artifacts and dialogue

had the opportunity to visit & shoot adored vintage's lovely little showroom/studio yesterday and also have refreshing conversations about life and faith. it's wonderful the different kinds of people you meet and whose lives you open yours to when you choose to step out the door.

(photo: my instagram)

new lamp

loving my new little lamp (from etsy!), and still getting this house in order...

new shelves!

i finally had some shelving put up in my tiny office; i still have to organize a bit, but i'm obsessed with them! i'm embarrassed how long it's taking us to get settled in and organized (that's what we get for getting married/moving during wedding season), but any kind of accomplishment should be celebrated, right?

what small victories have you had today?

home sweet home

even though we've been in our house for about a month and a half now, we're not making a huge amount of progress in settling in (as you can tell by my bare office...the mess is conveniently pushed off beyond the camera's view). all the furniture is set up, but i still have a lot of funiture to buy for my office (yay, we have an extra room for my office!) as well as fun little decor items for the rest of the house. my mother-in-law is coming this weekend so i have a great incentive to get a move on it! 

even though i love our little home (so much beautiful light and perpetually beautiful weather)... we don't know anyone in the area and i most definitely need to get out of the house more during the week. especially since i'm mostly at the computer answering emails or editing images with nary a soul in sight (afternoon pajamas and messy hair testify to this on too often an occasion).  to conclude, i must say that married life is wonderful and complete. my most favorite part of the day is greeting my husband when he comes home and going to bed together!

blessed

i am so blessed. today is mother's day so i'm giving thanks for my mother, whose beauty cannot be fully completely captured by my insufficient words. happy mother's day to a single mother who made it her life's mission to give herself to her loved ones -- generously, abundantly, selflessly, gently/tenderly and completely... physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. i have an amazing and most beautiful woman for a mother. (here she is in a photo as a little girl!)

in addition, i'm also giving thanks today (and for the rest of my days) for my handsome, amazing, funny,  servant-hearted fiance. it was my birthday last week and even though we're on a budget (getting married, and all), he planned a tiny celebration for the two of us. in addition to a most delicious dinner (proscuitto-wrapped chicken, stuffed with breadcrumbs, dried cherries and herbs), he got me the loveliest cake and a copy of elizabeth messina's new book!





(these are at our new home by the way... can't show any photos right now because we have barely any furnishings)

i was born by the river

it's the home stretch guys! i have exactly 29 days (excluding today) until i become a mrs! i'm getting a bit anxious because we've been dealing with some not-so-reliable vendors and because so many of the things on my monthly to-do lists for this wedding have been pushed into the month of may. however, there's a silver lining too: we signed the lease on our new home (hence, all the pins of interiors on my pinterest lately)!

this last period has been very bittersweet and full of mixed feelings. i don't usually talk about very serious/personal things here, but one of the most difficult things about this period of time is my grandmother. she has fourth-stage lung cancer, but by God's grace has been okay for the most part living on her own... until the past couple weeks. the wonderful part of having my own business, is my ability to go and see her in the middle of the week and just help where needed. last week when i went to see her, i found that she had fallen in the restroom and couldn't get up for hours. we took her to the ER, where the doctor found fractures in both feet and in her hip. i know i shouldn't, but i feel so guilty that my wedding is during this period of time, where our family has more than enough to deal with. yet, despite what seems to be a bad situation, i trust that God is working and using the seemingly bad for his good plans.

it's definitely been hard to be 100% at life: relationships, managing my business, preparing for marriage, etc.. i definitely feel that i'm not doing well in either category because i'm constantly being pulled to and from each one. i keep waiting for the period of time after the wedding when i can focus on one thing and be excellent at it, but i know that's not the nature of life :).  in any case, here's looking forward to finally getting hitched!

i wish i could post photos of the things we're working on but i want it to be a surprise!



(image: nicolette's studio via odette)

pretty paper

just wanted to share some pretty paper today, just because.
top: liner paper used for our invites; bottom: our engagement photo packaging!

developing days

it's been crazy y'all.

i can't believe we only have 2+ months left till the big day!  i try not to freak out when i look at my to-do list and there are still a million things in the march category. i'm already behind on invites, i  designed the main parts in what time i had free over the course of 1-2 days.  i still have 100 booklets to design and sew together... sigh. i can't wait until all i see is strike-throughs on my list.  i'm thankful that pretty much most of our vendors are booked and within our humble budget (and one of them will be a fun surprise for our guests).

saturday, T and i went down to SD for premarital (we have only 1 left!) and tried to go back in time and live up our college days. sadly, it was pouring the entire day and we left feeling a bit jipped (we didn't even get any carne asada fries!). the next day, i assisted the lovely jen (iartu) and shot  justina blakeney's wedding. i was so stoked to shoot at her little jungalow, which was a small space transformed into a magical space.

the very next day i got sick (as i so often do), and declared the day a no-work/editing day....and originally a no-computer day until i couldn't help but watch an episode of the walking dead (my new guilty pleasure). yesterday was back to work and today was wedding errand day. i almost regret my choice to make my own envelope liners. to end a perfectly productive day of driving around, i also got back a roll of film... the act of which i think is one of life's greatest simple joys (even if it's just a test roll to test out a new body).

weekend snips

 a few film shots from the night before this weekend's wedding.

gold + pinks + love

finally got around to attempting that gold-dipped bowl tutorial from curbly.

i had quite some trouble getting the clay off my bowl, but it still turned out alright.  instead of gold acrylic paint i used gold spray paint and i have to say, that stuff is amazing.  such a cheap but fun project! i'm using mine as a jewelry dish.




a bouquet from my soon-to-be-forever valentine. he also gave me a potted daisy for when this bouquet dies! winner! we ate a simple meal and watched the lady in black; wouldn't have had it any other way. i'm such a fan of scary movies.

apart from this clay bowl making and receiving of flowers, i finished our pre-wedding website last week! also, the restful (restful in the sense that i only had to do my own wedding planning for a bit) lack of weddings/portraits is ending this week, so i have to get back to work (though i do love my work). in fact, i have a shoot today!

i hope to share my website with you all soon enough.  enjoy your thursday!

work, rest, repeat

happy sunday y'all!

sorry i haven't been posting anything inspiring or requiring any kind of effort (haha).. i'm just ready to relax!

i've been so busy lately with meetings with clients, preparing our non-traditional save-the-date, collecting and planning for our engagement shoot (which was yesterday!), finalizing catering for d-day and.... i have not a photo to show for it (since my workhorse lens is in the shop for repairs).  hopefully i will have some sneak peaks for you soon from our shoot!

how was your weekend?

(photo: anthropologie)

autumn in film

T took the one on the left and the one below!

ice cream on state street :)

our surprise ice-skating date.

(another lovely shot by T)

this past week

i ate a lot of pasta this week. a lot. why? because it doesn't require an oven or anything electric of the sort (just gas) and yesterday was my first day of returned power after the 4 day blackout from the santa ana winds!

(on a side note: i know this photo looks horrible, but trust me, this pasta is absolutely delicious. i'm ghetto so i used turkey bacon instead of bacon and balsamic vinegar instead of red wine. i also substituted paprika for the red pepper flakes. i know, i know, did i even follow the recipe at all?)

i live near the pasadena area, so for the past few days the streets have been filled with debris, hundreds of trees were uprooted, and most residents in pasadena and neighboring cities lost their power. i think some folks still don't have their power (!!).

apart from the days living like an amish person, we are completely safe. our house didn't even lose a single tile (many did), and for that i am so thankful. i have to admit i had no idea what to do with myself half the time. i enjoyed some reading and cleaning, but the rest of the time i sat thinking, "WHAT IS THIS MADNESS?" (yes, i am a sad person).

saturday was fun because T came to visit and we had a date in the midst of the madness.

grand slam: over-easy egg, hash browns, thick bacon, all on a hot dog and delicious bun.



my new favorite hot dog place: dog haus in pasadena.

spent the afternoon walking around pasadena (streets still full of trees).

ended with christmas lights in naples, long beach.

i know, i know. i almost wish the lights would go out more often (almost).

golden days

i had the most relaxing thanksgiving weekend in santa barbara visiting T and the (future) in-laws and extended family. we hit up solvang for some bomb-azing pancakes as well as los olivos for some tasty cupcakes. most of these are on my photo blog but i thought i'd post a couple more here.

hear hear: paula's pancakes. best dutch pancakes ever.

my love & i.

even the leaves are cute here.

enjoy cupcakes!

*cymbal clang* the end.

hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving!

thanksgiving

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happy thanksgiving everybody!

this morning i am thankful for another year of the quiet moments, the mundane, and the daily portions of common grace given to me...that i awoke each day in good health, living in stability, with a home to call my own, having infinitely more possessions that i need and much more love from those around me than i deserve.

how blessed i am to be a child of God, living in the reality of his mercy and love every hour of my every day.

the Lord is my portion," says my soul, therefore i will hope in him (lamentations 3:24)