wedding: zach & erika {film}

The love these two have for each is the kind we all hope to find. I'm so happy they found it!

*Brandon took a bunch of these photos since we shot film and digital. I'm so glad we did both. There is something magical about film...don't you think?

*also shout out to Richard for having the world's best backyard!

I've been booking a few weddings this past week and I'm giddy with excitement!

I love being a part of that big day.

are you and your lovehead tying the knot?! I want in!

let's chat

cathorley@gmail.com

field trip

tomorrow I'm taking a field trip with some classmates to one of my favorite works of art: the spiral jetty.

The Spiral Jetty is a site specific installation made by Smithson in the 70's. It was a huge debate then and some may consider it even now to not be art. I, for one, think it's fantastic. (Though my love for it may be a bit bias: B and I took a trip there on one of our very first dates.)

If you live in Utah or ever visit Utah, I highly suggest checking it out.

I'll no doubt report tomorrow with an overwhelming amount of photos :)

Happy Thursday!

P.S. Brian Kershesnick and two other of my favorite artists have a show opening on BYU campus tomorrow (thursday 29th). I've met all three artists in person and they really are inspiring (and hilarious too!) It promises to be an amazing show. hope to see you there! (more info about the show here)

thoughts and things on changes and rings

I like change.

the non-bill cash kind & the simple "rearrange the furniture" kind.

I like the big change that makes you a girl one day and a wife the next.

I like a new color of polish (forest green) and a new hairdo (heidi braids).

and I like a new season, it always comes when I'm getting bored of the previous one.

and then there is the change the happens that is good but also hard.

Like getting a new job and saying goodbye to an old one.

or husband getting a new job that takes all of his time away from fixing me dinner and driving me to and from school.

and school and hard classes with real-life-hard-core-artists and trying to fit in.

and then there are decisions that need to be made that lead to change.

like graduating this april OR going another year for a higher degree OR switching majors.

pursuing a dream you have knowing you might have to get rid of another one to make it happen.

taking leaps of faith (though I tend to take baby steps) because you can weigh out the pros and cons till the cows come home and still not know what to do.

somehow a lot of the uncomfortable hard and unpredictable changes are happening right now. It's taking a lot of my mental energy to sort it all out...

oh and on rings:

my wedding ring is a few years shy of 100 years old. I don't trust myself with it at my new job so I wear a simple golden band instead. This means I'm often mistaken as single, which I hear will help me get more tips, (though my wallet would argue after tonight)...

are you married? engaged? does your ring ever leave your finger? do you have a substitute for travel or work? and for the BIG question: does your husband wear his ring?

my Brandon rarely wears his. He's just not used to it and frankly I'm not too concerned (though I'm sure he is eyed by many a girl, he wouldn't know flirt if it hit him in the face, believe me, I know :) He wears it every Sunday along with his Colonel Sanders tie and I'm satisfied.

photo taken by Mr. White at my friends wedding. More on this wedding coming...someday....

loving my messy bed today and new (old) map hanging above it.
I plan on sleeping in tomorrow :) can't wait.

my latest

film.
{more on this project later}

happy wednesday!
xo

fall people

brandon loves taking photos with me. can you tell??

I think we might be fall people (as far as our wardrobe is concerned). Brandon doesn't own a pair of shorts besides his basketball shorts, which we wouldn't be caught dead in. shorts just aren't his thing. Me? I'm more of the sweatery layer type gal. That is why we love fall, we get to wear the clothes we want without being too hot. Yesterday did not feel like fall, it felt like the middle of summer, but we wore our fall clothes anyway. ((hint hint fall! we're ready for you!!!!))

and this is about as fashion post as we get over here. (remember this sad attempt?! what a bust. And when I say bust I mean I busted out laughing when I looked at it again. We won't bore you with clothes....often. But incase you are curious, both tops are from Gap. (I'm an GAP INC. employee.....i'm almost always in gap.) My pants are Anthropologie via DownEast Outfitters (which means I got them for about 1/4 the price), and shoes are Franko Sarto via TJmaxx (again....fraction of the price).

and want to know a little something funny about my mr? rarely does he get an item of clothing that he just "lets be". He "Brandon-izes" everything! whether it's too light of denim (like this shirt) so he dyes it, doesn't like a pocket so he takes it off, adds a little something here or there, has me take it in or let it out, almost everything he owns he customizes!! I think it's wonderful :) and even though about 50% of the time I think it's not a good idea, it always turns out looking SOOOO much better. oh, and it's not limited to clothing! Wait till you see his guitar transformation! I think he should open up shop: "brandon's customized stuff! Bring it in drab, take it out fab!"

gee...that was corny. ...

what is your favorite season to dress for?

breathe

“Listen--are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?”
― Mary Oliver

playing major catch up over here. trying to get used to too many new things at once. the typical college/working girl/weight of the world mantra, you understand. right?

RRR

My extended family participated, for the third year in a row mind you, in the Red Rock Relay this last weekend. It's 187 miles of running bliss (or in my case...blisters....) You have a team of 12 runners who run 3 legs each and it lasts 2 days. It starts at Brian Head ski resort in southern Utah and ends in Zions national park. Needless to say it's GORGEOUS. It's also long, tiring, exhausting, painful, and exhilirating. I didn't train for this race. I repeat I DID NOT TRAIN FOR THIS RACE! at least not to the extent I should have. Which means my body is barely functional right now. It might be a few days till I get back into the swing of things on this here blog....or life for that matter....

photo of my soul-cousin, Janet, and I before we got all sweat and stinky. Don't worry, more sweaty photos from the race and other news coming soon! oh...and that darn giveaway that keeps slipping through the cracks....

