busy, busy, busy. [personal.]

whew. finals are right around the corner, and life is busy. between preparing for finals, going to review sessions, making sure all assignments are in and complete, finishing all the papers and presentations that professors believe are so appropriate to have due right at the end of the semester, wrapping up ARTISTS stuff for the semester (and getting started on preparing for the fall semester), moving out of my room for the summer, and making sure I'm ready to go to Nicaragua, I've kind of got a lot going on.

that being said, I hope that my faithful followers (whom I am SOOO thankful for!) are willing to extend a little grace when I'm not posting as often for a while. and I hope that the people whose pictures I've taken and haven't finished will extend even more grace, because I know they're excited and waiting patiently. I'm excited too, because they're looking really great! but, due to the circumstances, they're going to have to take a little bit longer. unfortunately, school (and all the other chaos) must come first. rawr.

I'll post when I can, and hopefully you'll hear from me soon! I've still got Stephanie, the roommates (Lauren, Rachel, Kaitlin, and Mattie) and more up my sleeve!

love, love, love.

pure beauty - monika l. [bryan/college station, tx portrait photographer.]

Happy Wednesday, friends! Today, I'd like to introduce you to Monika.

For those who followed my last blog, or know me in real life, this face might be familiar to you. She is one of my dear friends. I've known her for a year and a half or so now, I suppose. We really became friends over the summer, when we lived together for three months.

Let me tell you, I learned about sides of this girl that I had never dreamed existed.... like her passion for sponteneity and learning new things.... Over the summer, she decided she wanted to learn how to knit, so she just did! She bought some needles and yarn and made a hat. She also tried out making her own beads, for jewelry making, and they turned out AWESOME. Aaaaand she made the best apple pie I've ever had.

I learned about her sneakiness and creativity when it comes to prank wars, but in the same breath, her passiveness in staying neutral the entire time... When Stormie and I were at war with each other, be it through pranks or Facebook comments, Monika took both sides. When I was out of the house, she'd help Stormie put my shampoo bottles in the freezer, and when Stormie was gone, she gave me a boost so I could reach her light in her room to take the lightbulbs out.

So, interesting fact about this shoot... when we were shooting, we saw and smelled smoke coming from a tree. We went over to it, thinking there were people barbecueing behind it or something, but lo and behold, the tree was on fire!

It was one of those trees that's more like a large bush, where its branches touch the ground completely, and the grass underneath its branches was all on fire. Occasionally the flames would rise up and touch the branches, and I was kind of afraid the whole thing would just go up in flames.

It was actually a really small fire, but it was still a fire, so we called the fire department. It was actually kind of embarrassing, because they brought two fire trucks and a police car for one itty bitty fire...

I am so blessed to call this fellow chocolate-lover, animal-lover, and creative crafter my friend and my sister in Christ.

That's all for today, friends!

love, love, love.

sneak peek! [bryan/college station, tx, portrait photographer.]

Good morning, friends! I hope this Monday finds you well :)

I want to share with you some pictures I took yesterday afternoon of some dear friends of mine. I am not even close to being done with them, but these are my favorites so far, and I couldn't resist posting them :) you'll probably be seeing more of them in the future ;)

Like I said, this was just a sneak peek, so stay tuned, and the rest of these will be posted soon!

I hope everyone's Monday is simply wonderful!

love, love, love.

ps - I know this is probably quite a stretch, but if there is aaaaaanyone out there interested in scheduling a shoot with me, I suggest you do it soon! I have a limited amount of time before I leave the country for the summer, so if you're interested, better do it now! There's no time like the present! ;)