The Pizza Cafe

I failed to mention to you all a truly momentous occasion in my photography life. :-)

Alex and I completed our very first Glowing Light Studios project. There is a restaurant called The Pizza Cafe located at The Falls (8888 SW 136 Street) across from Bebe. The owners have a flatscreen TV inside the restaurant and wanted to display different photos of the food on their menu in a slideshow format. 

  

WELL, I shot the photos and Alex made the slideshow and voila! Our work is now displayed in a public location where hundreds of people go through everyday. It was exciting to make the invoice and it'll be even more exciting when the check is in my hands. ;-)

When my mom was in town we stopped by the restaurant and she was impressed with our work. Granted, she's my mother, she HAS to like my work. But I'm not gonna lie, the pictures came out great. I was really happy with the way they turned out.

If you wanna see it, stop by The Pizza Cafe next time you're shopping at The Falls...the food is great and the menu displayed on the TV is even better! ;-)

Beth & Casper

Last Saturday my friends, Beth and Casper, got married!

It was a beautiful beach wedding that captured their personalities perfectly. The feel was very relaxed and laid-back. I was honored to be one of their "photographers." It was my first taste at photographing a wedding. Which, by the way, isn't as easy as it looks. It was a great learning experience. I had such a wonderful time. 

I am posting some of the photos I took on the Glowing Light myspace. I also posted some on my deviantArt. Drop by at either site and let me know what you think. I would REALLY like some feedback...it's the only way I'll improve. 

And to Beth and Casper:  Congratulations on your marriage! You guys will be truly blessed all the rest of your days. And have fun in NY when you guys move out there. 

turkey dinners

I know it's a bit late...but I HAD to post about my Thanksgiving meals...all three of them.

This was the first time I did the house hopping thing...
We started out with lunch at the home of Manny's parents (my sister's fiance). His dad is a MASTER chef...I am not even exaggerating. He prepared a feast. Lamb, carne asada (Argentinian style), pork, chicken, salmon, pasta, veggies, and the most amazing roasted potatoes you'll ever eat. Oh, and a turkey too, but I decided to skip on that and enjoy everything else.


From there we headed straight over to Alex's grandmother's house. More great food awaited us. His aunt makes these potatoes with bacon and some kind of white sauce. I don't know what's in there, but I love it. And the peas...oh man, best peas ever, even if you don't like peas.


We were able to take a little break after that before having dinner at my house. All the usual goodies. The turkey was the BEST. Every year my parents' friends make it and every year it's juicy and delicious. And of course, my grandma's famous stuffing. And the mashed squash, my personal favorite.


I hope you all had lovely meals with your families and were able to have a relaxing Thanksgiving weekend.

elf

Let's get in that holiday spirit! Click the picture!

Free Rice

I saw this link on Anne Marie's blog and thought it was a great idea. So go to freerice.com and start playing! This Thanksgiving instead of just feeding yourself, help feed hungry people around the world.

Blessings! And Happy Thanksgiving to all.

'tis the season

Today I made my first attempt at Christmas shopping. What a waste...
I suppose I wasn't adequately prepared. Usually I make a list of people I am buying presents for and an idea of what I should get them. However I have made no such list. I decided I would just wing it and that somehow everything would just be magically ready for me at the mall.
WRONG!

I guess Christmas shopping is something you can't rush. There should be some thought behind the different gifts you're going to buy for your loved ones. I always feel a bit bummed around Christmas time though, because I can't get something for everyone. If I could I would get amazing gifts for everyone I know...but I just don't have the money...especially not this year. I'm really trying to save and not overspend. But I'll do what I can.

Just know that I love you guys... :-) And Jesus does too...we shouldn't forget about Him during this crazy and hectic time.

On a side note, ALL was not wasted. I managed to get Beth's bridal shower gift...yay! All these weddings have me excited.

home

We're back. We arrived last night after a grueling 12+ hours on the road. I don't want to drive ANYWHERE for a good while now.

