ELEVEN DAYS!
Posted on May 17, 2016
I realize some of you have no idea what the title to this blog is referencing. It has been awhile, folks. From my last post to today, there have been some changes!
First, I no longer work for Texas Tech University. It was time to move on and seek a different place of employment. I have so many great memories and have met the most amazing students while working at Texas Tech. I love my school, and I will always cherish the adventures and great times working for Tech, however, after 4 years I was looking for something different. I currently work at Texas Exes, the official Ex-Students Association for The University of Texas. Yup, I’m working with the big dogs and burnt orange. It has been a different environment, but I can say that it is going well. I’ll always bleed Red and BlackĀ don’t you worry! I still get to have student interaction and work for a great organization that is creating excellent opportunities for incoming students. I’ll talk more about my position on a post later.
Second, 11 days. Ahhhh Eleven Days. ELEVEN DAYS until I become MRS. CARO! Luis and I will be getting married on May 28th. It seems like we were engaged forever ago, now 10 months later, we are about to become husband and wife. I remember the days where I cried, screamed, prayed and bargained with God to bring me a nice man that I can spend the rest of my life with. He definitely brought me a great one. Most of my favorite moments in my life have been spent with him. He’s the one I can’t wait to see when I come home and the one I love talking to about everything. We have been blessed to go on some fun adventures, see some really awesome music, see almost every sports Austin has to offer, and most importantly, get to know each other and who we are. We have built a bond and foundation to always try and keep trying to make our relationship great. We don’t always see eye to eye, but at the end of the day, we know we love each other, and we know we are both all in to make it work. So, in eleven days we will make this a permanent adventure. I.Can’t.Wait.
Third, is that we are getting married, we had to have some photos taken. That’s right, I finally had to be in front of the camera instead of behind it. NERVES. This was something I was dreading and putting off until the last minute. We chose a fantastic photographer names J.Masciana Photography. She’s been putting up with my difficult and annoying requests. Fun fact, she has the same degree (Photocommunications) as I have except she graduated from a school in California. Totally Random! That pretty much sealed the deal for me. She’s been so great to us. Below are some photos from our shoot. I will have to say after the shoot, I was a wreck, I didn’t want to see the photos. Then, she sent us the link to the photos, I ugly cried with how great they turned out. We are so in love with them. I could not have asked for better photos.
Fourth, Speaking of photos andĀ adventures… We decided for our honeymoon that we are going to SPAIN! We are going to spend 2 weeks exploring Spain. That means TONS of photos. TONS. I am super excited that I will be able to take my camera and photograph, photograph, photograph, and photograph some more. Luis and I love traveling together, and of course, you guys know I love photographing! When I moved into Luis’s house a little over a year ago, he had it remodeled before I moved in. We also purchased almost everything new because we were making it our home. So, when it came to figuring out registries for our wedding, we knew that we didn’t need a lot of things for the house. We decided on creating a HoneyFund to help make our dream vacation come to fruition. Hopefully, everyone will feel the same way about our idea!
I promise I will update more often! We went on an 8 day trip to California in September, and I’ll post those photos soon.
~ Jalys.
Share this:
I have great news! …. over a month later.
Posted on August 18, 2015
This summer has been absolutely insanely busy! This summer was full of family time and work. We spent A LOT of time in Abilene. I have spent even more time working in Lubbock this summer.
If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you already know the exciting news. If not, this is the purpose of today’s blog….
On July 4th, Luis asked me to marry him! That’s right, I’m ENGAGED! He totally surprised me during a fireworks show. My dreams and prayers came true. We are getting married May 28, 2016, in Georgetown, TX. We made our wedding website on The Knot and our Honeymoon/Registry on Honey Fund. Below are links to these sites so you can see and read the whole story. Get ready for teasers and posts about our upcoming wedding! š
Soon, I’ll be adding more photos from projects that I have worked on in the spring and summer. Here is a sneak for now!
Ā Taken in Lubbock, TX
Cheers,
Jalys.
Share this:
Day 3 of Denver Vacay!
