life lately

So I shot a wedding, which you'll see soon on my photography blog.

I've been ridiculously busy as of late, and I'm feeling much like too little butter over too much bread.

But, I still love what I see.  I love the sky, I love kombucha, I love Whole Foods, I love my Timberland boots, and I love my puppy.

Mango Lassi

 In early December I (via a friend) discovered a little restaurant in a small town about 40 minutes away from where I live.  It's in a little truck stop that you'd otherwise drive by.  It's an Indian restaurant and it's just about the best food I've ever had in my life.  I went there on an adventure with a group and we fell in love.  It's called Waco Restaurant (the town is called Waco) and I highly suggest you take a trip there.  

instagram momento. 

While there we tried a drink called Mango Lassi.  It's a smoothie like no other.  It's apparently a traditional Indian beverage and I'm in love.  I've discovered how to make it at home and I though I'd share it here. 

For starters I use Kesar mango pulp. Mango pulp is ideal for a smoothie because fresh mangos are stringy and will leave that residue if you blend them.  It freaks me out, and this is mostly natural. 93% real mango. 

You can get the Kesar mango pulp online or at an Indian market.  

I use 3/4 cup of this.

You can store the extra in the fridge in Mason jars.  A sealed container will preserve it longer than, say tin-foil over the top. 

For yogurt I use any organic-Greek-style.  My favorite is Brown Cow, but the Mountain High works great too. 

I use 3/4 cup of this as well. 

Shout-out to real ingredients. 

 Than I add 1/2 cup of milk and mix it all together in a bowl. (Crazy, I know)

Pour over ice if you like cold things. 

Hint: If you want a thinner consistency use more milk-less yogurt, if you like thick smoothies that you practically scoop out more yogurt-less milk. 

#RHAMMERMANN

        Saturday at approximately four o'clock pm my beautiful cousin Hannah Carlson married Ryan Ammermann. A cousin wedding has been something of the dreams for years between us girls. You see,  I come from a family where first cousins are more like brothers and sisters.  Christmas, Thanksgiving, and whatever other holidays spent with family aren't a drag, they're the highlights of our year.  We find excuses to get together as much as possible, so what a better excuse than a wedding?!  We were right in dreaming about the fun we know we would have at a wedding.  This wedding was all that and more.  Ryan is a great... no a FANTASTIC addition to the Baker clan and I know I speak for all of us when I say he's already more than family... and props to you, Ryan, for sticking with Hannah even after you met US.  That's how we know it's true love.

I'm so thankful or the Godly example you two have set. God bless you.

I had the privilege of taking a few pictures at the wedding ceremony and reception. Candids are my favorite.

Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Ammermann

Snow White.

        So this article isn't going to be like many of the posts I have done in the past. I seem to have been a little M.I.A. and I have just been giving you all snip-its of life or a picture from my iPhone. 

I AM SORRY OKAY. 

No need to be hateful. 

I just have a life… or maybe it's the lack of that life that keeps me away? 

Anywho. Recently, I have steered away from any sort-of fashion blog-esc posts, or "tips and tricks to make your daily life better", because, heck, I love fashion and I am a consistent reader of blogs like manrepeller.com and nylonmag.com, but I'm probably not qualified to give my opinion on the matters right? grr. Who am I to weigh in on issues of physicality. I'm from Nebraska! People here rarely wear anything but sweat pants and Husker teeshirts (sorry). 

But on an unrelated note, I feel like the issue of pale skin should be broached. Why are people so against fair complexions? I personally have pastry-white skin, as I like to put it, and have been compared to various fictional characters such as Snow White and Bella whatever-her-last-name-is-from-Twilight (I know… a vampire. not cool). Why does this culture make it priority that everyone have perfect olive-tanned-skin that is only possible if you spend all winter out on a surfboard? Why are there 1000s of people (teens, mom, adults, and OMW even MEN) flocking to tanning salons to literally cook themselves to that perfect brown hue? This, my friend, is not alright. Not alright at all. Don't even get me started because I could rant for hours about how much it damages your skin. But unfortunately the tanning craze doesn't quite end there. If you don't want to submit your body to the synthetic-rapid-browning-rays of the tanning booth, there's always self-tanners and spray ons. 

