The big 3-Oh!
Yesterday was my birthday – my 30th to be precise! I’m still freaking out a little bit about turning 30, but I am definitely excited about the year ahead. I feel like this is going to be a big year for me, and I can’t wait to see what God does in my life this year!!
I had a pretty low-key day, but the highlight was definitely my birthday lunch…
Here are my niece & nephews in the back of the Suburban on our way to the best birthday lunch spot in the land.
(Tristan-4, Caeden-15 mos, Reilly-3)
That’s right, we went to McDonald’s! 2 plain cheeseburgers, fries & a coke please!
It was a fun lunch, and the kids colored me tons of pictures and gave me lots of hugs and kisses – so it was a great birthday!
Thanks to all of my friends and family to sent emails, e-cards, facebook messages, real cards, and who called to sing to me. I love you and am blessed to have you in my life!
I’m home!
I’m home! In fact, I got home a couple days ago. I’ve been meaning to blog some more about the trip, but just haven’t felt ready yet. It’s pretty overwhelming being back in the States. I walked into my niece & nephews’ play room the other day and started crying (they just have so much stuff!). We cleaned off the plates after dinner and I started crying just looking at all of the food going into the trash. I can’t even bring myself to go to the grocery store yet. I’m just having a hard time wrapping my head around all that I’ve seen and heard, and reconciling that with what life is like here. And to be honest, I don’t want to get used to it. I don’t want to become complacent. I don’t want to return to a life of waste and greed and taking things for granted. But I do need to figure out a way to keep from crying every 10 minutes :)
So, bear with me for a few days, and I promise I’ll share some more about the trip soon!
I’ve been tagged!
There’s a little game going around the world of photography blogs, and I’ve been tagged by the wonderful Matt & Enna Grazier! (Sorry for taking so long, Matt :) From what I understand, I have to share 8 little known facts about myself, so here goes…
1) I am like the world’s pickiest eater! I have crazy issues :) I don’t like anything spicy – and I mean that MILD salsa is too spicy for me. I am really particular about texture. There are very few vegetables that I’ll eat and almost none of them are green. It’s almost easier to tell you what I DO like – I LOVE pizza (and I mean that I can eat it EVERYDAY), fried chicken, mcdonald’s cheeseburgers, FRENCH FRIES, quesadillas, reduced-fat wheat thins, and COCA COLA pretty much sums up an average week for me. Ordering a meal at a restaurant is a bit like a scene from When Harry Met Sally (but not the part where she fake’s it at the table ;)
2) When I was a kid (age 4-6), my family lived in Nassau, in the Bahamas. So, I grew up on the beach, a tan little blond girl. My favorite memory of our days in the Bahamas – Sunday mornings, picking up a bucket of KFC and taking a boat with all of our friends to a practically private island to spend the day digging in the sand and splashing in the water. Good times, good times.
3) I was a synchronized swimmer for 15 years. I swam for Indy Synchro (formerly known as the Indianapolis Synchronettes) from 1984-1997 (my final year we won 8th place at US Jantzen Nationals), then swam for them as a Master in 1999 (winning a gold medal at the US Masters Championships for duet that year), and I coached for them from 1998 – 2000. Some of the best friends I’ve ever known are my synchro girls and those years hold some of my favorites memories!
4) 3 of the 4 cars I have owned over the course of my life have been minivans. This can be explained by the fact that I’ve never actually paid for a car, but have received the wonderful hand-me-downs of my mother and sister. My first car was a 1986 maroon Plymouth Voyager which I drove until it had 220,000 miles on it. My next car was a 1992 white Plymouth Voyager (this one had power windows and locks, ooooooh) and I drove that until it literally died in my sister’s driveway and a dump paid us $200 for it (also over 200K). The next car was a 1994 silver Ford Explorer that my sister gave me after she received it from a family in their church and drove it for a few years (another 200K + beauty – which died on my way from Indy to Chicago last year :( And now, I drive a 1999 Pontiac Montana that is a lovely shade of brown. Who knows how long this one will last – but hopefully I won’t have to buy my first car for a long long time!
