Teaparty Dresses and Cast Iron Tubs

My girls know me too well :)

Bridal shower tonight with my besties!

{the picture is backwards, but it says "teaparty dress encouraged!"

so excited for tonight!

also....

I might just have some big BIG news

that might just have something to do with one of these:

I'm just all sorts of excited!

*photos from Sr. Shoot with Alex and engagements with Stacey and Zach up later tonight!

i'm a doodler.

always have been.

But it's gotten worse... due to the wedding planning.

I should be being studious and such.

but I find myself doing this instead:

My wonderful mother is making my dress....which means I get to design it!

Favorites?

yesterday

was windy. and cold.

which means my sisters photoshoot didn't last very long.

at all.

poor girl. Hair was blowing all over the place.

{hence the headless shot above}

carmie poo,

I promise I'll make it up to you :)

xoxo

sissy

as for today

thank goodness it's pretty!

I had one very successful engagement shoot this morning!

{smiliest couple i've ever met :D }

and a senior photo shoot this afternoon!

{speaking of...you've check out my photo blog right? and told all the graduating seniors about my special right?! right :)}

Fools in Love

bwahahah

too true.

*found at TJ max (duh.)

it melts my butter...

every time I hear this boy sing

my boy with katie

my boy *sigh*

katie and her lovely vintage dress

ferocious oaks

shady chapel

me. in a mirror. wishing i had hank with me.

the cool stuff you find in the VIP room

ahem.

*hank: my favorite camera

**for the record, it's not really a VIP room. I just feel like that when i'm in it.

***don't you love the obscure band names?! ferocious oaks!? shady chapel?!

:)

finally

So I've finally got my photo blog up and running (sorta) right now it only features my work with graduating seniors and portrait shots. Why? Because I'm doing a special on Sr. Photo shoots!

All shoots include

• 1 hr. shoot
• CD of all edited images
• wardrobe/prop assistance (optional)
• hair/makeup (optional)
• $50!
• I repeat FIFTY DOLLARS!
• just try and find a better deal. I double dog dare ya!

So...on top of it all...I just might maybe be doing a sr. photo shoot giveaway!

(my FIRST giveaway! yay!)

and then I'll probably get addicted. and do them all the time....but we'll start with just one. sound good?! yay! now tell all your friends/graduating seniors!

You can look at all my photo work on this blog by clicking here.

Or, if you are tired of me talking, check out my featured Senior work on my new photo blog here.

(seriously, I don't say a word on this blog. The photos do all the talking)

*details on the actual give-away to come soon so stay tuned!

good morning!

these ducks met me on my walk to school this morning!

I named the dark one Franco and the light one Stella.

They are in love.

But as you can see, Franco is making Stella do all the chasing.

how rude.

the hunt

I dream of living in a farm house on Geneva Rd.

no, not just in the early stages of marriage.

but for life.

this here is my dream home.

{The pillars. The huge front yard. The porch. The wrap-around driveway. The trees. The seclusion. The big windows + oldschool glass....*sigh*}

I find it irresistibly romantic.

silly? maybe, but I do nevertheless

and it's for rent!

woot woot we'll take it!

oh wait?

what was the price?!

an arm and a leg?!

I suppose I could spare my left arm. It's practically useless....

*we are on the hunt. Anyone know of a basement apartment? An elderly couple serving a mission in need of house sitters? an adorable farm house that isn't asking my soul for pay? heck, we'll take a closet under the stairs! ideas? tips? email me! cathorley@gmail.com

**keep in mind we are in poverty. okay, okay i exaggerate. But we aren't rolling in the riches (besides our love) so we really will take anything we can get! (psh! and you thought I was kidding about the closet under the stairs...)

some days

Some days

I don't like how I look.

(*note, I did not say HATE)

It's not that I think I look ugly or fat or anything.

Sometimes I just don't feel like I look like I feel.

does that make sense?

Some days I don't think I look like myself.

I don't look "Claire".

I look like someone trying to be me.

and doing a poor job of it.

even the combination of makeup, hairspray, and the perfectly coordinated outfit cannot remedy it.

Then some days I feel like I look just like I feel I should look.

without any work.

and I don't wear mascara.

and my bangs fall perfectly on my face.

and I feel "real" and "fresh".

like the way God made me.

two kinds of days.

two kinds of looks.

Today, unfortunately, is the former.

One of my all time favorite guys/photographer/comedian

gave a little shout out to B&Me over here.

there are so many people who played a part in our relationship.

I think matt deserves a bit of the credit.

