photo shoot ~ haley, senior portraits

This is Haley.  She is adorable, fun, godly, and all around awesome!  Seriously, I could go on and on about this girl! 

 

I absolutely loved doing her senior session!!  It was a cold, rainy day, but Haley was completely at ease and willing to do whatever to get some cool photos!  She didn't complain once about the weather.



This little parking garage had such cool light!





And here's one of my favorite photos I took all year!!



Haley~
Thank you times a thousand for having me do your pix!!  You're amazing and that's all there is to it!  I am blessed to know you.  Love ya, girl!

~abi~

find and gift

A few days before Christmas, I had to drive through a Walmart parking lot, and I was reminded of one of the reasons perks of not doing any of my shopping at the usual places like Walmart or the mall..



I actually made it through the entire Christmas season without stepping foot into a Walmart, woohoo! :)  Not that I  totally hate Walmart, but I definitely hate the lines and general craziness of the big stores and malls!  On the flip side, it is easier to walk in and find something for anyone at places like that.  Giving only thrifted or handmade items definitely presents a challenge.  Especially when shopping for my two bosses.  Both of them are very kind gentlemen who seemingly have everything they could ever want or need.  Seriously, what could I find at a thrift store for them??  {I thought about baking them some treats, but our office was already overflowing with Christmas cookies and such.}  So, I made my way over to my personal version of a "mall" aka The Rink Gallery, an awesome vintage/antique/thrift/handmade shopping haven that is seriously like walking into Pinterest In Real Life!

The thought in my head was that maybe I could find a couple of cool coffee mugs for my bosses.  Instead, my eyes fell on these awesome little handmade coat hooks.  There were only two in the booth, and get this: they were just five dollars each!  Score!



See, one of my bosses always hangs his coat on his door handle, and my other boss usually just tosses his on a table.  So, perfect.  Maybe they will use them, maybe they won't.  Either way, at least I had found something they could use.  And I had stuck to my personal gifting guidelines!  Yay!




Since everyone knows that guys could usually care less about pretty wrapping or cute gift bags, I simply cut down some card stock paper, wrote a little note on the back and each of their initials on the front,  then added a bow, and voila!



And that's the story of what I gave to the two people who are the most difficult to buy for on my list each year! ;) 

~abi~

present, presence, presents

This post is for me.  A put-myself-in-check reminder post.  Lately, I have noticed and it has been pointed out to me that I haven't really been listening to others.  And not just that, but recently it's as if I'm often not really present with those around me: my friends, my family, those important to me.  Instead, my mind is wandering and skipping and jumping: to the next thing I need to do, the next person I need to talk to, the next email reply I need to send. 

Yes, this time of year is crazy and hectic and busy.  For me and for everyone else, too.  But I need to stop.  I need to focus.  I need to be present.

And I am sorry I haven't been.  I apologize to those who I have only half-listened to, who I've slighted and not given my full attention to in the moment I am with you.

This is my reminder to myself.  Focus.  Be present. 

~abi~

{not so} lofty goals

For the past couple of years, my goal for Christmas shopping has been to buy mostly locally made or thrifted items for those on my list.  Not that I have a list.  Oh no, that would require more organizational skills than I possess.  I do, however, have a mental list.  Which is sketchy, I'll be the first to admit.  So here's hoping I'm not forgetting anyone this year!

Anyway, back to my goals for gift giving.  This year, I am determined to stick one hundred percent to my personal goal of making or buying secondhand or handmade items.  This means no shopping at the mall or Target.  This also means I am still wracking my brain for what to get/make my bosses!  {Please toss any ideas my way.}

Here is what I gave to my Switch girls.  {Switch is the youth program that I volunteer with at my church.}  See these cuff bracelets?



I made these out of toilet paper rolls plus scrapbook paper/tissue paper/ribbon/random stuff and Mod Podge.  My sis Amber made a few of the ones in the photo above.  Thanks, sis!  My friend B also joined us in the bracelet-making process, but all of hers looked way better than mine, so I didn't take a pic of them. ;)

Actually, I took photos of the whole cuff-making process, but I can't seem to locate those files anywhere at the moment.  Oh well.  Here are my girls {proudly?} displaying their bracelets.



Man, I love them!  {The girls, not the bracelets. :) I mean, I liked the bracelets, but I super-love my girls!!!}

Hope you are all having a good week and haven't lost sight of the joy and real meaning of the holiday season, in the midst of the shopping craziness. :)

~abi~

photo shoot ~ morgan, senior portraits

Along with the many family sessions I have been able to photograph lately, I have also really enjoyed getting to do several awesome senior sessions. 

This gorgeous girl is Morgan.  It was obvious to me during our session that Morgan doesn't grasp how truly beautiful she actually is.  In addition to her stunning looks, Morgan is quietly cool in a delightfully awkward way.

The light was perfect the day of our shoot.  Also, the sunshine in these images is deceptive.  It was a pretty chilly afternoon, but Morgan worked it like a champ in front of the camera despite the brisk, windy cold.

Here are a few of my favorites from her session.















Morgan~
Thank you for trusting me to do your senior portraits!  I thoroughly enjoyed working with you.  You are lovely in front of the camera and in person.  :)

~abi~

photo session ~ newborn cal

Here is another very sweet family who I had the privilege of photographing recently.  Regina wanted me to come do some portraits of their precious newborn Cal, and we did some of his gorgeous big sis Annabelle, too, along with a few family photos.  I am so happy with these images! :)















Regina~
As always, I loved spending a little time with your family.  You guys are picture perfect and you make my job easy!  Thanks so much for letting me photograph your beautiful family!

