Mothers Day

let me be real with y'all: my mother is probably the most impossible person to shop for. she's not like a typical mom that enjoys getting her nails done & going to the spa. my mom would rather get her hands dirty & go on an adventure. she enjoys things that are handmade, unique, & fun. she also equally enjoys staying in, sitting on the couch, & scrolling through Facebook (please tell me i'm not the only one with a Facebook addicted mom..). it's really hard to explain, but basically anything a typical mom would like, my mom doesn't. she likes the most random shit of all. needless to say, most mothers day gift guides never apply to her. SO i've created my own. i'm not sure how many other moms out there are like mine, but if she is, hopefully this gift guide will help inspire you.

01.  Norpro Marble Butter Dish
02.  Pine Wood Butterfly House
03.  Custom Beach Sand Necklace
04.  Essential Oil Diffuser
05.  Healing Stone Mugs
06.  Face & Body Mist Set
07.  Bedside Essentials Pocket
08.  Teva Original Universal Jhene Aiko II Sandal



-s

photography - my gear

so the plan is to roll out some blogposts that will give some insight to the beginner photographer on taking better photos. D I S C L A I M E R : i am not necessarily sharing with you the "right" way to do this. i am simply sharing what has worked best for me & how i do things. i think i definitely have a lot to learn still! i am going to try the best i can to explain things in terms that everyone can understand, but feel free to drop a comment if you have any questions!

so a little background on me & photography:

i got my first camera when i was 13. it was some kind of Sony point & shoot i think. i'm not sure what ever happened to it, but i had a few more point & shoot cameras before i decided i really liked photography & wanted to upgrade to a dslr. my first dslr was a Canon Rebel T3i. i still have it! it is a fantastic starter camera & i can't recommend it enough. one day when i was a freshman in college, someone asked me to do their headshots. i had only ever done "fine art" stuff before that, so i was a little hesitant. but after i did them, several people started asking me for photos. i eventually made a Facebook business page, and my business took off from there! it took my 7 years to get where i am today. it took long nights of research, practice shoots, and trial and error before i learned what i know now. let me address this before anything: buying the same equipment as me does not mean you will produce great images. the equipment is just a tool that aids in great images. this is something i don't think is stressed enough and leaves beginners very frustrated! so let's talk about this equipment:

my gear:

• Canon 5D MKIII body

• Canon 35L f/1.4 lens (on my camera body 99.9% of the time)

• Canon 50mm f/1.8

• Instax Wide

• Instax Mini

• Minolta film camera with 50mm f/1.4 lens

*I shoot with my MKIII & my 35L for all photoshoots.*

my suggestion for beginners:

• Canon Rebel (any model)

• Canon or Sigma 50mm f/1.8 lens

let me let y'all in on a little secret: don't even bother buying the Canon Rebel DSLR kit package (the one that comes with the camera body & the lens). The lens that comes with that package (the kit lens, 18-55mm) is practically worthless. If you are wanting to get that "blurry background", you are going to need a lens that has a wide f-stop. the 50mm f/1.8 (also referred to as the "nifty fifty") is awesome. it's a reasonable price & will get your photos looking a lot more professional!

i have a lot more blogposts planned on photography tutorials. keep in mind though, i'm no teacher! i'll try the best i can to explain things easily. i hope this post was somewhat helpful!

-s

SaveSave

Birmingham

Spent last Saturday wandering around Birmingham with Rach. We had things we wanted to do & see, but no set plans. It was so fun just doing whatever we wanted & not having a schedule. Eventually we found ourselves in a stunning greenhouse filled with all kinds of cacti. What. A. Dream.

Woman's March Jackson

disrupt the silence.

*clink*

Last weekend we had a Christmas/house warming party in our new home. It was filled with good food, even better people, singing, drinks, sleepovers, corn hole, & 1 broken toilet. & I didn't take a single photo.

As a photographer, it bums me out to not have tangible memories of our wonderful first get together in our new place. But I started thinking about how freeing it was to not be snapping photos & just letting my phone sit there being our xmas music DJ the whole night. I'm sure my boyfriend will be thrilled to read this & the fact that I was satisfied not having my phone in my hand....

I'm sure he will be more satisfied to hear that I plan on ditching my phone for most of the holidays too. Sure, i'll whip that thing out at the first sighting of mountains when we get to Chattanooga next week. But as far as time spent with family, I plan on being present.

-s

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Christmas at 3629

Yes, this year we are totally those people that went Christmas crazy pre-maturely. I'm blaming it on the excitement of a new home...

Still in disbelief that this little place is ours! It is in the perfect location for us, our best friends live above us on the second floor, & we have the best landlord & neighbors. Now that i've officially started "adulating", I want to get into blogging more. Yes, i've said this a thousand times (cue eye roll), but for real y'all. I would love to do a little home tour when I feel like we've got almost everything squared away here. We've worked hardest on the living room I think (thank you Z for hanging literally everything while we sat on the couch..). It's just about done aside from some things like hanging our gallery wall, recovering the couch, etc.. I guess this post is sort of a living room tour in itself, plus a little splash of Christmas!!! 

equinox