But sometimes, I think, “What happens if Facebook goes the way of Myspace?  What if it just kind of…dies?”  This thought frightens me a little.  ;)  And makes me think that maybe I should post more of my personal stuff here on my own blog.  Because my blog doesn’t have millions of users that might abandon it when they get bored or move on to Twitter or Instagram.  My blog just has me.  And even though it is a place where I share the products of my photography business, and I do hope people look at and read it occasionally, really it is a place by me, for me.  :)

So today, I want to share these verses with myself.  Because I know how much they jumped out and grabbed me this week, and I know why.  And if they jump out and grab one of you, too, and help you at the place you are in now, then that’s even better!  Because as selfish and self-absorbed as I am, I really do love people and thrive on interactions and relationships.

I Timothy 1:19 Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.

II Corinthians 4:18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

~abi~

2 He lets me rest in green meadows;
he leads me beside peaceful streams.

3 He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
bringing honor to his name.

4 Even when I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will not be afraid,
for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff
protect and comfort me.

5 You prepare a feast for me
in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
My cup overflows with blessings.

6 Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the LORD
forever.

{Sometimes, God’s Word is enough.  Just as it is, simple and sweet and true and full of promise.}

I turned a bunch of pretty flowers into some pretty bouquets and corsages and boutonnieres.

I got a new bracelet from my sweet friend Katherine.  {And we all know how I love my bracelets. :)}

I attended the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner for my friend Whitney’s wedding.

The Thunder swept the defending champs, The Dallas Mavs.  My fave, James Harden, led my team to victory in Game Four.  So awesome!! :)

I only had time to go to worship yesterday for church.  But I am so glad I did that.  It was an amazing set, so good for my heart!

Then last night, I was maid of honor in Whitney’s wedding!

Whitney let us choose our own shoes, and I was thrilled when I found these beauties! :)

Me and the bride, my lovely Whit Whit friend. :)

At the end of the evening…

I hope you all had a beautiful weekend as well!

~abi~

All of that to say that I also “hold on” to things in the cyber world.  I have entirely too many photos on my computer, emails in my accounts, and so on.. And I never deleted my MySpace page when I {and everyone else in the world, including your mom} moved on to Facebook.  So, recently I was interviewed by a girl about being a blogger, and it caused me to go back to where it all started for me: my blog on MySpace.

As I was reading through my {mostly ridiculous} old posts, I couldn’t help but laugh – and feel slightly embarrassed!  What follows is a post I wrote when I was apparently twenty-six years old, although you would think from my awesome, purposely weird spelling choices that maybe I was, oh, say sixteen!  Haha!  Also of note: I have a terrible memory and thought that before last year, I had never made a “List” about the kind of guy I wanted to marry.  I guess I was wrong, because here it is, in all it’s MySpace blog post glory:

becuz i have the “misfortune” of being 26 and single (sarcasm, my frenz!), i am often forced to endure questions such as the following: “abi, u are so cute/sweet/nice/pretty/fun/clever/talented…WHY are u still single???” now, i’m sure the people who say this sort of thing mean it in the best possible way, but i feel as tho’ the hidden meaning is, “what is wrong w/ u? why can’t guyz tolerate being in a relationship w/ u? for goodness’ sake, why can’t u even attract a DATE once in awhile???”. so, i’m left to contemplate my singleness…..and this is a firm conclusion i have come to (are u ready for it?): I HAVE HIGH STANDARDS! and i am NOT willing to settle! (compromise, yes; settle, no.) there are certain, specific things that i am looking for in a man. and there are things i would “prefer.” my preferences are negotiable, my priorities are not! so, here it is, folks–a short list of what EXACTLY i want in a mate:

ok, first and foremost, i want someone who has put their faith and trust in God the Father; His Spirit, the Holy Ghost; and His Son, Jesus Christ. (if u don’t even know what the heck i’m talking about when i say those three names, u need not apply.)
i want to marry a man who will cherish me as his wife, just as i will love and take care of him as my husband.
i need to be w/ someone who wants children as much as i do…and who won’t think i’m crazy for wanting lots of kiddos, even if that means adopting. (i want a big family!)
and speaking of family, my potential guy will have to show me that family is a priority to him.
i want a guy who works hard! (calluses on a guy’s hands are a sexy thing, in my opinion!)
pleaz give me a guy who can carry on an good/honest/funny/interesting/intelligent conversation w/ me! (i know, it sounds so easy; but apparently, it’s not.)
also, i need a guy who has a life! (i can’t do boring, sorry.)
and of course, i must find him attractive. (does he have to be an adonis? no. but come on, there’s gotta be some sort of chemistry!)

