Anne Bradstreet and the Day We Fell in Love {PA Wedding Photographer}

It was a cold and snowy day. January 8th, 2011. I thought it would be "important," but I would hardly dare to dream that this day would be life-changing. I was enroute over snowy mountains in Pennsylvania to spend some time in Carlisle, PA. I would be looking over the area for a wedding that I would shoot 2 weeks later... but even more interesting, I would be meeting a friend. His name was Brandon. We hadn't seen each other in many months and hadn't truly spoken from our hearts in many more.

This was the day that we would fall in love.

On that day, we chatted through sips of coffee at the local coffee shop, warmed our feet by the fire. We wandered through deserted streets of this small town. Saw an old firehouse museum and walked by interesting churches. Looked at statues. Chatted with strangers. Caught up on our lives. We wandered into a local bookstore. I sat on the floor (which I tend to do) and he sat across the aisle and we shared from our hearts. He wondered aloud to the shop's proprietor who had done the painting on the wall and if it was for sale (it wasn't). I wondered if  there were any books by Anne Bradstreet...

I bought this that day...

 

We had  found a little restaurant to get out of the frigid winter weather. Seated at Table 5. We stayed for four hours. Talking and talking. Weaving dreams of the possibilities of our lives. Becoming closer and closer friends. And each one having a moment of revelation that this *could* be our forever.

And so it is. We would be engaged 3 months later and married 4 months after that..

Recently, I opened the book about Anne Bradstreet.. and remembered January 8th. 

That landmark day. 

It will be a year on Sunday. 

An anniversary of falling in love. 

The words of Anne Bradstreet (the first published American poet) ring true in my heart:

To My Dear and Loving Husband:

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee.
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that Rivers canneot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompetence.
Thy love is such I can no way repay.
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persever
That when we live no more, we may live ever. 

Cookie-Baking & Happy Homemaking {Friday LOVE}

When the weather gets cold...

When snowflakes tease us in the wind...

When you hear familiar holiday tunes in every shop...

When darkness comes earlier than ever, but you don't mind because of twinkling Christmas lights...

It's just time to bake some Christmas cookies. 

Nothing fancy. Nothing too extraordinary. Just Christmas cookies, full of red & green chocolate candies. And a little mint/chocolate goodness because "it tastes like Christmas!" It's not healthy. It's not the least bit gourmet.

But it's Christmas!!

I'm a not a food blogger, by any means. 

I'll leave that in the skillful hands of my sis-in-law, Meg, at The Red Spoon. 

But I can try...

So impressed with my camera-holding and egg-cracking with one hand skillz. :P

I think I am one of those few persons who actually prefers raw cookie dough to the baked and scrumptious-looking end result. Once the cookie-making process gets to this stage, I get a spoon.... 

My husband prefers them baked.
Either way, it's beginning to look alot like Christmas!

What are you making in your Christmasy kitchen this weekend?



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Christmas Decorating {Friday LOVE}

And so it has begun... my favorite season: Christmastime!
I am so-very-much looking forward to experiencing this Christmas season with my beloved. Our first Christmas together. Our first Christmas as husband-and-wife. Our first Christmas as a new-little-all-our-own family. Establishing new traditions. Doing Christmasy tasks that have always been relegated to our parents or our siblings or just ourselves.. alone.
   

Now it's US. 
Sizing up trees in the Lowe's garden center (we're not quite adventurous enough to go Christmas-tree-farm-hunting)... Referring to the trees as "him" or "he".. ex. "he looks a little forlorn." :) Tying the chosen one (tree) onto our little blue car. With many, many ropes. A slow drive down the highway to our cottage.. My husband dragging that tree in and me smiling in the doorway. Un-twirling mixed-up Christmas white lights. Discussions of our families' varied traditions. Making that tree as STEADY as a ROCK (apparently, Falling Christmas Tree Syndrome runs in Brandon's family ;). And then we decorate... in a living room filled with boxes... what used to be "my" ornaments.. that my mother has given me every year.. gifts from Brandon's grandmother..

And one very-very-special wedding gift from my matron-of-honor. (it opens.. with our special love-phrase engraved inside and a little space for our photo). Awww.
 

