Answered Prayers and Talking Birds

My life is much like a roller coaster and I'm realizing it more and more every day. It's absolutely crazy how one day will be fabulous and the next will be the exact opposite. My mood is greatly affected by my mom's mood so if she's having a bad day, I have a bad day. That's not a good thing but I'm so close to her that it just happens that way. And it's okay.

It's okay because I see so many prayers being answered and it's the most beautiful thing I've ever experienced. I definitely haven't felt God's love in my home for a while. I've felt it in my life, but not in my home. Well, lately, the good days have turned to fabulous days and the awful days have just turned to bad days. I shouldn't speak so soon because things can change in an instant but as of right now, I'm so happy for the prayers that have been sent my family's way because they are being answered!

And this long weekend has been nothing but joy, minus one little day, and I'm so thankful. My mom has more energy than she has had in three years and not only has she visited a lot of great friends and had a lot of great friends visit her, but we've gone places and enjoyed our days! Today we got to go visit some birds and dogs because my mom's friend's sister is taking care of them and it was wonderful. One of the birds is ninety years old and talks so we laughed and laughed. I took some videos and some pictures that I'm so excited to share! The videos are a bit small because I stupidly filmed them vertically on my phone but if you enlarge it, you can see better. Also, it's a little hard to tell whether the bird is making noises/talking or if it's us but just listen carefully. It's so fun! :) I love when he meows. Best thing ever.

Outfit VII

Today was my first full day off from school and it was great. I am slowly realizing that because I don't have a job and all my friends do, that I may be bored a lot of the time, but my excuse is that I'm leaving next year. I want to spend time with my mom and I want to adventure as much as I possibly can with whoever is around. I say that every summer but this one feels different. I may not see my high school friends ever again after summer is over and if I do, it'll be a while. Coordinating some fun trips may be tough and it may not happen, but I'm going to try! Graduation hasn't arrived for me yet and it definitely hasn't sunk in that my life is going to change next year. I think I've cut my mind off from being able to understand it all because I'm so scared but I know that the Lord is going to guide me through it all and that gives me so much peace. His plan is my plan.

And speaking of graduations, one of my beautiful friends is graduating tonight and since dressing up is one of my favorite things to do, I picked out a dress to wear there and thought I'd do a little outfit post before I left. So here's today's outfit. :)

Dress - T.J. Maxx
Shoes - Clarks
Bracelet - Gifted
Ring - Target
Earrings - T.J. Maxx

Two More Days

It's been a surprisingly long week and I'm assuming it's because school is almost over. TWO MORE DAYS!! It's funny how my ninth grade year and even last year, I said I never wanted to leave high school. I wanted to stay in my little comfort zone and never leave. Well, things do change, you know. They changed for me. Four years doesn't seem like a very long time but when you've been accepted to college and your last summer before that is nearing close by, you just want it to begin. I'm not saying I'm necessarily excited for college (I'm more scared), but I'm as ready as one can be. And I'm ready for summer days where I don't have to worry about teachers, grades, and getting up early.

So although I don't have much planned for the summer, I'm ready to relax. And relaxation comes in the form of pictures for me, so here's to a summer with lots of pictures. What are you doing this summer?

Foodography

If you haven't figured this out by now, I love food. And more importantly, I love dessert -- cake, brownies, cookies, ice cream. Yum. I do think it's incredibly important to eat healthily and since I don't do the best at that, I probably have a high cholesterol, but I'm enjoying it while I'm young. Thankfully, I am able to work out at a gym whenever I want, which I try to take advantage of as much as possible. Or when I feel like it.... Haha.

But anyway, one of my favorite things to photograph is definitely food. I love to photograph people, yes, but food is awesome. It does exactly what you tell it to. Hahaha. It sits there and looks delicious. If I could be a magazine food photographer, I would gladly do that. I'm not the best at photographing food (Carlotta is, though) but it's something I find myself doing almost on a daily basis. It's obnoxious how many food Instagrams I have and how many pictures are stored on my hard drive of food. Oh, well. I love it. Hope you have the chance to eat some good food today and feel free to leave a comment with what it was!

Christine + Billy | Staunton, Virginia Portrait Photographer

Firsts of anything are always scary. I feel like I've said that exact thing on the blog before but it's so true. I've always wanted to do engagement shoots and weddings but I've been scared. I don't like letting people down and I always like to be prepared and able to deliver. Even if the couple may like the photos, I want to be happy with them too. So, I've put a lot of thought into whether I'm ready to shoot engagements and weddings and I guess until recently, I never really had an answer. Shooting couples is not something I'm experienced at but it's something I'd absolutely love to do professionally, so guess what? You have to start somewhere. Or I guess I should say, I have to start somewhere.

Mrs. Sapp, my tenth grade English teacher, is an incredible person and I've loved her since the day I met her. She's just that warm, fuzzy person who can make you laugh but who you can talk to about anything, too. She contacted me in the winter, asking if I'd be willing to take some photos of her and her husband. As usual, I was shocked that someone was asking me, an 18-year-old, to photograph them, but I was so excited to have the opportunity! This was the point where I told myself I'd start with couples. Maybe not weddings, but definitely couples.

We ended up waiting to shoot until spring rolled around and yesterday was the day! I had prepared myself as much as I possibly could with posing and had told my little self that I could do it! We shot at the beautiful campus of Mary Baldwin, where Mrs. Sapp and Billy (I will forever call her by her "teacher name") were married and it was a blast. It was such a wonderful experience for me and I'm so thankful they put up with my excitement and technical difficulties at the same time. Mrs. Sapp and Billy, thank you for trusting me with your portraits! I hope you love them!