im back to good ole derby land.

and no we arent going to derby... but i wish. 

we just dont live the life of luxury.

now that i am home to my wonderful computer, i can dive back into blogging. 

and in case you were wondering what i spent my time doing in nc besides the hospital and taking care of my sweet mother...

here's a small peek.

well obviously there was that nightmarish 10 hour drive home, so what else do you wear in the car besides your "b-shoes"! uhh hello!

my sweet j suggested i take a picture of these really awesome mountains. 

i guess ill keep him. ;)

i believe this is in tennessee??? it all runs together.

 then i helped my sister in law set up for a four year old's Lilly themed birthday party.

 she babysits this cute little thing and her sister.

happy 4th birthday molly brock!

and what is a lilly birthday with out pink and green cupcakes?

and this awesome cupcake stand their mom made. 

she just covered a cardboard cupcake stand with lilly wrapping paper and added ribbon.

how presh!

so mom is doing well... healing nicely. :) i enjoyed spending time with her this week and so did my allergies... ill explain.

kentucky is known as the death state to people with allergies and even without. (i may have named it that.) i never really had problems with my allergies until i moved here. they say its something about living in a valley? ehh... ill trust them. and la says that living closer to the coast helps because you breathe salt air even if you arent directly on the coast. all of these things make sense. so its back to sneezing alot. but hey its a small price to pay, right? wait what am i paying for? we dont even get to go to the derby!

but i will tell you, by God's grace we have found some pretty awesome friends. and they did a great job of keeping my husband company while i was out of town. i will post some easter pictures as soon as i get them.

and the good news for the night, we were told we could wear jeans at work now... but its because we are working in the basement moving files... but i am not dwelling on that... 

yayyy for jeans!

wedding pictures!

i took this one...

and lesley ann took this one.

yayyy. i cant wait for her to finish editing them all.

im back in wilson, but not back to louisville yet.

sorry for the lack of creative juices.

if i do something fun, you will be the first to know.

ps... since i know you are reading this...

i miss you husband!

pictureless post.

...how weird. umm, i realized saturday morning that i didnt post friday. i will fix that, when i get home. but for now can we just ignore the fact that i forgot. ill make a fake last day of the challenge post.

but to recap, the wedding was amazing. i enjoyed so much being a photographer for the day. of course the bride was beautiful. but one of the most amazing things about her was that she was not phased by the weather one bit. she was totally calm. if there had been a series of tornadoes that swept the state and caused mass devastation on my wedding day, i probably would have lost my mind and had to redo my makeup multiple times. we are very blessed to not have been personally affected by all these many tornadoes. (especially since the sirens were going off outside of the church... kinda scary!) the Lord was very gracious to us. so of course (like you already know this), the wedding was in durham and my husband and family was back in rocky mount and wilson. well one of the bridesmaids checked the weather and said oh dont worry it said the storms were in nash county... immediate panicking took place from this kid. the really bad part was that i have a stupid blackberry that is old and doesnt hold charge so my phone was dead all day not to mention i was running around like crazy. j and i tried multiple times to get ahold of each and for a while it was back and forth but around 6 i heard from him and found out he was okay, which was such a relief. i was not aware of how bad these storms were until late saturday night. i was very grateful for their safety and ours. i asked him when i got home if he was more compelled to get me an iphone now since i desperately need a new phone. he said i should just charge it more. oh thanks!

things i learned about being a photographer...

1. i still get emotional when the bride walks down the aisle, even if i dont know her and im taking pictures.

2. it is a ton (x 10) of work.

3. i have no arm muscles with which to hold a camera. hence, i am sore.

4. i still want to be a photographer.

one of the reasons i havent blogged yet is that im still in north carolina while my precious husband is in kentucky. miss him terribly. but my mom is having a heart procedure at duke today... in fact she is in surgery right now. so i decided to update yall on my life, since i have been such a bad blogger.

and even though this trip home has been fast and not exactly exciting and somewhat scary, im still grateful to be in nc. it still has that magical appeal that i truly believe is fake. you might agree if you live in rocky mount or surrounding areas.

this blog will also be without pictures because lesley ann took all my memory cards. i have some really cute pictures of a four year old birthday party decor and her cute babysitter that i would like to share with you guys... maybe she will hurry and get them back to me. and maybe she will also work on those pictures from the wedding so i can show you some! that would be fun right? yep i believe so. okay so im going to watch the price is right and wait for my update phone call. ill let yall know how it goes.

on the road again.

so as you all remember, because im sure you do, this weekend is  the wedding that im shooting with lesley ann. i checked the forecast and they are calling for rain unfortunately. so i found this photo on none other that pintrest which i think is pretty appropriate...

but here is one that i would rather see!

but either way it will be a beautiful day.

and their wedding is in a church so it will be okay if it rains.

also, i have heard it is good luck... but who believes in luck! :)

see you in NC!

another night of the vera bag.

will all these clothes...

fit into this bag?

 yep! they do!

but im definitely not getting anything else in there.

this means a separate bag for all my cosmetics and toiletries (such a weird word).

tiny problem my friends... im flying back!

ahh... i guess ill cross that bridge when i get there.

and just for kicks... my husband broke this tonight. 

im not sure if you can see the crookedness or the detachment, but its there.

we were cooking breakfast for dinner and the bacon grease got him...

even though i quickly put the splatter screen down! 

he jumped and his knee conveniently hit the very small door knob.

his poor knee is beat up and unfortunately this knob aint budging again.

how much was that security deposit?

panera is expensive.

this is one of my favorite pictures from my bridal session.

my accessories on my wedding day were well planned and very dear to my heart.

i want to do a full post on the bridal session and possibly the wedding, and hopefully that wont bore you. so this is just a prelude to future posts after my "picture a day" challenge ends, which is friday. 

on another note... we attended community group tonight. this is something the church we have been going to does every week. they have many in the surrounding areas and you choose the one that is closest to you or the one that you feel lead to... no not the one that your friends go to (which is really great and helps prevent cliques) . i think this is such a great concept. i love the idea of believers meeting during the week in the home to talk about the gospel. it is a chance we get to dig deeper into the message from sunday and talk about it with others, just too see how it applies to their lives and share how it applies to ours. community groups are a great way to meet people that go to your church, especially if it is a large church, has multiple services, or has multiple campuses. we met some great people tonight and actually one of them was our neighbor! but the best thing is that we got to sit around and talk about Jesus with ordinary people and to share with them our joy and our struggles. needless to say, we thoroughly enjoyed it. i cant wait to see where this path that we have started down leads us to. 

and im sure you are wondering what the heck panera has to do with anything. we desperately need groceries but we want to wait until after we go home so we went out for dinner tonight. and as you have learned it was too darn expensive.

take me out to the ball game.

finally. they are here. i did it.

tell me how proud you are.

and i totally apologize for the cheesy title above.

so original picture, right?

i know you all were just dying to see these.

i mean obviously we went to a baseball game...

but you guys have no clue just how awesome it was.

so let the journey begin.

 the famous louisville slugger field is where all this wonderfulness took place.

our dear friend nathan (this is starting to be his full name..."our dear friend nathan") invited us to a Bats game... a what? the louisville bats! triple a ball guys. he was going with some friends and some friends of those friends and basically just alot of friends so we said "heck why not blow some cash?"... okay so we really dont have cash to blow and we originally said no because of the money but then there was a heck why not... we are super glad we went!

so i didnt take this picture... i "took" it from google images.

this is the front entrance, but just on the inside of all this glass is a beautiful area/giant lobby that has the most gorgeous lights that hang down, actually its just this huge spectacular room... you know- the kind you walk through with your jaw hanging open and your head in the air. (wedding receptions have been known to take place in there.) i really wanted to take many, many pictures a picture of it, but we just met these people and i didnt want to be a camera nerd and start whipping out the nikon before we even stepped into the stadium. and i have also discussed with yall that im not truly living in my "i have a blog and i take pictures of everything" skin yet. moral of that story: i missed out on some awesome pictures. dang. 

