Book Photography

I've always enjoyed photography and started getting into it when I ran my style blog for several years. But I always used automatic settings because the photos turned out really well that way! It wasn't until I started joining book photography challenges that I begin to experiment shooting in manual. Books were the perfect subject because they were patient with me as I tried one setting and another and another. Though I don't shoot as much anymore, I still enjoy shooting manual. Here are a few book photos I took over the years!

Sewing: Sweet Reversible Baby Bib

Recently, my cousin Kayleigh had a sweet baby girl! Her name is Charlotte, but we call her Lottie. Since Kayleigh and I were raised more like sisters than cousins, she lets me claim her kiddos as my "nephew" and "niece" and I get to be their Auntie.

Lottie's a sweet little thing!

I met Lottie for the first time at Christmas and knew I wanted to make something special for her. I had originally considered doing some embroidery, but instead decided to make a bib. I found a free pattern and tutorial here, which was super easy to follow! I love that it is double sided!

I dug through my fabric stash and found two adorable pillow cases. The floral one belonged to our great-grandmother, which I thought was special.

This bib came together pretty quickly. I definitely will be making more of these for baby showers that I attend in the future. There is something so special about something that is homemade, and I love to show love to my friends by creating things for them.

When You're Stuck on the Ark

In case you were wondering, it’s really hard to type when a huge cat is trying to sit on your keyboard and reach your hands because he needs pets. That has nothing to do with this, but Sushi is making things a little difficult right now by doing just that. 

Okay, moving on. (Slowly and with much difficulty, because of said fat cat.)

I’m personally pretty amazed by Noah. Noah was a man who trusted God wholeheartedly. When God said that rain was gonna fall and Noah needed to build a boat, Noah didn’t question God, even though this idea sounded crazy. He just obeyed God. Even when people made fun of him. I mean, I found it hard enough in high school when I looked different from everyone else for wearing skirts every day. I wasn’t doing anything THAT weird. And yet here’s a guy building a BOAT and animals start appearing out of nowhere. Yeah, I’d think he’s weird.

But Noah held on to God’s Word, trusting Him, even though he didn’t know what the outcome was going to be.

Today I was thinking what life on the ark must have been like. When I was in high school, I went on a cruise with my best friend. I got sea sick a few times, which wasn’t fun. Thankfully they had medicine for that.

One evening, we were all dressed up in our fancy wear walking around the boat taking photos on my little pink camera when the boat tipped. Not a little. But A LOT. I was afraid the boat was going to flip, it tilted that much. But the party didn’t stop in the casino we had snuck into (because the bar in there had smoothies) and the crew wasn’t freaking out, so when the boat righted, we tried to act calm. (Funny aside, Juju’s mom came running into the lobby wearing a life jacket, urging us to put one on too. “If y’all want to die, that’s fine, but I refuse to.”) Later we learned that there had been a fire in the engine room or something. I don’t know boat terms, but there was a fire where a fire should not have been.

All that to say that I can only imagine it was much worse on the ark. I mean, maybe not, since God designed the boat and all that. But still, it was probably a very bumpy ride, and it was not just a week cruise.

See, on my cruise we got to relax. We ate food prepared by talented chefs, enjoyed the spa services, were waited on hand and foot by the amazing crew. Not so much for Noah and fam--they WERE the crew.

And man, their jobs were TOUGH. Who even knows how many animals were on that ship?

Casey and I have a dog and two cats and we deal with enough craziness. Both cats got baths yesterday and we both have battle scars. Between the inside animals and the neighborhood cats we feed (and the racoons and opposums that come for midnight snack), we go through A LOT of food. Keeping all the animals on the boat fed was probably a full time job. On top of that, Noah was the caretaker for them. The vet. Any sick animals? Here comes Dr. Noah! And what if the rain scared the animals? Oxford gets so scared when there is lightning and thunder. Can you imagine if the horses started freaking out because of the weather outside?

Oh, and the smell. Ew. When one of our cats uses the litter box I immediately start lighting every candle in the house. I don’t even want to imagine what it must have smelled like on the boat.

I just heard some strange noises coming from the dining room and had to go see what Tigger was getting into. Thankfully he’s just playing with some seashells he found in a bowl. The other day I heard something and walked into the kitchen to find Sushi walking out with a bag of treats in his mouth. The bag of treats that had been on top of the refrigerator. Poor Noah and co. They had hundreds of animals to tend to and then there were these two CATS being little stinkers and getting into EVERYTHING.

