The world traveler returns....

Ok, so world traveler may be stretching it, but I have returned. ;)

Plans changed so quickly right before the trip that I wasn't able to update ya'll. We had planned to drive back from Pennsylvania and get back (maybe) this Wednesday, but we found out last Wednesday that our plans had fallen through. Within a few hours, God worked things out, and I had a flight back as well as a flight to the wedding. It was an incredible journey of traveling not only out of state, but for me, out of comfort zones. So many things happened within three days that I'd like to share them here not only to share with ya'll, but to record this paragraph of my life.

(none of these pictures are edited. Yes, I know, bad me. ^_- They're also all from my iPhone) 

This was my first photo from our second flight. Our first flight was at 5:30 am, so we really couldn't see much. On my first flight we started out on a small express plane, and had a very nice stewardess and pilot. The security, thankfully, could see my nervousness and was very patient and kind to me. That could've had something to do with Mrs. Charlotte growling at them that this was my first flight, and for them to be nice to me, but, nevertheless. ;) The turbulence was horrible, and I almost got sick, but thankfully didn't. Mrs. Charlotte, who flies a lot, said that it was the second worst flight she had ever been on, so I know it was pretty bad. Unfortunately, it gave me terrible anxiety for every flight after that, which I think was a big part of my problems for the other flights. 

The sights from the air were amazingly beautiful. Our first flight was only 45 minutes to Houston, then we had to run from one end of the airport to the other to get to our second flight, which took us to Philadelphia. Mrs. Wanda (my pastor's wife) had done some research on the best restaurants in "Philly" and found out about a place called Pat's. However, on the plane a native Philly guy said that Jim's was much better, which was reaffirmed by the guy at the car rental place. So, winding our way through the crazy roads and traffic with a much confused Siri, we found Jim's. 

It had a cute, old fashion style, and 50's decorations inside. 

I was telling my parents that I either appeared really nervous in all these new places, or very young and naive, because so many places, including Jim's, the worker would be snapping at the person in front of me, then look at me, and say, "What do you want, baby?" It was sort of odd, but I guess it worked. ;) 

Everyone in my group enjoyed their Philly cheese-steak sandwiches. I enjoyed eating food after having a turbulent stomach, and was grateful for the filling food, but I'm afraid I was a little disappointed. I felt that their should've been some seasoning on the meat, but I guess that's because I'm just so used to Cajun food. We don't cook anything without some kind of seasoning. After my meal, Mrs. Charlotte pulled out the salt and pepper shakers from behind the napkin holder I had been looking for before. It was pretty funny. ;)  

I loved the street scene from the second floor of Jim's, especially the cute little blue mini cooper. :) 

This is Mrs. Charlotte with the sweet Saint Bernard we met on the street. It was the first time I had ever seen a Saint Bernard in person. She was so huge! 

We went into the historical section of Philadelphia and I couldn't get over how tall the buildings were! This one wasn't even near the tallest building there. 

I took a picture before this of this horse, but right after that, he put up his leg like this and posed! I asked the guy holding the reins, "Did he really just pose?" The guy nodded, and said, "Yep." 

We went to see the Liberty Bell, but the line was extremely long. As we walked around the building housing the Bell, I looked up and thought this building looked familiar. I asked Bro. Heard, and he said it was Independence Hall! I think I was more excited about this building then the Bell. Sadly, we didn't have the time to walk two blocks in the opposite direction to get a ticket then walk back, but at least we got pictures of the building. 

A lady who lived in Philly showed us a side window where we could still see the Liberty Bell. It was so neat to see, after reading most of my life on the Revolutionary War, and those times.

And here is my wings! I'm so thankful for Mrs. Charlotte telling the stewardess that it was my first flight. I didn't even know about these things! 

