Whirlwind week.

Phew. I'm so glad it's Friday! This week did me IN. I've been totally off my blog game lately because every spare second I had this week to relax, that's exactly what I did! I'll be back next week with regularly scheduled posts, but for now, I'll tell you about some highlights of my week.

1. Getting a spontaneous dinner with our best friends on Tuesday! We stayed out way too late, but those are the best nights!

2. Getting back into working out. I woke up everyday before work this week to get my exercise in! The Tone It Up Bikini Series started on Monday!  I kept my eating healthy (except that I did let myself have some candy last night! Whoops, but...#balance) and I'm feeling great! I have to say, being able to come home at night and not have to worry about losing more of my evening on a workout? It's amazing.

3. Caleb and I photographed a session for my new friend, Alex! She and I met through the local creative group (Rising Tide/Tuesdays Together) that I've mentioned before! We both wanted updated pictures with our men, so we're swapping our services to help each other out! She's such a sweet girl, and we had a great time! Honestly, how gorgeous!?!?

4. The NFL Draft. Does anybody else love watching it as much as we do!?!? I honestly don't think I could ever grow tired of watching some of their reactions to getting selected. It's the sweetest! Can we also talk about those girls who KILLED it singing the National Anthem!?! I had chills everywhere!

5. Getting to take walks on my lunch break. Although yesterday sucked and I had to turn around and go right back to work. It had been storming earlier in the day, but it stopped and the sun came out. So I thought instead of staying cooped up at work, I'd get some steps in and enjoy the sunshine. Of course the second I get my gym shoes on and walk about 100 yards away it starts raining. AWESOME. However I'm thankful because most days are gorgeous like this one below!

Caleb and I have another wedding tomorrow. The bride is a total sweetheart and I'm really excited to see her again (it's been a LONG time)! The weather isn't looking very good so keep your fingers crossed for us we get some sunshine/dryness.

Have a great weekend!!

Fri-YAY

I'm so thankful that it's Friday! We're not booked to photograph a wedding tomorrow so that means we said "yes" to ourselves and promised each other an afternoon to refresh and I'm excited to spend that time with my man doing whatever we feel like! This week was a busy (but great) one, and I've consumed more overly creamed-coffee than usual!

As most of you read my sister-in-love's blog, you know they are in the middle of packing up their lives and building a new home! Since our schedules don't really allow us to be much help in the packing department, we swung by on Monday to drop them off some dinner and hang for a bit! It was fun to be in their home one final time! Sure, we've made tons of memories in that home of theirs, but we know we're guaranteed to make a million more in their new one!!

You know we had to snag a crazy, frazzled selfie. Caleb snapped 4 and this was probably the only semi normal one ;)

The weather here in Ohio is truly insane. One day it's BEAUTIFUL and mid 70's, then the next it looks like the sky is falling and we're hearing reports of hail! I definitely took advantage of the amazing weather while we had it and took a long lunch break walk! This park smelled of nothing but fresh cut grass and I'm telling ya, I could've stayed there forever.

I'm leaving work early today to drive down in KY and photograph Caleb's cousin's wedding. We're so excited we get to witness the ceremony, because it's such a small, intimate gathering, that we wouldn't have been there otherwise! Afterwards we'll sneak away with the two of them for some portraits, then it's time for a delicious dinner! I'm excited for a night out with family!

Hope everyone has a fun weekend ahead of them! :)

Friday is here!

Happy Friday! I'm really excited because Caleb surprised me with Beauty and the Beast tickets for tonight at a new theater near us and I'm dying to get off work and have a fun date night out with my man! We had a pretty jam-packed week, full of work! Lots of Skype calls, a consultation and a photo shoot!

I tried my first vanilla iced coffee from Starbucks on Tuesday and even though I did add a little sweetener, it was AH-MAZING! I wish I didn't have such a sweet tooth, but hey, it's part of me!

Wednesday we decided to grab Jersey Mikes for dinner since 100% of their nationwide sales that day were going to local charities! The Cincinnati locations chose to support "Cancer Free Kids", and goodness, these subs are top of the line. Fresh ingredients, and a 100x better than Subway, in my opinion!

Last night I met up with a friend from high school to document her sweet babe turning 1! Rowan is too adorable, and can we talk about her strawberry hair color?!!? 

I was in a Fitbit step challenge this week and man, I sucked, ha! I should know better than to accept these challenges on busy weeks...I never make time to get those extra steps in! But I'm excited for next week because it's a new week, a new month, and I'll have some new fitness related goals. With vacation being right around the corner, I've gotta whip myself into shape!

