Fashion Friday: Michelle Williams

I absolutely love the photos of Michelle Williams for Interview May 2011! Michelle was photographed by Mikael Jannson and wore retro inspired looks [Fendi, Nina Ricci and Prada] styled by Karl Templer.

source

babies

I've been having a challenging time at work lately. Since my last post I've only had nine babies to photograph. It's been a little frustrating wanting to work, but not having things go in my favor. I'll be working 3 days a week for all of May and then hopefully picking up more days once June comes around. I'm excited because this will be my first month submitting an image to the Bella Baby contest. We have monthly contests for Bella Baby and Bella Life. I'm having a hard time choosing just one image to submit. There's too many cute babies!

Wardrobe Wednesday: Easter Outfit

I got this dress a month ago with Easter in mind. I was excited to finally wear it on Sunday, but it was almost to cold for it. I ended up changing into jeans and a sweater when I got home from church. I can't wait until it gets warmer so I can remix it. I love how great the dress went with my shoes. I hadn't planned on wearing them, but they just seemed to fit together. I got the shoes a couple years ago and haven't worn them very often, but I love the fun colors!

Dress: Target
Cardigan: Ann Taylor Loft
Shoes: Alfani
Necklace: Gift

Seen It, Heard It, Read It

Seen It

Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Seasons 4-7

Heather and I finally finished watching Buffy! I think I liked how the series ended, but I'm still in mourning that it's over. I'm almost tempted to start watching it again. How silly am I?

Date Night

I had to watch this in two separate sittings because our Netflix disc was scratched and we had to get a replacement. I thought it was hilarious! My parents really enjoyed it too! I wanted to watch it again, but it got sent back before I could.

Beyond A Reasonable Doubt

This was a movie Netflix had suggested for me. I figured I'd give it a shot based on the actors and besides that, it sounded kind of interesting. I can't believe how anxious and intriguing it was! It kept me on the edge of my seat and had it's share of twists. I'd definitely recommend it. It's on instant Netflix if you want to check it out.

Morning Glory

This was a pretty well rounded movie. Not just another chick flick. It's a great story about someone who is doing their best to achieve their goals. It had a great cast! I love Rachel McAdams and Harrison Ford!

Heard It

Wicked Soundtrack

Surprise! You already knew this! Some of my favorite songs include: Popular, I'm Not That Girl, Defying Gravity, No Good Deed, For Good....so basically all of them!

Ray LaMontagne Station on Pandora

I love the Pandora app on my phone. I've been listening to this station while taking wonderful hot baths & reading. It's so relaxing!

Britney Spears: Femme Fatal

I got this cd from the library a couple weeks ago. It's addicting and catchy! I listened to it on repeat in my car while driving to and from work.

Tyrone & Elina: Different As Can Be

You know how there are some couples who are just like too cute? Meet Tyrone and Elina. They made this album together and it's great! There's a good mix of funny, sweet and serious songs. Elina sang with Tyrone when at his show last fall.

Read It

Extraordinary Faith by Sheila Walsh

I bought this book a couple months ago and got around to reading it this past week. It was everything I needed to hear. Sheila is honest, insightful and funny. She did a great job of bringing in Biblical references and relating them to her different stories.

Redemption by Karen Kingsbury

I've been wanting to read all of Karen Kingsbury's books and so I asked Heather where to start. She recommended the Redemption series. I finished the first book and have the other four on hold at the library. The series follows the Baxter family through trials and triumphs and ties in the relational teachings of Gary Smalley. I can't wait to read more!

Music Monday: Tyrone Wells & Jason Reeves

Coming Up

Can anyone else believe that April is almost over?!? I think it’s downright crazy! BUT I am extremely excited for the next couple of months. There are some amazing things that will be happening.

I’m going to see Wicked on May 15. In preparation for it, I’ve been listening to the soundtrack and now I have it ALL jumbled and stuck in my head. Oops! I’m so very excited to see if for a second time. The last time I saw it was at Pantages in Los Angeles with my girls back in 2008. This time we were lucky enough to get seats on the floor! No back row for this girl [yes, that happened last time]!

At the end of May Heather and I are going to see Tyrone Wells [see HERE]! I tweeted him last week and asked if he’ll need merch help. He said YES! I’m so excited to see him [for free] again!

Finally, our roadtrip is officially on! Heather and I bought our one-way tickets to Savannah last week. We’ll be flying out on Monday, May 30th and then leaving Savannah bright and early on Friday, June 3. This is our plan for stops on the drive back:

Friday, June 3: Nashville, TN
Saturday, June 4: Springfield, MO
Sunday, June 5: Lexington, NE
Monday, June 6: Salt Lake City, UT
Tuesday, June 7: Boise, ID

Unfortunately, Heather and I won’t continue on to Seattle with Jenny. We’re trying to be good girls and save our money. Plus, I felt horrible asking for almost two full weeks off work. In the interest of saving money, we’re asking our friends [IRL and online] if they’d be willing to let us crash for a night. It’s still far out and plans still feel like they’re up in the air a little. We definitely don’t have a place to stay in Salt Lake, so if you know of anyone please leave a comment. We’ll be self-sufficient as far as food, we just may need to use the shower.

Our roadtrip kind of reminds me of a book I read a couple years ago called, The Kindness of Strangers by Mike McIntyre. His story is very different than ours, as he hitchhikes across America with NO money, only accepting the “kindness of strangers.” I hope that we’re able to meet some of our online friends in real life, as well as meeting some kind strangers.

