Photography

HELLO 25.. HELLO ST.AUGUSTINE!

I think Birthday’s are just another day to be thankful and to realize how much we are blessed. Usually my birthday’s consist of a nice family dinner and day out! Well this year, for the big 25 it was more than just a dinner and day out. Thanks to my lovely boyfriend and family, it was a Birthday weekend getaway! It was so great and special of him. Since Xavier and I started dating, I have always made comments on how lovely it would be to just take a drive up to St. Augustine, FL. Well about a month before my big 25, I made it known that for this birthday I really wanted to go somewhere that I had never been to before and to be able to share it with his and my family. I think he got the point because one, he told me to stop worrying about it and two, he secretly planned the whole thing. He got my parents and his family all on the same page and they agreed to make the drive up for my birthday for the weekend.

I think one thing we did learn throughout his planning is how hard it is for both of our families to keep secrets,haha. We had a couple of people slip throughout the process. My mom during the week, slipped and asked me how the weather was in St. Augustine. His Aunt mentioned St.Augustine in a conversation about hotel rooms. And our friend Anita during lunch made it known that we weren’t going to be here for the weekend. Needless to say, I kind of had an idea a day or two before the actual trip. haha, my babe at least tried. Don’t get me wrong, I was still pretty surprised. Surprised because even though I kind of knew, I was surprised that not only did my parents go but also his parents and his aunt and uncle and their daughters. It was definitely shocking that he was able to get both of our families together, since we’ve failed several times at doing so. With the exception of some other individuals that I wish could have made it. It was still so special to have the ones that were able to make it, get away with me and leave their busy schedules behind.

The night before the trip, midnight to be exact, I got my Happy Birthday wishes and a beautiful watch and a card stating that we were leaving for the weekend! He can be so sweet. So the day of my birthday we got our bags and headed to my parents house. Turned out we were driving up with them, so off we were! Xavier than let me know that his parents would be driving up the next day since they had to work. Long behold, after a 4 1/2 hour drive we were there! Xavier’s parents and aunt and uncle would meet us there the next day.

All in all y’all, it was such a great birthday weekend! It meant the world to me that my family was able to be a part of yet another birthday. Turning a quarter of a century old is a big deal after all! I truly feel beyond blessed to have such a caring family, not just MY OWN but also Xavier’s. My family and his, are all so supportive of our relationship and have such loving hearts for both of us. I really feel thankful of everyone who put their time and effort on making this birthday special for me, especially Xavier for making the plans. Life can be overwhelming at times, but life can also be wonderful if we choose to make it that way. Life is also about all the little moments we get to experience and who we get to experience them with. This past weekend the moments were memories I will cherish for a life time. THANK YOU EVERYONE!!! You all made me a very happy birthday girl.

And just so you all know, St. Augustine, FL is a beautiful little city! It is full of history, scenery, relaxation and so much more! Being known to be the oldest city, it is so incredibly cute and charming. There was so much to see and experience all in this little place. The views and the stories behind every thing you saw were remarkable. I highly recommend a trip to this charming little city! You truly will be taken back by all it has to offer. It is romantic, relaxing, exciting, and full of charm all at the same time. It was definitely a hot hot summer weekend, with much walking, but it was so worth it! We all fought through the heat and soaked up all that we had to see and learn there. I won’t tell you too much so you all experience it yourselves one day but here are some shots we took while there. Some of our stops throughout the city included: The Fountain of Youth, Castillo de San Marcos, Flagler College, St. Augustine Lighthouse and museum, and a couple of the oldest churches in the city. Those were a few of our city stops to just name a few! Lets just say my camera was very happy there!! And so were we!! (unfortunately I don’t have too many pictures of Xavier’s family since we split up for some of the day they were there for different activities, but they very much were a huge part of my celebration!)

Again, a big THANK YOU to all my loved ones for making memories with me. Love you all. ❤

And to the Love of my Life… thank you for all your efforts in making this birthday extra special for me. Love you to the moon and back times infinity! ❤

-Jen<3

PS. I had an obsession with the beautiful doors

Thank You for the wonderful memories St. Augustine, see you soon! Thank you to my family and most importantly.. Thank you God for giving me yet another day & another year, to share with my loved ones and to enjoy this life you have given us! I am so grateful.

So what places have you all visited recently? =)
*all images are property of La Vida, life as it comes

SEE YOU SOON PRIMA

See you soon prima! For my non spanish speaking followers, prima means; cousin in spanish. And let’s just say that I have one special cousin that is so dear to my heart. She was here for her summer vacation from college. Yesterday she left sunny South Florida back for another semester in North Carolina. She is one of my best friends aside from being my cousin. No questions about it. Her name is Natalie. Natalie is 19 years old, going on 35. haha. I really don’t mean that in a bad way. You see..the point that I am trying to make is that she’s not your average 19-year-old. I have watched Natalie grow over the years and the change is remarkable. Remarkable in such an amazing way. I think what bonded us over the years, with me being some years older than her, is her sense of maturity. Watching her grow up from this little spunky girl to such a mature lady has been an honor of mine as her older cousin. I may be older, but I admire her in so many ways.

