Baby Bird

Drew likes to call me this: "baby bird" and he's been calling me "bird" for quite a while now, but recently, he wrote me a note that added the baby in it. I love it!! Below are lyrics I came across while listening to her (my new favorite).

Oh my Mama

She gave me these feathered breaths

Oh my Mama

She told me use your voice,

My little bird

She said sing sing sing sing sing sing melodies

And she sang sang sang sang sang sang melodies

Oh my Mama

She did give me fancy feet

I'll be dancing on

And I'll tap tap tap my toes

Into those creaking floorboards

Oh my Mama

She took my little hand and held on tight

Oh the Mamas

Give the waters of their wells

Oh the Mamas

Give the babies this very dirt we're walking on

Oh my Mama

She gave me these feathered breaths

And your Mama

She gave you those feathered breaths too

And when the sky drops all those feathers

And when the birds sing in the morning

I'll be a mama

I'll have a daughter

I'll be a mama

I'll have a daughter

And I'll give her melodies

I'll give her melodies

(repeat)

And she'll be

My little bird

And then she'll fly

She'll fly

after a few text messages and comments, NO I AM NOT PREGNANT! haha! you all wish right??

Moses

I am in the middle of editing tons of photos from Drew's band- Moses. We did band photos a few weeks ago, and I also shot some from their last shows. So soon, I will do short bios of everyone in the band, so you all can see who is in it, and so everyone can understand how amazing this band really is..(if you have not yet seen them live). The band is really starting to become family and that's exactly what needed to be done to make the music good.

Until I make a real post about them, here is this that Drew recently did for the Daily Universe (BYU newspaper)

CLICK HERE to read article. It's short.

Drew is going to continue to finish the record, come the end of November. We look forward to it being finished in Marchish, and going on a tour sometime short after. Exciting right?? To stay tuned in on his shows, just look to the right. His next one should be AMAZING. Not only is it going to be with Joshua James but it's in an unbelievable venue. Drew & I saw Deer Tick there recently, and were blown away by the comfortable-ness of it. There were church pews that sat people like people sit in movie theaters. We couldn't decide if it's an old church, or an old movie theater. If you click on that Deer Tick url above, I'm pretty sure that main photo they have up there, is from that show. The stage is massive, there is TON of seating, lots of places to stand, and a few tables to drink/sit at.

Our Halloween of 2009

I obviously wasn't ready for the click. Thanks Andrew for the warning...now everyone's photos are better than ours. Haha. Just kidding. Can you guys tell who Drew is??? I hope because he is super excited about it. I am Meredith Grey. Duh.

These are the results from Halloween night... our good and dear friends, Andrew & Alexis hosted an amazing dinner & party. A 3-course meal, each course introduced with a scary description of it, themed, dance-able music, and friends to laugh with.

The Hosts- I totally just stole all these photos from her blog post...sorry lex!! I just had to! These better-than-polaroids were taken with their instax camera (that I also purchased, but a mini one so I can travel with it.)

Obama & Palin aka- Jake & Kim

TEEJ

Kaneischa "the cholo"

And the one & only, Cait & Mark. Guess what they are...

After we finished socializing, eating yummy food & desserts, a group of us watched The Sixth Sense. Okay this is a secret of mine that I never told anyone, but every time Drew & I are somewhere and end up watching a movie (which is really never)...or want to go rent one or anything... The Sixth Sense ALWAYS, without a doubt, pops into my head, and inside, I am BEGGING to watch but I never bring it up. I just hadn't seen it in forever and I remember loving it so much. So anyways, I was very glad that got picked over this Mike Meyers movie Drew wanted to watch.

And this above, my friends, was at our other good friend's house Andrew & Elyse's. Couldn't you tell Drew just loved being "Dick" Simmons??? Haha!!!! We had a blast just getting to sit at a dinner table and catch up. Then, we played BALDERDASH! One of the BEST games ever. Thanks guys for a real nice night.

Happy Hallows Eve!

Happy Halloween!

These photos were from this last conference weekend. The girls in Drew's family went to the fair up in Salt Lake while the boys went to Priesthood. This is one of the reasons I love living in Utah. During the holidays, there are really fun things to go to like haunted houses in every city, cool boutiques and fairs...never see these things in Orange County.

Isn't the last shot so funny? Riki & I were dying.

HFAC

I get to see this view everyday when I'm at school and trust me, it gets old. Drew gets to see it every minute of every school day. His graphic design labs are to right of this frame.

shot with a 4x5 camera for a development assignment.

In my arms

use the truth as a weapon

to beat up all your friends

every gink, in the armor

an excuse to cause offense

and the boys

from the hallway

callin' out your name

and your love will find them in the end

you were restless

i was somewhere less secure

so i went running to the road

and so of this

the long list of places i was

i quit my ramblin' and came home

cause maybe i was born to hold you in these arms

maybe i was born to hold you in these arms

use your saints

and your mantra

and your things to keep you calm

if you stay with that a**hole

he's gonna do you harm

as a voice

singing loudly

on the radio, just for you

and good fortune would find him in the end

maybe i was born to hold you in these arms

maybe i was born to hold you in these arms

maybe i was born to hold you in these arms

maybe i was born to hold you in these arms




These are not Drew's lyrics. They are Glen Hansard's on his new album, with his new band, The Swell Season.

Oops.

I read another one. I know, I know, how can I be complaining of how busy I am when I make time for a novel..? Well, I seriously read in line, on my way home from campus (which is like a 6 mile walk...not really though) and in between classes with short breaks.

