MERRY & BRIGHT | my 2014 christmas playlist

it's not really a hidden fact that I love Christmas and Christmas music and play it year 'round #noshame, but i've literally had the same Christmas playlist for the last two years, give and take a few songs. so this year, i decided to find some new music for my playlist and guys, i found some pure gold. 

these are some of my all-time favorites and new favorites. 

you can listen to these + a few more of my favorites on spotify!

what is your favorite Christmas song this year? all-time favorite? (share them with me, pleaseeee.)
xoxo.
-marcia

p.s. i know i've been talking about the new name + design for months now, but it really is coming! i'm planning on hopefully relaunching around New Years because obviously, it's the best time to have a fresh start.

a monday quote + snowy frames.

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.” 

― Lewis Carroll

a quote + some snowy frames for your monday,

xoxo. -m

on freelensing and using a three dollar thrift store lens

For a while now, I've been saving for a 50mm 1.4 lens for my t3i, but I still have to save some more and it's honestly not been a priority in my life. But, I feel I have gotten literally every possible use out of my kit lens and I've kind of hit a wall. So I decided to try out a brilliant idea that hit me one night when I was trying to get to sleep-- freelensing with one of the lenses off of my thrifted film cameras. 

For this project, I took my three dollar thrift store 50mm lens and tried freelensing with my t3i. 

IT'S MAGIC, guys. pure magic. 

and, this was the result.

it obviously takes some extra effort--i had to manually adjust my aperture and focus on the lens, while adjusting my manual settings in camera, while using one hand to hold the lens and the other to hold my t3i body (a third appendage would have been so helpful.)-- but the results were so so worth it, and i can't wait to try it out some more.

xoxo. -marcia

ten september frames | october recap | happy november

“But there is always a November space after the leaves have fallen when she felt it was almost indecent to intrude on the woods…for their glory terrestrial had departed and their glory celestial of spirit and purity and whiteness had not yet come upon them.”  

― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Windy Poplars

I think October was one of my favorite months so far this year. 

It was full of adventures. baking. new discovers. laughter. a few tears. and finding a new horizon. (also can i mention that the weather has been absolute perfection and it felt as though we finally had a complete autumn after having snow cut our autumn season short the past few years??)

however i think november is going to give october a pretty tough run in the favorite catagory... it's already been raining and filled with tea and coffee and we finally had our first really hard frost this morning. ;)

happy november. 

let's crank up the Christmas music.

xoxo. -m 

p.s. i know it feels as though i've been hinting at this for a while, but i promise it really is in the works-- i'm going to be relaunching this space in the next few weeks (hopefully sooner), new name,  new design, slightly new blogging purpose... I'M SO EXCITED TO SHOW YOU GUYS. i just had to let that out. 

amy jane | SENIOR 2014

if you've been around here for basically any amount of time, you've probably heard me talking about my best friend and how completely awesome she is. well, last weekend, we spent a few days together and i shot her senior photos. and these were what happened. (ya'll, these are some of my favorite portrait shots i've ever taken, because I mean come on!? look at her. ;) model material right there. 

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“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."  

― Roald Dahl 

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“Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art.”   

―Maya Angelou

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“Look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time: Thus is your time on earth filled with glory.”  

― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

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isn't she such a beauty??
xoxo.
-mm