One quick weekend!

Phew! This weekend was mainly pretty busy, but I loved it all. Friday, Caleb hung out with his friends so naturally I went to the local Mexican joint for take out (quesadillas on quesadillas, and duh, queso). At first was a little bummed to have no plans, but quickly realized a night in with my favorite donuts and an amazing book was just what I needed! I am only a couple chapters in but feel like I'm already taking a lot away from it, which rocks!

Saturday was a really long day, we shot our 6th wedding of the year! Before we got there though, we binge watched a ton of Undercover Boss via Netflix. We can't help it!! I end up crying basically every 30 minutes while watching, ha!

The wedding party later that day was a really fun group of people! For some reason I expected the shooting that day to be more difficult than normal, I was mostly worried about the wind/rain/cold temps, but everything worked out - just like it always does!

I ended up knowing the make up artist (she was MY make up artist for my wedding, and I totally forgot I recommended her to the bride at our consult), the hair stylist AND the DJ! He just so happened to be a Groomsmen from a wedding 3 weeks ago! Cincinnati is beginning to feel much smaller than I once thought! Aleicia and Matt had such a beautiful day, we were so lucky to capture it.

Sunday was awesome. Seriously such a fun time. It was the day we finally got to throw Erin her first baby shower!! I have a full post on that to come with all sorts of fun!

What did you guys get into this 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?

Things I'm Loving!

One of my favorite things about blogging is getting to read all about what you guys are up to, and hear about all the random things you're loving/doing/making/seeing! So I thought I'd take time today to share some of my favorite finds/photos/links/etc.!

-If you didn't know, I'm obsessed with pineapples. Not only the actual fruit, but the color of them, when they are printed on stuff, etc.! It just so happens pineapples are kind of trendy right now, and when Jenn posted about the cutest tassel shorts in the world, I had to at least entertain the idea of purchasing them. Well, turns out they were insanely affordable with free shipping! When Caleb saw me get all googley-heart eyed over them, he talked me into buying them, which was pretty awesome because usually if its not something I can purchase on Amazon, I don't get it.

via

-This article about running, seriously makes me want to leave work and lace up! Also kind of makes me wish I had something more scenic to run through than our subdivision filled with stray cats, ha!

-I am trying to find some nice prints for some of the bare walls in our home. Walt Whitman has some pretty great quotes and Etsy does a great job of providing affordable prints! I'm obsessed with this one!

-Bet you can't watch this video without smiling. Laughter is contagious, friends!

-Anyone else love dancing shows?! So You Think You Can Dance has always been my absolutely fave!!! I'm anxious to see how this season goes, since it with kids this year!

-I'm dying over this amazing French Toast Bake and am hoping I can make it really soon! Breakfast is basically my favorite meal so if you have a yummy, unique recipe, send it my way!

-Pretty sure I NEED THESE. They are silicon mats that you can use for SO MANY THINGS in the kitchen. You need a mat for your hot plate? Done. Need a better grip on that jar? Done. Need oven mits? You got 'em!

-This picture my friend shared on FB. Just made me smile. Hope it makes you smile, too! Try using a few of these today!

Puppies. Because, well, puppies.

-Do you have a "my panera" card? IF SO. They've loaded a free bagel a DAY in April!!!! Get there!

-Everyone loves printing photos, right? Well! If you click here you'll get 25 free prints from Artifact Uprising. I LOVE their square prints - they are so sturdy - and you can't beat free!

This post was insanely random, but that's usually how I like to do things. Hope you got something useful form this post, or that you at least found another reason to smile today. IT'S ALMOST FRIDAY! :)

Currently {April}

Making: vacation plans. Like I mentioned yesterday, Caleb and I have to choose a vacation spot and have so many options. We've tossed around the idea of California, Jamaica, Hilton Head, Virginia. It’s SO hard to narrow down when there are so many amazing places to choose from. I’m sure it will come down to where we can get the best “bang for our buck”. Any suggestions?

Wishlisting: that a magic fairy would come into my life and leave a huge pile of money so we can finally be DEBT FREE. We’re getting closer, but there’s still a lot left. Other than to be out of debt, I’ve been eyeing these super fun meal planning/grocery list pads, and these fun watercolor pens! So I can try - but probably fail - at making cute watercolor prints on my own!

Cleaning: our entire home. The basement (constant laundry and clutter), our fridge (I can’t help but clean it every single time we do groceries), our pantry (throwing out expired stuff), etc.! It feels SO good to clean and get rid of everything! Spring just puts me in the cleaning mood.

Posting: randomly. I am trying to keep up with at least 3-4 blog posts a week. Somehow, I feel like spring gets the creative juices flowing in me, but it also brings a lot of busy-ness for me! But hey, at least having a lot on the calendar usually means more blog material, right? ;)

Tasting: lots of fruit and vegetables. For some reason, I can’t get enough lately. I believe I ate the largest blackberry in existence yesterday. I even sent Caleb a picture, this thing was as tall as my index finger!! On the flip side, I plan to be tasting my fair share of wedding cake these next few weekends!

I hope you all have a fantastic Wednesday! Make it count!
Linking up with the adorable Anne and Jenna for their Currently series. It's always one of my favorite post prompts! 

A glimpse of our weekend

Our weekend started promptly when we left work. I ran outside while Caleb played basketball with some neighbors. We rewarded ourselves with our favorite Mexican restaurant since it had been a while since we'd make a trip over there! I love low key Friday evenings!

Saturday we relaxed until it was time to leave for wedding #5 of the year. We didn't anticipate the day being as long as it was, but luckily Jenna and Eric were amazing and their love was insanely easy to capture. Unfortunately, the Cincinnati 50mph+ winds scratched our original plans of heading to Eden Park, but I think we found some amazing alternative locations Downtown - with little to no wind at all.

Last year I tried to share a few images from each wedding we shot, and since wedding season is just starting I thought I may as well do it again this year. For a silly "behind the scenes" photo, I like to throw myself in a mirror shot every now and then - and don't worry, we have about a hundred other shots just like this without me photo bombing ;)

I love her excitement right before the first look!

Sunday after church we had a fun afternoon with our youth group. These teens have so much energy, they definitely keep us young (and kind of make us feel old).

Sunday evening was spent doing an unreal amount of laundry and folding, pizza eating, and preparing to watch The Walking Dead. I have so many emotions, and am mostly just irritated. In my opinion (not that it matters), it was not a "finale" kind of episode. I know it accomplished the "cliff hanger" thing, but for a season finale? I felt it was drug on too long. However, I already can't wait for the show to be back on! I'll now have Sunday nights back to do other productive things - like read, or write! Yay!

We had a great weekend all in all, but I could've used an extra day of relaxation. Isn't that always how it is?! ;) hope everyone had a great one!

My April Goals!

April is finally upon us, friends! It's crazy to me that time continues to keep flying by. Caleb and I had a great, long weekend, but today I want to focus on looking forward in April! We've got lots of fun planned for this month! With a new month comes new goals, but I do want to take a look back at my March goals; which weren't terrible. I am disappointed in myself for a couple of these, but really proud of myself for some others. In March I wanted to...

Better organize my photos: I'm giving myself a big fat FAIL on this one. I did delete a TON of photos, but didn't necessarily organize them better. What I really wanted to do was purchase a new external HD or two and completely separate wedding photography from our personal life. I can't wait to permanently scratch this off my list.

Finish a book: I didn't even start one. In my defense I've been doing a Bible study, but haven't finished a novel in a while. I love to read, just need to make more time of it!

Run without stopping: YES YES YES. I am so excited. My goal was to run at least 3 miles without stopping as I'm going through my training. I'm happy to report I ran 4 miles with no stopping. I'm so much more hopeful about our upcoming half (which btw, is under a month away)!

Make 3 new side dishes: I won't be too hard on myself. I did make new things this month (new entrees and a new dessert), so I'm giving myself a win on this one.

See a new movie: Yay! We saw both Zootopia and Batman v. Superman in theaters! It was fun to date my man as much as possible last month!

Send out shower invites: done and done! Most of the RSVP's are in (better be, the shower is this weekend!!), and decorations are finalized. Can't wait for it!!! 

Onto my April goals!

Get over 100K steps in a work-week: my record in a work-week hustle challenge with my Fitbit was last week at over 93K! I'm ready to push myself harder and make it into the 100K's!

Spring clean: I've found several good spring-cleaning checklists that I want to put to use this month. Cleaning more than just "surface-level". I want to scrub our tub, vacuum every room, clean out our pantry, etc.! Cleaning keeps me in a good mood. I often find myself getting in "cleaning moods" RIGHT before bed.

Drop a couple pounds: I'm by no means "overweight", but since our wedding I've gained quite a few pounds. Since my most out-of-shape-weight, I've lost 4 lbs, and that feels great! Seeing results is a great feeling. Since we've been (generally) eating healthier and working out 4-5x/week, Caleb and I are both feeling so much better!

Narrow down our vacation spot: Since our family vacation got cancelled due to some things out of our control, Caleb and I are on our own now! Which is kind of a blessing in disguise. As much as we love our family vacations, Caleb and I haven't taken a solo vacation since our honeymoon, so its exciting! We have a couple places in mind, but we'd really like to narrow down and make our decision.

Order a wedding canvas: We have plenty of wedding photographs printed (seriously, hundreds), but I want a focal photo hanging in our living area. Whether that be a canvas, an architect print, etc.! I love our photos and I want to be reminded of that amazing day all the time!

What are YOUR April goals?

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!