9/11

I was rolling into surgery, loopy and happy from the drugs that were starting to work on me, when I heard one nurse say to the other "a plane just hit one of the Twin Towers" and then I was out. I was young. I didn't know what the Twin Towers were. But I was old enough to understand that it was a bid deal, that is wasn't ok. When I got home from surgery later that morning, I propped myself in front of the TV and changed from channel to channel watching the disaster unfold. I felt helpless. My mom said all we could do at that time was pray. So we prayed all day, out loud and in our hearts and we cried for those who had lost.

When I got back to school (6th grade) I started up a fundraiser to help pay for some of the damaged fire trucks. I went from classroom to classroom with fellow friends and a refrigerator box-turned fire truck, collecting donations in black rubber firemen's boots. Throughout the rest of my primary education I was involve in groups that wrote letters to soldiers, folded flags, helped make care packages for children in Afghanistan. Every year in highschool we took a week to reflect and honor our freedom: Freedom Week. We'd decorate the halls, held an assembly where we honored vets, had inspirational speakers come and we bonded together around the one similarity all of us have: we are Americans.

We may be young or we may be small but we all play a significant part in a bigger picture. That is what I learned from 9/11. That we can all do something, that even if all we can do is pray, we can all do something, and that something will and does make a difference.

I am truly proud to be an American.

summer 2011 likely won't be on my list of favorites. it was a rough one for me. Though it wasn't fun in the moment, I'm glad I can look back and see the major growing I did. Summer school will pay off (hopefully) I learned a lot but mostly learned about myself. I learned I need chill, lazy, totally unproductive time to stay sane. I learned I need to have a routine and a system, but that I also need to break it sometimes.

There were a lot of things I did this summer that slipped through the cracks on this blog. I made art, lots of it. I practice my film photography like mad. I grew my bangs out and parted my hair down the middle. I got highlights. I photographed weddings, families, kids and lovers. I redecorated our little cupboard and re-arranged the furniture. I started some new projects and business endeavors. I hiked. I missed two family reunions and crammed as much summer into two weeks as humanly possible. I got really sick and then got much better. I went down a water slide (that I'd been scared to go down for years). I ran, but not as much as I should have. I went to arizona with my hubby to try it on for size (we think it will make a good temporary home in the not-so-distant-future). I went antiquing all over I15. I spent time with my family and a lot of time with brandon. I watched 4 season's of MadMen. I got an iphone and a new job. I ate a ridiculous amount of snow cones and a hefty amount of Mountain West Burrito, I read a few books (solely for pleasure), learned to cook a few new meals, and made some extremely big life plans.

I'll be running the Red Rock Relay this weekend {wish me luck!}

The Back To School giveaway to air Monday Morning.

*all images by me

yesterday, two years ago

labor day, two years ago, B and I were rookies to true love.

we had only been dating a few weeks (okay, not even two) when I decided we should trek to the spiral jetty and make a gigantic day date out of it.

this day trip was important. in fact, it was monumental.

We learned a lot about each other on the long drive there and back. We learned a lot while we got lost. I learned a lot as we sat there side by side in a car, barely speaking. I was surprised how I was comfortable with the silence, that I didn't feel any pressure to speak. It felt like we were friends once before, some long time ago, and we were just picking up where we left off. it was all so comfortable. After a long day of driving, little words, enjoying each other's presence, and experiencing some amazing art, we said I love you for the first time.

labor day will always mean a little something more to me.

hope yours was nothing short of lovely.

xoxo,

claire

p.s. you win! the give-away must go on! Hopefully I'll get everything going in the next few days before I leave town, if not....early next week for sure :)

p.p.s. I pinky promise I'll do a photo giveaway soon!

hello, hi

remember how I was going to have a back to school giveaway? welp, school has started. Is the hype over? Do you still want it? {I kinda still want to do it....}

I have this bad habit of biting off more than I can chew.

I'll probably kill myself by overdoing life.

My tombstone will say

here lies Claire

the girl who did too much

not that I accomplish a whole lot (just ask my pile of dishes, undone homework, and under-kissed husband). But I want to do too many things. sigh...it's my downfall in life and I'm afraid I'm not willing to give it up. which means this blog will never have a constant stream of posts and will often have yet-to-be-fulfilled promises. I hope you can deal.

so giveaway?

circle yes or no

(if you fight yes for the giveaway and I get enough interest to do it, I'll count all the comments from this post as an extra entry! thats a hecka deal people)

hope you are having a lovely thursday evening :)

big kiss, little kiss, little hug

claire

p.s. to my dear friend who said "you can't take a bad picture!" if these photos don't prove you wrong, I don't know what will....

seriously, I have the worst luck with ID cards. I'd share more, but I'm pretty sure I burned my highschool/jr high IDs. and is it just me or did they zoom up in my grill for my drivers license? when I compare it to others, my head is twice theirs in size...