engagement session ~ kody & amber

Some couples are just too sweet and adorable for words, and only photos will sufficiently describe their cuteness.  Kody and Amber are that couple.  They are the definition of young love.



I loved doing their engagement session out by Kody's parents' house.  We found lots of great little spots.  Thanks, Dirk and Robin, for letting us shoot there!  And thank you for having such a cool family and great places for the session! :)









Amber & Kody~
Thank you so much for having me do your photos!  I loved your session.  And I am so happy for the two of you.  I'm thrilled whenever I get to shoot for the Meadows fam! :)

<3

~abi~

photo shoot ~ QUiD

In case you didn't know, I am a big fan of social media/networking.  I was recently reminded why Facebook can be a great tool for small businesses.  This is how it went down:  My friend B tagged me in a comment, and I read the thread, which was a post by B's friend Heather.  Heather is the creator and designer behind QUiD, a line of fabulous accessories such as hats, scarves, and jewelry.  Heather had posted that her photographer had moved away and she needed someone to shoot her new products.  B recommended me, I checked out Heather's stuff, fell in love with it, and messaged her immediately.

A few weeks later, we met up for a shoot.  Heather brought her amazing creations and a couple awesome models, and I scouted out a rad place to shoot.  The weather and light were just perfect that evening.  And I am super happy with the results!  Here are a few of my faves...











Feel free to head on over to QUiD's esty shop here to pick up some of Heather's designs.  I have handled this stuff, and let me tell, you, it's the softest, most snuggly stuff ever!  Also, "like" the Facebook page here.

And you wanna know the best part about this whole thing?  I mean, the best part for me, not so much for you..  I am a big believer in trading services/products and not always dealing in money.  So, when Heather suggested a trade, I couldn't have been happier.  Basically, I get to go on a little shopping spree now!!!  I'm so excited, I can't wait to own some QUiD fabulousness!

~abi~

it's wednesday..

..Hug a cowboy today.  Or a bull rider.  Or just a guy in boots.  With a big belt buckle.  Or hey, just find a cute boy to hug.  That will do.  :)


{This is Tyris.  I'll post more pix of him soon.  You're welcome.}

Have a good day!

~abi~

unbelievable night! {kd's all star charity game in okc}

Sometimes you just need a night that is a little bit removed from your reality.  A few hours away from normal life.  A break from the usual.  Last night was just that for me. 

My friend B took me to the all star charity basketball game hosted by Kevin Durant here in OKC.  Obviously, my Thunder-loving heart was thrilled at the prospect of watching a few of my fave Thunder players {including my ultimate all-time fave, James Harden} play some ball again.  Especially with this lockout going on with no end in sight for the time being.  When we arrived at the game, I found out that our seats were court side...And the freaking out began!

The evening started off well, as I happened to be walking back in to our seats right as James Harden was arriving and heading into the locker room.  I managed to catch his eye and throw a big smile his way.  Just that little interaction was enough to make me all shaky and excited.  But that was just the beginning..

I did take some photos during the game, but I was in full on fan mode, not at all trying to be a sports photog.  I posted an album of the game on Facebook, but here are all the really important pix from the evening..

Wait.

Look closely at the following photo.

This is what pure, thrilling happiness looks like! :)


{James Harden and me!!!!!!}


{And us with B.}


:)


{Me, B, Daequan Cook, Eric Maynor}


{Us with Jeff Green}


{Desmond Mason and me!}


{Me, KD's mama, B}


{Us with Russell Westbrook!!!!!}

My sis Amber basically told me that the following pic was "wasted" on me, since I am not a lifelong, true sports fan like she is! :)  Which is true.  A true Thunder fan, I am.  Don't question it.  A true sports fan, I am not. 

But still, I don't think this was a wasted pic at all... :)


{B, LeBron James, me!!!!!}

And the man, the one and only.....


{Us with Kevin Durant!!!!!!!}

I still can't quite believe that last night was real.  Sitting close enough to see and hear the exchanges between some of the greatest players of our day, then getting to meet several of them.....I honestly have no words!  I think I used them all up last night.  B might have said I was acting like a hummingbird on meth.  But at least I held it together when I actually met the players.  Pretty much.  I mean, I did ask to touch Harden's beard.  And he let me.  Not a big deal.  


Someone pinch me.  Is this real life?  Thanks to all who were kind enough to make this my Best Night Ever! :)

God is good to me.

~abi~

the ones beneath me recognize the red bottoms i wear

I recently did a photo shoot of my beautiful friend B sporting some fabulous Louboutin boots. 



I think that I am going to have a giant print made of the above image.  It would look cool hanging in my house.  I'll share more soon.

Happy Wednesday!

~abi~

a time

Lately it has felt as though my heart and emotions have been on a wild roller coaster ride.  I do love roller coasters, but the recent up and down and around has gone on for too long.  My heart is demanding rest, quiet, peace.

