It's been a long time since I hit the {personal} blogging circuit. Almost a year and a half since I got married, and while I've still been blogging, it's been focused almost entirely on the photography blog and partially on another blog. You could say that I've had bigger things on my mind.



Life has changed and yet remained the same. It's been a blur of delight and hard work and time spent with my husband and time spent studying in the Bible and talking and praying and maturing and working hard and playing hard and staying home alot.

What's been going on? In the meantime...

• I turned 29 and then 30! Ohmy, ohmy. ;) 
• We went on a great coffee adventure. 
• We discovered Dave Ramsey and the power of sticking to your budget. 
• Our first (and then 2nd) Christmas together. 
• Had our first New Year's Eve where we could kiss at midnight (we weren't even DATING, or within a hundred miles of each other in 2010!)... and I was shooting a wedding in 2011, so the kiss got delayed a little bit. New Year's Eve 2012 rocked though. 
• Discovered what the 'newlywed ten' or rather 'newlywed twenty' is. Hey, we like food {just look at my instagram feed). And we like snuggling instead of working out. Now we're working on both. 
• Shooting more weddings than ever. Now with my trusty assistant/husband. He's got an eye for classy photos. 
• Our regular day jobs "happen" to be 2 blocks apart. We commute together every day. It. is. awesome. 
• COLLEGE. Yes, after a year of marriage and Brandon establishing residency in PA, he's back at college pursuing his degree in petroleum & natural gas engineering. While he works full-time. My husband is amazing. He's intense, focused, humble, smart and he doesn't complain about spending (almost) every night studying until 2:00 am. So yes, life is good, busy, fulfilling, intense and a dream come true. 

The real question is, why would I return to a personal blog? Don't I have enough to do? Don't I say enough on the other blogs? In a word--NO.

I didn't know that 9 years after graduating from high school, I would still reside in central Pennsylvania.

I didn't know that I would gain a passionate love for youth ministry.

I didn't know that worship would take its rightful, secondary place in the work of the kingdom of God, as a subtext to the preaching of the Word. And thus, a subtext in my life.

I didn't know that I would watch friends come and go, love Jesus and then leave Him, and destroy their lives through the consequences of their sin.

I didn't know that I would ever like coffee.

I didn't know that my passport would remain empty, save the lonesome stamp from the Philippines (and an imaginery stamp from Mexico).

I didn't know that my home decorating tastes would be dramatically altered. Black and silver? Modern? Ugh! Think British library look. Understated. Cozy, comfortable and a little antique-y. :)

I didn't know that I would be 26 years old and not married.

I didn't know that I would watch my sister get married and have children, while my dreams of motherhood and adoption lay dormant.

I didn't know that I would actually like portrait photography more than landscape photography.

I didn't know that the young siblings of my peers would become the youth group that I am leading.

I didn't know that my church would be meeting in a house.

I didn't know that I would be teaching/preaching weekly.

I didn't know that my hair would be long, long, long. And I would refuse to cut it short again. :)

I didn't know that I would prefer the solitude of my parents' mountaintop home to the hustle/bustle of a college town.

I didn't know that I would purchase my first house alone.

I didn't know that I would be thanking the Lord for NOT giving my soul what it desired in romantic relationships.

I didn't know that I would be more mystified about my future now than I was ever before.

I didn't know that it would take 5 years to finish Bible college.

I didn't know that I would gain close Christian friendships as a result of an Internet message board.

I didn't know that I would look back and shake my head in amazement that God used me in ministry when I was so immature.

I didn't know that "always & forever" friendships sometimes end quickly.

I didn't know that I would grow out of my obsession with music, and would go years without purchasing a CD. Wow.

I didn't know that I would possess an ever-increasing love for Christ, and an ever-increasing gratitude that He loved me enough to die for me--even die on a cross.

I didn't know that the weakness of the flesh, the tendencies towards laziness and desire for pleasure would not decrease or disappear when I became an adult/got a full-time job/etc. The consequences just became more serious.

I didn't know that I would esteem and respect my parents so much more (and that it was possible to do so).

I didn't know that I would survive being fired. And being laid off. And seeing a family member turn their back on God.

I didn't know that some reality would seem like a nightmare. But God's presence was always the supernatural peace that stayed my soul.


What I didn't know at 17... wasn't that important. Because I knew enough to follow whatever God told me to do. What kept me, held me, led me, protected me through these years has been the constant leading of the Holy Spirit. The reassurance that the Lord is directing my footsteps. And though I could see only the knotted parts of this tapestry-in-progress, the end of this work will be a thing of beauty!

• Penny candy from the corner store
• Baseball games with the neighborhood kids
• Catching (and smashing) lightning bugs
• Playing in the clubhouse
• Our custom two room-with-a-hallway sandbox
• Eating honeysuckle & swingin' on the porch
• Strawberry picking!
• Long hikes and bike rides… with Daddy
• The tire swing!
• The one time we built a massive football helmet out of snow. :)
• Playing piano with the doors and windows flung open and summer breezes…
• The Buttercream Gang song (just watch the movie)
• Making up a game of kick-the-can with The Oldest Friends
• Connect 4 wars
• Passing secret notes at Christian school (well, it was a secret until I told you!)
• Cooperative push-mowing with The Sis
• The Trip Out West… our five-week-long family vacation/business trip
• Friday Night Bible studies

Yup, I'm feeling all nostalgic. What are your favorite childhood memories?

