FriYAY

When its Monday and I still have the whole week ahead of me, it feels insanely slow...but when its Friday and I'm looking back at my week? It felt insane fast! I had my first week of free time...no consultations, no appointments...just a few phone calls with brides and a whole lot of editing but you know what? It was glorious. I think I needed a week like this to hit "reset" on my mind/body. Caleb and I took a few long walks hand-in-hand, watched a couple movies (and way too many episodes of The Office) I even cooked dinner!! ;)

We enjoyed one of Caleb's last softball games last night and I even made it home before 10...but for some reason we felt like staying up to watch game 1 of the NBA finals so I'm still feeling pretty dead today, which seems to be a recurring theme for Fridays lately.

We've been spending a good 30 minutes before bed each night reading, its been awesome. Of course, I chose a love story, and Caleb some sort of history novel...but his sounds like one I could actually get myself into! I might have to snag it from him when he's all done.

Our besties came over Wednesday and we had some of the yummiest food in all the land, and they also brought us a few goodies! Including the best saltwater taffy EVER!

The night before that I got to go Downtown to watch I Love Lucy "live" at the Aranoff with a co-worker, we had so much fun walking around downtown, eating sushi + getting $2 cones!

Overall it was a really great, relaxing week. We have our EIGHTH wedding of the year tomorrow with a rock star couple that I seriously can't wait to photograph again! I hope you all have some fun plans for the weekend! Enjoy!!

I really like him.

I think I'm super sappy lately because we just celebrated our 2 years, and we've taken walks hand-in-hand almost every night this week...but man, I really like that guy. Obviously there's a ton of things I love about him...but from day one, I was not afraid to tell him he had the best calves ever (am I succeeding in making anyone uncomfortable yet?!) ... it got me thinking about the other fun things I love about my husband. You know, the things that make him, him.

When he sings to me...like on our wedding day! Best surprise ever.

...or just when he sings in the car. Those are some of my favorite moments with him. Making dumb music videos to silly songs where he can sing at the top of his lungs!

How he puts shredded cheese and ranch on everything, literally almost every dinner at home.

That he gets on my case if I'm too tired to brush my teeth at night (I promise I'm not disgusting).

The fact that he could care LESS what people think about him. I like to think I'm like that, as well, but he inspires me. He truly does what he feels like, even when it makes him look like a goofball.

His dark hair. I hope our babies get that feature of his. Oh, and his cute nose.

His walk with Christ. He came into my life at the most perfect moment and I don't believe that was a coincidence.

The way he respects me, and just gets me. I'm very fortunate to have a man that loves me like he does.

That we can have just as much fun together watching a Redbox rental vs going out for a fancy date.

He's a great teacher. Although he's not in his dream career (high school history teacher) her serves our youth at church and I know that so many of them look up to him. He is so great with them, and that makes me so happy.

and maybe one of my favorite things about him? He knows food is the way to my heart. One time, I was just bummed with how my day went and he surprised me with Chickfila... I've never loved him more ;)

In all honesty, its so easy to take our significant others for granted day-to-day, but I never want that to happen! Caleb is not only my husband, but my best friend! He knows how to make me smile, and knows when to just let me vent...I may love that man, but I also really like him, too.
Squeeze your loved ones tighter tonight, friends! Enjoy your Thursday!

June goals

I know its cliche to talk about how fast time is moving, but honestly... is this real life?! 2015 is nearly half way over already?! I'm definitely not complaining, though... I'm ready for warmer temps!

via

Since my half marathon in early May, I really haven't worked out much...okay, at all. Other than a few rounds of ultimate Frisbee and backyard kickball, I've been lazy. Mostly because for 3 straight weeks I felt like I could hardly put weight on my right foot, but to be totally honest? I had gotten out of the habit of exercising around mid-April. I truly think its because I just got lazy and stopped setting realistic (yet challenging) goals for myself.

Caleb and I watched a football movie on Sunday night where they wrote down very specific "season goals" and gave their cards to each other to keep the other accountable...I remember telling you all last year about our "weekly goals" challenge for each other, and we're going to start implementing that again. More on that to come later! For now...here are my JUNE goals!

To use MyFitnessPal again! At one point, my streak was over 170 days...I know its not all about the streak, but it really made me think twice about what I put in my body because I'd be logging it all.

Drink more water. This kind of goes hand in hand with the above goal, but I haven't been drinking nearly as much water as I used to so I'm wanting to cut out pop (upcoming dentist appt!!) and focus solely on water.

