What I'm Loving + Favorite Photos // June 2017
Hey everyone! I'm so thankful and excited by the overwhelmingly positive response I received last week on the official launch of Ashley Karlen Photography. Starting a photography business has been a dream of mine since college. I'm super excited to see what's ahead. On to today's fun stuff!If you've been around my page for a bit, you know that I absolutely love sharing about the things that I am currently loving. I've done this every couple of months since I started blogging again. You can read those here and here. While I still love sharing about the things I am loving, I wanted to spice things up. Every month from now on, I'll be sharing things I love, am exploring, am curious about and many other things. The fun thing is I'll also be sharing some of my favorite photos I took during that month. Are you ready!? I am!
What I'm Loving
DISCOVERING the library and the depth of it has been amazing. I absolutely love books and can't stray away from a good book sale to save my life. This has really cut down on those books that I really want to read but don't really need to buy. Plus, I've found that I absolutely love listening to fiction like this or this on audiobook. I love highlighting and taking notes so I'd much rather hold a non-fiction book in my hand.ENJOYING time on our back porch sitting in our camping chairs, relaxing and sometimes even building a fire. Yes, we live in Houston. Yes, it's hot outside. Even with the heat, we've started a fire in our fire pit and spent an evening discussing life around the fire and roasted some s'mores.ADORING the lifestyle and community ideas from The Turquoise Table. Rick and I are already dreaming of our next home and how we can implement the ideas in this book to get to know our new neighbors and start building a community there. It's made me start dreaming of fun little things to take out to my future table like this pitcher or these plastic cups. I just absolutely love the colors of those cups.PRETENDING I'm at the spa with this luxurious face mask. It smells so ridiculously wonderful in the morning.RICK'S RECOMMENDING the sous vide cooker. Rick has seriously recommended this immersion cooker to multiple people in the same day. I will say that this gadget is pretty nifty. It's a great meal prep tool that you can set and leave which I'm always a fan of. The absolute best brisket I may have ever had in my entire life was cooked in this just a few days ago. (See below for the brisket picture.)PLANNING lots of vacation days in the next couple of months. Who has any fun ideas for San Antonio, Waco or Costa Rica? Later this fall, we'll be looking for a great little bed and breakfast either around the Houston area or not too far away for a little couple's getaway. Post all your must sees and great spots in the comments.GRATEFUL for the friends and family who have constantly encouraged me, stuck by my side and helped launch me into this new season of life.
