the sofa and some film shots

Okay so here are a couple of shots that I took with a different Minolta body... the xg7. It's older than the x370. You can see on the first picture that something inside the camera left a scratch across the film as it advanced. And it skips exposures. Some of them are completely exposed. I am so in love with the look of this camera, but I am so completely frustrated that I can't find a good vintage minolta body that works. I need one that works. Consistently. Like every shot. Anyone know where I can find one?


I included some pictures of the sofa for you readers. Thanks for the comments, everyone. You guys are all so sweet. I really love you all. I'll take some more pictures of the sofa so you can get a better idea of its shape, and I'll also include some shots of the plate wall. Heck, I might even do a run-through on how I trim my bangs since Emily asked. (Emily, it's super easy.)


Piper and I have been so busy these past couple of days. I have some new things to share soon... a facebook page for lightnest, a new logo, and a brand name that unifies the sewing and photography. Oh, and I registered the domain for my site. I am really excited to share those things. Be back soon.


xo
p

stuff I like

I look like I am about to start laughing in this picture. Do you remember my post on the New Year? I said I wanted to grow my hair out long again. It is finally long enough to put up. I am so beyond happy about this. I will probably wear it like this every day for a while. If you know me, get used to it. It's here to stay. And I learned how to trim my bangs myself, so I probably won't be paying to get my hair cut anytime soon. Trevor is thrilled. 


Can you see the floral sofa in the background behind me? That is a vintage sofa I found at the thrift for $50. It is lovely. It has long, straight lines and is low to the ground. It was in near perfect condition. Such a good find.


I also found a 5-piece set of Fire King jadeite for $15!! I was super happy to find it. I have been looking for some forever to add to my plate wall. Did you know I have a plate wall? It's in my dining area. One of these days I'll post a pic.


We watched The Fighter last night. I loved every minute of it. I love the way it was shot, Christian Bale (and everyone else) totally blew me away, and it was such an honest look at addiction and what it can be like. I loved Mark Wahlberg's character. I loved the way it ended. So many movies end on an ambiguous note, which I realize appeals to lots of people in our postmodern generation (including me oftentimes). Not so with this film. Watch it.


Today we went to Big City Bread after church with some friends and Piper and I wandered into Blue Tin Studio which is right behind the cafe. I found this local artist that I totally love already. You can find her Tumblr here. Blue Tin is a great little spot in general. There was so much art that I wanted to put on our walls (especially Piper's). 


I absolutely MUST mention One Love Photo. Their images are amazing and they shoot almost exclusively with film. They have totally influenced the direction I want to go with my pictures. I can't stop looking at their stuff. For more visual stimulation, check out my pinterest. 


I want to also tell you guys about some friends that have a band called Easter Island. Their song 'Proud' was included at the end of this episode of "Off the Map" (go to about 38 minutes if you can't watch the whole thing). You can also hear the song here. It's really cool to see them get such big exposure. Also, check out the 'friends and family' section on the sidebar. I've added some friend's blogs recently. 


Last, I'll be in Columbia, SC on April 16th to sell my bags at Crafty Feast. It is going to be totally awesome.. an outdoor market with independent films, live music, food, and lots of good people. Come visit me!! While I'm there, I will be spending as much time as possible at The F Stop and staring at the TLR and medium format cameras. I might rent one for the weekend.


Some good stuff is in the works... a blog makeover for Kingfly, making bags all over the place, and donating a bag and photo shoot to UGA's chapter of the Equal Justice Foundation for their upcoming benefit auction. Should be a fun night. I am planning to make my cocktail dress, so if it turns out good I'll share. If it doesn't I will probably break down and buy or borrow.


Be back soon.
xo
paige

pictures and thoughts

These are some shots from a sweet time we had with friends recently. You can't hear the music but it was beautiful. There really are some special, amazing people in our life. I'm thankful. 

Just so you know, I am mainly posting the rest of this to remind myself of some important things. I don't want to forget what God is teaching me right now. Recently I posted about how we were going to go camping and it was going to be a time of re-unification and remembering and planning for our family. Then I wrote about how it turned out to be too cold at night to camp with little Piper. We went instead to stay at our neighbor's cozy lake house in Thomson... anyway, I didn't write about this, but the whole trip was one of those things where our brokenness was just staring us right in the face. It was like everything came to a head in those couple of days... our selfishness, our ugliness, our tender areas of hurt being pressed. And it stormed, it rained. It was cold. The whole time. The weather was like a physical demonstration of what was going on between us. But the tension eventually broke... things were confessed and brought to the light.


I drove back through Thomson on the way to visit my parents on Monday. God met me on the way and showed me something... instead of this grey, rainy, cold landscape, everything I saw was beautiful and green with life. I felt like he spoke to me that morning. These painful things we are working through are part of the hard process of growth and discipline that is evidence of God's gracious work in our life. It's not like our ugliness and junk just comes out of nowhere... it was there all along, we just didn't see it. God is the master Artist, and He is stripping away the things that are not pleasing to his eyes. He is making us new. He's giving us life. Sometimes it is easy to forget... but we are in it for the long haul, and his plans for us are to make us reflect his image more. He is cultivating us like a garden and the rain is part of the process. This cultivation involves discipline. The writer of Hebrews said, "... but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." The fact that these things are brought to the light gives me hope because it is evidence that God is at work in our life. He began a good work in us and He will carry us, He will save us, He will finish it. 


