Twenty-Three

This weekend we will be celebrating Paul's 23rd birthday! He is an April fools baby meaning I've never gotten to play an April fool's joke on him..Although we aren't throwing a party this year both mine and Paul's family are coming up from San Diego to spend the day, go to lunch, and celebrate Paul turning 23! Apparently my mom and mother-in-law have come up with a joint gift, I'm not supposed to know what it is because it's a surprise for me too, how fun is that?! A gift when it's not even your birthday, I'll take it :) Pics to come!

Happy Birthday Paul!! I'm so excited to share and celebrate your 23rd birthday with you as your wife...I promise to bake the funfetti cookies you requested! 

p.s. when you can, try and grow a mustache, it suits you. :)

bringing blonde back!

So you make have seen a past post I did about how I was going back to my blonde roots :) well I'm pretty much there!!

please excuse the sun burnt face..it was a hot day at the beach. If only you could see my legs OUCH!

hot bod.

I'd like to say that I like to stay in shape and take care of myself...but ever since the wedding I have had ZERO motivation to maintain a workout routine or to eat decently..it's bad. I am too much in love with bread (especially bagels) and need some drive to work it off. My new years resolution was to run 5x a week...that lasted a total of 2 hours. So with summer around the corner and with Paul's anniversary surprise coming in June I have found SOME motivation to whip this bod into shape!! Wish me luck!! If anyone knows of some great diets (ones that don't starve yourself, because I can't do that) I would appreciate it!!

5 years ago.

5 years ago I got a call from Paul from an In-and-out burger while he was eating with friends after youth group..it was a Wednesday night, he asked me to be his girlfriend. While we were running errands today I noticed that tomorrow was 3.29 (our pre-wedding anniversary)...Although this is the first year we won't be celebrating like we used to (fancy dinner or a fun date night) now that we have a new anniversary to look forward to each year, tomorrow will still be a great day :)

Dear Paul,

Thank you for making that call, which i'm sure your friends put you up to. It changed my life. Here's to 5 years of memories together :) Starting off with my favorite picture of us of all time.

Friday, Friday.

It's Friday, Friday...and yes I'm quoting Rebecca Black's one hit wonder. If you haven't heard/seen it first of all you live in a cave and second of all you gotta watch it here. I will make your day!

This weekend Paul and I are heading down to our hometown to visit our families/shoot a wedding. We love shooting weddings in San Diego because it gives us a chance to always stop in and say hello :) So to good 'ol Valley Center it is! We can't wait...I especially love when we get text messages from Lauren and Jared (Paul's siblings) asking us when and what time we will be home...I guess you could say we're the cool older siblings ;)

or maybe they just think we're special?

Anyway, we have a busy weekend of shooting both a wedding and love story, many of you guys have probably read that for this wedding we will be heading back to the venue where we tied the knot. We haven't been back since our wedding day..memmoorriiesss. Cannot wait to capture Jennifer+Mike's special day at Keyways Winery

Next, we get to shoot these love birds love story!!! I absolutely LOVE shooting love stories. They are casual, fun, and it's a great time to get to know our couples more and for them to get more comfortable in front of a camera. It's a win win :) 

Blessings! Hope you guys have a wonderful weekend.

summa.

So I know we just celebrated the first day of Spring 4 days ago, but I am already ready for summer. Seriously. It can't come soon enough..Here are a few images that remind me of summer :)

Watermelon and..well..watermelon margaritas.

catching up on some reading.

baking!

strawberries mm...

Traveling.

and of course some sort of summertime beverage..

All images were found on pinterest. Have a great day guys!!!

A shout to a birthday girl.

Just wanted to give a shout out to my best friend Kelsey!!! She is 22 today :) go take a look at her awesome blog Heirloom and maybe wish her a happy birthday too!!

Seriously...this girl could be hired to be a Maid of Honor, she's that good.

She should also be hired to be a great friend...because she's that great.

