Travel

All right, I'll admit that I was tempted to go off and leave you without warning, but I decided against it. It just wouldn't be right.

Tomorrow morning bright and early later than usual me and my family are leaving to go to the Jersey Shore for a week with my Dad's side of the family. The three-story house we are staying in is just a block and a half away from the beach, so I am expecting to come home thoroughly ripened. ;)

Lately I've been longing for something. Inspriation, wanderlust, summer-embracing, I don't know. Something. A longing to go new places, see new things, learn new things,  meet new people, experience things I never have before, and live each day to the fullest (cliché, I know).
  Just the world travel has a wonderfully distinct ring to it. No, it's not a ring, it's the thrill of excitement.  The wonder of the unknown. The beauty of newness. The stirring of life.

I want adventure in the great wide somewhere.

I suppose that today, the first day of summer, is a perfect day to decide to embark on adventure, experience, and excitement. 

I long to take better pictures. write better posts. describe more perfectly what is jumbled inside my head.  create masterpieces. read excessively. sing noisily. laugh whole-heartedly. love unconditionally. 

So here I go.

Photo Shoot {Reagan}

My friend Reagan asked me to take her senior pictures, and thus began my first "official" photo shoot. 

I had already taken my friend Lieren's senior pictures, but we weren't driven around to various places, changed clothes, etc. 

The day began as a cloudy, rainy, blah kind of day, and I wasn't too happy. You can tell from some of the pictures that the lighting wasn't too good, but we braved the weather and went out in spite of it. 

We ended up going to three locations and one impromptu one. (Reagan's mom randomly stopped the car and told us to jump out and take pictures by the wooden fence. It was a good idea.)

We had lots of fun laughing, getting soaked by the wet grass and drizzles of rain, and trying to find the best poses and ways to get Reagan to smile naturally. 

Here are 20 of the best photos (in my opinion).

Favorites?

Memorial Day

Ah...a holiday from work and a routine schedule.

I didn't think I was going to have a very good day, but it ended up being quite delightful.
I can't quite remember what I did in the morning besides sleeping in. After lunch I went to watch my brothers and their friends play Ultimate Frisbee while three friends and I, watched.
(Enter Leta, Chloe, and Beth)

Leta

Chloe

Beth

Leta and Chloe are sisters and Beth co-leads the youth group I help with. 

     We had a really relaxing time playing card games, taking pictures, watching the game, reading Winnie-the-Pooh, and reading and reciting Tennyson and Lewis Carroll while lolling about on the quilt that we had spread out. It was lovely.

That evening we (my family and I) lit a fire in the fire pit and sat around it while eating hot dogs and making s'mores.

How was your Memorial Day?

Truths

::I don't drink enough water
::I got a job last week
::I am not looking forward to working tomorrow morning
::I love little kids
::I end up going to bed way later than I would like
::I didn't take a picture yet today
::I am not a very good photographer
::I think like a criminal sometimes (ask my sisters)
::I love children's books
::I am only about 5' tall. Or maybe 5' 1". I've been told both.
::I often have a hard time NOT thinking about what other people think of me
::I have a hard time NOT wanting lots and lots of followers
::I like using the cool office phones at work
::I wish I listened to new music more often
::I am hoping to go to the beach on Monday
::It is supposed to rain on Monday
::I don't read my Bible everyday
::I don't pray as often as I should
::I am allergic to peanuts
::I am wearing essie's turquoise & caicos on my nails right now
::I am learning to be more outgoing than I used to be
::I am slightly tired of the whole take-one-picture-every-day thing
::I cry a lot
::I have low blood pressure
  ::and small lungs
::I finally finished my 20 before 20 list (can you say "took too long"?)
::I haven't uploaded my week's pictures yet
::I recently started shooting in RAW...what sort of difference am I supposed to see
  ::sometimes I feel clueless
::I am not depressed at the moment
::I love homemade Mounds bars
::Playing the piano relaxes me
  ::except when I'm playing in front of other people
    ::then I just get uptight
::I have enough truths listed here
::Goodnight