A Thousand Years

I felt like this blog title sums up my life right now. Reasons?

-I feel like it has been that long since I have blogged

-I feel like it has been that long since Mitch has been gone

-It is the title of my favorite song right now  Christina Perri - A Thousand Years

- I feel like I will be editing for that long

-It's going to take that long for me to unpack... again :S

So there you go!

I also feel like I could have blogged a thousand times between now and my last post but somehow that didn't happen! A lot has happened though! So much that I don't even know where to start! 

Well we could start with how my summer was! It was full of really two things.... family and weddings! Two of my most favorite things! I also went on a few vacations that were so much fun! I went on a road trip with Mitch all the way to Cali and it was the best thing I did all summer! I miss that boy A LOT! 

Us at the Jazz vs Laker game!

We went to a session of conference! It was amazing!

and of course seeing Morgs was a HUGE bonus :)

In Cali! Loved the pool and the heat but especially seeing the Cali Maxwells!

We played a lot of horse and honestly no lie I won every game...

Us at the hockey game! Miss him...

After Cali only 10 days later we were off to Arizona with the FOF (aka family of friends... and yes I came up with this nickname and it has stuck!) I seriously have the best times with these ppl!

I think this should be our family Christmas Card this year?
I love these guys more than anything!!

My momma is a fox

Had to add one of Princess Carsy ;) Love you!

Most of the FOF :)

Then of course there was the annual Echo trip the with FOF which was really fun! I didn't really take any pictures though! Which I def regret!! But what can you do! We couldn't boat this year so we had to sort of make up our fun! We played a lot of cards, did some shopping, watched some movies, sun tanned and the usual things! I also went on a canoe trip with Russ and Ty and of course didn't paddle once haha That's how I prefer to canoe... Judge me if you want! We canoed around the lake and saw all the damage the water had done and it was crazy! We also did a trip down the river in inner tubes! Oh boy so many laughs!! My dad and Ken definitely supplied some side splitting laughter! OH BOY! Overall it was a great trip :)

We also went to Fairmont for our Matkin Family Reunion! It was sort of a sad one since it was our last one. We had been doing it forever but we had outgrown Fairmont so we decided to have one last shebang! I will REALLY miss it! We had so much fun though! Lots of swimming, games, and visiting!

Love these ladies! My grandma is amazing!

Editing. This is where I was a lot of my time there!

All the attendants of the Matkin Reunion 2011

Another cool thing that happened was the Russ made it to the Canadian World Series in baseball and they won! He went with my "other brother's" Tyler Hansen and Brooks Maxwell! Those three have gotten to do so many cool things through sports! They then went to the World Serious in South Carolina and my mom and Mitch got to go! SO me and Joc thought we would try and support from home :)

GO CANADA GO

Pax felt left out.... he's so cute haha

Okay can I just say that I love my little sister SO much!
She is the most gorgeous girl I know inside and out!
She is always there for me and I appreciate her so much :)

I also shot what I feel like was a thousand weddings! OH MY! I loved it of course but has proven to be a ton of work! I edit everyday and still have so much to do.... thanks for any one reading this who is being patient! I love you :) 

We also had to say goodbye to Mitch for 2 years as he goes to serve the lord in West Virginia. I miss him ever day and feel like he should be coming home any day now but he has only been out for 2.5 months... oh boy this is going to be a LONG 2 years! He is the greatest example to me and I am so unbelievable proud of him! He is amazing. His fairwell talk was completely fantastic! He knocked it out of the park for sure! I mean I balled the whole time starting with the opening song... Joc and I really struggled that day in the tear department! Poor Craig had to sit in between two girls on the verge of the ugly cry for an hour! I will miss him but I know he is doing what he is supposed to even though it's really hard!

Mitchy Pants is a handsome boy :)

Overall my life this summer was perfect :) I loved it all very much! I have also moved houses twice and have a new job all of which maybe I will blog about sometime! Also Chelan you are welcome and you should be proud of me!

Once Upon A Time...

Once upon a time there was a girl....

That's her in the middle. She wished that she had a better body. She honestly was so self conscience and always wished to look thinner. I wish I could go back in time and punch that girl in the face. And then tell her to rock a bikini everyday because someday you will no longer have a body that can pull that off.