Wish I could celebrate with you today!! Happy 22!

love,

Kitty Alligator.

I ain't no teacher.

This semester I decided to take it easy after writing my senior thesis in the fall, therefore being a T.A. (teacher's assistant) seemed like a promising option. Yes, I am fully diagnosed with seniorits. 46 days baby!  However, I actually really enjoy teaching. Do I think i'm gifted at it? No. But I hope to be..I am so inspired by cinematographers/photographers who host weekend workshops for those thirsty to learn all their tricks and habits. Paul and I hope to someday do that with 618studios. After we learn all the tricks and habits of course...I feel like we are still learning so much more each day!

Well..last night after class I went up to my professor (who I also TA for Tuesday nights) to ask him what time I should come in the next day. He said that he was just going to lecture so he didn't need me and then the question came... "Hey how would you like to do a lecture on your business in the next month or so?"

what? Immediately panic mode set in as I answered, "that would be great." When I'm actually thinking...

"What would I talk about?"
"Would the students even find it interesting?"
"What if they think i'm an idiot?"
"What if my chest starts getting all red and blotchy like it does when I'm nervous (I better where a turtle neck)?"

Seriously all those questions and more began running through my mind. I then asked my professor what he had in mind for what I would talk about, the technical side of the DSLR world? "No, more like the components of starting a business, how to interact with clients." gulp.


I came home and immediately told Paul the news. Needless to say...we are both nervous and down right scared to lecture in a room full of sophomores. Well....a date hasn't been set yet, but I'll let you know how it goes!!

1 year.

Even though our one year anniversary its still 3 months out, We've been planning. About a month ago we had all these great, fantastic, fun ideas that ranged from celebrating in San Fran, Hawaii, Mexico, New York, or the Caribbean. Then, we decided we needed to make some business investments instead and let me tell you video equipment isn't cheap (you probably could have guessed). So we put our plans for our anniversary trip on hold and I kind of just gave up on it, thinking maybe we could spend the day with our families, keep it simple.

Well That was until Paul made a sneaky 'lil comment today...

Paul: "So what's our budget for the anniversary trip?"
Me: "Oh, I didn't think we even had a budget for one?"
Paul: "What if i'm planning it?"

TRICKSTER!

I'm wondering what he has up his sleeve? We shall see.. Here are some pics from our Honeymoon :)

We look like total honeymooners...I know

Dang it feels good to be a gangsta.

tough guy.

Paul Gilster...

I broke the rules.

So confession: I went on Facebook. BUT...hold on before the judging begins ;) only to accept friend requests (mainly of fellow wedding pros) and to post our most recent wedding trailer on my personal fb page with those who aren't 618studios Facebook fans. So there...I let it out. Good news though I didn't do anything else, no scrolling through the endless and useless news feed and no Facebook stalking (maybe a little, but only of my new friends!). boom. So I got it off my chest, I was feeling guilty lol. Just in case you missed it here is steve+tania's wedding trailer...it makes me cry. Have a blessed week :)

Dude, nice ink.

Back in the day I used to hate tattoos, seriously I thought they were the worst thing ever. I struggled with the idea that someone could rationally decide that they wanted permanently "ink their skin" (i'm not sure if that is even the right way say it?) with a word, object, or design that they would have to live with for the rest of their life. Since then, I have come around to tattoos, I now view them in a different light. I'd say I actually envy those who take time to think about the tattoo they get, those who choose something that has special meaning to them (not the ones that get tweety bird on their left calf). I have seriously considered getting one myself, but I don't have the guts. I think I am more in love with the idea of being a rebel and getting one. In the meantime here are some that I'm loving.

I'm not really into anchors, but I love when couples have matching ink :) especially on their ring fingers!

this font almost seals the deal for me.

all these photos were found on pinterest.com

in a nutshell.

this could not be more true.

couldn't have said it better myself.

Source: thoughts-of-a-jesus-freak.tumblr.com via Kelly on Pinterest