Getting ready for a long summer :)

Tomorrow is my very last (official) day of college before study leave, revision classes and exams! It was strange to think that I'm never going to have English Literature or Law ever again after today, but it was also kind of exciting because it was another reminder that, come September, my whole life is going to change, whether I go to university or get my job. I will miss all the people I've come to know and love, but college is just a small part of my life and I can't wait to explore the rest!

Oh and I am so grateful for the lovely response to my post yesterday, honestly your messages meant so much to me :)

Love,

Say x

Eighteen!! :D

I was an attractive child with three chins who liked to sit in washing baskets.

Don't judge.

Then I was ginger and liked awesome glasses (I'm the one on the right!)

And then I chopped off my hair, wore a yellow jumper and resembled a boy.

Then I thought it would be cool to rock some curtains. (and we got a digital camera!)

Then I ate a lot and got fat.

And now... I'm just me!

So I've been here 18 years, learnt sixty billion things, from walking and talking to learning the difference between when you have to smile and pretend that you're ok and when it's all right to cry.

Time to party.

Love,

Say :) x

ps. Thank you so much to all my new followers- I didn't actually think I'd make it to 50! And thank you so much Katy Sue who helped me reach my goal :)

Musing.

I had an assessment day/interview thing yesterday and I really want the job. 

I mean, I seriously want this job. 

I keep thinking in my head about all the the things I would do if I got it; take an occasional preaching course so that I can preach in church, invest more in the photography business, learn to drive, go to Germany and visit my exchange partner and a million more. 

-I love the place and the attitude of everyone there. 

-I love the fact that I would be able to work straight away and not pay £9000 a year for a course I'm not even sure I want to do (and I know that that doesn't sound very much to Americans- but it's tripled since last year!). 

-I love the fact that it is in London; where so much happens.

-I love that it is a world renowned company, one of the Big Four.

I would have a career with opportunities to fly around the globe, move up in the company and have a good life.

But.

It's probably not going to happen.

I didn't do very well on the assessment day. The essay was fine, good even, and both the group exercise and verbal reasoning test. But the numerical test, you know, the fundamental one for a job in finance, was awful. I guessed half the answers.

So now I just have to wait for a phone call telling me that my dream job isn't mine. And I don't know if I'll get into my university.

Nothing is certain any more.

Time to trust God more than anything.

Love,

Say :)

ps. That video totally sums up my life right now! The camera isn't straight, I am just spinning in circles in the dress I got for my birthday, grinning like a mad woman! :P I thought it suited this post better than outfit posts!

Insta-friday + a new blog design!

Well I hope y'all like my new blog design, created by the lovely Stella from Tease your Toes :) She is so creative and pretty, go check her blog out!

As anyone with an android phone is aware of, we now have Instagram! Totally excited. I am just getting into it, but here are a few photos of my week :P I'm afraid that every Friday I am going to bore you with my weekly pics! 

Making camera tees/Trying out red lipstick

Suit for £15!/April showers

Oliver's Voigtlander/Mama's church on Easter day

American car festival/Phil's birthday gig

Love,

Say :)

Eats, shoots and leaves.

Portrait session with my beautiful friend, Bee :)

Music inspired couples shoot with Lena and George

And finally an impromptu shoot at the rugby club with The Band!

This week has been cray-cray (I don't know if I can say that, it seems kind of an American phrase!) as Oliver and I are trying to cram in as much practice for the Wedding as is humanly possible! I have learnt so much and even started to listen to Oliver (it turns out it really is better to shoot in RAW!), shock horror! But we are having so much fun with it :) I really liked shooting The Band actually, as I was expecting awful lighting, but I was pleasantly surprised by the floodlights! They are all unbelievably grainy as I shot most on ridiculously high ISO's, but I am pretty happy.

See y'all later,

Say :)

Living the right life... for me.

      

Today I'm linking up with the wonderful Megan and Ashley for their series on living the right life, hence the above title :P

It really struck a chord with my life at the moment, as the situation I am facing currently means that I haven't really had time for doing what is right for me, and I have found myself focusing solely on others. Now, that makes me sound all good and selfless, and believe me I don't mean it in that way. I just haven't really been thinking about what I personally need, but rather focusing on everyone else. And now I am completely drained. Drained of energy and hope and direction. As one of my mentors said, if I continue this way I will fall to pieces.

I didn't want to be deep on my blog, I didn't want to bog you guys down with the mess that is my life right now, but I just thought it was a really important message.

Sometimes you can't do everything.

Sometimes you can't help everyone.

Sometimes people who you love don't and won't listen to you.

Sometimes you need to say enough is enough.

Sometimes you need some time for yourself.

Talking to my mentor, she asked me what I had done this weekend. Then she asked me what I wanted to do that weekend. My answers were very different.

I have just moved to the countryside, where deer come into our garden and our next door neighbours have chickens. All I wanted to do was go out with my camera and explore my new home. All I wanted to do was tramp through muddy fields in wellies with a big grin on my face.

But yet I didn't.