Okay so I stumbled upon these pictures today and a few just like them and was like DANG I used to be so tiny... What happened to that girl? It also was enough to get me to brave the torrential rainstorm outside and get my larger butt into the gym! It was also enough to get my fitness goals back into gear... hopefully!

Also it really made me think about how I view myself. I hate that I have always hated my body. I grew up a little bit on the chunky side and then in between grade 8 and 9 I lost a lot of weight but I don't think my mind actually ever realized that I did. I was always so self conscience and always compared myself to my itsy bitsy friends and never felt like I looked like them. I look back now and want to shake myself and tell myself that I don't need a boy in order to feel good about myself, I don't need lots of friends to feel good about myself, and I don't need to be a size 0 to feel good about myself (because I was so fat and a size 2 in those pictures..ugh). I also realize that I should probably tell my "now" self the same thing!

I was actually watching Oprah (miss her already) and she had a girl who was once completely worldly beautiful and was involved in a car crash that burned and melted her whole face and body. (Story Here) It was devastating to see. I was watching it with my mom and during a commercial break there was a commercial about a place that can sculpt the small problems we have with our body to make us feel perfect. We both wanted to barf. Here is this girl who is still trying in life and willing to be seen by millions on Oprah with her face so disfigured and we all want to take the tiny things we don't like about ourself and change them. My mom looked at me after and said "You are really really pretty and so am I." This has really stuck with me and woke me up. I could look so much worse and need to be happy that I have hands and my face is normal enough that people don't stare at me and the grocery store or turn away when they see me coming.

New Goal: Start being happier about my appearance! Stop putting myself down and just try be the healthiest self I can be.

I know... really random post right? It has only been like 2 months since I have posted and I come back and post about this. Oh well! If you actually read this all I hope you also can love yourselves cause I bet you are so beautiful and fabulous! Love you all!

Avoiding...

I've been avoiding this blog on purpose lately...

I know I could do a post about how great my life is, or how much fun I am having, or post about a new song I love but I know I would just be avoiding the inevitable. So I am just going to get this out of the way. After all this is supposed to be a journal for me right? Which means I cant just skip over the events that are actually really changing my life just because they are sort of hard to talk about right? Ugh fine...

Last Wednesday I got up. I didn't go to work that morning because I went to a press conference for Mitch but after I headed off to Raymond. I do two things first always. Check the email messages then the phone messages. Then I have free rain to do whatever I want as long as I can answer the phone when it rings and design and ad when I need to. I check FB and then all the blogs I follow. Then watch whatever TV show I have missed or any  new movies on Netflix. I have gotten REALLY good at keeping myself occupied on the computer for 8 hrs everyday. Anyway I was just getting ready to pack my stuff up for the end of the day when one of my bosses pulled his chair next to mine and I instantly knew something was up. He told me that the rent on the building was going up and they could no longer afford to stay there. They were either going to move into their home offices or into their mom's basement. This mean that there was no longer a desk for me to work at. Which means in 1 week from now I will be an unemployed girl....

It has been quite the experience for me. I of coarse had the melt down on the way home. Held it together at work though. (Good job Meg!) I called my mom first. She was actually excited for me? I was like no mom you aren't listening to me!

She said... 

...now you can focus more on your photography! 

...you can travel more! 

...you can find a job in Lethbridge so you don't have to drive so long anymore!

... you can find a new job you love!

  I am lucky to have such a positive mom! She let me know that I was capable of handling this and that no matter what her and my dad would be here to help me. Like I said I am lucky. 

Right after I got off the phone with my mom I headed to Osho's. Katelyn, Marissa, and I had already arranged to have dinner and I think heavenly father knew I would need them that day so he let it work out in our schedules to be able to be together. I was the last to arrive. I sat down and not even 5 minutes later they asked "okay what's wrong." I told them. I honestly felt so silly complaining about this problem. Only 2 months earlier we were together comforting one of us who had suffered a much greater tragedy than losing a job. I told them I was just being a baby and I was sorry. But they didn't care and still gave me great advice and let me know they were there for me no matter what. 

I have blogged about them before but I honestly don't know what I would do or would have done with out Katelyn and Marissa. They have been there for me through everything and I have tried to be there for them! I am so grateful for my two best friends. 