5) When I graduated from Butler University in 1999, I had a degree in French & Psychology. My first job in the real world was working as a Research Technician for the OCD & Autism Clinics at the Psychiatry Clinic at Riley Children’s Hospital in Indy. Talk about a crazy year. After that, I got a job in HR/Recruiting for a hedge fund in Chicago. It was only after getting fired from that job that I decided to pursue photography (let’s just say I wasn’t a good fit for Corporate America)…
6) I have a few mild addictions… Pizza, Coca-Cola Classic, time spent w/ my niece & nephews, music (listen to it, sing it, whatever), LOST, email, and bejeweled (my newest addiction)
7) My family is big into traveling. We have a huge map in my parent’s house and we each have different color pins. It’s a big competition to see who has the most pins in the map! My pins are yellow, and I’ve got them in about 24 countries so far – and I’ll be adding 2 more when I go to Zimbabwe & South Africa in October!! I’m pretty sure I’m winning the competition, though my sister is a close second. Some of the more exotic/interesting countries on the list: Sri Lanka, India, Albania, Curacao, Belgium, Greece, France, Czech Republic, Italy, Bermuda, etc… :)
8) I love my family and I love my friends – they are just about the most important thing in this world to me!! But, as much as I love my family, the most important relationship I have is the one i have with God. I love Him and am loved by Him in ways that I never could imagine. And He loves EVERYONE this way! It’s the most amazing and crazy thing I’ve ever heard, but I am so incredibly grateful for it.
So, that’s me in a nutshell! I think I have to tag 8 people now – but most of the people I would tag, have been tagged already. So, I’m going to tag YOU! If you’re reading this and you haven’t posted 8 things about you on your blog – leave me a comment below and post your 8 things on your own blog! I can’t wait to read all about you :)
Life
Wow! I have been so delinquent! Life has just been CRAZY and I just haven’t been able to keep up! But no worries, I’m back :)
The good thing is that I got to spend a little time on vacation with my parents, sister & her family. I flew home to Indianapolis and spent about a little over a week hanging out with the fam. We were supposed to go with whole Guenin family up to Wisconsin for a big family weekend, but we didn’t get to go. My poor brother-in-law, Michael (pastor of an amazing ministry I’m involved in, Genesis) was incredibly sick even before he flew to Indy. And when he got to Indy, it just got worse. He ended up in the hospital with viral pneumonia and all sorts of pain radiating from his lung. So, we all decided to stay behind and take care of the kids while my sister stayed with Michael at the hospital. The poor guy spent his entire vacation in bed, in pain. Please pray for him and Kyla as he’s still experiencing a LOT of pain and now all 3 of the kids are sick too!
In spite of all the drama, we still managed to have LOTS of FUN! My oldest nephew, Tristan, turned 4 years old while we were home, so there was plenty of celebrating!
Here’s Tristan blowing out the breakfast candles (not in cake so much as in a donut, but he loved it :)
One of Tristan’s favorite parts of the trip was his first (of many) ride on the Sea-Doo with Papa Pat!
We also spent a lot of time taking the boat to “the swimmin’ hole”
This is Mimi (my mom) with baby Caeden, looking oh so comfy in his life vest…
Here’s my niece, Reilly Nichole, playing on the beach. She’s so fun!
And here are a couple pics courtesy of my sister, Kyla. The first is baby Caeden looking as cute as possible. And the 2nd is me and Caeden playing peek-a-boo on the boat :)
Mom & Dad also took us to this great new water park by their house. I’m so bummed it wasn’t around when I was a kid! It was a blast! Tristan LOVED it!!!!
Just a couple more cute pics of my sweet little babies…
And here’s my sister w/ Caeden :)
So, it wasn’t the best vacation we’ve ever had – that would require my brother-in-law being able to stay out of bed for more than an hour :) And, it wasn’t the most restful or relaxing, but it definitely was FUN!!!! Thanks Mom & Dad for a great trip!! I Love You!!!!
Revved Up!
So, I was on David Jay’s blog the other day, and found the FUNNIEST video I’ve seen in a while. If you’re a Christian who can appreciate a laugh about your faith (or some of the people in it) – or if you just have a good sense of humor – I think you’ll really like this…
Check it out: www.revveduptv.com
Celeste & Troy’s Wedding!