and right now i can’t think of anything else to mention that is an absolute necessity, so i guess that about sums it up. like i said, these are the requirements! :)

~abi~

{Look, I still signed my name the same way back then!  :)  Please tell me that you see the humor in this.  I mean, I’m not dissing what I said, because really, it all still holds true today.  That is the kind of man I want to marry.  But did I have to be so dramatic about it all?  And how cocky did I sound??  Geez!  No wonder I didn’t get asked on dates!  Wait, I still don’t really get asked on dates.. Maybe I’m still too dramatic and cocky…. At least my spelling has gotten less wanna-be-ghetto, right??}

1~ The OKC Thunder are 2-0 going into tonight’s playoff game against Dallas.  Woohoo!  Thunder Up!

2~ I have been absolutely in love with the photo shoots I’ve been able to do lately.  God has definitely blessed me with some awesome friend-clients to photograph! :)

3~ Recently, God has been teaching me and wooing me in a way I’ve never experienced before in my entire thirty-one years.  Wait, scratch that.  I think maybe I’m just learning to see it and feel it and listen and believe and obey.

Now it’s your turn: tell me something nice, please! :)

~abi~

Sometimes I get my awesome dad to come fix the flat tire.

Sometimes I apparently drive over lots of nails, since my dad found five different nails in one tire last night!

Sometimes {all the time} I think my dad is extra awesome when he can patch the tire so I don’t have to buy a new one.

Sometimes I try to leave for work the next morning after my dad fixes the tire, and I find out that he accidentally took the car keys home with him.  Oops.

Sometimes I don’t mind being a bit late for work while I wait for him to bring me the keys.

Sometimes I could use that extra fifteen minutes anyway, to blow dry my hair since I got out of bed late for my run this morning.

Sometimes I just lay on the couch and take a mini nap instead of blow drying my hair while waiting for the car keys.

Because sometimes I’m just sleepy, y’all.

~abi~

I was pretty pleased with the variety of the images I was able to produce for them.  Especially considering the venue.  It was at my church, so I can say that!  :)  If you’ve ever been to a LifeChurch wedding, you know that it can be a challenge to make the space look pretty.  I super-love my church, but we don’t have the prettiest campuses.  Ha!  So, having said that, I was proud of myself for utilizing the area in and around the church in order to give Amber & Kody some lovely and unique images that reflect them and their wedding day.

Here are a few of my favorites of just the two of them.

Aren’t they the cutest couple??  Seriously, I am so blessed with such great clients!  I’ll post a few more from their wedding soon.

~abi~

I am a hat girl.  I love wearing hats and I enjoy it when other people wear hats.  I have a favorite hat that I bought at an amazing store named Pepper, in Seattle.  It is a gold fedora, and I’ve often wondered if it was gold originally, or if Pepper or someone else painted it at some point during it’s hat-life.  These musings inspired me to spray paint an old straw-ish cowboy hat that I’ve owned forever.

It was easy and simple enough.  I used a couple of different metallic spray paints I had on hand already, and a sealer to help it last longer, I hope. :)

I started out with several coats of the silvery spray paint.

I possess very little patience, so I forced myself to look at magazines in between adding layers of spray paint, in order to allow some drying time.

Here it is all done!  I added some tinting with the bronze-y spray paint.  It’s difficult to tell in the photos, but I think it gave the hat a little more dimension or something. :)

I think this is a perfect summertime hat now!  Can’t wait to wear it.  Yay for quick, easy upgrades that add a bit of glam to the ordinary. :)

~abi~

In one of the episodes I watched last night, Corri, the main girl, was wearing some great purple eyeshadow. I snapped a pic on my phone of my TV screen so that I could use it for inspiration.

I used my phone again, once I was at work this morning, to take a few photos of my loose translation of the look.  Sorry the photos are a bit blown out and not quite sharp.  I guess that’s what having an iPhone has done to me.  Like the rest of the world, sometimes I let instant, easy iPhone pics trump the time-consuming quality of using a “real” camera.  ;)

I am a total girly-girl.  Pretty makeup makes me happy.  So, happy Monday to all of you!

~abi~