He Is Risen!

“For even if the whole world believed in resurrection, little would change until we began to practice it. We can believe in CPR, but people will remain dead until someone breathes new life into them. And we can tell the world that there is life after death, but the world really seems to be wondering if there is life before death.” -Shane Claiborne

Church, picnic, nap, tandem biking, and then eating pizza with friends. Our Easter was wonderful.

Birthday Weekend

Last week, I turned 24--just a year shy of a quarter of a century. Something you may or may not know about me is that I love when I'm an even number. I don't really know why. Perhaps it's because I was born 4/2/88 or because it just feels so right. This next year is going to be awesome--i can feel it.

Anyways, what did I want to do for my birthday? Spend some time with my nephew, go for multiple hikes, snaps some photos, and enjoy a meal with my man. Perfect birthday weekend. 

Michelle

Being a portrait photographer, you naturally hang out with lots of people, but usually those people aren't other photographers. It's just us in our business. Sometimes that's hard because it would be convenient to walk over to the next cubicle and ask advice about how to handle a certain situation or collaborate on a project. This is why it's so important to meet other photographers--to have a bit of a support system. 

I met Michelle in our business class this semester. We chatted about our new businesses, how to do taxes, whats the best way to attract clients that want your style, how we became passionate about photography, etc. Leaving class, I called Bryan and like a giddy kindergartener told him I made a new friend! And not only do we share the same love of photography, but she's also a babe to photograph =)

You can check out Michelle's work here! She just put up an adorable engagement session out at the airfield =)

Happy Friday!

Five things that I'm loving right now

 

1. Being done with Hunger Games [my life stopped for awhile reading those books].

2. Bryan getting Monday off for my birthday! Best present EVER.

3. Family time. Talked to the parents on the phone and this 

weekend I get to be with my sister and her fambam!

4. I've started running again. Feels good...except for the next morning, when I can't move.

5. Today two of my dear friends are celebrating their birthday. Happy birthday Jess and Kelcie! So happy you guys were born =)

orange grove

San Luis Obispo was beautiful when we visited [the day we left it started to rain. Lucky us =)]. On our way to dropping off the triathlon equipment I saw this orchard. "Pull over! Let's run through the orchard!" Bryan: "I'm not sure if the farmer would be too happy about that..." Me: "Can we at least take some pictures??" 

money. ew.

Money stresses me out. I think it stresses everyone out. But when I think about our farm, I sometimes feel overwhelmed at how much Bryan and I have to go... financially. Especially since we would prefer to stay close to family, need at least 40 acres to sustain ourselves, and need it all within a tiny budget. This combo seems almost unattainable. 

This has been on my mind on and off for awhile now. Sometimes I feel optimistic about it all, other times I feel a bit frantic. 

Bryan's job right now is amazing. It is preparing him in numerous many ways to start and run an organic farm successfully. It also pays all our bills; something we are very thankful for. But what it doesn't offer us is any saving for our future farm. That is sometimes hard for us to swallow. 

This brings me to photography. I love doing it. I would continue to do it even if I didn't get paid for it. But here's a bit of honesty for you, I have this dream that my business will be able to give Bryan the farm of our dreams. I want so badly to play a part in giving him that. 

We pray often about all this messiness. Because in the end, that's all we can do. And this is all so much bigger than us. 

Bryan has a passion for people and sustainable farming. I have a passion for people and photography. In our personal opinion, we believe these things were given to us for a reason. 

So for now we are putting our faith in that. That God gave us these desires and that they will be used. 

And it's funny because once we've mentally put things back into perspective, things happen. Like a phone call from a friend offering to pay us well over what we make in a week to bring a bunch of triathlon equipment down to San Luis Obispo for the weekend. Getting paid to go on a mini-moon, yes please! Or getting phone calls from friends wanting to hire me to take pictures of them. And that's when we feel a reassurance that things will work out.

...

Here's a few from our weekend. 

Homemade Pasta

A couple weeks ago, our friend Peter, who happens to be brilliant at making anything that involves flour [cake, pies, quiche, scones] came over to help us make some homemade pasta. Bryan and I have decided that we will probably make our own pasta from now on because it was so easy to do.

 The best part about this simple recipe is that you can change it in so many ways. Want it with no eggs? Add more water. Want a healthier option? Use wheat flour or add in some spinach.
Bryan and I have a pasta maker, but if you don't, just roll it out as thin as you can and make some yummy ravioli pockets filled with ricotta =) Hang to dry for at least an hour and then cook. If you want to save some, I put it in a baggie and throw it in the freezer.

Voila! You got yourself some pasta!