On a more positive note

You ever have one of those days where everything seems to be going going wrong? You didn't prep your lunch for the day, your folded laundry is still not put away, the dishes seem to be everywhere, you're running late, you forgot to fill your gas tank, you spill coffee on yourself, etc.? Am I painting a crazy enough picture for you? ;)

 It's in those moments that we (I) say things we (I) don't mean, we do silly things we shouldn't, and just wish that the day would end already. This happens to me all too often, and I thought to myself, what good will it do me by complaining even more about it!? Make your day turn around, Kayla! You have that power to change your attitude.

Instead of complaining, or wishing your day away, have you ever thought that maybe your mood could change by doing something sweet for someone, for absolutely no reason at all!? Well, it can. Try it...I dare ya.

Today is actually perfect because I get to volunteer with my company, just in time for Veterans Day! We are going to 3 different homes in the community and raking their leaves, cleaning out their gutters, power washing their homes, etc.! Basically things that elderly people should not have to worry about. I'm so excited to give back, it really does bring so much joy! Here are some other ideas on how to brighten someone else's day...just because!

A random act of kindness. Bake a pie for your neighbor, leave $5 on a co-workers desk with a note that "lunch is on me", bring in donuts for the whole department, fill someone's cubicles with cute balloons, pay for someone's coffee, compliment that girls outfit, send some snail mail just because, you get the point.

Volunteering. I know this is kind of the same thing as above, but hear me out! Whether it be with your local church, a soup kitchen, a homeless shelter, a library, anything...giving of your time is so, so rewarding. Yes, sometimes it can be exhausting, but when Caleb and I teach those little kids at church, or help out our church's youth group...half the time, they are the ones who end up teaching us something. Or when I'm able to devote a week of my summer evenings to photographing our church's annual Sports Camp? By the end of the week I am overwhelmed with how full of love I feel.

Give away your time or talents, for free. I know, I know. If you're a small business owner, you can't thrive if you're always giving stuff away. BUT! Here and there, for someone who really needs it, I think its absolutely worth it. A lot of you out there who have online shops, who can sew, who are photographers, artists, master Calligraphers (is that a thing!?), etc, and you charge for these services, and rightfully so (trust me I absolutely get it)! However, I challenge you to offer up your services at no charge for a day, or even just once, to someone who needs it. Even if you don't have a hobby like that, just giving your time, and listening to someone who needs a friend is perfect.

Cook for a new mom. I'm not a mom yet, but with my sister in law recently going through this, I know how much she appreciated it when people dropped off a hot meal, so she could just focus on her new babe (aka the cutest nephew in the world) and all that is involved with that.

Drop by your local senior citizen home with flowers. Can you even imagine the smile on some of their faces?!! I am just picturing myself in a home like that one day, and how much it would mean to ME to talk to someone for an hour and have fresh flowers on my bedside!

Donate school supplies. Most of these teachers are buying supplies themselves, out of their own pocket, and that's just not right! How awesome would it be to relieve them a little financially?

I know this post was random, but our world needs more love this week, so I hope you'll put one of these into action and make someone's day!
Have a great Thursday, friends!

November || Goals

Hiii, its the 8th day of November and I'm just sitting down to write out my goals...better late than never, right?

1 || Make a darn photo book, Kayla! Yes, I'm  yelling at myself. I've had this on my list for about 4 years now. I want to make a 2013 book, a 2014 one, a 2015 one, a honeymoon book, a wedding day book, etc.! The list really never ends, so I'd like to knock ONE out this month! After this weekend, we have about a month of free time before our last wedding in December, so I think its realistic!

2 || Get ahead on our Christmas shopping. I'd say we're about halfway done right now, and have been for a few months (we legit started shopping in January), but I really want to knock it out and be done before mid-December!

3 || Have another ladies night! I'm seeing my BFF this weekend and we planned a fun night including a sleepover! I can't wait. She even borrowed a projector and we're watching chick flicks on a WALL. I'm a little too excited. There may or may not be marshmallow fluff involved, too.

4 || Make some new meals. I've actually already made 2 new meals and both were a hit in our household! I love that right now that I can make the full recipe and there are still leftovers for lunch the next day - which not only is awesome, but saves money, too!

5 || Get back to our active lifestyles. Enough said. I'm excited to be working out more than I had over the summer. I think wedding season got the best of me and any free time I had was going to be spent on the couch. My waistline misses my old jeans! Caleb and I went on a long walk in the dark after dinner last night and had a blast. It also gives us time to unplug and connect with each other.

6 || Finish a book. I seriously LOVE to read, and its sad that I never make time for it. Photography is my #1 passion, but there are so many other things I love to do, like read! I have about 300 books on my list and now its just up to me to decide which one I reach for first!

