SoCal Adventure

I say adventure like it was some awesome beach-backpacking trip where we scuba dived and hiked the cliffs of SoCal. Alas, it is nothing of the sort. Two posts in one day, though? That counts for something. Well, Mr and I went to SoCal..oh, I don't know..5 months ago? So now is obviously the most appropriate time to blog about it. There's also a trip from January I'll be posting about at some point or another..I just like to keep y'all in suspense for months on end before sharing our adventures. It's really the only way to keep you coming back. 

Most of our trips down to SoCal, in the last two years, have been Army related, and this one was no exception. But we did score an extra day for free which we spent at Disneyland so it wasn't all that bad. Because we're a National Guard family, we have to attend these pointless informative Yellow Ribbon Ceremonies where they basically file everyone into a small hotel ballroom and hand you pamphlets on PTSD and TRICARE Prime. This post-deployment ceremony was a little different in that Mr received all of his deployment awards and a cool see-through backpack [that he can bring to drill?...right]. Anyway, it was mostly pointless and added extra luggage for us to haul back home, but our day-trip to Disneyland was all the fun you could imagine.

Best part of the trip? The hotel. The Army pays for our hotels whenever we go to SoCal and they're usually quite luxurious rooms. This was BY FAR the most luxurious of all the hotels we've stayed in on the Army's dime. However, the only rooms left had two twin sized beds instead of the king sized bed we had reserved. So, to compensate for our "inconvenience" they upgraded our stay to the newly renovated, top floor, harbor view and gave us a complementary breakfast buffet ticket. Then suddenly I wasn't too concerned about sleeping across the room from Mr because it became a battle of who would sleep closest to the window with the view, we're really mature.

[obvs Bridge came with me on the plane]

Karen | Senior & Family Session

Karen was in my senior seminar group so we got nice and close over the course of the semester while we conducted a study focusing on the acculturation of immigrants. Sounds fun, right? Ha. Karen wanted a mixture of family and senior portraits so we combined the session and had a fun night walking the streets of downtown!

In other news, I've been thinking about some changes with this blog here. Maybe a permanent name change, maybe not..I can't really decide. We're doing a test-run right now. There's great meaning behind Consider The Lilies, which I'll go into at some point, but I think I might be ready for something new and fresh. This little space is a mixture of so many parts of me and I can't decide whether I'm having a "mid-blogging crisis" or if I really like the randomness that seems to occur here. Does it need more direction? More consistency? I'm not sure, but be on the lookout for change. I thrive on change which is sometimes good and sometimes bad, more often than not I think the change I so often crave is good. It's refreshing and inspiring to begin fresh with new things. We shall see.

Oh, and my birthday is in two days...first one Mr will be home for in two years!

peonies

one of my goals this summer is to keep fresh flowers in our apartment throughout the season, these peonies are my favorite thus far :)

enjoying: nights with all doors and windows open to let that cool breeze flow through, reading bloom [never wanting it to end], total freedom, re-decorating & cleaning out our little place, our new vacuum that we were able to buy with coupons and a gift card oh my gosh...it really is as amazing as it looks.. & it's white!

happy tuesday friends.

and that's all I have to say about that

[Mr was able to make it to my graduation even though he had drill..woo!]

[my family]

[best friend and her hubby]

[before and after graduation]

I'm a college graduate! And that's the last time you'll ever hear me mention school on this here blog. Whew, I made it..if you're still here after all my boring school posts, I thank you :) I'll be on to new and better things now like decorating, crafting, and pictures from the Canon 5D mark ii that is to come..no big deal.

I have a new photo shoot that I'll probably be sharing tomorrow so check back for that!

graduation day

I'm graduating from college in 2 hours. I can't believe it's finally here. The countdown on my computer dashboard now has fireworks surrounding a flashing "GRADUATION!" My hair is curled, my cap is decorated [think everyone will know I'm a blogger based on the choice of burlap and banners :)?] my gown is hanging, text messages of where to meet so and so will soon commence, and we'll be off to the commencement in just a little while. I've worked my hiny off through 4 1/2 years of college and it's all come down to today. I'm proud of myself, to say the least. Here's to hoping I don't trip as I walk across the stage!

tranquil corner

In front of a small antique shop in old town, lies this corner of tranquility. I could sit and read a book, or just relax here all day long.  It's an old house, turned antique shop and the absolute sweetest, carefree, hospitable lady owns it. I kinda think she lives there too because after Mr and I left, we saw her jump out front so she could tend to her garden. I love simple things like tonight that remind me to stress less, and enjoy the smaller things in life.