Posted on June 2, 2015
Day 3 of Denver Vacay was the most chill of the three days. It was rainy and foggy, not a lot to do. We drove out to a nature preserve so we could see some buffalo, elk and other creatures. We were unsuccessful and didn’t see anything other than a couple of deer.
After the nature preserve, we decided to go to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Ā The whole city of Denver had the same idea, and the museum was packed. This was the least favorite part of our trip, but we got to see some nature and science. We kept hearing about this burger place in Denver called The Park. We decided to go there for a late lunch before we went to the airport. The burger was pretty good, while we were there, Luis mentioned that there was a brewery down the street that he forgot about. We still had about an hour until we needed to get to there airport, so we headed that way.
The brewery was called Epic Brewing, and it was EPIC! š This turned out to be our favorite brewery that we went to. The taproom was open with a cool bar area. One thing that Denver has over Austin is the cool taproom settings. We stayed there and enjoyed a few cold beers. Luis found his favorite beer on the planet. He’s still trying to find somewhere in Austin that carries that particular beer. After Epic Brewing, we returned the car and headed back to the airport. The flight home was pretty scary, we went through some heavy storms, and the turbulence was really shaky. All-in-all it was a great weekend! Here are the last of the photos from Day 3,Ā I didn’t take a lot of photos this particular day.
That’s a wrap!
~ Jalys.
Share this:
Denver Vacation Day 2 Part 2!
Posted on May 8, 2015
Finally, I have some time to sit down and finish editing and posting about our Denver Vacation. Day 2 was my absolute favorite day. After we finished walking around the zoo, we decided to go to The Great Divide Brewery. The place was PACKED! We enjoyed a short tour of the brewery, and then we walked over to Breckenridge.
As we were sitting at Breckenridge Brewery and Pub, we knew that doing another brewery would be a disaster, so I got on my phone and went to a trusty traveler site, TripAdvisor. I found out that a place called Mount Evans was the number one fun thing to do in Denver. Not knowing the area, we decided to just go with it and head that way. As we turned off the main interstate, there was a sign that said the road to Mount Evans was closed. Being that we just drove 30 miles to this point, we decided to take our chances and drive until we were told to turn around.
It was such a gorgeous drive. We started down the road, and there were cabins everywhere. Every so often we would see a little creek running alongside our road. As we continued to drive there would be patches of snow, and the scenery was breathtaking. We kept driving, and as we were driving up the mountain, it started to snow. We looked down, and all we saw were trees covered in snow. We came upon a frozen lake, and we definitely were not in Texas anymore! We decided that we would come back to the lake on our way back. About a mile up the road was the turnoff to Mount Evans, which was closed! Haha There was a place to park, and we saw some other cars there, so we decided to take a break and check out the scenery. I brought my camera along and photographed the area that we were in. Turns out we were in the Arapaho National Forest. It was sooooo gorgeous. The snow was really coming down, and we met a gentleman that was telling us about the area. He told us to continue down the road, and we will eventually get back to Denver.
We went back to the frozen lake, so I could photograph a little bit and then we continued on. The drive back was so gorgeous. Snow, trees, mountains… everything was excellent. We discussed plans to move there, it was so peaceful and stress-free. When we finally returned to Denver, we wanted to check out a couple more breweries before we turned in for the night. We went to Denver Beer Co, and the atmosphere was super chill. We felt like we were hanging out in Austin. There were plenty of tables and games for patrons to engage in. The beer was great. We agreed that we were going to purchase pint glasses at every brewery we stopped at. We came home with about 10 glasses! Haha. After Denver Beer Co we decided to head over to Prost Brewing, and that was our last brewery of the night.
After we finished our beer at Prost, it was getting late. We wanted to eat before we went back to the hotel. We settled on a place called Denver Deep Dish. Best.Pizza.Ever. Literally the best pizza ever. The crust was the best crust I’ve ever had. It was like a biscuit and pizza crust put together. After eating at Denver Deep Dish, pizza will never be the same. The toppings were great, the crust is heaven, and the only thing I wished was that I could have eaten more. I wish Austin had a place like this.
