My Summer in One Blog Post // Personal

Summer is officially starting to come to an end. School is starting (and my little sister is finally at college...sigh...), the days are starting to be a little shorter, and there's a cool breeze in the air that signals the turning of leaves, and the eventual ushering in of winter.

This summer has been so long and so short. When I think about the beginning of my summer, and my epic vacation of a lifetime (pictures from the trip are here and here), it seems like it was so far away. But as most seasons and times go, this one flew by and I am truly sorry to see it go.

If you've been following along with my blog, you've read about so much of my summer. From weddings, to workshops, to a Goo Goo Dolls concert and more, I know I've truly been able to make the most of each moment! There were a few things different about this summer, though, and I want to give a shout out to the few little additions that made it great. So here's my summer, boiled down to a few sentences and a ton of good memories :)

1) Long walks. I honestly used to hate walking. HATED it. Ask Nathan - I always give him the worst time if he parks far away from buildings and I have to walk a little ways. Never mind the fact that I regularly run 4 miles, that always irks me. But this summer, I have discovered walking. Between the peacefulness of being alone with my thoughts, and the relative coolness of the month of July, that has been a big fixture in my life this summer. Plus I get to bring this cutie along :) (disclaimer: iPhone picture!)

2) Can I just say...I LOVE watermelon? Love it. I could just sit and eat an entire half, and then crave the rest of it even if I'm too full to chow down. Until these are officially gone from the grocery store, I'll be eating every one I can get my hands on.

3) Smoothies! They have dominated my life and my breakfast for the past several months. I've put in everything from avocados to chia seeds to kale. And I've loved every minute of that! Some of my favorites are from Oh She Glows, but my all time favorite has to be my banana-avocado-chocolate smoothie. Yum.

4) But if ANYTHING, this has been the summer for iced coffee! Iced coffee has been my near-daily companion. I've tried Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Panera, and finally settled on my own as my favorite - of the Hazelnut Cream variety, that is. Of course, it didn't help that I've slowly been cutting caffeine out of my diet, so decaf it was! 

And that, friends, was my summer! How about you? Did you try anything new this summer that you LOVED?

Oh She Glows // Spady Sunday

My personal belief on this blog is that I should first and foremost share about my photography. After all, that's why you're reading - because I'm a photographer! But after that, I also want to be able to share the personal aspect of all this with you. And for me, that means if I find something amazing, I want to share it with you, too! This post involves just that.

One of the things I am pretty passionate about is living a healthy lifestyle, in all areas. Eating healthy foods and exercising are definitely the aspects I'm good at, but the parts I struggle with are living a balanced life and learning how to rest. Though I still work on those daily, I wanted to share about one of the best parts of healthy eating as of late.

My sister-in-law introduced me to Oh She Glows a little over a year ago, with a post showing how to make your own almond milk. Honestly, I was not interested at all. I drink dairy milk, I'm not a vegan (and it's a vegan blog), and I had no interest in making milk when I could just run to the grocery store and pick some up. 

But then I started looking at some more recipes, and digging around the site. And I realized I had discovered something amazing. If you aren't sure about eating a vegan recipe (no, I'm still not a vegan and have no plans to become one!), her overnight oatmeals will change your mind and rock your world. The first one I ever tried was her apple pie oatmeal. As bad as that sounds for you, it is actually extremely healthy and so filling! It was at that point when I realized that I don't have to be hungry an hour after breakfast - I can eat something hearty and filling that's really good for me, and something that tastes incredible on top of that.

Since then, my mornings have been transformed. It's the summer, so I'm much more apt to make a smoothie than hot oatmeal, but I go to bed each night with a game plan of what I'm going to have for breakfast, and I'm actually excited about it. Gone are the days of eating cereal and trying to throw something together last minute. For someone who is not a morning person at all but still gets up at 5:30, I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have something to look forward to when I wake up. I'm already planning my smoothie for tomorrow ;)

So even if you're not sure, I'd encourage you to check out her blog, and try just one recipe. Let me know what you think, and I hope it can make your mornings that much better, too. Happy Sunday, everyone!