Rest can be seen on my flickr . Enjoy

Last night we had a fantastic storm here. Poured and poured, it was what some would say, “It rained cats and dogs”. This morning on my way out for my busy Saturday I was welcome to this:

Covered! My front yard is covered with leaves! What a delightful way to start my day!

Even Gwen got in on the action! I love how the leaves stuck to Gwen for a while as I drove – like fall decorations or something.

Even trash cans look nice when leaves are covering their tops. I mean just look at them! Would you find this picture nice at all if the leaves were not apart of it? I know I wouldnt.

Look at this, just look at it! COVERED. My drive is just completely covered in leaves. I wish it could look like this at all times.

I’ll admit, Im enchanted by the falling leaves. I dont care if my hair that I spent twenty mintues on this morning is completely ruined thanks to the wind. I was engulfed in leaves as they danced around me. Driving down the street, the leaves spun around my car and sprinkled down from the sky. God did fall up right here in Carolina.

I posted some photos on flickr of Project Serve. I wrote a little bit under each photo to tell a little bit about the trip. Enjoy.

Couple of girls in the youth group asked if I would take some photos of them together before they part ways and go off to different colleges. They are sweet friends and loved they asked me to take such photos. They also wanted their good guy friends to come along part way through the photo shot for some photos with them. The boys say they weren’t bored but part of me feel like they were. They are great guys and were great sports the whole time. I posted a few of the two hundred I have! Its hard to narrow them down when my models are so great. Enjoy!

“I don’t know how I got here. It’s not where I want to be. I feel the walls are closing in and I can’t breathe. Cause I’m feeling like a little girl, lost her way and disappeared, to a world that really doesn’t care and I’m on my way to the bitterness hotel.”
~Martha’s Trouble

“There’s just two ways to lose yourself in this life and neither way is safe. In my dreams I see visions of the future, but today we have today. And where will I find You?

In the economy of mercy, I am a poor and begging man. In the currency of grace, is where my song begins. In the colors of Your goodness, in the scars that mark your skin, in the currency of grace is where my song begins.”
~Jon Foreman

“Everybody here’s got a story to tell
Everybody’s been through their own hell
There’s nothing too special about getting hurt
Getting over it, that takes the work.”
~Glen Phillips

“As the music at the banquet
As the wine before the meal
As the firelight in the night
So are you to me

As the ruby in the setting
As the fruit upon the tree
As the wind blows over the plains
So are you to me

As the wind blows over the plains
So are you to me”
~eastmountainsouth

This afternoon I was going to take photos of two little girls who are sisters. The rain scared them away but I went to practice with a newer to me lens (yay Craigslist). I have this lens in my collection for a while, but its huge and I wasn’t so sure about it. Learning that this type of lens is perfect for portraits, I used it on Saturday at our Senior Video shot and it really did an amazing job. It doesn’t do a half bad job at still life ether. These photos really want to start making cards.

See more as always, on the flickr

Photos taken with cell phones that are really quite amazing. A lot of the same phone (and of course one of them is lovely iPhone) but I dont know if I would of been able to tell if they were taken with a cell phone unless told. Enjoy.

Everyday durning the weekend I made sure to let my camera tag along inside my seatbelt bag. Easter weekend calls for celebration, but I simply had just missed taking photos.

It got started off on Good Friday, with decorating eggs with some high school girls at Emily’s. Well, that was the plan, it turned a bit more into Stella and Graice coloring eggs while we all helped which I think we all liked better anyways.

Saturday was Farmers Market day, or so it seemed. Dana and I had made plans earlier on in the week to check out the farmers market near to our house that neither of us had been to before. What a packed little place at 9am in the morning! Apparently we were “late” getting there, but having Saturday as one my one day to sleep in, 9am was plenty early. Dana got some goat cheese and I got some fun produce, some pretty tea and flowers that remind me of Carlsbad.

