Highs and Lows

Look who helped with my laundry.  Presh.

Highs

-Seven loads of laundry conquered. Thanks to Thing 1 and Thing 2 (youngest siblings).
-Tom the turkey died. He fell over backward and was suffocated by his own neck fat.
      ...Not such a loss.
-Seeing family for a good amount of time on Wednesday. My heart is happy.
-BBQ. Zach made a smoker he's really proud of. Maybe I'll blog about it. Maybe he will?

Lows

-None off the top of my head, it's been a good week. :)

This weekend you won't want to miss the two posts I have planned. 

Two incredible testimonies about grace and love. Visit back!
Now, go have a lovely Friday.

K&Z write it on paper

Today I closed my eyes and bit into a peach. Note to self: Never do that again. I shifted my eyes to the second half of the peach (still chewing on the first) and saw mold everywhere.
Moral of the story: If it tastes funny, spit it out.

After my grandparents left our house last night, Zach and I stayed up creating lists.

Here are the titles:

Katie: Life goals. Hopes. Dreams. Things that will happen. Mountains that will be triumphed over, risks that will be taken, and recipes of greatness backed by ingenuity and insight that will be created.

Zachary: Things I want to be able to do: Bucket List.

Some of the contents:

K: Learn to belt notes like Aretha Franklin.

Z: Live off 10% of our salary and give the rest.

K: Own a moped and go tell it on the mountain.

Z:  Tie a bunch of knots.

The list is more extensive, but we'll stick with that.
I may be aiming a bit out of my league with the whole singing deal. But whatevs.
It's included in the "Things that will happen" list, so I'll give it a year or twenty.

Recent Uploads

Recent shoots: Jamie's portraits and Jake and Ashley's wedding.

A Saturday list

1. Go ahead, eat as many ice cream cones as you want. We'll all be dead soon anyway.

2. Punch the fear of whatever in the face.  The fear of speaking up, the fear of not being smart enough, just ... just punch it.

3. Give more than you think you have. I promise you  everything will be just fine if you skip your Starbucks for a day and give triple the amount to someone else.

4. That said, talk to people on the streets. Instead of ignoring them, introduce yourself and take them out to eat. Learn their story. Have a conversation with them. Tell them that they matter.

5. Cut the small talk. Nobody cares about a beautiful day (just kidding, I love weather talks). But really, people are people. People are valuable. People need to be loved more than they need to hear about the current condition of the sky.

6. Be genuine. When you ask someone how they are doing while passing them, stop walking. Talk face to face, not face to back-of-head. 

7. When in doubt, drink tea and talk to Jesus. It's simple. You may look like a fool, but I promise you, you are heard.

8. Never underestimate the power of lipstick. It makes any day better.

Highs and Lows

Highs

-Finding that photo and realizing we've been married for ten months. What? You guys. I still have THANK YOU's to send out! I am seriously the worst. I wrote them all, but they were never sent! I give you full permission to bug me about this. They really need to be on their way. Please, make life difficult for me. They NEED to go. 
-Peanut butter and nutella. Mixed. On a spoon. In my mouth.
-Picnics.
-My older brother's birthday dinner at Red Lobster. 
-New books.
-Catching up on the last five months over coffee with a dear friend.

Lows

-Rough week with the horses. One horse broke a chain on a gate with her body weight while I jumped out of the way. Two days later, she broke it again.
-Realizing that it's almost a year and the 'Thank You' cards are still in my house. Yikes.  

Dîner sur bord de mer

After throwing the frisbee around, Zach suggested we pack up our dinner and eat it at the waterfront instead of at home. He's the one with all the good ideas. 

Tikka Masala on the dock? That's what I'm talkin' about.

We live for this kind of stuff. Join us!

New photos!

My first time shooting engagements!

To see more, click here.

Picnic with my sister

My sister and I packed some food and headed into my backyard for a picnic!

It wasn't long before company arrived.

{Note to self: never pack carrots when eating around horses.}

With music, birds and butterflies, plus hummus to dip in, all was well with our souls.  

Do you like picnics? Now that summer is here, I'm looking forward to many more!

Lilacs

"The earth laughs in flowers." -e.e. Cummings.
I'm so thankful for lilacs. My living room smells like a garden!

Portland

Z and I visited Powell's for the first time ever.
Let's just say ... we used a bit of our food budget to help pay for the books we bought.
And we're not even sorry about it. PB&J, let's be buds.

If bookstores had living quarters, Zach and I would sacrifice half our food budget for one of their spaces. Please, Powell's, build another floor. Then I'll get to visit that pretty lady more!

My cat and highs and lows

To be honest, I really don't like cats. I'm allergic to them and I may have watched cats give birth one too many times during my childhood. That said, this cat is at my parent's house.

  Why post a picture of a cat?  It takes no effort, really. And I honestly don't have any other photos that I could put up at the moment. Also, his name is Rocky. Blame my first grade mind for that one. As for the other cat we got at the same time, I named her Gracie. 
Because she was gray. Naturally.

I've come to the conclusion that 'Rocky' is fitting; he always has a black eye.
... And a permanent 'I'm gonna fight you' expression.
Now we just need to get him in the ring. Any fans out there?
Go cat, go. Sock 'em, Rocky.
  

Highs

-Instead of going for coffee, two friends and I climbed a mountain instead.
-Leaving for Portland tomorrow at 4:30am. Food trucks, here's looking at you!
-Ran a 5k for human trafficking last week with a few of my small group girls.
-My Senior girls had their senior dessert tonight at church (where families come to celebrate graduation, and observe the cardboard stands put together by their mothers). :) I am so proud of each of them! When they all gathered at the end to release balloons into the sky, I may have teared up a bit.