Well, we have revival this week, so I'll give you a short summary of the rest of our three days. After leaving Philly we drove three hours to Williamsport and to the hotel. God blessed us with an upgrade for our room, and we enjoyed the extra space and lovely accommodations. We went to the rehearsal that night, figured out where Mrs. Charlotte and I needed to be as the photographers, and showed everyone where they needed to stop for pictures. We got to see old friends and made new ones, and I was so glad that I was blessed with friendly people to work with. I won't be sharing any pics of the wedding for a while until I sort, edit, and send all the pictures to the bride, but you can believe me, that it was one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever been to. 

After the wedding we went to the store to get to the necessities, and hung out in our hotel room with some friends to watch a movie and catch up on everything. There was a lot of giggling and outright laughter as we fondly teased each other and acted goofy in our tired, delirious states. It was ended short by me leaving with the Heards at 12:15 AM to drive back to Philadelphia. We had a flat after hitting a pothole, cold weather, and winding, confusing roads, but through it all I was blessed to get 2 hours of sleep. I was nervous again when we went through security at the Philadelphia airport, but except for getting patted down, everything went smoothly. (Let me explain. I was wearing a skirt, so I guess there was a chance I could be hiding something. I was just surprised, but it still went fine.) The first flight was ok, and I got to sleep a couple more hours, sitting between two very nice people. Our flight was late, so we missed our connecting flight to Lafayette. But in a way, even though we were too late to get to church, I was thankful for that extra time between flights to relax, eat, and calm down before my last flight. I think between that and the low turbulence, my last flight was so much more enjoyable. 

I'm so thankful for the Heards for traveling with me and taking care of me in situations I wouldn't have known what to do, and Mrs. Charlotte for showing me the ropes and explaining to me what to expect before they happened. They made these new experiences so much easier for me. I'm thankful for the sweet friends we got to see at the wedding and spend time with, and the new friends I got to meet. I'm especially thankful for Carolyn asking me to shoot her wedding, and being patient with all my questions. But most of all, I'm thankful to my Heavenly Father for taking care of me, sending the people I needed into my life, and giving me wisdom in times I wasn't sure what to do. Also, for keeping my mouth shut when it needed to be. ;) And for giving me the peace I asked for when I was anxious on the plane, and allowing the Benadryl to knock me out even when I struggled against falling asleep because I was afraid of my head falling on one of my seatmate's shoulder. He took care of me through it all, and for that, I'm so thankful. :) 

Lagniappe

{Cajun dictionary: lagniappe is the Cajun word for "all the rest" or the "extras." And there's gonna be a lot of stuff in this post, so I thought I'd warn you. ^_-}

Sorry I disappeared for a while. 

I felt like I was dying all week, along with the rest of my family. 

Because after all, family shares, right? In sickness and in health. ;) 

Thankfully, we're all getting much better, except for poor Matthew. It's his second time around, and it's proving pretty tough. 

Speaking of, it's the little rascal's birthday today! 

Everybody say happy birthday to the cutest one year old in the world! 

(I'm just a slightly biased big sister. ^_-) 

Since we got Captain America from the library right before getting sick, we've been watching it a lot. I love the classy look of the time (though I don't believe they wore that low of necklines at that time). I really like the men in nice suits, especially the vest, tie and slacks look. 

Another thing I found during the week (of watching Captain America 50 million times. Exaggerating....a little...) is my appreciation for the brown leather jacket look. 

on women 

and men (couldn't find a pic of the jacket before he went into battle.) 

Couldn't end talk of leather jackets without adding the King of the Leather Jacket, the Fonz. ;D 

I wanted to share my outfit with ya'll, because it involves my favorite color combination, red and black. 

shirt~Goodwill/skirt,shoes,watch~Cato/necklace,bracelets, and earrings~made by me

This is one of my favorite dressy shirts

I needed a white skirt so badly, that I actually was willing to pay full price. 

I made this necklace and was going to sell it, but it went too well with this shirt. ;D 

Can you believe I got this from Goodwill, and the lovely beaded embroidery is still nearly in  perfect shape? 

I normally wear this shirt with a black skirt, since I don't have a red one. But I thought it would look more summery with a white skirt. What do you think? 

And last but not least, I ordered a new lens! 

It's a lovely 50 mm lens. I'm counting the days until it comes in! 