Dana had never been to the big farmers market thats opened everyday of the week on the other side of town, so Jason and I took her there. Jace and I both love going there just to walk around checking things out (oh, and get ice cream. They have very yummy ice cream). Once I bought a tomato there that was so good I just ate it like an apple. It was a gorgeous spring day out, so lots of people had the same idea to be at the Farmers Market. I wish that Farmers Market wasnt so far out, otherwise Id go there every week for produce.

Easter Sunday I woke up to find that Mose had passed away. Strange feelings to be celebrating the day that Jesus was risen, but having to burry a fish. It was a sad morning of morning the loss of Mose, I dont think Neils still understand where his friend has gone. I picked some cherry blossoms and put them in Mose’s empty vase. The high schoolers had left at 3pm for Spring Break trip to the beach that Im sadly not on. But that also means I had a week off and got to go to 514 for Easter service. It was very small being that half our church is in the Dominican Republic on a missions trip and rest of out town visiting family. We ended in time to watch the Carolina game, have an Easter egg hunt and a little Guitar Hero. Typical Easter Sunday at church, no?
(The little girl you see in most of these photos is Emma.)

It was a very lovely Easter weekend that went by all too soon. Now if the weather would just remember that is spring and no more little snow flakes in the morning but warm sunshine, we’ll be in business for another lovely week of spring.

This is Emma.

Emma and her dad came into work yesterday morning for a cup of coffee. Emma’s dad held Emma out to me and said “Hugs!” This little girl can always cheer me up. Not that I was down, but it was an early morning she seemed to bring some sort of life in me that coffee cant touch.

I got off a little early, so I had a few minutes to spare before heading to the church for the afternoon. Early in the week I had noticed daffodils popping up like weeds around these parts. Driving by them I worried where I’d find time before they disappeared to take some photos of them. So I took a mini walk to capture all their glorious shades of yellow. The daffodils at my house are taking their sweet time to bloom.

I wore a skirt yesterday as I skipped around with my camera. It is spring after all, cept I cant completely accept it. The skirt was to try and push myself into accepting the snow has gone and sunny days will be around a lot. Though I feel a bit like this daffodil:

Still inside waiting to bloom. Waiting to see if the snow has really gone and its safe to come out and enjoy the spring. What a smart little flower.

Poor flower, minding its own business when a full bloom flower is teasing it. “Come out and enjoy the lovely sunny weather! Spring is here!”

Today is rained all day long. The flower that safe inside is laughing at the bloomed flower now.

Ive been busy, but have loved a lot of the moments Ive been busy. Well, the youth minstry part of it. The Starbucks side of it I could always leave. The last two weekends I spent time hanging out with high schoolers and got some photos to document them.

These photos are from some of my kids who go to one of the many high school repersented in the youth groups Twirp dance. Thats right, the dance is called Twirp. What is Twirp you may ask? The Women Is Required to Pay. Apparently Sadie Hawkins is soooo last year (or when I was in high school).

This past weekend I drug Jason along on an adventure of driving over 800 miles with 10 high school kids as we raced ten other teams all around North Carolina and Virginia. It was a lot of fun, despite the fact we didnt win. We did however win the most awards for how strangely we ran the race, but thats another story for another time.

On another random youth note, my Jr. High school youth pastor’s wife found me on facebook yesterday. I love when stuff like this happens! We got disconnected when I moved to San Diego and they to LA. They now have three kids (last I knew there was only one) and doing college minstry on a volunteer bases. We’ve been playing catch up over the last 5 years of our lives and its just great fun.

I took some photos of a cute little boy named Elias today.

You may view a handful of the many I took on my flickr. Enjoy.

Google has been showing me a picture of a tree with some hanging ice from it for a couple days now. I dont ever know to believe it or not. But today, Google must of taken that photo in this town today becasue there was ice from every tree:


Ive heard of and seen pretty photos of trees covered in ice. But theres nothing like driving down a street in your neighborhood where the trees lean over covering the street when its glazed with ice. I probably should be thinking of the dangers that at any moment the ice will become to heavy for the tree and snap down onto my car or a power line. No, Im too enchanted by the way the trees sparkle with their new icey outfits.