Heaven help us. 

We all have seen it, the orange hued person (at least you think it's a person) who looks closer to an oompa-lumpa then a girl. 

these little suckers gave me nightmares as a kid. *shudder*

Honey, did you roll in Doritos? 

So what's wrong with just living in the skin that God created specifically for you? Abso-freaking-loutely nothing. Not only is it healthier: it's beautiful. In some cases pale skin is actually considered desirable. Imagine that. 

 In the olden-days. Pale skin was a sign of wealth, beauty, and prosperity because it indicated that you didn't work as much.  

This is a quote from one of my favorite books, Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. This is in the first chapter when she is introducing Scarlett O'Hara, the bell of the book.  "Above them, her thick black brows slanted upward, cutting a startling oblique line in her magnolia-white skin — that skin so prized by Southern women and so carefully guarded with bonnets, veils and mittens against hot Georgia suns"

And look! an article on Roman cosmetics:

"Pure white skin, a demarcation of the leisure class, was the most important feature of Roman beauty.^[7] Native Roman women weren’t naturally fair-skinned and spent their time outside with oils on their faces, requiring whitening makeup to fit their model of beauty."

In different cultures around the world fair skin is coveted, specifically Asian culture. I say this just from experience. I have some really close friends from countries like Vietnam and Thailand, I can hardly go out on a walk in November with them without waiting for them to apply copious amounts of sunscreen. 

I've decided to just roll with my icy white skin, and I think that any skin is beautiful if you just keep it healthy by drinking lots of water (which is scientifically proven to give you that glow that we mimic so often with bronzers and illuminators), eat vegetables, exercise, and keep it free of acne (too bad that's not easy). 

 A pale complexion is also the bomb.com because people with fair skin can pull off makeup trends like none other. Red lips, cat-eye-liner, rosy cheeks. Clothing also stands out more against a fairer tone. Dark shades look richer, warm colors look warmer, reds look happier. It never ends. And just in case I haven't quite convinced you that it's OKAY to be the Snow Queen of December, here are some celebrities that we all wish we could be who have fresh-outta-the-womb white skin. 

what's this? a supermodel? 

screaming kitties.

 I'm getting the giggles tonight because I'm looking at these pictures, and imagining a human shriek coming from their open mouths. 

RAWWRRR. 

These past 2160 minutes.

These 4 pictures bellow are basically a perfect summarization of the past 36 hours of my life. 

They have been quite delightful.

 I spent about 6 hours re-reading Harry Potter for the bajjilionth time yesterday afternoon so that's that and that's the best thing in the world.  

I spent about an hour dangling my bare-feet from our haymow door in the barn, just thinking about life and how great it really is to be able to live and breath and feel the wind on your feet and the sunlight in your hair and smell the smell of dusty hay and hear the meows of new born kittens that are hiding from anything that dares threaten their young lives (my dog) between the wooden wall and the stack of hay bales. 

It really is great that, even though summer is over and I'm back in classes, I have weekends and those weekends are three days long and those three days are filled with great things like thinking about these great things. 

It really is nice that I go to an amazing school and I get to learn from teachers who inspire me every day.  and I get to be surrounded by my best friends 10 hours of at least 4 days of every week from here until May 7th. 

Last night was filled with hours upon minutes of tumblr loving with my cousin Rebekah who I love with my whole heart. 

Within these past 36 hours I have drank copious amounts of coffee.

Some doctors sat coffee is good for you.  So that's what I'm telling myself because coffee makes me happy.

Tonight I'm taking pictures of two people who are in love and have decided to get married. 

Love is good. 

Right now I'm listening to Blitzen Trapper and getting very excited about their concert I'm going to this fall. 

I really like prepositional phrases today because I can.

Thanks. 

America.

Recently, I have just been on a patriotic streak. Don't you just love this big miracle of a country we call America?

What captures America better than two small-town girls, riding their grandma's tandem bike around the farm, in outfits found in the attic, waving around an American flag? Nothing.