One night we slept in the apartment of a boy we’d never met. He had moved back to the states but left all of his things there. This made me feel like he was going to walk in at any minute and demand I put his journal down. This thought was the only thing that kept me from reading every single page. There were boxers on the floor, a beer bottle on the bathroom counter, and a creepy portrait of Jesus on the wall right as you walk in the apartment. “If Jesus looked like that, I don’t think I would be a Christian.”

In Seoul, we stayed in a hostel. 3 bunk beds. There were 5 of us and we thought it very unlikely a 6th person would join us. We were wrong. A nice woman from Japan was there to greet us. Well, sort of greet us-she didn’t speak English. At all. We didn’t speak Japanese. At all. This didn’t stop her from telling us all about her day. We stared as she made sounds we’d never heard. Then smiled and nodded our heads agreeingly like you do when you don’t understand someone. We never got her name, so we just called her “Japan”.  Japan was somewhere between 22 and 54 years old. I really couldn’t tell.

One night i woke to what i thought was someone speaking in tongues and I have never been more confused in my life. It took me a minute, but my brain cleared and I realized that we were not reliving the day of Pentecost. No, it was just Japan talking in her sleep.  What was she saying? Was it about us? Does she walk in her sleep too? What if she tries to get in my bed? Does she KILL in her sleep? Did you see that episode of CSI?   My neck was sweating. My heart was pounding. I lay wide awake on my left side with my right arm prepared to jab Japan in the eye if she came within 2 feet. I stayed in this position for what felt like forever. But sometime, somehow I finally fell asleep. When I woke the next morning I shot my eyes across the room to see her empty bed. Not sure if anyone else was awake, I said “WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT?” Turns out, they too lied awake that night  listening to Japan and wondering if the Apostle Paul was in her bed. After much debating, we concluded that no, the Apostle Paul was not in Japan’s bed.

I once read a book that said “time waits for no one.” Okay, really i read it last week on a calendar in a Korean bookstore. It was cheesy and cliche and I liked it. I didn’t buy it. But I did think about it. “Time waits for no one”.  I wished I’d met you sooner. I wished you would have tried harder. And I wished we would’ve stood there longer. But I didn’t. You didn’t. We didn’t. And it was February 7th, 2010. And I was here and you were there.

We took a 4 hour bus ride from Incheon to Gwangju. The curtains were mint green and the seats were cherry red. I watched an Asian man fall asleep reading the newspaper. He was well dressed. They were all really well dressed. Men in suits. Women in heels. This made me want to start dressing like an adult. A real live adult!

(insert smooth transition here)

A lot happened over the past 17 days. I am still processing so much.  I am still taken by beautiful scenes and sights. I still stare at strangers. But now, when I get caught, I don’t look away. I look them in the eyes and smile-they almost always smile back.  I don’t really know what I mean by that. But I do know that we’re all just people here. I, of course, already knew this. But seeing the world-the one that exists outside of my own always puts things into a perfect perspective.

And I don’t want to hear techno for a long time.

If you are interested in more of my SoKo ramblings (and why wouldn’t you be?), click here.
saranghae.

I may not have been the person I promised 2011 that I would be. But this past year was so good to me. I spent my days traveling the world and taking its photograph. I met some strangers along the way who quickly turned into my very dear friends. I learned how to play chess. I laughed really loud. I beat Bobby in Words With Friends ( like 8 times, but who’s counting?). I went to Hawaii for the first time in March. Oh, and then I decided to move there in December. Did I not tell you I moved to Hawaii? No big deal.

As for 2012, I want to make Honolulu feel like home. Free sweet tea, my place- be there. I want to write more, hand written letters and fill the pages of my journal. I want to document everything. I want to remember these days. Because they are so good. And the ones that aren’t, the ones that are heavy and terrible, they are worth remembering also. Because it’s those days, who make me who I am:  A normal girl, average build, decent personality, incapable of playing sudoku or driving a stick shift but unwilling to accept anything less than an absolutely breathtaking 2012 (and so on and so on.)

