mute monday...yellowstone river in beautiful montana

{I miss it.}

slow down everyone, you're moving too fast

Last night, a good guy friend of mine made an unsettling remark about my hectic schedule. His observation was this, "You don't have time for a boyfriend." Hmmm. Stop. Pause. Reflect.

Do I have time for a boyfriend? If there were an amazing guy interested in me right now, could it even happen? And aside from that, am I just too busy in general?

Let's look back over my last week, starting with Sunday...

Sunday 02/20/11~ Church at 11:30am followed by lunch at my sister's; decorated at the church for Big Switch; met up with my friend Kelly

Monday 02/21/11~ Work from 8-5; did a quick photo shoot during my 12-1 lunch break; picked up Kylie, the girl I mentor, and got a pedicure that evening

Tuesday 02/22/11~ Work from 8-5, minus a two hour break from 11-1 to volunteer up at the church like every Tuesday; went and got feathers put in my hair after work; straight from there to the Thunder game; from the Thunder game to drop my over-heating car off at my dad's for him to fix {thanks, dad!}

Wednesday 02/23/11~ Work from 8-3:45, lunch with my friend Deidra from 12-1; went straight from work to the church for Big Switch {my church's youth program} activities; got to ride in a limo with some cool kids, then was at the church for Big Switch from about 6:30 to 9, then took my Switch girls home

Thursday 02/24/11~ Work from 8-5; meeting at 5:30 for a cool new community thing called Merge; my LifeGroup {Bible study group} at 7:30

Friday 02/25/11~ Work from 8-5; taking a class at my church tonight that goes from 6:30-9:30

My weekend schedule is equally as full as this week has been. Honestly, I love my life and most of the time I love being this busy. I am not complaining. But the comment last night by my friend did stick in my head. I never want to be so busy that I don't leave room for things that are important to me.

So, today, this Jack Johnson song is on my mind, especially these lines:
Slow down everyone
You're moving too fast
Frames can't catch you when
You're moving like that

red and pink and feathered

Ask any girl you know...There' no other confidence/mood booster quite like a fabulous new hairdo. Something about sporting a new cut or a new color, or both, just makes you feel like a new person. Right, girls?

Well, this past Saturday, my amazing hair girl {Jamie Roark at DK Salon} and I finally got our schedules to match up, and I went in to get my red and pink color redone...and Jamie gave me bangs! Yay! I had thought about getting bangs, and then I saw a girl at a Thunder game who had the exact cut I wanted. So I took spy pictures of her from across the court and showed Jamie. :) I am in loooove with my bangs! Am I allowed to say that? I'm not being vain, it's all Jamie's skill that I'm raving about!

Also, I know a fabulous girl named Molly. She and I went to the same crazy high school and yet somehow emerged unscathed. ;) Molly has the most beautiful little family and the most adorable room in her home where she does hair. She sent me a message the other day on Facebook telling me about the newest, hottest thing for hair: feather extensions! Here is a direct quote from the message she sent me: "Anyone who will put gold sequins on her eyes for New Years Eve, needs to definitely sport some feathers!!" That put a big smile on my face! I had already seen and lusted over the feather extensions. Jamie and I were waiting to see if her salon would get them so she could do them for me. When I told her about the message Molly had sent me, Jamie gave me her blessing to have a small hair affair with Molly and let her give me the feather extensions. :)

Molly has the best quality feathers and an awesome array of colors to choose from...



She attaches them so securely that they will stay in for at least six weeks or so.



Thanks to these two hair artists, look at me with my fab new 'do!!!



I'm so happy! :) {If you want to get hooked up with some feathers, let me know and I'll give you Molly's contact info.}

~abi~

ps Check out this post about her own hair feathers by the way-cooler-than-anyone-else Kathleen of jeremy & kathleen! :)

tuesday toes...glowy fun

Last night, I think I confused the sweet girl who gave me my pedicure. I asked her to do one coat of white polish, followed by one coat of a clearish-yellowish-greenish tinted polish.



I am happy with the results. And I will be even more happy if my toes glow tomorrow night. You see, every Wednesday, I am a part of Switch, my church's youth program. And this Wednesday, we are having Big Switch, which is an amped up version of our normal program. We will have black lights and lasers and great music and fun dancing. I helped decorate a bit, and I am so excited for it all to go down tomorrow night!

If you have a teen, bring them. Or come help out yourself if you want. And look for my glowy toes.

~abi~

mute monday...somewhere off i40 west, along the way from okc to cali

{I shot this image while on a cross country road trip to visit my brother and sis in law back in 2008.}

customer service and a glossy kiss

To be honest, I hardly ever shop at the mall anymore. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that I completely avoid going there. You see, I would so much rather just shop at thrift stores or discount stores such as Ross or Kohl's. There are varied reasons for this preference of mine, a few of them being the following: one, I am cheap; two, in my opinion, it is easy to start to look like everyone else when you shop at the mall; three, even though I like to look unique, I also love to shop, so I find waaaay too much stuff to buy whenever I enter the mall.

