i can now call myself a wedding photographer


and that's pretty darn cool.

pictures from this weekend's wedding. my first OFFICIAL wedding. let's take a moment to let that sink in.

God has blessed me and my photography business beyond what I could have imagined. I'm still floored that this all happened yesterday.

thank you Jesus, over and over again.

day in the city | blogger date


Last weekend I met up with one of my favorite designers/bloggers, Michaela, in the city! We had been trying to get together for almost a year now and our schedules never matched up until just recently. She is such a stylish, fun girl and I'm so thankful we've been able to form a friendship through blogging. How cool is that? It was so great to finally hang out and spend the day together!

We started out at the Flower Mart where we pieced together a beautiful bouquet. You can find all the details to that DIY here on Michaela's blog! It was the coolest place..literally a warehouse full of gorgeous buckets of flowers. It's pretty much a farmer's market for just flowers. You can't go wrong with that!


Then we went a little picture crazy to make sure we captured the prettiness of our bouquet :D

yes i'm fully aware the right side of my hair is having a friz crisis...let's just move past it and blame the bay area weather :) 

AND can I just say I would LOVE to come back to the Flower Mart for a full-on photo shoot. Please, someone take me up on this offer? I promise your pictures will be colorful, and pretty :) 

After the Flower Mart we spent some time shopping around the city and just chatting. It was a great day and I can't wait til we can meet up again! Don't forget to go say hello to her and check out her DIY bouquet post HERE

:)


life lately via instagram


latte art by a friend | flower mart in the city with ms. michaela noelle :) | hobby lobby sale knobs, be still my heart | found my old paint supplies, be still my creative heart | gorg sunset after saturday night church | silly pictures on our anniversary dinner

life is sweet. i have a job, i have a husband, i have creativity and art, i have my health, i have so much love, i have the cutest pup, i have a loving family, i have photography, i have books to read, i have a stellar church, i have a bible..that i can read whenever i want, i have tv..woot!, i have clothes, i have a house.....sometimes reminding ourselves of all that we are blessed with is necessary :)

-----------------------------

in other news i have a few features to share with you all! i was featured on michaela's blog last week sharing what i love and don't love, check that post out here!

AND

one of my dear friends kyla featured me on her blog today, here!

september fourteenth wasn't our anniversary...but we celebrated like it was


Mr and I weren't really able to do much celebrating on our actual anniversary because of school, work, and the Army so we both took Thursday off from work this week and spent the day together. It was much needed, and we had such a wonderful day together. It was nothing extravagant or over the top. But it was us, and I like us :)

I'm Into Something Good by The Bird and the Bee on Grooveshark

We started off the morning at a local coffee shop where two of our best friends work. It's a sweet, intimate little shop with brick walls, local artist's paintings on the walls, little coves with lamps and pillows where we were able to enjoy each other's company and sip on delicious coffee. 


This is one of our best friends that works there, and just so happened to be working when we came in. He sat with us for a bit after his shift ended and we had some good chats :)


and this is what happens when you give boys your camera.....


Mr and I spent the afternoon shopping around town for some new clothes for the upcoming Fall season :) and later that evening he surprised me with a trip up the road into the hills for dinner. Unfortunately, the really awesome restaurant he planned to go to was randomly closed for the night so we decided on the local pizza joint. Voted number one pizza place in our city last year!


The artwork throughout the pizza joint was hilarious and we had a good laugh checking out the walls with frame to frame pictures around the entire place. Like this lady for example...who knows what she's doing? We ate dinner right next to her though :)


See the big fat bellies in the top right corner? Yea we ate by them too.


and then there was the table next to us. Those cross eyes looked at me all through dinner, and I loved every bit of it.


Friends, marriage is hard..but so rewarding. Goodness, I get to sleep next to my best friend every night. I get to curl up on the couch and read my book while he sits next to me making comments about the atomic..nuclear..whatcha-muh-call-it from his biology text book, and I love every second of it. We've been through a lot together and setting aside this day to celebrate our love was everything I'd hoped for. God is so good to us.