We've got a wedding to photograph tomorrow, and this couple has so much fun stuff up their sleeves! Can't wait to show you all! Have a fun weekend!

Friyay!

Random fact for your Friday: NSync's Just Got Paid came out SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO. That's enough to make me, at 25, feel old. Anyway, I can't be the only one who sings this to themselves every other Friday when they get paid?!

This week was a good one! Caleb started working on our taxes. If you follow me on instagram you'd know that Caleb and I seem to have made a silent agreement for the rest of our lives. If I provide the dinner, he will do our taxes. If you ask me, I definitely got the better end of that deal ;)

Most evenings after work (either after a workout, or just after an exhausting day) this is what I changed into. My matching skills are on POINT.

But I think my favorite moment of all was going out to dinner with Erin & Natalie! Natalie is Caleb's cousin and I just have to say, I married into the best family. She is so incredibly sweet, and she recently got engaged!! So we wanted to take her out to celebrate - and of course we chose our favorite Mexican restaurant! We were there for HOURS. Nights like that are my favorite; just having the most random conversations over some delicious food with even better friends!

Tonight I'm heading to dinner with another group of ladies from church to celebrate a soon to be momma of 3! She is pregnant with their 3rd so we're taking her out for a "diaper dinner" (which sounds kind of funny to say out loud). The rest of the weekend will be spent unplugged with my man, and I cannot WAIT!

Hope you have a fun weekend ahead, friends! Blast some N'Sync and have yourself a dance party today!

Friday Favorites!

This week has been jam packed and last night was the first time Caleb and I really got to just "be". It felt amazing. We made a healthy dinner, we watched the latest This Is Us, and we unplugged and just talked for about an hour. It was awesome. Unplugging from the world, not even knowing what time it is, is kind of my new favorite thing.

Speaking of favorite things... lets take a look at my week so far;

Favorite Meal: (although it wasn't healthy) By far it was the Chicken Alfredo Bake I made for my family on Monday! Tonight we're making another healthy, simple sheet pan dinner but it's perfect because it can also double as our lunch for tomorrow! Leftovers rock.

Favorite Read: I'm still knee deep in Wild At Heart and it's been really great so far. Next up, finishing The Magnolia Story! I started it and then got so busy and I seem to do that a lot!

Favorite Funny: This is killing me. How true?!? "Are you dying"

Favorite victory: resisting the birthday cupcakes in the kitchen at work and sticking to my ever-exciting cheese stick instead. #smallvictories

Favorite post: (not that I found out from her blog, but...) My SIL/BIL announced their big move yesterday on her blog and we're still so stinking excited for them!! They've worked so hard and this new house is going to be incredible!

Favorite quote: DO IT SCARED. This is something that God put on my heart this week, and wouldn't you know it? This also popped up in my newsfeed this week AND was quoted at our young adult meeting by one of the girls... I hear ya loud and clear, God! ;)

Favorite person: okay so I just threw this in there so I could have a reason to put his face in my post...I'm so thankful for this stud! He's so good to me!

I hope everyone has lots of fun planned for their weekend! ENJOY!
Linking up with Amanda today!

FRIYAY

If every Friday started out the way today did, I wouldn't be mad. I had a new shirt ready to wear (that I bought WEEKS ago with a gift card and its just been hanging in my closet), I didn't get stuck behind any school buses on my commute, and two separate co workers surprised me with treats (a cinnamon roll donut and a mountain dew...sugar coma, anyone?).

We had a great week, it was definitely busy, but it was great. Monday and Tuesday I was able to edit my face off and relax at home on the couch. We aren't "behind" on edits, but we're trying to keep up with them so we don't consume the free time we get this holiday season with editing 24/7.

Wednesday evening we watched my brother-in-law help coach his 7th grade football team. Some of these kids are crazy talented for their age! It's always fun watching family do something they really enjoy! I've always thought the two of them (Caleb and Jared) would make an amazing team. They both seriously belong on ESPN with their own show. They know more stats than you can even imagine, and NOT just about their favorite teams; but about everyone! I always picture them getting their own talk radio show one day ;)

Some other highlights of the week;

-When my man surprised me with an order of queso last night after a long day of work.

-Caleb got instagram this week. He used to have one and hadn't touched it since last January so he decided to start one up again!

