Oops, I did it again (hello 2000 Britney reference!). I forgot CTM yesterday and I didn’t post last week on Labor Day either. Thankfully I know you are merciful friends who love me all the same, right?!

I took the majority of the summer off from shooting because A. Melting is not in my job description and B. I wanted to focus my attention on pursuing Holy Yoga and launching Beneath the Olive Tree. It has been a great season full of fruit and unexpected blessings (I’m talkin’ bout you, little miracle baby!) and I’ve loved the break. BUT, I am so excited to get back into wedding season starting this Saturday. I can’t wait to capture the beauty and love of the day. And now that I’m pregnant, I’m bound to cry even more than I used to. Good thing I have perfected focusing through blurry eyes! Here’s to wedding season. It’s about time!

Have I told you about the Starbucks cup that has changed me life? No?! Well, wait no more, my friend. First, I feel like I need to admit that I’m not a huge fan of Starbucks in general. Sure, I will enjoy a drink from there from time to time, but I am by no means an avid customer. The times I am there, it’s usually to meet up with a client or girlfriend and I pay little to no attention to their merchandise (mostly because I’m frugal!). While meeting up with a friend recently, she exclaimed about how wonderful her new starbucks cup is: how it keeps her water ICE cold, how she drinks way more water now and that I should definitely get one. Seeing as though I had been having trouble getting my 64+oz of water a day, I thought maybe I would look into it. I ended up buying one with a leftover gift card I had stashed in my wallet (score!). Friends, I am so glad I did. There is something so refreshing about drinking ICE COLD water from a metal straw. Life-changing! Thanks to it, my little baby is now stay well-hydrated! Starbucks, I’m sorry I doubted you.

Here is a riddle for you. What does craigslist, ants and pregnancy have to do with one another? Give up?! Good, because I have a story for you. One of the ways Joe and I have saved money over the years is through purchasing lightly-used items via Craigslist, Ebay, etc. In fact, that’s where we just got Bella’s stellar swingset and most recently, a beautiful sectional this weekend. This is where the story picks up. On Saturday, we ventured out to pick up the couch. Thankfully, there were four men including Joe that helped load it at the pick up place. However, when we got back to our house, we realized it was just Joe and I and as you know, I’m pregnant. Lifting a sectional wasn’t exactly on my wish list. Joe figured that we could manage to get it in through our side yard/side doors with a “flipping”? technique that wouldn’t require much lifting on my part. It was going okay until I realized that we had gone over an ant hill and now the couch was swarming with ants! We quickly brushed them off and got it in the house as quickly as we could. Apparently we really ticked off the colony because they found a way into our house and we awoke the next morning to TONS of ants in our living room. What followed was an epic battle involving swatting, vacuuming, some shrieking and ant killer. Eventually, we came out the victors. And now that the couch is in it’s rightful place and is a comfy new place for me to rest and read….totally worth it! You’d never get an adventurous story like that buying full price and having it delivered from somewhere. Yet another win for buying used! Now all it needs is some colorful decorative pillows and wall decor to finish the space.