Natalie is one of the most DETERMINED individuals I have personally met and have had the chance to see the determination in full effect! When she put’s her mind into doing something, anything at all.. you better believe that she will deliver! I have been able to see her work hard for what she has and its honestly inspiring. When she was in high school she came up to me one day and said she was trying out for the “lacrosse club.” I remember looking at her and thinking “Since when does she even know what lacrosse is?!” Well, needless to say, she joined the “club” and taught herself and learned from those who were willing to teach her and soaked up all things lacrosse. That lacrosse “club” soon turned into a “team.” Soon after, we were headed out to her high school lacrosse games and watching her kick some lacrosse butt! Turns out the girl was good! SO good that she managed to be the first in our family to get a full ride scholarship to a University in North Carolina playing lacrosse. Her determination is so great that it never seems to fail her. And I pray that it never does =)

You see, besides being so determined..Natalie is such a loving individual. If and when you meet her, she seems a little straight forward and a bit standoffish. But once you get to know her and draws you in to her fun and laid back personality, you see all the love she has in her. She is so humble at heart, something I hope she never looses. Because Humility is a precious gift to have when you really possess it. She’s also a little jokester at heart and I love that about her because I think its something we both have in common. Laughing is always great, but when we laugh together its even better! I’m so glad that her and I will have so many memories to last us a lifetime. But I’m especially excited for all the future memories we will make!

So the day before she left, we did something we never get tired of doing in this family! Kayaking! Xavier and I packed our little bags and took her to our favorite park to kayak! It was such a beautiful day! The water was amazingly calm and clear, so we took advantage and kayaked out to this amazing sandbar in the Miami bay. It was like being on a little island surrounded by the clear waters. The view is always pretty awesome with the Miami skyline and the palm trees from a far. Breathtaking! I wish that we would’ve spent more time while she was here for the summer. But being a grown up sometimes limits our time. But at the same time, the time we did spend together was great and memorable and full of good laughs!

Were hoping that we can pay her a visit soon to her School and add to the memory book we already have. So dear prima, you will be missed while away at school but I couldn’t be more proud of all your accomplishments thus far. I already cannot wait to see you the next time. Never forget that your favorite cousin is just a phone call away and will always be here for you! Keep your head up at all times and never lose your humility and that happiness you carry on a daily basis. Keep grounded always and always remember to keep God in your heart! It’s so great to be the audience of your life as of now. I am so proud of the woman you have become and all that you have left to be. I hope you have an amazing season and a great semester! Love you Prima!

❤ Jen

Here is our amazing shots from our day kayaking with the Prima!

SEE YOU LATER ALLIGATOR! =)

SIMPLICITY IN DECOR

Life lately has been work work work guys! exhausting and stressful. But no better way to wind down and relax, then to keep the decorations going in our apartment! I mentioned in a previous post how empty our walls still seem to be since we first moved in. Well, slowly but surely, there has been some progress. One more wall down.. this time, in our Bedroom. A couple of weeks ago I made a trip to Ikea to pick up some wall ledge shelfs. I had come across a wall ledge shelf picture in a magazine and on Pinterest and thought they would make a great addition in our bedroom. My favorite part of them, is how simple they are. I’m a big believer of simplicity.. I think simplicity comes a long way in decor (and life ;P). So, it was time to make it my own! I picked up some picture frames, printed some pictures of ourselves and some shots we had taken ourselves with our Canon and Nikon cameras! (part of making it our own!) I also picked up some decor pieces a couple of weeks after that at one of my new favorite stores down here in South Florida, Hobby Lobby. So on one of our days off, it was time to relax and decorate. It is SIMPLE, a contrast to our dark furniture, the pictures are our memories, and its our own. I love it and hope you all do too. It’s a work in progress, and it’s not complete. But, I thought I would share where our simple wall is thus far and any suggestions are welcome. I want to bring some greenery in with some flowers or a nice plant, what do you all think??

First, we gathered our handy tape, in order for the shelves to be straight (In the Unexpected DIY post, I explained how we used these) then the shelves and up they went!

After going through a bunch of our shots, I finally narrowed down which pictures I wanted to display. Then, after some shuffling around, I was finally happy with the arrangements of the picture frames. And the Decor that I picked up went on top of our dresser and that was that!

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: