rhoads

Sarah Rhoads is an excellent blogger. And an excellent photographer, but right now what I care about are her words.

"When you have THAT kind of passion behind you - sacrifice becomes bearable and hard work like eating an ice cream cone."

She's talking about photography, but it can be applied to anything. How true is it that when you love something, working for it becomes such a joy? I'm so thankful that I know what things make me feel that way, and that they're encompassed in the job I love.

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I love how spring = flowers. I love flowers any time of the year, but they seem better in spring. And lately I've been loving these little buggers on my wedding blogs. They add great color in simple little pops.

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Pretty pretty cheap charmy jewelry from American Eagle. I'm into long layed necklaces lately. But they tend to drive me nuts real quick when I'm at school, and they wind up in my backpack.

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So, my stepdad shot a super big elk. And his name got in a magazine for it. And he got super excited.

hearts//parts

This Sunday, these hearts are the things I'm currently loving, and these parts are things I could do without. hearts//
- Lucky Brand necklaces. I love those two up top! Very bohemian and earthy with great pendants and lots of layers.
- Buffalo Wild Wings. I got to go with all my friends this week like they do every week! Thank goodness for cancelled night classes. I had Caribbean Jerk wings and a side salad. YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW how good Caribbean Jerk sauce is.
- "You look super cute when you smile". One of the photographers I follow put that on his blog and it made me happy, because really, everybody looks better when they smile.
- The Boudoir Divas. These ladies are incredible. They have a full on boudoir studio in California and they work hard every day to help women feel fabulous and beautiful. They shoot intimate sessions and help their clients create "kiss books" for their husbands, books filled with sexy images for the love of their lives. They're a Christian company and they handle everything with grace and in a way that honors God. I love it!
- that bouquet! Don't you just love it? Simple wild flowers creating a hugggge bouquet. I really like bouquets of just baby's breath lately. So simple and lovely.

parts//
- Ridiculously high shipping and handling rates. Particularly on photography equipment. I'm already paying enough, do they really need to tack on $15 shipping for a small little box?!

jeff&lauren

So, once again, quite far behind at posting pictures on my personal blog. These are from a while ago, hence the snow, but it's my friends Jeff and Lauren. Jeff proposed while snowboarding over Christmas break and Lauren wanted to reinact that a bit, so we started out the session doing that, then had some fun playing in the snow before going inside for some milk and cookies on campus. So fun, and they're so adorable!

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This here is called a Christmas cactus. Being from Wisconsin, it doesn't seem right that "Christmas" and "cactus" should be combined.

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I got a pretty pretty skirt yesterday. It's ruffly and flowy, and I can move in it. Love love love.

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Lately I've really been into citrus. I've eaten a grapefruit or an orange a day for the last two weeks. It makes me feel like it's summer.

favorite

I'm incredibly biased. I'm aware. That's what happens when your best friend gets involved. But this is my favorite. wedding. ever. That Adam has shot, that I've been a part of, anything. Click and enjoy.

chambray

Chambray. Oh how I love this current trend! Check out these options from Piperlime and American Eagle. Love it love it love it! It's spring-picnic perfect!

cake

When I get married, this will be my wedding cake. Unless, of course, I go with cupcakes...

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I got to see Jilane today! She modeled while Adam taught me things. My brain is very full right now. And she is very pretty!

promise

I love Promise Tangeman. Her blog is such an inspiration in so many ways. Most recently because of this:

"Putting pressure on yourself, or comparing yourself too much to other artists is one of those triggers that will send you into the creative depths of despair. STAY AWAY FROM THAT. Let others inspire you, encourage you, and even push you to be better… but don’t let them defeat you or what you are doing. Just don’t let it go there. Because those are only lies that will hurt you and your creative heart."

Oh how I need to remember that sometimes! I'm at the beginning stages of this photography experience, I know that, and I'm excited about the potential to grow that's in front of me. But sometimes the amount I don't know overwhelms me as I look at other photographer's work and I feel like I'm never going to think like them and shoot like them, both in how they actually go about it and at their level. But what Promise said reminded me that I am an individual. I'm made to be me, and I'm not made to shoot like other photographers. I hope someday I will be able to shoot at their level, but I don't HAVE to see the things they see the way they see them.

So, thanks God, for making me me, unique to what you want me to be.

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I got this bracelet and a skirt for under $25 at Limited. I LOVE SALES & COUPONS.

leaf

I'm turning a new leaf. Well, attempting to. Every Tursday and Thursday after my eight o'clock class I go to the coffeehouse for my skinny latte and my pretzels. But, I don't really need that caffiene. I just like the way they taste. And I eat the pretzels mostly because I need something in my stomach when I drink coffee or my stomach gets a little unhappy with me.

So, in an effort for change, I'm switching my latte and pretzels to tea and an orange. I don't know if tea will ever seem as good to me as a latte does, but it's better for me and it goes better with oranges than coffee. And I love oranges.

I also am realizing I love spring. I always thought I didn't really care for it in comparison to the other seasons, and that may still be true. I'm not crazy about everything being wet and muddy. But I love the promise of spring, and how in spring 60 degree days seem incredible, when in summer they'd seem chilly. Spring is good for biking. I can go at three in the afternoon and get sweaty but not feel unbareably hot. And the way spring smells. Fresh and new. Instead of warm, sultry smells, it's all floral and clean and fruity. I love changing scents with the seasons.

So I guess maybe I like spring after all.

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I took pictures of my friend Alex today. Not the one I made cupcakes with yesterday. A different Alex. His pictures will be up soon, but meanwhile, I loved this one. Yey shadows!

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Yup. More cupcakes. Alex and I made these because he was a little upset that I started this cupcake trend after he moved to Milwaukee. So, he came home, and we made peanut butter filled chocolate cupcakes.

hearts//parts

This Sunday, these hearts are things I love and these parts are things I'd be happy to part with at any time.

Hearts:

Coach Stefanie Heels. I love how they're girly heels in the nude color but still a little tough with lots of leather and buckles. Now to find a similar cheaper version!
Spring Break. Oh how I needed a break this year just to relax! Last year I was so excited for Mexico but this year I was happy to work and make cupcakes and not have to attend class and to indulge in the following:
Sleeping In! Usually on the weekends I'll have one day where I can get a good 10-12 hours of sleep but these last few weekends I'd been missing that. Over break I slept in lots, getting 10-12 hours every night. So wonderful.
Zilactin. If you get cold sores, this stuff is a miracle worker. It stings when you put it on but then it dries to seal the whole sore for hours giving it a chance to heal. Love it!
Essie's Spring Collection. I bought the four pack of mini bottles and I'm so going to do that again with future collections! You can sample each color while still getting a considerable amount of polish. I love each of the colors in this collection too, so springy and wonderful

Parts:

Spring Break ending. I never want to go back to school after Spring Break, especially after one with such amazing weather! So sad. Back at it for another half a semester of the tougher stuff. But it's my second to last semester, so there's a reason to find joy!

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So, I tried out a new makeup look from my Allure magazine. It's supposed to make men flock around you like bees to honey, but I just tried it because I liked that it was soft and romantic. But then a guy asked me for my number at work tonight, so apparently it is something like honey.

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This is the brooch I wore on my dress for Jilane's wedding. I'm missing my newly married friend.

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In honor of the first bike ride of the year.

reader

Today I went for my first bike ride of the season. I love that. It was a beautiful day and I was warm and happy and it was a good workout for my lazy legs.

And, inevitably, I saw something I wanted to blog about. I think that's what I love most about my bike rides, the random events I see, and the time that's just me listening to music and biking hard and thinking.

I was getting back closer to my apartment when school let out today, so there were tons of kids walking home. I came up behind two little boys, and one of them was running the whole way, swinging around the fire hydrant and burning off all the energry he'd kept pent up in school. But the other one was walking slowly in a straight line, with a book open in his arms, reading the whole way.

I was that kid. The kid who walked down the hallway reading. It's amazing I didn't get picked on more. But I loved seeing that little boy today, knowing how I totally understood why reading his book was more exciting then running and playing all the way home.

three

"Two people are better than one...if one falls down, the other can help him up. But it is bad for the person who is alone and falls, because no one is there to help." -- Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

So, so true. That's another thing that I forget, I kind of forget how much it matters that I have this huge support group. I have some of the best friends in the world and a family I can run home to whenever I need to. Not just my parents, but my grandparents, my aunts and uncles. There's rarely a time where I couldn't just stop by for a bit.

