Tired eyes. The weekends over?

This weekend was exhausting, that's about all I can say. We're used to being busy, but this was over the top. This weekend was also a little emotional. This photo explains us perfectly right now...tired eyes:

Yes, we are EXHAUSTED today, (and still have the whole week ahead of us) but some of the images we captured this week make me so, so proud. I'm proud of us for working all weekend, I'm proud of us for producing tons of awesome images like these....

There isn't much else to show you or say about my weekend because...well, it was full of photography, and that's okay! ;) sure, I was absolutely exhausted by Sunday evening, and we didn't grab dinner until nearly 9pm, but as Caleb reminded me "sometimes you've gotta work hard to play hard", and I'm happy that this Labor day weekend? I get to enjoy WORK-FREE! I've worked every holiday weekend this year so I'm excited to take 3 full, long days off from everything. I'm pumped!

I hope your weekend was awesome...and I'll leave you with my new favorite Monday quote from one of my favorite dudes, Jon Acuff.... Monday only knocks you over if you don't knock it over first!

Random weeks are good for my soul.

The randomness of this week was crazy. We had an eventful one. Monday & Tuesday were full of photography, Wednesday was a family night, and last night? I had some me-time. I blasted super girly music through our entire apartment on my new speaker and loved every darn second. The minute Caleb got home, he flipped the switch on that...but then I forgave him when he took this goofy photo with me.

Speaking of photos... here's a little sneak peek from the engagement session I shot on Monday night. Kelsey wanted "LOTS of sunset", and I believe I delivered.

I even got to grab dinner with an old friend and her ADORABLE little babe this week!

We had my family over for dinner Wednesday and my man cooked the whole dinner, and we got our house spotless for our company! Which really came in handy since we have fantasy football tonight as well, at our home! We have a lot of family coming and we're excited to spend some time with them. This is pretty much our last "get together" in our little apartment that we've called home for over 2.5 years. It's starting to hit me that we're actually moving!!!! We've already started packing, and its getting exciting! We're so ready for this new adventure together.

This weekend we have TWO weddings, Saturday and Sunday. I know we're going to be crazy tired, but we're excited!!! Hope you all have a fun weekend!!

Things that are underrated...

Monday evening I got home around 930, and Tuesday around 830. So to say just being home last night was amazing is a complete understatement. It got me thinking about how many things in life are "underrated", like.....

...having your grandparents over for dinner, just because...

...a good photo booth picture...

...having a clean apartment...

...a sweet text from an old friend...

...when your man cooks dinner for your family...

...the sound of a harmonica, soo beautiful!!

...an old fashioned root beer float...

...a good book, the power a book has over me is crazy. I mean, some nights I can't even sleep!

...that gorgeous glow around sunset...

...a good photobooth session with your SIL...

...the smell of Fall... come on, you know its a thing ;)

...a good hair day (they rarely happen)....

...mini m&m's, does anyone else love those as much as I do!?

...clean sheets... nothing like curling up in bed after a long day to the smell of fresh linen!!

...blogging. I seriously love it. I may not be the best, or the most creative, but I can always count on this little corner of the internet to make me smile. Thanks to everyone who continues to read my rambles!! ;)

When the bride invites her dogs...things get awesome.

If you read my post yesterday, you'd know our weekend started out AWESOME. We had a wedding on Saturday but got to sleep in some, which was awesome. We got a ton of laundry done, and a whole lot of cartoon watching in. Let me tell you, kids these days don't know how awesome cartoons were in the 90's...they are really missing out!

Once we watched all the cartoons our eyes could handle, we were off to the wedding! This bride was hilarious and SO laid back. The boys wore seersucker pants while the girls had striped summer dresses. It was freakin magical! Oh and did I mention she had the two cutest little dogs EVER as their 'ring bearers'!!!?!?

We had a great day and even walked away with some new polaroids (aka one of my fav parts about this gig)...