This wraps up day 2. This was my favorite part of the day and ironically the worst photos I took during the vacation. Haha. Oh well, the memories will definitely always be there. Here are a couple of photos from Day 2 Part 2.
~ Jalys
Share this:
Calm.
Posted on November 14, 2013
Happy Thursday! I wanted to share this photo as a sneak peek. I’m so busy with work and often times generally overwhelmed and so I’ve been makingĀ myself find ways of relaxation and calmness. I’ve been documentingĀ it as well and I thought I would share this photo with you until I’m finished editing. This photo when I look at it, makes all my stress just disappear. I think because it reminds me as a kid when I would lay in the grass or swing on my swing in the front yard, I would lean back, close my eyes, look into the sun and just breathe. Sometimes with all the stress, anxiety and other issues I deal with on a daily basis, breathing can be a difficult task. This picture helps me remember the fun times I had in my childhood. Hope you like it and look for the full album soon!
Rock On.
~ Jalys.
P.S. Look for me on the sidelines at the Texas Tech vs Baylor game! I’ll be the one with a camera standing next to KliffĀ the wholeĀ time š hahahahahaha. JJ. But, I really will be on the sidelines photographing the game, I apologize in advance for the amount of InstagramĀ photos that will be on your feed. I have never been to Cowboys…errr… AT&T stadium, so I’m just a WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEĀ bit excited! WRECK BAYLOR!
Share this:
Family time at Cypress Creek Boat Dock.
Posted on November 11, 2013
What a long title! hahaha. I live about 3 miles from Lake Travis and I love it. I love the area I live in as it is technically in Austin, TX but I’m in an area that is secluded and surrounded by nature. Rocker, Ryder and I frequent this old boat ramp/dock that has been shut down due to the lack of water. It is a sad scene, but it’s a great place to take the pups so they can run out their energy. A couple of weeks ago, we had a TON of rain and filled the area creeks. I decided to take my camera to our usual family spot and photograph some of the scenery and tried to snap a couple of photos of Rocker and Ryder! haha Enjoy these and have a great Monday!
Rock On!
~ Jalys.
Share this:
Corpus Christi
Posted on October 7, 2013
Several months ago I was in Corpus for an event with Tech. I took my camera with me and was able to go off and photograph a bit before we had to head to McAllen. It was my first time in Corpus and I definitely want to go back and explore the area more. It took me forever to edit these photos, I actually forgot about them. Whoops. Hope you enjoy! Happy Monday!
Rock On!
~ Jalys
Share this:
Greenfest 2013
Posted on August 24, 2013
Almost a month ago, the boys of Galleywinter hosted Greenfest down in New Braunfels, here are few photos I captured on Day 2 of the festival at Lonestar Floathouse. It was packed, hot so I didn’t get much and had to leave before I passed out from a heat stroke. Sorry, guys. Let’s have it in November next year ;).
Rock On.
Jalys.
Share this:
Hoots and Hollars!
Posted on July 16, 2013
Hello friends! I hope this fine Tuesday is treating you well! I thought I’d blog out some hoots and hollars for you guys and let you in on some of the things I’m hooting and hollaring about! š
Insanity. I love to hate insanity and hate to love it. This program is the hardest but most rewarding workout I’ve ever done. I have yet to go all the way through the program but I’m so dang determined to get through it. I think I finally found my recipe for success. Insanity, I will take you down! I want to get through this program so then I can buy the T25 program. I refuse to buy a new workout program until I defeat Insanity! haha.
Slow Work Weeks. I love being busy, tired, exhausted, and drained. To me it’s showing myself that I’m working hard and doing my job. I am used to working long days/nights and sometimes working weekends for Tech. However,Ā during the summer it has a been a little slow with schools not in session. Which equals to me climbing up the walls trying to find something to do. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cleaned our office,Ā organized and thrown away boxes,Ā and how many times I have made sure every Tech promotional item is turned correctly and centered on the shelf. I think my poor coworkers are getting tired of me cleaning their offices and trying to find busy work to do. We were given a project right before I left for 4th of July vacation, with the timeline of the whole month to complete it. I was finished in 4 days. hahaha and now I’m back to cleaning our office again. š
The Dirty Guv’nahs. I love these guys but have yet to see them live. Boooooo! I will soon though, mark my words! hahaha. They have a BRAND new album out today called “Live from Knoxville.” If you’re a good music fan then this band should be in your library. Just saying.
