what do you use to edit your iphone/instagram photos?

i use the awesome VSCO camera app! just like i use their film editing presets for my own photography images, i decided to try out their app and instantly fell in love with it. it comes with set filters for you but what i mostly use is the exposure, saturation, fill light, and crop tools to edit my photos (and there's more options as well!). i'm kinda OCD about my images that i post on instagram, so i'm glad i have this app handy.




 past posts related to photography:

+ My Favorite Lens
+ Q&A / photography for beginners
+ My journey to photography
+ Be yourself, Everyone else is taken
+ Posing couples 

let's talk about the 50mm lens. if you are just starting out in photography, this lens is the number one lens i recommend! especially for portraits. if you're already into photography and have the 50mm then you all know how magical it is. the lower the aperture (f/1.2 for Cannon users and f/1.4 for Nikon users) the more bokeh, or blurred background, you'll get which creates creamy skin tones and sharp eyes. my 50mm is on my camera about 80% of the time. the nice thing about this lens is that it's affordable! if you're debating over the 1.4 or 1.8, it's worth it to fork out some more money and get the lowest aperture for the best bokeh in your images. 

i couldn't stand our bare walls so i came up with an easy way to decorate! finding small amounts of string is hard when you don't have craft supplies just laying around. luckily walmart has some cheap finds! i found lace strands for $1 and the mini clothespins for super cheap as well. and there you have it! probably the easiest DIY project you can do to add a little something to your walls.

we're going to visit poland at the end of the summer! kevin lived in poland for 2 years serving as a missionary for our church. i'm so excited to be able to visit all around poland and meet people that kevin taught. it's been 3 years since he was there and he's beyond ecstatic to visit. he's been blessed to have kept up his polish and luckily we met a couple at church that are both from poland! they've already invited us over for dinner to eat polish food.  my parents will be coming along with us at the end of the summer. kevin is determined to make poland my mom's favorite country.

we're also going to be visiting denmark! anyone been there and have any suggestions of must-see places?

( photos 1/2/3/4 )

my sister texted me yesterday about the massive tornadoes that swept through Oklahoma and immediately kevin's family came to mind. i quickly called and finally heard the good news that they were all okay. the closest tornado to them was just a mile away! i'm so thankful for their safety.

my heart goes out to those who lost loved ones, their homes and belongings. please remember those in Moore, OK in your prayers!

p h o t o

we're trying to explore as much of this place as we can this summer! we started at the zoo then the farmers market and this time we walked around Old Downtown Sacramento. there are a bunch of fun shops and places to eat. we had to stop in the candy store to grab ourselves some salt water taffy. my favorite flavors were the strawberry cheesecake, strawberry banana and the cupcake one (tasted like a birthday cake mix!). so good. we ended the trip by eating at the cheesecake factory. it was so tempting for me to not buy a slice of their chocolate cheesecake! maybe next time... 

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note to self: never complain; instead get lost in serving others. now that's happiness.

have a wonderful weekend!

while thrifting yesterday, i came across this beauty. i've been on the look out for some kind of project to do this summer. especially with taking online classes this semester, i have to take a break from the computer and work on something productive. when i saw this nightstand i couldn't resist. is it stable? yes. 20 bucks? why not! my vision instantly came to mind of repainting it, touching it up and changing the knobs anthropologie style. cute huh? i think so. i can't wait to get started on it!

so funny thing. you'll never guess what i found stuck behind the drawers... a condom! wrapped of course. how random is that? but i guess it matches up with the victorias secret price tag left in the top drawer as well. HAH.

currently loving these knobs here, here & here.

 
1. some of us ladies decided to check out the farmers market saturday morning. i wish i would have brought some cash because pretty much every booth was full of fruits and veggies. it was a smaller farmers market, probably the smallest i've been to. but you betcha i'll be there next saturday with some cash in hand to buy those fruits and veggies because THIS girl is becoming a less picky eater these days.

2. Kev and I watched Pocahontas last night...well only the first part due to our early bedtime schedule... because kev had never seen it before! any 90's child should have seen Pocahontas, boy or girl. just sayin.

3. for the first time, i swam at the pool and laid out for hours friday and guess what? NO SUNBURN! thank you sunscreen. i was the paranoid "i'm gonna get skin cancer" girl putting on sunscreen every 30 minutes. i have a very faint tan line to show for it.

4. i came home not expecting anything for mother's day, but being the amazing and thoughtful husband he is, i found a bouquet of roses sitting on the bed from kevin. made my day

5. having in-n-out burger just down the street from me... bad idea. i'm always craving their chocolate shakes.

I couldn't be more thankful for all that my mother has done for me. Who I am today was greatly influenced by her example and love. Happy Mother's Day mom!

since we didn't bring any furniture for our apartment here, the company that kevin works for furnished our apartment for us. it was so nice to not have to worry about bringing our furniture, but that means you get what you get which included an ugly arm chair - not pictured. since we had to fit everything into our two-door car, we barely brought anything to decorate our apartment. so i found a few ways to add personality to our new home to make it feel more home-y!

photos from our travels: puerto rico, san fransisco, st. thomas US Virgin Islands
planted succulents: glass bowl from michaels 
white frames: walmart
new glasses: rayban
book: Blog Inc.

it's definitely been an adjustment having kevin work long hours all day. i wake up early in the morning with him to help make breakfast and pack his lunch. then i don't see him until it's dark! i treasure the time i have with him on the weekends. although it's hard not being able to spend much time with him, it's such a blessing to be living here. we are surrounded by such wonderful people and who can complain when it's beautiful weather here?! 

at first we were worried about going to the zoo because of the predicted rainy weather, but we decided to go anyway and got lucky! the sun came out a few times while we were there so it was nice and shady most of the time. i love going to the zoo! we had such a fun time seeing the different exhibits. we couldn't stop laughing at the talking parrot! he kept saying "Hello! How are you?" and he would mimic cat "meows" as people walked by. i recorded it on my vine (@andreabrionne) but i'm not sure how to link it on here, so add me on vine! after visiting the zoo we went out to lunch at Panera Bread. it's been so fun getting to know all the wives that are on the selling team. i'm excited to explore more around sacramento! anyone have any places that we should know about?