Wade and Hannah

Wedding photo deadline done! Whew! Mailed out today!

They really didn't take as long as I thought they would. I know the Lord really helped me with them, though, because I've never edited 480 photos in 2 days before...
Seriously, I'm kind of ashamed to say it, but I've known ever since day one, that I would like to get them done within a month's time. And this time I ended up spending 28 days putting it off and 2 days editing. I will give myself some credibility/slack, though, because it really does take a lot of focus to get this done. A lot more focus than 98% of my peers have :P

Crazy thing was... during those two days I also took a good long bike ride and recorded a song. So I really did good.

Yep, this is me blabbing about my life on Facebook.

The song isn't perfect... and honestly I was really wanting to work on it more and add some piano parts to it with GarageBand, but I won't have the time to work on that until my christmas break from college. Wait!? College break? Really? Oh my word! You don't know how excited I will be for that day! 

To add to the busyness... I am now working full time at the bank. Actually, my first full time day is tomorrow. I'm kinda wondering how my grades are going to fare with everything going on in my life right now. Haha! I'll make it! *she says while closing her eyes and burying her head in the sand*

Now that I've filled everyone in on my life... maybe I will move on to the photos. Right!

That's that!

Have a great week! :)

-MarLeahJoy

Wedding Edit Weekend

These two were the cutest!

They were both so terribly shy walking down the isle, but they made it! ;)

So I'm just wedditing... I've gotta get it done by Tuesday.

I really wish I could be taking a nice long bike ride, or be on a road trip, or hiking half dome (Yosemite, baby)...

Oh, snap! Back to reality.

Nope, I just worked over 40 hours this week and did tons of homework, and met up with a friend, and went to young people's meeting. So I really don't want to be sitting in my blue suede chair doing nothing but editing all day... no matter how comfy and fluffy the chair is. 

Maybe all I really need is some tea and a great playlist to get me in the right mood to just sit here and edit.

Starbucks? Yeah that would be great, but that would cost money. I'm really weird when it comes to money... I deny myself so many times and then I just go and spend the same amount somewhere else on something lame. Like the ten donuts I bought the other day. Don't ask where they went. My whole family seems to be on a diet except for me. So, no, I didn't offer any to them... *unashamed*

-MarLeahJoy

Cabin Love!

I am really not quite sure how much longer I can stand the anticipation of the future ^o^

Good anticipations... :)

One thing is the thin hope that I will be able to pick up my iPhone at an apple store instead of waiting for it to ship. D: So I keep checking the website everyday to see if I can reorder and choose a store location instead... of course, to no avail... yet! 

The other is the possibility of going full-time with my job. Ekk! I feel like I could be jinxing myself even by just by mentioning it. *Shhh!* Every time I even think of the opportunity I don't even dwell  on the thought very long... as if to not scare the chance away. XD It would mean that I would finally be able to travel because I would finally have the funds and the time off! Of course, it would mean things like a new car too. (I am already completely captivated and drooling over two possible candidates to accompany my little retro thing :P)

Between those two things, I'm just about on the edge of my seat and I can not concentrate on homework or editing wedding photos. 

That's why I'm here!

Blogging. :)

It seems to be the only thing I can do right now. 

So, ladies and gents... settle in and enjoy the short picture story of five friends who took a little vacay in a cabin at Broken Bow, Oklahoma. Maybe you should take out your pen and a slip of paper to take notes... because you just might learn some shocking stuff about what girls do when they are together in a cabin for a weekend.

This was our view the whole way up the mountain. We stopped at least 6 times to get out of the car and take pictures :)

While I was at work, Mecia text and said that we wouldn't be disappointed with the cabin... we sure were not! I really want it for my house! It was the perfect size: small enough to be cozy, but the tall ceilings made it seem perfectly spacious, too! I really wish I was sitting on the bed in one of the rooms typing this post right now instead of my own bed... lol.

When Katelyn and I arrived, Mecia and Heather had supper ready for us... and we only lacked Kelsey. The four of us hopped in the hot tub after our meal and waited for her to arrive.

Any guesses?

Yeah, the five of us jumped on the bed and broke it. 

Shock?

Yeah, I think we were a little shocked ourself. And embarrassed that WE (five grown girls) thought we would survive jumping on the bed. AND that we were doing such a silly thing in the first place.

Well, thankfully it was easy to fix. 

We all vowed that we wouldn't tell anyone about it... but guess what was the first thing out of my mouth when I saw my mom? "We broke the bed..." 

I guess it's just natural to tell on yourself sometimes.

We also had a little experience with some Jack Daniels... No, we didn't drink any of course! But there was a drained bottle left over in the cabinet. And we took one of the craziest, funniest pictures I've ever seen of Mecia and Kelsey looking completely stoned. We laughed over that picture for 30 minutes. Don't get me wrong, we were not condoning that kind of behavior AT ALL, but the picture was ab-wrenching funny! 

