home.

ok, i am finally sitting down and writing a {whole} blog post. i've got josh groban playing and i am determined to write this and post it today! so as you can guess i am now home for christmas break! i've been home for over 10 days now, and it is soooo nice to be back!!! finals week was killer and i'm so glad that i am DONE with them...until the end of next semester that is. :) i had a fabulous Christmas with my family, and today has just been a lazy day which has been soooo nice!!! tonight we're going to a hockey game which will be a lot of fun! it has also been so nice to see all my high school friends again. some people have told me that i will always keep my college friends but my high school friends won't always last, which may be true in some cases but man did i miss my girls!!! yes, i love my college friends but i have a special place in my heart for my girls from my class. so for now, i just have instagram pictures to share with you but i promise that i will be taking many pictures and sharing them with you!

i hope everyone had a great christmas, and that we remember the reason for the season. it's not all about presents and all the commercialization of the holiday, it's about Jesus being born into this world to save us! my pastor pointed out that Jesus came down to earth and got a body just to save us from our sins. that is incredible! 

so here are a few pics from my break so far :)

top of the parking garage at the charlotte airport

i was flying with my good friend brooke, and we had a while to just sit in the airport, so we got frozen yogurt while we waited for our plane!

 it was soooo good!!! all airports should be required to have a frozen yogurt place :)

 i love airports

 it's the little things like being able to go to my own starbucks near my house :)

 i am sooo beyond excited to be able to go to boston again!

 love it here!

 cold morning

 i got reading glasses

 mom and i went down to boston one day to walk around, go shopping, and meet up with dad for lunch. we decided to go into the garden to see if the celtics had a practice going on (they didn't but it was still fun to go in) and i saw this sign and it made me pretty happy :)

 walking around boston...happiness :)

 love my starbucks

 my little sister and i made christmas cookies :)

happy monday :)

i had an awesome class. {sneak peak}

here's just a little sneak peak at what i'm going to be posting about next. :)

ps-thanks to my awesome mom for taking these pictures of my class on our senior trip!!!

weekend at camp

this past weekend i was able to go up to camp and work in cool beans (the coffee shop)! it was a lot of fun, and it was nice to just get away from school, from the homework, from the business of college life, and go spend the weekend in the mountains. i also got to work with one of my best friends which was so much fun! it was my first time working in the coffee shop and i was excited but also very nervous! in fact, the first drink i went to hand out, i dumped all over the counter! so embarrassing! i eventually got the hang of making drinks...kinda. :) it was still a lot of fun! i also got to see a lot of people i worked with this past summer, and it was a lot of fun! i got up to camp on friday night, then came back down to school on sunday night. sunday afternoon, after all the campers were gone, i got to go 4 wheeling with some friends and it was awesome! it was a great weekend!

here are a few pictures from my iphone (i know, i'm bad...i didn't take many pictures on my camera...i will try to take more pictures here at school!)

me and my friend Bea with our dessert the first night

 my best friend Abby playing her violin...she's incredible at it!!!

 awesome piano/violin book that we played out of a lot this weekend

 getting ready to work!

 i loved the fall weather :)

 fun time...always a highlight at camp!

 ya...i wore flip flops :)

 it got reeeeeally cold there!!!

i absolutely loved the colors of the leaves...reminded me of home!

happy wednesday :)

almost there.

it's been a long time. a long time since i've been in the north. a long time since i've seen my family (in person). it's been a long time since i've been at my own home, in my own room, sleeping in my own bed. it's been a long time since i've been to boston. but that is all gonna change in about 15 days. i am going home in 15 days!!!! i don't think words can describe how excited i am to be home again. this past summer i spent 11 weeks in north carolina at camp and then i was home for 1 week, then i went on vacation to myrtle beach, and now i am in school in south carolina. south carolina and new hampshire are very far apart. i am loving school, but i have definitely hit the point where i am ready to be home. as i'm typing this, "i'll be home for christmas" just started playing on my computer. in 15 days i will be going to the airport with my friends, getting on a plane, and flying up to boston where i will get to see my family again, and then we will go home. ya, to say i'm excited is an understatement. now as long as i can get through these next 2 weeks at school, i will be all set! i am making myself write this post because i have not written a blog post in FOREVER! i am determined to be better at this whole blogging thing. i have been inspired by jamie to write down on my blog, not just about photography, but about my faith and not be ashamed of it. jamie is very open about her faith on her blog, and i hope that i can be just as open about my faith on here. so this blog will not just be for photography, it will be for everything.