Thanks Mr. Matt!

We're happy you didn't "jinx" anything :)

xo kitty

p.s. giddy/excited for engagements!

Brandon insisted we watch this movie.

It didn't take me long to realize why...

I may or may be a real life version of Kori.

This may or may not be a good thing...

either way, it's a new favorite :)

I WON!!

I'm all sorts of excited right now....

yes, yours truly

WON THE BRIDAL SHOOT GIVEAWAY!

hosted by the lovely Photographer Elise

(check out her amazing photo blog and website)

I absolutely adore her work and feel so honored that she'll be able to capture me in what will surely be my FAVORITE DRESS EVER! (my mother is making it :) i know right?!)

I really don't know where to start with the THANKYOUS! Elise said I had somewhere around 70 votes! And only 6 came from Brandon and myself which means, I really owe it to all of you for helping me out! Thanks to everyone who made sweet comments/pleas/even emails {I'm so flattered!} and for those of you who now follow her blog, you are in for a treat! I love each and every photo she posts!

I wish I had addresses from all of you who have helped me out! Then I could send each and every one of you a handwritten thank you, since a blog post thank you surely doesn't do justice for my appreciation. Maybe you should just e-mail me your addresses. {Don't be bashful just do it! And then maybe in the process we can become pen-pals! OH fun!}

I really can't thank you enough!!

love to you all!

xoxoxo

Kitty

S.B.S. episode #3: better than words

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE words. But I can't always find a word to say what I feel. I can, however, find pictures and art that define my exact emotion. I just spent an hour, searching images on google. Todays search included:

Dali

Mondrian

Magritte

Like I said, not so good with the words. So if you are looking at these wondering what emotions I could possibly be feeling...welp....thats just the beauty of art. Say a word and it's definition is clear. Show a painting and it's interpretation is endless.

I've always loved art. My parents caught on to this early in my life and supported me with all sorts of pencils, paints, pastels and canvases. They praised my work, hung it in frames (that still hang in our house) art was my thing. I miss it now. I don't really have a "thing" anymore. I'm just Claire. Which i'm happy to be. But sometimes I feel like the artist inside me has been repressed for so long, she just might disappear. I get little fixes every once in a while. Like photography. Or sketching my professors as they lecture. Or just appreciating art. Sometimes I just stare at people. Look at the unique structure of their face and think "wow, that's art at it's truest form." Or, I could spend hours in a museum. I even volunteered as a docent at BYU's MOA (museum of art). I hope someday I have the time and opportunity to do that again. For now, my indulgence is limited to google image search.

for a girl who doesn't really like words....I sure talk a lot huh?....

the beginning

I'm so grateful for my friend Kara, for taking these pictures way back when.

Way back when it all began.

She must have thought I'd appreciate them later.

She was right :)

When these were taken {a mere 1 1/2 weeks into dating} we had no idea we'd be where we are at now. But still, if you look really closely, I think you can see it in our eyes. We were in love. Even then. Long before either of us admitted out loud.

What is love? How do you know? You just know when you are in it. And it's the most comfortable "at home" feeling in the world. I have no other way putting it. With him, i'm home.

I love our story. I've kept a secret blog of all the sweet things he says and the experiences we've had together. He doesn't even know what's on it really. I just don't want to forget these times. I've even set it up so I can text to my blog! B is always saying the sweetest things, and when he's not looking I sneak a text to my blog so that I wont forget it. I don't have a great memory. everything comes back in bits and pieces. So for me, blogging has been my diary. Thanks to all you readers! friends, families, and strangers! It's been fun to share a bit of the most special part of my life with you. And don't be shy when you stop by! Comment! let me know where you are from! I'm so grateful for all the blogging friends i've made. :) especially you married ones! {B and I need married friends}. As far as my secret blog. well, i suppose it's not secret anymore. But I will keep it private. What I DO need to do is share a little more of our story! How we met, "firsts", when we "knew", etc. etc.

Can you believe I marry this boy in 99 days?! 99 days! 99 days and I get a new name. a new part of me. a new life! all in just 99 days...

golly that's amazing!

{do I sound like a broken record?}

oh please oh please oh please!!

dear friends of the blogging world. Remember how I raved about the lovely photographer Elise here? Well I'm back at it again! Her bridal giveaway ends on the 18th! So make sure you mosey on over to her blog and comment! (your comment acts like a vote for me! so make sure you refer to me!) And you really should follow her blog. She's constantly updating with beautiful images. (if you are a new follower say it in your comment and it acts like yet another vote!) YOU really can help me win!

