California and sweet rosy sunshine

I realize that this post is way overdue, but better late than never! And I could use some sunny memories today anyways. 

It all started on Christmas morning when I was handed a box wrapped in gold paper. It wasn't heavy or unusually shaped but it contained the best Christmas gift I have ever gotten and probably ever will get. At first I thought it was just a super awesome Rose Bowl MSU t-shirt... and then my eyes found the golden piece of paper laying in the bottom of the box.  It was a certificate (my dad loves to make certificates) for five days and four nights in Los Angeles, California aaaannnndddddd a ticket to the ROSE BOWL with my dad!!! I think my jaw came unhinged for about 20 minutes after that as I tried to fathom how epic this was. I didn't have much time to prepare as we hopped on a plane just four days later. 

When our plane landed, I immediately fell in love with the delicious sunshine. 

The view from my hotel room... Dear MI, this is what December should look like!

Everyone, meet my little friend Leroy. I was taking pictures and walking the shoreline when I noticed a dog swimming in the close waves. Then I realized that it wasn't a dog, Leroy is a seal :) I watched him for probably ten minutes as he swam up and down the tiny waves in front of me. He was so close to shore and it was really neat to see creation in front of me like that!

We went to the L.A. Zoo one afternoon and I enjoyed walking through the different exhibits... but I was on a the search for one specific exhibit.

Yupppp! This is the one I wanted to see! After walking around the giant elephant pen for about half an hour we finally were able to see them having dinner. 

Purely adorable!

Hugging a palm tree for Mom 

So the story... because my dad gives talks at conferences around the world he ends up knowing a ton of people. As it ends up, the company responsible for the grass on the Rose Bowl field had two tickets that they offered to my dad (because he knew them of course) as well as hotel accommodations and a tour of the field the day before the game. 

Although the tour excited my dad a little more than it did me, I still thought it was fantastic that I actually got to walk on the field and be this close to the logo! I learned plenty of facts about the maintenance of the field as well :}

  

After our tour, we drove through the Rose Parade route and into downtown L.A. for the MSU pep rally. They estimated that over 10,000 fans showed up to get excited and watch the MSU basketball game on the big screens. 

The Rose Parade was alright... I'd prefer to watch it on TV but it was a fun experience

Although the Rose Bowl was clearly the highlight of the trip, I did kind of forget that it was the climax. I had been enjoying the sunshine and the touring and the beaches but then we showed up at the stadium and it all came rushing in with a wave of adrenaline. 

We took our seats and I looked out at the mountains in the distance and felt the sun on my back. After the first couple minutes I was kind of disappointed with MSU's start and I kept telling myself to just enjoy the experience and not be sad about the outcome because this was a once in a lifetime thing. But then as the game progressed, a small part of me began to think about how cool it would be if the Spartans won. 

The final minutes were nearly torturous as I could imagine a win, but I could also picture a devastating loss. 

And then they did it! They pulled out a win! Talk about adrenaline rush now... my heart had been pounding so fast in hopeful anticipation and then with a victorious leap from a back up player it was over. We won and the whole trip was instantly wrapped up in a rosy red bow. 

We headed home early the next morning, smiles still on our faces and traces of sunshine on our cheeks. Granted, I think I made Michigan pretty upset because then it decided to spit up snow all over the place for a month to try to make me forget about California and warm sunny joy. Don't worry CA, I won't forget about you.

Thats my story about the best Christmas present I've ever gotten. I was massively charmed by Cali and I wouldn't mind going back there someday (the cost of living is crazy and there is that thing about it falling off the world, but besides that it is pretty nearly perfect).

When the Power Goes Out

{today's story, told through pictures}

Laugh Attack

I figure enough people are stressed and not enjoying this season as much as they need to be... so what could be better than a laugh attack? (The answer is nothing) and that is why I present you with this:

I just realized that my humor is very odd and mildly disturbing... but hopefully it lightened your mood a little bit! 

Story Time

For those of you who haven't heard my story... I figured, ah what the heck, why not?

A few Thursdays ago I woke up exhausted. 

Not too surprising. I'm sure many people wake up that way. I usually do pretty well on only about six hours of sleep but that particular morning a felt like I was living in a fog. It was like a heavy weight was pulling my eyelids down. I knew I would have a long day. I was working 5 hours at the bank and babysitting for the rest of the afternoon and evening. I just kept thinking "I can't do today."

*secret from Emily's present - I sometimes fall asleep in the shower*

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh, I don't really know how to explain that one. hahaha. But on that morning I had leaned my head against the wall as the words "I can't do today" kept replaying over and over. 

