photography class

my parents were asking about what i am learning in my photography class so here some examples of my new fun hobby.

week 1 assignment: practice using different shutter speeds. my subject: my living room window...i know, super exciting :)
week 2 assignment: depth of field. my subject: a lamp post at the lake.
week 3 assignment: photograph different colors, textures, perspectives, etc. my subject: well, i haven't done my homework yet, but this little guy is one of my favorite subjects of late.

week 4 assignment: on location photo shoot using all different settings!! my subject: we met at the performing arts center in richardson and photographed the building, a cool fountain, a hotel, and then hiked to the top of an overpass and photographed traffic.

this is my favorite because it is pitch black outside and the lighting and settings make it look light outside.

New toms

I am so pumped. I have been patiently awaiting the debut of the new Toms ballet flats and after receiving the email updates and preview pics and drooling over these shoes for months, they finally went on sale last Tuesday night. I promptly placed my order shortly after midnight and today they arrived and are as perfect as I had hoped. I have been on the Toms bandwagon for a couple of years now and normally would not pay this much (they are priced alot higher than I expected) for a pair of shoes, but 3 pairs of the regular Toms and 2 pairs of the wedges later and I have not once been disappointed. I couldn't resist, and now, slipping these on my feet, it seems I will not be disappointed again (but will let you know after I put them through a full day at the hospital tomorrow :)). Isn't it amazing how good a new pair of shoes can make you feel sometimes?!

busy busy

i have been busy lately doing some super fun travel planning. i am not trying to rub it in but check out what i have coming up..

first and foremost, i get to go to florida and meet my new niece, piper lynn floyd, born 1/19/12, and love on her and her brother for 4 days in march. i CANNOT wait to get my hands on these two (aren't they adorable?!).
next, these two girls, two of my oldest friends from borger, are getting married this year. amy (on the left) is getting married in february but is having a reception in march in b-town. this means i get to go home to celebrate her marriage and get the added bonus of visiting my family too. kelli (on the right) is having a destination wedding in estes park, co. i have only been to estes park once in college when cortney and sarah worked there for a summer. it is one of the most beautiful places i have visited and cannot wait to go back this june. added bonus is that i get to go a few days early and visit joni and scotty in denver AND kelli's bachelorette party is going to include visiting wineries in fredericksburg. fun times. and i am so thrilled that these ladies are so happy and in love and have each found a wonderful man to share their lives with.
and finally, girls mystery trip is on the calendar and coming soon in june!!!! very excited to find out where we are going and also very excited that i am not doing the planning this year. can't wait girls!

whew, guess i better go pack...and plant a money tree in the back yard. who needs money though when you have awesome experiences to be had with the ones you love?

Source: sfgirlbybay.com via Raya on Pinterest

Party Time!

so, kelly and jack bought a new house and this morning kelly picked me up and we ran over to check it out as the current owner was having an estate sale. we were just going to scope out their new digs and i walked away with this awesome new patio set for my backyard. i am so excited to have outdoor seating. great excuse to have a party soon. oh, and kelly's new house is awesome too...and super close to mine!

friendship

this weekend, my dear friend meredith, shared a blog post with me, written by emily rapp, that she had read about the power of female friendships. when she was describing the article to me, i was thinking about how amazingly blessed i am to have an unbelievable network of women in my life who surround me with love, uplift me, really listen and hear me, value me, and allow me to do the same for them. after reading this post and having a truly emotional reaction, i thought that i would blog about her individual passages and what they meant to me and how i agree with many of her ideas about friendship in our culture and what that means...then i realized that i could never do this article justice with my words because the author's are too powerful to explain.

please read. please share. please grab a tissue first :)

here is a little excerpt to entice you:
"Support, salvation, transformation, life: this is what women give to one another when they are true friends, soul friends, what the Irish call anam cara. It’s what the Wrinklies did for one another, what the French resistance fighters in Auschwitz did for one another, what women do for one another in real relationships with real consequences in real time, every day, what my friends do for me. We help one another other live and sometimes, we watch – and help – one another die. It happens in movies, sure, but it also happens every day, in real life – now, tomorrow, yesterday. It is transformative and transcendent. It is real. It is love."

crazy....and maybe a little stalkerish too

so, here is the story for those of you who haven't heard me tell it a million times...
leigh ann and i took a little vaca getaway last february and headed to hot springs, arkansas for a weekend. we swam in the hot springs, got awkwardly bathed by women at an old bathe house, ate, drank, relaxed,and became fascinated with an oddly beautiful group of people. i am going to try to write this post without making it sound like we are stalkers, but seriously, these people were amazingly maicured hipsters and we just knew they had to be famous. hot springs is a small place and so we ran into them many times throughout the day starting with them sitting next to us at lunch. we couldn't figure it out...wedding party? band? urban outfitters models? we dubbed this group of about 9 pretty people the romantics. we never got the courage to just walk up to one of them and ask who they were but i think that was for the best. we spent many an hour making up the story of their lives. it was fun.
fast forward 10 months to a concert that leigh, boy kelly and i went to to see a few local bands at the kessler theater. this is what we found:



the band seryn from denton...aka the romantics (well, half of them anyway. the others must be groupies and significant others)



i didn't believe it when leigh put the connection together but after doing a little internet research, we discovered it was true. apparently they were playing a show in hot springs that night...if we had only asked, we could have started our obsession with this band's music many months ago. this being said, i am so happy we we have found them because their talent is nuts. hope you enjoy.
we also got to see david ramirez at that concert and he did not disappoint. you should check it out.

so. much. fun.

sunday was my birthday and i had the greatest weekend. i keep thinking about all of the awesome moments and i loved every minute of it. the weekend started with my spontaneous day off on friday. even though i just had a day off on monday for new years, it was so great to have some time to decompress, put christmas decor away, and spend some time with my dear friend becca and her girls, macie and taylor. since i now work in an environment where i am unable to have lunch dates often, i don't get to see these girls as much as i would like. becca and i went to the arboretum and ate and walked and talked. perfect weather, lovely company.

friday night, cort surprised me with tickets to see kathy griffin. we love kathy. she is hilarious and nuts and has a stupid sense of humor that we can appreciate. she also surprised me though by inviting some of my favorite folks to go with us. we showed up at big shucks and there were leigh, boy kelly, robin, and my sweet sister, anna. we all loaded up in cort's car and went and laughed our arses off (especially to those great jokes about rick perry and michelle and marcus bachman).

saturday morning anna treated her and i to an hour of pampering at foot joy (amaaaazing),

then we had a delicious lunch here at the farmers market with some of our favorite friends and kid friends,

and ended the day at goodfriend with many a good friend :)
on the actual day of my birth, i enjoyed the yummiest brunch at a great new place with fantastic friends (my favorite birthday gifts were the many good snuggles i got from these bonner boys),
received a sweet delivery of cupcakes from jenn and sweet ellie grace,
and ended the day at the $1 movie with robin and boy kelly to see the new footloose (and then went home to practice old and new moves...shhh, don't tell anyone).

SUCH A GREAT WEEKEND! i had a fantastic time and am blessed to have so many friends/family to celebrate with. thank you my loves for making my birthday so wonderful~

oh, and happy birthday to this cute guy who is my birthday twin. i am sure he was celebrating in a casino or a burger king :)

picture found here