Jae Photography Sneak Peek // Senior Session with Chloe

Just a little sneak peek on this fun session with this senior! I work with her mom & they are probably the most loving mom and child (to each other) I have ever met. But her mom is pretty cool so I don't blame her for being super nice! ha. I kind of wish this pretty girl didn't have a boyfriend so I could play match-maker with her and my brother–The world needs more gorgeous, modest, cuties like this one!

I had a busy weekend & am playing catch up on a couple of shoots, so keep posted on the rest of these.

Also, my official website is currently under-construction (by me..woop!)– look for a full re-launch of my website at the end of May. Until then, come here + visit me facebook for the latest sessions!

tid-bit of this weekend + GIVEAWAY WINNER

Code and I really enjoyed our weekend! This was our first "hang-out" weekend since he started his new "big-boy" job. After a jae-photography session on friday, I headed to his house for a late night red-box and relaxation date. We spent our very warm and beautiful saturday down at the Orange County Marketplace, and ended our day with our own "senior" graduation session. And finally, today we went to church and headed down to Laguna Beach. I had a scheduled session but we thought we would take advantage of being down at the beach and spent a little time watching the waves and exploring the coves! it ended up being such a beautiful and fun weekend with my guy.

of course lets no forget about our givewinner!

& the winner to the pendant necklace + sea-glass ring giveaway is....

drum roll please.....

....

congratulations amanda! please email your shipping information to christajae.blog@gmail.com

no words necessary.

Our current project.

A few weeks ago, I came to my grandpa about a project I wanted to do. Him and I are very like minded in the fact that we love to create and build things–which is why we have started and are in the process of building a coffee table. If you follow me on instagram, you may have seen these little snippets.

I have been documenting with my camera as well, but I want to save those and show them along with my finished product! I am so eager to finish. I am in love with it so much already! I was even joking with Cody the other day that we will have to get coasters because nothing, and I mean nothing will ruin that table. It will be something that I will cherish forever–as a project that I worked on with the best grandpa in the whole wide world!

Also, some things not to forget about//

(1) NECKLACE + SEA GLASS RING giveaway! You still have time to enter. Click her for details!

(2) Poppy Magazine wants you to participate in the launch of the first Summer Issue. Click here for details.

Post-college-ness + A pretty GIVEAWAY! :) [closed]

Happy tuesday everyone! I hope yours has been swell. I had little bit of a "stress-melt down" on my way to work this morning (not work related)– As June creeps up I can't help but think about student loans and how I am going to afford paying them back. They weren't kidding when they said this day would come -____- I was hoping they were. Not to mention that I am highly known for "over-thinking" things and I truly got myself on a roll last night with thinking about the future as a graduate. I had a serious moment of weakness in my car on my way to work this morning. The whole sha-bang: dabbing my eyes to keep my freshly applied make-up from leaking off and waiting in my car until I could pull myself together! For any outsider looking into my car, I probably looked like a big sob-case! Anyway, after a few moments like that and reassuring myself and that God hasn't let me down yet, I was able to walk into work. Money and knowing that God will always provide for me is truly one of my biggest struggles. Especially when funds aren't present at that particular moment, I tend to think that nothing will ever be put into that fun ever again! Silly me. God's got this, he always does, right? 

No more sad stories, I have a fun giveaway for you guys today by our Sponsor, J, from My Life in Lavender. She has made and donated two very pretty pieces of jewelry for you guys specifically!

Here is how to enter //

1. be a follower of christa jae

2. be a follower of My Life in Lavender

Additional entries //

1. follow My Life in Lavendar on facebook

2. follow My Life in Lavender on twitter

This giveaway will remain open until FRIDAY AT 2:00PM goodluck! :)

Poppy Magazine needs you!

Hello all!

I am so excited to share that I will be contributing the life-style portion to a new online creative design magazine, called Poppy Magazine! I am beyond excited about this. If all continues to go in line, we hope to launch our first issue in June along with a brand new and never seen website! (stay tuned for that). Our team is made up of passionate creative people like you and me! I would love for you to meet them:

Lindsay Boland of Feathers + Futons // Editor & Cheif

Lauren Puskas // Executive Editor/Wed Design Genie

Hannah Pobar of 17in heart // Senior Lifestyle Editor

Christa Morris of Christa Jae // Lifestyle Editor

Sara Neely of Net Vignette // Fashion Editor

Hilary Walker of Hilary Inspired // Real People Editor

You will all find that I will now post on here often about what may be going on over at Poppy.

So for my feature in our first Issue, well I am going to need your help in two ways!

1. What are you inspired by?

We are all inspired by different things and Poppy wants to know what inspires you. On the left of this blog, you will find a poll of some common inspirations. Please pick one so we can see what our fellow bloggers are all inspired by! 

2. Poppy wants to know your common blogging questions I often get questions about design, DIY, photography advice, etc. Poppy is the one to ask and she will be the one to answer! :) This can be anything– advice about: design, blogging, dating, etc. anything! The cool thing is, if you let us know who you are, this will act as a little shout out to you and your blog, via our online magazine!

Here is how to ask questions:

• visit us on formspring // formspring.me/poppymagazine
• Or just type in your question to the left of this blog.
• Ask us a question– to get your shout-out, make sure to ask unanonymously!
• Leave your name, Blog and/or shop name, and the url of your blog or shop.

When our June issue comes out, look to see if your question made it in! :) We aren't sure of the popularity that this might be, so if your question does not feature in our first issue, no worries, we will come around to it in the next issues! We would also love our support! We already have some fabulous giveaways and we want you to be able to participate– hint: i am jealous of what are will be giving away. seriously, stuff that is perfect for summer fashion!

