the proposal // 4.21.2012

the biggest surprise happened on saturday the 21st.... the man i love got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. i couldn't be any happier than spending the rest of my life with my best friend by my side. he is everything i have looked for in a husband and i feel like the luckiest girl to have found him- and not to brag, he is quite the catch! the Lord truly had direction in us meeting and i feel incredibly blessed.

i'll have to write more about how we met and our love story, but for now, i'll get to the juicy details of the proposal!

before that saturday, my parents had told me that my dad got 4 free tickets from work for a fancy dinner and show in Seattle. my two sisters went to seattle to hang out with friends, so we got ready and headed downtown. we met up with my sisters at kerry park on queen anne hill (its the spot where they take the gorgeous postcard photos of the seattle skyline). down the street is Parson's garden where we stopped to kill some time and walk around before the show. i got out of the car and my sister had told me how gorgeous the flowers were for me to take photos of. so that's what occupied my mind! i was excited for the show, little did i know that kevin was waiting for me a few yards away.
i walked through the path and saw rose petals and a bouquet of flowers on a bench. the first thought that crossed my mind was "awh cute, is someone taking wedding photos?!" as i rounded the corner, i saw KEVIN standing there, dressed nice, holding flowers and smiling at me. (a couple of my friends were in the bushes recording- i saw anna but didn't even think anything of it!) then it hit me- OH MY GOSH HE'S GOING TO PROPOSE!! i started to get a little emotional, but the shock of seeing him IN SEATTLE, standing in front of me halted those tears. i couldn't believe he was there! i looked in his nervous eyes as he knelt down to ask me to be his wife and... well obviously, i said YES :)

and now... for the wedding // 8.25.2012

p.s. here's a video my friend natalie took, you can't hear anything we say, but you get the gist of it! 

GIVEAWAY at Along Abbey Road blog >>

I am doing a giveaway over at the lovely blog Along Abbey Road!

She will announce the winner on Tuesday, May 1! 

the happiest day of my life!!

I'M ENGAGED!

& i can now call kevin my fiance. 

 (every time i say that word i want to say it in a french accent)

i'm the luckiest girl and happiest i've ever been. the proposal story is coming up and i can't wait to share it!

dear sunhat,

i'm so glad i found you. we'll have many memories this summer. i'll take you with me when we travel, i promise. 
much love,
me

goals | improve series

 andrea brionne design //

this winter didn't treat me so well. staying inside, no motivation for working out, craving ice cream every night, the whole shabang. i hate when you're in that rut where you know and have the desire to change bad habits, but for some reason you can't get yourself out of that hole. i don't know quite yet how to get yourself out of that hole, but i know that when you share your goals with others and ask for them to help you, it's a step up the ladder out of that hole.

i'm home. my mind is cleared from school work. i have a set schedule with enough time to really focus on myself and improving myself. there's always always room for self improvement.

i'm a plan ahead kind of person. like a plan 6-mos ahead kind of person. call me crazy? sure. but i like making goals, its just a matter of sticking with them! it's spring, the sun is shining (sometimes in seattle) and bathing suit season is here! (whaa? how did that creep up on me so fast?) this means "ready, set, ACTION" on goal making.

take the time to reflect on yourself and list the things you want to change. think about them and how you can go about doing those changes. it might be something simple like being more clean around the house. all it takes are the small daily everythings to make a big change. i've made my spring goals, and am ready to achieve them. now who's with me?

do you have any goals? i'd love to hear yours and feel free to share them here or with your friends and ready set action! lets see you accomplish those goals.

it's that wedding season

one of the blessings of being a photographer is photographing those special details and moments in the start of a marriage- especially when it's one of your best friends whom you've grown up with through those awkward teenage times into the college years. i am so happy for my friend getting married this weekend! we snapped some beautiful bridals today and i couldn't resist posting these two. aren't those shoes seriously amazing?

due to the lack of posting, i enjoyed my stay in oklahoma

one more state to check off my list of states to visit: oklahoma.
and it's a beautiful place! pictures are worth a 1,000 words, so instagram will give you some snid bits of my stay there. I'll definitely be sharing more this weekend!