Life without my hubby in it wouldn't even make sense to me, and I'm so thankful he's been mine for the past 5 years...2 of which by marriage. I love you bub, you make me the happiest I've ever been and will ever be.




sometimes fear controls me

and it shouldn't.

Two weeks ago we moved into our new home, and it's darn cute. I love everything about it. I love the hardwood floors, I love the mint green 40's tile in the bathroom shower, I love the open kitchen/living room concept, I love our picket fence, I love our huge closet, I love that our best friends are moving two blocks away, I love that it's our first home together.

I don't love that someone tried breaking in to our home after a week of living here. I don't love that a cop came to our door the other night looking for a man who lives behind us. I don't love that I had to transfer to a new Starbucks [not because I doubted my new store would be awesome, only b/c I'm a home body and miss all my friends from my first store] I don't love that I don't always feel safe, even though we live in a quaint, adorable neighborhood. How can so much fear be controlling me day to day?

I don't want to let fear control me. There's too much life to live without fear creeping in to all aspects of it.

"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you..." Luke 12:27 & 28 

It's taken me a few days to complete this post. As I've processed everything, I've come to the conclusion that unless I give Satan the power to instill fear, then I have total control of living in peace. Know why? Because my Heavenly Father has power OVER the enemy, that alone should be enough to settle any nervous heart. 

Our homes are to be our safe places, and I won't let the enemy rob me of that. This past week has blossomed some major growth in my spirit. 

As expected, I've become more comfortable at my new store, even remembering some regulars. Seeing those familiar faces in a new place is pure happiness to me. Get this, little old man Wally even remembered MY name today. Oh and let me tell you, he is SO adorable. Greeted me with, "Well hello Nicole! I'll take my usual!" I responded with, "I'm so sorry to say I really don't remember just yet!" and he followed with, "Oh that's expected, after all.. this is just your 2nd time seeing me" We then nailed down his beverages and I assured him I would remember his two double cupped, decaf grande no room americano's tomorrow. One with sugar free hazel nut and one with sugar free caramel :). I also thanked him for remembering who I was, it meant more to me than he could know. I felt like I belonged today. And that's a cool feeling, in a new place. Guess what else? My co-workers are REALLY awesome, the more I get to know them the more I fall in love with the store. Such genuine, great people. That's not to say all my old co-workers won't hold a special place in my barista heart...because they do. But now I'm expanding room in there for some more awesome people and it feels good.

clearly this poot has made himself at home here :)

Some time has passed since someone almost broke into our home, so the invasive feelings that came with that are slowly dwindling. Part due to time passing, part due to family and friends who have stepped up in BIG, big ways.. but mostly due to putting my trust back in God. It feels good, so very good.

I don't know why the Lord let some scary things happen over the last couple of weeks. But I do know His plans are better than mine. Obviously this isn't an over night transformation of laying all fears before Him, but it's a start. It's acknowledging that His yoke is easy and burden light, so I should constantly bring my fears before Him instead of worrying about them on my own. I want our home to be blessed, full of life and love when our friends are here. I want the angels guarding all corners so Satan knows He isn't welcome in this place, because it's filled with the Holy Spirit, always. With God on our side I know this fear will pass and life will return to normal. Our family is safe, so very safe under the protection of our God.



two years of being married is the coolest


we're just babies..but two years strong my friends. mr and i just celebrated two years together on wednesday, the 5th. so thankful we were able to spend our anniversary together this year. unfortunately he's in school and had to wake up at 4am for drill, so we were only able to spend the evening together but that's better than a pixelated skype call! we plan on spending a whole day together next week when stuff settles down a bit.

we enjoyed a lovely dinner out to BJ's restaurant followed by some relaxation at home. how beautiful was the sunset that night? i just love when God paints the sky :)

when family steps in


not everything has gone accordingly with our recent move into a home. God has no doubt continually blessed us & kept us safe, but there has been a major hiccup along the way. will share more of it later this weekend, or next week sometime. family & friends have stepped up in big ways & for that i am grateful. i'm also thankful i was able to spend tonight with my sis-n-law & her two kiddos.. keeping my mind off things for now. she seriously has the coolest kids.. that i get to call family.