together again // our song

I'm a singer.

I always have been and always will be. It's one of my biggest passions, one that I've had since I was little. Really, since I could sing, I have. I grew up listening to music like mad and I cannot think of a day that I haven't sung once. I love fast songs, slow songs, sad songs, happy songs, folk songs, rock songs, jazz songs, big band songs, songs songs songs.

I'm not professional by any means, will never be a stylist, can't belt a pop song to save my life, but I love singing. My favorite type of song is the one that is simple, that I can sing just as easily as I can run, one that's as natural as breathing. I gravitate towards acoustic or piano songs, and resonate with simple melodies and soulful sounds.

I have some talented friends who I'm so proud and blessed to call my friends. We get together and play music sometimes, spending a couple hours singing, strumming, and drumming. We laugh a lot and have a good time and write words and make some melodies. And hey, we wrote a song. Though in all actuality, my friend Ryan wrote the song and my friend Seth sang the harmonies. Ryan strums, Seth drums, and we all sing.

We crammed an afternoon of singing in on Saturday, sitting in a practice room letting music resound from the walls. And yesterday, we were blessed with the opportunity to play for Church. This song is written as if it's God speaking, and it's His heart for His people and His Church. Our hope is that it would be a blessing and our hearts are that it would be all for His glory.

So, to end rambling words, here's Together Again.

friday favorites and thoughts

Hello friends! The past two days have been filled with a flurry of business, and I'm scrambling to finish school and work before the summer. The first few weeks of June are preeetty crazy (in the best way possible) and while I'm smitten with summer, I'm sadly in the group wishing there was a little more time to get everything done before then. I've got a few things to chat about, so this post is a collection of thoughts and questions for you all. :)

Summer Book

The other day on formspring, someone asked a sweet question about my poetry, which led to another question, which led to the request of a book of poems, sketches, and photos. I asked some friends on formspring and tumblr if they'd be interested in a potential book, and the answer was a hearty yes (which made my day). I've mulled over the idea several times before, but haven't considered it seriously until now. I have an idea for a book and was thinking of making it into a summer project. So, I'll ask again -- would you all be interested?

VSCO Film

I feel like the kid late to the party, who brings a box of sugar cookies plastered with frosting as pink as it is saccharine, while the other guests have homemade quiches and tarts and whatnot. I'm that serious. I've been itching to get my hands on VSCO film since the day it came out, and my grandparents and aunt gave it to me as an (early) birthday present. All I can say is, if you haven't already purchased it, do so. It's that good and I am seriously in love.

Design

With summer approaching swiftly (a big yay from me on that point!), I've been gearing up for my shoots and design jobs. If you're looking for a new design to spruce up your site, I have a few spots left open. Just send me an email! :)

Grateful For...

Caribou's Lemon Ginger Pomegranate Juice // VSCO Film // lazy almost summer days // shoots coming up // asparagus fresh from grandpa's garden // count down to Woodland // camping trips coming up // the return of shorts // rootbeer floats // freckles, freckles, and freckles // new ideas // summer poetry // trips // bird calls early in the morning // new camera gear // going barefoot

Happy Friday! x

breathe // some thoughts on authenticity and purpose

"The glory of God is man fully alive." – St. Irenaeus

There is so much noise in this world. We are bombarded with messages, images, sounds, sights, smells, and words. In the midst of all the sound, it's easy to feel claustrophobic. Cluttered. To start conforming and slipping into patterns and trends and fads and wearing a facade. Donning masks that aren't who we are in an attempt to fit in. To be right. It may even be unconscious. It's only when the mask slips and the curtain falls that we realize how desperately we need to be reminded of what really matters and who we really are. Our time is whittled away in an attempt to enjoy the better part of our days when we're missing what's right in front of us.

I need to simplify. I want to be intentional with my time. I want to be authentic with my art. I want to be fierce with my life. Living fierce and loving deep does not mean checking social media constantly. It does not mean spending hours doing things that don't matter. It does not mean being at the top or having the most or doing it all.


It does mean celebrating stories, making art that matters, loving and investing in people, and living purposefully, passionately, and persistently. Choosing to go against the grain. Saying, "this isthe day the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it." Living in the here and now and being thankful for this moment. Live simply, love extravagantly, give generously, laugh more. This life is too short, too sudden to waste a day.

Smiles that crinkle the corner of eyes, the slap of cards at the table, laughter ringing in the house and echoing in the yard, light falling in dappled shadows on the ground, freckles dotting little button noses, white clouds filling blue skies vast, joy settling deep in laugh lines. I want to notice these things. I want to see the beauty in the simplicity. I want to celebrate the ordinary. I want to create art that is completely myself. Authentic. I want to be fully alive. I want to be fully present. I want to be fully me.


So, I am choosing to step back.

Breathe.

Take a break and simplify.

I'm not leaving this little space of mine, but I am drastically cutting back. I am slowly but surely weeding out areas of my life that are overgrown and untended. I am digging my hands deep in proverbial dirt and breathing the scent in of good clean earth. I am rediscovering and remembering and refreshing and looking to Christ.


I am deciding to step away from the excess. I am cutting out the clutter, ripping off the masks, turning off the noise, pulling out the weeds, and choosing instead to be present. To be really alive, to fully notice, to be wholly here. This is me, simplifying and growing and focusing on what really matters. I want to live authentically, intentionally, and passionately.

