A season of change and of blessing

Posted on by

I am officially moved in, or at least mostly, to our new home in Milton, WI!  The place is cozy, quite, spacious, and home.  We only have some things on the walls but everything else in in place.

This is a big season of change for this Calhoun clan and we feel blessed beyond measure!  Our 15-year-old Mazda died but because of the generosity of my Mom and my Grandpa we were able to buy a new car right away – and our new ride gets 42+ mpg!  Our mattresses were damaged by a basement flood but with the insurance money we were able to buy a super cozy brand new one!  Then, with a realization that living in Wisconsin is a possibility due to the status of Citizen Way, we were able to move here to a quieter, slower world where we have found the home we have been hoping and looking for.    And, finally, I was blessed with a part-time job at Craig High School working in the library so we can hunker down on our two year goal to pay off personal loans to family members and save up for a house – all of which would not be possible on the sustainable but not yet reasonably abundant flow of cash I make through photography.

As a part of this season of change I am thinking I’ll drive myself crazy trying to keep up with week day blog posts.  However, I am thinking I can and want to maintain 3 – 4 days/week.  What I would like to know from you is what days are your favorites to check up on my material and why? This will help me gauge what day/s to take of from the blogosphere and focus solely on editing before going to the library.

I would also love to hear what has blessings have entered your life lately?

We are moving!

Posted on by

Hey friends!

Just wanted to let y’all know that I will be in limbo for a week or so and will not be blogging due to moving!  Yup, you heard it, we are moving!  Our new home will be Milton, WI practically next door to Josh’s parents and 1.5 hours closer to my folks up der in Minnesota.  As such, this week is devoted to catching up speedily with some editing that will be past deadline if I wait until we are moved and unpacked, packing, unpacking, playing catch up… THEN I will get back into my routine blogging.  Please don’t ditch me, I will send loving words and photos your way again very shortly!  Sorry for the brief abandonment 🙂

Love,

Kaia “Sunshine” Calhoun

My Favorite Birthday

Posted on by

Perhaps this blog post is for reminiscing about past birthdays or, perhaps, it’s to divulge birthday ideas for others to try.  Regardless, these are my three favorite birthday memories.

CARNIVAL BIRTHDAY PARTY

Growing up, my mom committed to blowing birthday parties out of the box and into a land of unprecedented awesomeness.  Between my brother and I we had all sorts of birthday themes.  We had a Starwars party where my dad dressed up as Darth Vadar, creepily breathed the phrase “Connor, I am your father,” and then worked at calming my sobbing brother even long after my dad took off the helmet. We had a treasure hunt party when we literally scoured our large yard with a treasure map in hand.  I had a Beauty and the Beast party where Bell herself came and visited me at present opening time.  One year we threw a mystery dinner birthday party where an intimate gathering of close friends gathered around our dinner table to coded menu items and blindfolded eating.  Another one of my most memorable parties was a hippie party where all of my guests arrived clad in hippie getup and made leather head bands together.  But, my favorite party was my carnival birthday party.  On this birthday our backyard was transformed into a carnival, complete with clowns, face painters, balloon artists, and a even a miniature pony.  Need I say more?

SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY

A couple of years after Josh and I got married he planned a day of fun on my birthday.  I wish I remembered all the activities… we probably went shopping a little and went on a coffee date but the part I can’t forget is pulling up to a garage full of surprise party guests. We pulled in, Josh got out, the garage door opened, and I was suddenly met with a throng of bright, smiling faces.   I can honestly say I had no idea!  My mom even made the trip down and served as our personal chef for the evening.  We spent our time catching up, eating delicious food still talked about today, and ended the evening with a dance party in the driveway.

BIRTHDAY GETAWAY

Last year Josh planned a surprise getaway at a Hilton in Madison.  He’s the worst at keeping secrets so at one point I found out, but that didn’t dampen the trip at all.  We only spent one night but we vacationed to the max in our short time frame.  For starters, we located the pool and enjoyed some swim time and hot-tubbing.  Then we ordered two large pizzas and two appetizers from the Glass Nickel Pizza Co. and ate until we fell into a heap on the bed.  We watched a movie until we had control of our movements again then went for a stroll in the misty rain.  We came to this lakeside patio and danced to the romantic music in the dark for a few songs.  We walked back to the hotel hand in hand, picked up some ice cream at the front counter, and resumed our lazy movie watching.  The next morning we checked out and walked to breakfast at the Marigold Kitchen.  I seems simple but it was such a treat to have a decent budget to do dine in style while we were in Madison.  It was a treat ordering way too much good food, my favorite pizza to this day, and being completely lazy.  And to top it all off, it is one of those memories where my life was a romantic comedy.  Although, to Josh’s credit, we have a lot of those in our marriage 🙂

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to my intensely loving and giving Mom and husband for always making me feel like the most special woman in the world on my birthday!

What is your favorite birthday memory?

a Photo a Day | September 9 – 15

Posted on by

Hey friends!  Sorry for the less than regular “a Photo a Day” blog posts.  Josh and I are in the middle of moving and traveling so certain things have been neglected.  We move October first so I’d say “a Photo a Day” will fall back into my weekly Monday blog post shortly thereafter.  Until then, I will provide what I can!  This week, I have 5 days of photos to share 🙂

To see more “a Photo a Day” blog posts CLICK HERE.

3Wednesday 4Thursday 5F6Sa 7Sunday

WEDNESDAY Mr. Bee broke a leg so he made for a fantastic still subject and later he was gone so we both won 🙂

THURSDAY disc case for my lovely friends Elyse + Kevin

FRIDAY Joshua and my pops endeavored into some manual labor projects together

SATURDAY  a family photo session at Northwestern College in Minnesota (full blog post coming soon)

SUNDAY  an outdoor vow renewal ceremony at Edgewater Park in Woodbury, MN (full blog post coming soon)

Important Beginnings

Posted on by

A Nugget of Thought

The first hour of your day is critical.  It sets the tone for the rest of your day.

I was reminded of this a little while back while reading Wrecked, which I highly recommend you read.  I had, once again, gotten into the bad habit of plowing straight through any semblance of a morning routine and head first into work.  This is naughty.  Why?

By the time I got to reading Wrecked and being rechallenged to purposefully set the tone of my day I was skipping past breakfast, quiet time, devos and even showering sometimes.  I woke up, barely rolled over, and grabbed my phone.  On my phone I was immediately sucked into emails and Facebook.  Not inherently bad and seemingly harmful, but because I did this I was thrown into my work day before I could yet hold my eyes all the way open.  This is exactly why I skipped past all the important things and walked directly over to my office chair.  Work became the only thing I could see and shortly into my day I was drained.

I dare you to be intentional about the first 60 minutes of your day.

After realizing I slipped up in my prioritizing I reset my morning routine to include a leisurely breakfast, prayer and devotional time in my quiet space, and often times I even do yoga and shower 😉  My new routine has given me life and energy to get me through long hours of editing, corresponding, shooting, and otherwise working.  It also helps that in my prayer time I specifically pray for creativity, productivity and kindheartedness as I work.  Most importantly, I refrain from looking at my phone past looking at the time until well after I have completed my healthy morning routine.

Do you have an intentionally life giving morning routine?  What is it?