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.

a family of four.

we have a very special announcement to make....

we have another puppy!

meet connor.



connor is a 7 month toy poodle. he's scared of everything imaginable, eats like we never feed him, gets into trouble every half hour, runs into walls, and most importantly, he's a lover of my legs. that's right. he loves my legs. when i'm cooking, he has to either sit on my foot or lay behind my feet. when i'm sitting, he needs to be in my lap. when i'm walking, he shoves his nose into my calves every single step of the way. that's just downright crazy. why today, he even started gnawing on my toes like they were his chew toys! either i have some pretty stinky feet or this dog is just straight up insane.

this is all i have of him so far... but just you wait. this superstar will rock my blog just as much as he's rocked our world.



o and please excuse the mess... trust me, it's far worse now that i'm in prime packing mode.

hump day ramblings.

in the midst of unpacking this apartment, looking for a job, finding christopher a job, looking for a another apartment, and packing this apartment all up again, i just haven't taken many pictures. it's really sad.

but i do have a bunch of randoms for you!

i forgot to mention in the chicago auto show post that i rented a nikon 24mm 1.4 lens just to see how good it was. besides for the fact that the lens was not calibrated to my camera, so back focusing occurred, it was a beauty. i did some test shots first off.

mmm... m&m...





our beautiful new Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary pictures carved out of wood. i got that rosary in italy. each bead has the an image of the Immaculate Virgin Mary on it.

**update: christopher said it's not wood... how sad!!!! it's mass produced... so it's made out of plaster. depressing.



i couldn't resist taking a photo of him. he just looks too good to not.



i miss that lens. i can't wait until i save up enough money to buy more lenses! for now, it's just back to my regular lenses.

here's a picture of a very lovely lady by the name of linda. she owns a shop called fenton flowers and gifts. i went in there one day to try to spread the word of my photography services, and she was so kind and helpful! she's really the only person in fenton that cared enough to talk to us. it's so sad that we have to move away.



i found this picture just chilling in my photo archives. i'll miss our balcony view. so beautiful! i can't wait for summer!



and lastly, i have a couple of cuties sleeping. this first one is a picture of my cousin's baby, audrina, taken this past thanksgiving break. the second one is of christopher and macy taking a nap during my finals week down in manhattan, ks. o the beauty of little sleepies.





i hope these pictures brightened up your hump day! only a couple more days and it's the weekend!

defining myself.

the past couple of days, i have struggling with myself.

i just graduated from college with a degree in architectural engineering. problem: i don't want to be an engineer.

i just moved to michigan all the way from kansas. problem: i have next to nothing in the networking world.

christopher and i still don't have jobs. problem: we don't even have enough money to survive the next month.

o faith, how you've helped me along the way so much, and i don't even realize. for the last week, i've been thinking really hard about what to do with my life career-wise. i know in my heart and my mind that i do not want to do engineering. it's just not cut out for me. i don't know how i made it through school. but what's wonderful is that i do know what i want to do: photography.

i just pray that I am doing what God wants me to do.

so something that has been constantly on my mind is what i want to brand my "business" as. i'm not saying i'm legit, that i really have a business going on here, or that this is all i'm going to do to earn some money, but it's what i want to evolve over time. i just want to start it off on the right foot.

something that has been holding me back from really getting my foot into photography is my "business" name. i really wanted to go with my first and last name because who else do you know is named yen minns?? i can't think of anyone! what a great marketing tool right?! well... it is except no one can pronounce my vietnamese name. it's not pronounced like that japanese currency... no... it's pronounced like the guy's name ian. ... "ean" ... "E-N" ... "en" ... these are all the variations that people in my life have come up with to pronounce my simple yet complex name.

so as i'm cooking dinner, all i can think about is, who am i? what do i want my future clients to see in me when they look for a photographer? i don't want to be something phoney or overused. but it's so difficult when so many people have the same style as you or doing the same thing as you. how do i find my niche without being cliche?