so here are just a few instagrams for you. hopefully i will be adding more pictures to my blog soon. :)

quiet reminders.

i am sitting here in my dorm room. all my roommates are gone, and it's just me. the only noise is coming from our air conditioner, me typing away on my key board, and the random people occasionally in the hallway. i am reminded in this quiet time in the midst of the busyness of college life, that i need to take more moments like this to breathe. i need to take moments like this and meditate more on God and what He has done for me. i have amazing friends, i go to a great college, i have a wonderful family back home {who i miss a lot}, i'm getting a great education, and my God is in complete control of absolutely everything! that alone should give me a reason to take more moments to breathe. why? because i don't have to worry about anything. my God is in complete control. He knows everything i need, when i need it, how i need it, and it's all part of His perfect plan for my life! that just amazes me.

{christmas lights hanging in our room} :)

college life is going wonderfully. i am making a lot of new friends, and i am also able to hang out with some old friends. college life is definitely busy. right now, i have my history of civ book staring me in the face, just waiting for me to open it and continue on homework. so for now, i hope that you will remember to take those quiet moments, and remember all that God has done for you, and what He is doing for you now!

new beginnings.

it's finally here. i've been looking forward to this for a long time. i've had a lot of mixed emotions about this recently. i'm excited, but kind of nervous at the same time. it's gonna be a lot of work. i know that for sure. but, i know with GOD all things are possible. and that's who i'm gonna be trusting in. God.

i am officially a college student now. whaaaaat?! when did this happen?!?! that's what i keep thinking! how in the world is it possible that i am a college student?! well, even if i don't think that it's true...it's really here! and i am actually really excited....and nervous. i had originally planned on majoring in music education...well, that changed! i am now majoring in business administration with a focus in marketing...so i just tell everyone that i'm majoring in marketing! :) i am thinking about getting my masters in graphic design after i'm done my bachelors in marketing. we'll see what the Lord has planned for me! :)

so, along with going to college, my photography business is moving locations! that's right, from now on (except when i visit home on breaks, and summers when i'm not at school) i will now be located in greenville, sc. if you have friends in the greenville area let them know! i will be running a fall sale soon!!! :D 

so, with college, i don't know how much i'll be able to blog, but i promise i will try to get on here and update you all with new adventures in this new chapter of my life!!! so for now, i will leave you with another picture from my vacation to myrtle beach. :)

hello from vacation

hello everyone! i am on vacation!!! i am in myrtle beach until thursday afternoon, then i am headed off to greenville for college :P but for now, i am staying on myrtle beach national golf course, and enjoying my vacation. :)

i'm alive. i promise!

i am so sorry that i have been MIA! with the ending my senior year, and working at camp, i haven't had much time to blog. :( i started a new blog to write down what i've learned at camp, and what God's been teaching me! so, i am home now, so hopefully i will be keeping up with this more! :) for now, i'll leave you with a picture that my good friend hailey took at our waitress party at camp. [go *like* her page on facebook here]

i love surprises

so ya i think that surprises are awesome! i love throwing surprise parties for people, i love being surprised, it's all great! ok, now i'm gonna get to the point of why i'm talking about surprises. last night, i was upstairs in my bedroom skyping with one of my really good friends, when my mom came in all excited telling me about seats in fenway park. she then proceeded to go down to her room and i called her back because i was very confused about what was going on.