It was a tiny little brownie that I was enjoying today. Just one bite and all these memories came flooding back to me....


Six years ago today, The Sis and I set out on our last great single-ladies-only road trip together. The Sis was in the middle of the frenzy of wedding-planning and big life couple-decisions. I had just lost my job, and been ridiculously blessed by the Lord with a new job, which I started only three days earlier. And we got the brilliant, madcap idea of going to the beach. 'Cause New Jersey isn't that far away. Independence Day (the 4th of July for you non-history people) fell on a Thursday and I wasn't about to take Friday off of my brand-spankin'-new job, so this was gonna be a fast'n'furious kind of trip.


Since we were still college students and full-time workers and the kinda people without alot of extra cash, we decided to camp out at a state park at a half-way point. Great ambiance, bug bites and CHEAP. It was a miniscule pup tent that we slept in. And it should've been roomy enough, except I guess I'm tall. So my feet stuck out of the door. Great beginning of a trip vividly tattoed into my mind!


July 4th dawned HOT and sunny. This fact seemed insignificant at the time. It was July, after all! We packed up the campsite and be-bopped our merry way on down the highway...

Well, we checked the oil and that didn't help. The engine seemed to be overheating. We tried to get it started. All it did was click-click-click. There are no other options left. Get out the AAA card and call a tow truck!

It was an hour later by the time we and that sick little Neon made our way to the local Firestone. After waiting and waiting some more, the Firestone people didn't know anything. They told us that we'd be stuck here at least overnight, and they'd run a full diagnostic on it. We were stuck in some crazy town in New Jersey, desperately in need of a place to stay. This trip was majorly blowing the budget, so we find the cheapest, nearest hotel possible and call a taxi. (My first tow truck ride and first taxi ride, all in one day! New life experiences ROCK!).

The hotel was an experience, to say the very least. There were bird cages all over the "office" and you had to ring a bell to get in and out... and the hotel room-Oh my! There was a phone, with no phone cord. There was a mirror on the ceiling, and a grainy old TV that only got about 3 channels. I was sincerely hoping that nobody had ever been killed in this room. We spent another hour at the payphone (pre-cell-phone-era) trying to make calls to people, like The Sis's fiance who happened to be in a different country. And our family, who was in a different state. Finally, we just called our pastor's wife and told her the deal--so nobody would think that we died or anything like that.

Just to get out of the freaky hotel room, The Sis and I decide to walk to Walmart... and FOUR hours later, we returned. Hot. Sweaty. And thoroughly Exhausted.

My phone call to my new employer went something like this:

Service Supervisor: "Hello, (Company Name), How can I help you?"

Me: "Hi, this is (My Name), I just started this week and I went out of town and our car is broken down and I'm stuck in some little town in New Jersey."

Service Supervisor: "Oh really? What town?"

Me: (conferences with The Sis to look at map and discover location), "(Town Name)"

Service Supervisor: "Yeah, I know that town! I grew up nearby."

Me: (praying, THANK YOU JESUS, They know that I'm not lying!!!!!)

Just as I was thinking, "Winter is over, and I really don't care what the calendar says...", I realized that today is the official first day of Spring! Yay! Things have been pretty brown and ugly here in Pennsylvania. I don't like this in-between season. There's no snow to make things bright & beautiful. The ground is depressing in its brown state, and the weather report is constant rain. Don't get me wrong-I love rain! However, I mostly love the summer thunderstorms, and just tolerate the dreary drizzling days. But if the constant grey mist brings green leaves and pretty flowers, I say--let it rain!

Spring break is over here at Penn State, which means the streets are filled with people again. College students are hustling to study hard before the end of the semester- only a few short months away. It's all fun--except when some not-so-smart college student decides to step out onto the road in front of my car. GRRR. Stop texting and start watching where you're going!

The (slightly) warmer weather has me thinking about running! I went "running" Tuesday after a pretty long break from it. Oh yeah, I'm hurtin'. Or maybe the pain is from The Little Bro totally annihilating me in racquetball. At least, it was fun! Anyway, I got a list of 5Ks in the area for the next few months.. if you're interested in doing a race with me, let me know! :)

What Spring means to me:
-Tulips & crocuses
-Wearing dresses with strappy sandals
-Youth retreat
-Marshmallow peeps (I don't eat them; I just like squishing 'em)
-Going to a greenhouse
-Puddles in the parking lot
-Never quite wearing the right clothes to work
(too wintery on a warm day/too summery on a cool day)
-Planting herbs in the garden
-The scent of lilac
-Spring cleaning... or remodeling, in our case.
-Green trees, green lawn, green leaves---O, let the beauty begin!

Anything else?

Don't you love Centre County in the fall? It makes me want to....

• Watch a soccer game. :)
• Drink apple cider.
• Go on a youth scavenger hunt.
• Jump in a pile of leaves.
• Wear a leather bomber jacket.
• Roast pumpkin seeds.
• Work at a football game.
• Go hiking!
• Make fun of Penn State students. (sorry, my friends! hehe)
• Have a bonfire.
• Drive to Gatlinburg. :)
• Walk in a cemetery.
• Make (and eat) apple kuchen.
• Swing on a tire swing.
• Convince someone that cows tip.
• Go for a Sunday drive.
• Wander around a deserted historic village.
• Eat at Baby's!!!

The Sis started off my thoughts on fall yesterday, and I haven't stopped reminiscing since. So what does fall make you think of doing?