp walk I enjoyed before the rain came. I am grateful for a quiet night of HGTV. I am grateful that Blogger finally recovered my post from the other day. I am grateful for some much-needed crafty time. I am grateful for one last weekend at home before the wedding season officially begins...

I will be grateful for this day.

thankful thursday {link up}

This Thursday I am thankful for:

1) A random afternoon off. Because my office is so awesome, they give everyone a half-day off for their birthday, but you have to take it a week within your actual birthday... so I took mine yesterday. And it was fabulous. I had a doctors appointment over lunch, then I ran some errands, enjoyed a slow lunch to myself, and then laid by the pool for the rest of the afternoon... now that, my friends, is how you spend an afternoon off.

2) Forever 21. I know, I know... I'm 30... yeah, yeah... whatever. But they just opened a MASSIVE Forever 21 store at the mall by my house... I mean MASSIVE. It used to be a Dillard's people. An entire department store turned into a Forever 21! I really cannot even explain how huge this store is... I almost got lost... twice. I do realize that the majority of their clothes are made for thirteen year olds the size of my pinky finger, but you just can't beat paying $4.80 for a necklace. Love it.

3) Mail. As in real mail... as in packages. And this week has been amazing in the way of mail happiness. Nothing beats opening that mailbox (or in my case, that tiny box door) and finding it stuffed to the max with cards and little slips of paper informing you to pick up your packages at the counter. That is a wonderful feeling.

Link up and tell us what you are thankful for... go ahead... I dare you...

first class is like heaven

Okay... so probably not. I'm sure heaven smells better and has even better service. And you probably don't have to use those tiny-closet-like bathrooms. But let me just say... that compared to economy seating... flying first class is like heaven.

When Lance and I flew back to Louisville on Sunday, we got bumped up. Well, actually he got bumped up, but being the fabulous husband that he is, he couldn't bear to to leave me back there all alone in the zoo of economy travelers and invited me to sit with him:) It.was.amazing.

I think this was the first time that Lance or I have flown first class. The seats triple in size... the flight attendants call you by name... you get to have as many snacks as you want... and, oh yes, the drinks...

Bloody Mary on my 10:00am flight? Don't mind if I do.

It was wonderful. It almost made me wish my 52 minute flight was longer.

PS... if you are ever considering flying anywhere on Derby weekend, consider flying the opposite direction in-and-out of Louisville. There wasn't a soul on our flight... which explains our first class upgrade... but it was so fun landing in Louisville and seeing all of the women carrying their Derby hats around the airport... some just draped over suitcases... some in plastic bags... and some in giant couture hat boxes. I can't wait to go next year.

dirty thirty

So this is what 30 feels like...

Not so bad. Of course it always helps when your friends shower you with gifts and tell you how fabulous you are. I spent all of last week in Atlanta working... so initially I thought my birthday was going to be super lame since I would be at the office all day... not so. It was amazing. {Note to self... always go to the office on your birthday... people send you presents and make you feel really good about yourself.}

This was my first clue that it was going to be a good day. My boss picked me up a large Dr. Pepper, another co-worker ordered up my favorite bagel, and another co-worker brought in a Starbucks Caramel Frappachino. In order to avoid the shakes from a major caffeine overdose, I put the frap in the freezer for later. And it's a good thing... because the treats (read: major sugar high) kept coming.

My first delivery for the day were these beautiful tulips from my sweet-as-pie husband (who was flying in later that night from Louisville). Aren't they beautiful?

Then my amazing co-worker Stacie had the most incredible cupcakes delivered all the way from Crumbs in New York!! With it being only 10:00am, we decided to let the cupcakes wait until after lunch.

But I didn't have to wait too long satisfy my sweet tooth... because my mom and dad had chocolate-covered OREOS delivered to the office! Oh.my.goodness. These things were incredible. The smell of rich chocolate filled the entire office as soon as I opened the tin.

My two favorite girls took me out to Mambo Italiano for lunch where we ordered yummy soups and salads so we would be sure to have enough room for all of those cupcakes. My wonderful friend Courtney gave me the Water for Elephants book I put on my birthday list and a Starbucks gift card (you can never go wrong there).

Oh yes... the cupcakes. So here is what my assortment looked like. We had everything from red velvet, to peanut butter, to chocolate covered strawberry, to coconut cream pie... 12 mini cupcakes of pure awesomeness.

We sampled every.single.one. And the hard work was well worth the effort, no doubt.

And just in case I hadn't consumed enough sugar for the day, at about 4:00pm my entire office brought me into our break room and sang me happy birthday... with musical candles. (Yes, they make those.) It was so kind. It's times like these that make me so grateful for my work-family.

Here I am in my new office spot with all of my birthday goodies. The beautiful orchid flower and birthday balloons are from my office. Oh... and can you see those colorful plates and napkins there in the front? They have little hot air balloons on them... my mom mailed them over to me with a sweet note attached.

And this was only at my office! It just got better from here... Lance flew in that night to be with me on my 30th and we had a delicious home-cooked meal with his family. We stayed in Habersham for the weekend to attend a wedding (more on this later) and had a fabulous time.

Then when we got home I had this stash of happy mail waiting on me! And there were some serious treasures in this pile... let me tell ya.

30's not so bad folks. I think I'm going to like it here.