School's out, for summer!

Taken: Spring 2008
Location: University of Oklahoma
The memory: My BFF -- you've met her -- and I decided just weeks (days?) before we graduated to go around OU's campus and grab photos of and with special places on campus. It was a beautiful afternoon on a beautiful campus. What a great day! Here is me posing with one of my favorite campus statues. He's buried underground, but he's just chilling. (You'll come to realize that I LOVE to take pictures posing in the same way as a statue I'm with. This won't be the last.) Unfortunately for this picture, I do look more like I'm doing crunches than chillin' wit my hommie over her. Still...great photo...great day...great four years!

School's out for life!

It's close to midnight, something evil's lurking in the dark

Taken: Halloween 2008
Location: Norman, Okla., former apartment of mine
Why I love this picture: 1) It's Halloween...and I love Halloween. 2) I'm with two of my favorite ladies in all the land. 3) My costume, which was originally a princess, doubled as Glinda (or Galinda) the Good Witch -- I had friends dressed as Wizard of Oz characters. 4) That was my prom dress. And I fit into it four and a half years later!

I'm a Sooner born and a Sooner bred

Taken: Fall of 2006
Location: Oklahoma Memorial Stadium - Norman, Okla.
The story/What's important: I took this picture in college. I was a staff photographer (among a slew of other things) at my school (OU) newspaper. This was my first (of two) OU football games to attend as a photographer on the field. Quite exciting. This is one of my favorite pictures of the boys before the game. What's important about this picture is that now, three years later, this is what I do for a living...just not at my alma mater. I'm in sports information at a small university, so I take pictures and do everything else imaginable for our six sports. It's pretty great. Not gonna lie. BOOMER SOONER!

And when I die, I'll be a Sooner dead!

Momma's back home, baking them buttercups

Taken: Just a few weeks ago...Oct. 10, 2009
Location: Riverside Drive in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Why I love this picture: It pretty much defines my family these days. My mom and dad decided to go on a health kick in 2007...and both look and feel at least 10 years younger these days! They spend a lot of time being active and working out. My sister has always been rather athletic and coaches gymnastics these days. I took up triathlon just more than a year ago, and it's what's kept me sane over the last year or so (see Gearing Up). And in the middle of every family gathering, conversation or event since Dec. 26, 2008, my amazing, adorable, awesome niece, Jocelyn Eliza.

Oh, my sweet blue-eyed darlin'...all four of them!

It's something unpredicable, but in the end it's right

Taken: July 2007
Location: Just outside of Rome
Why this picture: Today, I was looking through pictures of my summer in Spain (and one weekend in Rome), and I pin-pointed this moment as when I became good friends with my now best friend. (Please excuse nasty plane hair.) We'd known each other (besides one semester of class) for about two weeks. We landed, made it to our hostel, and decided "when in Rome" and ordered some wine at the hostel bar. He said they would be 4 euro a piece. Well, that's high, but not ridiculously high for a glass, especially for a "hotel bar," so we got a red and a white. Lo and behold, he brings us two bottles, instead of two glasses, which we thought we were getting. And so we toasted. Looking at this picture two years later, I think this is the moment. We went on to drink a lot of it ourselves but did share with some people we met at the hostel. Great, memorably weekend.

I had the time of my life.

At this moment, you mean everything

Taken: June 2009
Location: Houston
The memory: My boyfriend, Nick, and I drove to Houston to go to one of my oldest friends' weddings. (He was one of those guys who always said he wouldn't get married, which made the day even more special!) It was a great get-away weekend, even though it was rather short. This was taken immediately following the wedding in our hotel room. I pushed him down or we fell onto the bed, and I snapped a shot. This is my desktop background. It makes me smile every time because you can see in our eyes how happy we were that night.

I thought this would make a fitting first post.