Just A Girl
Our backyard is filled with greens. And I love it. Like a lot.
I'm excited to start exploring our yard more because all of the greenery is very different from the yard I grew up in (and took years and years of pictures in).
It's always fun exploring a new place - especially when that place is your very own!
(Yes, I still don't believe we own a house).
This is coming to you from one happy girl.
!!
xo, Laura
I've obviously (if you follow my blog, I'm sure you've noticed) failed miserably at my 52 self-portrait project (not to mention my other 52 week projects). With the preparation of the wedding, the move, the actual wedding, and well, just trying to settle, I got a bit stressed with everything.
Silly me thought for sure I'd be taking some self-portraits on the wedding day.
WHAT WAS I THINKING?
Anyway, I did some experimenting at the end of last week while I was working on some rebranding, and I came up with this.
(If you recognize the portrait, it's my about me portrait!)
This image was mostly by
, but also from some lovely flickr finds.
You can see
,
, and
.
I am really excited to take a less rigid approach to my work (including my blog) and just really enjoy experimenting with my art for the time being. It feels very good and very refreshing after the the crazy few months we've had.
Oh Happy Monday..
xo, Laura
Now that we are getting settled in our house, we've both noticed an abundance of praying mantises. Yes, I just looked up the plural of praying mantis and apparently "Praying mantises" or "praying mantes" are the correct form. And get this, "praying mantids" is also acceptable, but only for a distinct species (the most common species). Who would have thought?
Anyway, back on topic, every time I water, I notice at least 2-3 praying mantises (which of course I love), and I can't help but wonder why we have so many because in the past I've only ever seen one at a time (and rarely ever even see them).
I got curious about if they have nests or something that would explain what seems like a big population, and after research, it turns out they do. Not sure if we have a nest, but man did I found out some cool things about praying mantises.
Bored yet? Not me!
I am pretty sure their nests are mostly just egg nests, and you can see what one looks like (with praying mantises being hatched) here:
Praying Mantis Hatching Out Of Egg Nest
I haven't seen anything the looks like an egg nest around our house yet, but I'll keep looking.
While I was taking pictures of the awesomeness (And Tessa being jealous of the awesomeness as you can see here...)
One of the praying mantises I was photographing made this crazy quick and scary head/eye movement to face me, and for the moment I thought, "Man, this thing is going to bite me." And then came the, "Oh silly, it's just a praying mantis."
Oh what little I knew.
Well..while researching the nests, I came across many interesting things.
First, check out these attacks. Eek!!
Praying Mantis Attacks Hummingbird
And now for the
Man they are quick.
And how crazy is this, I didn't even know Praying Mantises could fly.
Am I the only one? Feeling a little left out here.
And who even has a praying mantis as a pet?
Come on now.
Happy Friday fellow nature nerds!
xo, Laura
Things have been crazy, as always, but things are finally starting to settle down, and I'm finally realizing it's summer.
And that means it's time to relax and refresh - and to really enjoy that sunshine and hopefully get some beach time.
Happy, Happy Summer!
xo, Laura
Nothing beats getting this in my inbox unexpectedly.
Laura & Anthony Highlight Film
from
on
.
And yes, we had fun with the polaroid that you see in the film. It's something I really wanted to do, and am really happy that we did, especially after a polaroid of my mother on her wedding day would have a big part of my big day (more to come later, but the bottom polaroid is her!).
Hope you enjoy!
xo, Laura
PS In case you're interested, all the film (minus the polaroid of my mother) used is from the
. Check it out if you haven't already!
I cannot believe it's been more than a month since my last post. Holy hell how time flies!
Well...we're married, still in the process of moving into the house, and officially have the pig here with us, so all in all...things are great!
More to come soon. I promise.
But a quick tease of our ceremony space right before people started piling in.
And to say I was pleased with out photographers (
) is the understatement of the year. They rocked it (and I've only seen two pictures). Above picture taken by them, of course.