However, there is one thing you can't really find at my preferred stores, and that is good makeup. In general, I buy my makeup at WalMart or Target, like most good MidWestern girls do. I am so high class, I tell you. But since my bad skin is pretty much the bane of my existence, I finally decided that perhaps I ought to try some "good" makeup to see if that would help.

So, a few weeks ago, I ventured into The Mall. Eeek. I entered with a purpose and one clear destination in mind: the Bare Escentuals store. You see, my friend Brandie is a complete Bare Minerals makeup addict. Seriously, the girl practically has enough of their products to start her own franchise. And ever since I did this shoot of her a few weeks ago {note to self: I need to post more images from that shoot!}, I just couldn't get her makeup out of my mind!

See, I love to play makeup artist whenever I can for my shoots. So when I asked Brandie to pose for me, she showed up with her entire Bare Minerals collection. And I loved it! Each little pot of makeup was like a new tiny little pot of gold at the end of my rainbow! :) Also, Brandie's skin is just lovely, and she says it has everything to do with Bare Minerals makeup.

So I walked into the store. I had my makeup done by a cool chick. And I exited with less money, some Bare Mineral essentials, and the confidence that glowing skin would become my reality.

Fast forward a couple weeks to me arriving at home yesterday to find a package of goodies and a handwritten card from Bare Escentuals. Now, I am not quite sure if this is standard procedure for them or not. Because, of course, Brandie had originally met me at the store in order to lend her Bare Minerals expertise...and she was a little disappointed that I walked in and willingly dropped some cash, without them offering me any fun samples or such. So I'm not sure if she said anything later that might have resulted in my little thank you gift. But it doesn't matter, because I was and am extremely impressed!

Here's what I got...



and the card...



And here I am modeling the Cupcake lip gloss that I received a sample of...



Let me just say, I have always made a point of giving a handwritten thank you card to all my photography clients. So I was very impressed to receive the same treatment from a big company like Bare Escentuals, via the hand of "Beauty Ambassador" Shellica. {Thanks, girl! :)} And I especially liked the gold shimmery envelope the card came in -- Wait, scratch that. I especially enjoyed all the free makeup samples! :)

Well friends, I hope your weekend consists of good customer service experiences, fun makeup, or glossy kisses. Or a combination of all three. :)

~abi~

hat day

Some days I sort of fix my hair. Some days I just wear a hat.



Today, I keep feeling like it is Friday instead of Thursday. But as wonderful as Fridays are, Thursdays always make me happy, too, since Thursdays = LifeGroup for me!

~abi~

light up my life

Yesterday, for the first time ever in my thirty years on this earth, I was treated to an amazing experience known as the full body massage. I received said massage from a capable girl at Eden Salon and Spa here in OKC. The massage was booked and paid for as a gift to me by my wonderful friends Anna and Cody Light.

Basically, Anna and Cody said they wanted to do something to show their appreciation for me doing photos for them. I have been blessed to be able to do several shoots of them over the past couple of years. And with them expecting their first baby this year, I look forward to many more shoots to come!

I thoroughly enjoyed the massage experience, and I am so grateful for photo subjects who are actually close friends. You see, Anna is the youth leader at my church and I have the privilege of serving under her leadership at Switch every week. Also, she led the LifeGroup I was in for a couple years. Once she and Cody got married, they decided to lead a LifeGroup for married couples, which is when I started my current LifeGroup. Anna and Cody are an amazing example of a godly couple. Their relationship is one that restores my faith in relationships a little each time I am around them.

I wanted to share a few of my favorite images from a session I did of Cody and Anna last year. It was sort of a one year anniversary shoot. I wanted to play on the theme of their last name, Light. So, I did different lighting than my usual preferred natural light. The results were nice and moody, I feel.


{Doesn't Anna have such pretty, piercing eyes?}













I have some more ideas for night portraits that I hope I will get to try out soon. :)

~abi~

ps THANK YOU, Anna and Cody, for booking that massage for me! I loved it and I love you guys!

cherish the moment, treasure the memory

My "Best Valentines Day" Ever story has nothing to do with a boyfriend and everything to do with my family. Or, more accurately, it has mostly to do with my brother Jack.


{Jack, at my sister in law's sister's wedding, July 06}

It was February 13, 2004. My younger brother Jack was in training to become a Green Beret out in Fayetteville, NC. For whatever reason, he had a four day weekend that weekend, and he left North Carolina on Thursday afternoon and made the nineteen hour drive to Oklahoma, arriving Friday mid-morning.