Follow us on  TWITTER // FACEBOOK

Kailey Howard // Senior

A few photos of my sweet friends younger sister! She will be graduating in a few short weeks and will be attending Hope International for softball! She is awesome and can most definitely kick my butt! haha, but way sweet. I hope you enjoy.

My website is currently under construction. Please visit my facebook in the mean time!

A work project turned itty bitty shoot.

I had to film a video for work the other day and my little friend morgan helped me out! It was pretty hott out and way bright, but I managed to snag a few pictures. They aren't my best but still fun! She is way too cute anyway!

Monday Inspiration // Summer wear

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6

We are preparing for some warm, I mean HOT, weather this weekend. I woke up to the news informing us that we should prepare for 91 degrees this saturday. It really make me want to go buy some new summer clothes. In fact, I saw a bathing suit at Forever 21 the other day that I just might stop and pick up this week.

I am already planning on trying to convince Cody to go to the beach with me on Saturday. I want to take my bike out for a ride and soak up some sun. It will also be the perfect time for me to even out my farmers tan. ha. No one wants one of those man!

"baby, I love you so much..."

Just loving this video. I saw it a few days ago and just watched it again.

Nike did a pretty good job with this one. just saying.

p.s. i would run to cody :)

Sneak Peek // Senior Kailey Howard

Yay for sneak peeks :) This here is Kailey. She is my old roommates younger sister, and will be graduating in June. Every time I look at these pictures, I think I am looking at a picture of my old roommate Lindsey, the look so similar! – i guess you can expect that for sisters right? haha.

Keep an eye out. the rest will be here soon!

Jae Photography // website + facebook

Never underestimate the need to take time off + life lately // according to my iphone

Hey all. I know, I have been missing for about a week. I was taking some much needed computer time off. Honestly, purposefully staying off my computer when my job and business is pretty much based off my computer is super hard! Just as I said in my last post, I finally built a schedule for myself. Sticking to it has been awfully difficult. Cody has been doing good at asking whether my current email or text is business related when it is out of my hours– thats why I love him :) But, I am back to my blogging (within hourly time) and I am back with "life lately..." It seems pretty suitable for this situation right?

      

Along with that, I hope you all had a good Easter. I generally spend Easter with Cody's family. This year is consisted of me watching them play a violent game of soccer, with a child's ball, in a small backyard, while using chairs as goals. 

On monday Cody took me golfing for the first time. Can I just say i loveddddddd it!? I want to go again, and I may or may not even want my own super cute set of clubs– with bright pink balls :)

Yesterday, I officially became a graduate! I finished school in December and finally received my diploma in the mail. I will be walking with my class in June. I am pretty excited for that one. 

Happy thursday friends. Im stoked it is friday tomorrow!

The challenges & rewards of fasting.

Yesterday was a big day– there was a lot of praying on my part as well as many other's. The big step of my pastor's battle with Leukemia was yesterday...now we wait. I should elaborate on this a little. To be blessed with a perfect bone marrow match is something & I know Dave's family along with his church family couldn't be more thankful for that. Yesterday afternoon Dave received a bone marrow transplant from his brother Paul (his perfect match). In respect to this procedure, myself, along with many others "fasted". 

What is fasting? Fasting is limiting or eliminating food. Many people are required to "fast" before a medical procedure but in a religious sense, it is used to draw us closer to God. When we have the urge to eat and/or in the time that we would normally eat, we pray instead. I fasted in a little bit of a different way yesterday. I chose not to fast from breakfast or lunch, but instead, begin my fasting when I got off work. Here is what I did:

 First of all, I work Tuesday–Friday as a media designer at my church. I have a huge tendency to leave work (at approx. 4:30-5pm), go home, play with molly for a little, & sit down and begin more work. It usually consists of me working on some freelance designs or retouching my latest shoot until around 11pm, sometimes 12. In a general sense, one would say I "overwork". I look at a screen the majority of the day. Don't get me wrong, i LOVE what I do. Designing & art in any medium makes me happy! Yesterday, I decided to fast from my urge to work when I go home and limit my dinner to a particularly small one. I purposely left my laptop at work for my fasting purposes. I left work, went to Barnes&Noble, picked up a book that I was recommended and have been wanting to read for some while, went home, and ate one little chicken patty. In the moments where I had the urge to check that annoying little email icon on my phone, i prayed. When my tummy let out a "really thats all you are going to feed me tonight?", i prayed. I used my new found time to begin my book (so good already), relax, go to the gym, and so on. I loved it so much. I even developed some hours (besides my normal day job hours) for myself so I don't overwork. I know this will get me out of my bad habit of overworking & develop a good one of using my time in a healthy way.

Have you ever fasted? I find it very helpful when I feel "lost" in what God wants me to do– don't get me wrong, I don't fast often. It isn't a weekly reoccurrence. It is a now & then thing that I find extremely useful!

So the purpose of yesterday's fast was to pray continually for Dave's procedure. I am so happy to extend the news that the transplant went well! Literally, we now wait– we wait & pray that Paul's bone marrow will fight Dave's and ultimately "take over". There is no telling what is going on inside Dave's body, but we pray that all those bone marrow cells of Dave's are replaced with Paul's & with as little or no side affects. We hope & pray that after this recovery time is over, Dave will be absolutely Leukemia free. I hope you will continue to pray with us!

Jae Photography // The Stark Family

Do you remember that Gorgeous Family Sneak peek from last week? Well, here are a few of my favorites from that shoot. A couple of weekends ago, I met with The Starks up in Oak Glen, CA. Jhen from From Here to Eternity Blog and her gorgeoussssss family were so fun to hang out with. Their daughter...too precious! 

You can view the rest here on my official website.

Jae Photography // Official Website + Facebook

We always value the support you give :)