So yeah. I can imagine that being on the ark wasn’t a very pleasant experience. You’re dealing with nausea because sea sickness. Spending all day feeding animals and all night yelling at them to SHUT UP, IT’S SLEEP TIME NOT PLAY TIME! (Can you tell we’ve said this to the cats once or twice--or every night--at midnight?) There are fleas and flies EVERYWHERE. (Seriously God, why couldn’t we have left them off the ark?) It smells so bad you’re wondering if maybe it would be okay to open a window. You started out with two rabbits and now there are 57. You’re trying to feed the camels and the boat hits a wave and tilts and an elephant comes flying at you, nearly squishing you to death. The giraffe starts freaking out and you look over to see that the cat thought its neck was a tree trunk and--as cute as that little orange fluffball is--he needs a spanking but is making you chase him all over the ark because he knows what’s coming.

I’d be so ready to GET OFF THAT BOAT ALREADY! And, according to the Biblical timeline, Noah and fam were on the boat for around a year. I’d be sick of the animals, sick of my family, sick of the smelly air. I’d be so done. As soon as that boat stopped moving, I’d be opening up the door and saying, “Everybody, OUT!”

But Noah didn’t do that. Because Noah is a much better person than I am. (Thankfully.) In fact, he didn’t even open a window for a while! (Gen 8:6)

If I’m understanding correctly, it was at least 200 days before Noah even opened the door. He used wisdom and patience, knowing that it was not a good idea to step out of that ark yet. The earth wasn’t ready, as confirmed by the dove. Noah waited on the Lord to tell him to move on.

I’m drinking hot tea right now (well, okay, it’s gone cold because I’m too wordy) and the mug says “Bloom where you are planted.” Sometimes I need this reminder because I’m ready to move to the next stage God has for me. The next stage in my ministry. The next stage in my family. The next house. The next missions trip. I really want God to speed up.

But God has my best interest in mind. Isaiah 55:8-9 says:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

If Noah had left the boat too early, the earth would not be ready to receive him. Maybe it would have still been muddy. Can you imagine reaching for freedom but then an elephant gets stuck in the mud outside the ark and causes the line to back up?

When Noah left the boat, be began farming (Gen 8:20). Most likely, the ground wasn’t ready for farming yet. What if he tried anyway? I don’t know much about farming, but I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t work.

Noah knew that doing things on his own terms was a bad idea--he waited for God during the difficult time, knowing that God would not fail him.

This is something I’m working on. To wait on the Lord, be patient, use wisdom, and grow where I am right now. I don’t want to rush God. I want to let him fully prepare my future (and myself) before I step into it. Especially when I look at my past, I see the times I tried to walk into my future before I was supposed to. It ended so horribly. It caused me so much hurt and pain. But, also looking at my past, I can see how beautifully things turned out when I waited on God. When I withstood the test and the tough stuff and said, “Not my will but Yours be done.” It wasn’t easy. But it was worth it.

And here I am again in the same boat (pun accidentally intended but appropriate), saying “Not my will, but Yours.” Still wanting things to go faster and for God to step on it. Asking if maybe we can just open the window and get a glimpse outside. Worrying, even though I know I can trust Him because He gave me a promise. Even though I know He’s just getting everything together so I can experience the beauty He has in store for me. Things may stink now (both figuratively and literally--where’s those candles?), but that just makes the breath of fresh air seem even more beautiful.

I’m ready to step outside the boat and take a deep breath, but I’m waiting. I’m trying to learn patience. Trying to slow down and appreciate the here and now. Allow myself to bloom where I am planted. Let God work on me so I’m ready for what He has in store for me.

There’s a rainbow in my future. And it’s going to be beautiful.

Meet Sushi

Sushi, meet everyone. Everyone, meet Sushi!

We've had Sushi since October, but I've never shared about him here!

So, meet Sushi. He is about the same age as Tigger, which puts him around a year and a few months. 

Before we got Sushi, we had been talking about getting another cat. Tigger would look outside the window and see the neighborhood cats and would meow and meow. We thought a friend might be a good thing for him, and we knew that we would want to adopt if we got another cat.

One day, we were at the farmer's market when we ran into Kat Vet. She had some cats with her available for adoption and there was one that looked just like Tigger, but he was blind. We thought he was so cute and we were interested, but I had to get to work so we told her we'd come to her house the next day to foster and potentially adopt him. 

When we got to her house the next morning, the kitten was being adopted! She said we could fight for him, but we didn't want to. It was obvious that the girl adopting him was head over heels for him, and we were thrilled he was being adopted! 

Since we were there, we figured we would choose another cat to foster and see how it worked with our family. There were at least 15 cats and several kittens. Kat put a kitten in my hand and said, "What about this one?" A minute later, it bit me. "Not this one," I said as I handed it back to her. We really wanted one that was already grown, because full-grown cats are often harder to adopt out than kittens. Also, we would have a better idea of its personality.

