love…or something like it.

 

soo, i know we use the word ‘love’ so flippantly in our culture to apply to anything.

i love you.

i love cold stone ice cream.  

see the discrepancy?

nontheless, i post this from my real (handwritten) journal from july 15th-ish. i wrote it while looking at the mountains from a screened in porch in cashiers,nc on a cool morning as the fog rolled out.  these are just my honest thoughts from the moment…don’t judge me

 

 

love:

-i love family, friends

-i love making people feel welcome in a place where they did not feel comfortable before

-i love feeling wanted

-i love photography

-i love creating/capturing something beautiful

-i love mountains, beaches, nature in raw form

-i love boys who go hiking and can teach me something new

-i love theology and right thinking about God and His word

-i love being set free and praying in Jesus’ name

-i love coffee

-i love running

-i love singing a smooth song and melodies that are beautiful

-i love instant connections with new people and old friendships that will never die

-i love _______ (a list of names of whom the world may never know)

-i love creativity

-i love becoming a new and different person everyday-becoming who God created me to be.

-i love health food

-i love chacos and nb inserts

-i love the challenge of the marathon

-i love sweet generous people

-i love maria at work

-i love being an expression of Jesus Christ

-i love the fog rolling in over the mountains

-i love major bargain sales

-i love facing fears and not being scared anymore

-i love a guy who listens

-i love anyone who listens

-i love peter and the hyatts

-i love sunrises and sunsets

-i love foxy and linda’s generosity

-i love mom’s sweetness

-i love good, meaningful conversations

-i love learning something new

-i love being led on an adventure

-i love ice cream

-i love being thought of

-i love dancing 

-i love so-cal photographer’s blogs

-i love Jesus and him for saving my life

-i love the hope of the good news

-i love fresh flowers

-i love coffee shops

-i love my mac

-i love great teachers

-i love waking up early

-i love getting enough sleep

-i love my family

-i love inspirational quotes

-i love singing and singing when it sounds good.

 

this is most, but not all of my “loves”.  what do you love?

–lauren

 

 

new blog…sort of

hi friends!

so, just in case anyone ever frequents this blog anymore…i’ve got a new place where i’ll be posting some pics that i’ve taken.

i’ve started a new job with cvi photography and will be blogging recent work here along with my boss.

i’m not very good at just writing blogs…but i think i might give it a go in the future…until then, check out our blog at work!

woohoo! happy wednesday!

michelle

i used to work with michelle this summer and she was kind enough to let me snap a few shots of her.  she didn’t have to do much, seeing that she is absolutely beautiful!  here are some of the many.  let me know what you think!

family

mom, samuel, ashely and sweet baby luke came the charleston the second week in august. i’m so glad they got to come and see where karis and i live and work. i know it was a sacrifice and struggle to come with a six month old, even if he is amazing, it can be just extra work…but i’m so glad they came.

here are seventeen a few pics of the visit where i got to try out my new lens for the first time! i really enjoyed it! hope you do too!

also, if you’re interested here and here are the full albums of luke and fam.

new stuff and an old friend

so i got a new lens and am super excited. it has amazing bokeh and so far, i love it!

and i’ve also been painting some, more on that later:

also, our sweet friend brittany colson was able to come and spend the night here in charleston after leaving ridgecrest and we got to spend some quality time with her. here’s a little documentation:

beautiful brittany

smile!

i loved all the sweet babies playing in the fountains!

oh, to be young again!

fun stuff

i saw this fun thing on another blog and you can get one here if you’d like! it was made from the data in my blog!

georgetown

last weekend we went up to my friend mandy’s house in georgetown, sc. her mom and dad were so gracious to open their doors, take us out on their boat/jet skis and definitely kept us well fed! not only did we meet her parents, but big boy, t-mart and mim-ee made it there too! …i think i got all those names right

here’s a few pics from the amazing g-town

vacation in north carolina

because of the sweet friends on my mom and dad, foxy and linda denham, we were able to visit mom, dad, foxy and linda up in cashiers, nc.  they rent a cabin up in the mountains quite frequently and they asked my parents to come along.  they were so helpful and nice and funny, too!

we also got to visit a good friend who is working at ridgecrest for the summer.  we stayed the night, met some of her frends and visited a few towns.  the first day we went to black mountain and montreat and i forgot my camera! major bummer.  the next night we went to downtown asheville and my camera died.  sad, sad day.

so here’s a bit of documentation from it all.

karis and brittany

brittany and i

at the base of white water falls

dad, foxy, linda, mom and karis

at the top of white side mountain!

26.2

so, i signed up for a marathon. hah…a marathon.

i don’t think it has really hit me…but i’m thinkin its coming–lol.

my best friend, danielle farrell is running the va. beach half in august and she pretty much inspired me to get back into running. i had been talking about marathons to a few different peeps, researching different races and i was wavering on weather or not to sign up. i looked at the website for the houston marathon and it was 97% full. i figured “why not…?” i’ve said before that running a marathon is something i wanna do, so why not check it off my list? its now or never.

i’m glad i signed up though because the next day registration was full.

i’m excited and scared to run the houston full. excited because i ran the half in 2006 and loved it. there are 18,000 total runners and over 200,000 fans [sometimes they even yell your name because its written on your bib! fun!] also, it’s flat and fast! i’m scared, well because its a freakin marathon! i know when training for my half, i would just get up every saturday morning and run farther that i had run before, so i have to trust it will be the same with my full.

nonetheless, i know pain and suffering is waiting for me.

lastly, i’m glad i signed up because i definitely need some good ole fashioned discipline in my life. this is something that i always know i need but am horrible at creating. the fear of not being ready for 26 miles of running will definitely keep me on schedule!

so, yea—if you think about me between now and january 18th…pray for me.

these are a few pics from the houston half i ran in 2006:

there was an amazing sunrise!

photography

i have been wanting to go out and take some pictures….just to practice shooting. i don’t know a ton and there’s always room to get better. how do you do that? practice. i specifically wanted to work on shallow DOF, camera settings and just looking for some awesome bright color.

i left my house and wandered up calhoun and then upper king. before i knew it an hour and a half had passed.

here are a few:

i don’t really like these guys too much

ooooh, i think you is:

one of my favorite color combinations: turquoise and grey

soo, i don’t want to sound too morbid, but this is from a church graveyard on coming. if God has been teaching me anything lately its that life is short. our lives are but vapors…we are all living for something…and we are all gonna die someday.