Photography Show, Spring Break, and Crayon Art

It's FINALLY Spring Break!! I thought 3:20 on Friday afternoon would never come. But it did and I am one happy lady.

Last week, Stefan and I attended an art show at our friends' studio. Renee and Will Reedy own a studio in downtown Columbus. Renee is a photographer (like myself) and Will is a cinematographer (like Stefan). Stefan and I met this lovely couple through our church. Will is our new worship leader in our contemporary service, and Renee plays the keyboard in the praise band. When we found out that both Will and Renee were into photography and cinematography we were ecstatic! Since then we have had many chats about church, faith, and the arts. Stefan and I are both looking forward to what God has in store for this new friendship.

I have been meaning to be more crafty lately, but time has been something I have not had. I took the opportunity on this beautiful day to do something crafty after my sister and I came back from shopping. I have seen this crayon art deal going on through Pinterest (where else?), and I thought I would give it a try. I apologize that I didn't take picture throughout the project. You'll just get to see the finished product. The one on the left is the version that is seen on Pinterest. I used an 8 x 10 canvas and just chose different shades of the same crayon. (I bought a box of 96 crayons just for this occasion!) The one on the right is a different version of crayon art (Stefan's idea but my work.)

As seen on Pinterest.

 Stefan's idea of crayon art. I did the work.

I know this picture isn't crayon art. I just like it. Stefan doesn't like pictures so I rarely get one with him in it. 

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 6: Your Siblings

I have one sister. Her name is Camille, and she is one of my best friends. She has always been there for me even when I didn't want her to be. She was one of the people I missed the most when I went away to college for the first time. She loves to make awkward situations, and loves it when it's a situation I am in. Nonetheless, she brightens up my day when I'm around her. We share silly traits and do things a certain way, like only sisters could. Sure we fight, but who doesn't fight with their siblings? We've been through a lot together, and if I could choose a different sister, I wouldn't. I would choose her to be my sister again and again. In case you can't tell, she is also one of my favorite people to photograph. Her fun personality always shines through the photos.

Snow Day (Again!)

Obviously this post is almost a week late, but nonetheless, here it is!
It's Thursday night, and that means that Stefan and I are cooking some new dish. Tonight it's Chicken teriyaki, fried rice, and egg rolls. The chicken and fried rice are made from a recipe, but the egg rolls are the store bought kind, only because it's been a long day and we felt lazy.

It snowed! (If you're in Mississippi, you know that by now). This was real snow, none of that icy snow that we saw last week and the week before that. No, this time, it was all powder. I was in love as I watched, from my apartment, the snow flutter down. Stefan and I went home to my parents house to see them and my sweet little cousins who I have not seen in 3 or 4 weeks. Fortunately I got a few pictures of E in the snow before my camera battery decided to die.

A Rainy Day...

It's raining. Again. I should be going to bed right now because I've been walking around in a daze all day. This is what 18 hours of school does to you. I've been doing a lot of thinking (what else is new?) about the future and what it holds, and here it is: I'm looking at moving to either Birmingham or Kentucky. Two great places. Both hold opportunities of being able to get a teaching job. Pray for that. :) I know I still have a year, and plans can change. My plans most likely will change, because it's me.

I'm still in the process of finding web hosting site to host my photography website. So if any of you readers out there know of any good ones, your help would be greatly appreciated.

I like doing photoshoots. Wait, let me rephrase that: I like being the one to operate the photoshoot. I don't like being photographed, for some reason that is completely unknown to me. I just like being the person behind the camera. A few Sundays ago I got my sister (my built in model) and her friend (who absolutely LOVES doing my photoshoots) together for a little session. It rained all morning, but the sun eventually made its appearance around 1:00. My sister and her friend are two of my most favorite people to photograph, together and separate. When they are together they are so much fun, they just feed off of each other, which results in some really awesome photos. I'm not a fan of posed pictures, though sometimes I have to resort to them. I like my photography to be "in the moment". It's about capturing the essence of that person in a specific moment. So, as promised, I will leave you with a handful of the photos from the shoot.

Saturdays In August

There's this little cafe, The Little Building Cafe to be exact, within walking distance from my apartment. I've always passed by it when driving, and my first thoughts are always "I should stop by there sometime." Last Saturday I did just that. I left the Farmer's Market, my camera in hand, and strolled on down to Little Building Cafe. From the first look of the outside, the color of the building draws you in.

