. since we last met .

. it's been busy and then a little less busy . i've enjoyed the slower time and am using the time to refocus and set some goals for this year . very excited about some new business ideas .

. i've been to vegas, twice .

. chicago, i don't know how many times .

. fell in love with and watched all of downtown abbey, most of the while with a cup of tea .

. attended wppi for the first time ever .

. moved .

. started recycling .

. really enjoying cooking with lots of fresh veggies .

. establishing family night with people in my life that might as well be my family .

. doing my best to be fully submitted to what God has for me .

. drank loads of bubble tea, mostly with my tracy friend .

. met nate and jaclyn kaiser and jasmine star .

. got my hair cut shorter .

. then grew it back out a bit .

. considered growing it back out all the way again, but decided to hold off because jasmine and nate both told me i had cool hair . (this is always subject to change)

. built stronger relationships with some .

. not been what i should to others, will be working on that .

. reconnected with old friends .

. having fun hanging out with these 2 every so often .

. having fun decorating the new pad .

. causing me to think about rebranding my photography, so that's in the works .

. overwhelmed by loved ones, the good kind of overwhelmed .

. enjoying that with every twist and turn in life there's always room for change and better yet, improvements .

. getting dressed up all fancy and stuff .

. for a big party, that was a bit of a let down, mainly because i'm not into the kind of parties where you have to yell in your friends ear just to chat . :) fuddy duddy, i know . getting all dressed up was my favorite part . oh and taking fun snapshots with friends .

. rang in the new year by watching and photographing a beautiful home birth .

. and then had photos from the birth make the front page of the cedar rapids gazette .

. resting outside in february barefoot (not in iowa) .

. braved getting a tattoo . i'm tougher than i thought . it says 'it is well with my soul' . always a good reminder .

. frequenting goodwill, stuff, houseworks, salvation army and all those great places to see what treasures i may find .

. i've gotten involved in a great connection group through my church, the ladies in this bible study are great knitters, i love watching them do their thing as we discuss God's word .

. i'm sure there's more, but i'm going to let that do for catching us up . hopefully more to come soon .

where'd you get this shampoo

. this definitely gave me the laugh i needed . thought you might need it too .

happy haircut

. i just had one . and it was very happy .

:)

. before .

. after .

. and mom requested to see the back, so these next few are for you mom .

. and then i realized none of these are from the front, so here's one .

. at some point i'll get better quality ones taken, but for now these get the point across .

. after having long hair for roughly 6 years i was ready to switch things up . in that 6 years i've changed colors (found out lighter isn't for me) and cut bangs a few times, then grown them back out, i felt like i had exhausted every long hair style that i liked, and i was ready for a change . i've had this short of hair before (when i got married) and did like it, so thought i'd go for it again . walter (who did it just like the picture (the last one of her holding the baby), never happens, right?!), made it happen and i couldn't be more pleased !

. randomness .

. apparently i can't do much cohesive these days, it's all random photos from my iphone or random thoughts running out of my head . it's where i'm at these days i guess .

. this weather is awesome . early, but awesome . yesterday i turned the air on . i had flash backs of right after we moved into this house and i was babysitting levi and andrew . an ache that i hadn't felt in a while came over me, i missed them and all their silly ways . and i strangely didn't mind doing the laundry, washing dishes, taking out the garbage . i truly felt as if i was living in this house, my dream house, for the first time again . that passed last night when i had to finish up the laundry .

. my weeks have been fairly booked with photo sessions, but they keep getting rescheduled . no ones fault, they can't help it, but it's making for extra time . which i do really love, but find myself wondering what to do with it all . last saturday i had 2 sessions booked and both had to reschedule, so that left my morning wide open . i had already planned to meet my friend emily for omelettes at the rotary omelette breakfast in kalona . she mentioned she was going to hit a few garage sales since it was city wide, and since my morning opened up i went too . it had been a long time and it was so much fun . we had to stop for coffee to wrap up the fun .

. a few of my finds from the sales .

. after my morning saleing, i had went to this little missy's birthday party .

. it was a butterfly party, wish i had taken my wings .

. then kept andrew and seth for a few hours while mommy helped with a wedding . we ran errands and put bandaids on ouchies . and went through a car wash, seth wasn't a fan .

. and sunday i was able to spend the day with my mom . it was special . we don't usually spend the day together and it worked out that she had the afternoon free, as did i . had lunch (dad came too, he can't crash our party, he only makes it better), then walked around the square a little, sat in the park and talked .

. then got iced coffee at dodici's cafe . mmmm .

. i feel blessed to have so many special people in my life . my days are filled with family, friends and love . i know i don't look happy about it here, but i am !

. randomness .

. i was supposed to have a photo shoot this morning, but we rescheduled due to the very overcast skies...we were hoping for some fun outdoor shot, fingers crossed for next saturday ! soo excited about taking prom photos this afternoon, a group of 12 ! AHH ! does that sound like fun, or what ?! wishing we could do some outside, but i'm not counting on it . with this wind, can you say 'dress up day' ?