After Osho's I headed home. I walked in the door, went to my room put my purse down and walked into the kitchen. I hadn't been home 2 minutes before Megan asked me "Okay what's wrong?" (Seriously am I THAT easy to read?) So I spilled it again to her and Amber. Again they were amazing. They gave me a hug and told me I would be okay. They were just like my mom and actually excited for me. The next day Amber told me she knew what my next job would be. "You are going to be a wedding planner. I am serious Meg! You could be a Mormon Wedding Planner!" She's the best! And lets be honest I actually could. I mean I have been to enough weddings and look at enough weddings blogs...

Anyway by the end of the day I was filled with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude.I couldn't have gotten through that day alone. Amber also reminded me of the quote that goes something like "Heavenly Father never gives us a trial we can't handle." I also know that this trial is so small. So many people close to me are going though such worse things and I am grateful that this is all I have to go though. I guess Heavenly Father knows I am a big baby and that if this is all it takes to cause a melt down he has to be careful with me! 

So there you have it. I am taking the month of April off and going to California on a 10 day road trip with Mitch cause he's leaving on a mission soon! (he put in his papers last week) Then I am going to Arizona with the whole family plus the Lows, Dahls, and Hansens! I can't wait! When Paxton first saw me after he heard he told me he cried for me and was sad I was sad but not to worry cause this just meant I would have more time to spend with him! Oh that little boy just melts my heart.

I have NO idea what my future holds. Seriously zero clue. So if any of you have some ideas for me feel free to let me know! Or if you are a bride that needs a wedding planner... ;)

2011 Academy Awards

It was the Oscars/ Academy Awards last night! So of coarse I felt the need to tell the internet my feelings on the fashion choices of the rich and famous! If you would like to see my fashion favorites of the night head over to

Meghan Maxwell Photography & Design

I'll give you a clue as to who my favorite was....

Michael Kelso wouldn't have been able to keeps his hands off her!

Family Day

To say I am HUGELY jealous of all the students in Canada would be an understatement. I would love to have a whole 7 days off of work right now! Last year at this time I was in Utah with little miss Lyssa and Janey Pants having the time of my life!

Oh how I miss this!

Notice how last year I was in a place with no snow...
and could go without a coat... mmm sigh

THE best road trip partner in the world!

This year I am a working girl and can't afford to just take a week off. Also Lyss is now a poor student and Janet is off being miss adventurous and going to school in New Zealand.... I could kill her!

So this year I only got one day off. Family Day. I sure made the most of my day off. The Sunday night before I went to a scone party at Steeds, then went to the Midnight Movie with Ryan A, Amber Z, and Jordan H! Of coarse the night wouldn't have been complete without a little drama... luckily it wasn't mine but none the less very entertaining! It is a sad day when my life is so boring I have to live through others... Anyway we went to 127 hrs and I spend half of the movie with my eyes closed, ears plugged, and humming to myself... I was not meant to be a nurse or doctor or anyone who deals with blood or any kind of human waste! Ryan who is in his last year of medical school of coarse mocked me but agreed to tap me when the bad parts were over! 

After the movie Amber, Jordan, and I decided to have a little sleep over. Of coarse we ended up staying up till 5am talking... if any of you know I haven't seen the likes of 5am for a LONG time! I am always the first asleep at everything! I can't help it my body doesn't work after about 12:30am... I am an old grandma. 

The next day I got up at 10:00am (felt great to sleep past 7am!) ate breakfast, showered, went tanning, and then went to Mitch and Russell's hockey game! They won in overtime and it was a great game! Since it was Family Day they honored the families of the hurricanes and we went out on the ice wearing the boys jerseys. It was a little awkward but I did it anyway. My 15 minutes of fame if you will. 

The Maxwell Boys number 1 supporters

I had to separate my hair because it was covering the R. Maxwell.
A goal is achieved!

I now have a head cold and an aching throat... I am sort of out of it so if this post doesn't make sense I'm sorry! I was so confused last night that after I took some Tylenol I went to put the bottle back in the fridge... I guess that's what I get for staying up till 5am... 

Tuesday Mornings

Every Tuesday morning when I get to work the first thing I do after answering the messages and what not is discuss the latest episode of the Bachelor with my boss Matt. Today was no different! We started talking about the hometown dates and when it got to talking about Emily (our clear favorite) he said he did some background research, ya he's H Core, on her and her fiance Ricky. He found out that Ricky's family was really wealthy and owned some race cars or something and that the hospital that Emily works at was build by Ricky's family in honor of Ricky. So we decided that for my morning assignment at work I would look more into this! Ya I know you all wish you had my job!

