she is always on an adventure, and i can hardly keep up. but when her adventures bring her north i make sure i join her, even if only for the morning. here’s a look into my morning with my mom, a couple sunday’s ago, at the northwest dive expo’s treasure hunt.
diving is all about helping each other. there is so much equipment to put on that it would be impossible to do by oneself. it was incredible to witness everyone helping each other.
it had been months since we had seen our family. we had made plans to visit but it seemed a lifetime away and we were desperately missing everyone. my dad called and i asked when they were going to come up and see us, since the option for us to come down there has been almost non-existant. he said he would talk to mom, and thus the planning began. and a few days later we had a weekend scheduled on the calendar. nearly everyday chris and i would talk about how excited we were to finally see some family. two weekends ago my parents made the 4 hour drive to visit. my aunt joked that “the country mice were going to visit the city mice” and we laughed, because it was so true. chris and i were so excited to show them all around our new life together. we took them on a tour of joint base lewis mcchord, to seattle to explore pikes place market, and to our church so they could meet our new church family. we had such a great time with them and can’t wait for a second visit (hint, hint).
big game o chess
coolest street sigh, ever
my dad spotted these reflections and i thought they were pretty cool
yup, that’s us:)
if i could afford it i would buy every piece of produce available at pikes place market. it all looked incredibly delicious.
there was a barbershop quartet outside of starbucks. they were truly amazing.
random clarinetist. the streets of seattle are packed with randomness. i love it!
my lovely parents
we asked a stranger to take a photo of us. he asked what we wanted as our background and i was confused until i viewed the photo that he took. apparently he thought we wanted more of the background than we wanted of us. i worked my cropping skills though and did what i could to get rid of the excess background.
meet POP-EYE, our newest friend
i felt trapped, and i didnt know why. every shoot, i left feeling as though i failed, as though i wasn’t adding up, i wasn’t good enough. i had these poses in my mind, shots i desperately wanted in my portfolio yet i could never seem to produce them… as well as others had. and there in lies the problem. rather than allowing myself to be inspired by the couple i was shooting or the scenery i was in i was constantly attempting to create what others were inspired to create. i had lost all trust in the creativity God had given me and became completely consumed by what others were doing and how they were doing it. and i felt trapped.
the feeling didn’t stop at my photos either. as a new photographer i find myself working on a website, pricing structure and marketing plan, all of which seem to not match up to those i follow. and the feelings of entrapment paralyzed me.
i read trevor dayley photography’s post titled pinterest is ruining me today and it was me he seemed to be writing about. i took in his every word as he spoke and couldn’t help but feel incredibly vulnerable as he called out my every weakness. i decided on sunday to stop looking at others work, stop comparing myself to those more experienced than me and start letting myself be inspired by what i love, not what others love. and his post confirmed my decision while giving me practical steps to putting my decision into action.
while i fight the feelings i have of insecurity and questions of whether others will approve of what i do i’m excited to allow myself the freedom to be who i am and produce the work that is true to me. i’m ready to be inspired by life and can’t wait for what’s to come!
check out this sign i found on the streets of seattle this past weekend! i love it:)
me: mom & dad are coming up the weekend of the 14th.. you guys should come too!!
brother: i’m pretty sure i have class that saturday… 
me: play hooky. problem solved.
brother: haha i can’t.
me: next weekend?! we have a 4 day weekend!
brother: like 6 days from today?
me: yup! and bring your HOT fiance!
brother: sweet. we’ll talk about it and get back to ya
(8 hours later)
brother: keep an open space for me on the floor and for my fiance in the bed next weekend!!!:) cool if we come up friday?
and just like that my brother and his fiance came up and visited for easter weekend. with chris being put “on-call” soon after we arrived home from our honeymoon we hadn’t seen them in what seemed like ages! we love our family and were missing them dearly so a visit came at the perfect time! and of course i couldn’t pass up getting them in front of my camera:) so i just stalked them all weekend and took photos wherever we went:)
if you know my brother at all you know that he is a total dork! thankfully, carrie was grace with the patience to take it in stride
yup, that’s my brother
it was the military that brought him to her, over 3 years ago. and in just 2 weeks, it will be the military that will take him away from her, for 9 months of their life together.
when my husband told me that he was leaving, my heart broke for his wife. as a fellow military wife, i knew exactly what she was going through. so when my husband told me that he had mentioned wanting to get some photos taken of him and his wife before they left i jumped at the opportunity.
yesterday we met up with elijah and nicole at the olympia waterfront for a pre-deployment photo shoot. the sun was shining and the skies were blue, a rarity this time of year in the pacific northwest. it was perfect.
elijah & nicole, we had such a great time with you two and are praying for a safe and quick return for you, elijah. i hope you enjoy your photos:)
my mom rode the train up friday to hang with me for the day before she went diving at gig harbor for the weekend. we had a great time roaming around downtown olympia; shopping, eating and visiting the state capitol. i, of course, had to take my camera along to capture our adventures. the capitol was beautiful and we had a great time exploring! hope you enjoy:)