This me at one of my birthday parties many years ago. Check out those cute cubby checks (which I believe as an adult its called a round face). That yummy blue slurpee drink. And that cute purple tank top. Ah yes, the joys of southern California Januarys, you can be found drinking an ice beverage while sporting a tank top.

Today is my 26th birthday. Well, I turn 26th at 11:51pm tonight. Every year before this, I had no problem shouting out my new year. This year, no matter how many times people tell me Im still in my midtwentys, 26 just seems older. My parents told me today they didnt feel old when they turned 50, but having a 26 year old daughter makes them feel old. Thanks Mom and Dad! Heres to being old with you!

What a long good day. My roommate and I ran a couple of errands exchanging unwanted Christmas gifts for store credit and lunch at Chick-fli-a were a lot of the kids from the youth group work. One of them comment that visiting them is turning into a Saturday ritual. Ive only been one time before this, but I love going in and seeing them. Kelly and I then went on to the ABC store. We dont have ABC stores in California, we carry liquor in the grocery stores. It was quite inconvenient when I found out that dont do that here. Can I just say, I have never seen so much alcohol in one place at one time?! Sorta a bazar experience for me, but now we are well stocked up for tasty drinks for a while now.

A photo shot with good friends that was a lot of fun and indoors. Its too cold and rather ugly out to be taking photos. I was a little nervous about it since I hate using a flash. Ive learned a lot about how to set my settings with the ISO and white balance to help that, but Im no where near close to coming out with an amazing indoor photos. Moved them towards windows with fun and cute placing hoping a handful turn out.

After that, Jace and I went to a floating party of our friend who got her masters in Library Science. It took place out in the country on a real live farm. Chickens and a barn cat followed us to the door. Its always interesting to me when friends from different parts of my life are together in the same place.

Straight from the party, we went to where our church is currently located to help do the finishing touches on the room that Jimmy and Jason had been working hard on all week. The room no longer feels like a sterile fellowship hall in an old Baptist church, but more so a theater mets living room feel. Its a huge step forward in making 514 feel like 514 despite the location we have been given for this season. I have my eye on this neat brick building downtown for sale.

A wonderfully full Saturday that Im thankful to call my own.

I went to a I <3 NYE party last night, hoested by the youth group I work with. Lots of fun and lots of photos. I tired a blow out look with the flash since I knew I didnt want the flash to do the job of making the room look lite up. It wasnt, so I didnt want to capture photos that protrayed something else. The weekend went quickly, with a lot of catching up with being gone instead of reflecting on the past year. Im not good on looking back at things, I feel like I forget things to do that well (maybe thats why I like photography so much). Hope to look forward though with some goals for 2008. Maybe even share them all with you if I can find the time between the catching up. This year is starting out well for me with finding out a good friend is expecting a baby this summer! Can you ask for better New Year news? Wishing you all a very Happy New Year.

Why do I always set myself up for failure? I think Im going to have loads of time on my hand over the next two weeks! I can blog every day about the exciting adventures to have while in California. There wasn’t loads of time nor was there that exciting of adventures to share with you all. For future referance though, usually I always make time to load on my flickr . Im at least good about documenting my time off through a lens of a camera if nothing else. Let me recap for you through those photos my trip to California:

This is Sarah and Ilise. Sarah is the reason we flew out so early before Christmas. She got married on the 15th and we were flown out to help with her wedding that took place in her parents backyard.

You can see all of the photos I took day of the blessed event on flickr. Even on the work side of this wedding, it was a wonderful day. Perfect weather. Good to see old friends of mine from my first Starbucks.

After the chaos of the wedding, Jason and I went up to LA to see the Getty and visit Dunder Mufflin. This is a view of the 405 from the tram up to the Getty. Who knew a freeway could be so pretty?

We saw this guy. Hes on most every TV show we watch as an random character. I knew him from Friends, as a cook in Moncia’s kitchen. His New York accent is very real. We know since he chatted the whole ride down the tram.

This me (with a cold smile since it was raining. It never rains in California and of course it does when we want to see DM!) in front of Dunder Mifflin. I still cant believe we found it since it is in the middle of no where LA down this random street with business all around. They probably were laughing at us, but I don’t care! I saw The Office!