Day out with the Mutha

Today was a good day. I had planned to get some shopping done by myself, knowing it would be a long, but productive day. Well, my mutha jumps at any chance to spend time with me since I went and got married on her. I can't blame her though, I'm a pretty fun person ;) Anyway, I told my mom what I had planned today and she offered to come along. We had good talks, sore feet, and bought pretty things :) I'm thankful for days like today when I'm reminded of how blessed I am to have a momma who loves spending time with me and walking around the mall for 5 hours until we find the perfect graduation dress. 

I ended up buying myself that super cute mint green book, Domino [off Amazon though...saved $10!]. There's so many great design tips in there and it's a wonderful coffee table book. Also, if there's any bloggers in the NorCal area who would be interested in a blogger meetup at West Elm, be on the lookout for some further info in the next few weeks!

life lately via instagram & other things

I haven't shared my life via instagram lately so I wanted to catch all of you up on some of the latest :)

1. Anyone else read 23 books at one time?  Okay not literally 23 but you get the idea. I like to keep it interesting with more than one book at a time. 2. New Essie colors. 3. New jewelery in the mail, hand made by this lady...you should read her blog, and buy her stuff...you won't be disappointed. 4. My signed book plate came in the mail from this other cool lady, her book Bloom just came out and I'm just about halfway through. It's one of those books I'm taking my time with because I'll be sad the day it's over. Absolutely amazing and inspiring on so many levels.  5. Sticks I found in our complex, turned indoor decor. Fun? Strange? Neutral? I'm not sure, at the moment I'm leaning toward fun...I see many possibilities for holiday fun with these! 6. Red pants and floral shoes..duh. 7. Soft serve from Big Spoon, with gummy worms..duh. 8. Last class of Senior Seminar was held at a restaurant and bar, where we all drank margaritas and bought our professor shots. Highly appropriate? Yes. The evening out was followed up with an email the next morning from our professor,

"High priority

The papers were awesome! You all got As, though a couple papers lost a few points for APA or typos. But they were OUTSTANDING papers and I am very, very proud to have been your instructor.

Dr. Z"

Just pointing out that our group wasn't one of the few to lose points for APA/typos...just saying ;). I'm feeling good, only one more final to finish out the semester...but it's a take home final so I'm practically DONE!

and last but not least, 10. Showing some love to my little man. I can't even handle his cuteness.

for your laughing pleasure

I can't get enough of these dumb e-cards. I don't know why they're so funny to me, but here's a few of my favorites lately. All via Pinterest, of course. Hope you get a little chuckle out of some :)

and the most applicable one to my life at the moment...

It's appropriate to mention that I no longer have anything left to learn in college. In other words, I've mastered just about everything there is to know.

Obviously you have no clue where I'm going with that, do you?

Last night I took my very last set of lecture notes...EVER. So I wasn't lying to you. I have nothing left to learn. From this point on it's all presentations, papers and finals. I can't even handle how awesome that is. And what were my last notes, you ask? I learned about subliminal persuasion. That's correct, I now know how to subliminally persuade you, watch out!

Maybe I've already subliminally persuaded you in this very post....you'll never know. That's awkward.

Too far?

Andrew & Caitlin | Couples Session

I gave a little preview of this shoot in my last post, and I'm so excited to share the rest today! I've tried to squeeze in as many shoots as I can during my last semester of school, and I'm so happy we were able to fit this one in. I went to high school with Caitlin and Andrew and have been lucky enough to keep in touch with them since graduating years ago. We had a great time fighting the little bit of evening humidity and ended up with some wonderful pictures. I tried real hard to condense this post, but there's just so many great shots that I couldn't do it! I had such a fun time with you and Andrew, Caitlin. Thank you for letting me capture these memories for you :)