Cheers!

I am excited to announce that I will be ending my 2011 with a few last minute adventures. In less than two weeks, I will be headed to the west coast!

Do you remember the Sometimes Sweet giveaway from a few months ago? Well, I’m finally headed back to California to shoot the winner, Hayley. (Check out her blog for some great ideas about fashion, music, travel, and life ). Then off to Arizona to visit my friend and the coolest mom I know, Danielle from Sometimes Sweet, and her precious family. While I am there, I will be offering a great deal to CA & AZ people. If you need Christmas cards, family portraits, anniversary portraits, head shots, engagement photos, or just some fun photos of you and your loved ones, please email me to set up a date. I’m so excited about this trip and hope to meet you and maybe snap your photo too!

I will be home for Thanksgiving, traveling between North and South Carolina. The holidays are just around the corner and this is the LAST week of 2011 that I will be shooting in the Carolinas, so email me ASAP for more info.

After that, I will be spending December in one of my favorite places in the whole world, Hawaii!

If you or any of your friends are interested in scheduling a shoot in the states above, please fill out the form on the contact page or email christinaheaston@gmail.com

Oh yeah, and Ruben is also a break dancer. No big deal.

We miss you Ruben!

Erin owns an awesome vintage shop, Viva La Vintage, in downtown Hampton. We had to keep checking her facebook status on the way to make sure she would even be there. Lucky for us, she was. I still can’t believe I didn’t take more photos of her shop! I was just too excited I guess:)

Erin is also a very talented musician. Listen to her music and visit the Viva La Vintage fb page

Part of growth is learning to create inner peace without being dependent upon things turning out a certain way or needing people to respond to you in a specific way. You want to create it as something you ARE and be able to give and share it with others. YOU become the center, radiating your soul’s light outward, rather than reacting, or waiting for situations, relationships, and events in your life to be arranged in such a way that you have peace.
— Orin’s Living With Joy

Sometimes I feel like Iva, South Carolina is a different world- in a different time. A much simpler time. And I like that.

Sometimes, I think Bobby and I have the same brain… and then there are the times when Green Day comes on the radio, and he turns it up- or the day he thought it was a good idea to give me a very detailed hour-long tour of the Bass Pro Shop. Or how every time that Enrique Iglesias song comes on, he thinks it’s Sufjan Stevens. Every. Single. Time. Some might think the fact that he thought it was a good idea to have “Bobby” monogrammed on his laptop bag would send me running in the other direction. Lets not talk about his cargo pants right now- I’m just not ready.

What ultimately sold me was Bobby’s wit and charm… but more likely because of his good looks. Either way, we always seem to be on the same page. I am proud and lucky and grateful and blessed to say that we have been together for a year now. Here is a glimpse of what our first year of doing life together has been like:

This is one of our very first photos taken together (with a tripod of course) and for that reason, it is still my favorite.

This was the first time Bobby second shot for me. It was  a wedding on the beach in Hilton Head, SC. Dating someone who knew how to use a camera (he’s an aspiring filmmaker), had good ideas, and made me laugh was the best decision I’ve ever made. I know plenty of people with amazing relationships, less people with jobs they love… I not only have both of these- but intertwined. I just want to go ahead and acknowledge that this actually is not fair at all. My deepest apologies to everyone else.

We were lucky to pretty quickly find a core group of friends in Columbia SC. Not just friends though- the cool ones. Ones who liked to sit on the balcony and talk about life and really really smart things:) and laugh- laugh so much. And eat hummus! We hosted Tuesday night partys & photobooths and quickly realized once a week was not nearly enough time to commune with these lovely folks. You know how some people work for the weekend? Not me. I LOVED Mondays- because that meant Tuesday was quickly approaching.

My friend Angela and I went to Ireland for two weeks. This was the first time I had a chance to really miss Bobby. I didn’t like it. But we skyped him so I could get my fix. If Angela weren’t there to share a bed with me, I probably would’ve cried myself to sleep every night!

