Memorial Day Weekend

Man. This blog post was going to be a grumpy one because it's that time of the month.

I won't vent. I won't do it. 

*Jostlyn, don't do it..*

Instead, I will let you gaze upon my gorgeous siblings from these photos I took today at the Memorial Day BBQ we had at my parents house. Much better eh? Oh yeah, and it's vlog Monday... err.. vlog Tuesday at 1 in the morning! haha :)

Bitter feelings and Ravioli

Hmph. So there's this guy online in one of these photography groups I'm a part of on Facebook and last year he gave me crap about the equipment I was using and basically said I shouldn't be shooting weddings and that I probably wasn't very good, etc etc. Don't worry, I didn't take any of it and ripped him a new one and a lot of people who saw this particular public post stood up for me and basically called him out for bullying a 20-something year old girl and posted photos I had done and he actually did comment on them and half-apologized and said my work was good enough. Right? Right.

Since then I have upgraded my equipment significantly. That's not the point. But I have, in case you were wondering ;)

I have also taken to shooting film.. and.. I'm not too shabby at it ok? And my film camera is manual focus, and I'm pretty ok at getting it in focus. And if it's not, I can admit when I blew the focus. Right? Ok. So this same guy has started to shoot film (because, let's face it, who hasn't now). And he thinks he's a BAD A at it. Pisses me off. Because he's not. So he's been posting a lot to this film group I'm a part of on Facebook and he's posting these awful photos with awful composition and thinking they rock hardcore and saying things like "Oh, I totally nailed the focus on this one, blah blah blah" And he's slightly off on the focus.. he didn't nail it.. he's off. Anyone with clear vision could see that. RIGHT? He's just making himself look like a FOOL in front of all these really amazing film photographers with all of these posts. And I just sit back here and giggle because.. they're all probably thinking he's a little lame.

Now this makes me look like a mean bitter person. And I am. BUT! I wouldn't even CARE... only because he seriously humiliated me in front of over 800 photographers online and called me out on a post and was a jerk.

Ok. I feel better. On to positive feelings and our vlog.

We got a business loan today! Carson is buying a Canon C100! What does this mean for Roz Cinema? It means high-end videography and amazing quality! It means I'll never have to share the 5DM3 with him again! It means we are moving up in the world! It means we decided to buy that instead of a car! haha ;) We're very very very very excited for this business decision. And no, this wasn't our exciting news I posted about on Facebook.. that's a different thing. Still haven't found out if it's a go or not.

Fork Prison

Is it Monday already? Again? Wha?

Having a blog makes my weeks go by so much faster. Cereal. (That's what I say instead of serious or seriously. Only sometimes)

Let's see... Last week we came out with our newest Roz Cinema vid! I'll post that below :) It's from the wedding we went up north for last weekend (remember?). So so so so cute! Carson is so fantastic.

We also filmed a commercial vid for a local business... so stoked to release that video. Saturday we did a lifestyle family shoot (I did some filming myself too, be so proud!) and pretty much I'm DYING for Carson to edit that shoot.. seriously. Cereal. All you families will want one just like it. (That's our plan you know... so you'll hire us for your family shoot! muahaha).

But for real. We were sitting there on our drive home from up north last week and Carson said "I think the reason why we do what we do, especially videography, is because we didn't get that on our wedding day.. and it's a huge regret now. I don't want anyone else to feel like that, and I want to make their day the best it can be for them." And it's so true. We had a fantastic photographer, that was a HUGE deal for me. 75% of my wedding budget was spent on her. I took out a student loan to pay for her type thing (because we were also buying a home, we were in school, car payments, etc). I wanted videography, but I guess I wasn't convinced yet? If I could go back and re-do my wedding, that would for sure be something I would get. Hands down. SO worth it. And don't try and tell me you have a family member that will record it. It's not the same as having a professional with professional equipment that is hired there to do just that. Your family member should be celebrating with you, not worried about recording some shaky video. You should see my family member recorded video... half of it is of the ground. Cereal.

It was also Mother's Day! We were supposed to teach a lesson on Sunday but I ended up getting a bad headache and Carson was super sick, so we ditched out (don't worry, we texted someone to cover) and then visited our mom's later in the day.

Sorry the vlog is short and boring today.. and sorry I cover the mic halfway through.. I'm so lame. BUT, I did get Carson some Star Wars action figures today from the online yard sale, so I think I'm winning as a wife today. Woo!

It's Monday!

Weren't you just on the edge of your seats and refreshing our blog for our newest post?

No?