-Getting my face wash order from R&F. I used Unblemish about a year and a half ago to clear up some acne and scarring I had (high school was a blast for me... I wish there was sarcasm font), and it was amazing. When I ran out, I just never reordered, so I'm really excited to start using it again!! I always just assumed adults didn't break out as they got older, but oh, how wrong I was!

-Receiving a nice thank you card in the mail unexpectedly!

-Realizing my hair appointment is 4 days away. These roots need HELP!

-Snapchat. I may or may not have googled inappropriate pick up lines and sent them to Caleb with a ridiculous filter/voice change while he was upstairs last night. I made myself cry from laughing so hard.

I hope everyone has a fun weekend planned. Tonight we've got a "fall kickoff" with our church that includes a huge bonfire, tasty chili, and good company! We're excited. Tomorrow we've got our 27th wedding of the year and we're ready to rock it!

What a great week.

It's been a really great week overall!  We've spent a lot of time together at home, trying a couple of new TV shows. Although we don't love to just veg out in front of the tube, sometimes its just necessary for the soul. We've recently been watching "The Flash" and ugh, its just so good. If you like superheroes, but also a bit of romance/drama, this is a show you'd probably love! Caleb and I both keep saying how good every single episode is!

I'm also not a big coffee person (it basically has to taste like absolute sugar, and I don't drink it for caffeine reasons most of the time), BUT we started ordering Coffee Mate French Vanilla again at the office and its rocking my world. My coffee tastes a whole lot less like yucky coffee and a whole lot more like a delicious treat, and I like it that way. Still trying to limit my intake to 2 or 3 cups a week at work!

On Wednesday night, we went to watch some of our youth group teens at a cross country match and holy. crap. They are FAST. Like, 17 minute 5K's fast. Justin (in the pic below) realized about 3 minutes in his shoe was untied, and still managed to crush it. I was blown away. Definitely gave me a little pep in my step to continue going to the gym like we have been. Although, I'll never be that fast, haha!

I hope everyone had a good week spent with family/friends! Here's to a weekend with limited plans and NO work! Woo woo!

A few on Friday.

This week was such an amazing break compared to the craziness that was last week. It's so good for my soul to get a few nights off, just come home, relax, edit on my own time, etc.!

-One of the gal's from youth group (who feels like my little sister), Greta, has a birthday coming up! Her boyfriend found my Instagram and messaged me to see if I could help him with part of her present before he left for vacation. He joined Caleb and I for dinner a couple nights this week while we made a photo collage for her room. Greta is a lot like me, and is obsessed with photos, so I knew she'd love it! He tricked her into coming over to see it all when we were done and she was so darn excited...made all those little sticky squares getting stuck to everything, worth it!

-Stalking Wayfair's website this week and eyeing these adorable pillows. I honestly cannot justify spending $25 on ONE pillow ever in my life...but these are so cute I may have to break that rule.

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-I've been using my actual journal a lot more lately. There are some things I just don't want to write on the blog, and I think its good for the soul to write your honest prayers down every now and then.

-Caleb and I have been eating healthier for almost 4 weeks now (aside from the occasional cheat meal) and we're both finally seeing results. It's an amazing feeling! Can't wait to post about it.

-We have wedding number 5 of our 8 wedding stretch tomorrow and I'm really excited about it! Their day is very simple, and I can't wait to see her dress!

-I'm basically counting down the days until I can see the beach again and wear hats that are way too big for me.

I hope everyone has a great week. I know I've been blogging more this month but I don't quite feel back in my groove yet. Here's to hoping that comes back next week! Have a fun weekend, friends!

Hooray for Friday!

A few favorites from my week;

1. My brothers senior drum solo // I wrote this on my Facebook and thought I'd share it here as well;

Words cannot describe my love for you, baby brother. Tuesday night, as I and watched you absolutely rock your senior drum solo, I sat there in the stands just as amazed and enamored as everyone else. You’ve worked so hard for this, and your moment finally came. I had tears in my eyes as the entire auditorium rose to their feet in applause to congratulate you on a job well done. You knocked the roof off that place, Bran! The amount of time that you pour into the things you care about is extremely admirable, and I’m unbelievably proud of the drummer, the leader, and the man that you’ve become over the last few years. As I prepare to watch you graduate high school next week, I just wanted to take a second to let you know how much you mean to me. I’m thankful to not only call you family, but one of my best friends. 

2. This adorable boutique // a co worker took me to the cutest little boutique near work. Think Anthropologie - but actually AFFORDABLE. This is dangerous, folks.