The Pact, is also a gem. I have always been a very passionate and emotional person, and this book reminded me of it. I felt like I was in this book and wrapped up in all the passion involved. If you feel like you can take all of it in and truly soak it up, then I suggest you read this, but don't if you don't like to read of love & tragedy. That's right folks, it's a TRAGEDY!! Remember Romeo & Juliet ? Similar story (which by the way is one of my favorite movies...but so is Moulin Rouge and Titanic..ha) but with real life. I can't really say I can relate to Emily in the story, but I can relate to the love that she and Chris have.  I don't want to give anything away. Read it!!! And tell me what you think. Shoot. I should start a book club. 

ps. I'm sorta bummed I never studied english further after high school. I think I really would have enjoyed it.

pss. I hate the cover. Gosh Jodi, let me help you out. (her last name pronounced as: PICO) I was almost embarrased to read it on campus for people to see the cover.

psss. This was one of those books for me that I didn't even realize that I was finished within a couple of days. All of the sudden today, I had about 50 pages left and was shocked because I read it so quickly. Definitely a page-turner.

GOT MILK?

This is what I found one morning when I went to go eat breakfast. I knew there wasn't any milk when I woke up, but Drew didn't. So he put this in there either to warn me, or to save it until we did get more milk. Sorry my love. The fridge will forever be stocked with 1% if you promise the cereal will remain stale-less.

We painted all of our rooms in our house (this was a while ago but I am terrible at photos that are not commercial work). And I may repaint our bedroom to a completely different color, or a lighter shade of the teal/blue color we have now.

ps. Drew wants everyone to know that he really never has his shirt off. It just so happens that when he does, it's always during a blogging moment.

Happy Birthday Drew

It was my love's 24th birthday today. 

I hope it was the BEST! 

<3,

your bird.

Book Worm

Something I am very grateful for, is the way my mom raised me to LOVE TO READ. Growing up and now to this day, my mom reads almost everyday. She is known to be able to start and finish a book a day. Well, she and I must have the same taste in the style/genre because she just hands over all of her novels, and I love them! I was thinking about the road trips we would take as a family, and most of the time, my sibilings and I were either sleeping, or reading. My mom would go to the library the day before our trip, and have a bag full of mystery (remember goosebumps?), fiction, non-fiction books..the works. Sometimes, she would even be reading a book that I've been dieing to read, and she would just give it to me the day after she started, cuz she was done!

I'd like to say that I love to read biographies, or autobiographies, and non-fiction books, but that just puts me right to sleep. I've tried it...blah. I love to use my imagination and find reading books much more fun than watching movies. And that's a lot for me to say because my favorite thing is to curl up from the longest day of my life and watch a movie...with treats by my bed.

I have been wanting to start a book club, but when I think about it, it will be quite a piece of work to organize it, and be the leader of the pact, so I kinda just wait until other people start one. I have yet to join one, but maybe sometime soon, my friend Halen will. But I am also afraid of starting book clubs that will not consist of reading fiction books. It's the 'fun novels' that keep me away from movies and my nose in books. And they keep me less stressed out during a school year that I know will just burn me alive if I don't stay focused. So that's what I did these last 7 days. I photographed a wedding in Thousand Oaks, and I knew I'd be on a change-flight schedule both ways, so I brought this book my mom gave me, Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult. I finished it this morning and wow, I am so saddened it's over! It has been an intesnse school week, especially since I missed a few days, but I didn't feel so stressed out because I had this book to read every night and in between classes and waiting a red stop light.

So Mom, thanks.

Here's my recent (last 8 months) that I've read.

A GREAT read. Especially if you enjoy court trials. Read this in a few days while driving to and from California. I wish this cover was better. Even the physical copy is pixelated a tad.

This was also a great read. I learned a great deal about the Amish and their culture. She writes so beautiful in this one and when I finished it, I read the last part where Jodi answers people's questions. And one of the questions was how she knew so much and what the research consisted of. Well, she spent one week on an Amish farm with an Amish family. Which is crazy and you find out how crazy it is once you read this. SO READ IT!

Jodi Picoult is a mastermind. I LOVE the way she writes. Well, I just love authors that write so naturally that's it's like she just gets it. She understands the world around us, people and relationships they have, and she has a little bit of sass in all the books she writes, well atleast from the two above that I've read. And also what I love about her style, is that she uses a lot of facts in her novels. She will talk about history, and events that have happened within a few years ago, not decades ago. So I can sorta relate. And it makes me feel comfortable knowing that most of what I am reading is not just a waste of time (because it is fiction and some people look down on that); I'm actually learning.

This was a 'fun novel'. I'm not going to lie, I bought it last winter, thinking that one day I would become the best knitter around (forgetting I'm in Provo where everyone knows how to knit). But I enjoyed it and found myself laughing a lot during it's reading.

I bought this without even reading the back of the book, purely for the amazing photograph, it's color palette and the title. It's a depressing book that's full of things I hope never happens in my lifetime.

a funny story about when I bought Daniel Isn't Talking:
We were with our friends, the Holy Hendricks, and in Vegas of all places. We stop at this thift store, maybe it was a Savers, and because I get extremely overwhelmed shopping, especially at thrift stores, I go to the front where the books are set up. I look for a few books that I can read while on the trip because my camera's manual book wasn't exciting enough. I found Daniel Isn't Talking and The Atonement. And I got another one but I forgot what it was. Well, the three of them were still shopping, so I organized (cuz I am organizer nut-case!) the front, right section of the library bookshelves in the thrift store..by author. And we found there are a LOT of Romance Novels by the same female author, and a LOT of James Patterson (which by the way I read a ton in high school).

Cuz I had a bad day..

Today, I had THEE MOST STRESSFUL DAY OF ALL HISTORY. And really, I made it more stressful on myself than need be, but that's how I am. I am a perfectionist at best, and today was not the day to be perfect at anything. I was telling Drew how it felt like I was watching the world revolve around me, and I was trying to revolve the opposite way because seriously EVERYTHING that could go wrong today, did.

But when I finally was ALMOST done with the day, I came home on my bike and saw this and knew that I could finally take a deep breath. Isn't he a beauty?

