summer arrives.

Goodness, I'm still doing a pretty poor job of keeping up with this space. Apologies, apologies. To be fair, I do have quite a bit going on at the moment. There's work, of course, plus playing fiddle for my church's worship band, I finally got my garden sown and my tomato plants in the ground, running, spending time with Jeremy, cooking dinner, walking Cael, making dresses, still unpacking and any other number of sundry tasks that I decide to throw in. But life is good. God is good. There are some new opportunities coming up for Jeremy and I that could change things, but be challenging and good; blessings.

The fireflies are out in full force in the evenings now, they have been for a couple weeks. The first gloaming that I saw their luminescent song playing across our front yard I knew summer had arrived in the mountains. I also realized how long it had been since I had enjoyed the sight of them--lightning bugs don't grace the streets and closes of Edinburgh, though that would make summer dim up in the Highlands that much more magical.

Lately the heat of summer has made its way into the valley, though the nights are still cool and fragrant to temper the summer sun of the daytime. I'm happy to be home, happy to realize and recognize the things that I missed and enjoy them once again.

these mountains mean home.

God is so good. All of the time.


Here's what my lately has looked like, care of Instagram:

lightning bugs lightening up the dim.

i walked for lunch one day at work.

zucchini cakes. {recipe!}

always in awe.

fresh summer south carolina strawberries.

wordless wednesday. [new specs]

crafty happenings.

Most of you know that Jeremy and I recently moved into a new house in Black Mountain. It's the first house (not apartment, flat, or in-law suite) that we've ever lived in together, and though we don't own it, it is still a huge step to that eventual end.
Of course, with a new place, comes new crafty projects (thanks to the help of Pinterest!) and new interior design elements. It has unfortunately taken me much longer than I would have preferred--due to numerous reasons--to really get the house to a point where I feel okay having people over (but only in certain rooms, we are still far from finished moving in). But! This last week has seen the fruition of a number of projects that have been rolling about in my mind since even before we moved in. Today, I'll share them with you.

Finished last week: I've been planning this one since about January or before, but wasn't able to get it finished. My idea was to create a huge photo canvas of one of my favorite photos that I took during our time in Edinburgh. I bought a 24x36 wrapped canvas a couple months ago, and finally last month was able to purchase the 24x36 print that I wanted. The print itself was remarkably cheap, only $9.99 at vivyxprinting.com. They were running a special for first-time customers: a 24x36 print for ten bucks, it's like it was meant to be. :) So I painted the edges of the canvas, like so:

Then used spray adhesive to mount the print to the canvas. Admittedly, it's not a good as I want it to be, I'll have to research better procedures because the print ripples a little bit--which is only noticeable in certain light at certain angles, but I'd rather have it perfect. But here's how it turned out:

I also have been brain-storming a cheap but creative way to display/organize my jewelry, and thanks to the burlap given to me in an adorable gift basket from my close friend,  Kelsey Keil, I was able to simply wrap 11x14 canvases with burlap and hot glue to make this little babies:

Below the canvases, I simply nailed three small nails into the wall for the necklace hanging. Voila! It was so simple.
































This one is another one I've been thinking about for a while, and I originally got the idea from Pinterest. It's a wrapped canvas, painted green, then painted vintage white. I used sticker letters on the white coat, then painted a grey coat over it, let it dry, then peeled the stickers off. The last line was written using a paint pen. After everything was finished, I sprayed a coat of ModPodge finishing spray over the whole thing for continuity.

And there you have it, my creative endeavors of late. I've also been able to alter a pair of ill-fitting dress pants as well, and I've plans in the works for some summery dresses too!

wordless wednesday.

degree.

