Our Photographer

As Rick Steves said,

“I shutter to think how many people are underexposed

and lacking depth in this field.”

Ok, not only is one of the most cleverly awesome quotes I've ever heard ;) but I must also agree with it 100%! These days it's ridiculously easy to claim the title of "photographer." I don't mean any disrespect by that, but truly, one would hope that a nice camera wouldn't be the only qualification for starting a business...and yet, for some, it is.

Maybe it's just me and my ultra-nitpicky-aesthetic-visionary approach to wedding planning (and design/art in general), but James and I feel so blessed to have our friend, Jalene Taylor, capturing this fabulous time in our lives! She is the embodiment of a professional and an artist and is so passionate with her craft. I've always admired Jalene's love for photography, her attention to detail, her eye for composition and, all around, her ability to freeze beautiful moments in time, to be remembered and cherished for years.

“It’s one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like,

it’s another thing to make a portrait of who they are.”

~Paul Caponigro~

Thank you, Jalene, for sharing your beautiful talents with us!

#27

Remember my brother John and his wife Sara?

They had a sweet and healthy little baby boy!

And I got to take pictures of him today :)

I feel so blessed to be his "downstairs aunt".

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship :)

Welcome home, sweet witto baby boy!

Aunt Lindsay loves you!

So, There's This Boy...

...his name is James.

And he's practically perfect.

He's extremely smart, funny, ambitious, attentive, adventurous, kind, non-judgemental, respectful, hard-working, driven, playful, contagiously happy, spiritually-centered, ticklish, honest, handsome, dances like nobody's business, speaks Spanish... & Italian... & English, has such a warm and loving family...

...and to top it all off, he happens to love me quite a bit.

As does Heavenly Father apparently, to have blessed my life with such a wonderfully fabulous young man for a boyfriend. The first, I might add ;)

OH...and did I mention that I love him quite a lot, too?

Cause, I do.

Deck the Cube with Harry Potter! Fa La La La La...

It is safe to assume that I am SO STOKED FOR TOMORROW! YAY! YAY! YAY!

Check out my cubicle. I am henceforth and forever known as the

hardcore-ing-est Harry Potter fan of my entire workplace. True story!

Anyone else got tickets to a pre-screening or the midnight showing?

How about both?

Yeeyah, baby! :D

LONG LIVE POTTAH!

14 DAYS!

best Trailer EVER!

Hee hee hee.

I'm giddy.

Dislike & Love - My New Life

*Note: My "new" life is in reference to the fact that A LOT of changes have taken place the past couple months and especially this week. i.e. Graduating from college, starting a new job, my parents leaving for the Missionary Training Center, moving into my apartment, having a boyfriend (I still need to introduce you), quitting my "student job" of 5 years, being in a brand new ward, new blog design ;) etc.

THIS WEEK I DISLIKE:

Not eating breakfast

(and sometimes lunch),

Not having a bathtub in my apartment

(Week 1 isn't even over and I'm already having withdrawals),

Not sleeping quite enough

(Yikes! I'm just asking for illness. Knock on wood),

Gas prices,

Living in a (soon-to-be-organized) mess,

Working from 7a-9p,

Driving and driving and driving,

The convenience of eating out vs. the inconvenience of working out,

- - -

THIS WEEK I LOVE:

My loving and supportive family & friends,

My “New” Life,

These long and gloriously hot summer days,

Shopping for my own groceries

(I knew I would enjoy that),

Easy hairstyles

(Thanks to my magic wand...curling iron),

Counting down to the Harry Potter 7 Part 2 Midnight Showing,

(21 DAYS!)

Converting people to Harry Potter,

The iPod I lovingly refer to as "myPod,"

The peace I get from FHE and Temple night

(P.S. I love my ward),

Reading Il Libro di Mormon,

My brother's GPS system,

Having the coolest parents in the universe,

Midnight calls after long work days,

Chalkboard mouse pads,

Having a cubicle,

Reading children's books out loud with a cute boy,

The awesome/hilarious people I get to intern/work with

- - -

I think it's fair to say, as I weigh the outcome of these lists, that, though life isn't perfect and I'm still working out the kinks in my new life, the blessings continue to come as I am trying to do my best and I still happen to very much love this beautiful Life that I've been blessed with...in all it's crazy freshly newness!

Add "run-on" sentences to my Love list.

I'm real good at those!

May your "Loves" always outweigh your "Dislikes"

I Smile

My friend Liz shared this song with me a couple of months ago and, I must confess, I simply love it. It has quickly made its way onto my "Top 25 Most Played Songs" list on myPod.

I got the feeling that some of you might enjoy it, too!

Don't give up, friends.

You look so much better when you smile!

There's Just Something About Balloons

Remember how I like doing photo shoots with balloons?

I did one again yesterday!

Photo via Travis Kawabata

It was fabulously enjoyable...as you can see.

Ah, the beauty of having friends with mutual affinities for taking pictures :)

Don't you fret, there are plenty more to come!

Fish Are Friends

I mean, who doesn't love Dory?

It's impossible not to.

I've decided that, at least today, if not for the entire Summer,

I'm going to adopt this motto for my life:

What a profound fish she is.

How are you, my dear friends!?

My goodness, I've been totally slacking on the blog lately. Life happens, yes it's true. Thankfully, it's good and exciting things happening this time around.

Things like a fabulous internship, a cute boy, an adorable kitchenette, a really fun photoshoot, an upcoming marathon and some much needed family vacations!
More details to come, don't you fret.

Can you believe my parents are leaving THIS MONTH!? :(

Oh dear. Neither can I.