Get back in the gym. Now that my foot is feeling a million times better (no pain whatsoever - pretty sure I'm in the clear!), its time to push myself again. I've missed running and lifting so much. I've gained quite a few pounds since March and I'm ready to shed them and get back to feeling fit again! Exercise just makes me a happier person, and I love that.

Make our wedding album selections. I mean... talk about 2 years in the making. The sad part is? It was INCLUDED in our wedding package.. all we have to do is pick out our favorite pictures and its made FOR US! Although, I do still want to make my own customized photo books for a lot of seasons in life (both 2013 + 2014, our honeymoon and also our wedding...but lets be honest, that won't happen until wedding season is over).

Finish 2 books. This is a huge goal for me. Reading used to be such a huge part of my life and I love it so much. Now with blocking out certain evenings throughout the week for more "me time/free time" I know I can get this done.

Relax more. Sure, I've got a never ending list of edits to complete, and 4 weddings this month...but making more time for "me" and things I want to do? It's definitely happening. I'm excited for this month and all the fun things it's going to bring!!

What are a few June goals YOU have for yourself?

6 reasons I loved my weekend.

1. Caleb and I got nearly 2 full hours at the pool after work Friday and I already have a bit of a tan line. We've already made it to the pool twice this season, which is more visits than all of last summer combined. We're determined this year! ;)

2.  We shot our 7th wedding of the year on Saturday. This was one of those wedding days where the timeline kinda fell out the window and nothing went according to plan, but we still managed to have a really fun day with everyone and got a lot of awesome shots!

3. We heard a really amazing message on parenting at church Sunday. No, we're not parents yet...and we don't plan to be for a while, but there was still SO much truth to the message and that's always so awesome to hear. God's grace is so good!

4. There was about 5 hours yesterday that we just flopped. We had some music on, Caleb and I each did our own things, and it rocked. Having things we both love and can do on our own is so important, I think!

5. Church kickball. It's serious, guys ;) its SO fun to get together with people (some you hardly know, some feel like family) and just play a couple games of competitive kickball. We had way too much fun!

6. Starting a good movie way too late and deciding to eat cereal at midnight with my man...cause sometimes, ya just gotta say what bedtime?

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!! I know we did!

A few squares for Friday.

All those in favor of 3 day work-weeks and 4 day weekends sayyyy "I"... 

I'm currently trying to decide when I can wear this amazing anniversary dress Caleb got for me. I know I said it yesterday in our trip recap but guys, he knocked this years gift outta the park. How in the world did he find the cutest dress in the mall AND it fit perfect?! I can't wait to plan a fun date night out with that stud!

Although its Friday...I'm absolutely exhausted because last night Caleb had another full (late) night of softball, and right before THAT I had an engagement shoot Downtown, which was right after a full day of work. We didn't get home until nearly midnight and I'm BEAT today. However, I've also said before that I truly wouldn't trade these fun moments for anything. It can be a hassle getting to the fields, but watching him do something he loves brings me a whole lot of joy...and that'll never get old.

This is an extremely old but extremely awesome picture with my favorite people. Yesterday was E&J's 4th wedding anniversary and I just love the crap out of them. They are equally as weird as us, share a love for all things Disney, and are completely content (and even excited) by game nights in with us instead of crazy nights out. #mykindofpeople.

Here's a (totally unedited) little sneak peek from last nights Eden Park shoot!

That actually brings me to my next question...has anyone else using blogger noticed a significant decrease in quality of photos that you're uploading? These files are HUGE and at such high resolution, but I felt like some of my Pittsburgh recap photos looked grainy? Any ideas??

We've got a wedding to shoot tomorrow and we can't wait! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Our Anniversary trip to Pittsburgh!!

Our road trip was AMAZING. Guys, I don't really know where to begin. Early Sunday morning, we prepped the car with all of our luggage, some awesome CD's and of course, our road trip snacks.  We so enjoyed the 4 and a half hour car ride together...I love road trips and wish we could do them more often!!

So a quick back story...a few days before our trip, I had an off day. Things just weren't going my way, I felt insanely overwhelmed with life, and just needed to be home. Fast forward a few hours and Caleb surprised me with an early anniversary present... (fyi - year 2 traditional gifts are cotton-themed)... he freaking designed and had a shirt MADE for me for the Pirates game we were going to right away! He's the best!

I truly was in awe of this city. I kind of expected the Downtown area to be kinda "ehh" (mostly because of my dislike for the Steelers, hehe)...but holy COW, you guys! It was so pretty. The view from across the bridge of the stadium (behind us in that above picture) was just amazing. We honestly just stood there for about 10 minutes just staring at it!