Sometimes I get caught up in what I should be doing and what will happen if I don't do what I am supposed to be doing. I get worried that I am not doing enough, that what I am doing is wrong and I hate that no matter how much I try and please everyone, I always fall short. In this case, stupidly, I have let my college work slide. And yes, my teachers understand why. But that doesn't make me feel any better.

I am completely worn through. So I think it's about time that I started listening to Megan and trade in the 'shoulds' for a few of my 'wants'. So if you need me, I'll be in a field with my camera.

Love,

Say :)

Confirmation

So today (or yesterday, if you are going to be fussy) I got confirmed. And it was pretty amazing. I was volunteered by our temporary youth minister to read my testimony, but I hadn't written it until two days ago. I wanted it to be just right, explaining my journey but not babbling. I finally got it sussed, I even knew exactly how I was going to deliver it, but instead I ended up just crying. I still read it, through the tears and sobs, and I know that this was how God wanted me to share my testimony, with a display of raw, if slightly embarassing, emotion.

A great big thank you to everyone who came and supported me, I honestly didn't think that anyone would come on such short notice other than Oliver and my family (somehow my grandparents ended up coming?), but I was really grateful to the others from my youth group who came. With you guys by my side I hope that my faith just continues to grow and that I will always shine like a light in the darkness.

I was going to post my testimony, but it might be too long-winded, so I might do that at a later date. It's always here if any one wants to see it.

Say :)

It's been too long :P

I haven't blogged since Saturday :O My internet is temperamental :( Instead of blogging I have been doing cool things like...

Playing on MacBooks in the iPod shop:

(That's me as a chipmunk)

And playing on guitars worth a LOT more money than we have :P

Oliver really liked this Taylor guitar, I mean it's only just over £1,300 :P When we have lots of money and amazing jobs and win the lottery, we will go and buy a Taylor each, one in koa wood, just like Taylor Swift's.

Other than that we had a grape fight where Oliver ended up smacking his head on the fridge and I have worked for an almost illegally low sum of money- though everyone who works there is nice and I enjoy it :) The shop itself is a bit of a joke because the stuff they give us to sell is so tacky, in fact we have a new bra range designed by Katie Price, doesn't that say enough?

I have been playing with photoshop again, though this one was pretty quick, just over layering a starry sky on to a picture of Oliver- he just randomly climbed on top of a garage on this photoshoot and I snapped his picture :D

Catch y'all later,

Say

Love and Cake

I believe in many things; love, marriage, family, community, selflessness, trust, beauty, that everything happens for a reason (summed up perfectly in the Beatles song, 'All you need is love' with the line 'there is nowhere you can be which isn't where your meant to be') and God.

However, I don't think people only fall for one 'right' person. I believe in love, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that I believe that anyone in the world could make a good couple. Take any boy and any girl and they could make a life together work if they both tried. 

It’s like making a cake. You mix up a bit of each of them and turn them from separate things into one new, beautiful cake (this sounded cooler in my head). Some cakes are better than (or just different to) others, some people will always have things which annoy you, no matter how hard you try, like me and my ex-boyfriend- we would have made a bad cake, a savoury cheese one with mint chocolate chips and raspberry jam in the middle maybe. We could have made a life together work, but it wouldn’t have been the best life we could have. On the other hand, Oliver and I complement each other, like a banana and chocolate muffin (omnomnom). So just make sure the cake is right, people, before you cook it.

Make of that what you will,

Say

Introducing... The Band

Right, The Band play quite a large part of my life, partly because Oliver is in it and partly because that means that I end up at approximately a gig a weekend. This weekend we were at a particularly nice pub, aka one that doesn't have aggressive men jumping around or drunk women falling over (it always reminds me of the Animals song they play "We've got to get out of this place, if it's the last thing we ever do"), and the nice-ness of the pub was evident by the bathroom sign:

:) So that made us all laugh a bit :P But yeah, back to The Band. As you may notice from the pictures below, Lena (from the first photoshoot) sings, but they all do actually. They are a 50s-present covers band and there is 5 of them, George on lead guitar, Lena singing and playing tambourine :), Oliver on rhythm, Paul on bass and Phil on the drums. Not that you care, but I thought I would introduce them so you knew who I was talking about when I mention The Band in later posts.

Oh, and the pub had these amazing bowls of jelly babies, nom nom nom. A bit of a rip-off, naturally, but still pretty cool :)

Bye,

Say :)

Just stress!

We found out what Annie's fits are! Stress.

She's coming out of hospital tomorrow and then she will have a week's rest and recovery with, I think, some medication before slowly moving back into normal life.

She's just fine :)

So we're both smiling again, even if I have about 6 chins in the picture above :P

On another note, I am just getting my Operation Christmas Child box ready which is very exciting! I am doing one for a 5-9 year old girl because me and Oliver did one for a boy last year and it is quite fun to pick toys and things for people to open on the other side of the world. If you don't know anything about it, check it out on http://www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk/ :) They would love new people to get involved.



See y'all

Say