We were driving home and noticed fireworks in the sky... we realized they looked VERY close to home. Come to find out Jungle Jims (aka the greatest international supermarket ever) was putting on a free firework show to celebrate their 40th anniversary! So we pulled over to enjoy it, and it was awesome.

Sunday we had a full day ahead of us. Had a great morning at church, then spent a few hours with friends drafting in our first fantasy football league of the season! It rocked and I've gotta say, I'm excited about my team!

We then spent the rest of our evening swimming with the youth group and had a blast with some synchronized swimming. Ha! I'm totally serious ;)

Hope everyone had a great weekend, too!

Friday was exciting!!

I posted this photo on Instagram late Friday night as a celebration for a few things....

1) Caleb had just finished his FIRST day as a substitute teacher and loved every dang second. He told me it really just confirmed that this is what he wanted to be doing - teaching kids!! I'm pumped for him. He truly has a gift with kids and I know he's going to do amazing things!!! Can't wait to see where his career is heading in just a couple years!

2) We looked at a cute town home in our area after work and absolutely loved it! We asked God ahead of time to make it very clear to us when we walked in if this was the place for us or not - and wow, he really did. We just had a great feeling from the get-go! Caleb and I have been in our apartment since early 2013 and for whatever reason, we just feel compelled to move. Don't get me wrong, our apartment is awesome. It was brand new when we moved into it, and its treated us very well! It's not so much a problem with our physical apartment as it is our management office & increase in rent nearly every 6 months. We've been praying hard about it and this decision just feels right. We'll know more by the end of the day today, but we're SO excited!

The rest of our weekend was good, & I can chat about that another time. Today I just wanted to focus on how exciting the beginning of our weekend was. I can't believe we're moving!

Sweet little Friday letters.

This was one of the fastest weeks I've had in a while! Trust me though, I'm not complaining. I love the feeling of looking up and seeing the clock past lunch. Caleb and I have kept up with eating healthy (other than Wednesday when I didn't get home until 8:30 and he asked me to pickup Chickfila...and when the husband asks for Chickfila, he gets it.... mainly because I always want it).

I used to "link up" all the time with other blogs, and now I am so out of it. I've gotta get back on my blog game, and I'm not afraid to admit it. So, I figured I'd come back with a letters series, today.

Dear super-hot-substitute teacher-husband.... its your first day on the job as a high school substitute teacher. I'm SO excited for you. You've inspired me this week with how calm and at peace you are with the whole situation. You truly feel called to do this and I know God has equipped you for this new, exciting journey (back story, this is his dream...and he's put it off for so long, he wants to be a full time teacher, but we're putting one foot in front of the other to start with)!!

what's a Friday without a little pop-art.

Dear grilled chicken: you've been amazing this week, but I've got to mix it up. Stalking my own boards to find some new recipes this weekend!

Dear Pinterest... thanks for getting me through 9-5.

Dear Cincinnati Reds baseball... I'm kind of over you. Football is back, and it has my heart.

Dear fantasy football... I'm so pumped for you. We have 2 leagues again this year. One with church, and one with family. We're equally pumped for both and I have to start making potential selections. The picture below has nothing to do with football, but I COULD jump for joy at the thought of winning a fantasy league ;)

Dear Dubsmash... thank you for entertaining me for a ridiculous amount of time, especially this week.

Dear tomorrow's wedding: thank you for keeping us at only ONE location all day. Those days are honestly our favorites. Little stress, no chance we'll leave anything behind...no drive time. Bonus points that its only about 15 minutes from our apartment. We've shot at this location before, remember Kelly + Mauricio from last year? Ugh. Gorgeous.

Dear Dunkin Donuts coupons sitting on my counter... someone needs to throw you away before you get used.

Dear soon to be newlyweds... in a matter of 2 weeks time I will have met with 7 new couples. It's crazy awesome how unique each of your days are going to be and I'm pumped we get to be a part of it!!!! :)

Dear weekend... although you'll be busy, I'm looking forward to enjoying it all with my man. Whether its on the couch with a movie tonight, at the wedding tomorrow, or at church on Sunday...I'm just excited to have a couple days away from work!

