Summer days drifting away, to oh oh the summer nights

my friend krista moved to texas a year ago and was in cali for a few days, so we met up with her at the beach in san clemente and a good time was had by all :)

beach!

My bro flew down for the weekend for a firefighting test with his friend

This flower randomly washed up on the beach so we took a picture of it

after my brother proposed to james.

friends reunited! Death margaritas. mixed feelings on this one.

my brother and i (RHEA!!!!! notice the hat!!! LOVE IT)

lovely friends at a lovely summer soiree

welcome to the world, jade!

One of my best friends from high school (becky... she's preggo in a few entries below!) had her baby today at 11:19am! 7 lbs, 14 oz and 21 inches of precious baby girl. She is absolutely adorable and I'm so happy for thier new little family! I am going to spoil this girl rotten. :D

"Bring on the evening hours," I cry "Bring on the evidence of my life"

colleen and i went to the house of blues last night to see Ingrid Michaelson and Greg Laswell and it might have been the best concert i have ever been to in my life and that's saying a lot.

not only is she a phenomenal songwriter and singer, she is quirky to a point where you just laugh and feel like you're sitting in a (giant) living room having a jam session. She was incredibly captivating. There were more than a few points in the concert where I got that overwhelming connected feeling that everyone is just caught up in a moment of standing still while everything else around is fast forwarding, and in that moment life becomes questionable and intense. at the end of the concert, everyone took out thier cell phones in a 1960's moment and waved them in the air as the lights went down to a dark soft blue and she sang an encore of "i cant help falling in love with you" and I think everyone got a little teary.

I got home around 11:30 or so and sat on the couch with a yellow notepad and a red pen and wrote. I wrote song after song and wished I could play my baby taylor better than the self taught sloppy fingering that i learned while sitting in my harry potter closet and on big white chairs on the porch of A-4, but to have those memories of watching students in the quad at 3am is more worth it than sitting in a cold music room all alone. I should have brought my notepad and guitar to work today so I could work on them more. Eventually I went to bed and continued to write and fell asleep with the light on, only to wake up when james walked in to see why i was awake at 6am.

Music always makes me question and think. We are here for a bigger purpose and i get caught up in my day to day life where everything has a place. But in the real world, nothing has a place and it's a big somewhat organized chaos, kind of like half the songs Ingrid sang last night. It was a reminder that I'm meant for bigger things. Much bigger things. It reminds me that I need more than just what is comfortable, what is given to me. i need to be caught up in a whirlwind to find my place.

And I think I like how the day sounds
Like how the day sounds through this new song


O wind won't you take me up to the sky
I can get a good look down at this life of mine
River won't you take me out and to the sea
I can get a good look back at the land that grounds me
-Greg Laswell

But as strong as I seem to think I am my distressing damsel,
She comes out at night when the moon's filled up and your eyes are
bright, then I think I simply aught to

Fall over, fall over, fall overboard, overboard.
Fall overboard just so you can catch me.
You can catch me.
-Ingrid Michaelson

goin to the chapel and we're gonna get married

Seven and a half years later, Ryan and Lyndsie finally tied the knot this weekend :)

The ceremony, first kiss as husband and wife

First dance.... i LOVED her dress. She looked like Belle.

So happy :)

Lyndsie's grandparents. This is what 70 years of marriage looks like. Beautiful.

Cake!

my date :)

Beautiful bride!!!

weddings

My friend Val from high school got married this weekend and she asked me to do some of her photography. these are a few of them.



cakes!


Jordan, her daughter


dad walking her down the isle


rings in the flowers


rings in the flowers

rings

I do

first kiss

peanut butter jelly time

James, Ryan and I went to LA for the day on Saturday... I actually end up going there on the weekends more often than not these days.

Below the Hollywood sign. Hef sponsors the Y :)

Griffith Park Observatory

View of downtown LA

James and I in front of the observatory

Ryan, me and James. The hollywood sign is in the background. I propped my camera up on one of those cone things that have the seatbelt type stuff inside to create lanes and these skeezy guys walked by looking like they were going to walk off with my camera. at least it got a good photo :)

Lex, Jermy, James and I went to the Tustin Chili Cookoff on Sunday. It was super crowded but fun, and lex and i got these fun princess thingiees.

Tonight I'm going to a birthday dinner in LA for my professor from Samoa when I studied abroad, she's in the country for a visit. I haven't seen her in over two years, so it will be interesting. This weekend I have dinners/lunches with friends, and wine tasting on Saturday! I seriously can't believe it's June already, May flew by SO FAST and so will June. There are tons of weddings and get togethers and it will be July before I know it.