Lows

-My Great Grandpa Day had his service and graveside burial today. I was holding a younger sister-in-law (2nd grade); she began to cry within the first two minutes of the service. Then another sibling (in 4th grade) was sitting in front of me, and he winced as hard as he could to not cry. That alone ushered me into the grieving process. The rest of the day was so difficult; as I held another brother's hand (kindergarten) while following the bagpiper and pallbearers, he just looked up at me and said, "Everyone is crying. I'm so sad." Keeping him close was comforting. It was still hard, though.   

New shoots up!

I just posted three shoots! Check 'em!

Put it into practice

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things" (Philippians 4:8). Whether you do or do not believe in what the Bible has to say, I guarantee thinking about these things will make your day brighter. Now, go think.

Sometimes I forget how pretty this state is

My mom decided to visit Leavenworth for her day (Bavarian village roughly an hour away).

We ate 5-year cheese from Amsterdam and tried to hold the sun so it wouldn't go away.

Rocket Rider 2013 (Husband and brothers)

 My baby brother is more a boss than you could ever hope to be.

You are welcome.

Friday Highs and Lows

While shooting one of my senior small group girl's, a gentleman asked to take one of us.

With that, my day was made.

Highs

-One of my best friends graduated college last Friday. She's 19. WHO DOES THAT?  She got her bachelors in Psychology, and has already been accepted to all the Master's programs that she applied to.  I am SO proud!
-My nephew's first birthday celebration on Cinco de Mayo.
-My uncle's military burial. The gun salute, the veterans that ran the service, the flag, it was all very honoring and sobering. (This is a high because I loved being there with family and loved watching a great man get honored in a fitting way.)
-Massaman curry. Pad Thai. Peanut sauce. 'Nuff said.
-Offered a teaching job in Madrid. Uh, what? Yes, please. 
-Our good friends, Michelle and Nathaniel, are pregnant! Baby Michaniel on the way!

And a high all on it's own:
"Uh, I think a lump just came out of the creamer."
"Shawna, don't drink it!"

11:00 pm Saturday night marked the the start of writing 65 pages for a final project: three Odwallas, two cups of coffee, one cup of green tea, one cup of good earth, six cups of water, three bowls of honeycombs, and plenty of Sufjan/Vitamin Sting Quartet/ Fleet Foxes/Radical Face/Andrew Belle/Bon Iver to keep my friend Shawna and I company. When the lights turned off inside, the sunrise had already crawled into my windows and the stars were resisting the push of the light. Soli Deo Gloria for beauty in the midst of papers and projects!

Lows

-So many papers.
-Family loss, as you have already read.
-Never try to blow out a candle when you are brushing your teeth. It gets messy. 
-Late night studying. Zach didn't go to bed at all one night. He stayed at school until midnight, and then came home to work on the rest of his paper. He finished at six in the morning. Then he had to go back to school for a meeting, a test four hours later, and then to work until 11 that night.

All that aside, this trumps everything:

SCHOOL IS FINISHED, SUMMER IS HERE, I COULD EAT A WHOLE PINEAPPLE!

This Guy.

This guy, my dear husband, has been there for me without fail this week.

Also, he's getting dreadlocks again. White boy say whaa? 
It has been one of the most difficult final's weeks ever.

Through family loss, sleepless nights studying for exams, and all the highs and lows,

he has been there to hug, encourage, lead, make tea, and walk with me.
I'm so glad he's mine.

Wounds from Ultimate Frisbee

I woke up and realized I had ten pages to write in three hours. Cake.

One more research paper to go and I am finished with my junior year of college!

On the field today at school and I didn't see the jetty structure of rocks.

If three of the guys hadn't yelled, "ROCKS," I possibly could have split my head open.

Praise the Lord for other people paying attention to where I am running.
More importantly though, praise the Lord for SUN in Seattle!

Great Uncle Wally. You are missed.

Uncle Wally

1/12/1920 - 4/26/2013

Photo taken from the Seattle Times several years back.

-Pearl Harbor veteran.

-Stationed on the USCGC Taney (currently the last ship still afloat that fought back at Pearl Harbor).

-The words "Praise the Lord" were always on his lips.

-Loved to serve, care, and give out candy bars.

-A strong father figure to my dad. 

Top two favorites about this man:

-This man taught me how to pray passionately and earnestly.

-When I was four, he took grilled onions off his plate and placed them on mine. He looked at me, "I never liked onions anyway," and then went back to eating.

 I managed not to cry at the service on Friday.

But yesterday, when Zach and I saw his casket rolled by military men, it was over for us both.  

Contrary to the last post..

Honestly, this has been a really heavy, really stressful, really tiring week for Zach and I.

Last week one of our grandma's was diagnosed with cancer. And today, as we were leaving my uncle's military burial, we received a phone call that our great grandpa had just passed.

Combine that with staying up anywhere between 3:00am and 5:00am every night/morning studying for finals, five shoots to catch up on editing, and hectic work hours, the result is two very tired newlyweds.

Papers. Death. Projects. and Finals. This week is overwhelming.

Today is a good day.

I am thankful for May day. 

I am thankful for fresh blooms.

I am thankful for frisbee between classes.

I am thankful for professors who schedule tea with their students.

I am thankful for tights (to cover not-so-recently shaved legs).
And I am thankful for fresh squeezed orange juice. 

What have you been thankful for recently?