Halloween with our friends Laura & Elliott. The 3 little pigs and the big bad wolf. Yes, Bobby is wearing a woman’s medium track suit. I honestly remember this night being one of the most fun nights of my life. Just dancing the night away- in costume with sweet friends. So fun!

Bringing in 2011 together in Asheville, NC.  A group of our friends spent the weekend in a cabin and had dance parties all weekend long.
(Read more about this adventure here.)

Bobby and I with our girlfriends… and flannel. I LOVE that my girlfriends like Bobby… actually it’s been brought to my attention that after meeting him, sometimes they like him better than me!! (ahem… Rachel Halsey!)

Weekend on the farm. We all drove up to Sharon SC and spent a weekend on our friend Blaine’s farm. Yes, Blaine is the one wearing sweatpants and being awkward. We love him.
(Read more about this adventure here.)

Greer, SC.

I have a very close family and I think they are the best thing. Living in Columbia, I was kind of sad that Bobby would never get to spend much time with them. Fortunately, I was wrong. In January, we got snowed in at my parents house for a whole week. I LOVED it! One morning I woke up and my mom was cooking breakfast, and Bobby was sitting at the kitchen counter talking to her about his life. So cute.

Sometimes, we go to hipster parties…

On my 24th birthday, Bobby took me to the Grand Canyon. I was so pumped and the happiest girl in town. I almost had a heart attack when I saw our friends Laura and Elliott were there! They had flown across the country to tell me happy birthday. This was such a fun weekend and I am so so thankful that Bobby and I have such special and amazing “couple friends”.

Coconino, Arizona.

The time we were “driving through” Vegas and ended up staying for 10 days!!! This is a perfect example of Bobby and I having the same brain- every single evening, one of us would say “You know, we really should stay just one more day….”

One of my all time  favorite conversation with Bobby that I think sums up the way we want to live our life started with him saying “Let’s go to Hawaii next week.” And so we did. Here we are  swimming with the fish at Kapiolani beach in Honolulu. This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced. I still talk about it all the time like I’m an athlete or something… yeah, I snorkel, ya know in Hawaii – saw a giant sea turtle once- probably my proudest underwater moment.
(Read More about this adventure here.)

Hanging out in Palm Springs. I remember this day being so so beautiful. Perfect weather. Perfect company. We had no agenda. Just enjoyed the day. 
(Read more about this adventure here.)

We loved Arizona the first time. So, we went back and loved it even more the second time. At one point we pulled over to the side of the road and just got out of the car so we could walk and breathe and enjoy this beautiful state. If you never read another blog I write, please read this one- it’s full of some my favorite memories and photos.
(Read More about this adventure here.)

These next few photos were taken on our latest adventure to New England. These are extremely special to me because A. they were taken by our sweet friend and amazing photographer, Rachel Halsey and her wonderful husband, John Halsey (Hey John, do the world a favor and start a blog. Okay, thanks.)  B. This is the FIRST time we ever had our photo taken by someone else. Over the past year we have mastered the art self timers + tripods + smile-pretend like you aren’t out of breath from running.

Thank you Rachel Halsey Photography Y0u’re the best.

Rachel and John live in New Hampshire and let us stay at their house for almost 2 weeks! They took off work, showed us all over town, drove us to Boston multiple times, took us to a Boston Red Sox game! There are a lot of people I like. A lot of people I have fun with. A lot of people who make laugh. But very few people who I feel like they get me. John and Rachel (and of course Bobby!) are three of those people.

So thanks Bobby. Thanks for being my proof-reader, second shooter, favorite cook, my own personal geek squad, travel buddy, bug-catcher, dance partner, business adviser, and most importantly, my very bestfriend. Without a doubt, I can say this has been the most amazing, happiest and full year of my life so far…. can’t wait for the next one!

If you weren’t real, I would make you up. -Joseph Arthur