Sushi (who was previously known as "Brother 2") was a little sweetheart and wanted to be pet. Then I caught him playing with a pen, so I knew he had a playful side. I thought he would be the perfect addition to our home.

Tigger wasn't super thrilled at first, but warmed up to him after a few days. I wouldn't say they're inseparable, but they do enjoy playing together. Mostly they kind of do their own things, but they definitely enjoy each other's company. 

Sushi Roll (yes we give our animals middle names) is a little fatty. Okay, not a little. He's a fat cat. He loves his food. I recently caught him on top of the fridge knocking the treats off the top so he could dig in. (The treats are now in a container that--hopefully--he can't knock over.) 

He LOVES to be pet, especially when you are working on your computer or trying to do embroidery or something. He only cuddles when there are pets involved, until he falls asleep. (Tigger, on the other hand LOVES to cuddle and is currently asleep in my lap.)

People ask how Oxford handles the cats and he mostly ignores them. He's glad that Tigger has someone else to play with, because Tigger used to try to play with him. (Oxford does NOT play. He's much too sophisticated for that.) Oxford does get annoyed when the cats step on him. He seems to like (using that term loosely) Tigger more than Sushi. 

We love having Sushi in our home and everyone who meets him loves him. Here are some photos!

2019 Goals Recap

New year, new goals! I had some lofty ones for 2019, and ultimately I'm pretty pleased with how 2019 went!

Last year I wrote a post with my goals for the year, so I decided to share how that went. Carly does this every year and I always love to read her recaps!

Marriage

• Make marriage goals | Some of my "highlights" of 2019 were special things that Casey and I did, such as hiking and camping. We also learned this year that we LOVE doing puzzles together! We pick them up for super cheap at Goodwill.  One thing I've been really pleased with is that we are working to implement "Tech Guidelines" and we have done great at keeping our phones out of the bedroom! We've realized we didn't do a super great job at being intentional about dates and such. I think this is because we didn't know about how to create a SMART goal. We've fixed that for 2020! 
• Follow Dave Ramsey Program | We have been doing Dave Ramsey! Woo hoo! We still are learning how to do it and we both hate budgeting, but it makes me feel more secure. (We are on schedule to reach some of our financial goals this year!)

Going Green

• Continue finding new natural products | I actually had some success in this area this year! (Is it bad I didn't really expect it? lol) I found a shampoo and conditioner that I love at Trader Joe's. Which means--bonus!--it's soooo affordable. About $7 for both! I think this year is also when I started using Tom's toothpaste, which I really like. I also started using Schmidt Cedarwood+Juniper soap. It smells so good. I'm still struggling on the natural deodorant front. I've tried a few kinds and none work super well, but one thing I learned this year is I absolutely can't do deo with baking soda. It breaks me out and itches so bad! So I'm currently using Tom's peach deodorant which is okay. I feel like I stink after not a long time, but honestly that's been a common result I've had with all deodorants--even traditional ones--since switching to natural options. So I'm sticking with it for now since it's okay and affordable. But I hope to find one I really love in the future!
• Switch up my skincare routine | I did indeed switch up my skincare and shared about it here. I still have some uneven patches on my skin, but I think that might have to do with food sensitivities. I'm currently doing an elimination diet to see if I can figure that out for sure.
• Work on Going Green Goals | Still feeling good about going green! We are rocking the reusable bags and water bottles, and doing pretty good about reusable coffee cups too! At home, we only use real plates, utensils, and napkins instead of disposable. We do still keep paper towels at home because that is what I prefer for cleaning pet messes (which happens more than I like, but we have three pets), but we use them super sparingly. I didn't get a laundry line up, but would love to look into it this year! (Just not now... because it's coming a storm outside!) Oh! Also we started using a loofah scrubber instead of a traditional sponge to do dishes. I really like it!

Personal

• Be a better friend | Again, an area in which I needed a SMART goal! However, I was so grateful to cultivate some friendships. A good friend of mine stayed at our home every Tuesday evening (to avoid an early-morning commute) and we loved having her here! I also got to connect more with a friend I went to Singapore with. We actually celebrated New Years at her house. Also, I made NEW friends! That was my favorite part about working at the library!
• Read more. I documented 51 read books on Goodreads this year! Granted, some of them were kids books (oops) but I was super proud of myself. I also did a good job at my six-month reading challenge. I'm proud that I stepped outside my comfort zone and read more non-fiction this year.
• Create a cleaning schedule for my home | LOL! This is on my list for 2020 and I will turn it into a SMART goal and make a plan!