Happy Friday! Hooray for a weekend full of home projects!!
It's good to be back!
xo, Laura
It's been very easy to stress out with moving and having a wedding all in a month.
Seriously, what were we thinking?
But to me honest, when I
take a moment
to just stop, I can't believe how incredibly fortunate we are.
This is seriously my backyard.
And I am seriously in love :)
Oh and the wedding is in 17 days and I'm having trouble grasping that fact!
xo, Laura
And this is when the chaos begins I suppose.
Weeks until the wedding.
Just moved.
House is VERY spacious with lots to be done.
I'm very late with posts, I know. They will come. Would rather have something I'm proud of then just something because.
It's a rainy week. And it feels right. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who loves a rainy day (or week).
Time for, well, too many things to even think.
Happy Tuesday!
Enjoy the rain if you have it too ;)
xo, Laura
I totally wanted to do a self shot bridal shoot, but my oh my was my week in New Jersey busier than I thought (how come I haven't learned yet??).
I did, however, have a morning to lay out some of the stuff I've been working on and take some pictures. I can't believe the wedding is 1 month away.
Crazy.
Happy Wednesday!!
xo, Laura
Even though this picture may look peaceful, things are
crazy
!
Sigh.
Happy Tuesday (if it is even Tuesday!)
xo, Laura
Happy Friday!
Let's hope for some relaxation sometime soon!
BUSY< BUSY<BUSY
xo, Laura
I've been thinking about starting a weekly photograph of just
things
,
and I realized that's very similar to my still life project.
Anyway, I imagined the pictures looking a bit like this.
Just found things.
xo, Laura
It's been a
ridiculously
busy week, but more of that later.
Now (and only nearly a week late), my self-portrait from last week.
It's finally nice in New Jersey! Hooray!! Now off to continue wedding stuff!
xo, Laura
It's been a very crazy and surreal week for many, many reasons, but somehow, when you take a moment and realize it's officially spring, look a cute dog in the eye, and take a deep breathe of fresh air, everything seems okay for the time being.
xo, Laura
I guess I'm on a pirate ship kick.
I like the sound of that ;)
xo, Laura
I knew
exactly
what I wanted to do this week.
Don't you love when that happens?!
I wanted to focus on the lovely spring that's now budding everywhere, but combine it with a typical "still life," like indoor vases.
I forgot that I had already packed up all our vases in preparation for the move, so tin cans had to do.
I love the juxtaposition of the two.
Happy Monday!
xo, Laura
Eek. A bit late again.
I guess that's what happens when you buy a house and spend all weekend painting!
(PS I obviously secretly love it)
So..here it is... self-portrait for Week 15!
I've been wanting to try something like this for awhile!
Happy Monday!
Lots of wedding and house stuff to get to.
It will get done, right?
Do I sound manic? I think I am ;)
xo, Laura
It's
FINALLY
official.
Yep, that's right, me and the man are
HOMEOWNERS
!!!
We have been very hush, hush because after one house fell through, and this one almost falling through, and months and months of looking, we were getting very discouraged.
But everything worked out perfectly and somehow, we ended up with the nicest house we looked at.
AND WE LOOKED AT A LOT OF HOUSES.
And the best part...our realtor gave us our key in a lovely little piggy pouch.
How cute is that!?
The countdown begins for Moo Shu to come home!
It is certainly a Happy Friday for us!
Let the fun begin!!
xo, Laura
The invitations are out, and after doing every single aspect by hand, it feels
really
good to be done with them. It also makes the whole wedding thing feel
VERY
real, which is
VERY
nice!
I couldn't stop taking pictures of our gold wax seals - they were so sparkly and pretty. I think they were my favorite part of the whole invite (is that sad?).
And it's been so fun and exciting getting all the RSVP'S back in the mail.
It's official..
52 days to go!
xo, Laura
Spring has arrived (we're talking weather here people), and we certain celebrated it this weekend!
Happy Monday (it's 75 and sunny here!!!)!
xo, Laura