7 || Finalize our logo and get the site ready for launch! Seriously friends, my SIL Erin has outdone herself, and I can't wait to show you what she's been working on for this new business Caleb and I are starting!

What are you trying to accomplish this month?!

A new perspective on creativity and busy weekends.

Friday evening was ladies night! I was so looking forward to this because we found a great deal for a local paint night and hello, girl time! I was able to get in touch with my creative side in a new light. Normally, my creative outlet is my other job; photography. So it was fun to try something new! I'd only done this once before but it was before Caleb and I were married so it had been a while!

When Erin, Natalie and I arrived and saw the painting up close and personal we were a little nervous. It was a LOT more detailed than the calendar online made it look; but we were determined. It helped tremendously that we had THE COOLEST teacher in all the land. Christine was her name, and she rocked it. She had an awesome playlist and pretty sure there was more dancing than painting half the time.

To be totally honest, I'm kind of impressed with us. I love that each of ours has their own unique spin on it, and I can't wait to hang this somewhere in our home!

Saturday, Caleb and I had another wedding and we knew we were in for a long day. What we didn't know we were in for, was one of the sweetest couples we've ever photographed. So many times throughout portraits, Daniell couldn't help but tear up and tell her sweet groom, Evan, how she couldn't wait for the next few hours to pass so she would be his WIFE! I did my fair share of tearing up all throughout the ceremony and the reception speeches, and it just gave me a renewed perspective for what Caleb and I get to be a part of. We honestly count ourselves blessed.

Their first look was one of the most precious I'd ever seen. Evan couldn't contain his emotions when he saw her! If you saw my instagram, you'd know it took both of their tissues to clean up those tears; talk about precious. I was also excited to find out this sweet bride of mine reads my blog!!

Sunday was filled with two engagement sessions and a lot of walking Downtown. The last engagement session ended at Rhinegeist which totally worked out so I could go support two of my friends at an art show that was being held there!

So while my weekend was long, a friend recently put things into perspective for me. She basically said to look at these long days as an act of worship, because I'm using the gifts God has given me! So I decided to look at this weekend through a new pair of lenses. The long weekends that include weddings, sessions, vendor meals, new faces, battery changes, memory cards, flash triggers, sore feet and tired eyes... I need to look at it as serving. I need to see it as an act of worship. I'm thankful for friends who speak truth when I need it most!

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend. Next up this weekend? A wedding in Nashville. Woo!!

Favorites of the week!

Happy Friday! Although we do have a long wedding day ahead of us tomorrow, I've still got lots of fun planned for tonight so I'm absolutely celebrating the fact that its Friday here in the office!

Caleb and I had a great week together. We're both trying to get back to our old healthier lifestyle habits and be the best versions of ourselves. I know that sounds cheesy, but its true!  Some highlights of my week included:

1 || This gorgeous view on my run. I somehow was able to run 2 full miles holding an 11 minute pace. I know its not fast, but I haven't gone for a run in months SO I was pretty pleased! I definitely stopped to take in the beauty a few times.

2 || This amazing, simple, HEALTHY one-sheet dinner I made on Wednesday (you can find the recipe here)! I'm basically pinning every single one-sheet dinners I can find now because, duh, easy cleanup!

3|| My lunch break walks. For a while back in the warmer weather, I'd walk everyday on my lunch break. Not only did it help my step count, but it really cleared my mind and helped to lower my stress levels. For some reason there's hardly anyone ever at this park, even when the weather is gorgeous! So its definitely my favorite go-to, especially during the Fall! The trees are insane over there!

4 || Stumbling across a meme of me.

5 || Finally announcing about our big business news! We're so excited and can't thank everyone enough for the support! It means the world.

I hope everyone has some fun plans this weekend!

Our much needed staycation.

Last week was our glorious stay-cation. Since our Hilton Head Island trip got cancelled due to the hurricane, we decided to still take a few days off to enjoy time together, rather than cancel it all together. That vacation time of mine will go away by the end of the year if its left unused, and we all know that can't happen! ;) 

We worked Monday, so our staycation started that evening! But Tuesday we decided to go see The Accountant at the movies pretty early in the day. You guys, it was so so good! I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed it! After that we grabbed lunch and spent the afternoon at home relaxing. That evening Caleb decided he wanted to burn a birthday gift card so we hit the town and did a little shopping.