I have a couple other observations from what is happening in our life right now. One of them has to do with romance. As I think about what I thought marriage was like before I got married, I thought it was all about being on top of things and getting things right in life. I never knew until I was in the middle of it that it means being bound, as a sinner, to another sinner, and staying. It means having the hard, difficult, sweet gift of experiencing and extending grace together. Romance, for me, is not about finding a perfect man and sailing away into the ever after (he's the prefect man for me, but he is not perfect). It is about being committed to this person and making their life your life, come what may. It is about fighting brokenness together, seeing God's love triumph because sin never has the last word in our life. It means building my life and identity on the fact that God loves me perfectly, that He is my spouse, and because of that I am free to love my husband even when he fails, and he can love me freely even when I fail. I know God brought me together to be with this man. But he didn't make us instantly free of our junk when we got married. We have to work through those things together.


These are precious things that I wrote. I haven't written anything this personal on my blog in a while, because as it has grown, I backed off of writing about our family's inner workings. I just wanted to record these things to have them as a reminder to me and our family. One day I may be the only person who reads this blog, and I want to look back and know that what I wrote was real. I want to see the big picture of what God has brought us through. I am seeing God's strong hands hold me and keep me. Even though this is a hard time, it is sweet in so many ways. I am thankful for this discipline in my life. It is honest, God's truth brought to bear on my wandering heart. 


Be back again soon with an introduction to my friend Tyler, the lovely girl that's helping me this summer with the lightnest shop. Maybe she'll do a guest post (that's a hint Tyler). And a follow up to the film camera saga.


xo 
paige

it's been warm here

Wow. This has been a crazy week. Trevor and I have been struggling with school and all that goes along with it. We would really appreciate your prayers. God has been unchanging and faithful through it all. He is so good and full of steadfast love. I haven't yet written the post about our theology that required the last post's disclaimer. I haven't had the time or energy. I'll get to it soon, and when I do, I'll title it 'disclaimer post'. That way everyone can know whether or not to read it.

Did you notice that my blog got hacked? Yah. The problem is fixed now, but apparently it was distributing malware without my consent. Lame. But like I said, it's no longer an issue and you can once again visit my blog with reckless abandon as frequently as you wish.

This past week was Trevor's spring break, and we planned to go camping. But it was still in the 40's at night. We were not very excited about Piper getting sick or being unable to sleep, so when my neighbor graciously offered us her family's lake house, we accepted. It's a cabin on Lake Oconnee in a great community. It had a cozy hammock, running water, a shower, a refrigerator, warm beds, and heat. Notice all the warm things I am mentioning... it ended up being cold and rainy the whole time we were there. We decided to come home on Wednesday. The next day was in the high seventies with lots of sunshine, and I was really wanting to get Piper outside. My friend Elisha told us about Sandy Creek Park (click for a picture)... it's a gorgeous state park that has a lake with a beach, an awesome playground, tons of woods, a frisbee golf course, and it is super clean. we packed up the car on Friday and headed out to the park. We had so much fun!! We got some sun, played in the sand and water, swung on the swings, met some other kids. I went ahead and bought an annual pass for $30. We plan to live out there this summer. Actually we plan to live out there two to three days of the week, and then work the other days. Until we can move to a farm or at least a place with some woods and grass to roam, it gives me so much joy to be outside with my girl. Our friends will be out there too!! I am so excited for our summer. 

The pictures above... there's a Mexican family that lives close to the park. They built a large patio next to their house and turned it into a restaurant. The food is so amazing. It's like being in Mexico. I love the family too... they're so sweet and they really take pride in their business. Every detail is perfect and the place is so clean. I hope we can stop to eat every once in a while and support their business.

Be back soon with some pictures from a memorable night with friends... music, lovely home, sweet friends.

xo

paige

the family these days

Time for some words about the fam. 

Piper is 22 months old. She is definitely developing some first-born child traits... she likes to tell us what to do. When Trevor sings with the music in the car, she says, "Don't sing that." She has also become really affectionate as of late. She gives kisses and hugs liberally. When she sees a dog, or a cat, or a bird, or anything else she knows, she says, "Hello ruff ruff (Dog). Kisses ruff ruff. I love you ruff ruff." It's always in that order. She is in the early stages of potty training. She has only actually made it into the potty once, and she has gotten super close (on the floor) like four times. I realize that my blog mainly consists of pictures of her, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes it is nice to have some variation. I am going to remedy that... I'll post some recent photog work, and also try to get more pictures of all of us together. Or at least more of Trevor and me, though they will probably be separate. Someone has to operate the camera.

