Love Is.

This weekend I had the chance to photograph an old friends wedding. 

I've never done any kind of photography before (other than my 2 classes at school) but I've been involved in lots of weddings and worked with a few photographers in the past. I'm not saying that made me confident or qualified AT ALL but I thought it would at least give me the ability to be generous to a family that has always been extremely generous towards my family and I. 

This family has always been a huge part in my life and Reeds. 

So when I heard the oldest was getting married in a small intimate ceremony I volunteered my limited talents to hopefully capture their exciting day with out having to empty their wallet. 

Rhett (the groom) worked with me for my wedding this past August. 

He helped me plan out the music for the ceremony and did an amazing job on our big day.

Rhetts dad is a Pastor and was the one to marry Reed and I. 

I just wanted Rhett to have the perfect day, his family did so much for my day that taking pictures was the least I could do in return. 

Rhett and Lindsey are so obviously in love. 

While preparing for the wedding day I helped with a few of the decorations, and each time I talked to Lindsey she mentioned the bible verse 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8. 

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails.

After going over this verse many times and hearing Lindsey talk about it I thought the perfect "theme" for their wedding would be 

Love Is.

So with out further adieu

Love Is... 

Rhett & Lindsey 

These are just a few of the pictures I took. 

I am working on creating a link to share all of them. 

Like I said, I am in no way a photographer, but I hope that my limited talent and knowledge was enough to helpt these beautiful memories last :)

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Frank Rhett Sanders III

Random Thoughts about being Married

Posting this later than normal. Sorry for those of you that have been checking all day for the post. I've been running errands all day and trying to be creative for sculpture. 

 I love being married. 

I think that I finally feel like I'm married. 

I know I've been married for about 7 months now so you would think that I would have "felt" married already. BUT, I didn't. 

I just have been having a blast. 

I love living with my best friend. Its totally awesome to know that I can see him whenever I want (kinda, outside of school and work). 

It's like a never ending sleep over, constant fun where we make the rules. 

I think the reason I didn't feel married until recently wasn't because the fun stopped but rather because I became appreciative and aware of what it means to be married. 

Reed and I promised each other that when we got married we weren't going to board ourselves up in the house and never see our friends again. 

We decided that we would continue to live the way we did before but add in the other person a little more. Sounds weird, but let me explain. 

This is our schedule. 

Mondays: I have 1 class and Reed has no classes. Once I get home from my class at about 10 am we usually spend the day going on errands or working on projects together. 

Tuesdays: I have class ALL DAY. I usually go in about 10 and wont get home until 8pm. By the time I'm home Reed is at work so I make dinner and we eat when he gets home at 9pm. 

Wednesdays: I have my one class again but Reed has a full day and goes straight to work. These are his "man nights", meaning him and some buddies from work go to Beefs after they get off. 

Thursdays: We see each other off and on during the day between classes but Thursday nights are my "girls night out". 

Friday: I stay at home with Tepe, work on projects and clean while Reed is at class. Usually we veg out on the sofa with the Tepster after dinner and just watch TV. 

Saturday: We both work on projects together and usually have friends over for dinner. 

Sunday: Church then Reed heads to work and comes home to dinner and more TV veg time. 

I love our schedule. 

I love coming home to him every night. 

I love that we both feel like we can depend on each other to run errands together, or work on projects. 

I love that I know I can go have girls night out and not have him being jealous. 

I love that I have the ability to be OK with him not coming home right after work. 

I love that neither of us feel the need to smother the other, but that we can still show affection and be confident in our love for each other. 

Basically, I decided that I've felt married all along. 

I just never called him my husband because he has always been and always will be my best friend first. 

Sorry for the super ooie gooie-ness of this post. 

But I love being married to Reed, and I hope the excitement never goes away. 

Here Are some of my favorite pictures of us :)  

I love our itsy bitsy teeny tiny family :) 

Reasons to be thankful wk. 3

Sorry that this week is a little late. 

This weekend has been so relaxing and I just didn't feel like sitting in front of the computer. 

This weekend I am SO thankful for the beautiful down time with my family. 

I know I say this every week but I really like to see what each of you post on Instagram. 

There are so many things that are just completely beautiful, yet we rarely notice. 

Thank you for noticing the beautiful things and sharing with us :) 

@ssclaude, @shandaughtry, @aenglun, @lucysatt, @mckennahersh, @mika_murray, @achewni

I was thinking about Instagram today. 

And why it is that we are so obsessed with sharing everything. 

Sometimes its annoying, we don't need play by plays of every ones life. 

But these social networks and new apps have created a world that is smaller and more intimate. 

