paris me manque.

i miss paris. someone wanna buy me a plane ticket so i can go back? i just wanna eat a crêpe in the tuilleries garden and roam the side streets and boutiques in my homestay neighborhood. merci beaucoup!

one of my all-time favorite spots in paris. the notre dame is such a reverent place. sooo much history. i think i just love being in a city that is as old and has as much history as paris does. 

oh, champs elysées. you warm my heart. 

sigh. thought yall would enjoy some pictures from my unforgettable summer. i sure did enjoy the reminiscing.

this week.

this week has been and will be extremely crazy. some things i have loved being busy about. other things.... not so much. sunday was the thing i loved getting to do. i had the wonderful pleasure of shooting my beautiful cousin and her fiance's engagement pictures. i feel so blessed to be with them and capture this moment in their lives. 

 

aren't they just a catalog couple? talk about beautiful children.

now. onto the horrible week. this week, i have 3 exams and a presentation. yes, i did say 3. my life consists of burying myself in hodge's library with business law, marketing, and international business. 

this was me last night. i cant take credit for this picture though. i wanted to take my own picture of the books i actually do have to study, but don't forget what i told you. i have 3 exams and a presentation. no time for uploading pictures. so dont judge the borrowed pic!

this is where i would rather be. i did take this picture. because it was in a time where i wasn't hurrying or super busy. i could take my time. 

but, i will say this. by no means think i am trying to excuse my behavior or attitude because i'm "busy". i'll always be busy. everyone will. i will not take a week out of my life and- because i have tests- not talk to friends, not be tidy and pick up after myself in my house, or not participate in my usual activities. life does not stop just because my week is crazy. a good friend and i were talking about how no one has an excuse to dismiss being a friend or getting to know someone simply because they have a hectic schedule. and the same applies to me. i cannot say that no one else can do such an act and ignore others around them or hide out in the library all week and make an exception for myself when i am in their shoes. to be busy, i've recently discovered, has become an excusable idol in our society, especially college students. lay everything down and the foot of the cross. submit your busy-ness. submit the feeling of having to control everything going on. it wont change a thing if you grasp to all your plans. letting go allows trust and will give you peace. trust in Him. He loves you. He knows how important these things are that make up our lives. however, they are not the most important. just remember not to forget your first love. 

game day.

good ol rocky top.

these are a few of my [favorite] things.

these are just some pictures i have taken over the last year and theyre some of my favorites, if i do say so myself. =] i like up close shots on one particular part of the picture and let everything else just blur into the background. there is a value of that to me. to let one thing you focus on be what you concentrate on and not worry about everything else at the time being. i really love up close shots because of the detail thats given. the detail of something shows just how intricate things really are and how complex it is to make something. a very wise professor told my class that there is no such thing as multitasking. i encourage you to not multitask today. just sit back, think about just one thing, and put your all into that one thing. let nothing else compete for your time or attention. just... take time. you will find joy in that. i promise. 

these are some pictures around campus. a billboard filled with activities and meetings and places to be.

flowers that were beautiful, even in winter. even in the frost and cold, life appeared through. 

hanging by a wire. one of my favorites because of the specific focus and the large area of background. things dont have to be huge areas in your life for you to focus on just them for a while. do you what you love. do whats your passion. 

love the eyes. 

spring. life. newness.

we are letters.

it is always neat for me to think that my name is written on the heart of the Lord. not that i deserve such adoration, but what a beautiful gift to realize and deeply cherish. and in turn, our lives are represented as letters for those to see. we are to be transparent and willing to share our lives with others in order for them to see Christ. in that way, to be open and honest and sincere and submissive in order to please our Father. and to serve others is how we, in turn, know Him more deeply. putting ourselves second in a world that tells us we are #1 all the time. how difficult and so against our nature it is to strive to be something valuable not in this world, but in a completely different world. to act for eternal value instead of earthly value, which fades away so quickly. what a beautiful thing it is to be a letter hand-written by the Living God. my focus verses for this are 2 corinthians 3:2-3. but i truly loved reading 2 corinthians 3-4. such beautiful words that i cannot help but encourage you to read them in their fullness. i pray you feel His incredibly unfathomable love today. oh, how He loves us.

photo a day.

so i have decided to do a photo  a day for this blog. i would love to take a verse and apply a photo i have to it. sometimes it might be a song, or just a picture i really wanna put up! but the Lord uses the Word to speak to us and i love having a visual with His promises. for He is good all of the time. a good friend and i were just talking today of how we love hearing everyones stories and how Christ has orchestrated our lives so that we all have a similar thread that makes up the tapestry of His beautiful love for us- all of our stories are centered around His faithfulness and His pure goodness. 

so, the photo for today will focus around my devotional i had today. it speaks of how we cannot rest in anything but Him. not even the future or what is to come. He has been faithful to me in every way in the past. i can be rest assured that He will continue to do so in the future, no matter what that looks like. luke 12:22-34 speaks in such an intimate way. place particular emphasis on verse 28 for the picture. but i love how He refers to us as "little flock". He knows how unable we are to care for ourselves. but He is our beautiful and protective Shepherd and He chases after the one that is astray. He calls us by name, and we know His voice. hope yall enjoy. more pictures to come. =]

a new beginning.

so, for those of you who followed my old blog & travels to europe, i have decided to begin a new blog. the old one was for the mere purpose of posting my stories and pictures from paris and italy. now it seems to be a bit obsolete. but the whole picture thing still ravishes my attention, so i believe my new blog will be the photos i take and life in between them. i hope you enjoy!