So, Cabo was great – but the real reason I was there, was to photograph (and attend) my cousin, Celeste’s wedding. She and Troy are a fun couple, and have a gorgeous little boy named Aiden. It was so awesome getting to be there – the whole weekend was just amazing! I’m so thankful that they made me part of it all!!!
This is Celeste, Troy & Aiden walking around Cabo on our way to our sunset cruise the night before the wedding. Aren’t they cute?? :)
Celeste helping Aiden get ready…
Our Aunt Bethie gave Celeste our Great-Grandmother Celesta’s ring as her something-old and something-borrowed. This ring was given to Grandma Guenin by Grandpa Guenin like 100 years ago, before they were married. Celeste and I never got to meet Grandma Guenin, but since she’s Celeste’s namesake and all – it was pretty special.
Celestey looking beautiful…
This was the setting of the ceremony and reception – it was gorgeous!
Little Aiden again – he’s just so cute!!
Here’s the whole fam!! Well, at least everyone who could come :) We missed the rest of you guys!!
Celeste & Troy enjoying being newlyweds…
It was so fun! And the best part was that after dinner, the hotel was having karaoke night right next to us – so we got to keep having fun, with microphones in our hands :) I’m an admitted karaoke-junkie so I thought it was pretty sweet! No one needs to see those photos though… ;)
Thanks again Celeste & Troy!!! I love you guys!!
<3 kiki
Mexico pics – yeah!
So, I know it took forever, but here are some pics from Mexico!
Here’s the view from my VIP suite at the resort. When I checked in, my parents were complaining about getting a room with 2 double beds instead of a king, as were my Aunt & Uncle. So, when I checked in, I was expecting the double beds. BUT, the lady said “Oh, I see here that you are a VIP!” (huh?!) I had a room on the top floor, in the center of the resort, with the best view, and a King-sized bed! All for little ole me! I felt pretty special :) I almost gave up the room for my parents, but then I remembered, that I’ll be sleeping on the couch when we have our family vacation in Wisconsin next month, and I figured, it was OK for me to be pampered a little bit…
These pics are from a sunset cruise we took in Cabo – so much fun!! Thanks Dad!!
This seal is sitting on the southern-most point of the Baha Penninsula – how cool is that? He was pretty amazing.
And, this would be me, chillin’ on the boat… :)
More pics from the wedding coming soon….
On my way to Cabo!
Woo hoo! I could not be more excited! I’m sitting in the airport right now, waiting for my flight. I’m heading to Cabo San Lucas for my cousin Celeste’s wedding. I was so bummed a few months ago when I heard she was getting married in Mexico because I didn’t think I’d be able to go. Money was tight and it just didn’t look like it would happen. Then, we were chatting online one day and I was asking her what she was going to do about photography… Long story short, she decided to fly me to the wedding so I could take the photos, and get to be there! I’m so excited! I love my Celestey and I’m so happy I get to be there to celebrate with her and Troy, and the rest of the family!!
i heart chicago
After way too many months, I was able to go back to Chicago last week! It wass just quick visit, but it felt like being home again.
I spent the first 2 days attending the Pictage Partner Conference – which was awesome! I listened to speakers like Mike Larson, Liana Lehman, Nathan & Amber Holritz, David Greene, and more. They were incredibly inspiring and encouraging. I feel so motivated right now! I’m hoping to take what I learned and apply it to my business and my life – starting immediately!
Then I spent a couple extra days in the city with some friends. I spent much of my time working on my website. I love my design (thanks to Elizabeth Vincenty of Snapdragon Chicago) – but I find that it’s been unbelievably difficult to choose the photographs. So, I dedicated a good chunk of my time in Chicago towards editing photos for the site. I still have a lot of work to go, but hopefully, I’ll have some more links up and working soon!
While I was in town, I had the chance to stop by Real Life Weddings for a visit and see Steve & Chrisy and the rest of the team. It seems like every time I visit the studio, something is different. It’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year since I left for Boston!
I spent the rest of my trip catching up with good friends, eating good food, and just enjoying life in the city. I love the energy, the sound of people walking around outside, the gorgeous weather they’re having, the view, the skyline, the rooftops, the familiarity of it all! I miss Chicago, and city life so much sometimes – what a blessing this was for me to spend a few days “back home.”