And today, my God has blessed me with just that.

Last night, I spent sweet time with my lovely LifeGroup members, who are really simply my friends.  I had coffee with my dear friend Whitney prior to LifeGroup; I chatted on the phone with one of my Switch girls, ShaKari, and then with my friend Brandie, on the drive home from LifeGroup.  When I got home, I sat and talked and laughed with my sister and my niece, who both display a constant and an unconditional love for me that warms my soul. 

Today, I am off work early and I will head to Iowa for our annual family hayride and bonfire.  My friend B is going along with me, and the rest of my immediate family will drive up later as well.  I haven't been to Iowa in months, and my heart longs for my family there and the stillness and beauty and other-worldliness of my grandparents farm. 

Today, I am happy with the peace and quiet that I feel.  But, true to my fickle nature, I am sure that my heart will soon long for a wild ride on a roller coaster once again.  But that's the pace of life, right?


Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
1 For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
2 A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest. 
3 A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up. 
4 A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance. 
5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away. 
6 A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
7 A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
8 A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.  

~abi~

photo shoot ... garland

Garland is a cool guy.  He is so nice and professional and, obviously, he is gorgeous.  This was our second shoot together, and I am super happy with the end result. 











I am about to post more from this session on my Facebook photography page, so click on over there, too.

~abi~

messy ponytail

Today is a "messy ponytail" kinda day. 







My goal for October is to wear more hairdo's. :)

{As always, gotta give a shoutout to my amazing hair girl/friend, Jamie Roark at DK Salon, for making my hair pretty! :)}

~abi~

ridiculous

Today, the NBA lockout is on my mind, since talks are going on between the owners and players that might determine the outcome.  As a ridiculous fan of the OKC Thunder, my heart is hoping and longing for the lockout to end!  As I was thinking about all this and about what to blog today, I remembered this random pic that Kevin Durant had tweeted after the end of the season earlier this year. 



I believe they were on a flight back from Vegas, maybe.  And my friend K sent it to me in an email saying something about them living the dream, or wishing we had a private plane at our disposal or something of the sort.  I promptly grabbed my twitter avatar pic and her twitter avatar pic and did some really fast, really crappy, really ridiculous photo-shopping...



The end result made me die laughing, and I begged K to let me tweet it to KD, but she refused for pride's sake.  I, however, have no pride, apparently.  And these images have been chilling on my computer desktop for way too long without being shared with the world.  Or at least my thirteen blog readers.  So, here you go, one more time for your enjoyment....



See, those are the kind of things that can come from a deep and true love for a sports team, a boring afternoon at work, and a little bit of wishful thinking with a friend.  Fun times. 

~abi~

a story of two cats, a ghost and a gun, by my friend b

You all have no idea how excited I am to share today's guest post, by my friend Brandie, aka B.  I know I've mentioned her several, several times on this blog before, and I am happy that you guys will get a deeper glimpse into the wonderful enigma that is my friend B.  Get ready, because this is a great story.


me and B

{First, let me preface this story by saying that B has been having A LOT of strange, strange dreams lately, as well as some other questionable things going on like she mentions below.  So, whenever she has been telling me these things, I merely have suggested that there might just be a demon in her apartment.  She says "ghost", I say "demon" becasue it's scarier, and I'm a good friend like that.  So, a couple of days ago, after the following happenings went down, I begged her to blog about it, and she agreed, as long as I would post photos of her cats so that they would be famous to the thirteen people who read my blog.  Personally, I think the cats are the problem.  Everyone knows that cats are evil. ;)}


B's cats


B's gun

Two Cats, A Ghost & A Gun
{by my friend B}


It has been suggested that I may have a ghost living in my bedroom closet and I haven’t wanted to talk about it until now. It came on the scene in July around the same time I bought a gun and brought it into my apartment. Let me explain.

I have two cats. They are very old and like sleeping through the night which I very much appreciate. However, back in July they started a nightly routine of scratching on the closet door, all…night…long. When this first started I thought they were just getting too old to jump up on the bed and needed a way to get my attention to put them up there. That is not the case, I have recently seen them do it. So, more often than not I get up several times during the night to pull them off the closet door and put them on the edge of my bed hoping they’ll fall asleep only to hear them scratching on the closet door minutes later.

Since the only obvious connection to the cat’s strange behavior and the ghost would be the addition of a firearm in my home I thought I should call the gun range where it was purchased to see if this is a common occurrence…and because I was bored. This is how the conversation went down:

Me: I have a question for you and I am mostly being serious

Guy on the phone (GOTP): Okay, let’s hear it

Me: I bought a gun from your store a few months back and now I think have a ghost in my closet

GOTP: Why would you have a ghost in your closet?

Me: Well, I didn’t have a ghost until after I brought the gun into the house so I think the ghost came with the gun

GOTP: Have you seen the ghost?

