Happy List.

Howdee. I don't have a whole lot to say today, so I thought I'd make a happy list. You know, of things that have made me happy lately! And I'll add in a few photos of myself in my favorite tee for funsies.



Tee: Mumford & Sons Concert | Jeans: Gap | Boots: Academy Sports

Prayer. Baths. Mumford & Sons. Christmas crafts {I start early}. Photography. Researching photography. Singing at the top of my lungs. The Lumineers. Hugs. Finger nail polish. Sunsets. Writing in my photography journal. Beagle cuddles. Fuego's. Talking in a British accent. Remembering I don't have to know it all. Exam grades. Rain storms. Creativity.

October According to Instagram

• Why not start off the month with some donuts? Curt and I have a bit of a morning ritual about twice a month (because if we did it more, we'd be 400 lbs) where we head on over to Shipley's Donuts at 6AM. 
• Pumpkin patch fun! We had lots of fun picking out this season's pumpkins, you can check out the post here.
• The beags are always a big part of my life, but one week they got me a hundred on my photography assignment.
• Photography has been a HUGE part of October for me, I started up my own business, but first, a photography exam. I'm happy to say I made a 98. 
• My beautiful best friend, Denise and I went on a fun photography session.
• It's finally gotten a little cooler here in Texas, which obviously means breakin' out the boots and plaid.
• More Aggie football, of course.
• Got to take photos of this gorgeous little girly for her 2nd birthday! 
• Like I said earlier, photography and my business has been a big, big part of October for me, so I decided to document myself creating a business plan of all things!
• I've been taking Curtis to work in the mornings, he's got a gig as a substitute teacher at a local Christian school. It's so funny, all the kiddos call me Mrs. Ross when I drop him off. You guys, that is soooo weird, ha. 
• For Halloween day, I wore my new favorite orange dress and a black cardi. Apparently others decided it'd be good to wear their actual costumes to school.. yeah, sorry, I'm not that festive {or outgoing}. 
• AND, Curt and I's Halloween costumes -- Sims robbers. Twas a great October.

You can follow me on instagram @kristina_ross14, if you'd like. Let's just say..it's my favorite social media outlet, teeeheee. Hope you've all had a great start to November! Thanksgiving will be here before we know it. 

Happy Halloween!

I meant to put this up last night and schedule it for this morning, but alas! I had an exam today and I wasn't up for doing much of anything else minus sleeping and sitting in the bath, trying to make myself believe I didn't actually have a test. Side note: I always take baths the night before an exam, it just helps calm me and keep me stress-free, for the most part at least.

Back to what this post is really about. Last weekend, Curtis and I went to a little costume Halloween party, and this is what we wore! I was determined to NOT spend much money, yet still wear a "legit" costume. Since I don't have sewing skills, anything in that realm was out of the question, but I saw an idea on Pinterest for robbers and I ran with it. Turns out, we looked like the robbers off of the Sims, so that's what I told everyone we were. Way more creative, amirite? It was fun, and it's the first time Curtis and I have gotten dressed for Halloween together.. EVER. What? I know. We've always been wicked (pun intended) busy around this time of year our entire seven years of togetherness. So here we are, a couple o' robbers from the Sims. And no, we didn't manage to steal anything that night, tehe.

Me - Beanie: Wal-Mart // Top: Thrifted // Jeans: Gap // Gloves: Wal-Mart // Flats: Old // Tote: DIY (Hobby Lobby)

Curt - Beanie: Wal-Mart // Shirt: Wal-Mart ($3!) // Jeans: Wrangler // Shoes: Nike (baseball days)  // Tote: DIY (HobLob)

So basically, I spent $3 at Hobby Lobby buying the tote bags and the masks on our heads (they looked ridiculous, so we didn't really wear them), $2 on the two pairs of gloves, $2 for the two beanies, and $3 for Curt's shirt because he didn't own a black/white striped shirt already. Ten bucks for two costumes, I'd call that a success! As for tonight, I don't think we'll be doing much except passing out candy to any little trick-or-treaters, but I always love Halloween.. mainly because it means Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner! :)

Thought I'd throw these in here for good fun, I was mainly messing around with the camera and lighting, but hey, at least I decorated the house a little bit! What have you guys done for Halloween? Or do you have any weekend plans? 

Complementary Colors

This past week in my photography class we had to do a project over colors; I was under the impression that it was about complementary colors, but apparently I didn't have to go that far in-depth. I automatically new what colors I wanted to use -- blue and orange. They're my absolute favorite complementary colors. I've probably mentioned it to Curtis half-a-hundred times. So, when we got assigned the assignment, I automatically knew which colors I was going to choose. I saw this dress in Old Navy a few months ago and wanted it really badly, but I decided to it wasn't worth $35 (cheapo here, remember?). Well, I had seen the dress on a number of people and realized I did in fact want it rather badly, and I went to Old Navy to see if it might still be in the store (aka, clearance section). It wasn't, I searched eBay, but people on there sell stuff for ridiculous prices.. why would I buy it for $25 and then pay you $12 for shipping? I mean, really? So, I gave up on finding it. Then.. I walked into the Waco Plato's Closet a few weeks ago, and BAM, there it was in all of it's orange glory, in my size, for $6. That's my story for the day. Patience and thrifting people, it works.

