the golden hour.

If you know anything or are trying to learn anything about taking pictures, you've probably heard of a little thing called the golden hour. That magical time right before sundown when the light is golden, and you really can't take a bad picture.

Unfortunately for me, I can never find it.

I can't figure out how to use the light to my advantage and get those golden rays, and it makes me so mad. How can other people do it, and I can't?

Oh, but I can. And I did.

Back in January, by a stroke of good luck, my friend Callie and I chose the only day in a two-month window that was not freezing cold to take her maternity pictures. It was, in fact gorgeous weather, and I think at least half of Oklahoma City was at the Gardens taking pictures. That's where I found The Light.

Callie can attest to the fact that I went crazy and just started shouting, "The light! I found it! DON'T MOVE." For real. It was gorgeous. I finally felt like a halfway decent photographer and not a poser holding an expensive camera. 

Winning.

For those of you photographers (or hobbyists like myself),

here are a few links on the golden hour that I've found helpful:

The Secret to Backlighting Photography (A Video Q&A)
6 Steps to Creating a Haze Effect
How to Make Your Photos Magical

Got any golden hour tips? Do share!

The Best Marriage Advice I Ever Got

When you get married, you get a lot of advice. Some of it will apply to your marriage, some of it won't, but it's all given by well-meaning family and friends who (hopefully) just want to you to be happy in your marriage. I don't usually remember exactly who said what, but in this case, I know for a fact that it was my mother who gave me the best piece of marriage advice I've heard yet. Of course it would be my mother. The woman is brilliant.

This was maybe a year or so after Jordan and I got married, and I was on the phone with my mom. I was frustrated with Jordan for something, and I was having a good heart-to-heart with her, as I often do. Here's what she told me: 

You're on the same team.

You see, when I'm frustrated with Jordan, it's because I feel wronged. I feel like he's not doing things my way or he's disrupting my world in some way. Sometimes I react and strike back, hoping to make him feel pain just like I do. But what my mom was trying to tell me is that I need to stop acting like Jordan is trying to work against me. Yes, maybe he annoyed me, but it wasn't intentional, and I need to realize that Jordan and I are on the same team. We're not out to get each other. We're not trying to sabotage what the other person is doing.

If either one of us is irresponsible with money or if we're mean to each other or if we talk bad about each other to our friends, we both lose. If one of us needs help and the other doesn't do anything about it, our team loses. So being spiteful to Jordan doesn't just hurt him; it hurts me too.

I've heard spouses referred to as soul mates, best friends, and partners, among other things, but it's most helpful for me to think about Jordan as my teammate.

We encourage each other when we've struck out.

We protect each other when someone trash talks them. 

We run out to home plate screaming with joy when the other has hit a home run.

Because we're a team, him and me. As we go through life, we'll have our ups and downs, but no matter what, win or lose, we'll do it together.

Linking up with Kelsea and Kristin for Total Truth Thursday.

2/12

*Project 12: A photo on the first day of every month in 2014*
Click here for January

Read
Jordan = 1 book
A Glorious Army: Robert E. Lee's Triumph
by Jeffry D. Wert

Amanda = 2 books
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Traveled

Technically we didn't travel anywhere outside of the state, but one Saturday (the 22nd) we hit up the OKC fairgrounds for a "Friends of the Library" book sale. I could not believe how many people were there! And how many tables and tables piled with books there were.

Because we desperately need more books in our apartment.*

*No we don't.

Dates
Feb 1 (lunch at Cracker Barrel with a gift card)
We bought some candy from the gift shop, obviously.
I have longstanding childhood memories of Cracker Barrel and family road trips.

Weird peanut butter things for Jordan. Sour cherries for me.

Notable Events

Amanda = stick with stomach bug Feb 2-3 <-- We were AT a friend's house for a Super Bowl party when I threw up in their bathroom. That was fun.

THE OLYMPICS.
I should get a gold medal for Olympic watching.
We also went to two watch parties with friends on the 7 & 16

On Feb 25, I got a tetanus shot. OUCH. Seriously, what the heck?
I couldn't lift my right arm for two days!

Finally... I got inspired and spent two full days cooking one weekend.
I made my own chicken stock(!), garlic potato soup (using the chicken stock), and rolls. 
With the yeast and the kneading and everything. 
It was so very Laura Ingalls Wilder of me, and it was actually quite fun.
Too bad it took two days to make and ten minutes to eat. Such is life.

Have you ever made your own rolls or chicken stock?
Any recent tetanus shots? Did it hurt you as much as it hurt me?