So where were we?

Oh yes. Extensions. Again, it can have a bad connotation, but why should it? It's all in HOW you use it. I heard something along the lines of : On your wedding you should look like a BETTER version of your everyday self, but not UNLIKE yourself. The idea is that you don't suddenly transform yourself that it's almost unrecognizable, but that you also don't treat it like any other day of the week.

My bestfriend, ironically, ALSO went for a Spanish look on her wedding (4 years ago!), and she wore a simple, low bun. Actually, my Godmother styled her hair :) Well, she DOES have thick hair, but it wasn't long enough to make the bun look FULL. You know, those luscious hair buns? So my Godmother added some extensions to increase the volume of the bun and viola! The perfect touch.

So! Back to me screwing up. I managed to make a hair appointment in Houston, and I wanted to have the extensions for the hair trial. She told me to wash my hair the day before our trial so it wouldn't be so silky clean the day of. I stayed up that night till almost 1 a.m. sewing those extensions! I had to wake up early and I just LOOKED so tired. I threw on a dress, and looking still half-asleep I left for the appointment that was 45 minutes away. By the way, I was staying at my cousin's house in Houston once I left Atlanta for Texas the month of my wedding.

My hair decides to feel extra greasy today, even though I had washed it the day before. I think because I kept running my hands through it when I was stressing over the extensions that the oils in my hand made it more.. matte-y. Meaning, it didn't feel flowy and just.. drabby. Am I making up words?! Blogger keeps underlining them in red! Anyway, I was NOT feeling my hair and KNEW this was going to affect the styling.

I show the stylist the photos, describe the looks, but also emphasize that I am VERY open to ideas. I want her to be inspired and use her skills to do what she does best. The first thing she does is start curling my hair. I notice that she doesn't even change my hair part. I start to shift in my chair when I see the curls slide out of the curler and they look so tight. Ugh. When she gets to the last layer, I speak up. She informs me that the curls will start to become loose as time passes because they lose shape, so it's better that they're slightly tighter. Slightly? Um.. okay. Also, the curls aren't that bouncy because my hair is heavier from the natural hair oils + product. So much for the romantic curls :(

Once the curling is done, she begins the styling. I interrupt and ask about the extensions. And guess what? Guess w-h-a-t. Dummy here picked extensions that were the actual LENGTH of my hair! Meaning, I wouldn't have layers .. I would just have a LOT of hair at the same length. I needed to get them a few inches longer so that some curls could be longer than others. Y'all, I REALLY thought I had picked some long extensions (12 inches!!). But I didn't realize how long my hair had gotten and how SHORT it becomes when you curl it. Clearly 12 inches isn't long enough. Who would have known. So make note of that ladies. Hold the hair to your ear and see how long it drops.

Blah. She tells me that on the wedding I can just buy longer ones from them ($20 per/track) or bring them myself and that it "should work out." I don't know about y'all, but I DON'T want to see my wedding hair on my wedding day. I want to see it BEFORE because that might not be my wedding hair if it doesn't turn out well!

Finally, she starts pinning things so my hair can cascade down my shoulder, except -- the curls are so tight, it's not really "cascading." It's just sitting there. POP. That's the sound I heard in my head when my bubble busted. Plus, my part is STILL on the same spot when I came in, and she didn't do anything special when she pulled it back.

Biggest mistake brides make: Do NOT go home and complain about your hair style if you have not said a WORD to your stylist. Your stylist needs to know if she can make any changes because she can't read your mind. She could probably read my body language...

And my body language was saying "Weeelll.. I was picturing something a little different." I explain to her what I was hoping for, and she re-does the side section. It came out pretty. Very pretty. I would be alright wearing this to a bridal shower. But NOT my wedding. I asked her to take a photo and I'm sorry it came out blurry!

Guess what I got in the mail on Friday?! My wedding photos! I want to take y'all back to some of the stories I wasn't able to share at the time due to the chaos that is... wedding planning.

We begin with: The Hair Story

How on earth did I manage to do my own hair with the help of Jose's relatives for the wedding? I have to tell you what pushed me there in the first place. And I'm completely putting it out there.

Before even getting engaged, we all knew who was going to do my hair: My Godmother. Since the age that I had hair, which was probably around 2 years old since I didn't seem to GROW any as a baby(!), my Godmother was my hairdresser. She is also my mom's bestfriend and hairdresser. I suffered through horrible "let-me-try-this-cut" experiments, stylish cuts, and I was able to perfectly rotate a round brush on one hand and hold a blow-dryer in the other by 6th grade. Yeah, it was serious business.