Spiritual

• Read my Bible through | Okay, I didn't finish. I got wayyy behind. But I plan to finish it in the next month or two, along with starting a new Bible reading program. I think it will be so encouraging to be reading alongside Casey this year, and we're doing a new-to-me reading program!
• Increase my prayer life | Yet another area I didn't do as well as I would have liked, so Casey and I are working on this together this year!
• Special project | We're still excited for this project, but have realized that it is not yet the right timing for this. And that's totally okay! We will use the time we have to continue growing where we are!

I'm so glad I did this reflection because it made me realize that I didn't give myself enough credit in some areas. That's one thing I love about "goals"--every baby step is worth celebrating! Even if you don't hit the final mark, every step towards that end goal is amazing. So excited to see where this year's baby steps will take us!

2020 Vision

jumping into 2020 like... 

I may not have 2020 vision, but I definitely see myself making 2020 vision jokes for the next year.

Happy 2020! I hope 2019 treated you well and I hope 2020 treats you better. 

2019 was a good and kinda weird year. I kicked off the year being sick for over a month, which meant the year could only get better from there! Casey and I had some fun adventures, like camping and hiking. I learned to sew (I made seven skirts last year and started on my eighth). We adopted two cats. (Click here to meet Tigger. Below is a pic of Sushi and I'll do a post about him soon!) I started working at the local library, quit working at the local library, and started editing again for a company I love!

Casey and I sat down the other day over tea and coffee and laid out some goals for 2020. (I'll do a 2019 goals recap in a few days! You can see those goals here.) These are some of the things we are working on, but we have a few more things that I'd rather not share on the internet, ha! 

One thing I learned this year was about SMART goals. My bestie is a life coach helps people make and reach goals that are attainable and reasonable. Here's what SMART stands for:

• Specific (simple, sensible, significant).
• Measurable (meaningful, motivating).
• Achievable (agreed, attainable).
• Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based).
• Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive).

Using this criteria has helped us to make clearer goals, such as "Plan two date nights a month" instead of "Go on more dates." I highly recommend Googling SMART goals to learn more!

Marriage

• Make sure to have at least one six-second kiss every day. (Science says that it takes six seconds of kissing for the brain to release oxytocin, which is the hormone responsible for connection. We got this info from @dearyoungmarriedcouple, which is a must-follow Instagram account!)
• Two planned date nights each month. We're the worst at planning date nights, so we decided to do better about it! Each of us will plan one date a month.
• I'm making a personal goal to do better at expressing my expectations. I realize I get most upset in our marriage when my expectations aren't met, but how is Casey even supposed to know what I expect when I don't explain it to him? This one will take some work to remember, but I know will be worth it!

Going Green

• Continue using reusable shopping bags, coffee mugs, water bottle, real china and silverware, limiting paper towel use, and refusing plastic straws. Maybe I ought to do a post on this!
• Figure out what to do about recycling. Our recycling pick up has been discontinued in Hammond and I absolutely refuse to pay for pick up, especially considering how awful the pick up was before. We will try to take our recycling to the center on the two available days each month. If you can't tell, I'm super bitter about this. However, maybe it will give me the push to rethink what I was recycling in the first place. Is it something I can do without? Can I purchase eggs in a paper carton that can be composted instead of recycled? This may take some creativity but I know we can do it!
• Shop at the farmers market regularly. We love doing this and want to do even better!

Personal

• Be a better friend. Yes, again! I am so grateful for the friendships I cultivated last year and want to be more purposeful in this. I know I have a lot on my plate right now, so I've made a date with myself in March to sit down and figure out ways I can better connect with my friends, like monthly coffee or lunch dates.
• Read at least one non-fiction book per month. I might make my yearly book goal around 30. Haven't decided yet.
• Create a cleaning schedule for the year. Yeah, this was on my list last year and didn't happen. Oops.
• Complete at least one sewing project per month. I'm already working on my first one! I want to tackle making a dress. I tried last year but ran into some complications and want to try again!

Spiritual

• Read a new Bible plan! Casey and I are doing this together! We are also going to make a habit of praying together daily.
• We are also excited to work on the Grand Finale together. The Grand Finale is a blacklight performance at our annual VBS. Casey has created and directed the Grand Finale for several years now, and I got to help him last year! We hope to have the creative side done by May and are making a schedule to keep us on time.
• Play more worship music at home. We got an Echo Dot for Christmas which is making this way easy! 

I may not have 2020 vision, but I can definitely see that 2020 is going to be a great year!