3. Brides that I meet with who share a love of all things Disney and the color yellow // getting excited for the 2017 wedding season!!

4. Mexican Food // after a late night at Starbucks meeting a few bride and grooms, I hadn't eaten dinner and it was going on 8pm! Picked up my favorite - cheese quesadillas!

5. Free webinars // holla for free business/photography tips. Never stop learning, people!

Happy Friday the 13th, friends! ;)


I hope everyone has a fun weekend planned. Caleb and I have our first double header wedding weekend (one today + one tomorrow), but we're excited about the location of these new venues! Although I'm already exhausted, I'm happy to be pouring myself into something I love! Have a fun weekend!

Friday Favorites || YAY

Friday is here! Although we have a long wedding day ahead of us tomorrow, it should be a fun bunch of people to work with! I'm mainly focused on Sunday though, I'm VERY ready to celebrate my favorite Erin and her sweet baby at the shower!

I love the Friday favorites link up with Amanda, and reading all about other bloggers favorite things is so fun, too! I always find some of the best recipes through this random linkup!

Favorite Song || Don't Let Me Down by Chainsmokers and Daya. I seriously cannot get enough.

Favorite Purchase || My haircut. Does that count as a purchase?! Ha! I think spending a couple hours with your hairstylist, gabbing about life and relaxing while getting pampered is totally worth the money. I told her to take about an inch off to "clean it up" and didn't realize how short that would make my already short hair, but I have to say, I'm really happy with it! It's a fun length to work with! Plus, any excuse to whip out the macbook photo booth is fine in my book.

Favorite News || Amazon Prime has extended their services to SAME DAY DELIVERY for certain zip codes here in Cincinnati!! Although our home zip code isn't included just yet, I think this is pretty cool. Hopefully one day soon ours will be?! Not sure when/what I'd need it for, but its cool the option is out there!

Favorite Quote || Lysa Terkeurst is AMAZING. I'm diving into her book "The Best Yes", and its rockin' my world. This is everything. Saying yes for YOU (and not the world) is the most important thing you can do for yourself, sometimes.

Favorite Meal || Bacon cheddar burger patties. SO good!!

Favorite Moment || Watching my little cousin get his black belt. I will NEVER forget his smile when they announced him and handed him that belt. So proud of this little guy!

I hope everyone has a fun weekend. Our will be a busy one, indeed, but I'm excited! Any fun plans for you?

Happy Friday {First of April}

Happy April! I'm just going to throw it out there that I racked my brain for about 10 minutes thinking of some awesome joke to pull on the blog for of April fools, but I just couldn't do it. I'm so bad at this stuff. Remember last year when Caleb fooled me by saying he quit his job and "would explain later"?! Yeah, he's not pulling one over on me this year! ;)

Last night Caleb and I were able to head Downtown to watch a Cyclones game in a Suite! The company my Dad's wife works for gets it every year and this was the first time we'd been. It was awesome having our own personal couch, bathroom, roomy seats, etc! We enjoyed ourselves, and even some Skyline (trust me, it had been too long)!!

A quick recap of some highlights of my work week:

-The sister of a past Bride wanted to meet with me to discuss possibly shooting her wedding next year and ended up booking right away! It was so much fun to see her! I love when others love my work and are so excited to finalize me as their photographer! I'm really looking forward to working with her and her family again.

-Wednesday night my MIL came over and we finished the favors for Erin's shower - which btw is officially less then 10 days away. How did this come so quickly?! Regardless, I'm so excited and have a few more crafts up my sleeve planned for next week before the official shower is here!

-I didn't mention it here on the blog (hardly blogged this week, whoops), but Nora is back in the hospital with pneumonia again. The Doctor's are doing all they can to figure out what has caused it twice within 3 months, and could be just chalking it up to bad luck. It breaks my heart to see her with these giant masks on her face, but I'm praising God they didn't have to resort to using a breathing tube. Good news? She seems back to normal as of yesterday and begged her parents to let her watch "Aladdin and Jasmine" almost 20 times! That's my girl!

This week was full of meetings and plans, so I'm really looking forward to a low key night with Caleb before the craziness that is our weekend begins. We've got a wedding that we've really been looking forward to tomorrow! Red headed bride, super in love couple, potentially good weather, and a gorgeous venue make for a very happy photographer!!

 Sunday we've also got some fun movie plans with our teens at church, then we're heading home for The Walking Dead season finale that evening! I'm not mentally prepared for the season to be over yet!!! Any predictions on what might happen!?!  Hope everyone has some fun planned as well!

