I am alive... and 27

Last week was something else, you guys. Something. freaking. else. Let's do this in bullet point form:

- 457 photos edited, uploaded, and delivered on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday alone. 

- A gazillion emails flying back and forth to clients. 

- Our truck was broken into and over $1500 worth of stuff stolen, including Matthew's wedding ring. I know, idiot move to leave that much valuables in the car, but it was a total fluke thing (and a long story). I've never been burglarized before, and it's such a gross feeling. Someone came right up into my mom's driveway and totally hit the jackpot with our vehicle, all while we slept just feet away. So much of Wednesday consisted of police reports and generally feeling gross.

- My 27th birthday, which I spent traveling to Wyoming for one of my best friend's wedding. 

- First walk-through on our house, which I missed because I was traveling. 

- Wyoming. Effing FRIGID. I will never complain about being cold here in Texas again.  Our "cold" is literally 50 full degrees or more warmer than their cold. The day we got there, the low was NEGATIVE 17. You step outside, and you can literally feel your snot instantly crystallizing and turning to ice in your nose.

- Celebration with friends. Photos in the snow. Memories.

I flew into San Antonio last night, and made the drive home to Austin as soon as I picked my car up from a friend's house. I don't think I fully realized how overwhelmed I've been feeling, in so many senses, until I was about three-quarters of the way home, and I just started crying my eyeballs out. How am I 27 already? How is my sweet and silly friend Kelly already married? Why does life have to spread us so thin and so far apart? When did we all grow up? 

I got home late, at almost midnight, and my little shadow, Cooper, was awake and there to greet me and welcome me home. As I loved all over him and kissed him and squished him, I started sobbing again (at which point he started shaking violently - poor little guy hates it when I cry). And I felt sad and hopeful and grateful all at one. I don't know what 27 will hold. A new home for sure. A baby? Maybe. Big changes, I'd bet on it. For myself. For my business. For my family. For my friends. 

I want to be a better version of myself this year. I want to put a higher price tag on my time and talent, so I'm not so overwhelmed all the time (more on that later). I want to be more present for my friends and family. I want to be healthier than ever. I want to be more kind. I want to grow up a little. That doesn't mean not having fun (quite the contrary!). But I want to be more comfortable in my skin, and more confident in my abilities. Slower to speak, quicker to forgive, better at love.

Easier said than done, of course. But 27? Bring it on.

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A birthday tea. (no real tea involved)

First thing's first: thanks for all the sweet birthday wishes yesterday! You sure know how to make a girl feel special. :) It was mostly an ordinary day, with the exception of taking my mom to the airport at 5 in the morning (she's in Vegas with my grandparents now!) and a lovely little lunch with Megan (my friend who just got married over the weekend... they're doing their honeymoon in NYC the week before Christmas, which makes me want to weep with envy). 

Matthew is finishing up his last finals today and tomorrow, and then I have my husband back for over a month. Let that marinate.  It will actually start to feel like Christmas! We can celebrate my birthday! We can do couple things, and feel what it's like to be married to someone! Ha! No but really, I am SO excited. It feels like the end of a very long dry spell. Thank GOODNESS.

Here's a few photos from the River House Tea Room in Gruene. Such a cute little spot, in case you ever have the opportunity to go!

 keepin' it country... this is Texas, after all...

I love that cute little face! 

Megan's bling.

it's my birthday, and I'll match the curtains if I want to....

love my new address stamp from here... excellent, quick service in this shop, and great prices. she's closed 'til January though... bummer. 

PS - new post on the photo blog!

PPS - the 20 blog/20 ad spaces giveaway is still on! The winner of this one is one lucky duck...

goodbye 25, hello 26

Well, it's my birthday today.  Goodbye 25, hello 26.

To be honest with you, I haven't exactly welcomed this birthday. It marks the end of my early twenties, and I find myself scratching my head and thinking, how did this all happen so fast? Where did the last 6 six years go? I vaguely remember turning 20... shrugging when I turned 21... feeling bummed when I turned 22, cause most of the cool birthdays were over with. And then the rest is just a blur. Will that be how it is every year, from this point forward? A blur? 

The last year leading up to 26 has been one crazy ride. In March, someone I love died of cancer. A friend of Edd's asked my mom at the funeral if he suffered, and what could she say? Yes, he suffered. There's no sugar coating it. And I still can't put into words what that was like to be there, to be part of that. It was a defining time of life for me.

Matthew and I have also had our ups and downs this year. We may have this awesome love story up there in the tabs, but man, being married is hard sometimes. I won't pretend we have it all figured out.  Two type A personalities decided to walk through life together, and the line "a tornado meets a volcano" seems pretty fitting sometimes. But man oh man, I love that guy. I would walk to the ends of the earth and back for him, and I think we've both realized that's what matters most. When forgiveness seems impossible, when you have to lay down your pride completely, when you have to choose to see the things you love and couldn't bear to give up. That's what matters--that you'll do those things for love.

I've become more grateful than ever for my friends this year, both old and new. I've come to realize how much those connections mean to me, and I'm doing a better job, I hope, of showing them. I'm learning about languages of love. Loving someone is almost useless if you don't learn to show it in the way people need to be loved. 

So I guess 25 mostly taught me that love is all we have. Love is all we have. It transforms you. Helps you to do hard things. Helps you to feel empathy for others, even when you don't understand them or agree. I don't know about you, but I can spot a love-filled person from a mile away. Your spirit picks up on some invisible light. I've seen it, I've felt it, and I want to emulate it. 

I think that 26 will be a year for love.