sneak peek: tj - northville, mi

the past month has flown by! and there hasn't been a week that i don't think, "huh, i should really update my blog!" but do i listen to my sub-conscience? no. now that i look back on the past month, i really have no idea where those summer days went. up here in michigan, the sun is a little weaker, the breeze is a little stronger and my windows are open 24/7. oh, life is good!

i was going to wait to show this in a full blog, but i really just cannot contain myself! here's a little peek at what fun i get to have!

happy wednesday!

a new perspective.

so i've been waiting to post this since last wednesday! (i'm so sorry for the week long wait, jessie!) but....

i got a new lens!!!!

confession: i did NOT come up with the title... all props goes to the best hubby in the world. uhh... that'd be MY husband. ;)

anyways, i'm really excited to share this with you. christopher and i decided to make the sacrifice with some monthly payments and starving ourselves silly, but i got my big girl lens! this lens only weighs about 3.5lb, but geez, i am so weak! i can't hold the lens steady for the life of me. practice does make perfect, i suppose.

so without further ado, here it is!!



i took it out for a test run when christopher took the dogs out at 8:45 in the evening, so i didn't have much light to work with, so i couldn't use fast shutter speeds, but i ramped up my ISO and this is what i got. it's not much since my left hand was shaking like crazy.





just an fyi for anyone that's interested/knows about camera settings, these next two pictures were taken at 1600 ISO. not bad for such a high ISO!



and last but not least, the newest member of our family.



he's grown so big! he's bigger than macy, but we all know that macy is the dominant one. :)

the past month.

i am so lame. i know. i don't update. it's not like people read this blog anyway... so why bother right? i don't get comments, so i'm pretty sure no one cares. :P

so in the past month, much has happened!

for the fourth of july, christopher and i took the pups to go camping up in oscoda, mi. not only did the pups get to gnaw on pinecones and sticks all day, but they went on a 3 hour canoe trip down the au sable river with us. and yes, they did get a lot of swim time. sadly, i was enjoying myself so much during the weekend, i didn't get a single picture! but i did learn how to grill ribs, chicken skewers, and corn on the cob! yum. it was a very relaxing weekend well spent.

we received a lot of camping gear as wedding presents, and we were finally able to put them all to use! so thank you all that gave us camping gear! since we had never used any of it before, we had to test everything before we went out, so you know what that means... a tent in our living room!



i've met three amazing photographers in the past month!

i posted in a photography forum offering myself up as a second photographer at weddings. i doubted there'd be someone in my area that would want my inexperienced services, but calynn of calynn berry photography emailed me and asked me to join her. how amazing? and that, she was! her personality makes everyone in the room feel welcomed and right at home. i've joined her on two weddings now, and the type of clients she brings in says so much about her. at both weddings, her clients were so full of life and joy! needless to say that calynn and her clients had amazing interaction.

now, enter steph koshay and nicole haley. i emailed each of them when i first moved to northville. steph and i met up at rebecca's family restaurant and ice cream parlor in downtown northville. she was so kind to meet up with me, being pregnant and moving into their first house! and don't get me started on how hectic nicole's life must be juggling a full time job while running a fantastic photography business on the side, but she was able to meet up with me for some coffee and tea. (i just want to make it clear that i cannot drink tea. trust me. i've tried many of times.) from the moment i met each of them, we just hit it off.

i am so excited to get to know each of these ladies!

in even more exciting news, my friend steve moved back home to michigan! the last time steve and i hung out on a regular basis was freshman and sophomore year at k-state when we lived on the same dorm floor. o the good ol' times... :)

squirrely.

so... i thought that the last time i was on the blog was just two weeks ago. it's been a month?! say what?! i have no idea what i've been doing for the past month... i wish i had more to share with you, but really i don't have too much. maybe my brain is just fried from learning how to iron, and spending 3 hours on four shirts and only a fourth of a pair of pants. that's right, i don't know how to iron pants.

i wish i could say that i have more to share with you, but i don't.

except... this squirrel that keeps stealing the bird food! i'd rather see all the pretty birds in michigan than all these silly squirrels!



he's a sneaker...

civilization.

i'm back! what a week and a half without the internet will do to you...

at least i had my phone for gps...

so we are all moved out of our old apartment and moved into our new one! much thanks goes out to christopher's aunt ann and cousin craig. these two helped us load up a 17' truck. apparently, we have a lot of stuff. we also had a third story apartment with three flights of stairs. not a lot of fun. when we thought things were going great, and we were making good timing, ann and christopher were putting the last of the things into the truck when ann fell of the back of the u-haul! she broke her hip and was sent to the hospital for the next four days. honestly, she was an amazing trooper. christopher didn't even notice that she fell because she didn't even make a noise. however, craig saw it unfold. we couldn't possibly have had better help and family that day. to drive four hours to help us pack up and then have to go to the hospital all on our account? i just felt terrible.

ann convinced us to go ahead to northville to unpack while craig and ann went to the hospital. she's such a sweetheart. honestly. so christopher's supervisor had told us in advance that he'd come help us that day. when he heard of ann's unfortunate accident, he called up the help of another guy from their workplace, his amazingly strong wife and their cute either 3 or 5 year old daughter (christopher thinks 5, i think 3. we can't decide). she was helping us bring the smallest of boxes up the stairs and helped me push large tubs from the back of the truck to the front for the big guys to carry. :)

so for the past week and a half, i've been unpacking. alone. so really, if you're bored, don't hesitate to call. i'll be here. unpacking. it's the story of my life.

but my wonderful hubs surprised me with internet to the tv yesterday morning... so now i have netflicks! yay for civilization!

tune in for pictures to come.

happy tuesday.