Dang.

Well, we stood by our word and got our our Monday night vlog! Woo! Here is what our weekend consisted of! We went up for a quick trip up north to film and photograph a wedding in Orem. It was a beautiful day on Saturday and the couple could not have been cuter! We enjoyed talking on the way up and back too.. lots about the past and our future and how we've grown as individuals and as a couple. What we're going to teach our children and what we're not going to teach them. It was a good bonding experience. Don't let our little vlogs fool you, we're a tender couple who love each other deeply (99% of the time haha).

In other news, both of our dogs got fixed today.. it's been a sad day in the Stilson home :(

We also went to lunch today and I decided, "eh, what the heck, let's go without doing my hair or makeup!"

This was the end result:

Also, I did a shoot for {re}cycled consign and design last week and she posted them to her blog today!

Check it out! --> recycledconsignanddesign.com

Without further ado, here are our vlogs :)



Also, here is Carson's nerdy video game vid he made for his final project in one of his college classes. Make fun of him in the comments below! haha, jokes jokes... don't really make fun of him, unless you bring us cookies after. That makes everything worth it right? ;)

 

Wow, two vlogs in one post! Spoiled! ;)

Jost

Nice attempt. One day we'll get it right.

Well hi.

Monday night vlog! Family night! Don't count on it being every Monday... but wouldn't that be a good tradition? We'll try and stick with it, but they might fall on different days. Who knows, maybe we'll do several days a week!

Let's see... I quit my day job. These past two weeks have been not as productive as I hoped they would be. I just haven't had this much CHOICE in my time and it's hard to discipline myself. Notice I didn't say 'I haven't have this much free time' because technically I have A TON TO DO... I just.. well.. have taken to sleeping until 11 am a couple times, and staying in my pajamas all day editing... and I finally let myself watch Pitch Perfect (because before I just seriously never had the time to.. it's been sitting on my computer for months). So it's been a fun couple of weeks. I've gotten stuff done, but I've relaxed too and it's been GREAT! But it's time to get down to business (which it's perfect timing because I happen to be booked every single day this week and my wedding season is starting this weekend so time to get my bum in gear).

Anywho, enjoy our vlog. We will be posting more. And they will be less boring. And we have more exciting announcements coming soon! WOO! Stay tuned. Oh! And Carson graduates this Friday. I'm so proud of him :)

Chick-Fil-A and a New Start

Hello!

It's been far too long.

As you can see, I'm sprucing up the blog.. not quite done, but it's in the works. I've got a lot of projects to work on but I figured that the last hour of the evening before bed was ok to work on something more personal. I'm going to get back into the blogging world and hopefully make it an occasional thing again!

So, items on the desk to talk about for today (we'll get to catching you up on our life later, tonight's blog post is about today):

Today was my first day of not having a day job. Needless to say, I took a sleeping pill last night because I haven't been sleeping well, still woke up early which made me a little mad, but was able to fall back to sleep easily until 11 am. Bliss. Woke up to a text from a client needing photos early for a deadline they weren't aware of for the yearbook, and needed it by their lunch break (and their session isn't all the way done yet) so I scrambled out of bed, edited quickly, and started to send them via email (which my business email that I pay for monthly decided to put my account on lockdown, so that was fun... I resorted to my regular hotmail. Take that gmail).

Carson and I had pizza for lunch. I cleaned (wow, yes, I did some cleaning today, the house still looks like a mess, but it's a start). A load of laundry. Paid some bills. Dropped of film to the post office. Taught Watson how to stay when holding a treat to his nose (the poor dear, that was really hard for him).

Then it was time to bring Carson dinner while he was working his day job. He wanted Chick-fil-a. I was ok with that because we are getting a tax return this year (we were so worried we would owe) so I was alright with going out for food (we've been trying to be good lately and eat groceries haha). I have been once before to the one in town, when it first opened, so naturally it was super busy and people in yellow vests were in the drive through and that was to be expected. But today, there was hardly a line, so I was excited to not be bombarded with the yellow vested workers at my car door.

Wrong.

I pull up, drive around the corner, about to pull up to the sign to look at the menu, when I see the yellow vested girls approaching my car. Two were up above at the other cars, and one girl was coming for me. Why... this is so unnecessary. There is hardly a line, I can use the dang speaker box! I have no makeup on, my car is a mess, I'm in sweats... there is a FREAKING REASON I'M USING THE DRIVE THROUGH! I don't want you to see me other than at the window.

So I roll down my window and she says of course in a super nice tone, I'm not complaining about the service in any way.. they are all very nice. I just like my space.