Then just a few months after my engagement, we found out my Godmother got cancer. Unfortunately it just became worse and worse as time passed. She is still alive (thank God), but around Christmas time she let me know that I needed a back-up plan.

I didn't know how to feel. Upset? Frustrated? Guilty?! Stressed -- that was a clear one. At that point I let go of my Godmother as a hairstylist and just focused on desiring her attendance at my wedding. Then of course that led to: Who is going to do my hair?!

Ironically, she actually suggested that she teach me the style and that I could do it myself on the day-of. I thought she was crazy! Would I seriously want to stress myself out by becoming responsible of my wedding day hair?!

Fast forward to March. Time was ticking and I was only 3 months from the wedding AND on top of that, I didn't live in Houston so I had no knowledge of good stylists. I knew I was going to have to spend money on a hair trial (possibly more than one if need be!), and make sure they were available on my wedding.

Wedding Hair + New Dresser = Hard to Trust. I was not excited. I searched Project Wedding and found 3 salons that got EXCELLENT reviews. The trials were pricey, so I set up an appointment with one. I took these set of photos as inspiration:

I wanted volume for sure...
My hair pulled to the side, softly, cascading down my shoulders..

And the curls to be romantic and loose. I wanted to look Spanish and sexy, but not like a pageant girl either.

I brought this picture to say "I don't want these curls!"

I selected an up-do as a back-up and wanted to share it with y'all because it's so pretty:

So I mentioned that Jose's parents were coming into town this past week and today, sadly, they left.

In just these past few days we have: gone swimming, deboned a chicken (Err.. Mama Nels did most, but I paid attention), traveled down the Apache trail IN THE CRAZY rain, ate ice cream that contained some cactus plant, went to farmer's market, drank veggie juice that tasted like "The Earth" (i.e. dirt) from the market, watched lots of TV, ate LOTS of homemade salsa, made Jose's dad taste tofu (and might consider dis-owning me as part of the family since Mama Nels is going to try it out in Russellville now), AND... discovered Jeggings.

Have you heard of such things?

Jeggings are LEGGINGS styled to look like denim jeans. I had seen them at Dillards one time and put them down after I saw they were $30. I figured I might as well get REAL jeans for that price. Then last week I saw my salsa instructor wearing them, and since I've been wearing leggings a lot here (FORGET about jeans in the desert!), I was really craving some.

As we're spending quality time watching TV (didn't you know that's the best way to bond?), Jose's mom asks me if I've "heard of those things called jeggings?" I tell her how I've been wanting some and she proceeds to say: "Well, they just showed a commercial that Wal-Mart has them for 6 bucks."

Wait. 6 bucks?! Okay, I'm a huge fan of Ross, but I have to admit I don't ever look at clothes when I'm at Walmart. But... SIX DOLLARS... I had to investigate. Plus, can you REALLY mess up leggings?!

Fast forward to us driving to the Apache trail when Mama Nels announces: "Hey! I need to go by Walmart." My eyes light up because I immediately remember the jeggings. However, we decide to first go through the 3-hour Apache trail that ends up being SIX hours due to a sudden MONSOON attack. But you know my big mouth STILL brings up Walmart when we're on the highway. Ridiculous! The rain is literally lunging itself at the cars, making it hard to see, but y'all don't know how sweet Jose's mom is. She says "Oh yeah! Walmart -how do I get there?" and I re-route us to Walmart on the gps, while Jose's dad says "Um... we don't need to go to Walmart right now in this weather." Mama Nels waves her hand and says "Naaaah, we're fine" -- she is also the one driving so she gets more say :)

Where was Jose in all of this? ASLEEP! YES!! Cause you know if he was awake he'd convince his mom that this was not a good idea. I silently prayed that the rain would calm down near our exit, and it DID! Since it was still pouring, they decided to drop Jose and I off while they waited in the car. We went to pick up what we actually needed for that night's dinner and I stopped Jose right as we walked by the clothes. "Don't hate me, but I HAVE to see these jeggings your mom was talking about." Jose rolls his eyes and because he loves me agrees to let me try some on quickly. Unfortunately I had my bathing suit under, so the bulging knots on the side of my bottoms was not giving me the best image.

Turns out they are actually FIVE dollars. I go ahead and buy them and guys.. I LOVE THEM!!! On the rack they don't look that cute, but it's completely different ON. The weird thing is that I can't pull off skinny jeans (make my legs look even skinnier), but I THINK these look good on me. You can lie to me :P

I am such a bargain hunter that I had to show you my outfit for today.

