a story of a girl + fall {guest post by Carlotta}

Hey there lovelies, I'm Carlotta. I'm so happy to be posting for Katie today -- it's no secret that I'm a huge fan of her photography and beautiful words and just her beautiful self in general, so I was thrilled when she asked me to guest post. So here's the deal, y'all. Fall tends to be the topic that every blogger talks to death, myself included. The perfectly descriptive colors of the leaves, the cool air, the bonfires, et cetera. But today, instead of using adjective after adjective, I'm going to tell you a story instead.

favorite socks.

Once upon a time there was a girl. This girl spent the better part of her second semester of each school year waiting with bated breath for that sweet, sweet week in late May, the week where finals are completed, classes are done, and there's freedom for three whole months, forever and ever amen. So the girl enters summer in a state of euphoria, relishing in this little thing called I-finally-have-time-to-do-things-other-than-school. Summer is spent working on projects, vacations, long sleepovers, early mornings at the farmer's market, and reading by the pool. And then, just when everything is perfect, visions of school supplies and back to school sales begin to dance in the girl's head -- and not in a good way. They haunt her. She wonders why this season of freedom must be swapped for a season of school and so she lives the rest of the summer in feigned ignorance of the inevitable first day of school.

Time marches on, and before she knows it, early September is upon her. A stack of crisp new books, rows of perfect pencils, and perfectly untouched notebooks accompany her to the first class of the year. And once she gets past the schoolwork, she looks around and starts noticing things. She begins to see the slowly changing leaves, gets excited about wearing something other than a tank and shorts, starts craving soups and hot chocolate, and burrow deeper under the extra blanket on her bed. September is more of a tentative step, an unsure transition between autumn and summer, but by the time October rolls around, this girl has abandoned summer and is on the rooftops screaming her affection for fall. (this is all summer has to say: traitor.)

So yes, this girl is me. And I am now head over heels for fall and wishing it wasn't going as fast as it is. But that's okay, because Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming, and for that, I'm excited too. Happy Fall!

i'm carlotta -- writer, photographer, artist, foodie, and christian. i blog about life and fashion and pretty things at pastor's girl's ponderings. i'm a fashion enthusiast and lover of stripes and scarves. rarely am i found without my camera. my feet are perpetually cold. i believe that life is beautiful and call the windy plains of oklahoma home. favorites include anything chocolate, sunflare, good books, and pretty shoes. it's a pleasure to meet you.

I don't like disappearing// rambling.

This quote makes me happy: “When teachers say, 'This is the best time of your life,' they are wrong. They are only saying that because they’re teachers and they have to look at your weird faces every day. There is no 'best time of your life,' but rather perfect moments, like when someone’s gum falls out of their mouth while they’re telling a story, or when a jerk is walking toward you and accidentally gets hit in the head with a soccer ball. Make sure to store these moments in a safe place in your brain. They will be useful to you in the future, I promise.”

I spent last weekend on that beautiful lake with, among others, these two amazing people. You know that feeling when you come home from from a packed weekend and there's really no way to tell all the stories and share everything that happened? That's how I feel.

I don't like dropping off my blog for so long- it's become such a part of my life that not-blogging feels weird. Libby told me recently that she thought I've been a bit silent lately, and it's completely true. Which, for the record, is ok. I have work and college classes and school and friends and church and just stuff to do. I don't want to be in a place where this blog feels like more of a burden than a good thing. These once-a-week posts are working for me as long as they're working for you. :)

Here's some fun news:

-Markus Zusak is one of my favorite people. Period. He's amazing. If you haven't read any of his books, (my favorite) please fix that. Anyways, a few days ago I tweeted about how excited I am about his new book. (It's not coming out until September, unfortunately!) And then: He. Replied.

Markus Zusak, literary genius, author of one of my favorite books, amazing person, knows that I exist.

-John Green is speaking at Butler Uni on Tuesday. Guess who's going? This girl! *Hopefully* I can carpool with another friend. We'll hang out and eat pizza and meet John Green. Yeah. I'm excited.

-Have you seen the movie posters for the Hunger Games? Rue is my favorite, but I'm not a fan of Haymitch's hair, and what's up with Cato? I would rather not wait until March for this movie, thank you very much.

Is there anything you're particularly excited about?

we like photobooth.

Also, matching hats and Ally Condie's not-quite-new book. Right now we're watching Aladin together on the projector. It's been a few years since I've seen it, and, while not my favorite Disney movie, it's definitely up there.

Sister things make me happy.
xo

several stories.

