I'm totally obsessed with the weather we're having right now. Beautiful, brilliantly blue skies, seventy degrees, soft breezes, bright sun...I could really get used to this. I've been like a solar powered lamp, soaking up the warm fall sun before winter's bitter cold sets in.

This wonderful weather is perfect for picnics...something that we've been doing quite frequently in our backyard. I love it.



Bowtie pasta...



...mini open faced cream cheese and jam sandwiches...



...chocolate cookies...



...water from a "fancy" bottle...



...picnic blankets...



...and don't forget the umbrella "just in case it rains". Never mind there wasn't a cloud in the sky. What can I say - Lilly likes to be prepared.

How is the weather where you live? Do you eat outside when it's nice?

-carlotta

 Yesterday I was craving photography. Since we've gotten back from Germany, life has been an absolute whirlwind. No relaxing and getting adjusted to the new time zone for us! I was so busy with everything going on, I put photography on a back burner.

But? I really missed it. Really, really missed it.

MeMe had twenty minutes before she had to leave for ballet, so I dragged both MeMe and Lilly outside for a little photo shoot yesterday afternoon. And with each click of the shutter, I felt better and better.








(I'm serious. Before taking the above photo, Lilly said, "Dude. Take my picture. Seriously." And then proceeded to pucker up her lips and formed her fingers into a peace sign. Something tells me she's going to be even more trouble when she's older. ;))

I know I'm biased, but, dang,  I have some amazingly gorgeous sisters.  I'm so jealous of Lilly's skin. And eyelashes. I adore the color of MeMe's eyes and her hair is beautiful.

Do y'all notice anything different around here? Yep, instead of pastors-girl.blogspot.com, it's now pastorsgirlsponderings.com! It's still in the process of transitioning (it can take up to three days before it's available all over the internet), but it's coming along nicely :) After it's finished transitioning, it'll automatically redirect anyone that arrives at pastors-girl.blogspot.com to my current URL. I've updated my blog button as well to the correct URL. If you could grab the button with the correct address, that'd be great. When you visit my blog from now on, just type "pastorsgirlsponderings.com" instead of my old one. When you're on the new URL, my followers gadget will work, but while it's still transitioning, the gadget won't work on my old URL. I've been planning this change for quite a while...exciting stuff, guys!

Does this make me a total geek? I mean, I'm getting excited over a URL change. Man. I really have no life.

Oh, and I cleaned up my sidebars a bit...I finally figured out how to separate the various gadgets in my sidebars with horizontal lines. I think it looks so much better now...what do you think?

-carlotta

PS Thank you all on your input yesterday on my lens decision! I was originally leaning toward the 55-200mm lens, but now I'm thinking the prime might be better right now. I'll let you know what I decide :)

Edit 7:28pm 10/14: I'm in the midst of changing something about my blog (what it is, you'll know soon :)), so the follower gadget may not be working for some of you right now. Sorry! It should be back to normal soon. :)

1. laughing is the best exercise. It's true! We recently visited some good friends and I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. It was one of those moments when one person starts laughing for no reason, the others laugh because the face he makes while laughing is hilarious, he laughs at the others...it just goes around and around. (If an English professor read that last sentence I'm sure they would have a cow. Not my finest grammar moment.) I was seriously laying on the floor, unable to stop myself from cracking up. While we were all laughing, Louis decided it would be a great idea to take pictures of everyone in mid snort. Which resulted in several extremely unflattering, but hilariously funny, photos. Thanks Lou ;)
And now? My stomach is so sore. If I could get a six pack just from laughing, that'd be my kind of exercise.

When was the last time you laughed so hard tears came to you eyes? :)

2. chocolate makes me happy. I've been noshing on the many bars of chocolate I brought back from Germany. Yum. Me and chocolate, we get along real well. Especially chocolate with hazelnuts. Which is pretty much Nutella in solid form. Is there anything better than that? I think not. 


3. bliss. For both me and the kitten, Jasper. Oh, and please excuse my freakishly large hands...Jasper, being so tiny, accentuates that fact ;)

4. lenses: 35mm vs 55-200mm. I'm in the market for getting another lens...right now I just have the one that came with my camera, the 18-55mm. While eventually I'd love to get both, I'm looking to get just one at this time. I'm heard such wonderful things about the 35mm, like the shallow depth of field and how wonderful it is for portraits. As for the 55-200mm, I've heard great things about it too. I love that it has a fairly large range...it would be perfect for those times when I wish my lens could get closer to the subject.

But do I really want another zoom lens so soon? Should I go with the prime lens first instead? Your opinions would be great appreciated!

5. i've been craving photography. Is that even possible? But really. After getting back from Germany, it seemed that my workload increased times ten. Which it did, because even though I had two classes in Germany, that was all I had to do. Now...I have to actually deal with life. Slowly but surely, I've been cutting back on my computer time.
Anyway, I've really been craving photography. I want to get out in the beautiful golden light, grab a couple of siblings, and shoot away. But I haven't quite gotten around to do that. I should schedule a time when I can just go outside and snap away. After all, isn't photography art? This idea is sounding better and better by the minute ;)




6. my paris photos. I'm still going through them. It's insane. Once I finish wading my way through the never ending sea of pictures, I'm going to have some printed and then hang them around my room. I love the feeling of being surrounded by photos I've taken...it's so great.

Happy Thursday!

-carlotta

(aka the new and improved version of Happiness Is)

To tell you the truth, I had gotten rather sick of Happiness Is. I didn't really like the name, and it was rather superficial, in my eyes at least. I was listing what made me happy, after all! So, I've now shut down Happiness Is, and instead...

Tadaaaa! I proudly present to you "On Cloud Nine", my new and improved blog hop!

<a href="http://pastors-girl.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://imgur.com/GxpOA.jpg"/></a>

"On Cloud Nine" is more photography oriented. If you're on cloud nine, as you know, you're filled with joy. So, just put up a post containing a photo that makes you happy, joyful, exuberant...something that warms your heart or tells a happy story. Something that puts you on cloud nine. You can add as much or as little text along with the photo as you would like. After writing your post, come back here to link up - you have until Thursday at 11:59pm CST to do so (it will close at the same time every week). Don't forget to grab the above button for your post! :)

There may be a winner...so for example, I would start out as the judge and pick my favorite photo from everyone who linked up. Then the person I chose to be the winner would judge for the following week, so on and so forth. What do you think? Let me know if that's something you want to do!

A few weeks ago, many of you voted on a poll regarding which direction Happiness Is should take. The majority of you asked to have a separate photography blog hop. While I don't think I can commit to hosting two blog hops each week, I will hold a photography contest once or twice a month. Sound fair?

Here's my photo for this week.

I loved the perfect shape of this leaf and its beautiful, bright colors. Remember when I decided to embrace fall? Well, I'm not just embracing it anymore. I'm completely head over heels in love. I. adore. it. I want to bake epic amounts of cookies with cinnamon in them. And throw leaves in the air while dancing around.
Aren't all you autumn people proud of me? ;)

Happy photo-taking!


-carlotta

PS I'm trying a thumbnail linky this time...excited to see how it goes! Oh, and stay tuned for the other change that's coming to my blog :)