Wednesday was Caleb's 28th birthday! We started the day bright and early with an 8:30 AM tee-time. I honestly know next to nothing about golf, but Caleb is really good! I only did 9 holes, but Caleb went with 18. He had fun teaching me the ropes, but lets be honest, the only thing I'm good for at a golf course is driving the golf cart! ;)

Once we got back home and cleaned up, I gave him his presents and then we hit the local outlets for a few hours! After the outlets we decided to try out Miami Valley Gaming. It was a lot of fun and we actually won some money at first, so we left early and had a very high-calorie dinner and decided not to be sorry about it. We're talking spinach and artichoke dip, burgers, shrimp, chicken, garlic french fries... yeah, I'm drooling again. ;)

His birthday was much different than I had originally planned, since I obviously had an entire day planned in HILTON HEAD.  But I presented Caleb with lots of options and he chose what he wanted and we had the best time together. I love that I have a husband who is so "go with the flow" and low-key. We could've stayed at home all day celebrating, and he would've probably been just as happy. Regardless, we had the best time celebrating how awesome he is!!

Thursday was spent doing NOTHING but gorging on donuts and starting The Lord of The Rings trilogy. This was Caleb's idea, but I have to say, I really liked them. Well, we only got through the first one that day but I really enjoyed it. It was the extended edition, so we're talking over 3 hours for the first movie, ha!

Friday we stopped by the OTHER outlets in town because Caleb was less than thrilled with Nike's selection on his birthday a few days prior at the other outlets, and he scored big! I was so excited for him! He found some really nice shirts that will definitely be his new go-to's! After that, we spent our evening at Dave and Busters gaming the night away. We had way too much fun!! I feel like a kid every time I'm there, and I love it!

Saturday was spent in a giant pit of never ending laundry and taking our tripod/new camera out for a spin. We took over 100 and ended up with MAYBE 4 cute ones, but we had a fun time, and that's what matters!

This was honestly the "reset" week that Caleb and I needed. We did whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. We did a lot of eating, resting, and also a whole lot of nothing. It was everything we wanted and needed it to be! Thanks for making it through the long post. It was just the best week!! I'm so thankful for that week off!

Hope everyone has a great day!

We have news - and its not what you think!

Caleb and I have been keeping a little secret from the blog world (lets get one thing clear right off the bat - no, we're not expecting) lately!

As you probably already know, Caleb and I are wedding photographers, and I post some of our work here every now and then. Here's the quick back story, for those of you that don't know! In 2013, our wedding photographers took a huge leap in their business and decided to make us a part of their team (you can read about that here)! So every wedding you've seen on this blog has been booked under their company. Caleb and I still did all the consultations, emailing, photographing, editing and delivering, but we were building up our experience level and learning a TON with each and every session/wedding.

 It was an unbelievable blessing; and our calendars filled up very quickly! I remember crying ugly tears on the way home from dinner with them thinking "My dreams are totally coming true"! It was surreal, we've learned so much the last 3+ years, and the experience with them has been absolutely invaluable.

However, over the course of this year, Caleb and I both felt God nudging us to something new, something unknown, something slightly terrifying. It was entirely too scary to even talk seriously about for a while, and then one night we both said, what are we waiting for!? Lets kick fear in the face!

So in June, we had our good friends over who own the business, and after some good pizza and even better conversation, we informed them that we would no longer be booking through their company because we've decided to...

START OUR OWN BUSINESS!

We're so unbelievably excited! Being in this business has already proved to be somewhat difficult, but it's absolutely going to be worth. I cannot wait to be my own boss! There are so many things that go into starting a business I hadn't even though of, but we're ecstatic about this new adventure God has called us to. We haven't officially launched, and its eating me alive, so I just had to get the news out there. We're hoping to be live before the holiday season gets underway!

I truly can't wait to be official and serve our clients in a new, fun, exciting way! I want to give them a whole experience. I can truly say, we've been fortunate enough to get a lot of couples who not only value us as vendors, but as humans, too! We have real friendships with some of these people, and THAT is what its all about. Creating genuine, authentic community with people; not just showing up, taking photos and posing. I'm so ready to see where this adventure takes us!

I'll keep the blog updated when we're officially launched, but in the meantime, please send Caleb and I all the good vibes, prayers, well wishes, etc.! Thanks for your support!!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Caleb and I enjoyed an amazing few days at home together last week and I can't wait to share it all with you guys! For now, though, its HALLOWEEN! We're kind of lame and didn't plan fun costumes this year. But hey, life happens! I'm absolutely okay with passing out candy tonight and maybe throwing on a ton of Bengals gear and passing it off as a "super fan" at the last minute? ;) Then heading back inside to watch a scary movie with my man!

Once upon a time, we used to get VERY into Halloween. The first year we were together we had a huge bowling party (which doubled as Caleb's 21st party) and it was way too much fun! Everyone went all out with the creative costumes! Year after year we went to an epic family party (we're talking they rented a tent, had a huge bonfire, themed food, best dressed trophies, etc.), and just had way too much fun celebrating the day.

While this year will be a little more low key, I'm still excited about it!

Anyone dressing up with a super creative costume tonight?! I want photos!!
Happy Halloween, friends!