Last but certainly not least; Heather and I are going to see The Civil Wars at The Egyptian at the end of June. Tickets went on sale Saturday morning and Heather called as soon as the box office opened because the website hadn’t been working. She was the first person to call and the girl asked her where we wanted to sit, so we’ll be in the very front row! As excited as I am, Heather is WAYYY more excited! As I write this, she just turned on their cd in the next room. My only hope (well, besides meeting them) is that the venue will let me take photos!

Do you have any fun plans coming up? I’d love to hear what you’re excited about in the coming months!

He Is Risen!

He is Risen indeed! I hope everyone has a nice day with their family and/or friends. Maybe this year your Easter isn't very traditional, but it doesn't matter. As long as you remember what this day is truly about and that is the resurrection of our Savior. Two years ago when I was living in California I wasn't able to come home for Easter. The girls and I went to church together, had lunch at Baja Fresh and ended up at the beach. It was bizarre, but beautiful. We were together and were still able to celebrate our Savior.

I thought I'd share one of my favorite Easter hymns with you. It reminds me of Easter when I was a little girl. Besides singing it in church, Heather and I would always watch a movie at my Grandma's called Nanny and Isaiah: Easter Today, Easter Forever and the little puppets sang it at the end of the movie.

Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!
Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!
Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!
Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
Unto Christ, our heavenly king, Alleluia!
Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!
Sinners to redeem and save. Alleluia!
But the pains which he endured, Alleluia!
Our salvation have procured; Alleluia!
Now above the sky he’s king, Alleluia!
Where the angels ever sing. Alleluia!
Sing we to our God above, Alleluia!
Praise eternal as his love; Alleluia!
Praise him, all you heavenly host, Alleluia!
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Alleluia!

source

Ignite Boise

You may have seen Heather's post about Ignite HERE. Please forgive any duplicity.

I had heard Matt Pipkin mention Ignite Boise on twitter about a month ago. I’m sad that I missed his presentation at Ignite 5! I investigated to find out more about it.

5 minutes, 20 slides, What Would You Say?

Ignite Boise brings together an inspiring and unexpected blend of thinkers from business, art, technology, government and academia. All with ideas. And all willing to share them.

Still not sure what it is? Here is a little more info about it:

WHAT IT IS:
Ignite Boise is a 3 hour-ish idea feeding frenzy that brings together artists, geeks, entrepreneurs, academics, government officials, and others to share their ideas in fast-paced, bite-sized presentations. It’s a great opportunity to meet smart, interesting people (if we do say so ourselves) and maybe even learn something.

THE GOAL:
Bringing together embers of big ideas to spark a blaze of creativity in Boise’s business and creative community –leaving attendees more educated and just as importantly, more inspired.

HOW IT WORKS:
Presenters each get five minutes and 20 slides (automatically rotating every 15 seconds) to talk on a topic of their choice. Everyone is invited to participate, though due to the limitations of space and time, only a handful will be selected to present at each event.

COST:
Zero. Zip. Nada. Ignite Boise is brought to you by a group of volunteers and sponsors.

Like it says, tickets are free. They released a bunch of advanced tickets Monday, March 28 at 9am and by noon or 1pm they were all gone. I was lucky enough to snag two (of course I was going to drag Heather along to this). But just because all the advanced tickets were gone didn’t mean it was sold out. You could arrive at the door and be let in at 6:30 pm instead of 6 pm.

Heather and I arrived downtown right at 6 pm. We walked right in and were some of the few lucky ones who got free shirts. Hello new pj shirt. Anyway, we got great seats. That's the back of us in the lower right corner.

[Photo by Boise Weekly]

You would think waiting an hour for an event to start would be boring, but up on the big screen they had Tweetdeck opened searching for #IB6 or #IgniteBoise6. It was fun to see everyone’s tweets and Boise got their first swarm badge on foursquare that night. Probably the only time that will ever happen. I had to go out of Idaho to get mine. haha!

After going to this event I realized this is why Boise is ranked in the top 20 social networked cities in the United States. See article HERE.

So even after reading the website, I still wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. I had read what some of the speakers would be talking about, so I was excited to see how it would play out.

That would be me and Heather grabbing our free shirts.

There were some great speakers. My favorites included:
Kelli Ryder'sStop Shop: She went a year without shopping. One of my favorite lines from her presentation was [in reference to Miley Cyrus and clogs]: “Girlfriend was river dancing all over town.”

Bri Clark's I’m good at poor, it’s prosperity that got me: She spoke about her experiences with both prosperity and poverty, as well as choosing priorities in her life.

Travis Porter's No I’m @travisporter: He became the victim of online identity confusion. His presentation was hilarious and he ended it by asking for advice as to what his next steps should be. #whatshouldtravydo

It was a great night! I thought it was funny to see so many of my Boise twitter friends there that I had never met before. Unfortunately, 1: Heather and I were sitting in the very middle so it was difficult to get in and out and 2: I’m a big chicken, so we didn’t actually talk to anyone.

Afterward, Heather and I went over to The Matador (hello butternut squash quesadilla!) and talked about how much fun the event was. What would you talk about for 5 minutes? I’ve been asking myself that question ever since and I still don’t have an answer. What about you? If you were given the chance to talk about anything you wanted, what would it be? Is there an event like this in your city?

I hope that I’m around for Ignite Boise 7 on October 20, 2011! Who knows? Maybe by then I’ll think of something to talk about.