Friday {loves of the week}

This was a great week, for a lot of reasons!

ONE || I got my car back - its officially fixed! I can honestly say it doesn't look like it was ever hit, which blows my mind. The whole process was insanely smooth. The accident happened last Tuesday, and I had the check for damages in my mailbox by Monday. Although the process wasn't "fun", driving my dream car for the duration of the week WAS! Dodge Chargers ROCK.

Parked car. Don't worry. See? Zero mph!

TWO || I've been using the crap out of my first Maybook. Is this not the cutest notebook ever? I like having it for anything and everything I may need to jot down. It's most recently gotten a lot of use for planning Erin's shower, but I'm also writing down meal ideas, client notes, etc.! I love the freedom of a random notepad!

THREE || I think I stumbled upon my new favorite (youtube) cardio dance channel. This dude's got SASS and I love myself a good hip hop class. I'm too cheap to pay for a gym that offers classes (at least until we're out of debt), so this will have to do!

FOUR || This made Caleb and I both laugh so hard the other night. Probably because that's me 4 out of 5 nights of the week. Right after dinner, its make up off, contacts out, and sweats on. #sorrybae! JK, I don't really call him that... maybe... but I'm glad he still thinks I'm cute anyway!

FIVE || I've been editing my brains out this week and its getting me super excited for the other 27 weddings we have to photograph for 2016. Sometimes I get overwhelmed when I think about how MUCH we have ahead of us this year, but I do know that if I just keep that one-day-at-a-time mentality, we'll be just fine :) I can't wait to enjoy the ride that is 2016, alongside my man!

ALSO! This weekend marks my girl Angie's 25th birthday!!! I'm thankful for everything this girl is to me. She's one of a kind! So grateful we crossed paths and can be our totally weird selves when we're together! Love you, Ang! Cheers for being halfway to 50!! ;)

Linking up with Liz today!

What are you getting yourselves into these weekend?!

5 on Friday || My Week

ONE || Is it Spring yet?!?! It's one of my favorite seasons. All the dead stuff comes back to life, and its time to spruce up the table with fresh flowers! Oh and you know, binge on Peeps & Robin Eggs all day. Seriously, does anyone else love those as much as I do?

TWO || I'm semi obsessed with pineapples. Caleb even got me an Alex and Ani pineapple bracelet for Christmas that I'm crazy about! Not only do pineapples taste amazing, I love that they are the fruit of hospitality and welcoming. So when I came across a pineapple CENTERPIECE last year I knew I had to save it. Seriously, how adorable is this? I'm dying to have a party so I can replicate it.

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THREE || Finally got around to editing some of my baby brothers senior photos. Seriously, WHEN did he grow up!?! This shot was more of an outtake, but I kinda love it. I just can't believe he's got two and a half months until he's an official graduate.

FOUR || It's crazy to me how one week I'm a total beast and run 5 days in any weather condition... then the next week I'm a total loser and eat pizza all the time. I know that I have to tough through it though to continue on my training for the half marathon in a few months.

FIVE || I am so so thankful for this handsome groom of mine. I love how much our marriage has grown, and can't believe this May will mark THREE years of marriage! Time is FLYING, and I wouldn't want to do life with anybody else!

I hope everyone has a FUN weekend planned! We have absolutely nothing going on and it makes me so happy. We need a weekend to do everything and nothing! : )


Linking up with the gorgeous Liz today!

Deets of my week.

It's Friday and I'm so thankful! Some days of this week flew by, but most took forever. Thankful for silly emails with friends, super hot tea, and snapchat filters that are insanely pointless but most of the time, crazy comical.

I've been stalking Etsy all week looking at adorable aunt/uncle onesies for our FIRST NEPHEW! The struggle of being a first-time Aunt is real, guys...and by "a struggle" I mean I don't know how my bank account is going to survive! ;) juuust kidding. Kind of.

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Earlier in the week, we had dinner with my Aunt & Uncle. She made homemade sweet and sour chicken and OH my word. The recipe was perfection! So you know I plan to post about that soon! She was so cute and had an entire Chinese meal planned. Almond butter cookies, fortune cookies, fried rice, the works!! I love my family!

I've never had more soup and tea any other time in my life than I have this week. Panera for the win!

Becky gets in town tonight!!!!!! I am so stinking excited I can hardly stand it!! We're grabbing dinner tonight and going wherever the wind takes us the whole weekend. Hope you have some fun planned, as well! :)