Emily and Ricky

So as I was looking I found out a lot! Turns out Ricky's dad owns Hendrick Motorsports a racing company that funds people like Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. On youtube there is a 11 part documentary movie on his father and their family. It seriously is amazing! I cried about 3 times and just think everyone who watches the Bachelor should watch it! I know you might not have all the time in the world like me but try and sneak some and watch it! You can definitely see why it has been so hard for Emily to get over him!

Here is the part where it talks about Emily and her daughter. It starts at 1:20.

Cause When Your 15....

My baby sister had her golden birthday on Monday! (It's actually Russell's golden birthday today but I am behind so he will get a shout out later!) 15 on the 15th! I can't believe little Jocleyn is that old! I mean if you look at her you would think she was more like 18! One more year and she is driving... seriously that is a scary thing. I really hope she is better than me! I have been driving for 7 years, yikes I'm old, and have been in 2 serious accidents (one wasn't my fault) and about 10-15 fender bendery type accidents (all of which were sort of my fault). I am cursed, I swear!

Jocelyn is the sweat heart of our family. You can pretty much get her to do anything for you! I'm pretty sure she might even still fall for the "I'll count and see how long it takes you!" How else would you explain her willingness to deal with me be a photographer diva as my assistant! Okay I am not actually that bad... right Joce? Everyone loves her when I take her to weddings. She doesn't really talk but will hold all their things along with mine, fix their dresses silently, and tell them how beautiful/handsome they all look. She is always making friends wherever she goes! She has more friends than anyone! Everyone wants to be Jocelyn's best friend! To bad for them I take that role. ha

Back to the whole she looks 18 thing. Seriously though she is way to GORGEOUS to be 15! People always think she is the older sister. We gave Mitch and Russell's billets a Christmas card and they thought Jocelyn was the 22 year old and I was the 15 year old... I have a young glow about me okay. She has also been hit on by my guy friends who think she is their age, and I have friends ask me all the time why she doesn't come to YSA activities... it's because she is in junior high moron! It might help that she is almost 2 inches taller than me and doesn't really have the body of a 15 year old... We are all jealous.

The Christmas Card we gave them. You tell me if I look 15...

We are really different. Besides how we look our personalities are pretty different too. She has an attitude towards things that I wish I could have so badly! The "oh you don't like me? That's fine." attitude. Which then makes people just want to like her more. Where as I cry and mope if anyone doesn't like me. She also never worries. I feel like she just goes with the flow and has no stress! I on the other hand am a stress case 90% of the time! For instance she is the one that calms me down every time we are driving to do a wedding. Telling me it will be okay and that we have all the equipment and that I am being a big baby.

We do have similar taste in clothing though. I said similar taste in clothes not style. The reason for this is that she HATES shopping! Shopping with her is hell on earth. She hates trying things on and hates anything I pick out for her. But if I buy it for myself she will wear it no problem! I don't understand her! Every day she wears something of mine. A tank top, a sweater, a t-shirt, a pair of my lulu's! I get "mad" every time but it does NO good! She would probably rather have her own clothes but that would involve shopping so she settles for mine! Lucky me.... I did make the deal with her that if she wears my clothes she has to help raise my children. Do all the nasty stuff like change their diapers, clean their throw up, and most of all come over in the morning and babysit them till I wake up! I'm going to be a fantastic mother! She happily agreed since she begs me to have a baby on a daily basis....

She is great and I love her!

Happy GOLDEN Birthday Baby Sister!

This is Jocelyn being my little assistant at a wedding!
She is the best assistant ever!! Holding my bag, umbrella, shader, water bottle, and anything else I might need :)
I love that after a wedding I have about 10-15 pictures of Jocelyn standing in places modeling so I can get the lighting right!

We are a good time!

Just Love Her!

Valentine's Let Down

This post goes out to all my friends who had any kind of Valentine,

I was so excited to live vicariously through your Valentine's Day blog post all about how your Valentine spoiled you rotten. If he bought you flowers, whispered sweet nothings in your ear, made you breakfast in bed, gave you a handmade card, left you love notes in your car and packed lunch, gave you a day at the spa, won you a big teddy bear at a carnival booth, carved your initials into the trunk of a tree, or had rose petals on the bed surrounded by hundreds of white candles waiting for you when you got home. Or how they totally and utterly screwed up so badly on February 14th!  So far you are all letting me down. So tear yourself off your Valentine for 5 minuets and write a dang Valentine's post!