See what I mean? It just calls you in saying "Come in. Have a cup of coffee, and sit down for a while." I went in and ordered a cappucino. When they asked me the infamous question "For here or to go?" My automatic response was "For here, of course." They lady working was so friendly. I found a table and sat down. When I'm in new places I like to sit back and take in my surroundings. One of my many favorite things about this cafe was the light fixture (chandelier maybe?) that was at the front.

Unique, right? This cafe had such character, from the light fixtures to the tables. Not to mention the intersting display of art on the walls. I'll have to find a picture of the said art. The art consisted of 2 different chair halves put together to create a whole chair. I'm not sure what the artist calls these wonderful and unique masterpieces, but for the sake of this blog, I'll call it "chair art". The chair art is really ingenious. There were so many things I loved about this cafe. Take the tables for example.

So colorful, modern, with a twist of unique! I want to have one in my small apartment! The side I was sitting on was a long bench that extended down the back wall. Very crafty.  On the back wall were unique decorations such as the clothesline with clothes pins attached.

I really loved the creativity of these decorations. I'm not sure that I would have thought to use clothes pins as part of the decor in my cafe (if I had one). Beautiful work.

So there you have it. I have fallen in love with this cafe and all the charm that it holds. There will be future posts where I will share what's going on in my world of photography.

The First One

The purpose of this blog is just to share what is going on in my life with people. My thoughts and rants, but also to share what God is doing in my life. I'll do a brief recap of how my life has been since this summer. My summer held a lot of "first-time" things. I went out of the country for the first time. (I guess you can call Puerto Rico out of the country, even if it's technically part of the US? For now we'll just say I went out of the country.) I went for a friend's wedding. It was truly a beautiful place to have a wedding. The evening of the ceremony, God's hand was in it all. From the love that surrounded everyone there to the beautiful sunset over the ocean. The pictures I'll put up don't do any justice to what it was really like. One of the first things that amazed me about PR was how friendly the people were. They were so friendly and wonderful to talk to. The concierge at the hotel always had a smile on his face as he opened the doors and greeted people. I remember having a conversation with him. He talked about his love for working at the hotel. He even mentioned that a couple of hotels from the States had offered him jobs, but he turned them down. His reason being "Every morning I can greet people here and look outside to what God has painted right here for me." I was amazed at his reasoning and it made me wish I could be more like that. Here was a man who loved his job, because he could interact with people and see God's creation right out the door. He said he didn't have a need for anything else. As he told me all of this I sat there and thought to myself "Why can't I be more like him? Why can't all of humanity be more like him?" I think that we always have to be doing something in today's society. We always have to be productive. I'm guilty of it. I plan everything and I mean EVERYTHING. I rarely ever just take the time to let God handle it all, yet when it all blows up in my face He's the first one I run to. I can hear Him say "I told you to let Me handle it. Here, this is how I wanted you to do it. We can fix it though, so don't worry." It's an on-going struggle that God and I have. I'm such a control freak about certain areas of my life, but I don't have to be. I want so badly to just give it all to Him because I do know, and I do believe that He will plan everything for me on His time. The PR trip really opened up my eyes to the things that He has put right in front of me to enjoy.

On a slightly different note, I now live by myself, in my very own apartment. I feel like a big girl. I really didn't think I could do it, but it feels exhilarating to know that I am capable of living on my own. It gives me time to think about everything: my life, my faith, my beliefs, etc.

I'm trying to simplify my own life. I no longer have cable. It's not a necessity. I'm actually happier without it. I mean sure, I miss some of my shows, but I have friends who TiVo things and we watch them together, or I watch it online. I try not to use internet as often when I'm at home. It's worked well so far. I'm becoming more environmental. I actually recycle. It makes me feel like I'm really helping the world, which I am, along with millions of others. I encourage anyone and everyone to recycle. It's a big deal. We get one planet. That's it. One. Be nice to it, treat it like you would your favorite thing.

I'm pursing my photography more. You can check out my photos on my site http://www.evelynkatephotography.smugmug.com. Look through the photos. Rank your favorite ones. You can even buy one if you want to, or you can just contact me and I'll be more than happy to take photos for you. I like it. It's fun for me. When I look through that lens of my camera, everything is good in the world. I see God's creations for what they are and so much more. He's blessed me with this talent and without His direction, I never would have found it. I praise Him daily for it and the other gifts He has blessed me with.

That's it for tonight, even though I have so much more to say. That's what this blogging deal is for though. Go in peace, and know that you are loved by a God who is so amazing and wonderful that He gives us second, third, fourth and so many more chances than we truly deserve.

Laura Kate