The rest of the trip was fantastic. Monday we visited NC State. Beautiful campus. Our tour guide was...interesting... For some reason she found the strangest things to be funny. We didn't understand what she was laughing about, but it was rather amusing.
That evening we met up with one of the students from Southeastern. She's studying for her Master's in Divinity with a focus on Biblical Counseling. It was really great to meet her and ask her questions about the school. It was especially great because she's a woman. And we all know women can be a minority at seminary.

We stayed at the Manor House (free courtesy of Southeastern Seminary) and it was so CUTE. There are no other words to describe it. I wish we could have stayed there for our entire trip. It was way better than any fancy hotel. It was like being at home. You really have to stay there to see what I mean. Anne Marie understands.

Tuesday we toured Southeastern. I fell in love. :) It's just exactly what I need. The campus is so lovely and very family-oriented. We attended their chapel service in the morning. The man who preached gave such a great sermon. The focus was on missions and this man knew what he was talking about. He's been all over the globe preaching about Christ. It was amazing to hear his story and very inspiring. We also had the opportunity to sit in on a class called "Christian Faith and the Arts." The professor was a character. Let's just say he was wearing a bow tie...nothing is better than a professor wearing a bow tie. In this particular class they were discussing the use of drama in a church service and whether or not it is truly necessary or if it is a distraction. Very interesting...and very relevant to what I'm doing right now in ministry. Alex was really into the class as well. I've never seen him pay attention to someone speaking for so long. And that's a fact.

It really was a blessing to be on the campus of Southeastern Seminary. I think it really confirmed in me my desire to go to seminary and my desire to go to that particular one. I have my application and have begun filling it out. Hopefully within a few months I will know if I have been accepted or not. It's all very exciting.

That night Alex and I went to the David Crowder Band concert in Raleigh. It was a great end to a great trip. The Myriad were a good opening band. I had never heard their music before but I really enjoyed their live show. I had never heard of Phil Wickham either, but he played a good set. And of course, DCB, they were amazing.

So that's it. That was our trip to NC. It was a blessing. I'm glad to be home...I missed everyone. But it will be hard to keep my head focused on the here and now.

By the way, I lost my phone in NC. Boo... I was able to get a replacement phone (until someone buys me an iPhone that is...). So if you could e-mail me your numbers that would be great. Thanks. :-)

church

Seeing as today is Sunday we decided to explore some of the different churches Raleigh has to offer. In the morning we attended First Baptist Church of Raleigh. This church was built in the 1800s and it is absolutely beautiful. The building's architecture is amazing. The stained glass windows are gorgeous. The service was very traditional. It actually reminded me of a Catholic mass. They had the organ and hand bells and the old men in suits and everything. The pastor gave a really good message about stewardship. You could tell he was very knowledgeable. Everyone there was very nice. But I'm not gonna lie, I felt almost out of place being one of the very few college-age people there. It was an interesting experience nonetheless.

In the evening we attended a church in downtown called Vintage 21. Very contemporary. The polar opposite of the church we went to in the morning. This was a very young crowd (and "hip" too). They have some really good stuff going on over there. The band writes their own songs, which I think is pretty impressive. And they also did some good renditions of older songs. Their design and look is really clean and modern. Again, everyone was very nice and it was a good experience. The sermon was basically about men being manly men and what it means to imitate the gospel. Good message. The pastor seemed a bit rushed, but I got the gist of what he was saying.

It was really great to see two different churches today and experience the way they worship. It's great to see something traditional and something contemporary all in the same day. And I'm sure God loves to see all of that too.

"loose the noose"

We're just wrapping up day two of our North Carolina trip and so far it's been a good time.

Yesterday we arrived in Durham at around 6 in the morning. We checked into our hotel room, showered, and met the shuttle bus outside to take us to Duke. Needless to say we were TIRED...but Duke is such a beautiful school and it was great to check it out. They have some really exciting things happening at their Divinity School. I know Lenny fell in love immediately. You can see that they have a real sincere heart for Christ and his people. After lunch time they had a panel with two of their professors. One of them was an older woman who came from a small village in Africa. She was amazing. She is a psychologist and a theologian, which I think is great. She explained how the two fields are much more related than people recognize. I couldn't agree with her more. She was just amazing to listen to. The truth and wisdom that poured out of her mouth was a real blessing and privilege to hear.