Ha! We get goofy when a camera is aimed at us sometimes... don't look too closely ;P 

We left our cabin a little bit for ice cream and shopping...

Somehow every place we were at, people could tell that we were on a little vacation. One clerk kept chatting with us and spent 15 minutes ringing up our items because we were so "captivating" or something. And there were people waiting behind us, mind you. Also, local man and his son took an interest in informing the five touristy girls about a place called "the dip", Lol, which is nothing more than really a dip in the road. Ha! When we thought we had lost him... he came bounding back through the door and dumped some "diamonds" in my hand as our souvenir from Broken Bow I guess. When he finally walked out the door, we just looked at each other an rolled our eyes... We ended up throwing the "diamonds" in the trash, though, since we couldn't find enough hands to juggle the ice cream, our cameras, and purses and the little crystal things. Yeah... sorry sir

Mecia had a wonderful meal planned for us to grill! Even Kelsey said her brothers would be jealous ;P

S'mores! :D 

Somehow they never taste as good as I expect them to, though.

Katelyn and I had spent quite a little bit of time trying to build a fire for roasting marshmallows... We almost gave up when we heard some animal rustling around in the woods. We ran, screeching, back into the cabin and gained some confidence in numbers... So all five of us went out there and chased the armadillo around a bit. :P
Then we all sat around the campfire and told some pretty lively stories. :P

-MarLeahJoy

New Best Friend

Sunday was a little eventful for me. I had a family session scheduled for 3pm and at 1:30pm I realized that both of my batteries were completely dead. Good goin'! I knew that I should have charged them, I was just a little busy and let it slide. So I hung out at McDonalds for another hour and plugged one battery in, hoping it would charge enough to make it through the session.

When I was down to the last minute and HAD to leave so I would be on time for the session... I put my battery in my camera and it showed 75% full. "Whew! Thank goodness!" 

When I got to the location and met the family, the first person I really met was little Miss. Olivia. She quickly wanted to know who I was and what I was doing; she got excited when I said I would be with her for a while to take her pictures. ;)

Yep, she's my "new best friend"

Or at least I am hers. 

That's what she kept calling me at the end of the session.

Awww... :)

After the session, I went back on the trail some more to explore. And all of a sudden... "Well, hello Mr. Bunny!"

I'm sorry... but I guess I've become a little bit of a let's-take-a-picture-of-myself-here because it-looks-really-cool-and-there's-no-one-else-to-take-a-picture-of. I find it quite challenging and fun (maybe challenging and frustrating though, because they hardly ever turn out) 

Btw, isn't that just an enchanting, wonderful, winding path?

Right now, though...

 I'm relieved to have my first speech/video assignment out of the way.

I'm excited for a little getaway weekend with my friends.

And... I'm about to burst because of the iPhone6/6+ announcement!

Let me know in the comments what color I should get.

I really can't decide between space gray or silver. I keep going back to silver, though. Probably silver. Ooorrr... I might just do "eenie meenie miney moe" because I've been considering it for a long time and still can't decide. Lol *such a life-changing decision!* ;P

It's just a color!

Ha!

-MarLeahJoy

It's perfect...

Well, yes the couple is perfect. But I'm mostly talking about my life right now... it's a perfect mess. 

Haha, okay I'm really being sarcastic, but seriously... doing homework until 3am, waking up at 8am and doing more homework, then going to work, and editing/posting photos in my down time? 

Really, for some reason I don't question my choice to continue going to school. Actually, I have a calm peace about it... only the Lord knows. But why, when I am busiest of all, do I have people left and right asking me for sessions? And I'm not going to turn them down! I guess I can say that it's just not exactly what I would have planned. But it's still perfect.

I am currently booked out the next 6 weeks with one this Sunday and wedding photos to edit on top of it all. Hmm... I know I can do it, but it's getting a little interesting around here.

Let's just stop there before I start spilling out my shocking list of things to do over the course of the next month.

-MarLeahJoy

Lead Me to the Rock

From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I (Psalm 61:2)

Okay, now that verse is probably going to be my "theme verse" for the next 8 months. 

Sometimes I just get so overwhelmed about everything that I don't even know where to start or what to try to do first. 

And appropriately, the pictures I have on the post are from our hike around Grand Gulf State Park from after the Myrtle camp meeting. 

You'll see how it ties to "the rock" theme in a bit... ;)

"Zippity doo dah, zippity aye, me oh my what a wonderful day!"

We were all skipping along... we started out the hike very energetically!

 

We came upon quite a few caves that we could walk through.

We started to explore this cave a little more, but we had to turn around because it was so muddy. *phooey!*

But... we found something else of interest!

So the first thing Darren did was take a selfie while Drew was twirling a branch around in the air behind him... Then they all climbed out there and just owned it. Except for me of course, the photographer :P

Have a Tarzan kind of a day! You can do it!

-MarLeahJoy