we had great seats on the third baseline. which means foul balls, yall! ha 

im getting too carried away with this. 

wait, hold up... lets rewind.

so you see this friend that josh made... well actually one of the other guys some how randomly knew this guy from back home and there was many mutual friends mentioned after the realization. (one of those types of deals... you know?) but he is also a Southern grad from 1978, which makes everyone excited... well it made all of us feel connected to him at least. very cool guy needless to say. well the guy that he realized he knew (the guy that was with us... i feel like this would be better if i used names) was celebrating his 25th birthday and coincidentally this man ( the one not with us... stay with me) was celebrating his birthday too... one without an age. this new friendship made the game very enjoyable and fun, and full of southern accents. (i need a nap after that) well j obviously brought theology into the game and struck up a conversation with this nice man about it. this went on for many of the later innings. which means i actually watched some of the game. and took some pictures of the game... hey! (j did make sure to ask me if i got a picture of the actual game and not just everything surrounding it.)

so now back to the foul balls. there was one! can you believe it? :) well, there was acutally a few but we only care about the first one. this wonderful man (pictured below... not the one that belongs to me because i can see how that gets confusing) caught it... barehanded! ehhh, after it bounced off the roof and maybe just a little more. but in honor of new friends and birthdays, he asked all of us to sign it. hence the 3 pictures that i felt were necessary to document said signing.

"our dear friend nathan" signing the ball.

not sure if you can see, but he definitely wrote "roll tide". 

unfortnately our new friend yells war eagle instead.  

im not from alabama, so this is what i wrote. 

 and speaking of writing... 

j felt it necessary to tweet during the game.

i will not mention that he was on facebook also... oh.

 i will leave you with this picture of us.

its our first picture together in louisville.

its about dang time.

see! dont we look like we are having fun?

now, please ignore the hideous part. 

i have a rebel cowlick that im in the process of beating into flatness...

i choose to do this by switching my part (bad plan), 

and growing my bangs out (starting to think this is another bad plan).

im ready to give up. on all of it.

i need new hair... hence the rapunzel blog the other night.

well this blog took me three hours to complete. i did get some what side tracked by a phone call (which was definitely from the Lord!) and some laundry... but basically 3 hours.

now off to put clothes away and commence packing!

sidenote: (what is this, facebook?) please check out this amazing velcro roller tutorial. maybe this new technique will help that poor pitiful sad hair above. 

if so, i owe it all to you carolina city girl.

i really hate to do this.

we have had a wonderful day. church was awesome. we are really exciting about being there and now knowing some people there. we even went to lunch with some of the friends we met last night. and i then i went "thrift store-ing" with some of them. (j took a nap. hes not really into thrift stores.) but after the thrift store, my belly took a turn for the worse. i havent been feeling great all night and im really ready to go to bed. consequently... there are no edited baseball pictures. i guess this will just give me something to do tomorrow night. 

but for now... ill leave you with this picture.

(this also means nothing at all, just to clarify.)

please look at their mouths.

this precious little baby mimicked everything he did.

it makes me smile so much.

i promise! baseball pictures tomorrow.

we experienced louisville.

okay, some of louisville.

BUT, we had an amazing night.

can you guess what we did?

tomorrow will be the full baseball post, but we actually hung out with real people tonight and just got home. because of my bloggers duty i am posting a picture, but this is all you get because we have church in the morning and i need sleep.

but do not fret....

i will explain in detail and many pictures just how amazing our night was.

it smells like spring.

well today was eventful, which is nice.

here is what happened...

our apartment complex is generous enough to pay for our heating and air.

the catch is you get one or the other (but who's complaining!).

well, the temperature all week has been in the 70's. pretty warm right? especially at night. but this beautiful note was on our door around 6. i may have screamed for joy. guess who is sleeping under the covers tonight my friends!