I officially feel old.

My brother, Brandon, is officially a senior in high school. Yesterday, he had his LAST first day. I can't even handle it, and typing that out feels crazy. I feel like a typical, emotional older sister, but I'm actually on the verge of tears going through all these old photos of us! We've been through a lot of crap together, but what's cool is that we've had each other through it all. Despite our age difference (over 6 years) he's always felt like one of my very best friends.

I remember when Caleb and I got engaged, I was secretly wondering if he'd ask my brother to be in the wedding, as a groomsmen. I assumed no, because of their age gap & how many potential groomsmen he had... but that didn't stop them from becoming like real, true brothers throughout that next year. Caleb didn't hesitate to ask Brandon to be a part of everything, even the bachelor party. I'm so thankful that the two of them are so close, you'd almost assume they were brothers by birth. Nothing makes me happier than knowing 2 of the most important men in my life love each other!

So today in honor of his last "first day" of high school, I thought I'd share some of my favorite memories with my little bro! Like the time we got to celebrate our Dad's wedding last May. Brandon was the best man, and it was crazy cool seeing him stand up in front of everyone and give a speech!

This past Spring, I used a random vacation day to watch him play in the Cincinnati Red's Opening Day Parade! I was so stinkin proud of him. I don't just say this because I'm his sister, but he ROCKS at drum line. Puts Nick Cannon to shame ;)

I can't even count the memories we've made on our family vacations to Hilton Head. We typically laugh so hard we cry and eat way too many crab legs...and that sounds like absolute heaven right now! We already have our next years vacation booked and you better believe I'm counting down the days!

One of my absolute favorite, and pretty recent memories is when I got to spend the week with the teens of the youth group in Cleveland, TN. On night #2, the band sang the song "Here's My Heart", and we were both moved to tears... like I said, Brandon and I have been through a lot in the last few years with our family so to have him next to me in that moment was amazing. He's one of the strongest young men I know.

I loved sending him off to Prom last Spring of his Junior year...he cleans up pretty well!!!

Some of my favorite times spent with him is when he randomly stops by to hang with Caleb and I. We play the guitar (well, the boys do), we sing, we watch TV, we just talk about life. I'm gonna miss that when he goes away to college!

One of my favorite memories ever though, is when I think about him at my wedding. He was cracking us up the entire night. He's usually a pretty shy, reserved guy, but he was letting loose that night and didn't care who saw. He didn't leave that dance floor once, I don't think! He's too funny!

Long story short, my brother means the world to me...and I know I just turned 24 but seeing him start his SENIOR year makes me feel like an old lady. Regardless, I'm so proud of who he's become, and so excited to see what he accomplishes this year! Go get 'em, Bran!!!

Bug bites like crazy, but worth it {my weekend}

We survived another fun weekend. Friday was honestly a blast. We ran some errands and then made it home with literally minutes to spare to watch our BENGALS in their first pre-season game! I'm just gonna say it, they looked pretty amazing! I was really happy with the outcome and it made me even more excited for the first real regular season game!!!

Saturday we took care of stuff around the apartment, then got ready for wedding #16 of the year! Three words to sum up that Saturday: hot. as. heck. Seriously. I have a total of 9 fresh, itchy bug bites (and still counting)...but we had a great time and it was so worth it for the shots we captured! We manage to find some of the coolest, most down to Earth couples in Cincinnati!

They even let us sneak them away for a mini sunset session (love when that happens), and they had such a gorgeous view of the city from their reception.

Sunday we headed to church, & stopped for a quick lunch date at the healthiest place we could think of on a whim and I got my favorite salad ever (panera: strawberry poppyseed grilled chicken salad)...

...then I finally got caught up on our laundry, did some groceries, and prepped our meals for the week (soo much chicken)! We nearly dropped $8 on pre cut pineapple when we thought, wait...couldn't we just do it ourselves?! So we paid $3.49 for a whole one, figured out how to cut it ourselves...and saved a ton of money. It may take a few extra minutes, but its so worth it! & you KNOW I was loving all this yellow in our kitchen!