I'll be in LA this weekend photographing a wedding. If anyone is up my way (Thousand Oaks), let me know and let's hang out!!

MOSES IS HERE!

My cute hubby is playing yet another show. This time, it's with his new revised (AMAZING) band called MOSES. It'd be really great to see any of you at the show this Thursday at Velour at 8pm. You will hear music you've never heard before that is on their record (coming this Spring). SEE YOU ALL THERE!

And I'll be there (more motivation to come) doing a lot of this:

Where is my head?!!?

Last night, I had this TERRIBLE dream. Drew & I were living with my family in our old house in Laguna Niguel (which by the way, all my dreams are set place in), and my parents adopted this 12 month Asian baby. The baby was nice to everyone, and of course everyone loved him because Asian babies are the cutest, but when he and I were alone, this baby would talk to me in an adult voice, and tell me he was going to murder me, and all these crazy things. Well, it went on for a long time because no one would believe me that this baby was on a killing rampage and I was his next target.

I woke up maybe 6-7 times during the night, worried it was real, and because of this, I think my day was a little off. Here are the weird things I did today....

1. We woke up at 9:01 (or looked at the clock by then) and I hurried and jumped up so I could make it to the gym (while checking out garage sales before then). My pilates class (I thought) started at 9:30. ( continue on to finish this thought on #4 )
2. We bought a little table (for our printer under our desk) and I wrote the check. Well, in the line on the check where I write out the amount, I wrote "Two dollars and..." but in the box where I wrote the numbers, I wrote $4.00.
3. On my way to the gym, I realize I wrote that, and was embarrased because I know the kid (Chris Crosby) that I wrote the check out to.
4. I show up to the gym and look at where my class is supposed to be, and there are people doing serious steps moves. Then I remember my Saturday pilates class that I've been going to for a year is at 10:30 and I have never forgotten what time it is.
5. I typed my name "Elyse" to conclude an email. That's what motivated me to write this post.

Grey's stinkin Anatomy

"Back in May when last season's final show aired, every place in New York City was empty. You could get a table at the best restaurants." entertainmentweekly

You guys, I'm not just a fan of Grey's Anatomy. I am ADDICTED. Addiction isn't a good thing. In fact, we are taught in church and in the scriptures all the time how we need to stay away from any form of it. I just can't with Grey's Anatomy.

I started watching it in the middle of Season 3. My mom had been watching it every Thursday, and one Thursday in high school I just sat and watched it with her. Ever since that Thursday night, I have been hooked. So now that season 5 was done, I realized, well I hadn't ever seen Season 1 & 2! Did I miss a lot? Well, Heather starts telling me that Taylor somehow saw the last part of Season 5 finale, and wanted to know why everything was happening that way. Basically, he was hooked and all it was for him was one Thursday night. Luckily, his sisters had all the DVDs previous to season 5, and they started watching from the beginning. Yes, I did borrow them. And yes I continue to watch them (I'm on season 4, even though I've seen it all, every minute.)

My justification: editing photos. I sit there, spending hours and hours and hours in our home office, in the dark, editing, burning discs, emailing, deleting, saving, blogging...the list goes on...so why not watch my favorite TV drama while doing this? (If any of you know the show, you know that when I say 'drama', I'm not using the word lightly.) I almost dread the day when I am caught up, again, and have to watch it week by week, and not whenever I please. And I am also hoping that ABC doesn't randomly stop the show in the middle of the season, and start back up at the end of the season. That was weird last season.

See the face of Meredith up there? She looks so happy and content and satisfied and comfortable...that's the face I have when I watch. Except half of the time I am either crying with joy, or traumatized and sad about the person that just died in OR2.

Now that I am 21, here are 21 things I love.

1. All green lights from point a. to point b. (especially when I am rushing, big time.)

2. Getting unexpected mail.

3. The idea of starting a book club.

4. Filling my saturdays with a gillion errands and not being tired by the night time to play.

5. Having my camera with me when it's one of those times I should have it.

6. Seeing a puppy.

7. Running into a friend that you can't stop talking to.

8. Greeting Drew after a show of his and kissing his sweaty face.

9. Re-runs of Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

10. Scenes in movies like in Home Alone when McCully is setting up all of his harmful tricks.

11. Dancing with Drew and forgetting to shut the curtains. Then laughing about who probably saw.

12. Feeling a breeze in Provo and pretending it's an ocean breeze.

13. Great, GREAT restaurant service.

14. Being suprised. 

15.  Waking up already snuggling. 

16. Going to the beach without having to get back at any certain time.

17. Reading a book you can't put down.

18. Seeing a really funny movie when you expected it to be bland/typical..

19. Surfing.

20. Grey's Anatomy and not feeling guilty spending my time watching it.

21. Drew's jokes.

What are some things that you love?

Neiman Marcus

So I got this email, and instead of forwarding it, I will just post it on my blog. It's a story of how Neiman Marcus ripped off this lady and she is getting revenge by telling everyone she knows their chocolate chip cookie recipe. Read on.

{My daughter and I had just finished a salad at a Neiman-Marcus Cafe In

Dallas, and we decided to have a small dessert. Because both of us are

such cookie lovers, we decided to try the 'Neiman-Marcus cookie.' It

was so excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe, and

the waitress said with a small frown, 'I'm afraid not, but you can buy

The Recipe..' Well, I asked how much, and

she responded, ' Only two fifty - it's a Great deal!' I agreed to

that, and told her to just add it to my Tab.

Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement, and the Neiman-Marcus

Charge was $285.00!

I looked again, and I remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two salads

and about $20.00 for a scarf.

As I glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said,

'Cookie Recipe-$250.00.' That was outrageous! I called Neiman's

Accounting Department and told them the waitress said it was

'two-fifty', which clearly does not mean 'two hundred and fifty

dollars' by any reasonable interpretation of the phrase.