I startled awake and panicked. 

I knew I was going to be late for work. I can't stand being late, so I jumped out of the shower and grabbed my phone to see how many precious minutes had been wasted. I had to look at it three times before I comprehended what had happened.

It read 12:51

Yep. It was midnight. I had been asleep for a total of about 85 minutes before I somehow sleepwalked to the shower and started getting ready for my day. I had even picked out a cute outfit and everything! 

There was not a better feeling than getting back into bed and knowing I had the full night left to sleep! I'm pretty sure I fell asleep grinning from ear to ear. 

This has been story time with Emily :) Tune in next time to hear more odd stories!

Feeling Old

I know, it is a little early to have that be my post title, I've only been 19 for two weeks! But I really do feel old! Today was the first time I got excited about Christmas this year, up to this point all my thoughts about the upcoming holidays have been negative. (I know you're probably thinking that I should do a Thanksgiving post first and not skip ahead to the next holiday so fast. Don't worry, I'm not a superstore. I didn't forget about Thanksgiving.) But I've been dwelling heavily in the worry of how to get everything done before the holidays. The hours I need to clock at work, the books I need to get for school, not to mention Christmas shopping and how much I can't stand the nasty weather!

Tonight while eating dinner Ben was blaring his Michael Bubble (it is what I call him, ok) Christmas CD and it was driving me crazy. Yeah, I know, a teenage girl who doesn't listen to that one album 10981267 times in the four weeks before Christmas. Crazy right? Anyways, in order to clear that nonsense from my head I decided it was about time to create a Christmas playlist of my own (I'm not saying that my music is better...but, well I mean...)

I starting washing dishes and Amy Grant's 'Hark! the Herald Angels Sing' came on. For about three minutes I was eight years old again, waking up to that song playing in the living room of our house in Williamston and running downstairs on a white, snowy, magical morning. There was such an awe of Christmas back then. Every year as a little kid I put together a complex nativity scene using as many things as I could find laying around our house. My favorite, and probably my most advanced one included doll house people as Mary and Joseph, a Playmobile baby Jesus, Ben's Obi-Wan guy as the shepherd, and a few other assorted toys. I was quite proud. Eventually, I switched from setting up the miniature scene to writing the Christmas story in a different way each year. Those got pretty advanced too before I switched to being the tree decorating advisor.

*secret from my past: I used to ball my eyes out while watching the tree go through the chopper truck a week after Christmas*

Then we got a fake tree. And I knew I would much rather have to watch my beloved, unique, and always gigantic real tree leave in a violent way than see the same plastic one year after year come out of the box (my annual fake-Christmas-tree-rant gets shorter every year... there is hope that I am becoming more mature right?)

With my hands still in the soapy sink I snapped out of it and realized that somewhere along the line the childhood excitement had switched to a feeling of just tradition which I realized had switched to a feeling of dread. I dread Christmas? Third Day's 'Christmas Like a Child' hit at a good time.
As a kid I was caught up in the true meaning of Christmas and the magic of the season. I wasn't too busy, or overwhelmed, or lost in all the hustle and bustle of "adultness". I want to enjoy Christmas like that again!

In other news, there is really nothing super new going on around here. I got a turkey today for working at the bank. AND IT WAS TOTALLY EPIC! Im so very proud of earning a 14lb headless and very frozen bird! Ben thinks I've gone insane. haha... I am really enjoying the slow and steady flow of photography session that have been coming in too and can't wait for a session that I have tomorrow!

So yeah, let's feel Christmas like children again! It was way more fun and enjoyable and meaningful back then. Don't forget the reason we celebrate in the first place. The little multi-toy nativity might look and sound funny now, but back then I set it up to remind me just how real it was! I don't ever want to lose that truth and joy - no matter how crazy busy life gets.

I just noticed that this post is very Emily's brain. Haha, I apologize for how all over the place it is :P Lots of parenthesis, oh dear. Well, I guess it is realistic!

And now two random pictures from our birthday (just to add to the randomness, and parenthesis).

 

Final conclusion. Samantha is a beast. I am a wimp.

adios for now :)

Picture Jumping

I have had the joy of taking lots of pictures lately. It always gets me so excited to take pictures and see smiles and images stopped in time like this :) I've continued to be swept away with the routine of life and watch as days melt into weeks. I wanted to do a blog post with pictures as an update but as I look through my pictures it is just a highlight of photo shoots that I've done here and there in the midst of working. I haven't taken a lot of around the house pictures lately of everyday life, I guess that can be my new challenge. So anyways, here is an update on  what I've been doing when I'm not at the bank. 