Me: No, but my cats stay up all night scratching on the closet door and friends have suggested the gun may have come with a ghost

GOTP: Has the ghost said anything to you?


Me: No, thank goodness. It doesn’t really bother me, just bugs the cats all night long while I am trying to sleep

GOTP: Did you buy the gun new?

Me: Yes, it still had the goop inside

GOTP: still had the goop inside huh…you should take the goop out

Me: I did, a while back. Do you sell used guns in your store?

GOTP: yes we do

Me: Do you think the ghost from an old gun got into my gun?

GOTP: No, it doesn’t really work that way. What kind of gun do you have?

Me: 9 mm, are those prone to have ghosts?

GOTP: Not that I know of, so the gun jams up when you are trying to fire it?

Me: No, the ghost hasn’t messed with me while I am shooting the gun, but I haven’t tried to shoot it in my house. I don’t think it would be a good idea to try and shoot the ghost.

GOTP: No, don’t do that. If you are in an apartment you’ll end up shooting your neighbor

Me: and the police won’t understand when I try to explain that I was only trying to shoot a ghost

GOTP: No, they probably won’t. Maybe you could put the gun in a box

Me: It’s in a box.

GOTP: Maybe you should try putting the gun in another room so the ghost won’t bother the cats at night

Me: You think that’s all I need to do

GOTP: It’s worth a try. You could take the gun to a priest and have him exorcise it


Me: I thought about getting some holy water from a Catholic church to sprinkle on it but I am not Catholic, can I just walk in and get that stuff?

GOTP: I have a friend who is a priest and he visits people’s homes to bless them and get rid of any ghosts, he may be able to help you?

Me: I’m good friends with my pastor, do you think it works the same if he’s not a priest?

GOTP: I’m not sure but it’s worth a try. If those things don’t work call me back.

Don’t worry, he had fun with it, he was laughing the entire time.


And there you have it: and afternoon in the life of B.  Hope you all enjoyed.  Happy Wednesday!

~abi~

that's what she wore...transition

Hey, I'm back!  I don't have my computer back just yet, but that's no reason to neglect my blog-writing any longer. :)  Today, I love my outfit, so I wanted to do another That's What She Wore post.  I definitely need to upgrade soon, to having someone else snap pix of me in outfits when I want to post them.  For now, you get the not-so-great shots I manage to take of myself while at work. :)

But first, a word on personal style.  Last night, as I was getting my hair done {darker, woohoo!} by the fabulous Jamie, we were talking about defining our personal style.  I told her that I have narrowed mine down to Artsy Romantic Rockstar.  I'm not saying that's how I dress, or that I'm so cool; I'm just saying that I will try to only buy or keep clothes that fit that category.  Today, my friends B and K suggested maybe it should be Artsy Vintage Rockstar, which I'm cool with...I think either description would work. :)

Darker hair plus my bracelets -- makes my heart happy!



Still had to keep some bright red in it for now...




{Both shirts are thrifted.  The striped one had an elastic waist w/ a ruffle that fit weirdly, so I chopped it all off and just made it shorter.  I like it much better now.}




{I bought this hinged ring at the Oklahoma State Fair last weekend for ten dollars.  I love it.}

I've been conciously working on building up my bracelet collection.  I have decided that I mostly love the look of leather mixed with metal.  These bracelets all make me very happy.  Yes, I am that shallow and easy to please! ;)


{Can we just talk about my bracelets for a minute??  :)  Left to right, here's the price and where I got 'em: black and silver beads, purchased for five dollars at the Sheep Drive in Reed, Montana; fuschia braided leather, purchased for six dollars at the OK State Fair; metallic braided leather with metal IMAGINE charm, purchased for like twenty dollars, I believe, in Big Timber, Montana; gold double-wrap leather, purchased for eight dollars -but covered by a gift card- from Cottonwood Salon and Spa in Edmond, OK; my metal memorial bracelet for my brother Jack, given to me by my badass soldier friend Nathan after my brother was killed - it started my bracelet collection, and I wear it always; green leather with silver stars, also from Cottonwood; pink and silver beads with silver engraved heart, given to me by my friends Shane and Bre when I shot their wedding.  I'm sure that is super boring info to all of you, but I love-love my bracelets and just wanted to share all the details! :)}


{Skirt is New York & Company, but I got it at Ross on clearance for five dollars!}


{These shoes are some of my faves, and I got them from GoJane.com, which is my go-to site for cheap, cute shoes.}





Have you ever tried to identify your style, or narrow it down to a certain category?  I mainly have tried to define mine for one reason: I tend to like everrrything when it comes to clothes, so this helps me buy less that isn't really "me". 

I hope you all are having a fantastic Tuesday!  Sorry if this post is too boring for you, or if it makes me seem like I am completely full of myself.  I promise, it's about the clothes and accessories, not about me! :)

~abi~