{confessional friday}

via A Blonde Ambition

...I confess that I'm a little jealous of my sister's cute NYC apartment. It's in the best location & I think she's going to have so much fun living there. I can't wait to visit.

...I confess that I miss the LA weather. It's hotter than blazes in my town right now & the humidity is thicker than thick. I miss the warm weather in Cali that didn't make me want to choke. Lol.

...I confess that I am having a love affair with some watermelon as I'm writing this.

...I confess that I teared up last night when I thought about how this is my sister's last weekend living at home. Maybe ever. Then my mom started to cry. And so we put on Arrested Development to get a good laugh.

...I confess that I watched the first & second season of Scandal in, like, four days. So. Good.

...I confess that I want to buy every J.Crew one-piece bathing suit. Could they get any cuter?? {ps. 30% all swim styles}

...I confess that I really want to go to Harry Potter World & Disney World. Soon. My best friend is working for Disney in Orlando for the next six months & I can't wait to visit her. Marina, I'm comin' for ya!

...I confess that I totally miss the creative side of this space. I feel like I'm in a bit of a blog rut right now. Every day I think about projects that I want to do, but my life is so up in the air at the moment, that I don't see the point in doing them. I'm itching to paint a room or re-do a piece of furniture, but since I'm living at home, I can't do that ;) Unless one of you gals can convince my mom.... :)

Happy weekend!

{catching up}

I graduated.

So did my sister.

And step-sister.

We sang at a wedding.

And I took lots & lots of pictures. My sisters, again. 

:)

Beauties, right?

I promise to be a better blogger in June!

{hey summer}

hey summer....where are you?

{some more favorite LA spots}

This will be my last post on LA. I forgot to write about some of the fun things I did while I was there...so here it is!

1. Disneyland

I just went in August to celebrate my birthday, but I HAD to go again. When Dylan & her friends came, we decided to go one Friday. We were at the park from 8:30am to 5:30pm. The skies were mostly stormy, but it only rained for about 10 minutes, and we didn't wait longer than 15 minutes for any ride. It was seriously the best Disney day ever. {Tip: only go on a chilly day & when there's a slight chance of rain. No parent wants to bring their kids to Disney on a rainy day. The park is virtually empty!}

2. Warner Brother's Studio Tour

This was so awesome...I went twice! SO many movies & tv shows film on the WB lot. You can see sets from Mike & Molly, Two and a Half Men, Conan, The Ellen Show, Pretty Little Liars, Hart of Dixie, and more!  The old Friends set is still there, as are costumes & props from pictures like Inception, Argo, the Dark  Night triolgy, Gossip Girl, Smallville, and Harry Potter. The tour is about 2.5 hours long & $50, but it's totally worth it.

3. PaleyFest

PaleyFest is an annual event that celebrates the best shows in television. I've been twice now: for Parks & Recreation and Parenthood. Shows like Dexter, True Blood, The Newsroom, Girls, New Girl, and Once Upon A Time have been honored in the past few years.  For each show, you watch an episode in the Saban Theatre & then have a Q&A session with the entire cast. Tickets are totally affordable & you get to spend a night with the stars! It's a really neat way to get to know your favorite shows more. The producers, writers, & cast always do an excellent job answering fan questions & giving an inside look at what goes on behind the scenes. I tried to ask a question this year, but they couldn't give the microphone to me in time :( The entire cast did say hi & acknowledge me though! :)

4. Lemonade

I had one of the best meals in LA here. All of their food is fresh, portion-controlled, & delicious. They had pasta salads, green salads, nine different soups, & desserts. Not only that...but all of the food is labeled! In each description, it uses icons for vegetarian, gluten-free, or vegan.  Of course, the name says it all. They serve around ten different flavors of lemonade! I was bored & got the Arnold Palmer, but the Watermelon Rosemary was so good too!

{finally, a real blog post}

It's been so long since I sat down & wrote a real blog post. I was going through the past few weeks of Lively Liv last night, & I had two guest posts, one DIY project, one bullet-list that I passed off as a post, &...I think that's it. So lame!

Let's catch up...

Graduation is this weekend. Oh. My. Gosh. But I'll get there in a second.

So...I officially moved home until further notice. I always thought I'd be the girl who went right from her last college apartment right into my first "real" apartment. I also thought I'd be employed right off the bat.

HAHAHAHAHA.

So yeah. Home until further notice.

In the field I'm going into, many jobs are on need-basis, so I couldn't really apply too far in advance. But the whole process is much more...slow? than I originally anticipated. I have lots of good contacts in place, so I'm busy working them.

My twin sister & stepsister--who are both graduating from college this month as well--are both employed already. So you can imagine why I'm feeling a bit impatient. I'm lucky though, because my parents aren't the type to be eyeing their watch while throwing judgey glares at me like when are you gonna get a job girl? They want that to happen ASAP, but recognize that each of their children goes at their own pace. {Even so, Dyl & Madison totes win best daughter awards this month.}

Surprisingly, home has actually been great. & I've been so SO busy.  I've been hanging with my dog, going to the gym, chilling with my parents, working on that website, photographing people & companies, & practicing for a wedding I'm singing at in two weeks. But still. Hire me, please?

In the past three weeks, I've hit up five cities: LA, Philly, DC, Alexandria, & Boston. & this weekend I'll be in Chicago, NYC, & Boston again. Dyl's graduation is on Friday, mine's on Sunday. Craziness!  Getting my cap & gown yesterday made it so real.

I'll be back soon. Happy Tuesday! {& sorry for the lack of photos.}

{introducing oam photo + design}

I've been keeping this project under wraps for a few weeks, but this is what I've been up to...

I've started my own little business!

This is something I've being thinking about doing for about a year now & I finally said yes. Photography has become a second passion of mine {just behind music} & I wanted to do more of it. I love photographing families & cities & babies & my sister {the beauty above} & I felt like it was time to commit more of my life to it.

Because I'm done school & have had some free time, I worked my tail off making this website perfect. It has some kinks, but it's 98% finished. In addition to photography services, I've also created a print shop that will be open soon.

This will not my full-time job. I'm still applying to positions like crazy & my #1 goal is to be employed somewhere. {Seriously.Can't.Wait.} But in the meantime, I'll be doing this. & whenever I do get that full-time job, this will be on the side.

Holding my camera makes me so happy. So if you would like to schedule a photoshoot with me, please contact me. Graduation photos, family pictures, portraits, or anything else...I'm your girl.

Happy Monday!