now, first you have to realize that everyone in my family is a huge (and when i say huge, i mean huge) boston fans! my parents surprised me last year for my birthday and bought tickets to the red sox game ON MY BIRTHDAY!!!! (told you i love surprises) i love the red sox and i always wanted to go to a game. so on top of going to the red sox game on my birthday, i made it on tv!!! and i was with my best friend!!! (who was up from north carolina) long story short, i had a sign that said "it's my 17th birthday hit a home run big papi" (for those of you who don't know who don't know who "big papi" is...that's david ortiz) and he hit a home run right after i held up my sign! :D so needless to say, i love the red sox :)

so back to my story! i knew that my parents were looking for tickets to go to a red sox game at fenway before i leave for camp, so i figured that they just found some tickets that were really nice. my mom came back into my room and told me that they were about to buy tickets for monday night's game!!! i was in shock!!!! i was soooo excited!!!!!

so, monday night i'll be headed down to boston to watch the red sox play against the los angeles angels! i am one happy girl :)

here's my best friend and me at the game in september :)

 me after the game with the sign that made me semi-famous (jerry remmy talked about me...ahhh so cool!)

 and here's kind of an idea of the view from our seats...i did not take this picture, thank you google images (click here for the website i got this picture from)

and i will be wearing my brand new #2 jersey!!!! jacoby ellsbury is the best!

 gotta love photobooth ;)

have a great wednesday!!!

learning.

i've learned from many photographers through their blogs and such that you can never stop learning. this is true in every aspect of life. at first in photography, it seems so overwhelming! like unbelievably overwhelming! but i have learned that you need to practice practice practice!!! i get so inspired from reading so many blogs like katelyn's, jasmine's, jamie's, tiffany's, and many many others! and they all say the same thing...practice!!! i am so thankful for my little sister, her friends, and my friends who are all so willing to be my little models. :) this whole learning experience is incredible. i am learning so much and it's amazing, exciting, thrilling, and scary all at the same time! i am so thankful that God has given me the talent and ability to be in photography and i give Him all the credit. i know i am not anywhere near perfection yet, but i'm going to give it the best that i have. i am so thankful for encouragement from other photographers, and the example they set for me. it's a crazy journey but i'm gonna keep going! thank you so much for all of you who take time to read my blog! it's really encouraging when i hear about someone reading my blog, see comments that people are leaving, and just the total encouragement that you all give me! you're the best! thanks for coming along with me on this crazy journey! i hope that i never think that i am done learning.


i needed to put a picture in this post because i just thought it wouldn't look right. ;) so here is my new favorite kind of lemonade!!! i got this at boloco (most amazing burrito place!!! if you have never been there before...GO!) and it's a new take on soda! it is super good!!!

happy monday everyone!

HE IS RISEN!

happy easter everyone!!! i really do love easter. i love celebrating our Savior rising from the dead. it's amazing! we just got home from our church's sunrise service on the statehouse lawn. one of my good friends sang a solo called King of Humility and it sounded amazing! we sang, our assistant pastor read one of the account's of Jesus's resurrection, pastor gave a challenge, it was awesome! the sun was hidden behind the heavy fog but the sun is now starting to break through the clouds. i just truly love this holiday, and i just overwhelms me to think about what happened on that first easter. this morning my church is singing a powerful song called He is Risen, and it is amazing to say the least!!! it will give you chills, make you cry, and just make you totally thankful for what He did on that first easter! ah, it's just so amazing!!!! i hope everyone has an amazing easter and take time to remember what this holiday is really about.

i am back!

i am back from the beautiful south!!! i absolutely looooved being in the south! i am a true southern girl at heart and it was so nice to be back down there! :) i went down for an AACS nationals competition. it was so much fun and on top of being in the south, competing in the nationals competition, i got to see sooo many of my camp friends!!!!!!! i had so much fun catching up with everyone, reliving memories from last summer, and looking forward to another great summer! :) i also go to go up to camp for a day and see my best friend (i hadn't seen her since september!!!), pick up my sister from her friend's house, and see more friends!!! it was an amazing trip! even though the ride seemed like it was never ending down to south carolina and back, it was so much fun!!! i am just going to leave you with this for now, as i will be doing another blog post later on about the whole trip.