Follow my life on instagram @andreabrionne

weekly faves #3 | inspiration

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9

i'm heading on my journey back to the beautiful evergreen state! this time, i'm flying :)

i'm coming home seattle.

weeeee made it!

we made it in 17 hours from utah to oklahoma. i don't know if it's just me, but as i've gotten older, i really don't mind long road trips. yeah, i despise sitting for long hours at a time, but i wasn't screaming in my head, "are we there yet?!"
we watched the sun rise together along with a gorgeous sunset (which i was driving at that time and made kev stick his head out of the window to capture as many pictures he could of the windmills). he's no photographer, but he proved me wrong with a few of them :) so i'm happy.

road trips really refresh your mind of how beautiful this earth really is. winding through the colorado mountains where armies of aspen trees lie then heading down into the valley and wheat fields of kansas, i am so amazed with the world we live in. how can you deny there is a God, when you can look outside your window and think about this beautiful earth he created just for us? its truly amazing and humbling.
 

weekly faves #2 | inspiration

01 / 02 / 03 / 04 / 05 / 06 / 07 / 08 / 09

what was our life like before pinterest?! who knows... :) but i noticed I picked a lot of things with blue in them. i think i have a crush on a certain color this week.

have a lovely easter weekend!

goodbye idaho

// photo credit

i'm hitting the dusty road to oklahoma. oh how i love long car trips! this will be an adventure and even better than ever because its just kev and i. 18 hours. lots of quality time if i say so. can i ask for anything better? well maybe if chocolate milkshakes are involved...

what are you doing this weekend?

this time last year..

 feeding the parrots at the san diego zoo!

... i was nannying in california. oh how i miss those waves. gorgeous sunsets. palm trees and california warm air. i'll be back this summer- don't you worry.

N is for Nothing to do with the letter N | abc dates

our attempts for self timer..

i have a secret crush on aspen trees

for some reason, N was a hard one to plan... so instead, we decided to do Nothing that has to do with N! clever huh? we grabbed ourselves a jamba juice and headed to the sand dunes where we took some photos for fun and watched the sunset on our way home.

blog design | snippets from a good life

i'm excited to share a blog i designed with you all! meet lovely lara and her blog snippets from a good life. she wanted a very simplistic look with a black and white theme.

if anyone is wanting a spring cleaning and a fresh new look for their blog, i design blog layouts for an affordable price!
so what do you say, lets chat and get this new look going for you (:

discovering your talents | improve series

graphic design and photography are my ways showcasing myself and the way i interpret the world around me. growing up i tried all kinds of things- ballet, tap dance, gymnastics, volleyball, art & drawing lessons, piano, etc. and i quit all of them. i didn't want to stick with something if i didn't care about it. my parents had me try all kinds of hobbies but i felt like a quitter and nothing captured my interests.
i was always the artistic child in the family and when asked "what do you want to be when you grow up?" i would reply "an artist or a vet!" (i was also very much a puppy and dog lover)

going into college almost 2 years ago, i had absolutely no clue what i was going to major in. i love teaching and would play "teacher" with my sisters when i was little, so i thought, why not become a teacher? that lasted for about a semester. i wasn't happy with that decision. i weighed the pros and cons of that field and with my parents help, i decided not to choose that. i was so worried that i would go into a career that i wouldn't love.

my senior year in high school is when i got into photography. i loved photography. i loved portrait photography. i LOVED making people feel good about themselves when they saw how beautiful or handsome they were in their photos- i knew this was a talent i wanted to develop to bless the lives of others.
starting a photography business was slow and indecisive. i couldn't make up my mind with my brand name (used to be Bri Photografie), my personal niche of photography, my style or my logo design. this is what sparked my new coming love for graphic design. i loved creating logos. i loved designing my website and blog. i LOVED being creative! there were endless possibilities.

i researched and narrowed down what i thought i wanted to do and i finally figured it out. all these years- i knew what my talents were! (took long enough...) i wanted to continue my photography business and have a graphic design business. i knew i wanted to be a mother, and my own business owner so that i could do both.

i am happy now. 

 andrea brionne design // poster

everyone is unique and has so many talents to offer. you may feel like a quitter. you may feel like you don't have any specific talents. but let me tell you- you DO have talents to offer this world and to bless others with. everyone came to this earth with talents to develop and share. maybe you aren't good at sports, but you may be an amazing listener. maybe you aren't artistic in any way, but you may be someone who always thinks of others and so you serve them.

i found an amazing talk that will help anyone out that feels lost about finding their talents:

How can you discover your talents and improve them?

1. Get yourself out there and try new things!
2. Spend time perfecting a skill or talent you already have
3. Take a class—try public speaking, drama, cooking, flower arranging, car maintenance, swimming, or diving.
4. Join or organize a community sports team
5. Grab a cookbook and prepare a meal for your family or friends
6. Serve others in different capacities. 
7. Don’t underestimate the talents of being an honest, good, and kind person
8. Pray- The Lord will always help you know of your divine talents. He wants you to develop your skills to bless others

i'd love to hear about your special talents :)