After driving around LA for a bit, we met up with my oldest friend, Laura. By oldest, we’ve known each other since were 10. That’s 15 years folks! Crazy!

Couple days later Jason and I got birthday presents early from my parents and went to Disneyland! We got free ears, which was so fun for me since I wasn’t willing to shell out the money for them. That’s a photo of Jason on the tea cups. Doesn’t he look like hes having so much fun? Tee hee. It was a perfect day to go, we walked onto most rides, which has only made us spoiled for any theme park in the future.

My friends David and Rebecca has a baby this past year and I finally got to met Penny at 10 months old. Shes one happy baby and a delight to be around. David is one of my favorite photography friends and we took a photo walk with his wife and our friend Jessica at Hotel Del. He taught me a lot while I was there, which Im forever greatful.

That is the pretty sunset blue sky with the Hotel Del. Other photo is taken by Jason of David, Penny and me. Penny is taking two to three steps at a time. At 10 months old! David calls her a genius baby, which she just might be.

Jason on Chaz. Enjoying an evening with my family at the house. We watch a lot of movies. Muppets Christmas. Last Pirates movie. New National Treasure and Juno.

This is my family in front of the tree. Aren’t we cute?

Jason and I waiting to open presents. We can be cute sometimes too.

Opening presents on Christmas Eve! Its because we got to my grandparents on Christmas Day. I don’t mind spreading Christmas out at all!

My cute Grandma watching her kids and grandkids opening presents.

Spending time with family does that to a person. Tee hee My aunt Cindy showing us how its done.

Last but not least, our Christmas tree. My mom left it for my to decorate the day I flew it. It was fun, but we normally do it as a family. As nice as the time was, alone takes a very long time.
Well, theres our visit in a nutshell. There are more photos on flickr of course if you care to check those out. Hope you all had a happy Christmas. Now its time to celebrate the New Year!

Weekend began early Saturday morning as I mixed together the beginning stages of Pioneer Women’s Cinnamon Rolls. I headed over the Emily’s house few hours later when the yeast was warm and happy. We chatted and tried not to think about the amount of butter that was going into these cinnamon rolls we were so excited to be making.

Told you there was a lot of butter.

This is Emily putting on the cinnamon. Lots and lots of cinnamon. She was brave and rolled the first rolls that spilled out the sides every which way. We learned and better luck on round two. Thicker the dough the better.

This is me rolling up them round two. Less messy and you feel a bit like a pro at this point. Round two, this is such a piece of cake. Why was this ever something we had trouble with? Silly us.

After spending a lovely morning with Emily I headed to Starbucks for some tea. Brian was drawing coworkers as part of Starbucks ‘Cheer Party’. He is so stinken good. I could of watched him draw all day. I then came home to help prepare our home for a late brunch with friends from work. Its funny I say friends from work since none of us really see each other at work anymore. We had our brunch at three in the afternoon over good conversation and of course venting. Jason and I then had dinner a short while later with Brian and Sarah. I got to met the new kitty who likes to give people hugs. Such a sweet cat. It was good to visit my first home here in North Carolina.

Sunday, today, I slept in for the first time in quite a while. Ive been working lots of hours in helping the load while Im gone, so its been early mornings for me. I joined Mike and Kari for burgers at Natty’s. I havnt been downtown in quite a while, since is sad since you know live there. Theres a little Christmas tree lot covering up the ugly wall. A copy cat of Natty Greenes have moved in next door to Natty Greenes. I will have to talk a walk down there again soon. Straight from lunch I went to a birthday party for an 8 year old. The guest list was mostly women 20 years older than her. Its a tradition their family has done with their children. Asking for the older and wiser to share their life and experience with them before they hit their teen years. To encourage them in the characters we already see in her as a girl and how to keep blooming as an amazing women. It was a very sweet time to be apart of. After that I was at the Core again for a much better of a night then last week. I just love being there, even if I miss 514 as Jason and I swap stories after our evenings are over.