I love sharing my life with y'all and I want to see yours! 

Instagram allows you to share the beauty around you instantly. 

How to play: download the picture you see below (right click to save to your computer, or save image or screenshot on your phone), post it on Instagram to get started! Then when you post your thankful picture each day, simply tag it with #KTAthankful and @gracielathrop so we can see! Each friday I will go through all of the posts from the week and share a few favorites!! 

Looking forward to seeing what you post! 

DIY Screen Door

Do you remember our itsy bitsy, teeny tiny kitchen?? 

Well look here for a reminder if you don't. 

So, I have been planning to put a curtain up to cover our pantry/food shelf thing. 

But I never got to it.

Now with Tepe getting older and BIGGER we need something to keep her from getting all up in the food. I decided that a screen door was the best solution. 

We went shopping at Lowes for something but couldn't find anything that was: 1. light enough to hang on the bookshelf, 2. sturdy enough for Tepe not to mess up and 3. looked the way I wanted :)

We built our own!!

First we got 1x2 boards and Pet screen. 

Then my handy dandy husband and good friend put together a frame that mimiced the screen doors we saw earlier. 

After framing it out they simply stapled the screen to one side.

Making sure it was pulled tight so it wasn't wrinkling. 

Once the screening was added I decided I wanted to paint it.

Probably should have painted it BEFORE adding the screen...

But painters tape worked just fine :)

And of course I used my favorite color.
What else did you expect!

Once Reed hung it and added a magnet to keep it shut we are done! 

Now Tepe can no longer crawl around with the cans on the bottom shelf :) 

(PS. I don't know why we 2 coffee makers, I don't even drink coffee! And yes this wall in the kitchen is lame. Maybe I should fix it...) 

Tepe was helping us build the door.

She was super hyper and running all over our little shed . 

Look closely and she has blue paint on her right ear.

Linked up to the DIY Fall Challenge! 

Another painting I didn't have room for!

Last week I shared with you the second to last painting project from my beginning painting class. 

And today I'm going to share with you my final assignment. 

It also happens to be my favorite :) 

The assignment was based off of 3 sources:

1. object

2. photograph

3. art historical reference

I chose the fall leaves as my object, hoping to mimic their amazing colors. 

A photograph of my dads green truck and our dirt road. I combined the two together in photoshop and worked from there. 

Then finally I used Morris Louis again as my inspiration (also a painting I have of my grandmothers). 

This was so fun to paint, I started with a realistic version of the view I wanted and then abstracted it from there. To give it a kind of whimsy look I decided to thin down my paint and allow it to drip around the canvas. 

I also tried to take large strokes keeping as little detail as possible. 

I only wanted it to be identifiable if you wanted to find an object in the painting. 

This detail shot is my favorite spot on the painting. 

The grill of the truck had a lot of different shapes and colors on it so it was really fun to try and morph in to the road itself. 

I gave this painting to my dad for Christmas. I love it and would have totally found some place to fit it but this was his dads truck and something that I knew he would really love :) 

 

and I just thought this was a cool picture of what my pallet looked like while painting this picture :) 

Thankful. (Instagram recap)

Hey guys, it's officially been 2 weeks of logging what you are thankful for. I really love seeing how God is blessing each one of you.

I'm laying in bed right now unable to sleep.

Thinking about how blessed I am to have the man of my dreams snoring next to me. I am also able to read my bible and track my progress right on my phone! Right here in bed. We are such a blessed society. I can fit my bible, calendar, phone, computer, and watch all in my back pocket.

I've been reading in Matthew and thinking about the passage in chapter 6 about worry.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? (Matthew 6:25 NIV)

I'm a constant worrier. I also want to know my next step and how it will work out. But recently God has been working on my heart and is allowing me to be thankful for the small things.

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. (Matthew 6: 28 NIV)

God gives us no reason to worry. He created us and all that we see. Literally the world is in his hand.

" If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? (Matthew 6:30 NIV)

God holds me and you. He knows what our next step is and what the next year, month or day of our life looks like. He created us to be like Him!! After all that how can he not love us more than the flowers of the fields and the birds of the air?!

Just remember these things so that you can notice the small things that are blessing your life. Be thankful for all that God has done and continues to do for you.


I hope that more of you continue to join us but for right now check out what these lovely ladies posted this week!
@ssclaude, @mckennahersh, @ cwalpole, @ lucysatt, @aenglun, and @mika_murray
Thank y'all for sharing with us!!

This week I hope all of you can join us in thanking God and sharing with our little Kitchen Table family. I enjoy seeing the blessings in your life :)