 for dinner my wonderful and handsome husband suggested mexican because he knew i didnt want to cook after being at work all day and of course all week. so we went to a precious place attached to the mall... can you say precious when its attached to the mall? and of course because it is friday our friend nathan came with us. its a tradition for the three of us to hang out on friday nights. kinda like a given. we also sat outside on a quaint (whats with these adjectives?) little terrace so we could enjoy the beautiful spring evening that God so graciously provided. 

it even smelled of spring!

 this little fellow hopped around us all during our stay, which was quite long. 

again, i mayyy have talked to him and called him little baby.

i just love birds! so very much.

 i took many pictures, 

but i figured i would spare you of all of them and show you just some.

 these are definitely some favorites.

love love love lights.

not as much as birds though.

then we came home and had molten chocolate lava cakes and watched a movie.

they were delicious. i meant to take a picture, but we ate them.

i couldnt be more excited that it is finally friday!

and we actually have things planned for tomorrow night instead of law and order.

whoo! i will tell you all about it on sunday.

but im pretty sure you werent questioning that one.

just call me rapunzel.

so i have been feeling under the weather tonight... as if a truck ran over me. 

which means no pictures... i know. im sorry. im failing. 

but it excites me so much that everyone loves my muffin blog!

ok seriously.

i want my hair to look like this. this is my hair goal. please take note. laura hunter is getting married next year and my goal is for my hair to be this long. now the people who really know me, especially lindsey my hairdresser/my girl are laughing because i get super irritated with my hair. i may be known to call lindsey and say if you dont cut my hair today im going to. she expects these phone calls and she is used to them. and she usually cuts it that day. but i wont do it this time, linds! i promise. (dont let me! just refuse.) we all are completely aware that i want long hair, so hold me accountable. 

and lh- i request bridesmaid dresses that are hippy-ish, please! ...

to match my long flowy beautiful locks.

you can choose the color... im not picky about that. :)

also, these are adorable times 10!

just so you know.

now, going back to the couch for some law and order with my husband.

blueberry heaven.

please believe me when i say that i have stumbled across something amazing!

i know, you are thinking im crazy. ...again!

this precious little pack will only cost you about a dollar, give or take a little.

i cant exactly remember, but it was the cheapest.

(martha white in case you cant read that. 

i didnt intend for this to be the picture of the day!)

im a huge blueberry muffin fan. im talking huge. and these get my approval.

also there is a recipe on the back for lemon blueberry muffins with a glaze.

well, i took the recipe for the glaze (j isnt a lemon fan) and tweeked it. 

i used 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, 1/2 tbsp of water, and 1/2 tbsp of milk. 

(i was experimenting, but it worked.)

i need you all to try this.

let me know if you have any suggestion for the glaze.

cheap and good.

ill take it!

life needs more frosting.

first of all, i feel as if i am boring yall with my pictures mainly because i feel like im running out of ideas. so i really hope you guys care about our dessert tonight since its the picture! if you do care and are located near a cinnabon, keep reading! either way, please keep reading my friends. :)

so, what do the wester's do on a tuesday night... 

well, we went to the mall on a scavenger hunt. on said scavenger hunt, we just happened to walk by cinnabon. j said "do you want one?" and i suggested to wait till after the hunt. on our way back he said "if you really want one we can stop..." wait a minute, if i really want one? i want everyone here to notice who mentioned it twice. so i said "obviously you really want one. we should get one". and of course we stopped. the rule was the bun had to make it home before it could be touched. my husband patiently held it all the way home (he isnt 5. i promise), and we split it the minute we walked in the door. 

every inch was delicious! :)

we decided to apply their slogan, "life needs more frosting.", 

and get the extra frosting for only 50 cent extra.

notice the oddly shaped forks they gave us.

pictured here: two forks.

i do not believe this is a coincidence, my friend.

since yall are dying to know what we found on the "scav hunt"... here ya go!

my dear j was also very helpful in this hunt.

totally impressed and proud! he conquered forever 21.

well, maybe not. i dont think anyone is capable of that.

but, i have something exciting in store for these babies.

i know you wanna come back and see, right?

settle down.