Neiman-Marcus refused to budge. They would not refund my money

because, according to them, 'What the waitress told you is not our

problem. You have already seen the Recipe. We absolutely will not

refund your money at this point..'

I explained to the Accounting Department lady the criminal statutes

which govern fraud in the State of Texas . I threatened to report them

to the Better Business Bureau and the Texas Attorney General's office

for engaging in fraud. I was basically told, 'Do what you want. Don't

bother thinking of how you can get even, and don't bother trying to

get any of your money back.' I just said, Okay, you folks got my

$250, and now I'm going to have $250 worth of fun.. I told her that I

was going to see to it that every Cookie Lover in the United States

with an e-mail account has a $250 cookie recipe from

Neiman-Marcus...for free. She replied, 'I wish you wouldn't do this.'

I said, 'Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you

ripped me off and slammed down the phone.

So here it is!

Please, please, please pass it on to everyone you can possibly think of.

I paid $250 for this, and I don't want Neiman-Marcus to EVER make

another penny off of this recipe!

NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES (Recipe may be halved)

2 cups butter

24 oz. Chocolate chips

4 cups flour

2 cups brown sugar

2 tsp. Soda (baking)

1 tsp. Salt

2 cups sugar

1 8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)

5 cups blended oatmeal

4 eggs

2 tsp. Baking powder

2 tsp. Vanilla

3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)

Measure oatmeal, and blend in a blender to a fine powder. Cream

the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with

flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda . Add chocolate chips,

hershey bar, and nuts. Roll into balls, and place two inches apart

on a cookie Sheet.. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

Makes 112 cookies.

PLEASE READ THE RECIPE AND SEND IT TO EVERY

PERSON YOU KNOW WHO HAS AN E-MAIL ADDRESS!

THIS IS REALLY TERRIFIC!!

Even if the people on your e-mail list don't eat sweets send it to

them and ask them to pass it on. Let's make sure we get this

ladies $250.00 worth. Enjoy the cookies, they really are good.}

Your hands.

This photograph doesn't do justice about how much I love Drew's fingers/hands, but he would NEVER let me just photograph his hands (let alone blog about it). So I found this beauty to prove to you all. He has the really square tipped fingers that are so beautiful ! They are rough from guitar playing and always really clean. He'll kill me that I'm about to post this. Whoops!

The funniest video you will DIE OF LAUGHTER!

You all have probably seen this. I am always the last one to see you tube videos, but man is this thing not the greatest?? I come home from the jacuzzi (while staying at the beach house) and Drew is watching all these 'cat' or 'kitty' videos with his little sister that will blow your mind! Just type in anything with those two words and you will find some classics...and reasons why I prefer dogs over cats.

My family is the cutest!

So I have been here at the beach house with all of Drew's family and it's been a blast! But every second I can get by myself, I utilize by editing the 3 weddings that I had here in California. I am almost done with Kim Devine's (now Muai) and came across this really cute photo. Isn't my family the cutest? I told them to go 'cheek to cheek' because that's what my mom always said to us growing up... and that's why Micah man is touching his cheek. 

Her photos will be up on my blog and on the proofing site on the 18th of August. So stay tuned on my photo blog!

San-o

Okay so the only day my dad comes and photographs us surfing, it's small, but I thought these 3 were kinda fun. It's Drew. {i think you'll need to click to enlarge}

Photos from our anniversary trip

{To see more photos, go to my photo blog}

{CPK to get my favorite lunch...BBQ chicken chopped salad}

{on our balcony!}

{This photo above is of the elevator from the very small parking garage and there was a sign saying that if we stand in that area, we will most likely get cancer. so I always stood far away...cuz I am just like that. Oh and birth defects. Yeah right!}

I love you Drew. Can't wait for forever.

Happy 1 year to us!

We are about to get in the car and head down to the gas lamp district in San Diego to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. Hooray for us!!!!!!!!!!! We'll get back to you with photographs and I am sure some stories. 

up to date

{us at bon iver}

Hi everyone that views my blog. I am terribly sorry that I neglect the internet, well not the internet because I am really on it almost 24/7, but just blogging. Sometimes I just don't want to do it. Like writing in a journal. I know everyone goes through phases. Anyways..a little update..

1. Drewbie and I leave tomorrow morning to make a drive to California and will be there until August 15ish. We are VERY excited. It's almost like we never go down there, when we really go almost every other month. 1st week will be strictly weddings and bridals for me. 2nd week will be nothing but the beach and relaxing. The 3rd week will be our 2nd honeymoon (our 1 year anniversary) and the 4th week will be hanging out with the Frame side of Drew's family down on Beach Road. Did you know that Drew grew up going to this beach house in San Clemente?? It's insane. I wonder if we ever bumped into each other or were in even at the same place at the same time without even knowing it.

2. Drew plays a show tonight, a fundraiser. It's terribly weird because EVERY show he plays, we always are going on a trip, mainly road trips the day after his show. It's really strange.

3. I am starting to really want to paint more rooms in our little home. It's killing me. Oh and I want a puppy. Two things I probably won't be able to have.

4. I may or may not want a baby.

5. Got a thing in the mail telling me my license is suspended for a month starting the 27th of July. And I got pulled over the day AFTER I got it. So I started bawling when the cop pulled me over because first, I didn't know what in the world I did wrong, and second because I had just gotten that notice. So I thought if I get a ticket now, will it be suspended for a year???? He let me off because he felt so bad for me and is going to figure out why it's suspended because from my records, it doesn't show any reason why it should be that way.

6. Love my new hair cut by Laura Hendricks, and miss her terribly.

7. Been getting sick from eating red meat. Does anyone else get sick (like indigestion & heart burn) ?

8. Happy Birthday my dearest Heather Florence!!!! Hope it was a blast!!!

9. Can't wait for finish my second roll of color film. The last time I shot color was in high school and let's just say I wasn't the best at it. So this should be interesting to see my results.

10. I am most def. over photographing Drew every day he records. I have up to day five but I just don't have the energy for it anymore. If I had my camera surgically connected to my eyeball, then maybe that would be possible. So yup.

11. If anyone wants to play while we are in California, we plan on doing a lot of it. Like Kate H. and my sisters Su and Julie, and the Dyers..(you guys still in San Diego?) and well anyone that's down there that we haven't seen in FOREVER!

Recording: Day 2

Getting some shut eye.

Oct. 13, 2007

This was the first day that Drew saw me, sadly, I didn't see him. John Vanderslice came to Maestro's Gelato Cafe where I was working after a show and I served him chocolate chip gelato (straciattello). Luckily I managed to climb on a chair and photograph this on my cell phone. There is Drew on the left side. Look for the curly blonde hair. And I think that's Trevor sitting behind him?

A week and half later, I officially met Drew and then we became besties.

Recording: Day 1

Tuesday July 7th

{ I am really bad at printing photographs for our home, or journal, or books or anything, so I will be posting photos of every day he records on our blog and maybe one day I will make our married blog into a book so I don't have to print any photos. I think it's cuz I print so many of other people's photos that when it comes to me, I get bored of it. More to come!}

Drew's Record

Hello hello!! So I have been wanting to blog about this for quite some time now, but wanted to wait until it was in the making. My dearest is currently recording to soon produce his own record!!! This is his life's dream and it is really neat to see him actually fulfilling it. No joke. He started Tuesday officially in the studio and will keep going until it's perfected. Drew feels lucky to be able to do it first, with the help of Joshua James, an amazing musician and friend of ours, and second, to do it before school starts. He has been saving up from his shows and graphic design projects.

So this is gist of everything that's been happening and will continue:
- 16 months ago, he started recording demos, scratch tapes of the potential songs that could be on the album. That consisted of 20 songs.
-Once the songs were chosen or narrowed down for the album, then they became rearranged and really perfected. Since then, he has wrote some truly amazing songs that I can't wait for everyone to hear.
-Now they are in the studio. Joshua has hired professional, extremely passionate musicians to be on the album, like the drums, bass, pedal steel... They will finish in 2 weeks with all and each separate track from each instrument.
-It will get sent off to L.A. to get the tracks mixed together.
-Once that's done, it will be sent to get packaged (the art work and cd covers and cd cases).
-Come December, hopefully it is finished. Cross your fingers!

I am pretty sure that is everything that is going to happen. Drew is gone so when he comes home maybe he can correct some of the above information. I will keep you all updated with photos of every day he records.

Stay tuned!

(in the meantime, I will be at a wedding with Jonathan Canlas, working on photos, updating my photo blog, registering for classes, going to work, being with girlfriends, watching 2nd season of Grey's Anatomy (because I totally missed out on it!), pilates!! and the temple.)

Why was 10 mad 7 ? Because..

7 8 9!

Happy Birthday Mom!

If I had a photograph of you, I would totally put it up, but since you hide from the camera at all times, I don't have one. But look at this beautiful family you made!!! :) I love you and hope you have the best birthday!!!

So sorry

for my absence. Lately, Drew, John, Laura, and I have been doing a lot of this:

and this:

and this:

and this:

and this:

As you can see from the last image, I think we are slowly convincing the two to move down here with us. Of course by then we will be done with college life (i'm mentally graduated) and ready to be Southern California residents. {images complimentary by GOOGLE}

Go Team GO!

So my family has all of the sudden become really into sports. Well, we have always loved sports like surfing and baseball, but not to where my parents went to every game and bought us all the gear and...etc. I do think it's really great because it keeps the kids busy but I am sorta bummed because I was always floating around every single sport there was, besides golf and tennis. I seriously was on either every sports team you could, or took private lessons for a while, until I got bored, or my mom talked me out of it. Drew & I play tennis as much as we have time for, and I LOVE IT!! I seriously am addicted. I could play it all day (unless the sun hasn't come over the mts. just yet). I am kicking myself for not even trying when I was younger or in high school, but now is my time and I am enjoying every minute. So to refuel on my lack of sports in my past, we go to my siblings meets, tournaments, practices, scrimmages, and games.. sometimes my Dad will even buy us hot dogs & chili fries!!

My dearest has a beard and has now for a couple months. I think he is darling but can't really remember what he looks like before he had it!!! Probably 5 years younger. He is one lucky duck, he doesn't have to shave until Fall semester starts. This is a celebration amongst the Lundquist men.. they don't grow much of any hair. Let's all congratulate him.

Sandwiches

{taken when we all went to the park for a picnic eating these marvelous beauties}

There are these sandwiches that have sorta been in my family, well, ever since Lindsay started making them for us ALL the time. My mom began to love them and my sister Melissa, and now I love to make them! They are so easy and the yummiest sandwiches you could ever eat. No joke. I am not much of a sandwich person and will only eat sandwiches are certain places.

1. Tina & Vinces (San Clemente, on Del Mar St. - it has the italian flag on the outside of it)
2. Quiznos- (Franchise, the Italian Sub, Regular, YUM!)
3. Kneaders- (Utah, Turkey Panini)

But above all of those, I would eat this sandwich every day if I could.

The ingredients and prices (if bought at costco):

1. Havardi Cheese: You can buy it by the slice or block. Personally, I prefer the block but to be on the cheap side, the slices will do just fine. $4.00
2. 1 Small Baguette(s): 1 baguette is perfect for 2 people with hungry bellies. Buy fresh. $2.00
3. 3 Tomatoes: $4.00
4. 1 jar of Pesto: $5.00

5. Mayo, no substitution.

6. Basil leaves: (not found at costco, look for them at health food stores like Sunflower or Trader Joes) $3.00

If you buy the baguette at Costco, it comes in pairs so make a lot and put in the fridge for a later time! It won't be fresh 3 days later, but 2 days max is still pretty good for a later lunch. 