and i will be continuing with my goals (now that i'm back home) of trying to blog at least 3 times a week. here we go! ;)

our van before we left last sunday! it was so much fun to spend the trip with girls from my class, and grow closer to them! plus, i think we could write a BOOK of all the quotes we had from this trip. ;)

happy birthday hannah!

happy 13th birthday to my little model, my fashionista, my girl who can always make me smile and laugh. happy 13th birthday to my little sister Hannah!!! i love you Hannah! i'm gonna miss you next year!

ps-you're gonna have to find a new photographer now ;)

(these photos with the snow were not taken recently, but we do still have some snow in our yard :P )

april goals.

so recently i've been inspired by Katelyn and Jamie to blog my goals for each month. (if you have not checked out their blogs you must, they are both INCREDIBLE!!! go to katelyn's here and jamie's here) so i decided to help me stay on task with my list of "to-do's" for each month, i decided to blog some of them! i've been meaning to do this but well, i procrastinated so I AM DOING THIS NOW!!! so here we go!!!

april business goals:
*blog 3 or more times a week
*finish website
*finish AnnaGrace's birthday pictures
*buy new lens {this is a huge MAYBE...just really hopping it happens soon} :)

april personal goals:
*finish audition/recital piano pieces
*finish reading "crazy love" by francis chan
*write a packing list for camp
*write a packing list for college
*buy a new luggage set
*finish camp assignments
*start working on graduation party

i hope everyone has a wonderful sunday!

sneak peak. happy birthday AnnaGrace!

here's a little sneak peak of AnnaGrace's first birthday party from today.

off to go babysit now. happy friday!!!

God of Heaven.

God of heaven. God of all the earth and sky.
Great creator. Master of all nature.
Who gives birth to snow from heaven. holds the waves at ocean's edge
gives the orders to the morning, shows each dawn it's place to shine.
God of heaven. God of all the earth and sky.


God of ages. God who wrote the book of time.
Sovereign ruler. Alpha and Omega.
saints before He's guided safely
histry's pages signed by Him 
Author of our days and hours
things to come are held secure
God of ages. Alpha and Omega.


God of power. God who breaks the darkness
Righteous warrior. Champion of his children
goes before us into battle
good and evil bow to him
those is bondage freed forever
victry's won at his command


God who heals us. God who gives us peace and hope.
God who listens. Carries all our fragile dreams and heartaches,
wins and failures. binds the broken, hides the weak.
new beginnings freely offered. who can make us whole again.
God who heals us.
God of power.
God of ages. 
God of heaven.
God of all the earth and sky.


words and music by Heather Sorenson

(picture from the Arizona mission trip 2 years ago. i want to go back)

thankful thursday. thankful for boston :)

well hello blog! i'm sorry i have been neglecting you recently. i've been meaning to write...really i have! well today i decided to do thankful thursday before, well the middle of the night! i usually have a ton of homework on thursdays and i play volleyball with friends at night so thankful thursday has been neglected recently :/ well today and i bringing it back! and today i am thankful for boston! if you know me you know i absolutely LOVE boston! any chance i can get to be there, i take it up! recently, my dad retired and he got a job in boston! ya i was pretty much bouncing off the walls when i found out. i love going down to boston but we never did it that much. so now that my dad is working down there, we end up down there a lot ;) and that makes me one very happy girl. :) so, our most recent trip down was last friday. i had the brilliant idea of meeting dad down in boston for dinner, so we ended up driving down and having dinner in faneuil hall, and walked around, and went shopping! boston is amazing. the food, the shopping, the sports (yes i am a die hard boston fan...except for college, then i'm a UNC [university of north carolina] fan), everything about the city! if you have never been there before, i highly recommend going! :)

here are a few photos from our last trip down *warning: there's a lot* :)

i got a new pair of aviators before we went down there. happiness :)

our trusty new GPS

we got stuck in traffic...

and if you follow me on twitter and facebook you will know that i got a HUGE frappachino at starbucks in boston. it was delicious. :)

the next photo was my dad's idea! 

yup and there's my wonderful drink from starbucks :)

it was such a beautiful night!

hello there :)

happy thursday!