little school updates

I think my least favorite part of posting blogs is figuring out how to start out.

So let's skip the attention getting, jaw dropping, clever introduction and jump straight into my good news. I just had my last first day of school

ever! 

Thanks for being excited with me. I'll be a college graduate in about four months time, Lord willing I pass all 16 units of class I'll be taking.

 gag  

 Anyway, Mr is back in school this semester also and it's his first time in two years. He was a little excited to get back into the school routine since it's been so long. So we spent the night before school putting together our backpacks, binders and going through the few hundred or so pens I've hoarded accumulated. 

I made sure to have a healthy breakfast for my last, first day so I could start the semester out right.

[vanilla greek yogurt, sliced bananas & granola with some sort of dried berries]

I know this semester is going to be tough which is why I'm so glad I have a five hour break on Mondays and Wednesdays. It's the perfect time to get homework done and head over to the campus gym..which is totally what I do...

And what I totally do not do is..check the clock every twenty minutes..treat myself to subway sandwiches..blog instead of read textbooks..or take shameless self portraits.

Here's to productivity and last semesters.

Coffee, a planner and a purse

As we speak, I am sitting on our bed with F.R.I.E.N.D.S season 5 playing in the background while Mr and his best friend play Skyrim in the living room. It's a one player, xbox game so naturally his friend brought over his own TV so they could play together. Geeks. But I love it. Our room is clean, belly's are full and I don't have to work for another week. I'd say I'm thoroughly enjoying tonight and soakin up the happiness. I also need to mention that I'm proud owner of a dot com now! All readers will automatically be redirected but just so we're all up to speed I am now nicoledianne.com :)

...

So as of lately

We spent the night hanging out at a local coffee shop a few days ago, and I quite enjoyed myself. Notice my new planner? I basically never want 2012 to end just so I can use this planner for the rest of time. Oh, and Mr has sufficiently made fun of my decision making process over buying the perfect one. Clearly he doesn't understand the importance of finding the very best :) See if I write down his important appointments pshh..

Out back of the coffee shop there's twinkle lights, heaters and a fire pit. I wouldn't be upset my backyard looked like this someday. 

In other news, we've been spending a lot of time with our friendlies lately. Blonde boy on the left is a musician and scored an entire movie over the last couple months. His movie debuted this week so we all dressed up and had a night out in honor of him and his awesome accomplishment.

I'll be in a wedding this weekend so we had a bachelorette party for the lovely lady in purple. And yes, we are drinking out of boy part straws. I enlarged the picture for your viewing pleasure...wait what?

 

And last but not least..
Say hello to my new purse. I begged and pleaded with Mr to let me buy this, it's only my fourth purse in four years including my $4 thrift store find..so I indulged and I'm most pleased :) Happy wife happy life, yes?

I'll be off to wedding festivities for the rest of this weekend so here's to hoping I last longer than 10 minutes in my heels.

Instagram: #janphotoaday

I'm sort of obsessed with instagram, Mr can attest to this. So I thought I'd share my #janphotoaday collection thus far.

(from top left to right)

Day 1: me

Day 2: Breakfast - scone and coffee

Day3: Something I adore - my Rebel (D series soon please!)

Day 4: Letterbox - our mailbox

Day 5: Something I wore today - secret's out..I'm a Starbucks barista and I make a mean caramel macchiato

Day 6: Makes me smile - Mr and his silliness at our first Five Guys experience

Day 7: Favorite - time with my family

Day 8: My sky - Vacation at Squaw Valley

Day 9: Daily routine - I light candles every single day

Day 10: Childhood - Baby Cole

Day 11: Where I sleep

Favorite Photographs from 2011

Here's a little montage of some of my favorite photographs I took this past year.. just for the heck of it.

Krista from Life is the Messy Bits asked me to take some pics of her and the hubby while he was home on R&R. I wanted to duplicate another leaf blowing picture I had done a few months back, so we grabbed some crunchy dead leaves off the ground..did one shot and came out with this!

My friend Jenna and I have had multiple classes together during college and she asked me to take her senior pictures. This was my first shoot with the 50mm 1.4 and I just about died with the results. Not to toot my own horn but I was pretty stoked on this shoot.

 

A friend of mine came over with her son to hang out one day and my new little toy was desperately longing to be played with, resulting in shoot number 2 with the 50 :) Momma was standing close behind this little wobbly dude making sure he didn't fall, and we caught him at just the perfect angle.

 

This shoot was special to me because it was my first wedding, done all by myself. This was the last picture of the night while everyone stood around the happy couple dancing and singing. I love the happy looks on everyone's face!

Second shooting is an amazing thing and resulted in my favorite shoot of all time. Now I just need to upgrade that rebel of mine into the D series and get the 50 f/1.2 and I'll be rockin ;)

There's hundreds more on my hard drive waiting to be shared, and maybe throughout the year I'll share more from each of these shoots. But these were some of my favorites compiled into one post!

weekend getaway teaser

Mr and I got the chance to slip away for the weekend with my family, and until I get all of the pictures gathered in one place..here's a little teaser of our trip! Slightly snowy..but more sunny and super beautiful.

just a Thursday night

Christmas break has been good to me and Mr. Most mornings are filled with relaxation, a warm cup of coffee and in this case, a blueberry scone. Delish to the fullest. I'm feeling inspired lately. Ready to document my daily again, and post more than iPhone edited..square pictures. Anyone ever seen Kelle Hampton or Arielle Elise? So very inspiring with their bright, crisp photographs and thought provoking posts. My style is in the developing phase..and I'm quite sure that it never truly stops. But, these two ladies inspire me with their passion in photography and writing.

I want to create. learn. explore. sharpen. develop. inspire. and most importantly love and adore my passion. Sounds so refreshing and fulfilling.
 
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart,…you’ll know when you find it.” — Steve Jobs

Welcome, 2012

 It was the happiest of new year's eve in two years, that's for sure. So many exciting things to look forward to in this new year. The main thing being graduation! After graduation I plan to go full time photography. Crossing my fingers and praying for the best. Mr is going back to school and still working on finding a job. I'm not so hot on the resolutions idea because quite honestly, they never get kept. But, I know our Jesus will provide and bring us the best 2012 we could imagine so that's good enough for me!