Thank you!

happy valentine's day

Texas Forever

I shed a tear today. As I watched Eric and Tammy Taylor walk off the football field in Philadelphia and the credits started to roll, I shed a tear. Yes everyone I watched the series finally of Friday Night Lights this morning. I have been a dedicated fan since it's first episode. I remember watching the pilot  with my dad and brothers in my parents room when I was 17 years old. I have been addicted ever since! What can I say I have a huge slight love for a man in a football uniform! I have loved the new seasons but really nothing beats the first three. The men were hotter, the drama was bigger, and the girls were "classier".  Why did those season bring me so much joy you ask...

My undying love for Tim Riggins

I love me some Jason Street...

Truly Matt Saracen you are the man of my dreams!

and you could do so much better than Julie Taylor... Just sayin

Last but not least my older man crush! Seriously how dreamy!
He has by far the most epic lines in all of TV history!

Overall it was a great show! I highly recommend it! And it isn't just all about the football. There is of coarse countless love triangles, cheating, red plastic cup high school parties, parental abuse, a lot of kissing, marriage and babies, jail time, and plenty more for the football haters out there! I will miss the men and women in the town of Dillon Texas.

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose!

Love You Like A Sister

Funny how people meet sometimes? 

Sometimes you know you are meant to be friends with someone.

Sometimes you may think you REALLY hate and can't stand a person but you are probably wrong.

Sometimes you end up being forced to talk to that person and even though you hate to admit it you are becoming friends.

Where am I going with this you might ask?

Well I'm gunna tell you a little story....

One time (last year in September) I was "seeing" a guy. Using the word seeing very loosely. Details not necessary.  I thought he was cool guy. I hadn't know him long at all but he seemed fun so I was going with it. 

Then one day I was at his house and his mom came downstairs (I hadn't met his parents yet) and this boy was on the phone. She walked up to me extended her hand and crushed me with these worlds 

"Oh you must be Amber!"

Ya no I am not Amber.

Amber was a girl in our ward. I mean I could see how you would get us confused. Amber had uber blonde hair, blue eyes, and weighs about 30 lbs less than me... I totally see how she could get us mixed up...

As soon as the boy was off the phone he tried to dig himself out of the crater size hole his mother had dug for him BUT needless to say that about ended things with that guy! 

And it started my annoyance with this girl Amber. I had never spoken to her but I "knew" I wouldn't like her even if I did. About a month after the whole mistaken identity incident somehow I found myself sitting next to the real Amber at Boston Pizza. I know you feel my pain! So there we are sitting next to each other and I decide that the least we can be is frenemies. For those of you who don't know what that is the urban dictionary definition is enemies in secret yet friends to everyone else. 

So we started talking. Everything was going fine, turns out I could stand her. Then she dropped the bomb and started to bring up "the guy". Well turns out "the guy" was seeing both of us at the same time. Yep, can anyone say playa? We started comparing stories and couldn't believe some of the things we found out! Well that about did it. We sort of become friends with out the enemies after that. And then you could tack best on top of the friends.

Turns out Amber is sort of like my soul sister. We are alike in so many ways it sort of freaks me out sometimes. There are so many things I love that she loves too...

-our joint obsession with reality TV about rich women who get botox and have bottomless credit cards and have the ability to start drama anytime anywhere

- acapella music groups

-our hate for Megan's Indie tunes

- red nail polish

- love of being in love

- chick flicks

- hair extensions

- the 5 dollar movie bins at Walmart

-watching total strangers engagement and wedding videos

- clean shaven and short haired men

-we both hate school and homework
-we both get along with boys better than with girls

-we both secretly wish we were more like Martha Steward but know it will never happen

....and the list could go on and on!

Anyway I just love Amber to death! So much so that I moved in with her! Being roommates has been so much fun and I am so glad I got over myself and became friends with her! It is her 21st birthday today and I just wanted to make sure she knew how much I love and appreciate her! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMBER DAWN ZOBELL!

oh and we both sort of like taking pictures... like the one time we did a photo shoot with just us....

You can see how the mother could have been confused!

I love this pictures. One of my favorites.

The Birthday Girl!

We are also both SO awkward sometimes...
She is going to kill me for putting this up!
I look like the ecstasy is finally kicking in and she looks like a linebacker!
A perfect match really....