it's the holidays

Man oh man is Christmas here. Last minute shopping, present wrapping and cookie baking - the holiday is in full swing. Hope everyone has the holiday bug. Our family does! Merry Christmas and I am so excited to launch something on christmas day :) Check back in tomorrow for a video with all of the details!

blue wave

Came home for the holidays and ended up working all week at Blue Wave Afterschool. Which is awesome because I love working with the kids. I am also in the middle of making a website for Blue Wave Afterschool/Camp Blue Wave. These are the photos I took for the meet the staff page. Once it is complete, I will share the domain name. Hope everyone is happy that winter break has finally arrived. Now, all that is left is the last minute shopping. Check back in on Monday! Next week I have huge plans :)

Bells

I received the most beautiful ornament and book from the lovely Mrs. Belinda. At the Christmas Book Club, we exchange ornaments and a book - I was very pleased with my gifts. Hope everyone is getting into the season! Happy holidays :)

christmas came early this year

John and I are celebrating our christmas today before we ship off to our respective cities for the holidays. I am pretty excited! Tomorrow is the last day of finals week and I have my last final at three. At this point, I am so ready for it to be over. My brain cannot take any more studying! Hope everyone is having a great week. XO

christmas trees

When I was home for Thanksgiving I was lucky enough to get to help pick out the tree this year! Christmas tree shopping is my favorite. You get to pick the perfect tree - tall & skinny or short & fat. I cannot wait to go home for the holidays and see it all decorated :)

Florida State v Florida

John and I went to the game on Saturday! He is a Gator fan, and I, a Seminole. It was interesting, but there were a vast majority of other couples that were divided as well! It was a really good game and a bittersweet end to hate week. Sitting on the Alumni side, there were no inappropriate comments or hateful fans, which makes the football game that much more enjoyable.

Did everyone else have a fantastic weekend? XO

turkey day

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I did! My dad and I started out the day at the local Turkey Trot. We did the two mile race (they only had the two mile or a 10k and I am not in shape to do a 10k.) Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, my whole family comes to my house and we visit and talk and eat. Catching up on the year and talking about plans for the future. Plus I get to take a family photo, which is my favorite part. It is so fun to look back and see how much we change. (Plus, they make for wonderful TBT's lol.) I took tons of cute photos of Kylie that I cannot wait to share. So look out for those in the near future. Although, she always looks cute! How cute is her little face in that photo above?

Safe travels this weekend 

XX

Landon

Finally getting around to editing photos I've had for about a month now. We visited Kelsey and Clinton and baby Landon the last time I was home. How adorable is he? And he was the happiest baby, never crying just giggling and smiling.

Hope everyone has a fantastic Turkey Day tomorrow! Happy Holidays!

XO

Strawberry Pie

I made Strawberry Pie for the Thanksgiving party I am going to tonight. How cute is this pie, because I think it is pretty darn cute! But let me warn you, it took 2.5 hours to make, plus I dirtied a lot of dishes! Find the full recipe here. I couldn't find the pillsbury pie crust that comes in a box so I made my own (for the hearts) from this recipe. I was thinking about it, and I should of cut the hearts from sugar cookie dough instead. If anyone tries that version let me know how it turns out!

Also, I used two full boxes of the strawberries from Publix, and I sliced them rather than cutting into chunks (does it really matter?). I also just dusted the top with granulated sugar, I mean who needs to purchase 'sanding sugar' anyhow. Sugar is sugar, right?

I will have a post everyday this week in honor of Thanksgiving week, plus I have a lot of pictures to take of family, so no blog post shall be boring. Promise. Hope everyone has safe travels! If you guys are cooking anything special (or new) hope it turns out well!

XOXO

Pumpkin Juicing

Since Halloween is over and we had several pumpkins lying on the counter, I decided to try juicing mine. I, of course, googled recipes and came up with a surprisingly easy one that was delicious.

Directions: peel the skin off the sweet pumpkin, cut off the stem and clean the innards out. I saved the seeds and baked them. Then juice your pumpkin along with other fruits and veggies. A couple recipes I googled suggest carrots and an apple or pear. The juice was really sweet and I would totally make it again!

Happy Monday!

happy halloween

Hope everyone has fantastic plans for Halloween - I sure don't, but the day is still young. 

Halloween means that Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, is less than a month away! My whole family always gets together and we laugh and talk and get to catch up. By far the best holiday of the year; no one gets anything, but everyone gives. 

XOXO

Julia

happy friday!

Another week down and a beautiful weekend upon us! Hope everyone has had a great week and a wonderful Friday! Enjoy the lovely October weekend.

XO Julia

the girl behind the grave

I am so excited about these next couple of posts! I've had this concept shoot in my head for a couple months now and was so excited for it to pan out! There is an epic graveyard right in the center of Tallahassee, it has tons of history and was so cool to shoot. Plus the gorgeous weather and lighting - it was a dream. Check back in tomorrow for more photos plus (maybe) the color versions of the photos above! Let me know what you think :)

beth page road

http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliarayphotography/10063338125/in/photostream/

A couple weeks ago, Lauren and I took a quick road trip to Georgia - it probably took us like 30 minutes tops. Anyhow, we ended up on a back road in the middle of nowhere but the cutest little house with this sign captured Lauren's heart. Good thing I was there to take a picture!

birthday traditions at FSU

There is a birthday tradition here at Florida State University: you must (often unceremoniously) be thrown into Westcott Fountain. This tradition has been long-standing since 1917.

Mariah, 19, was the lovely birthday girl. Her friends surprised her with cake and balloons, then they promised not to throw her in, only to end up pushing her in. She took it all in good fun though! Hope you had a wonderful birthday!