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the craziness of harvest is over now but because november has been abnormally warm, fall work is still underway. that also means that the whole transition from ‘farm widow’ to full-time married woman is underway as well. it’s funny, i didn’t think that it would be that much different this year. i grew up in this environment, why wouldn’t it stay the same? oh, but i was wrong. it’s totally different when you’re married. well, for me at least.

it’s a process, this time of year/season. i’m used to brad working CRAZY hours and rarely being home so when he is home in the evenings now (which are still not every day but that will come once the snow flies), my productivity goes out the window. suddenly my suppers have to be a little more substantial and i can’t just stuff my face in front of my computer and hole up in the office. it’s a learning curve for sure.

i’ve said this before and i’ll probably always will – the prairies are beautiful. in the middle of all the stress and rushing and anxiety that comes with the career, there is a constant beauty that can be missed so easily if you don’t take the time to stop, or at the very least, pause. i’m incredibly proud of my roots and the lifestyle my parents/husband have chosen.

and it looks totally different at night.

below, is brad’s ear/him working.

you can now subscribe to my blog and get any new updates sent to you! spectacular isn’t it? no more bookmarks (although, you should keep those. you don’t want to lose the address to a favorite site), and, yes, it’s lazy. ok, lazy is a negative word but really, your computer does all the work and you never miss a post!! (you really should subscribe. i know you want to!)

and while you’re at it, why not set up a bloglines account? if you subscribe to more than one rss feed, you can have them all in one spot! easy and convenient. how about that…

i’m not going to today about those things. i’ve been sick for over a week now and now that my head has cleared and i can string my thoughts together into a line that makes more sense than not, i’ve found that the week of doing almost nothing has led to some pretty profound/resounding thoughts for me.

i guess what has started this whole thing is what i really should start with. my dear friends marc and charlene are about to start their next greatest adventure and my heart is, well, heavy i suppose, but i’m actually really excited for them too. heavy because they will be moving to lima, peru (south america) until the end of june 2010. or so i’m told. plans change when you tell God you’re going to follow his plans for your life like these two are. and i’m going to miss them like crazy the whole time. and plan the best wii/bbq party that never happened this summer.

chars, as i’ve always called her, and i grew up together. our friendship really became important to me in my junior high/high school days and she has definitely been one of the constants in my life that i could always count on, no matter what. marc entered the picture a few years back – around the same time that brad entered my picture actually – and i’m just as excited to see him as i am to see chars whenever we get together now. of course, these two will ALWAYS hold a special place in my heart for the simple reason of them COMPLETELY trusting me to take their wedding photos. with no prior experience. my first wedding ever, of two spectacular people who happen to call me their friend. and it was spectacular. the entire time, they encouraged me, helped me when i felt frazzled and made sure that MY experience was amazing. SERIOUSLY, spectacular people these two!

anyways, they sent out support letters a few months back, letting friends/family know their plans for the next year and what they will be doing. i knew they had been planning to go to peru for a while now and i still secretly pray that someone will want to sponsor me to go visit them, to document a bit of their work and preserve some of those moments for them. in any case, what struck me, more this past week as i’ve been thinking of them leaving, was what they started the letter off with. it was the question of what was driving our lives.

a scary question to ask yourself. what’s driving you? my friends are choosing to take a year off from pursuing their dreams and education to pursue a Kingdom perspective. it got me to thinking, am i pursuing that perspective enough to drop everything and move to a foreign country for a year? i don’t really believe that i’m being called to that, but it definitely puts a lot of things into perspective. in my personal life and in my photography, what drives me?

i had the privilege of forcing my friends in front of my camera when they were out in my neck of the woods last and since a post just isn’t the same without photos, here they are. oh, and i suppose you deserve to see something after reading a lengthy ramble!

and because marc is crazy talented and had just performed at a little wine+cheese concert so he conveniently had a guitar and amp in the car, we took some more photos.

and then chars needed a turn. clearly a legit musician with fuzzy mittens on. only the cool kids play with mittens. (sorry marc)

but nope. i’m not doing that tonight. i took a ‘break’ from other editing to mess around with some photos i took of a bundle of peonies i gathered from my mom’s garden. for no reason other than they are my most favorite flower ever and i wanted to make sure i preserved the beauty. because my thumbs are NOT green. take a drive past my house and look at my ‘flowerbed’. i have one flower in it. because it wouldn’t fit into a pot. i hope that gardening bug hits me soon….

and because i should be sleeping, i’m going to end with a few photos. any more words just might come out jumbled and incoherent.

here’s to summer and the bits and pieces that actually felt like it. i sure hope fall comes back and holds back winter for a few weeks yet.

forgive the annoying roll-overs that i couldn’t get rid of when i took some shots of these lovely little things. the best part? they are made of recycled newspapers. you gotta pay a pretty penny, but i think i’m gonna snatch these up in preparation for my future home studio! if you’re interested in getting some of your own, or to look at the other variations/other products available, go here!

in other news, i’m taking a break this long weekend and traveling to minneapolis with a few girls to hit up h&m, forever21, and ikea among other things. and the best part?? i just rolled a jar of change i had laying around, and i just ‘made’ $150 to help fund my excursion!! if you send me an email, between sept 4 – 7, bear with me. i won’t have internet access while i’m out and i’ll get back to you as soon as i can once i return.

so for those of you who wanted to see some of these shots, here you go. and to the others who didn’t ask for them, you can relive with me the wonderfulness of a tropical location!

JUST before we left, i managed to catch a viral infection in my eye. which meant glasses (sans the ‘sun’ portion) for 80% of our trip for me!!

a most fantastic dessert that we had. oh, and yes, EVERYTHING we ate was over the top decorated and garnished. much like this plate…

we took a day trip to the markets in playa del carmen and that day had the highest temperature and least windy. there was this crazy tree in the middle of all the high end stores which reminded me of a favorite store – target. oh, and yes, i did get a iced coffee at the starbucks i found, just a block over.

the next bunch of photos were from our expensive excursion to a mayan ruin, the nearby mayan village and a cenote that had the most fantastic water to swim in.

and the best part of it all is that brad and i get to go back to the same area of mexico this christmas, this time with my brothers & my parents! it’s going to be strange celebrating the season in summer-like weather, but it’s going to be a blast and we’re both excited about the upcoming trip!

bam. stunning.