I guess a lot can be said for the fact that I have a Master's degree, regardless of what occupations are or aren't being thrown at me because of it. It's an awesome thing that I was accepted into a postgraduate program, went to Scotland for a year, and came home having earned a Master's degree. I know that I chose my degree on what some might call a whim, but it was the culmination of years of curiosity and passion about Celtic studies. It's just frustrating not having anything substantial to show for it now. Perhaps I will in the future; in fact, I'm kind of counting on that. But part of me wishes I would have gone for something a little more practical--like Museum Studies, so that I might have a legitimate claim to having an interest in being a curator. But at the same time I hear my good friend, Ellar, talk about her MFA in progress at VCFA, and all the fiction writing experience she's getting with huge names in the YA Fiction world, and I wish I'd maybe done something like that. That's what it boils down to though. All the degrees I coulda, shoulda, woulda, all come down to the same thing: writing. I can do that with or without a Master's degree. But I have one, and one that inspires creative writing at that. I just have to do it. I need to buckle down, stop wondering what might happen if I had done something else, and realize that I have a Master's degree in Highland Studies because I'm supposed to. I have a Master's in Highland Studies, and I spent a year in Scotland learning, studying, and experiencing that culture and taking in such incredible opportunities. I don't know what I will ultimately do with my degree, but I know that I have it for a reason and I've wasted enough time wondering if I've done the right thing. I need to write. I already know that is what I am supposed to be doing. I know it--even if I doubt it sometimes. I have been given the experience and resources for some amazing stories, why don't I write them?

As a wise friend once told me: "Don't doubt in the dark what God has shown you in the light."

No more doubting. More doing. More writing.

mountain song.

I sit on the mountainside, and revel at all that sits below me. God and all His splendor is revealed before me. I gaze across the peaks as they fade from verdant green to a ghostly blue that melds right into the pale sky. The mountain breeze belies the heat of summer that rules in the foothills. It plays in my hair and gives the leaves in the trees above me a voice that sings praises to the Creator. It is a song on the mountain, and I sit in silence to listen.

photography, lately.

While I have largely disbanded my photography business, Cerulean Photography, I still have done a couple shoots here and there since I've been back. Here are the highlights of the last vestiges of Cerulean Photography.

One of my closest friends got married in April, and I had the pleasure to do her bridal portraits at the place where she got engaged, Biltmore Estate.

Another friend of mine got married in April too. I was the photographer for her gorgeous wedding in Iron Station, NC. It was such a blessed day--I was honored to be apart of it.

This coming August, my sister-in-law is expecting her sixth child. Since this will most likely be her last pregnancy, she wanted me to do a pregnant belly shoot with her. This is my favorite of the day.

I think those are good photos to go out on, if I do say so myself. I'll still keep doing portrait sessions I think, I thoroughly enjoy those and they enable me to be a bit more creative and artistic, but I think Rachel's will probably be my final wedding. It's been a good run, but I want to keep my photography as something I love to do, not something I must do to make money. Photography will remain a hobby, and not a job.



Caitlin

come and sit a spell.

I realize how terribly negligent of this space I have been, and for it I sincerely apologize. I also realize that that apology is more for myself, as I don't really know how many people actually missed my writings here--but I do know how much I missed it. Life has happened, and there have been a multitude of other things that I should be doing, or sometimes could be doing, that this lonely blog has gathered metaphorical dust of disuse. I will make no promises because I know that I probably won't be able to keep them, but I do want to be more of a presence here than I have been of late. I suppose I feel that my life isn't nearly as exciting to write about as it was when we were in Edinburgh-- I'm fairly certain those feelings are well-founded, but that doesn't mean that I've naught to write about. 

In these nine (has it truly been that long?) months since we've been home in the mountains I have missed Edinburgh and Scotland tremendously. But those feelings are always tempered with the sheer delight of being home. These mountains never cease to inspire me; they frequently have me pointing and staring at their beauty and mist-shrouded secrecy like a wide-eyed child. Being away, and being away in such a beautifully similar landscape, gave me a new appreciation for the valley in which I live. Black Mountain is surrounded by green-clad peaks that rise and fall on the horizon, valleys deeply shaded in verdant hues, and all familiarly robed in grey mist and low clouds that hug the lines of the glens and shroud the softly rounded mounts. It really is incredible how similar the landscapes between these mountains and many Scottish ones are. It brings a gladness to my heart to know that my ancestors, who undoubtedly loved the familiarity of their own Scottish and Irish landscapes, made it to a place thousands of miles away that looked, felt, and even smelled like home. No wonder they settled here, no wonder the folk cultures between the highlands of Scotland and the highlands of Western North Carolina are so alike.

It's a grey and rainy morning, and I greet it with a knowing smile and a cup of breakfast tea in hand. Good morning, misty mountains. Good morning, soft grey air that hangs just a bit heavier, envelops the senses and smells so sweet. I hope we can continue this quiet rendezvous.