Merry Christmas

post card: fuzzimo

Love Always, 

         

Decorating

My family and I decorated our Christmas tree the other day, and I just love pulling out all of our old ornaments and reminiscing.  There were ornaments from when my mom was little, to my little siblings' first Christmases.  I love to hear the stories of how we found them, or when we made them, or who gave them to us.  I think decorating the tree is my favorite part of the Christmas season just because of the wonderful time spent with family. 

Love Always, 

        

those little moments no. 1

Now that I've had my camera for about a month, I've noticed that I take a lot of pictures of the simple and ordinary moments in my daily life.  I'm starting to see that some of my favorite pictures are taken when I'm just messing around. Don't get me wrong, I love taking pictures and documenting the important times in life, like Thanksgiving, birthdays, and picking a Christmas tree, but I also don't want to overlook those "normal" everyday, life moments that are just as special.  Every day is a memory and I want to capture those little moments that matter so much.  

At the end of each month, I'm going to pick my favorite, random pictures from the past month to share, so without further ado, for the month of November (yes it's a little late...), may I present....

all photos taken by me using Canon tli

Love Always,

          

Patience

In the midst of finals, it's so hard to find the good things in life.  I keep having to remind myself that it's only a week and I can get through it, but after pulling my first all-nighter of college I'm not so sure anymore....I need some patience just for a little longer to get me to winter break. 5 more days! 

Love Always, 

     

Christmas Tree Hunting

Right after Thanksgiving, my family has a tradition of going and picking a Christmas tree to kick off the holiday season.  We like to go to the mountains and chop down our own tree from a real Christmas tree farm, but this year we decided to make a quick trip down the road to a local site to save us some time.  The weather was perfect, not too cold but not too hot.  I watched by little sister and brother run between the rows of pine trees while the rest of us tried to find the perfect tree. 

As we have gotten older, us kids get more and more picky about what tree to get.  We all find our favorites and then everyone tries to persuade everyone else that theirs is the best.  It can be a pretty intense process.  There have even been tears in the past.  Thankfully, this year, we only found 3 favorites and quickly eliminated 2 because one had too many holes in the branches and the other was too tall.  I'm pretty sure this was the first year my family was able to pick a tree in less than an hour which meant more time for baking cookies and drinking hot chocolate!

As we enter into December and into the holidays, I want to make sure that I don’t forget the reason we celebrate.  It’s not about how many presents I'm getting or even about all the tinsel, lights, and frills.  It’s a time to spend with family, and I want to make sure I enjoy being there this year.  Being away from home really makes the holidays even more special because now I’m stuck with my family for 27 days without anything to do or anywhere to go.  Instead of wishing I was with my friends back at school, I’m going to try to actually be present which means not just half listening to my sister when she’s telling me about boy troubles as I pin some amazing looking cupcakes on Pinterest, it means taking time out of my day to help my brother make his home movie, it means leaving the cell phone in my room when we have a movie night.  I really want to soak up as much of them as I can before I go back to the rushed, stressful life of a college student. 

Love Always, 
      

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! My day was packed with eating, visiting family from out-of-town, and then even more eating.  Being able to spend the day with my family really made me appreciate how lucky I am to have them all so close and able to celebrate the holiday together.  Sometimes Thanksgiving is overpowered by the looming presence of Christmas and all those lovely holidays in December, and it can even be forgotten in the midst of planning the 4 am shopping trip on Black Friday.  It's so hard to remember to slow down and give thanks for all the blessings that I have that many people around the world don't.  I'm so thankful to have a healthy family and the ability to have wonderful food on the table (to take pictures of) and a roof over my head.  So, remember to give thanks not just on Thanksgiving but also every day of the week.  Have a good weekend! 

my adorable sister 

P.S: Can you tell dessert is my favorite part? 

Love Always,

       

Photos taken with Canon T1i

Up to the Mountains

The day after my birthday (since I didn't have class), I went driving on the Blue Ridge Mountains to take pictures with my NEW Canon T1i! I got it for my birthday from my family, and I couldn't be more excited! I've always had a passion for photography but never the right equipment, but now that I do, get ready for SO many pictures.  I've already started taking tons of pictures of random things, but it's so much fun how can I stop?! 

We spent about 2 hours driving around, stopping when a view looked cool, and hiking up some little trails.  I didn't expect the mountains to be so much colder than the city, but they were. By the end of the trip, I couldn't feel my fingers anymore! 

Overall, I had a really great time taking pictures in the mountains,  despite the cold.  I have some more birthday fun lined up for you so look for some more pictures in the next few days! Yay for new cameras!! 

Love Always, 

            

Pictures taken with a Canon T1i