festive fa fa family photos

last year it was blizzarding by this time. a few days ago i was wearing shorts. we had a white christmas last year and this year is far from that. with that said, because of all of the snow - i was able to get some awesome pictures of my brother and i last year for my grandparents for christmas. 

my grandma is a cluttered un-matchy decorator who would frame and hang up a receipt from walmart if you told her it was a present.

knowing this, i like to go above and beyond just so i can give her something special that she'll remember every year. like, going to the lengths to plan a photoshoot, taking time to edit the pictures, find a nice and big collaged wooden frame, and get the pictures printed out all neat-like - so she can have something classy and meaningful to open on christmas. she raved about the pictures i did last year for weeks, hopefully this year will be no different. 

and as for my grumpy ole' grandpa, i think he gets excited to see that there are well done and nicely thought out decorations on the wall other than walmart receipts, cereal boxes, and outtakes of pictures where half of the people in them have their eyes closed.

yes, for all you wondering, i have a 7 year old brother. my mother decided she would only have children 12 years apart. i love the little bugger to death. getting him to take pictures is not so easy though.

my little bro likes to play with my camera. the kid has a pretty good eye.

thus, photocred: shawn jacob, the little man.

i'm excited to be home with my family. i wouldn't trade them for the world.

i hope everyone has a merry, merry christmas. and super duper amazing holidays.

xoxo

that trip we took once

nic, hannah, and i went to asheville a few weeks ago. yeah, this is a little late. i blame finals. 

it was a random trip, like most we normally go on. 

we stopped into this shop that had a bunch of rocks and gems and pretty mineral things. hannah's well educated in the matter, having studied a bulk amount of geology. she was excited. me, too.

there was an outdoor market that had a cornucopia of random stuff that my eyes liked looking at.

i like apples. 

there.

then we stopped to eat a a cuban place. duh, we were with nic. forever eating cuban food.

i don't know why i'm friends with them. look how lame they are.

then there was our food. i paid no attention to detail of where we were, in order to write a decent review, because the service was not great and it took us like an hour to get our food. 

it tasted good but it's annoying when your body digests itself waiting for it.

we then went to some random shops downtown, such as honeypot.

interesting stuff being sold, haha. stuff i love for everywhere and can never find!

why doesn't walmart sell these?

oh, and then there's my octopus obsession

the walk downtown had colorful and eclectic scenery. big fan.

then we built a boat out of trash and made it float down a scummy wittle river.

                       

she's a derp.

i hate being picked up. with a passion.

asheville's infamous double decker coffee & company: 

(unfortunately it was cash only, and kyrstin never carries cash on her. whomp.)

so instead we went to old europe to get something warm to drink. to my fantastic surprise, 

they had an array of pre-titled gluten free pastries and cakes.

this, i believe was called "melinda's cake". it was a fruity and fluffy slice of yum. 

alongside a hazelnut latté. possibly the best latté i've ever had. 

photo cred: nico roth 

(he's getting good at this.)

on our walk back to the car:

and the we decided to take a stop in waynesville, nc. where nic grew up!

since it was late, most places were closed, but the christmas lights that illuminated the cute little city posed for some great photo ops!

photo cred: nico roth

(see!)

it was a nice little trip. i hope i get to take these all my life.

that'd be nice.

smiles are fun to capture, but laughs are even better. 

i got to photograph these good lookin' kids last year i'm so excited i got to do it again this year joined by the rest of the family members. we had a great time shooting. these kids (and parents!) have loads of personality. it never gets boring!

their "awkward family photo", too much fun. so many laughs!

these were probably my favorite! 

see, like i said, smiles and laughter! 

~

hope the holidays are treating everyone well! as for me, i'm happily home hoping 

to have some fun with my camera and to take sometime to get back to myself.