As annoying as it can be sometimes to carry around a lunky DSLR...I'm really glad I chose to take it with me on this trip. I'm obsessed with these photos! I still used my iPhone about 50% of the time, though!

They ended up winning the game 9-1, but we left after about 2 hours so we could explore the city some more! We had a blast just adventuring and like I said...it was gorgeous, guys!! The buildings were really neat, and you can tell this town LOVES baseball.

Once we were done with all the city views, we checked into our hotel. Caleb booked us a king suite (woo!) and it did not disappoint. I didn't take any photos but we had a whole living area aside from the bed/TWO sectioned bathroom.

He told me he had a "pre-anniversary" gift for me (best husband ever)....... this is what I got:

IT FIT PERFECT! I mean... he did so well! He instructed me that I had to wear it for our "fun date night". My man took me to Primanti Bro's for the biggest sandwich I've ever had...then a whole night of bowling and fun. I actually did REALLY well, too! I think I had a total of 5 strikes all night! ;) and I scored over 110 three games in a row!

We stayed up wayyy too late watching silly TV shows and just being together. Then we woke up and it was OUR ANNIVERSARY! You guys. We had the BEST day, the best weather, etc!! We woke up, grabbed breakfast and headed to the Carnegie Science Center. We immediately bought tickets for the first Great White showing at the Omnimax... and it did NOT disappoint! The entire museum was such a blast. We only paid a little over $24/person and spent nearly 4 hours in there!

We got to play with water, air...and even pretend to be meteorologists. It was hilarious and we had way too much fun acting like kids.

They had a whole museum dedicated to robots and we even got to play air hockey WITH one!

Part of the museum had a HUGE room dedicated to just trains and lights so we got a ton of photos but this was my favorite...

Then we headed over to the Sports section and got to be super hands on. Throwing fast balls, playing hockey, racing against an olympic athlete, and rock climbing...(YES, this was all included in the $24/person price)....

We had a blast that entire day...and we were STARVING after so much exercise and fun! We grabbed a quick sub at a nearby local shop (Lebo Subs-sooo good!!!) and my man and I finally exchanged gifts. I got him "pairs" of everything (get it, cause we're a perfect pair ....bah! Socks, shirts, action figures...), and he loved it all! 

What did he get me? ANOTHER amazing dress, you guys!!! Every gift he got me was cotton (and he didn't even MEAN to do that, ha!) I mean seriously...he hit the nail on the head again this year. It was a Lauren Conrad (how did he know?!?!) and it fit me like a freakin glove. I only took a picture of it on my polaroid right after I tried it on so this is what you get for now...

I was supposed to wear it that night but he forgot a "fancy" outfit so I went more casual with a maxi dress and promised to wear it in Cincy for a night out! We headed to The Cheesecake Factory and practically had the place to ourselves!  The waiter we had truly made our experience unforgettable and he even lit our candles with a stinkin blow torch! He rocked! PS... we were totally that couple who sat on the same side of the table. We're usually not like that, but we were feeling extra sappy!

The past two years have been amazing. I truly fall more in love with my husband with every day that passes, and with every small act of kindness he does for me...for no other reason than because he loves to make me happy. I am the luckiest gal and can't wait to see what our future holds!! Happy 2 years, Caleb!

Jumping in the deep end!

Even though it wasn't exactly "summer weather" yet, we put on our suits and headed to the pool after work on Friday - books in hand, and adventure on the mind. We were the only ones there! I dared him to jump in (it was absolutely freezing), after a few whimpers - he finally did it...then he didn't think I'd do it. So what did I do? Yelled "SUMMMMERRRRR!" at the top of my lungs and jumped right in. It was freezing, but hilarious... seriously, it was a blast. Those are the silly memories that I'll never forget!

THEN! Saturday came. Eek! I finally went back to blonde. I don't know that most men care about the color/style of their wives hair so much...but Caleb truly missed my blonde hair, and to be honest? I did too. Don't get me wrong, he never once made me feel "blah" or "ugly", he always made me feel beautiful and he loved my natural color...he just missed the hair I had for the 5 years prior...so I decided since summer was approaching to just GO for it! My girl Becca rocks. She did really thin highlights all over but kept a little bit of my natural so I wasn't in total shock right away. She's amazing! Any local girls need her info, ask away!

After my appointment I went home, relaxed for a few and then we headed out for our 6th wedding of the year! It was a really good time and I'm so pumped about the photos we snapped! Is that bride not insanely gorgeous!?!? She's insanely sweet, as well.

THEN our anniversary adventure began Sunday and I can't wait to recap all of that!! More to come, later! I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend and I can't thank everyone enough for all the happy anniversary wishes! Happy Wednesday!