Paleo. I’ve spent the last 3 or 4 months researching Paleolithic dieting. It is quite interesting toĀ read about and get a grasp as to why our society is sick with so many diseases and health problems. I’ve vowed to follow the Paleo program and it has been a battle. I’m basically breaking the habits I’ve been creating since I was born. I am positive my research and new knowledge will help me fully commit and lead a healthy lifestyle. I think with all the research I’ve done on Paleo, it has given me the tools to cut out the toxins and harmful foods out from my diet. If only I could drink LonestarĀ beer and it be Paleo friendly. haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Positivity. For me, being negative and having a sarcastic attitude has always been easier than beingĀ a positive and an encouraging person. Sometimes the negativity is infectious and you end up just being Miserable Molly all the time, I don’t like that side of me. I decided to actively change that and become more of a positive, encouraging, kind-hearted person. I’ve never really liked or gravitated towards people who constantly have the victim, poor me attitude. I believe everyone goes through hardships and the strongest people are the ones who take from it a positive spin instead of beingĀ Victim VikkiĀ fishing for compliments because their life isn’t diamonds and roses. I have friends that have this negative attitude and it saddens me. Thank God for what you have, not what you want to have. Put your big girl panties on and deal with it. So from now on I will be a little sassy but I want to evoke more positivity and spirit in my life. It might be harder to smile sometimes but the outcome of being positive and not letting the negative effect you will be worth the extra effort!
Summer. This summer I have made a pact to myself to spend more time outdoors. I’m not a camping person, I am more of a glamping kind of girl but I really wanted to spend more time outside soaking in some Vitamin D. I take Rocker and Ryder on hikes, walks, runs, anything to get some more fresh air. I’ve also spent time laying out by the pool and reading my PaleoĀ book. It’s been nice. I’ve even have a little tan going on! Loves it. I plan on having a couple of get togethers at my pool so my friends can join me in my new pastime. Ā I also bought a cool new toy that I get to use in the water, which I’ll explain next!
Kayaking. That’s right, your glamping girl bought a kayak! I have always wanted to try it out, butĀ my own insecurities held me back. Well that changed this summer! I rented a kayak from Rowing Dock on Town Lake and it was a euphoric experience. It is so therapeutic and relaxing. I decided I needed to go ahead and buy my own that I could take out anywhere I wanted to, so I bought one! Yay! Of course it’s red and it has a place for my “water bottle”. My coworker thinks I should bring Rocker and Ryder but I don’t think Rocky would enjoy it. Poor pup is so timid. But we can always try!
Here is my new favorite view. Love being on the water!
Rock On.
~ Jalys.
Share this:
LJT Bound!
Posted on April 23, 2013
For the rest of the week I will be on some ranch somewhere by Stephenville, TX {which I haven’t mapped out yet} and I’ll be photographing one of the biggest festivals in the TX Music Scene. I’ve been packed for days and have had a count down for the past 2 months. I think I might be a little excited to do this. Just a tad, don’t you think?! š
If you’re at the festival, come say hiiiiiii! If your friends are at LJT, get them to like my Facebook page {you can do that on the right side of this blog, just saying, takes two seconds} and tell them to come hang out with me. I’m a fun time! hahaha. Anyways, I hope every one has a great week, check back for sneaks from the festival, make sure to like my Facebook page as I’ll be posting pit/stage shots and keep on l-i-v-i-n man.
Here is a photo from a family day with Rocker + Ryder, we went to Emma Long Park and had a nice little hike. I’m missing them this week and next week as I’ll be traveling for Tech when I get back from LJT. Love them.
I thought this was a really cool looking tree trunk. Very Austin.
love it. live it. capture it.
*Jalys.