I hope everyone had a fun, happy, awesome weekend!!! :)

End of week rambles!

I put a post on instagram this week talking about the type of person I wanted to be...how I want to be the type of girl who wakes up before the sun to read her Bible and actually enjoy breakfast at her own table instead of in her cube at work...how I want to know my worth fully, instead of letting jealousy creep in, and how I want to begin hitting the gym more, even when I feel like skipping and being a lazy bum... so I've made some changes this week to make sure those things happen. I realized that no one but ME was stopping me from doing those things, and it makes me pretty happy!

We hit the gym hard a couple times this week and last night Caleb nearly killed me. My arms felt like limp noodles driving home, but it was kind of awesome.

We made some pretty delicious (& might I add, healthy) dinners this week on the fly, and they all turned out amazing! We had enough for lunches all week and it made me feel better knowing I was treating my body well!

I got so many sweet gifts/cards in the mail the past week or so, and one of them was this hilariously awesome, unique bracelet; "You are better than unicorns and sparkles combined, and you're prettier than a superstar". When I wear this and look down to read it, I've gotta say, I feel pretty darn awesome.

Caleb also forced me to spend my couple birthday gift cards this week. I don't find it very easy to go shopping. Even when I budget for it, I have a hard time spending the cash on t-shirts and flats, etc...so it was nice having money set aside for a specific location to ensure I left with stuff! I got some amazing stuff on super clearance that I'm really pumped about! Marshalls for the win!!

I hope everyone had a great week!!!! We have some fun low key plans tonight, a wedding to photograph tomorrow and hopefully a day to relax on Sunday. Enjoy, friends!

My Birthday! {24}

Yeah, its a Thursday and I'm just now getting around to blogging about my birthday weekend, but I don't really mind. Life just gets in the way sometimes! But oh well, I'm here! Let's roll on!

Friday afternoon we headed to INDY! I always forget how close Cincinnati is to so many awesome cities...and luckily this was under a 2 hour drive for us. With a little hiccup in our hotel choice, things got resolved and we were about to have ourselves a wonderful weekend! We ate at a local restaurant and then spent the evening getting our glow bowl on!!

We had plans the next morning to grab a quick breakfast and hit the State Fair! I had never been to a state fair so I didn't know what to expect. This event was HUGE! I felt like we walked for miles and still didn't see everything. It definitely made me want to check out the Ohio State Fair sometime!

We pet the cutest animals!! Like this little guy...

...spent way too much money on rigged games...

...and spent a lot of time acting touristy!!

What state fair experience would be complete without the greasiest of greasy foods?! Caleb and Jared each bought a "Krispy Kreme Burger", while Erin and I opted for the cheese coma ribbon fries!

...then of course fried cookie dough and fried oreos!

Then on our way out we grabbed one final photo in front of the coolest sign we saw all weekend!

Once we were done running around and sweating our butts off, we went back to the hotel and cleaned up to hit Downtown and see a bit of the city! Unfortunately, it was the craziest/busiest weekend we could've chosen to go to Indy, but it was a blast because we were all together. The views of the monuments were gorgeous, and their mall is killer.

These friends of mine made me feel special all weekend long, and even let us fall asleep watching pitch perfect.... THOSE are the best kind of friends ;) when we woke up on my actual birthday we got breakfast and hit the road to head home.

Caleb gifted me with the prettiest watercolor print ever as well as a wireless speaker!! I'm so excited to have dance parties wherever I go now ;) we spent the rest of the day shopping with a few gift cards I got and my man took me to my favorite place in Cincy...

We went to the evening service at our church then came home to relax and watch a movie...but he surprised me with a DELISH milkshake to get me through the movie, first!

I feel like I have a lot to accomplish before my 25th next year and I'm determined to hit my goals! Caleb is so good to me and I couldn't be more thankful that he's in my life to make me laugh and to feel appreciated, especially on days like this one! Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday, it was honestly amazing!!