"Do you know what you want to order?" *pause*
"Uh, no, uh.."
"Or do you need a menu?"
"Yeah, I'm going to need a menu."

Is this a test? Am I being timed? I glance behind me, a car just pulled up, I start to sweat, she continues to stand by my window watching me look at the laminated menu she just handed me. What if this was my first time to Chick-fil-a? What if I need more that .2 seconds to decide if I want the spicy chicken sandwich, or the regular? Provolone cheese, or american? This is a big decision for me!

You know what I like about Smash Burger? Every time, without fail, they ask you if this is your first time to Smash Burger. If it is, they tell you stuff, stuff you need to know. I can't remember what they told me the first time, but I'm sure it was important. This girl at Chick-fil-a was just super confident I had the menu memorized and knew what I wanted to eat. "Hi, I assume you're just like KFC, and I want a mac and cheese and mashed potato... oh, that's not on the menu? Can you freaking let me look at one then?!"

Anyways, back to the story.

She continues to peer inside my car. Like bending down in my rolled down window. All I could think about was how messy my car was, how she was probably checking that out...I need space. I need time alone. If I wanted human interaction, I would go inside and order. This was stressing me out. I ended up ordering something I probably wouldn't have originally ordered and I didn't even get dessert, which I wanted to get but forgot because she was breathing down my neck. Awkward. She wrote my ticket, told me to go to the next yellow vested girl, and took the menu back. I drove to the next girl, she then circled something on my ticket and told me my total.. I mean, how many yellow vested girls does it take to get a fast food order correct and ready?

I am so happy they are doing well here and staying busy, and I love the food, and the service is good and quick, and they are all happy and it's not like it was BAD... it's just.. Chick-Fil-A, you need to calm it down at the drive through and let your customers feel like they have time to make a decision.

End of rant.

Tomorrow is a new day, a new start. I'm going to get a lot done. Finish some seniors, missionary pics, design an announcement, finish a website, shoot some bridals (hopefully it doesn't rain on us), wedding photos, work on a couple flyers.. design a business card.. Not necessarily all in that order but those are just some on my list to do. Not to mention my own projects of blogging/vlogging, cleaning, laundry, refinishing a dresser, grocery shopping, catching up the photography blog, etc etc. We'll see how much I get to.

Jost

Oh life.

Oh gosh, this is embarrassing.

My last post was back in March! Holy Hannah! Sometimes your life goes on auto pilot and you forget about the details. That's basically what happened. My photography business kind of took off without telling me and I was seriously caught off guard. I wasn't anticipating that jump this year.. not that soon and not all at once like it was. It's been an amazing trip! But can I just say how exhausted I am? All the time? No, I'm not pregnant.

I graduated with my Associates in May, which was a huge relief. I made it! My family and 2 of my best friends were there to support me :) Carson took me out to lunch and to a movie and then my mom had a graduation party for me at her house. Big fat party!

Carson started working for his dad as well as continuing on with being a free lance reporter for KSL. We've had so many blessings and we're grateful that he's able to work with his dad and brother and have the availability for his news stories at the same time.

I have increased my camera family size! With this jump in my business, I knew it was time I upgraded some of my equipment to keep up with everything. I was able to get another body, a couple lenses, a light kit, and a medium format film camera. My hopes are for one day to shoot mostly film for my professional work. Film is SO LOVELY.

I had my first destination wedding in San Diego in July. That was quite the experience! I had Carson second shoot for me and it was an amazing time. He even liked it, which is saying a lot... he's not a super fan of weddings like I am. I'm excited for when I can finally edit it.

That's another thing... I'm always 20 shoots behind.. it never ends! Which is fantastic, but it can get overwhelming. That being said, I did not go to school this semester (which started yesterday). I had prayed and talked it over with Carson, and we felt good about me taking a break in at least something. Let's just say I'm super stoked. Don't worry mom, I'm going to go back to school. Eventually.

Carson is back in school. I'm editing and shooting my life away. Things are good. We are in the process of finally making our bedroom cute.. that included lots of painting and sanding and rearranging and money, but it's coming together! We're also going to be going to New York in November with Carson's family and then to Florida in December to shoot a wedding! Lot's of new and exciting things are happening.

Did I mention how tired I am all the time? But loving it. Truly. And my migraines aren't as frequent as they used to be, so that's a huge plus.

Oh! We got a dog! Piper! She's a white mini Schnauzer. She's a cutie-pa-tootie.

Annnnndd... that's it for now :)