Friends, it is finally the beginning of a new and relatively empty week. Thank the Lord for rest! As much as I love the wonderfulness that my life is full of right now, this break for the next week or so is SO welcome. Yes, I’ll still be working/editing/answering emails, but compared to the norm, I am sitting pretty. Last week was our planning and evaluation week for Cru, which was really fun to plan for next semester, but so so long and draining. I also had one anniversary session and a proposal and two Christmas parties! See what I mean? My life was super full, but of really good things. Hooray for another holiday marathon with our families where we get to spend unscheduled and sweet time with old friends as well.

Before I get into the higher points of this last week, let me tell you about my Thursday. 6am…my lovely friend and I Jaelyn froze to death shooting an anniversary session in downtown Radford. Was it worth it? YES YES YES! Justin and Sydney were the first clients of mine that I didn’t know except through email before the shoot and they were a dream. Shortly after regaining feeling in my fingers by gripping a warm Starbucks cup, I headed to the Cru office for our last day of staff for the year. We planned and planned, me knowing all the while that a friend was preparing a beautiful proposal for his soon to be fiance. After staff finished, I went home, showered (praise the lord) and then met Jonathan, the soon to be groom at the railroad tracks. Oh I’m sorry…when I say railroad tracks I mean RAILROAD ON A BRIDGE OVER A RIVER! Friends, we are lucky that Jonathan and I are still here to tell the tale. A couple hours later, his Lily showed up and said YES and we shot some portraits in the beautiful winter light. I bid them adieu, rushed home and rushed to a friends apartment so that they could make me look like I hadn’t had windburn and knotty hair and frozen toes for our staff Christmas party. Which was a murder mystery 1920s party! EEK! SO fun and the perfect cap to an incredibly long day.

Do not get me wrong, it was the best day. It was so full of love and new beginnings and I am incredibly thankful to be able to capture it all and my heart was SO FULL! And now since I’ve rambled…depth of feels:

• I need to invest in good gloves…my fingerless knit gloves, while super cute, did NOT do the trick. I could not feel my fingers but kept on keeping on, hoping my finger was actually hitting the shutter.
• Did I mention Thursday was 20 degrees in Radford with ridiculous wind? Maybe I also need a parka…
• Our murder mystery party was supposed to be set in a speakeasy…Hilarious because we didn’t have to decorate our friend’s basement at all because that is already EXACTLY what it looks like. Also…because of the 1920s theme, I got to call my friend Carly a floozy all night. It’s official, I miss theatre.
• I may be done with railroad tracks forever…after Justin and Sydney and I had a train come IMMEDIATELY after a quick shot in front of the train I thought I was just unlucky…but alas, as Jonathan and I planned details that afternoon on the bridge that was just a railroad track and I asked frightened (ie: freaking out), “What do we do if a train comes?” A train CAME! I hid on the catwalk and screamed my head off the entire time.
• Lesson learned: when shooting a proposal, leave your fear of heights at home :]

Ahhhh and now for some previews. Ps: I’m in love with winter light.