~abi~

photo session ~ webb family

Lately, I have been busy working on family photo sessions for the holiday season.  Thanks to the wonders of Facebook, one of my good childhood friends, Jennifer, found me and saw that I am now a photographer and asked me to photograph her sweet family.  After rescheduling once due to yucky weather, I was bummed when it ended up raining again on the day we had chosen.  There wasn't really another good day for either of us, so we decided to go ahead and try the session anyway, and I am so happy that we did!  I love how the images turned out!  Here are some of my faves, chosen from Jennifer's print order.



Seriously, how sweet are her kids?? :)









Jennifer~
I love, loved doing your session!  Your house is so very cool and your kids are adorable!  Thank you so much for having me do your session.  It was so good to see you again after all these years. 

~abi~

lovely december

It's December, which means holiday cheer and my birthday!  Today is one of those days when my heart and mind are longing for the gorgeous {winter} streets of New York City.  The following photos are all from my 30th birthday trip to The Big Apple last year...











More {old} posts from that trip: here, here, here and here.

Have a happy weekend!

~abi~

paper-clipped hair

So, this morning at work I pinned back my hair with some paper-clips, since I didn't have any bobby pins on me.



If you've done anything cooler than that today, please let me know.. ;)


{Side note: What's up w/ this face??  Let's not pay attention to my weird mouth here, or the fact that my eyebrows are out of control.. ha!}

~abi~

p.s. Things I learned while writing this post:
~ "paper-clip" is hyphenated
~ "bobby pin" is two words
Thanks, dictionary.com! :)

Glitter Jesus

There are some things you should know in order to fully comprehend this post:
~I love Jesus.  A lot.
~In my opinion, glitter makes the world a better place.
~Sometimes, I trade photo shoots for various things/services instead of requiring monetary payment.  For example, I've traded my hair girl Jamie for hair services, and my friend Abbi for beautiful handmade books, and the talented Heather for knit goods.  And now, I've traded my artist friend Matt for a Glitter Jesus.



Here's how it went down:
I am supposed to do a photo shoot for Matt, of him and of his family.  Matt makes really cool paintings of Jesus.  And other things, but Jesus is my fave. :)  So, we had discussed a trade - a photo shoot by me in exchange for a painting by Matt.  A couple of weeks ago, during a random conversation at The Girlie Show, I somehow mentioned that perhaps my Jesus painting needed to be glittery.  It probably went something like this, "Glitter makes everything better!"  Matt and his lovely wife Deidra and my friend B might have laughed at me a little.  But it got the creative wheels turning in Matt's mind, and he decided to try it.

Last Sunday at church, he hesitantly presented the painting to me.  His exact words were, "I'm not too sure about it.  If you don't like it, you don't have to take it.  I can do a different one for you.  I'm not sure about the glitter.."



ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?



I adore it!!!

Seriously, I love everything about it, from the subject {duh!} to the colors to the glitter.  Especially the glitter!

And how convenient that the upper corner, covered in purple glitter, just happens to perfectly match my purple velvet couch??  Yep...  Purple.  Velvet.  Couch.  Be jealous.



On a different but related note, being the oh-so-proud-and-thrilled owner of Glitter Jesus does raise a few deep questions in my heart and mind:
~One, how do we think Jesus feels about being portrayed as Glitter Jesus?
~Two, is the world actually a lovelier place because of Glitter Jesus?
~Three, does glitter, in fact, make everything better??

Perhaps the best news involving Glitter Jesus is this:  He is already doing a great job at starting real and significant conversations about Real Jesus.



You see, the other night when my friend B stopped by my house, she of course wanted a photo of herself with Glitter Jesus.  So I snapped one for her on her iPhone.  When she showed it to her boss later, he said he couldn't see Jesus.  B's reply?  "It's because you don't know Him."

So there you go.

Happy Wednesday, my friends!

~abi~

mute monday ~ rainy oklahoma sunset

{I took these two weeks ago today, in north Edmond.}

my token pinterest post

Okay, so I hate to be typical and blog about Pinterest and inspiration from Pinterest and blah blah blah ... Half of you probably just rolled your eyes and tuned out, huh? :)  But seriously.

My friend Amy posted this pic on Facebook yesterday and it made me laugh..

The caption read: "Well, Pinterest, we tried."



Awesome, huh??  How about Pinterest raise the bar for all of us and make us think that we should be capable of creating delightful culinary treats while wearing adorable clothing with perfectly messy fishtailed hair in our amazingly precious abodes.  Ha!

Now, Amy is a great mom {and she is also the Executive Director of The Tapestry Project - check it out!}, so it's no surprise that she would use Pinterest for some fun holiday treat project.  I tend to use Pinterest for more shallow things.  Like socks.  

Awhile back, I pinned these pretty socks and decided that I desperately needed to own some like them, even though I had never seen any similar ones for sale anywhere.  Let's keep in mind that I shop almost exclusively at thrift stores these days.



Well, enter a random trip to the mall with my girl Kylie, who was hunting for a cross-body bag to carry at school.  We stumbled into Claire's or The Icing, can't remember which.  And lo and behold, if I didn't go straight to the back corner to look for cheap clearance stuff stumble across these beauties, marked down to just two dollars!



I scooped them up, with visions of my inspiration socks dancing in my head.



I mean, I know they're not exactly the same or anything, but I'm not a picky girl.  And besides, I prefer loose inspiration, or the suggestion of an idea, rather than exact and literal copies, anyway.



Thank you, Pinterest, for making me need things I never even knew I wanted. ;)

~abi~