After the decorating was done.. and the Christmas music silenced..
We turned out the lights and basked in the glory of a beautiful Christmas tree.
Somehow, it seemed to be our love shining bright on that Sunday night.

 
 This is going to be the best. Christmas. ever.


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{Friday Love} Change

"Change is good."

Yes, change is soooo good. On the eve of my 29th birthday and the eve-eve of my 3-month wedding anniversary, I'm doing alot of thinking about life change. We as humans like things to remain the same. Because Same-ness is nice and comfortable and eeeeaaasy. We like things that are easy to handle. ;) But the changes that I focus on as a photographer are the biggest-life-changes possible.

Weddings.
The beginning of a marriage.
The joining of two lives.
The starting of a family of two, instead of the individual unit of one.

And it's never been more real to me than right now.
The year of 2011 has been chock-full of dramatic, incredible life changes in my own life. When I blogged about A Time to Love on the first day of 2011, I didn't have the tiniest inkling of an idea that it would be *my* year to fall in love. I didn't know that meeting an old friend in a small Pennsylvania town on one wintry January day would be that defining moment of my life. I didn't know that we'd be "officially" dating less than two weeks after that... seeing each other in person three days after that for the first "official" first date of our relationship... talking of marriage&forever almost immediately. And so I knew.. Completely, wholly, unequivocally, without a doubt---I knew. I was going to marry this man.

Engaged one chilly and magical spring evening on the Potomac River. Wearing an amethyst-and-diamond sparkler on my finger..
And then married. Til death do us part. on August 6th, 2011.

And oh, how my life has changed. I used to live alone (unless you count Caspian the kitty)... now my husband is here. With me. Cuddling my kitty when I'm not looking. ;) I loved to cook, but didn't cook much Now. I cook alot. And Brandon loves it. :) Change for me looks like...Learning to wake up early and talk (this non-morning person of me is not a morning-talker). :D Spending quiet, calm, restful evenings at home. Saying "no" to busyness. Loving the little home tasks. Not driving anywhere. Sharing my thoughts. Listening so much. Married-date-nights. Being together. Caring about someone else more than me. Thinking of someone else. Ironing his clothes (never had to do this!). Packing two lunches instead of one. Facebooking less. Real-life-living more. Thinking in "US" and "WE," instead of "I" and "me." Change looks like, walking hand-in-hand always. Trying new coffee. Whispered endearments instead of long-distance phone calls. Change means planning for our future, making decisions together.... Living LIFE together. 


I love Change.
I love all of the changes that Love brings.

Change IS good.

 (photo credit to Kristen Leigh --- and I will blog more engagement photos soon, I promise!)

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{Friday LOVE} Letters... from My Beloved

Long distance relationships ain't no joke.


It's difficult to be far away from the one I love. The one I am going to marry... and spend the rest of my life with.
But for the days that we are separated, there are beautiful things about long-distance {LOVE}...

Waiting for {LOVE} letters...


The crazyness of my gardens. By the mailbox.
I might have recieved a notice from the mailman... to cut down the crazyness. at risk of no-more-letters.


Even Caspian-the-kitty waits by the window...


For something like this.

With {LOVE} stamps.

Starting with this...

Ending with this...


And filling my heart with more {LOVE} than I can stand. I love him. And his love letters.

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{Friday LOVE} Wildflowers

SUMMER IS MY FAVORITE SEASON EVER!!
Okay, so it may not be officially summer yet... but when I see wildflowers blooming along country roads, my heart jumps for joy a little bit. A few days ago, I had the profound pleasure of another engagement session (stay tuned for that blog post in a few days!). So I was wandering around the area for a few minutes before the session.

And saw this.

Wildflowers make me smile so much.


I give {LOVE} to the beautiful flowers God created. Blooming in the wild. Like they're in existence to simply bring people joy. :)

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{Friday LOVE} Glory Clouds

I love these beautiful clouds. Every time I see them, I stop and think about Jesus. And His soon return. And I imagine that He may be coming on clouds such as these.



"Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory."
Mark 13:16

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{Friday LOVE} Berries, Berries, Berries!!!

While looking through snapshots from a recent weekend trip, I realized...
I love berries...
I {LOVE} berries.
Berries are the gloriously sweet and still pretty-healthy product of summer. And I love summer (but that's an entirely different {Friday LOVE} ramble).

