New Days

From one ending comes another beginning.

My trusty Dell died yesterday. It was quite sad... I lost a lot of pictures, files, etc. I had planned my wedding on that computer, started my photography business, and learned how to use photoshop! Never the less, Dells were not intended to last forever and mine contracted a nasty virus that even wiping the hard drive didn't fix :( So. My wonderful husband bought me a MacBook Pro :) I love it.

So, in a bad situation a good thing may arrive.

Now, to apply this principle to my stressed out life. Haha.

Home

Whenever I've had a bad day or I'm extremely tired it's like a switch flips in my head and all I can think is "I want to go home, I want to go home, I want to go home." But I'm sitting on my couch in my "home". So why do I still have this yearning for "home"?

Not feeling so hot today... God's plans are running on an entirely different schedule than mine and while I know His timing is perfect, patience has never been my strong suit.

On a (maybe not so) unrelated note, I was listening to an interview on the radio today and the person was talking about how hard it is to deal with the death of a dream. I think that when dealing with death, in any form, you must allow yourself to grieve in order to move on. If you don't allow yourself to do so eventually the grief will eventually express itself in other ways...

It's been an interesting day.

Band Camp!

Today is the last day of band camp! What a week it has been too! We've learned all of the pre-game drill and memorized all the music for it. We've also began learning our half time drill and we've memorized through the middle of "spiderman". The weather has been gorgeous this week and this morning is no different. We're finishing up our last field rehearsal of band camp in only moderate heat ;)
Last night was the annual band luau and we all had a blast. Winners of the men's belly flop and women's cannonball contest were impressive to say the least! Lots of food and swimming later and we're all back at the field ready to finish strong! Make sure to become a fan of our Facebook page to check out all the pictures from the week!

Disney Name Tag Countdown

I just discovered this and I am SO excited! I may not actually be going when this says I am but a Disney name tag with my name on it and a countdown?! So cool!

upgrade

The next few weeks are going to be filled with lots of upgrades! I just got my second new lens! I am SO excited, it is definitely my nicest lens so far and I have to say... my camera looks legit! I'm also doing a major overhaul on my photography website this week, starting with lots of new pics. Here is one that will be taking center stage for awhile.

More details to come! I hope your Monday has been fantastic and this week has lots of exciting things in store for you!

Oh, what a wonderful morning

This is my current view this morning.



I scheduled a massage for this morning since I've had a headache for a full week now. The salon is running a little behind which is fine with me. They gave me some sparkling cider (grape too, my favorite!) and I'm getting to catch up on all my favorite style magazines all in a very relaxing atmosphere. The music is soft and relaxing and the workers all speak in hushed tones, the colors are beautiful shades of beige and everything is very plush. I'm the only one here, I guess Tuesday's aren't a very popular day for salon visits but I am perfectly okay with that.

There are a lot of exciting things happening in the next few weeks. This week is my last week as a social work intern. I'm actually pretty sad about that but I'm praying that a position will open up soon so I can continue doing this job I love so much. Next week I should be getting in 2 new camera lenses I've been covering for months as well as my very own copy of Photoshop! Then next weekend is our friends Leisa and Ryan's wedding. Luke is a groomsmen and will be playing in their quintet which I will also be playing in.

Luke and I practiced together yesterday and we had so much fun. Rehearsing together was really what brought us together in the first place. He was helping me with our school's wind ensemble audition piece and we would spend hours playing our instruments together. It was a lot of fun going back to that yesterday.

After the wedding I will be getting my braces off! And from there everything will undoubtedly be on fast forward to band camp and the looming marching band season.

In other news, my sister and I and 2 of our friends went to busch gardens this past weekend. It wasn't what I was expecting (remember this is the girl who lived at disney world for 6 months) but it was still a lot of fun.











And a cute puppy picture to perk up your Tuesday morning.

Happy 3rd... 4th... 5th... of July?

Happy July everyone! This weekend has been very eventful for us, we ended up making a spontaneous trip to Washington D.C. to watch their fireworks and it was a blast! (no pun intended, haha) We were definitely tourists, well mainly I was... but we had a lot of fun. My sister and our friend Leisa went with us and between our search for the capital building and the mad dash across town so I could see the White House (which ended up being blocked) we made lots of memories. 
Here is Elizabeth and Leisa on their way to the metro!

Luke and I on the metro... 

he likes to make fun of me because I'm a tourist but really I think he likes that I'm so obnoxiously excited about everything :)

Me and my sister, Elizabeth, on the metro! She's living with us for now until school starts in early August. It's going really well and it's so nice to be able to spend so much time with her. Love this kid :)

Group picture! (while the rest of our car looked on, haha)

Can you read the sign? Haha, it says something about no trespassing! This is in front of the house of representatives... maybe the senate? Either way it's a pretty darn cute picture!

Luke and I in front of the capital!

The fireworks... and our last stop of the night, Wawa!!! Luke and I had never been and it was absolutely delicious! I had a philly cheese steak sandwhich that was literally the best I ever had and chili cheese ruffle chips! Delicious!

After arriving back home at 3:30am, this morning was easier than I thought. I have 8 cups of coffee in a thermos waiting on me and nice hot mug already filled up :) I kind of feel like I got bumped by a bus, not full on hit, but bumped definitely, haha.

This weekend definitely remind me of a quote from Gretchin Rubin, the author of "The Happiness Project".

"The days are long, but the years are short."

Even though yesterday seemed like the longest day ever when we were sprinting across DC, it also seems like just a second ago that I was holding my baby sisters hands when she would be afraid of the dark. Now look at us. So live it up folks! Make the trip, invest in relationships, and don't be afraid to experience this wonderful thing called life!