i thought about the words that describe me as a person and why i want to take pictures. what better way to brand your business than to brand who you really are? the words that came to mind were:

raw. emotion. timeless. joy. faith. real. happiness. sadness. fear. anguish. light. beautiful. simple. complex. love. natural. whimsical. thoughtful. family. detailed. earthy. country. creative. fun. warm.

passion.

i want to do photography because i have passion. i have passion for the art of capturing that one moment of joy that's been lost in all of the hurt. i have passion for the technical details that i had no idea went into photography when i first learned about it. i have passion for the person crying over a lost loved one. i have passion for the love shown in the eyes of an engaged couple. i have passion for the pure innocence of a child. i have passion.

lightbulb! i went onto thesaurus.com to see what words are similar to passion. perhaps something will help me find a name for my business right? wrong. the one word that stuck out was none other than... yen.

yen 2 (jɛn)

— n
1. a passionate, ardent, or intense longing or desire

— vb , yens , yenning , yenned
2. ( intr ) to yearn

so there you have it folks. it's who i am.

i am yen.

trust.

i am well overdue for a post. like 4 or 5 months overdue? yes. yes yes yes. my last legit post was pretty much me venting out to the world. really to not many people since not that many people know i have this blog. well, maybe several people know about the blog but they don't comment? i digress. i was venting 4.5 months ago because i just couldn't bear the stress anymore. i couldn't bear the weight of the world on my shoulders alone. i needed to talk. i needed someone other than christopher to hold me up.

but i didn't feel like i could just call someone up and randomly butt into their happy little lives to complain about my problems. enter: my blog. my blog serves as somewhat of a de-stressing mechanism while still informing family, friends and the occasional random blogger about my life as i see it.

so here, you're going to find a compilation of blogs. everything ranging from my personal life, whether it be my joys or my tears, to life as i see it through my lens is up for grabs.

i hope that i will keep updated with this for at least once a week. i'll just go ahead and set the bar low on that one. hopefully i can get up to at least 4 times a week.

moving along... here's an update on our lives... sit back and enjoy the show.

post wedding

it has been 40 days since christopher and i walked down that aisle and 31 days since we've moved up here to michigan. and what a glorious roller coaster it has been! we've been trying to get settled in, finding a church that where we feel comfortable, getting christopher settled in at school, finding a job for christopher, keeping in touch with friends and family, all while trying to enjoy the beginning of forever together!

right now, christopher is at a job interview. we've been hard at work on this for some time now. we could have prayed more. would could have applied to more places. but really, life has just been a whirlwind of things. i pray so much that God places christopher where he is meant to be.

in God's hands

the day after our wedding, christopher's mother's side of the family met for breakfast at our hotel. christopher's grandpa bill sat by us and told us wonderful stories of his past marriage and his earlier years. afterwards, he took us aside, held our hands and told us he may not see us again, so he wanted to say a prayer with us. he asked God to bless our marriage and our health. while he prayed, i thanked God for allowing christopher and i to have this moment with grandpa bill. i thanked Him for this glimpse into grandpa bill's life and for the example christopher's grandparents have given us.

yesterday, we found out that christopher's grandfather passed away back in kansas. i'm not sure how to handle this one. it's been 18.5 years since my own grandfather passed away, and i still tear up about this. i mean, i was only 5. but i knew my grandfather. and i know he's in heaven. and i know that grandpa bill is up in heaven, reunited with his wife.

i am SO happy that christopher's grandparents get to meet my grandpa. i feel so relieved that my grandpa is able to meet some of christopher's family. it means a lot to me. with those three up there, i know that they will watch over us, praying for us and our marriage. i feel so blessed to have family in heaven rooting for us. it makes the hard times a little more bearable.

trust

we still have many obstacles to overcome in the next few months. find a job. find a church. survive the michigan roads. get christopher up-to-date on his school work. finish unpacking. finish thank you notes. (yea, i still haven't sent out thank you notes from a wedding that happened a month and a half ago... go ahead. judge me all you want.)

however, even with all these obstacles, the greatest obstacle we have yet to tackle is to completely trust in our Lord. with complete trust, we have nothing to fear.