"Texas, I'm gonna mess you up."

Welp. The trip to Texas was of course a success. It was cool the first 2 days, and as they would say in Texas, BLAZIN' HAWT the last few days. My cousin was a beautiful bride with her cowboy groom and all went really well! I will post their photos on my photo blog in the next day or two. After the wedding was over, we made our way over to Canton, Texas. A small city, but yet very large. Read about it on Drew's blog. 

ps. Drew's blog is sorta new. It's about his art & ideas. Not a lot of people know about it...so maybe you all should!! :)

Planes, trains, and automobiles

I love to fly. I love it so much that I would rather fly than drive, even if it's an hour flight. But never again will I knowingly fly with Southwest Airlines. I got to know Southwest VERY well the past weekend because I went to Texas with one stop, and to California with two stops. 

Pros:

-They are always serving you, asking you for refills or more peanuts.

-Once the plane lands, you are literally up and out of the plane 3 minutes later. No hesitations.

Cons:

-It's first come first serve. So if you book your flight first out of everyone, your boarding pass will say "A#1". That means that you get to stand in line first and pick your seat when you literally walk on the plane. But if you get C#5, well, you might as well already know that you will be sitting between Mr. Large and Ms. Cougher. You just gotta know that and brace yourself for it.

-No outlets to charge anything. Like if your lap top dies on you, sorry, nope.

-The stewardists (i know that's not what you're suppose to call them or spell it) are always making jokes about crashing!!! Okay what the heck. Now I am PETRIFIED of flying in the air again. They are always saying, okay everyone, don't freak out, but we NEED to be our seatbelts on ASAP. The pilot gave us multiple warnings in two minutes. HURRY! 

-No option of first class seating.

Deciding where to sit: So say you have group A. Well great. You have a lot of open seats to choose from!!! So now the decision comes to, do I want to sit in the isle so people don't want to sit by me because I am already blocking their entry? But no way do I want to sit in the isle because half of the time I am getting bumped into by the peanut & drink women or getting looked at by creepy men...OR do I want to sit by the window because I know for sure no one will sit in the middle and I can have my space. But no way do I want to sit by the window because I have a bladder the size of a peanut and do not want to wake up the snoring man to go to the bathroom every 20 minutes. 

**On one of my flights, I had group C and was nervous walking on the plane because I knew for sure it'd be full. Sure enough, it was and my only two options were sitting in between two big men next to the side exit or sit in the very far back in the middle of a huge family. I chose the men. Not one word was said, I didn't have an arm rest, and the seat in front of me was really far away so I couldn't use my try to rest my lap top. 

**Then they give you the option to move if you are sitting by someone you don't want to sit by. Okay AWKWARD. "Hi, um there is this woman will really annoying kids, can I be reseated in the no kid zone?"

What I will give them credit for is their humor. They use it in the airport and the plane to make people happy. Check out this video for proof.

Southwest Airlines Flight Announcement from SusanB on Vimeo.

Sam Beam did it once again. He released an album called Around the Well-- a compilation of songs that didn't make his records or soundtracks and are basically demos, plus two of his most popular (Trapeze Singer & Such Great Heights.) The guy is a GENIUS and I was very glad to purchase this album just moments ago :) I heard about the album I think from watching Grey's Anatomy's season finale, but I could be wrong. It was some dramatic chick show. And I heard the song "Waitin' For A Superman" (originally by The Flaming Lips.) Then I googled this song to figure out how I missed this Iron & Wine song and how it's not on my ipod. Now, I am in heaven.

{taken during a very long day of shooting my cousin's wedding}

Hi Drew, I miss you! I had a lot of fun with you while in Texas and was so sad to say goodbye. But it won't be long until I leave California and we will be back together in Provo riding bikes, eating way too much food all the time, playing tennis, going to the red box at Smiths, and dancing around our little home while feeling bad for all the victims of hearing the loud rap music. Until I get back, I will hopefully be seeing & catching up some old friends (hint hint), catching up on my sleep, and catching waves in the ocean. 

Love,

your bird

An update is needed..

-We are in Texas. Drew is LOVING it! 

-Drew has never been to Texas.

-I found 2 shirts at Marshall's in 5 minutes!!!! ( I was rushed, which makes me think that that's why I actually found something to buy.)

-My grandma is getting rid of all this beautiful furniture and she wants to give it to us. But we don't have a home for all of it yet :/

-We are watching FOX's TV Show, 24. I have seen up to the 5th season (I think) but started at season one with Drew. (thanks to the Woods for owning all of them!) We are at season 2 now and have many nightmares afterwards.

-I can't wait to blog about airplanes and airports.

-Drew has been writing a lot of songs. A lot of gems too.

-I have been needing more sleep. I am tired all the time lately. 

-Nervous to see what our landlord will think tomorrow morning when he goes to put our air conditioning in our bedroom. (he will see our painted bedroom, and we didn't ask permission!)

-I am going home to Orange County by myself from Monday to Saturday. Can't wait to go to the beach all day everyday, and see old friends.

-Drew's thinking of doing independent study for summer semester...

-Will be in the Dallas temple tomorrow morning to see my cousin Carly get married!

-Finally, I have the most amazing website. It doesn't look perfect on fire-fox and especially not internet explorer, so we are fixing those glitches soon.

That's it for now. Talk to ya soon!

One year marks the spot.