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/09/honey-interiors.html

adorable, i know!

this is my weakness. (which doesnt explain me not actually taking a picture again, but i would love to actually find this house and take a picture.) it is so easy for me to not be content in this stage of life just because im ready for our future. im ready for an adorable home like this one, kids! and adoption, an suv, mom friends and mom jeans... okay never mom jeans! we both want this and are really excited about the monograms and cute bows our girls will wear and teaching our boys to respect girls but love dirt at the same time. but it is easier for j to be content in this stage of life because he loves school. it is his passion to study and be in school, but mainly to learn about our Savior. i know i have said this before, but i dont want to miss this stage of our life wanting another one to be here. and its so much easier to say "snap out of it m!" but i really do want to snap out of it. so my goal is to enjoy this stage we are in and be happy being newlyweds and settle down just two of us. 

but ill store this picture away just for future reference. 

hey, a girl can dream right?

won't you join us?

by george i think we did it.

we have found a church we really like.

now granted, today was the first sunday so we will keep going to make sure.

ill surprise you with the name when we decide.

so in honor of testing out the new camera bag, we took it walking.

j wasnt too excited that i stopped every 5 seconds to take pictures but thats okay.

we walk by this cute little place very often on our walks but i never see it open.

but it couldnt be more precious.

i dont really know the name of it either.

and i know you are thinking, "why the heck is this girl taking pictures of trash cans?". well because louisville has the coolest trash cans.

umm, see?

and i always picture white bows on these rails and a bridal party running down the stairs with the bride and groom following happily behind. 

this would just be a beautiful church to get married in... 

well i have never actually seen the inside.

see those windows up top, way in the back. those are apartments. how amazing would it be to live there. with the cute little shops below... including bella bridesmaid. ahhh!

notice those cute shadows too. :)

well i am so glad yall could take a walk with us this evening!

lazy saturday afternoon

so i promised you a recipe for those brownies i made earlier this week.

i would recommend to try them without the oreos... which arent even in this recipe.

this saturday has definitely not been as exciting as the past couple of saturdays, but im okay with that. we slept late and by late i mean 12:30. it was so wonderful. i was exhausted and j just doesnt have an excuse. :) we have been lazy all day and watched a lot of law and order... in case you didnt know we are obsessed thanks to netflix which gives us way to much access to it. this morning shortly after we woke up- shortly enough that we were still in "sleep wear"- there was a knock on the door. j took off running for some clothes and grabbed what he could. when he opened the door there was no one there, but there was the perfect size box waiting for me. now, i forgot to tell you guys that i finally ordered my much coveted- i know, very sinful!- camera bag [note: same camera bag, different pattern-which is new and i love very much... ehh!] that i have been wanting since ohh september when i got my camera. since im shooting this wedding in a couple of weeks with the lovely lesley ann i of course really NEEDED this camera bag. there is that word again. so he finally let me order it on monday... and i should really say the budget finally let me order it. 

j decided to open the box and make a big to-do about unwrapping it and surprising me.

and it was very fun actually!

behold the beauty.

i suggested a monogram but j said "why would you do that?"

i guess maybe i shouldnt monogram everything.

my wonderful husband and i also spent time reading the Bible together and it was just so encouraging to hear him read to me and pray for me and our family. i am incredibly thankful for such a Godly husband. i am blessed to have a man that encourages me to have a strong walk with the Lord and also helps me pursue that walk. i love you very much for that j!

and now we are trying to decide what church to go to tomorrow. 

ill be glad when we have a church here.

if you live in this area or even if you just know of a church here,

 we would love some suggestions!

now off to bed because my allergies are also rebelling against this city.

this is a need.

so i need this, or one like it. 

that is maybe only $50.

if any of you out there see this little beauty, let a sister know.

i really would like to have it unfinished but its not necessary.

but what IS totally necessary is some refinishing and "shabby chic-ing".

as for the recipe, im putting it off until tomorrow...

because my husband rented "life as we know it".

woo! and nathan is here to watch it with us.

we also ate breakfast for dinner in case you were wondering.

also... this is totally a picture, okay? it counts!

and one day ill take a picture of my refinished one for you.