. been working on that curb appeal on the house, remember ? house numbers are on, new mailbox in place and just put up a new porch light . a forsythia wreath on the front door, it's all come together quite nicely . i'll post photos at some point . the dilapidated porch floor is what's holding me back . all in good time ! we've only lived here 6 years people, give us time !

. just noticed that there's sunshine in the forecast for the next 4 days, who do we think we are, california ?! sooo excited, but not holding my breath !

. love arranging all my props cute at the studio for window peekers . i only just started doing this a few months ago, it's like styling a window display, i like it !

. spent quite a bit of time at the studio this week . 7 shoots, well, make that 6 since this mornings rescheduled . whew, what a great week .

. even got a day of shopping in and while i was there i saw this . these guys are great and i wish it would have worked out to hear them that night, sometime i WILL make it to hear them play !

. had coffee with a friend . it was the best, the coffee and conversation . this single coffee date changed my week ! thanks, ashley ! you can pretend like you didn't read this . ha !

. when i went out to feed the dogs .

. mad for plaid, i am ! jammies !

. editing while watching the royal wedding yesterday . i'm not totally caught up in it all (like my awesome friend, emily...seriously, she's awesome, she was featured on katemiddelton.com, go read her stuff, you're really laugh out loud!) . but i do love and appreciate style and a couple who appears genuine and in love, and from what we are shown they appear to be just that . i did love seeing all the hats and couldn't imagine being a female guest and NOT having a hat, and i saw a few of them...poor things . why ?!

. this means the sun is shining . !!! . and i almost see a chevron pattern in there . hm, pretty .

. i'm wanting to get more creative with my photo shoots . lately my mind has been racing as to how i can mix things up . i have a few ideas, but if you have any inspiration, send it my way .

. i mowed yesterday and i actually enjoyed it a little . i'm hoping it's really growing on me and i'll learn to love it . most of the time it's just a job, one i dread and pray the 2 hours flies by . i've even tried embracing it before with no success . not sure what's change, but i hope it's for good . am i asking too much from mowing my yard ? i don't think so .

. that's all for now . happy saturday to you !

inspired by kate

. these gals are all planning on attending the royal wedding the end of the month, i love it . i seriously wasn't even sure when it was, but they are all attending (via their couch and tv) . yesterday at club marjorie mentioned that her "easter bonnet" was inspired by kate middleton . she liked what she had seen kate wear and whipped up a little something similar out of fabric that she's add for probably 30 or 40 years. i suggested she make them and sell them on etsy.com . she mentioned she doesn't have a computer .

:)

. i love little delicate ladies . she had this thing attached to her head with 2 little bands of thread, can you see them ? how did it not fall off . i have no hopes of being a delicate little old lady . i'm going to be the kind huffing and puffing just getting to my seat, sitting down with a big sigh and looking around to take it all in once i get seated because it was all i could do just to get to my chair . i hope i don't smell bad .

. my friend, joleen . her fancy hat was purchased for a wedding in italy many, many years ago .

. and betty, who made me laugh more than once during our time together . especially with her talk of having to cover her ears when she gets her hair cut so that her hair dresser doesn't cut off the hair that she's trying to grow over her ears . she's been working on it for 2 years now ! again, i'm laughing ! she said when purchasing this hat all those years ago the salesman told her she didn't really have the kind of head that should wear a hat . and when putting it on to come to club her son told her now he sees why she doesn't wear them . poor thing . she took it off right after this photo .

. grandma co-hosted and wrote a little spring tribute . it was beautiful, and mentioned the bald eagle cam . who would have thought 'the internet' would be mentioned in a sweet little spring sonnet . i love the 21st century .

. it was a lovely time .

. speaking of pretty, delicate ladies . isn't she !

. more random things .

. spring . is it here ? or isn't it ? by the calendar it is, but i still seem to have to wear socks every day or else my feet get cold . last week when i went over to my mother in laws and cut some flowers i also cut some branches from their newly trimmed apple trees . i brought some branches home that had buds on them and look, they just bloomed on my kitchen island .

. and well, this is about as easter as i get when it comes to decorating .

. i ordered this amazing rug (from here if you're curious) over a month ago and it just came on monday . it was backordered . my experience with backordered stuff has been that about 3 weeks after it's backordered i seem to get an message saying that it is no longer in stock and so therefore i don't get what i ordered . i didn't get my hopes up then that i'd actually get this so a few days ago when i got the email that said it was shipped i got all excited again . her she is, and i love her !! she'll be going with me to the studio now and then too for maybe a fun family session ?! how did it become a she ? hm...

. brings some more color and mismatch to my office . i love it !

. and i finally got some of those instagrams printed ! i chose mpix.com for printing and they would go as large as 5x5 . i'm very happy with the outcome . saw this cute idea to string them up here .

. that's all for today, friends .