At the end of the tour we attended a chapel service. Allow me to inform you now that Lenny signed up for a tour that was specifically directed to "blacks and minorities." So this chapel service was very different from anything I have ever experienced. I don't want to seem stereotypical...but if you've ever seen one of those black churches from a movie, this was very similar. The preacher started off slow but as he kept preaching he really got into the message and so did everyone in the congregation. People would stand up from the excitement of hearing God's Word, shouting their "Amen's," and the preacher broke out into song twice. Duke Divinity School has many different denominations and it was so interesting to see everyone worshiping in different ways. It was really one of the best 'church' experiences I've had. Oh, and message was all about how we have to "loose the noose." I'll tell you about it later. :)

We had plans to eat dinner at this real Southern BBQ place that the shuttle bus driver suggested to us, but when we got back to the hotel we all knocked out! So we missed out on that one.

Today we left Durham and drove down to Raleigh. We spent the day exploring downtown Raleigh. I'm not gonna lie, there's not a lot going on. But we did find a few interesting little places. The best was this little place called Tony's Coffee & Wine. It was very relaxing and the decor was great. This duo came in and did an acoustic set. It was actually good. They played a lot of classic songs. One of my personal favorites, "Landslide." They were nice people. It's really one of my favorite things to do. Sit on a comfy couch, sipping hot chocolate, listening to some good live music. :) So great!

The only bummer of the trip is that I lost my cellphone. Ugh! After years of being responsible and never losing or breaking a single cellphone, I lost my beautiful razr. Maybe you guys can pool your money together and buy me an iPhone...Christmas is coming! ;-)

I'll keep you posted on our trip. There's still much more to come.

almost gone

I'm leaving on a trip to North Carolina tomorrow with Alex and Lenny. I'm really excited about this trip...but I'm frazzled with everything I need to get done before we actually leave. I'm tired and I have a headache and the last thing I want to do is...anything!

We'll be leaving tomorrow evening and driving ALL NIGHT LONG until we reach our destination. We have to be at the hotel at 7:30 in the morning on Friday to catch a shuttle to Duke University for Lenny's campus tour. It's going to be...interesting...but I just know this trip is going to be great. We're checking out three different schools and making a whole lot of final decisions about our move to NC once we get married. We also have tickets to see David Crowder on Tuesday night in Raleigh...yay! They're one of my favorites to see live.

I'm really praying for this to be a good trip and that Alex and I can be a little more clear on what it is God actually wants us to do. Keep us in your thoughts!
(and a big shout out to Rey, Lauren, and everyone else taking over for me on Sunday morning...you guys rock)

ZEAL Festivus Promo

ZEAL Festivus Promo

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Another MuteMath Show Under My Belt

Last night was uh-mazing. :-)

I traveled up to Ft. Lauderdale with friends to see my FAVORITE band...MuteMath! I believe it might've been my eighth or ninth time seeing them live. Yes. And I'm still not bored with them. They really are the most incredible live band I've ever seen. They're just full of energy and they're constantly interacting with the crowd. Plus, they write great songs. There's just something about seeing your favorite band and singing along to every lyric in a room full of people doing the same thing. It's an experience.

I was also thinking that this could be the last time I see them play in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale. In less than a year Alex and I will be in North Carolina. Where ever we are, nothing will stop us from seeing them play! I just know the experience will be different. Every time we go to a MuteMath show here in So.Fla. we see all the same people we see at every show. Friends that we haven't seen in some time, they'll show up to the MuteMath show. It's really great. I'm going to miss that.

Well, here are a few photos from the show. [click to enlarge] I have many more...along with some videos. Alex posted them (or will soon post them) on his Mac iDisk thingie...I'm not quite sure how it works. But if you're interested in viewing and downloading the INCREDIBLE footage that I got, leave a comment and I'll help you out. :-)