I spent last weekend working at Barakel for the Jack and Jill weekend where summer staff all come back and help change things over to get ready for winter camp. It was super nice to see everyone again!  I wasn't able to get any pictures due to working and running around in the dark.

I've been working on Colette's senior photos for a while now and I really enjoy taking pictures with this girl! She is gorgeous and fun and just pure fantastic!

 

Little Simon or "Do Da", as the twins call him, continues to grow and be such a sweet baby. I have so enjoyed taking pictures of him every month!

 

My buddy JD turned 4 this month, Tuesdays spent with him are always the bomb.com. I was remembering today back to when I first started watching him as a little guy, when I was still in high school and when he was just getting started on baby food! He is such a joyful boy and we all love having him here whenever we get the chance to have him come play :)

I had the privilege to take pictures of this energetic family a few weeks ago and I fondly remember that as the last warm day of this fall. Ever since then it has been gloomy and cold. My favorite places lately are in my bed with the blankets piled high, and right next to a heater. It is bad, hasn't even become winter yet and I am already geared up to hibernate! 

This cute little munchkin was at our house a couple weeks ago so I decided she needed to get some camera time. Such an adorable baby! Oh my word!

I had fun running around with the Fellers a few weekends ago and since they are so cute I figured I could take my camera along and persuade some of them to pose for me. Some were more willing than others ;) 

And the child. The naughty little child. She wanted school pictures like the "big kids". But when I tried to take them she freaked out and went all pouty and grouchy on me. I was so sad that even though she has been raised with a camera lens in her face she still pitched a fit. I was able to snap a few pictures that make it look like she was happily obeying my suggestions to pose. Truth be told she was only happy when she was doing exactly what SHE thought was right. How often we all act like that I'm sure!

  

And the last picture... a more candid shot. This was me trying to teach Xavier how to do a monkey face. Ben was clearly amused.

Those are the life highlights (picture jumping style) of what I've been up to.  I just realized that I spend a good amount of time with adorable little kids!! I really want to try to make it a point to get more pictures of life as it happens and get back to blogging more consistently. For now, peace out.

Tomorrow

Today is the first day of a new month. As I changed my calendar today, I looked at all 30 days of last month crossed off neatly with a red pen. I curiously glanced through the words written in each checked off box to see what I had accomplished in a month's time. "Wow," I thought to myself, "I did a lot of work, ooh a photo shoot there, more work... another fun photo shoot! Lots of work. I work a ton. Small group. Fun weekends. More work."  

I realized that I spend a lot of time thinking about tomorrow but I never actually get there. Tomorrow keeps becoming today and a new tomorrow is always popping up. It is already October with 30 tomorrows looming ahead. There are things to do each and every day and having a plan for the upcoming days and events isn't bad. But I don't want to get swept away with the thoughts of things that aren't here to deal with. I'm easily overwhelmed by the big picture, by the 31 perfect little uncrossed squares hanging on my wall, just waiting for me to put a red line through after a long day of work. When I change my calendar to November, will I look back and see my life in just getting through another 8 hour work day to get to the fun or at least less stressful weekends?  Will I realize that I once again spent most of my days looking forward to the next day, to tomorrow? Will I make it to October of 2014 and ask the same questions? I don't want life to just pass me by as I long for and yet dread the future. With all these thoughts in my head I opened up 'Jesus Calling' for the first time yesterday. 

I received the book this summer while counseling and was reading a different daily devotional at the time so I packed it away and forgot about it until the other day when a friend mentioned how much she was enjoying her copy. I saw it on my shelf and got curious. 

September 30 - Jesus Calling

" ...You need not fear the future, for I am already there... Your future is in My hands; I release it to you day by day, moment by moment. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow. I want you to live this life abundantly, seeing all there is to see, doing all there is to do, Don't be distracted by future concerns. Leave them to Me! Each day of life is a glorious gift, but so few people now how to live within the confines of today. Much of their energy for abundant living is spills over the timeline into tomorrow's worries or past regrets. Their remaining energy is sufficient only for limping through the day, not for living it to the full."

 

Yeah, for real! That is what it was about! Such a good stop-me-in-my-path-and-turn-me-around moment! I want to live each day to the full and not just limp through it so I can cross it off or worrying about what tomorrow holds. Days go by fast enough as it is! 

So thats all I had to say. I guess it was kind of a life update, telling you all that yes indeed I am still alive. I just wanted to share this as a way of helping it stick more in my head. Live this day abundantly to the fullest! At work or school or play :)