This last Monday was our one year anniversary of the day we got engaged. If you don't know how we got engaged, look here... It was a treat to go there because both of us had not been back since. I was going to go during last semester while I was in a film class and take a cool black & white of it... but, well, it was snowing 90 percent of the semester. If I did though, I would have been totally lost. Drew was even lost and it took us a good 5-7 minutes trying to find the tree. Luckily it wasn't knocked down. It was pretty special being back there. It's weird to think where life can take you sometimes. I love love. 

ps. It say's FOREVER underneath the heart. We need to go back and re-carve it in. Or just chop down the tree and keep it before someone else does.

ps2. We didn't take ONE picture the day we got engaged. It didn't even cross our minds. 

Real Simple.

You know those unbearably, awkward activities at church or school classes where you have to write down what describes you? Well, those two words always come to mind. Well, really just the word 'simple', but I use the word 'real' in almost every other sentence so it counts right? Anyways... I enjoy reading the magazine REAL SIMPLE  | life made easier | and read it 3-4 times through within a month (until the next issue). I can easily relate to the quotes they choose to put in there, and I only dream to become as organized and great at decorating as they teach.

I was just reading it a second ago (while dying this dress that takes forever) and I loved this quote because if you know me, it's pretty funny. 

This was on a section called WHAT IS THE BEST THING MONEY CAN'T BUY? in reference to plunge our economy has taken. 

Sand between your toes. The sand on the beaches that stretch for miles and miles. Wet sand. Hot sand. Sand in sand castles. Sand in $1 plastic buckets. Sand under your beach towel. Sand on your beach towel. Sand in your floorboards 1,000 miles away from the beach when you make it back home.

Linda Dill

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Trips awaiting us!!

Yes, we are living in Provo all summer, and will be here until I graduate... no we will not technically be "living" here all summer. Let me update you on our set plans..

May 28, we're flying to Dallas, Texas to visit family, but mainly to be there for my cousin Carly's wedding and to play photographer. I didn't think Drew was going because it's only 5 days and thought he'd like to stay home and write music, but my family seriously begged me to beg to Drew to go, so he is!

June 28th, we're driving to Las Vegas, then to Southern California to visit family, but mainly to take a vacation with John & Laura. Originally we were going on a cruise, but come on, we can't afford it! Laura wants to show me her hometown, and I want to show her mine. So we'll relax at the pool and have fun with her family that we've heard a ton about, then go down south. We'll then be staying at my grandparent's beach house in Carlsbad for a few days, then make our way to San Clemente to spend the infamous fourth of July. Can't wait!

July 22nd, we're driving back to San Clemente, this time for 3 weeks!! The first week I have a bunch of weddings to photograph in San Diego & Orange County, and then the beach we will be ! We can't wait for Kim & Jake's wedding!!!!! Drew's family will be meeting us around August 8th for their family reunion on Beach Road, so why go back home in between right?

If anyone wants to play while we're in Southern California, let us know!

Photos that should have been with my last post...CA!

My favorite of the day.

Typical Mitch.

I would put Micah under the water & he would hold his breath. Next step, no life jacket! Linds said he's getting lessons soon. 

Red.

Bopi.

Jack wouldn't let go of Drew..(scared to DEATH of the water!) 

I couldn't let go either :)

Jadey bug taking a nap. 

One of the first days at Doheny. Drew was out there alone, and with another lady that's always at Doheny. He was coming in on this one. We spent lots of time here & san o. (more photographs to come of these...but with a waterproof camera.

This was a game I caught my Dad playing. He would pretend to be asleep and would wake up with a ROAR! They loved it and wouldn't leave him alone for a very long time.

Linds with Jadey.

My turn!

Besides Bopi, Blake is all their best friends.

Congratulations to Heather & Taylor FLORENCE! It was such an honor to be there and celebrate all weekend. Everything about it was perfect and planned to a T and we loved every second of it. She was such a beautiful bride. The bride's you picture in high class wedding magazines. Simple & beautiful. Hope they had a glorious time in Kaui!!!

{many of the photos of the pool, Dad & Bree}

{Wedding photos, compliments to Kristi}

2 Lists...

Things I miss about Sunny Southern California

1. Drivers on the freeway. They are everything you want and more.
2. Sand, ocean, sand, ocean, sand, ocean.
3. Pedros Tacos- south one
4. The cuts you get on your feet when surfing at San O
5. Not knowing if it's going to be overcast & hot all day, or just overcast..so when you're at the beach, and all you see is clouds but you are sweating, you know it's a good day.
6. Hearing Drew talk about how he can't wait to live there.
7. Wearing your bathing suit and maybe a top when going into places like the bank..and not feeling weird about it.
8. H & M, Drew goes crazy and gets the urge to shop.
9. Passing San Clemente High School and feeling home sick.
10. My grandparent's beach house in Carlsbad.
11. How there are things to do besides hiking and go to the Super 8 movie theater.
12. My family, basically all of them.
13. The drive between Camino Capistrano & Beach Cities... my favorite.
14. Being in a bathing suit always.
15. IN N OUT of course.
16. Charlee my puppy.
17. No paranoia of snow coming.
18. Familiar faces everywhere you go.
19. How everyone I went to middle school & high school with are still in San Clemente. (they're the smart ones)
20. Anticipating your sushi/fish/seafood order, not being scared of it.

Things I do NOT miss about Sunny Southern California

1. How you have to drive everywhere to get anywhere. And if you attempt to bike ride, you will be murdered by the hills.
2. Traffic.
3. The lack of seasons.
4. The small show venues.
5. The lack of young married wards.
6. How hard it is to find really cool places to photograph that does not contain an ocean behind and sand below.

That's about it. I'm sure I missed a few on my top list, but we clearly know that California is meant for us. My Dad gave me & Drew (mainly me) a talk on the way to the airport about how I should be optimistic about wherever we are and how there is only one time in your life when you're a student & young and du du du du du. It's not that I'm not optimistic, I just know better! Since we're both not going to school both spring & summer, I think I will appreciate Provo more. I just haven't been here for more than 2 weeks without going to school... so this will be new & fun I think.. (with like 3 more trips to California of course before Fall starts up again). I am going to suffer through it, because I really want to graduate, but you know if Drew gets an offer beforehand....

