Photography by Holly Hanks

Baking Up Some New Goodies || Gluten Free!

2011-11-11T17:00:00.000-06:00

My family likes to do family nights every once in a while where we get together, eat delicious food, play games, chit chat, and have fun together. This last time I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and bake some of the delicious looking recipes that I had sitting around. I had so much fun!

I had originally planned to make Almond Joy Bars, Grain free Brownies, and another brownie recipe, but then I decided that was too much brownie :) I had to control myself a bit! I was excited to try some new gluten free recipes and hopefully make a fun treat that my mother and aunt, who both have celiacs, could enjoy. Plus my aunt is known to complain that all things gluten free are nasty. I was bound and determined to prove her wrong!

(I am great at trashing the kitchen!)

I spent hours in the kitchen trashing it, mixing, baking, cooling, cleaning, and stressing that it wouldn't come out well. When I first bit into one of these brownies, I was in heaven! It was so yummy! I learned quickly that you need to keep them covered though, because they do dry out. Luckily simply putting the casserole cover on top of them for a couple of hours moistened them right back up.

(this picture does NOT do them justice)

The almond joy bars seemed like a no brainer to me. I mean my family loves almond joy bars. they were more cakey than I expected, but they were super delicious as well. I had to refrain from eating them all...so I made a second batch to make sure everyone got to try them.

Joey wasn't a bit fan of either of them, sadly. I figured out why though. The marshmallow fluff that I put on top of the brownies had almond extract in it and so did the almond joy bars, which he identifies as a cherry flavor. He hates cherries. I made a batch of the brownies without the fluff and he loved them.

My mother was THRILLED to have something special and loved them. She said she hadn't had baked goods in her house in a long time. She was even more thrilled when I left them for her :) Even my sister, brother-in-law, and step dad loved them. It was a complete success! Sadly, things went a little crazy that night and my aunt was not able to make it and try them out. I guess I will just have to make more!

Katrina & Russell || Topeka Wedding Photography

2011-11-08T13:12:00.001-06:00

I had the pleasure of capturing the wedding of Katrina and Russell in Topeka Kansas at the Goodyear shelter house. I was told that the wedding had been planned in a very short time, like two months. That had caused some issues and there were kinks in the road to the big day, but I think it all worked out wonderfully. It was a beautiful wedding and everyone was in great spirits. They didn't let those little things ruin their big day. I was so happy to be there and get to be a small part of everything. I met a bunch of great people, shared laughs, and captured some great photos.

Congratulations Katrina and Russell!

The day was full of laughter and outtakes that everyone loved!

Ponies!

2011-10-31T15:19:00.000-05:00

When we went over to Illinois to visit family, I got to see the cute, adorable ponies that Joey's aunt and uncle have. We had fun petting them and taking pictures. There was this super cute one with pale blue eyes that kept walking in front of the others when we would pet them or even if I tried to take a photo. I think that one likes attention. Then there was the one with the awesome hair! Seriously styling!

Enjoy some cute pony pictures.

Look at that hair! Hiding behind those bangs too.

This guy tried to attack us when we headed towards the ponies. We tried to tell him we weren't moving in on his territory, but he wouldn't listen.

This guy was just too adorable. He was kind of a loner at the time.

Boudoir Tip: Wear Loose Clothing

2011-10-27T11:44:00.000-05:00

So we all know that you are going to be showing off some serious skin in these photos. I don't think anyone wants big glaring clothing marks in their photos, so make sure to wear loose fitting clothing for at least a few hours before your shoot. It will minimize, if not completely get rid of any possible clothing marks. Avoid tight fitting undergarments to avoid elastic pressure lines on your skin.

A Snake in God's House

2011-10-24T13:21:00.000-05:00

Joey works across the street from our church, so on days when I bring him lunch we head on over and eat lunch in the church gallery. One day we walked in and I noticed something on the floor. At first I thought nothing of it, there always seems to be something going on in the lobby, but then it moved! It was a baby snake hanging out in the middle of the church.

Luckily there was someone from the church in the gallery already and I gave them a heads up while Joey decided to get as close to it as possible...of course. The lady from church said it is actually a common fall time occurrence and that she had just recently commented that there hadn't been any snakes yet.

I snapped a few shots with my point and shoot from a safe distance, while she went to get someone to take it out to the field. Someone did take it out, and then brought it BACK in to show someone, but ended up freaking a bunch of people out in the process. It was quite interesting. I knew something was up when he came back from outside with the dust pan (which is what he put the snake in) held far away from himself.

It kind of freaks me out in a way. Should I be watching out where I step when I go to church on Sundays now? Oh no!

Paula & Gordon || Illinois Wedding Photography

2011-10-21T12:52:00.000-05:00

Joey's aunt Paula got married recently and we had the pleasure of attending. We drove to southern Illinois, got to spend time with lots of family that we hadn't seen in a long time, and attend a beautiful wedding.

As soon as we showed up I started obsessing over all the great little details. It was a western themed wedding and Paula went all out. I was amazing at the great ideas. I think I told her over and over that I loved all the decorations and she told me she did it all. She is just too cool for school!

The wedding was in this cute little cabin style chapel within a campground area. There were bandana decorations everywhere. Cute bandana bows on the benches, an awesome bandana aisle runner, bandana wrapped bubble bottles and bird seed, and even the bouquets were wrapped in bandanas! I was in love.