People give you a way to sort out your thoughts. I can write and write and write and think I have every thought in my head figured out, and then I'll say it out loud to someone and realize four hundred things I think differently about than I thought I did.

You learn it most when you struggle. When everything is fine, you forget how important other people are. When your thoughts are happy, you don't remember how much the people in your life can help you be happy again when you're sad. But we are made to need other people, and to fit perfectly with them. And from those relationships and from knowing God, we can find joy no matter what our circumstances.

How incredible is God for creating such a thing as friendship?

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Blue skies! Peaking through my blinds. It was so nice out today.

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I know you just saw this picture in my cupcake post, but it's also starring as my picture of the day. It looks wonderfully edible.

patrick's

I love cupcakes. I really do. I don't know how exactly I came to love them, but the excitement I felt leading up to making these cupcakes was a little crazy.

They're not too challenging. It's not like I feel some sort of large accomplishment when I finish them. But I am excited about the outcome, something yummy and pretty and worth being excited about.

This time I made Stout Cupcakes. They're made with a stout beer, appropriate for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow, and I put Bailey's Irish Cream frosting on them, which is also very appropriate. I'm bringing them into Jimmy John's tomorrow for my coworkers, because I certainly can't eat 28 cupcakes by myself.

When I asked my manager, Brent, if I could bring them in, I got out, "Hey Brent, can I bring cupcakes in fo-" before Troy, one of the other managers, went "Yeeess!", in a tone that made it clear he felt the answer to that question was ridiculously obvious.

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I'm making cupcakes tomorrow! It's taking a considerable amount of self control to keep myself from starting them right now. Ridiculous, I know. But, I did make the marzipan clovers to put on top. They're pretty! And they don't taste too bad.

eyeliner

When I look at this beautiful display of a ridiculous amount of eyeliner I'm torn about whether or not I would enjoy the amazing amount of 25 options of colors for eyeliner or if I would feel completely overwhelmed and reach into my makeup bag and pull out my typical, plain black eyeliner I've been wearing all my life. Hmm. I might have to try out a different color liner some day.

hearts//parts

- Ralph Lauren, Romance. It smells so good! I never open the little samples in my magazines because the smell always overwhelms me, but I happened to with this one. I love it!
- Naked juice. It's the best juice in the world. So yummy, and all natural. My favorite flavor is Mighty Mango. I'd drink it every day if it wasn't so expensive.
- The Black Eyed Peas. They just consistently come out with good dance music. That they then play on the radio far too many times, but I do still dance in my car every time I Got a Feeling comes on.
- oxfords. These are a little pristine for my taste, but oh how I'd love a good cream and tan pair to wear all summer long!
- Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. I'm in love with this book. I have about twenty recipes flagged of cupcakes I want to try, like now. I'm making ones with Guiness in them for St. Patrick's Day. Can't wait!

- accounting finals. I will forever loathe accounting and struggle to understand all of it. Thank goodness my emphasis is marketing. This is the last accounting class I have to take.
- putting in my headphones when the music is too loud. Sometimes I turn up my iPod accidentally when it's in my pocket or in my backpack and then when I go to put my headphones in later I'm blown away by music. I love music, but that is definitely not my favorite way to experience it.
- shoes that make lots of noise on hard floors. The shoes I wore for Jilane's wedding made noises like I was a horse with horseshoes on walking down the aisle. Little noisy for my preferences. I also wore them this week with a dress to school. They're a little awkward for walking into a quiet classroom.

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Classic and boring, I know. But this is my piano. I have a special attachment to it. It's pretty.

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A bunch of moss grew in this pot. I like it.

watches

I don't like watches. They get in the way. In winter, they make my sleeves bunch up. In summer, they either leave me with a tan line or an annoying sweat band. I'd much rather just use my phone for my time-telling needs. But if I were to like watches to wear every day, I would get a Fossil watch. I love all of these ones! Casual ones to wear all day, sporty ones for days that I wear sweatshirts and go to the gym after class or for work, and ones dressy enough to wear on wedding days. They almost convince me I'd actually wear them.