The coolest thing about this was that Jack had only told me that he was coming! He and I came up with a plan to surprise the rest of the family. Somehow, I had convinced everyone to gather at my mom's house that Friday morning for an early Valentines party. It's funny when I think about it now, because I know for sure that I had somehow persuaded everyone that it was necessary for us to get together that particular morning instead of that evening or over the weekend, when it would have made more sense. But I can be pretty convincing if I really try, plus my family loves me. :)

So, we were all gathered in my parents' front living room. Jack and I had decided that he should enter the house through the garage, just to make our surprise even better. So, we are all sitting around at a meaningless Valentines party of sorts, and in walked Jack from the kitchen. Best moment ever. Except, for a whole minute, I thought my mom might pass out! :)

It took about ten seconds for everyone to realize what was going on and then start yelling and then jump up to hug him. Jack and I considered our surprise to be a huge success, since ten seconds of speechlessness from my family is almost impossible to achieve! It was so fun and so sweet, and I felt so cool to be the one "in on" the secret visit.

That weekend visit from Jack ended up being a catalyst that shaped the future of our family. You see, that was the fateful weekend when Jack met and fell in love with my amazing sister in law, Ashley. But that's another story for another day...

Happy Valentines Day, sweet friends. I hope your day is filled with the giving and receiving of love, as cheesy as that might sound. Please take a moment today to stop and cherish your loved ones. As we have experienced with the loss of Jack, today might become a treasured memory instead of just another Valentines Day.

~abi~

snow shoot

Apparently, days off are dangerous for me. Instead of using the snow days to shoot or edit or blog or, heaven forbid, clean my room, I mostly just did nothing. Nothing but read books, read magazines, read blogs, read Facebook statuses, watch tv, watch movies, watch my life drift by, etc. So this past Wednesday, when we were blessed with yet another snow day {I truly do love it}, I decided to change my lazy ways, and I actually did a shoot!

My beautiful niece Laila had her two very cool cousins over to our house for the day. Hashem and Faisal agreed to be my willing victims subjects for a very cold photo shoot. It was awesome! :)


Faisal




Hashem and Faisal


Hashem



I am a bit sad to see the pretty snow melting, but I'm happy that I got to do at least one cool shoot in it.

Have a lovely weekend, friends!

~abi~

what 'do ya do

Barring the arrival of *Snowtorious B.I.G. The Remix, which is due to drop this evening, I will be getting my hair done. Yay! Except, Snowtorious will probably arrive as predicted. In which case, I won't be getting my hair done this evening. Boo.

Oh well. If I don't get my hair done, there's a possibility I will be able to go to the Thunder game tonight, which would be lovely! :)

Anyway, aside from all that, I recently purchased a magazine {Elle, I believe} that featured a couple different stories about a couple different girls: one who tried thirty different make up looks in thirty days, and one who tried thirty different hair looks in thirty days. Fun stuff. :) So it inspired me to put a little more effort into my daily hair and makeup.

This morning, my hair was looking blah, so I worked it into a quick braid and then twisted that up and pinned it a little to the side at the back of my neck. I am happy with the not-too-done, pieces-falling-out result. :) And it only took like two minutes.



Obligatory side view...



Well, I hope that you all stay safe and warm and enjoy the next few snow days, as Snowtorious once again rules the charts here in Oklahoma.

~abi~

ps *Thanks to my clever friends, Kristie and Brandie, for the "Snowtorious B.I.G. The Remix" name. :)

mute monday...a bit of bellagio exterior, las vegas

I really want to institute some topical posting on this little ol' blog of mine. It would make me happy if I could establish some general days/topics that have somewhat of a theme to them. I am not one who is inclined toward much organization, so this might require a bit of effort on my part.

So, with that in mind, let me explain Mute Monday...even though this post is not very mute, what with all of my explanations. See, some bloggers do Wordless Wednesday, where they do a silent post of just a photo. But I like to be unique, so i decided to do Mute Monday instead. For those Mondays when I don't have a whole lot to say {obviously not like today}, I will post a photograph that I have taken. I am thinking that most of the images will be ones from my travels, but it could evolve into something else. And even though I am calling it Mute Monday, I give myself permission to add some sort of info if I so desire. Then again, I might not.

Okay, I'm done.

Monday Muteness commencing now...

two tiny girls, one photo...

...for now. I will for sure be posting more of these two little beauties. They are the twin daughters of my old roommate, partner in crime, and wonderful friend Kristen {aka KC}. :)



Happy, snowy weekend! :)

~abi~

headshots of rachel

Yes, it's true: here in Oklahoma, we have been snowed in for the past couple of days. I actually had the good fortune to be house sitting a gorgeous home, so this snow-in has been thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated by me! I always welcome a day or more off -- although, for me, even days off consist of some work, aka photo editing. Not that I am complaining! This afternoon, I edited through a headshot session I did for my dear friend, Rachel.

Rachel is an amazingly sweet individual as well as being a super talented dancer. It was easy and fun to photograph her! Here are a few of my initial favorites...







I really loved doing this session! Headshots are exactly the type of shoots I hope to be doing more of this year and in the future. Please let me know if you or someone you know are needing some.

Hope you all are staying safe and warm, and that you have some fun stuff to do that is keeping you from being too bored. :)

~abi~