I haven’t written a post about travel in a while, so I figured, why not? When I saw the post that my friend & awesome blogger Kyle Hepp wrote, I knew I wanted to steal the idea. When I saw that she ALSO stole the idea, I wanted to steal it even more. Here goes…

Travel has a way of illuminating things. I might even go so far that one of the great things about travelling is to learn more about yourself, even if it isn’t so pretty. Like that time I was in Guangzhou & instead of checking out the city, I lazily napped in my hostel & watched a marathon of How I Met Your Mother. Yeah, that happened.

So here it is, ladies & gents. My 7 travel truths. Things I have learned about myself through travel that I probably wouldn’t have learned otherwise.

1) I love handwashing clothes. Yeah, I definitely would not have learned that one if I hadn’t been forced to hand wash my clothes in my hotel’s bathroom sink while travelling. There’s something awesome about washing your clothes the same way millions of other people do, and millions of others did before you were even born. It helps save electricity & water too! Let it be known though, winter coats are NOT fun to hand wash. Ha

2) I’m drawn to the mundane. Everywhere I go, I am instantly attracted to the simple things. An average meal, public transportation, the way that stone house has weathered, etc. It probably seems really lame to everyone else who hears me gush over my OK plate of fried rice. As my Chinese travelling companion Amy put it, “Wow, you really like walls”. As awesome as a country’s attractions can be, it’s the mundane, simple things that make up a culture.

3) I have more patience for long bus/train rides than anything else in the world. I seriously surprised myself on this one. Once I took a 48 train ride in China. I thought I would go crazy, but it was pretty mild! I even once wrote an entry in my journal titled “How to waste time on a Chinese train”. I became a pro at it & even looked forward to it. There’s something awesome about having a huge block of time just to think, sleep, play cards, and eat cup noodles.

4) I can sleep anywhere. Sketchy hotels, previously mentioned long train rides, or even quick 30 minute bus rides across town.

5) I easily trust people. Luckily that hasn’t come back to bite me in the butt, but it has led me to some of the best experiences I’ve had while travelling. A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met yet. Sure, random dude I just met, I will come back to your house & have dinner with you & your wife. If my gut tells me no, I say no of course. But otherwise…

6) Sometimes I like the beaten path. ‘The Great Wall of China is a hug tourist trap for a reason. IT’S AWESOME. Sometimes you just have to pay a ridiculous amount of money for a ticket to some huge attraction because it freakin’ rocks. Being a good traveller doesn’t mean you should miss awesome, frequently visited places just because lots of people have been.

7) Travel made me appreciate home. Sometimes if you are somewhere for too long, you stop seeing its ridiculous greatness. Travel gets you out of your comfort zone & for me, helps me appreciate the comfort of home.

Well there you go. My 7 travel truths. What has travel taught you?

Choosing your own work for your portfolio is so strange. It’s no wonder good photo editors can be priceless to a photographer’s career.

I always find myself coming back to old photos, photos that I previously didn’t even notice or care much about. I’ve spent today updating my portfolio, so I went through a lot of my old work. One photo from my first wedding of 2010 really caught my eye. It’s so strange because I honestly didn’t remember this shot one bit. I didn’t even consider putting it in their blog post.

The bride’s dad, the ring-bearers, and flower-girls are standing outside the church waiting for the OK to start walking down the aisle. It’s the anticipation that gets me in this shot. It’s the jitters. And I know they have them because I get them too. Surely the bride’s dad is a bit nervous. He’s about to walk down the aisle with his daughter, yet there he is, helping the little ones make sure they know what to do.

I’m all about these subtle moments lately.

Time flies.

Shew, this has been a busy week!

I have just moved into my awesome new home. It’s a cute little apartment in Murfreesboro’s historic district. I absolutely love it! It’s full of character & all wood floors :D

So that explains the quietness around here. I’m excited to finish up editing some of the work I’ve done recently so I can show it. My office is all set up & ready to churn out some work. I’ll also be re-evaluating some of what my business offers for 2012 since I’ve been getting some wedding inquiries for next year. (Shout-out to my first two official 2012 brides Amanda & Kate! Woohoo!). So there just might be a few changes around here soon!

I went on a walk around my new “neighborhood” & took some pictures of it’s cute little quaintness. I just can’t stand to post a blog without pictures :P

I also took a freakin’ cute picture of my kitten Harvey.

Now back to unpacking.

This post is long, long overdue. Readers, meet Harvey, the cutest kitty in Rutherford County. We adopted him back in March from Rutherford County Paws. And boy is he lucky. When we went in to look at cats we were thinking about getting a friend for our other cat Marley. 7 month old Harvey fit the bill. He was playful & he purred the whole time. Plus he’s soooo cute.

The shelter employee told us if a cat or dog came down with any symptoms of kennel cough they euthanize the animal. And of course the day we picked him up from the vet after being neutered he had kennel cough. Harvey, you sure did cut it close.

Adopting Harvey has been a blast. He is the only cat I’ve ever known that will literally play fetch with toys. He & Marley get along great. They are best friends/ brothers & I love watching their daily antics.

p.s. I might just be a crazy cat lady.