(and I really really really want to win...)

oh please oh please oh please oh please!

pah-leeezzzeeee!

YOU helping me win is

just a click and a comment away!

{said in informercial voice}

vote claire here!

This Hat

SAVES ME

{on average}

two times

a week.

anyone else get tired of taming their bangs day after day?

{girls, as hard as we try, we'll never have rockstar bangs.}

If you too fall victim to greasy-flat-poofy-matt-or in other words "un-agreeable" bang-syndrome, may I suggest a splurge? Walmart. $5.

Your mornings will thank you.

....bangs...what a love-hate relationship.

Brandon bloglarizes Claire's account and posts something...

The Poem I Cannot Write

Words may suffice--
For most things.
But I cannot create her in words.
Suddenly, a language so vast
Seems so small.
The words that fill thousands of books
Now cannot fill this page.
They cannot write her.
They cannot describe her.
No, I cannot create her in words.
What language is spoken in the heavens?
I cannot recall it.
I cannot speak it.
I cannot write it.
But I heard it once.
It was on the day I found her.
It was spoken in her face.
Silent,
Still,
And dead to the ear,
But echoing,
Ringing,
Dancing in my soul.
A note of love from God
Embodied in a woman.
My words made this mess
In which she does not fit.
But for now it will suffice.
For her, there is no song, no poem.
She is the poem.
She is the poem I cannot write.
.
.
.
I love you, my Claire.
.
.
.
[Actually posted by Brandon]

My Sweet Brandon

Most people would say something like this:

"I'd love you even if we were horribly poor and lived in a tiny basement apartment with a window so small and so low to the ground that light rarely found it's way in."

but not my sweet Brandon.

Nope.

He says:

"I'd love you even if we had lots and lots of money and lived in a big fancy house and had really nice things and drove ritzy cars."

My Brandon is something else.

I think he's one of the few people in the world who's got his head screwed on right.

He doesn't love fancy cars.

He loves me.

He doesn't like nice things.

He likes me.

He doesn't want money.

He wants me.

I'll be the first to admit that I can be rather petty at times.

But HE gets me back on track. NOT by calling me out. But by his example. He is happy in the most simplistic ways. He's rubbing off on me. And it's changing the way I view the world.

The world is so much prettier, happier, and hopeful with him by my side.

Dear Brandon,

I JUST love you. You've saved me from my self destructive ways :) You are my calm and my peace. You are my constant source of encouragement and happiness. I love your little isms! I love the silly faces you make and the Nicholas Cage impersonations (that I pretend to hate). I love our picnic dates on the living room floor. I love our wild sunflowers in soda bottles. I love our dancing to Big Band music. I love resting my head on your legs while you play around on the guitar. I love your sweet nothing whispers. I love you playing footsies with me during dinner and sneaking "i love yous" during the prayer. I love how you are so sweet to me even when I'm mean and bridezilla to you. And even when I over-react and get upset over silly things, you say "I love you anyway". I love how you love me even when I completely forget to take my advertising test and therefore fail it. I love how you have an opinion about this wedding of ours! And that you tell me what to do (when i give you permission) so that I don't have to make every-single-silly decision myself. Oh gee I am so excited to marry you! I'm so excited for this list to grow each new moment I spend with you.

I just love you.

xoxoxo

your Claire

living room picnics :) complete with bubbly, plastic champaign glasses, and cottage cheese.

we are super classy people.

oh please oh please oh please!

this lovely photographer is giving away a free bridal session!

(how fitting right...since...well...I'm getting married and all)

I kinda maybe sorta follow {stalk} her blog.

I've been a big time lover, long time supporter {stalker} of her work and would feel oh-so-utterly-cool if I won!

reasons why I think I should win

(does that sound so vain? bridezilla here I come...)

1. I never win anything (besides you my sweet Brandon. You make me feel like a winner :)

2. I LOVE her work!

3. I still haven't figured bridals out yet! {and my mother keeps losing sleep over it}

4. I've secretly wanted to be friends with her for a very long time.

{and what better way to become the best of friends right?! right, I thought so too}

I think what I love most about her work is how clean it all looks. (you'll know what I mean by "clean" when you see it). It's artsy but not too trendy. (something most photographers fall victim to: the TOO trendy) It looks fresh! And clean! (there i go with the clean again...can't think of a better word...)