The jeggings with my highlighter yellow nail polish (also bought at Walmart). Disclaimer: I'm not saying my nail polish is cute... that's an experiment lol.

It rained. Rained, rained, rained. Our second city in Spain, and the weather wasn't letting up. We opened up the tourist booklet the hotel gave us and scanned some of the options. Surfing? If the water wasn't FREEZING. Kayaking? Phone number is out of service. And then we saw it. I had been skydiving before, but this... this was different. Jose smirked -"Well, we finally found something you haven't done... what do you think?" It was a little pricey, but ... when would we EVER get the chance to fly in Spain?!

"We stood so tall, we caught a plane
By the wing and held it safe
Until we found it a place to land"



I'm finally finished editing this, and an exhilarating emotion runs through me every time I watch the video. Mainly because it takes me back to Spain, the wedding (still!), and being able to do all of this with Jose. I feel so lucky... so blessed to be able to experience things like this. Yes, paragliding does make you feel incredible, but "Oh, for love we become larger than life size.. great in the eyes of someone... larger than life size we become" -- A Fine Frenzy.

Have you ever or would you consider doing something like this?!

So guess what I'll be learning soon? How to de-bone a chicken!! YIKES. Jose's mom and dad are coming in Saturday night and visiting until next Thursday. Our first visiting family! :) One of the activities she insisted on is teaching me how to de-bone a whole chicken, haha. I feel bad that they're coming on one of the worst months (in terms of heat). They're really great about wanting to just relax and hang out, but I also want to plan some fun things. We're thinking we might make the drive up to Sedona. Can you believe the temperatures drop by 15-20 degrees in Sedona and Flagstaff?!


Anyway! I've been working some long hours on my photography website which I hope to be done with in the next week. I wanted to share elements that inspired me and will give you some idea of what I want my website to feel like:

This video -- those lovely creamy tones... LOVE the style!

One element I knew I wanted was a hand-drawn piece.. something fun.

And FONTS! OH! Don't get me started. This is SO important and can add that flair to a website. Obviously it depends on what look you're going for. Something quirky and curvy? Or skinny fashion? Or a heart-stopping, curvy, flowy, script that is mighty pricey! Yeah, I was tortured with that last one, especially because the price was just not in my reach.

I struggled with drafts and TONS of ideas with Jose.. but when I saw this site .. it finally clicked.

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Question: And by the way, I REALLY appreciate the feedback! Does music bother you on a website? I LOVE great music, but sometimes it can get old quickly. I think music can really add to your website-experience, but can also ... annoy you. What are your thoughts about music on websites? Specifically photography websites. Should I make sure I update it often? Or should I just scrap it?

Happy Friday!

I could slap myself for the amount of photos I took in Spain. Ahhhhh -- I sit in front of my laptop, going through hundreds, deciding which to keep, which to post online, and which to edit. But I guess I shouldn't complain because at least I have photos to play with. I'm dying to start photographing again and my patience is really being tested here. My desire is overwhelming, but I have to trust God that he has plans and I need to just... breathe.


So that's me. In the bullring stands. In Madrid. How awesome?!?! A friend of ours, Borja, is from Spain and we visited his family in Madrid. Before going to the bull fight, his mom gave me that fan. Love it :) But here's another awesome thing...

I want to give YOU some Spanish souvenirs!! Since it's clearly not possible to buy everyone something from Spain, what I can DEFINITELY give you... is an artistic photograph. Something to hang in your home, from Spain, made with my love, for free. I love decorating a wall with different sized frames and photos like so:


My question is: What kind of picture would you prefer most- the artistic one, or the Spanish one? I ask this because some of the artistic ones do not necessarily scream Spain, BUT make great photography prints and vice versa.

Let me show you an example of artistic versus Spanish-y versus both. Keep in mind these are my actual photos (that you can have :) inserted into STRANGER'S homes via photoshop (haha).


These are just some examples of what I have. Clearly combining artistic and Spanish is the MOST ideal, however, those are very rare because people have individual interpretations of what they consider "Spanish"-y.

SO pick: Gimme artistic, gimme Spanish, gimme either! ;)

I have to say that I am not the biggest salmon fan. Sometimes I get the courage to order it when it sounds really good on a menu (Flying Biscuit -- scrambled eggs + salmon) -- but am quickly disheartened when it tastes like... fish.

This recipe is for people who want to try out a "different" kind of seafood recipe and something EASY. Unfortunately not cheap... so either save it for a special occasion or get it on sale. Whatever floats your boat!