Trevor traveled to Miami last weekend. He was on the mock trial team at law school this year, and they competed against other schools in a tournament. Even though they didn't advance, he really feels like he did well, especially toward the end. I know this experience gives him confidence for the time he will soon be spending in court trying cases. It is nice to have some extra time with him now that it's over :).  We are planning a trip to the beach with my side of the family over winter break next year, and I realized that he will only have one semester after that... he is over half way finished, and it has gone by so quickly. He is in the process of figuring out what he'll be doing for summer employment. I am hoping he'll find something he loves.

Spring break is coming up... we're going camping :) We have so much to talk about in terms of the direction our family is headed. We need time to reflect and get centered. It can be so hard to stay unified when we are both super busy, but we want to do these things together, not alone. We want to share our successes and dreams as ours, not his or hers, and our struggles as ours, not his or hers. Our trip will involve lots of hoping, planning, sun, sleeping in our tent, hobo meals, campfires, playing with Piper, and time away from distractions. We are super excited. 

I have been reading alot about film, 35mm and medium format, and fine-tuning the direction I want to with my photography. It is definitely a journey, and there are some changes I want to make sometime in the future with my equipment. But that is probably a ways off :). I am not where I want to be with my pictures,  but I really have come a long way and I love the process of learning and growing. I have a fitting for the first of four bridesmaids dresses I am sewing on Friday, and a craft fair in Columbia, SC on April 16th, so between that and photo shoots, sewing class, making bags, and tending to sweet Piper, things have been full. But good.  Today I had an awesome shoot with an engaged couple! They were so laid back and fun.... we planned to shoot outside, but it started raining, so we went to Big City Bread and had an awesome time together. I also recently photographed a twelve week old baby boy, a hairdresser's work, and a couple that is expecting a baby in May, all of which were super fun and super good. Also, another thing that is exciting... my friend Tyler is coming on board at lightnest this summer to sew and market the bags with me :). This is awesome. There are so many opportunities for growth that I haven't taken advantage of because of time constraints, so I am pumped to see what we can do.

Before I go, a couple of readers asked me to expand on what I wrote in my last post about our journey from narrow religiosity into vibrant relationship with God. I'll write about that next. There really is so much to say! I have been wanting to write about it since I started this blog, but never did. I think I was worried about people judging me. Which is silly. I am not worried about that as much now. This is a disclaimer, though. If you read my blog and couldn't care less for what I have to say about the Bible, or if you plan on judging me (wink wink), no worries, but maybe skip the next post. I am still glad you're here, though.

xo

paige

John came for a visit

So... when we were in Bible college in Portland, we had the opportunity to learn from some amazing teachers. John was one of those teachers, but our relationship with him was unique because he also became our friend. We first met him in the fall of 2007. I was enrolled in one of his classes, and I remember that he began the first class by talking about how awesome his job as a landscape photographer was, and how we (his students) would probably never get a job as cool as his. He was right. He gets to travel all over the world and photograph this beautiful planet we call home. You can see some of his images at www. creationcalenders.com . 


Taking this class was life changing for me, and for Trevor (he was taking the same class with another amazing prof, Ray Lubeck). This was during a time when we had come from some pretty rigid, legalistic ways of thinking about God and the Bible, and had not been exposed to many voices that encouraged us to think differently. I experienced freedom in that class in some vibrant and incredible ways because I learned how to see the Biblical narrative as a whole, and how the books are all part of this great story. I saw for the first time the grandeur of God's love. Our class met at night, once a week, and one night I noticed John eating in the cafeteria. He lived outside of Portland and would commute to class, sometimes without eating at home. I took what was, for me, a big step and asked if he wanted to eat with us instead. He ended up coming for dinner every Monday night during that fall semester of 2007 and the spring of 2009, our last semester at Multnomah (I was big with child... Piper was born on May 29, two weeks to the day after we graduated). Those were precious times, though they were brief. I still remember alot of the things that John said, even though some of them didn't make sense to me at the time. We weren't ready to hear some of the things he said when he said them. It has taken time for us to work through those narrow ways of thinking, and we are still in that process. It's a journey that I hope to write about some day. Being able to talk with him about that journey was really cool. He got to meet Piper again (he met her as a brand new baby). He talked to us about his family, photography, some things he's working on, and his School of Theology.


He spoke to a group of students at the law school on Monday, and then also talked about some things he had been thinking about recently for a group of our friends at dinner. He also pointed us to some resources. We're hoping to read some together. I had to take down the list because of problems with my site. Please email me if you are interested in seeing the list. It was a great time all around. I am super humbled by the number of  friends that have come to see us, and this was no exception. We're hoping to travel to Portland for John's week-long School of Theology at some point.


Anyway, I have been busy sewing and shooting! Three photo shoots already this week, new bags being made for the shop, a dress fitting next weekend for the wedding I am doing in September, preparation for a craft fair in April, and more photo shoots next week. The other parts of life have been good too -- Trevor traveled to Miami for mock trial, Piper has been having fun with the warmer weather, and I had an awesome time last night sipping cocktails and singing with the women from Resurrection. I'm still planning to do an update on our family soon, and I'll also share a link to my flickr when a couple images are up from my recent work. 

Okay! Talk again soon!!
xo
paige