Well I'm crossing all fingers and toes that I win. And I wish you guys could all vote for me. But alas, all I can ask of you is that you too cross your fingers for me :) And make sure you check out her lovely work

here

&

here!

and I'm madly in love with this bridal shoot

and her creative head shots here and here.

Oh and coincidentally her hubby does music! He sings in a band called Parlor Hawk, formerly MOSES (check him out here). So naturally, being a music hipster, B knows him. We've been to a few of his shows and I actually met Elise Lauren in REAL LIFE! {when these "out-of-blogging-world" meets take place...it's super cool but also weird. Meaning I was weird and bashful. And she was so totally cool.

sigh.

I really want to win.

that is all.

*please don't take note of the time this was posted...I've found my most productive wedding planning time takes place when I should be getting sleep....

TWO is better than ONE

I had so much fun shooting these great people before their high school preference dance.

the theme was "Two is Better Than One"

(comes from some trendy song I can't recall)

I couldn't agree more.

two IS better than one!

*I DO do this (take dance group pictures, that is)

I include a CD copy for everyone in the group of all edited images AND it's a fraction of the price you'd pay for the poopy pictures taken in the school cafeteria (excuse my french). if anyone is interested just shoot me an e-mail! (prices vary on size of group and location)

when I grow up

I want to

own a furniture refurnishing business run an antique shop start a floral company master film photography restore old houses design a line of vintage gowns get a letterpress write children's books equivalent to "Betsy, Tacey, and Tib" become a wedding planner a food critique a mother

{I've unfortunately added a few more things to my Dreamer's List. There are way too many things I want to do, try, master. . . and barely any I can afford ($) to even take a shot at. And most of them so obscure I'm not even sure where I'd start?! But that's why it's called my Dreamer's List. It's the dream. And I can only hope that some of it comes true.}

*photo of me, 1 year ago, taken by my wonderful mother

(dancers, please don't judge...it's been a while...)

Funny Story

{I’m sure there will be more to come}

As you may know, I’m a sucker for a good deal. Like, I live for them. I’m a bargain shopper and I pride myself at it. I love looking like a million bucks but knowing I only spent $30 {maybe even less} head to toe. Being a true bargain shopper I often find myself browsing the ilse of Savers or DI looking for something to guiltlessly bust a few bucks on. And I often find something wonderful, amazing, original, unique, old, and most importantly: CHEAP!

Bargain shopping is an art.

And I’ve learned from a wonderful teacher: my mother.

A few tips to successful, anti-binge, bargain shopping:

1. 1. First things first: go directly to sales racks in the back of the store.
2. Have an open mind: be creative and innovative when looking at something. Don’t look at it for what it is but for what it could be!
3. Don’t go clearance crazy: just because something is cheap, does not mean it is worth your buck! Don’t buy something unless you really love it.

So last Saturday, I walked into the local DI with these helpful tips stored carefully in some pocket in my brain.

I found:

• The exact vases I want for my reception (50 cents a piece)
• beautiful glasses for B’s and my future home (75 cents a piece, but the guy only charged me 50 J)
• 2 wonderfully patterned vintage pillowcases (50 cents each)
• and a dress.

But not just any dress.

A wedding dress.

Now before you gag, start throwing up, gouge out your eyes and the thought of me wearing a dress from DI to my wedding, please keep in mine that I wasn’t sane in the moment.

No, not sane at all.

I had followed only 1 and 2 of my mothers well meant advice. Somehow my innovative/thrifty mind got the best of me and I totally overlooked the fact that this dress, although beautiful in it’s own way (c’mon, you really think I’d buy something ugly) was NOT the dress I wanted to get married in.

How could I forget rule 3? The most important of all the rules?!

IF YOU DON’T LOVE IT, DON’T BUY IT!

No matter how cheap it is, or how thrifty you think you are.

Needless to say I took the dress back. Only to find out that “clothing" returns can only be exchanged for “clothing”. {whatever} So I spent 15 minutes running through DI finding $50 worth of clothes to thrift and stitch.

I DID find some treasures, of which I’ll share with you as soon as I find time to pull out the old sewing machine and give them a little special touch.

Anyway, I hope you haven’t lost respect for me due to this almost disastrous dress incident. I mean, we all have embarrassing stories right?! And stories like these are priceless right?!

Oh wait…I guess mine cost me $50 bucks….

Here's some photos of recent thrifty finds:

{to prove I'm sometimes somewhat sane}

Baby Ben! love him. He's the perfect "tick-tock" -er

scraps of vintage fabric!

{what shall I make of them? Headbands? a coin purse?...?}

this fancy hanky! {this may or may be some inspiration for my wedding....}

more findings for headbands and such!

and....