Story One: 
My last class on Mondays ends at 9:15. We always stop at Ski Hi, the old abandoned drive-in theater to drop off Nathaniel, one of Joseph's friends. Because it's October and we're teenagers and we still have time to do stupid things like this, we stopped the car. And we got out. And, armed with only a few struggling flashlights and a full moon, we explored.

I'm not sure if it's trespassing or not, but there were no signs and no squatters, so I think we're ok. :)

I don't think I can really describe how it feels to be running through a dark field at night doing something possibly-illegal. It's another one of those heart-pounding, throat-clenching feelings. The theater is falling apart, both on the inside and the outside. We stumbled upon a huge pile of old film, which I might be able to scavenge for an art project of some sort.

Have you done any exciting, potentially dangerous things lately?

Story Two: 
A few weeks ago, my friend Isaac at work asked me what I like to do. (For future reference: I hate this question. What do I like to do...when?) I told him that I love to read. He made a weird face at me, and then later explained that he just thought that was odd because he doesn't like to read.

Which is ok. I'm fine with people not liking to read. However, he went on to say that he absolutely hates the Catcher in the Rye and I should never read it. I have a problem with that. No one is allowed to go around smack-talking my favorite books.

When I was at the library last week with my family, I picked up Nine Stories, mostly to make a point that just because he hated the Catcher in the Rye, doesn't mean it's a bad book. Or something along those lines. I ended up loving Nine Stories. The first one was about Seymour, who's been in several other Salinger stories/books. It's always fun to find companion stories to books you've read before.

Story Three: 
At Illustrator today, we learned how to use the Symbol Sprayer tool + how to turn 2D objects into 3D objects. My mind was blown. I have one more class period left for it and I'm so sad. It's been my favorite class this entire semester and I'll be sad to see it go.

One of the reasons I like that class so much is because everyone else in the class seems just as genuinely excited about learning as I am. Frequently, when my professor shows us a new tool, there'll be oohs and ahhs from around the room. I love it.

Story Four: 
It's 12:46. Yes, definitely goodnight now. :)

october is my favorite.

Sunday afternoons might be the nicest time of the week. 

I spent this afternoon reading (Nine Stories, by JD Salinger), working on my final project for my Illustrator class, and taking + editing photos. I have two more class periods left for Illustrator and I'm sad, to put it lightly. It's my favorite class by far and I'm not ready for it to be over. On the flip side, when Illustrator ends, Photoshop starts. We'll see how that goes. :) 

It's 100% fall here. My dad and I were driving with all the windows down earlier, and every time we drove under a tree, there was that perfect fall-leaves-crunching sound. Abigail, Dad, and I went fishing for a few hours tonight. The weather was absolutely beautiful. I'm looking forward to it getting a little bit chillier, but I'm trying to enjoy the weather now. 

How have you been? 

thursday.

I look forward to our yearly trips to the apple orchard every year. There's something about the time spent in the car with the entire family, wandering through the rows of apple trees, and feeding the animals in the petting zoo. Just like last year, and the year before, I spent more time taking photos than picking apples.

I came home from work yesterday to the smell of apples permeating the house. My sisters were halfway through making individual apple pies. We had friends over that evening and enjoyed apple crisp + cider with them. I love this time of year.

The orchard we visit has a petting zoo with an odd assortment of animals. The animals are different every year. Last year, the deer were wandering free in the open enclosure, this year they were penned up. Still close enough to feed, though. ;) 

They had the world's second (third? google says the beaver is the second largest.) largest rodent this year. After seeing a cabybara in a zoo in Arizona years ago, I can now say that I've seen both of the world's two largest rodents.

I've always had issues with shooting photos of people- mainly, I would rather shoot something that stands still. Also, my siblings aren't big fans of photos. :) I think it's easier to take a photo of something that doesn't care how the photo turns out and isn't inconvenienced by standing still for a photo. Regardless of whether or not I decide to be a professional photographer, wedding photography's out for me.

I tried hard to get photos of everyone at the orchard. I'd rather not be looking through the photos a year from now and not have any of my family. Before we left in the morning, I made sure everyone was presentable and photo-ready. I'm quite happy with how they turned out, especially the next two.

He's halfway through the first semester of his senior year and ready for senior photos. I'm the logical choice, because I wouldn't charge and, uh, I'm family. He's not too psyched about that, and neither am I, for reasons listed above. But these two turned out great, so we'll see. Also- my entire family has those eyes. His were just especially sparkly that day.

(edit: he says to clarify that he's nearly 18. so enough with the "he looks so young," comments. ;)) 

I've had a bit of a crazy weekend and not much rest- but how has your week been?
xo