(inhale...exhale)

"When life gets you down ya know what you gotta do?

...Just keep swimming."

Have a beautiful day, lovely people! :)

Prescriptions

Want to see something great?

This is what happens when you "Like" Bob Harper on Facebook:

I love him.

And while I'm prescribing things that bring me true happiness...

Behold, my favorite website EVER:

http://speeches.byu.edu/

Now you're probably wondering,

"Lindsay, why should I love this site as much as you do?"

Well, I'll tell you.

Say you're having a crumby day, things are bleak or you're stressed or what-have-you.

Go to this website

Don't be perturbed by the prices you see. They sell books on this website, too.

What you're looking for is the browse box. Happiness is found here...see!

You can select a topic that best fits your personal needs AND if you particularly want to hear from one of your favorite speakers, you can select them, too!

And, VOILE! You'll want to click on that "More Media Types" link.

That where you can download FREE .mpg and .pdf files of these speeches and listen to them on your iPod or read them on your bus rides, etc.

HOORAY!

Instant happiness.

Seriously, I just filled up my iPod with some serious Bruce R. McConkie and Dallin H. Oaks! I'm SO ready for the commute home!

Have the happiest day of your entire life, k?

Busy vs. Boredom, Blog Book, Birds, Bacon & Beyoncé

They say that post-graduation is often accompanied by boredom due to endless amounts of free time and such. And yes, that may be partially true, but I have really been enjoying my free time. See! I'm FINALLY designing my blog into a physical book, starting with 2009 and so on.

I love Adobe InDesign :) I'd go with Blurb or some other free internet book-designing software, but I love having complete control of what goes in and what comes out...

Graphic design has turned me into an aesthetic nitpicker. And proud of it :)

- - -

Speaking of things I'm proud of, my nephew calls extension cords "extendable" cords ;) And, on Sunday, my other nephew ran around the house singing,

"Weasley is our king! Weasley is our king!"

So, it's safe to say I'm not the only one in my family that has an affinity for Mr. Potter :)

- - -

Speaking of dancing... ;)

You: "Who said anything about dancing?"

Me: Oh! Speaking of dancing...

I added "learn how to dance" to my bucket list yesterday.

I mean, I've always been a dance "appreciater," but that's completely different than being a dancer...which is completely different than being able to bust a move here and there...which I can do. So, I wanna learn something cool like hip-hop or tap or ballroom or breakdance.

"Anything is possible if you just believe."

("Cinderella Story" anyone?)

- - -

Speaking of possibilities, I'm going to be potentially profound for a moment, mostly because that's how I organize my endless train of thoughts...

I've discovered that it doesn't matter where you are in your life or how busy you may be, if you have a dream, simply take a step toward it in whatever way possible with each spare moment you can find, and by and by, you'll look back and see how far you've come and how much you've grown and...eventually that you've actually LIVED one of your dreams, rather than simply went on dreaming it. I call that "The Nike Point of View". Just do it.

Speaking of Nike... I'm walking out of the gym yesterday morning after a really good workout, wearing my Nike gear, feeling awesome, and guess what smell slaps me right in the face...

BACON.

Yep, from some breakfast bbq taking place at the park next door.

Cruel and unusual.

- - -

Speaking of bacon (ok, this has nothing to do with bacon)...Ya know how it's been raining the whole entire ocean onto Utah lately?

Yeah, that stinks, cause June is...tomorrow, but I've noticed something happy about the birds (at least the ones around my house). They LOVE this wet weather... At least, their increase of beautiful singing makes me assume they do. Y'know, kinda like how we humans sing in the shower ;)

It's a theory, but I think it's valid. 

- - -

Speaking of singing, there are very few songs that I can continuously rock out, too...mostly because I get sick of those new, overplayed songs SO quickly. However, Katy Perry's "Firework" and Beyoncé's "Single Ladies" hit me right in the groove thang EVERY time! ;) I can't help but dance and sing-along to those two.

- - -

Speaking of Beyoncé, my friend Carrie told me a HILARIOUS joke that I feel needs to be shared with the world, because I honestly laughed all night long post-joke-telling. Ready? K...ah-hem...

"Why does Saturn look the way it does?"

"Because...God liked it, so he put a ring on it."

OH Oh oh ;)

Spread it like wildfire. You know you want to.

- - -

Speaking of randomosity, perhaps you've noticed, or more-likely you haven't, but I just renamed all of my "Randomosity" posts. Why? Cause using roman numerals was getting to be too confusing...not to mention lame. Who uses roman numerals anymore? Just kiddin', but I had fun! Want to see the new names? Ok, I'll let you: 

Randomosity Part I = Belts, Bands, Bugs & Because

Randomosity Part II = Utah, Uncomfortable, Umbrella & "Ugh!"

Randomosity Part III = Love, Leprosy, Lipstick & Lingo

Randomosity Part IV = PDA, Pizzazz, Patronage & Pins

Randomosity Part V = Warm, Wrong, Wishing & Washing

Randomosity Part VI = Forks, Fingers, Fragrances & Facebook

Randomosity Part VII = Clip Clops, Clasps, Copying & Curiosity

Randomosity Part VIII = Muscles, Murder Mysteries, Marine Biology & Massages

Randomosity Part IX = Potter, Pickup Lines, Paste & Purple People-Eaters

Randomosity Part X = Guys, Good & Going Green Garbage

Randomosity Part XI = Cookies, Carats, Creepers & Capitals

Randomosity Part XII = Pens, Planners, Presidents & Portfolio

- - -

What are you doing on your computer?

You should be outside enjoying this beautiful day!