 Dress: Old Navy (thrifted) | Shirt: TJ Maxx | Sandals: DV by Dolce Vita | Purse: Big Buddha Oh, and if you were wondering why the heck I was talking about complementary colors and my photography class, here's the picture I took for my class. I took off my rings so it wouldn't be as apparent that it was me in the photo. I've been having so much fun with all of these assignments, and every week I can't wait to get the next! This week is all about portraiture, so I'm pretty stoked!

The start of something great..

Helloooo my lovelies. I've been real busy this past week with school, but also, I started a business. What? Yeah, you heard me! I decided to create my very own photography business, which is something I have been super duper passionate about for the past three-ish years. I feel comfortable enough with my camera and editing skills to actually jump in feet first, plus, I've been writing up a business plan in my Small Business Management class and I feel like I can make this work. Now, it definitely won't be a full-time thing for a few years, and I know that. But, I'm trusting God on this one. It's been tugging on my heart strings for so, so long, and I feel like He's put me in the right place. I have been struggling for so long with "what I want to be when I grow up." Probably for the better part of six or seven years, and I think I've finally figured it out. It just feels right. So, if you could all be awesome and do me the favor of liking my brand new Facebook page and checking out my new website/blog (which will soon have a new domain name!). I am so thankful for all of you guys' support all the time, and I know this time it won't be any different! Thanks for being such amazing readers.. okay, friends. I pretty much just call you guys my friends anyway! tehe 

I'll probably post on here every time I have a new post up over there, and there's a new link over on the sidebar for my other page. 

I kind of can't contain my excitement right now! :D

KRISTINA ROSS PHOTOGRAPHY FACEBOOK PAGE 

KRISTINA ROSS PHOTOGRAPHY WEBPAGE  

Things that make me smile..

Lately school's been pretty rough. I have more group projects than I can count (okay, just three but it feels like eleventy billion), lots of exams all crammed together, a presentation, a four page paper, and to top it off, weird health class assignments that I forget about until the night before they're due because lets face it, health class and it's one hour course credit is the least of my worries right now. So, sorry if I'm kind of MIA for the next couple of weeks, October is like hell month during the fall semesters, and this one is probably the worst I've had in a while (minus the awful intermediate financial accounting class I took last year, that one almost killed me..). Now that my rant about school is over, here are some pins that have cheered me up lately when I needed it the most. 



1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

PS. I really wish Curtis and I had taken a picture like that for our engagement pictures at Kyle Field, one year anniversary!? Maybe I can just take the tripod and do it myself, ha. 

PPS. You can follow me on Pinterest, here.

Beagles in Black & White

For my photo assignment this week in my photography class, we had to take photos and then convert them to black and white. Now, I only had to turn in one photo, and then write why I took it, why I used the subjects I did, what kind of lighting was used, all the settings for my camera, etc, etc. I even had to name it! I used the very first photo for my submission and named it, "A Quest." One of my favorite things about beagles is their history, I love their hunting dog background, and I'd like to think Skywalker would be very good at chasing down foxes or rabbits. Muggles, not so much, she's not very athletic, ha. But, I felt the first photo displayed their inner "beagle" with Sky sniffing the ground and Muggles on the look-out. 

I actually love all of these photos in color, too, and I'm definitely framing a few. Life with beagles isn't always easy (obsession with food, the braying that the neighbors despise, always trying to find a way to the other side of the fence), but its so, so worth it. They're the sweetest dogs, and they are always happy to see you. Their unconditional love is much appreciated on the days when I'm feeling down about things in life. Plus, their good subjects to shoot! 

Pumpkin Patch

Curtis and I went over to a little pumpkin patch about a block away from our house yesterday. I've been wanting to go to this dang pumpkin patch for a good three years now, and I was so glad to have finally gotten to go. I just never went before because I knew if I left it at my own apartment, I would hardly ever see it.. and if I left it at Curt's, it wouldn't be "mine." So, after waiting for a million years, I finally got my pumpkins! I have big plans for 'em (okay, maybe not..), but taking pictures was fun. Curtis wasn't too excited about me taking a picture of him with the pumpkin, but I actually love how it turned out. OH! and that gourd, its AWESOME, right? It looked like a dragon when we first saw it, so I had to get a picture. We left with one medium sized pumpkin, a small one, and two tiny ones, which I'll share with you guys once I figure out what I'm gonna do to them. Does anyone have any cool ideas they've run across?