This lovely vintage apron! It makes me feel like I should sing and dance and cook meatloaf.

{only minus the singing and cooking part...}

The Ring

Like any bride (should be)

I'm madly in love with my ring.

It is, without a question, the most fitting, perfect, lovely, "me" ring out there!

My favorite thing people say when they see it is "Claire, it's so you!"

I smile and get all warm and fuzzy inside :)

Because that's exactly how I feel about it.

If I were a ring, I'd be my ring.

K well as you can see I'm obviously obsessed with this little gem of mine.

and if you aren't madly in love with it yet...

let me muse you with the history of this ring.

then I, and my ring, will surely win you over :)

{if you are already convinced that this ring is just wonderful, feel free to skip this rather lengthy, wordy, somewhat of a "brag" description of my ring and go straight to the photos, cause thats all we want anyway right?! PHOTOS!}

My wonderful mother {oh boy she is wonderful....} has quite the collection of jewelry. Being a jewelry lover, she inherited a lot of pieces from relatives. I being a jewelry lover myself, spent hours in my moms dozens of jewelry boxes carefully trying each piece on and imagining which outfit I'd base around it {so me, I know}. Amongst all her lovely jewels was a blue box. {The perfect shade of blue mind you.} And inside this box was a very lovely ring. I would try it on {on a very particular finger of course} look in the mirror and admire it. It was simple yet elegant. Simple in that it had a single diamond and elegant in that the diamond sat upon an ornate "basket", ya know, with all those details you just don't see anymore. I don't remember at what age I became obsessed with the blue box and the pretty ring, but I was probably about 15 {yes, still playing "dress-up" in my mother's jewelry box} when I tried that ring on my finger {for the hundredth time} and realized that I truly loved it. I decided right then and there that that ring, was to be my wedding ring someday. Of course I had to have my mother's permission first. And of course she said yes {although very much loved by her, she never wore it}. She probably didn't know how serious I was about the silly ring in the blue box.

But serious I was.

So this past summer, some 5 years later, the ring was brought up once again.

Not because of Brandon {hadn't fallen in love with him yet}

Not because of marriage was on my mind {far from it}

But because that ring, would not get out of my silly head.

And so it was decided. I spoke with my mother once again who shared with me the history of the beloved ring. It belonged to her dad's mother {her grandmother, my great-grandmother}Christine Farney Corbett. She was a petit lady, only 5 ft tall, with immaculate taste and chubby fingers. I know she had immaculate taste because we still have some of her clothes. And oh boy are they gorgeous! {I keep trying to find an occasion to squeeze myself into something of hers....engagement pictures perhaps?!} And I knew she had chubby fingers because as delicate as this little ring is, it was rather large: easily fit over my thumb. Well my mother told me all sorts of stories about her Grandmother. Of how she married her sweetheart May 24th, 1925 in Idaho Falls, and how much she loved her and all the while, I'm falling even more madly in love with the ring. Not only is it gorgeous! But it had a history! {and in case you haven't noticed...i'm kinda into that}.

so it was official.

I had my wedding ring LONG before talk of a wedding began.

And even before talk of wedding was brought up between B and I,

the ring was.

{a story for another time}

Brandon loves this ring maybe just as much as I do.

Which is very "neat" to me.

Because he loves it for the very reasons I do.

And that, ladies and ladies {I doubt any gentlemen, besides my gentleman, care for such things, let alone read my blog} is the history, the love, and the legacy of, what I'm so proud to now call:

my ring.

now for some photos!

{that can't really do justice to the ring, but they do try...}

{B put it in this lovely vintage box he got on Ebay. My favorite color! Perfect. He knows I love details like this....}

{the details make me go "ga ga". :)

"gasp!" I know right?!

**fun little detail, B and I will be married June 25th 2010 in the Salt Lake Temple. Only 1 month, 1 day (and 85 years) after my Great Grandmother.

sneak peek:

the ring:

I haven't taken the time to take/load pics yet. {proper ones that is}. But here's some little teasers till I come down from cloud nine and take betters ones. And tell you about this ring of mine! {cause it's not just any old ring....}

Well actually it is just that....

old!

{but more on that later}

these pictures are brought to you by "photo booth".

{photo booth: what you use when you don't have time and patience. Also, what you use when you'd rather not have your "pizza face" be caught by the quality of your camera. Unfortunately this results in not only your face blurred, but your ring as well.}

bwaahahah I'm so giddy!