We are days away from leaving for California. Ive started to pack. Last minute errands to do and people to see before our early flight on Thursday morning. My weekends might not be as full of plans when I return. I may not know what to do with all that time on my hands.

Weekends like this is the reason I love having weekends off. Just so great to be with the rest of the working world, even if my weekday hours are still odd.

Saturday I was in my PJs really late. Im up and doing things, but unless I have somewhere to go I have the bad habit of not getting dressed or showering. I was productive, getting my Christmas cards together. I printed some photos from when it snowed to make into cards. They turned out okay, I dont know what really I was imagining, but I like them better than store bought cards. I ran out of prints so I will have a second batch hopefully to send out next weekend. My roommate and I, who rarely actually spend time together went Christmas shopping for her sister and then to take advantage of a great coupon deal NY&Company was having until 2pm. I forget how crazy shopping centers are on the weekends, during Christmas time. It took a lot longer than planned but fun none the less. We had lunch at Chick-fli-a with the sole purpose of hoping some of the youth group kids I work with would be there. I think half of the 200 kid youth group work at this Chick-fil-a. I might have to stop by to visit them more often, even to just to get a Diet Coke. After the shopping adventure I got to take photos of said roommate and her boyfriend. Yall, we planned this day two months ago, and it was delayed a week. Thats how nutty her hours and mine are (and her boyfriends). It was well worth the wait, we had a lot of fun and I liked how most of their photos turned out. I didnt take very many, about 100. Usually I take at least 200. I dont know what to think of that really. After the photo shot with them, Jason and I attended a Bunco Christmas party for the high school staff at the church I work at now. I have never played Bunco before, and had a lot of fun. I got to know a lot of the names I have been emailing with and connect more with these great people who give their lives to these youth. I won biggest loser, which half bad since I got a prize! Im going to hang my bunco score card up in my office too.

Oh yeah, that was just Saturday. It didnt feel as busy as it looks, it was quite delightful actually.

Sunday was a little more low-key but really fun. Worked on the photos from yesterday getting them ready for my roommate today. Again, in my PJs to hours that PJs shouldn’t be worn. Put away the piles of clean clothes sitting on my couch that I had been picking my outfits from the past few days. Looked over my up coming week and how quickly my days are filling up before we leave for California for two weeks. Im glad to go home for that long, but I feel like Im missing so much here. Might not be as easy to go home for Christmas next year, as Im getting so attached to this state and my community here. Jace and I grabbed some mexican food before meeting up with our pastor’s kids to see Enchanted. No, we didnt baby sit them, we invited the whole family to join us but only the kids were available to come. I love hanging out with their kids, because you can have real conversations with them, even though they are only 11,9 and 7. I just love spending time with this family and that only grows the more I hang out with them. I sat next to their youngest, Leia, sharing a box of Jr. Mints (her pick) during the movie. My favorite part of Enchanted (which is a great movie by the way. I would like to see it again its really great.) where the girl is putting her hand on the guys chest and Leia says loudly “EW. What is she doing?!” And during the kissing scene “Do they have to show it SO close?” I couldnt help but laugh. I had a rough time at youth group tonight…but the feeling was everyone did. We tired to do a backwards night, which in theory and paper looked good but it was really confusing. I was just glad I wasnt alone in the feeling. I had some great conversations that encouraged me and reminded me to why I was really there. I love being there even on nights that are hard.

How many times did I say ‘fun’ about my weekend? It really was just a lot of fun. Fun fun fun. My week is full of work and get togethers. Im excited for what it holds, if its anything like how the grand the weekend was. I might of just jinxed myself though.

“Look how pretty the sky is, Jason.”

He might be sick of me saying this. Whenever there is clouds after a rain storm or a wonderful sunset filling the sky full of colors like tonight, it makes me stop. Ive always loved the sky. Growing up in near the beach, I looked forward going away to camps to see the stars. Here in North Carolina, I think the sky is just clearer to see them, yet how often I forget to look up. Its evening like tonight I can help but be amazed at this huge sky. It helps me to be comforted in how big God is. Big sky. Big God. I dont know where that connection is made, but its a comforting thought to me.