Join me?

itching for summer.

I am itching for summer. It's so close that I can feel it. Each day is whispering of it, the steady hum growing louder and louder into a full out song. I run barefoot and drink iced tea like it's nobody's business and pretend that I'll tan and freckle if I spend the hours outside. I've been listening to summer music and dreaming of the day June arrives, when I can slip off the past school year and embrace the three months of sweet simplicity and summer fun. I have oodles of essays to finish and several tests to take before I can say goodbye to the past few months, but I'm slowly checking my dwindling to-do list off and June first is getting closer and closer.

I used to fancy myself an autumn girl, but more and more, I am falling full out in love with summer. Summer brings to mind roadtrips spent laughing with hair streaming, days lounging all lazy at the lake, nights spent slapping mosquitoes and roasting marshmallows over campfires burning red and gold. It makes me think of camping under the stars and for staying up till two in the morning laughing. It's filled with the slap of cards at worn tables, family vacations and traditions, and going barefoot under grass grown green. Summer is for deep breaths and full-bellied laughter, so much that your eyes crinkle and your face hurts. And it's for adventures.

This weekend was the first glimpse of a summer that's steadily approaching. We spent Sunday at my grandparents, playing cards and sitting outside and gardening in black dirt smelling deep of earth and laughing and talking about Woodland. To say I'm excited for this summer is an understatement. So while I wait for a day that inches closer and closer, I've put together a little summer playlist for you all. Enjoy, and happy Monday!



What are you most excited about this summer?

dear mom,

Dear Mom,

I've started this several times, and each time I begin, I start over. Usually, words don't trouble me, but trying to write something that really and wholly expresses my thoughts is so much harder than I could imagine. Mothers Day is tomorrow and I want to write something for you, but I'm left floundering, fishing for words that fail me.

So, I guess I'll just say, thank you.

Thank you for every hug.
Thank you for every card game.
Thank you for every meal.
Thank you for every time you've laughed with me.
Thank you for every time you've cried with me.
Thank you for every time you'd danced and smiled and talked with me.
Thank you for all the coffee dates, late movie nights, and moose tracks icecream weekends.
Thank you for driving me to ballet, to the doctors, to friends houses, to Church, to home, to grandparents, to the store, to places.
Thank you for always being there.
Thank you for loving Jesus and helping me do the same.
Thank you for singing at the piano with me.
Thank you for teaching me piano.
Thank you for giving me a love of music.
Thank you for teaching me the value of work.
Thank you for showing me what it means to be a mom.
Thank you for giggling with me.
Thank you for homeschooling me.
Thank you for helping me pursue my gifts and encouraging me to work hard and do what I love.
Thank you for listening and talking and praying for me.
Thank you for buying sweet, silly, and small gifts for me.
Thank you for going out of your way to do things for us.
Thank you for giving me opportunities.
Thank you for sitting with me at the hospital and telling me it will be okay.
Thank you for showing me the value of family.
Thank you for instilling a love of learning in me.
Thank you for being silly, goofy, and fun.
Thank you for being serious.
Thank you for sacrificing so much for all of us.
Thank you for going to see the midnight premiere of The Hunger Games with us.
Thank you for fighting for your family.
Thank you for loving dad and all of us kiddos.
Thank you for pushing me hard and helping me stand when I fall.
Thank you for believing in me.
Thank you for being authentic.
Thank you for finding joy in the hard things.
Thank you for all the stories and prayers.
Thank you for showing me what really matters.
Thank you for having family traditions that you've passed down.
Thank you for taking pictures with me.
Thank you for who you are.
And mostly...

Thank you for being my mom.

I love you so much. Happy Mothers day, Momma!

Love,
Hannah.

10 on 10 // May

I'm passionate about celebrating the beauty in the midst of the good and bad days, about seeing the joy in hard times, and about showing the sweet simplicity of ordinary days. A group of friends and my fellow photographers are starting a new project. Every month on the tenth, we'll be posting ten images of our day. No fuss, no mess, just real life. To remember those in between days and the beauty that they hold and to celebrate life -- as it is. Our lives are made up of small moments and ordinary things and I want to remember them. Which is why I'm even more excited for this project. Without any more words, my ten on ten for May.








Make sure to go hop on by Allix B. Photography | Without Flourish // 10 on 10! And keep clicking around to look through all our posts! x

an evening with elijah

Soft summer light bathes the world in warm shades of gold and the grass squishes deliciously under our feet. The air smells like spring and the sky drapes the world in blue. Elijah runs around the backyard, splashing in puddles from rain, dashing to the fence and back, and checking the raspberry bushes to see if any berries have grown yet. He tells me about how he has to put seeds in the puddles and he explains why we have a fence around the raspberry bushes ("to make sure the bunnies don't get the berries, Hannah!").

My frustration from a busy day evaporates immediately as I watch him race around, laughing and enjoying the night air. And his contagious joy reminds me of how we are to live. His unconscious celebration of each day in all its beauty and simplicity, in the midst of the good things and the bad, is natural. I want to remember how it is to live so fully, completely, and simply, and cultivate a spirit of joy and gratefuleness. To be like a child. So as the sun slips golden under the horizon, we walk around the backyard, enjoying the day with its promise of summer and I tell myself, "you remember this."