The Lord has blessed me with 3 photo opps just for this month! My photography business has been rather slow lately (probably something to do with all the heat and humidity), so I'm very thankful. I have a (my first) wedding, a family photoshoot, and my first engagement shoot! I'm praying the lens comes in before all the shoots. 

So how was your week? 

summer scarf

Remember in my last post when I said that I would post all my outfits this week? 

Well, he,he, let's just say that there was no time. Tuesday night we didn't get to go because my dad's boss called a last minute meeting. Wednesday night I was in a rush, but I'm wearing the same outfit as in this post. And Thursday night I wore an outfit that I haven't gotten pictures of yet, but once again was in too much of a rush. 

But yesterday, when we went meet my dad at work, I had enough time to take a pic of my outfit. 

So here it is. 

shirt and earrings~Cato/skirt~refashioned, thrift store/scarf~Cracker Barrel store/flipflops~Walmart

I was going for cool (as in temperature), cute, quick, and unrestricting.The flip flops, shorter skirt, and hair pulled back made it cool. The scarf and earrings made it cute, and of course the pony tail was much quicker then fixing my hair. And t shirts and jean skirts are about the most comfortable clothes I own. 

I actually refashioned this skirt. I got it from a resale shop, but it looked brand new and was made very well. The problem is that it went straight down, is thick jean material, and nearly touched the floor. I could only wear it when it was very cold for those reasons, which doesn't happen often in Louisiana. I was about to get rid of it, but then got the idea to make it shorter. I always liked how it fit at the top. I cut and hemmed it. And it is now my favorite jean skirt! I wish I had 5 or 6 more of them. 

Same earrings as in the last post. I love how I can either wear them to the store or to church. 

Recently, I realized that all my scarfs were either black, red, or grey. I desperately wanted a cute summer scarf that went with a lot of different shirts and was cool enough for spring and summer. I found this scarf on the 40% off rack at Cracker Barrel for $7. It goes with 4 of my shirts and 1 of my mom's shirts. It's light and cool, even with Louisiana heat. 

Yesterday I found a brown leopard scarf at Walmart for $3. I'm excited, because I didn't have any scarves that went with brown. 

Last night, I couldn't go to sleep for anything. I finally fell asleep at 3AM.  I finally finished "Pride and Prejudice", a 479 page book! I'll admit, I REALLY enjoyed it. As a matter of fact, I enjoyed it so much, that the review is going to have a post all by itself, because I have so much to say about it. I also have, "Northanger Abbey," "Emma," and "Sense and Sensibility." I also want to get "Persuasion", because I have some friends that really liked it. But for now, I think I'll start on "Emma." 

 Have a wonderful Saturday! 

Photography Challenge~2nd week

Whew! I have been gone all day, and I only have enough time to squeeze this post in before leaving again!

Once again, I am joining the photography challenge over at Blessings Every Minute of my Life. I'm rather excited that I'm actually participating two weeks in a row! 

Can I get a pat on the back? Anyone?

Ok, back to the subject at hand. This week's theme is "Shadows". At first, I thought it would be very difficult, but that's because I was only thinking of it in a certain way. But when I saw this picture I took a little while back, I knew it was perfect, and fit the criteria. Plus, it comes with an awesome story! 

(If you click on the picture, you will be able to see it bigger)

This picture has shadows in it, correct? 

Last September, I was riding with friends coming back from a Ladies Conference in Mississippi. We stopped at a tourist attraction, and it turns out, that it was once lived in by Jefferson Davis! Who happens to be my favorite President of all time! There were no tours going on, but we got to look around at all the pretty and interesting pieces. The house was immense, and gorgeous. This chandelier was in one of the sitting rooms, across from a room that had been used as a ballroom! And of course, that gets your imagination going, back to the age of Balls, and fancy dresses.....anyways, back on the subject! 

I thought this chandelier was lovely, even though it probably isn't THAT old. I also think this picture looks great in black and white. 

So anyways, that's my entry for this week! Go on over to Rebecca's blog and enter!