So now I offer: The berry-deliciousness of one Sunday.


Berries-n-cream!

Berries-n-cheese plate goodness!

Berries-n-creme brulee.


Maybe I just like berries + dairy? :)

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{Friday LOVE} The Best Night of My Life... The Proposal Story!

We knew we were getting married. Almost from the first date. Our love story began years before. So when we decided to "date," it's because we had recognized the likelihood of marriage in our future and wanted to begin a relationship journey towards that end.
So it was not a surprise when Brandon asked me about my preference about engagement rings just a few weeks into this. He wanted me to love it. He wanted it to be perfect. So, over the next two months, we talked about rings. Looked at jewelry websites together. Went to a couple jewelers together and eventually settled on exactly what I wanted. A custom amethyst-and-diamond ring..... ordered it, but I wouldn't see the final product until the day Brandon proposed.

I didn't think he had the ring.
The jeweler was in Pennsylvania.
Brandon lives in Virginia. His work schedule had been so crazy for the three weeks after we ordered the ring, he didn't have time to come for a visit and pick up the ring. OR so I thought. He made a secret PA visit on Wednesday, March 30th... to pick up that sparkly thing + have the traditional "can I marry your daughter?" moment with my dad. (My dad recommended the jeweler. Of course, he said, "yes!")

And I was clueless.
Intentionally clueless. Intentionally ignoring any signs of a proposal. Intentionally focusing on simply enjoying every moment with this man that I love.

We made plans to see the cherry blossoms in Washington, DC. It was on our lists of things to do/places to see together. And we chatted much about what we would be doing that weekend. Going to eat sushi on Thursday. Going to see monuments and cherry blossoms on Friday. And then (my idea) going on a river cruise on Friday night! The idea developed into, yes, we can dress up! It'll be a dinner cruise! Yes, it'll be amaaaaazing!

Again, I was trying not to think about proposals. Or rings. Or that beautiful question. Even though several friends hinted. ;) Even though Brandon seemed a little preoccupied during the day. Even though he mentioned funny things like, "the day isn't over yet" and "this is the best night of your life." Hmmmmmmm.

Friday, April 1st was a beautiful day.
Coffee, Bible, breakfast at Starbucks.

Cherry blossoms, monuments, fountains.

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Arabia 3D, the Hope Diamond.

And then onward to our evening dinner cruise. :)


Some of the most perfect moments of my life were on boats. I love water. The gentle rocking on the boat beneath my feet. The faint sounds of waves lapping against the boat. It's calming to me. I was so excited to be on a dinner cruise. And the most wonderful part of all...savoring every moment with him.

We revelled in the dinner menu. Smiling at each other.


We went to see the sun set over the water. It was a chilly, windy day (the wind nearly blew my dress over my head!!) so we quickly decided to go back inside.


Brandon suggested that we find a little spot for ourselves to spend time together after dinner.. so we found a little alcove by a few windows and in between two tall palm trees. Secluded, semi-private and we could see the river through the windows. :) And so off we went to enjoy our three-course dinner.

There was (not-quite-real) candlelight.

More deep intense staring and sharing delicious food. And funny little comments by my beloved that made me wonder.

And then.
As soon as we pushed aside our dessert plates, Brandon reached for my hand.
"Let's go to 'our spot.'"
With his arms around me, he began to whisper beautiful words. About the path that God had led him. The path of our relationship. How God had led him to me. How he loved me. And I knew... this was the moment.

And then,
he was on one knee.. with a little black ring-box open.
"Naomi.... will you marry me?"

And I said...
"Ohmygosh, YES!"

There might have been a few tears of joy. And to be honest, I didn't even look at the ring on my finger for about 5 minutes. Too busy revelling in the fact that I am going to marry this man!



We asked a random stranger to take a picture. :)


We're engaged! We're engaged!!! :)
And for all of you girls that are wondering... I eventually looked at the ring, and took a little better picture of it...

Gorgeous, unique amethyst-and-diamond ring!
It's perfect. And I love it.

But mostly, I love it because of the one who gave it to me. What the ring represents to me. I am promised. Intended. Engaged to marry my beloved.
God is so good.

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