L is for the way you look at me...

Drew & I have been in California for almost 2 weeks now and we are LOVING IT! We can't wait to get back here after we are done at BYU. A lot of great events have been happening, most importantly, Heather & Taylor's wedding!!!!!!! (I am realizing I am not the BEST blogger when it comes to update people on what we've been up to like holidays and special things happening to special people in our lives...) So today is the day and I wish them all the best! Drew & I are lucky to be there to see the ceremony and I get to wear a pretty pink dress and follow Heather all day taking pretty pictures (me IN the pictures this time :). I promise I WILL update on today for sure.

Because today is the wedding, last night was their wedding dinner and I had to give a little speech. Oh man, I literally walked up in front of everyone (60 ppl) and first looked at Heather, and couldn't help but cry. Luckily I got through the poem that I had written without needing kleenexs. Gosh, with all the weddings I photograph, rarely do I leave feeling more in love because I am so focused not to miss any moment of the bride & groom's. But when I am the guest at a wedding, all I do is fall more and more in love with Drew. I didn't even think that was humanly possible! I get to remember the times ( 9 months ago ) where I was really nervous, and excited to finally get married and see what it's like to have your better half with you CONSTANTLY! I wouldn't trade any of it for anything! 

ps. I am so terrible at taking pictures of the two of us because I am always behind the camera, but luckily we have a camera on my lap top...It was taken 3-4 months ago. I will most likely be posting more of little things we've done recently later.

our shoutout

hi john & laura.

Look at this stuff, isn't it neat?

In provo, my comb could not be found, still can't be found... luckily I had my disney memories to rely on. Okay what's up with me and disney lately? First Aladdin, now Ariel?

Family FINALLY visiting us in Utah...

Drew & I are in California right now, so I thought I'd post about when they recently came to Utah before I get too ahead of my blog posts :)

Yes, my family came for conferance weekend and it was a BLAST! We had so much fun going to restaurants, renting a movie on the TV in their hotel, getting lost in their hotel, and going to conferance. And my little brother Blake scoring tickets for priesthood session...getting the three of them 10 rows away from the pulpit. Because Bree wanted to see what Provo was like, and you know, the scene, we had her stay with us for a week after my parents left. It was harder than I thought to entertain, but I think she got by :) You can see some of her photos here..She took some of me that I should post. They're pretty cool. Go Bree! Oh and not only did Bree get to stay with us after my parents left, but Charlee drove with them here to Provo, and while they stayed in 3 diff. hotels, Charlee stayed with us! We loved it and it def. made us want to get a puppy..a puppy that stays a puppy though.
My favorite part of the entire weekend... going on a bike ride with the kiddies before sunday dinner at the Lundquist's... and Charlee got molested by a rescue dog. No owner.

Bean Museum with our dear Abigail. She slept over and absolutely loves Bree. Always has.

Bree has introduced me to ---drum roll please, the curling iron. 

Disney's Aladdin supports Happy Sumo?????

A few weeks ago, I went to sushi with some old friends and we had a great time. I then found out that at Happy Sumo (where we were) gives half off on Mondays on certain items, and on Tuesdays, half off your ENTIRE BILL! Well, we were there on Monday so we got a deal on some appetizers and basic rolls. So the next week, on a Tuesday Bree was visiting us, and we decided to out with our friends John & Laura. Mind you, that Drew & I only go to Happy Sumo together when we have something to celebrate because it is more on the expensive side. So we were STOKED to go on Tuesday because half off? Are you joking! GREAT NEWS! We sit down and I bring up the deal to our waitress, Jasmine, just in case it was a scam, and she said, "Yeah except for desserts and special rolls." So we're kinda bummed that the vegas roll is full price, but who cares. Everything is so cheap anyways. We were having a great time until the bill comes. $44.00 ... excuse me? Okay so they really were joking??? I am set off the wall. I tried my hardest not to cause a scene because I am always one that hates when people do that but I even asked our waitress BEFORE we ordered that it was half-off. Laura (the brave one) goes to get our waitress..and she says to her that one of us had to be "VIP". Okay well, I do remember that the time I went with my girlfriends, I signed a little vip card on the back of my bill, and I was supposed to get an email after that saying I was a "VIP". Well little miss Jasmine decided to withhold that information from us from the beginning and I was SO mad! John was trying to hide and even leave because he was worried I would cause a scene. Luckily I didn't. I just couldn't believe that a nice restaurant with a nice reputation would do this. Drew was pretty mad too, and went to get the manager. Well, the manager didn't even do anything, except take off our $4.00 appetizer. HA. It was more insulting than ever. We ended up paying the $44.00 and left, not happy campers. I will NEVER go there again and either shall any of you. The next day, Drew is walking out of his work, and in that same hallway is a drinking fountain. Guess who's using the drinking fountain. Jasmine. She is in fact, a cougar.

The Color Festivities

We were on top of our boy's shoulders at the time of this photograph.  :)

Compare it to LAST YEAR! (see below)

We decided to go to the Hare Krishna festival this year in Spanish Fork. We had a blast and ate more chalk than last year for sure. We went with John & Laura & Audrey, and met up with Andrew and Natalie Koch, and Erin Roche. We basically just went to get splashed on, and left. Then we hurried home and showered and went out to dinner with Andrew & Natalie. We decided to get good mexican food, and we recommended a place we had been before.. La Casita Mexican Restaurant. It seriously is so good. Then we came home and rented a movie, Son of Rambow, which I watched the next morning because silly me, I fell asleep in the first 10 minutes..(it was a long day, okay?!)