Boudoir Tip: Lotion

2011-10-13T11:41:00.000-05:00

Who wants dry, flaky skin in glamorous photos? Nobody does! So be sure to put lotion, all over, before your shoot. It will keep your skin looking its best for its time in the spotlight.

Go ahead and bring a bottle of it to your shoot to reapply if needed.

New Jewelry Organizer

2011-10-03T17:12:00.000-05:00

A few months ago I went on a quest for a DIY jewelry organizer. I have always had my jewelry in a bad organizer I purchased at Walmart. Works pretty well for earrings, but necklaces can get a bit tangled (I even had one break form being so tangled!) I also found myself not always opening it to put away my earrings, so earrings would pile up on the bathroom counter. I am sure hubby loved that!

So I finally found one I really wanted to make and went about making it. I went "shopping" in my mother's basement...which I love doing, you can find such treasures in the things that she has! She was generous enough to let go of a couple of picture frames for my cause. She is so supportive!

Next I headed to Home Depot and bought some peg board. Then I grabbed some spray paint, hanging hardware, and wood glue at Walmart. I glued the peg board to the frames, then painted the frames (though I didn't do so great, but I don't much mind!) Now they are hanging in the bathroom and I love putting my earrings on them and getting to see them all displayed for my choosing! There is some glue peeking through, but I can fine tune the look eventually. I am just glad they are doing their duty.

I tried to buy some fun knobs to use to hang necklaces, but the peg board wasn't thick enough for them to work. I have decided to simply use peg board hooks unless I happen to find something more decorative. I love being organized!

Boudoir Tip: Hydrate!

2011-09-29T11:37:00.000-05:00

Something that is vital to a good boudoir shoot is proper hydration.

Make sure you keep hydrated the day before and even the morning before your shoot. It will help give your skin a healthy look and will make your body feel better as well. You don't want to be in the middle of a shoot and feeling dehydrated.

My New Addiction: Barefoot Running

2011-09-23T10:06:00.000-05:00

A few years ago my husband turned me on to interval running. It was a task to get into it, but I enjoyed the way it made me feel. After a few months I started having issues with my feet. It had to do with my instep being high and me walking on the outsides of my feet (I can never remember if that is overpronation or underpronation), or at least that is what I think the cause was now. At the time I didn't know what was going on, but I knew that running and prolonged walking made my feet hurt a lot and they would fall asleep. I could never get my shoes to feel right either. They were either too tight or too loose.

I went to the doctor, who sent me to a physical therapist, who charged me a TON of money to get zero answers. After three months, a bunch of money, and lots of frustration, I had given up on running. I bought fitflops...not for the alleged toning and such, but for flip flops with a more supportive sole. I was in love. Then this past spring I decided to take up running again. I think I have always wanted to be a runner and my husband loves it. Once I started I found myself having the exact same problems. Even with my good quality shoes that had been fitted to me in running stores.

I had known about barefoot running. I started doing research and read about tons of people with feet and knee issues that had gone away after barefoot running. I had been doing workout videos with my mother-in-law and had discovered that I couldn't do them in shoes, I had to be barefoot. I thought maybe it was the same for running. We bought a treadmill and I started slowly running and walking on it in those house socks that have grips on the bottoms.

The first day I only walked for a total of 10 minutes...the next day my calves were on fire! I slowly added speed and distance, and my legs and feet got use to it. Before this I couldn't walk around my house barefoot without my legs and feet killing me at the end of the day, now I can't stand to have shoes on!

A couple of months into my new adventure my husband "forced" me to go out and get the Vibram FiveFinger barefoot running shoes that I had been drooling over. Yes, I am not hardcore like the people who go completely barefoot, but I do my best! Now I am in love with these shoes and honestly hate wearing anything else. The other day I wore tennis shoes and I felt like I had big weights on my feet and felt restricted when walking. It was awful.

Another benefit has to do with the fact that a little over a year ago I was told that I have RLS (restless leg syndrome). It is that leg problem that I use to always see on commercials and think, "is that even real?" Even when I had it it didn't seem real. I knew there had to be a cause of this sudden onset of painful tension in my legs that would keep me up at night almost in tears because it felt like my legs were about to cramp...and that is NOT a fun experience. I didn't want to go on meds and I didn't want to have to pay every month for the ones my doctor prescribed. I ended up finding a supplement that worked, and used icy-hot on my legs if the RLS started acting up. I had it pretty under control, but I wanted to get rid of it, I didn't understand why I had it.When I first started barefoot running and my legs and feet were getting use to the ordeal - a.k.a. building up all those muscles that hadn't had to work for years - my RLS would often get worse on days that I ran, especially if I ran in the evening. As I got better at it, I started noticing that they felt better. Eventually I just stopped taking my meds. Now I have been off my meds for a few months and haven't had one RLS flare up - knock on wood! It is amazing. It is saving me pain and money! Wahoo!

So I am a happy barefoot runner, and if you see me walking around in shoes with individual toes, it is just my thing. Feel fee to ask me about it, but be warned, I will gush about them as much as I can!

I currently have a pair of these for everday wear:

I would love multiple pairs of this version in various colors, but they would have to update their colors first!

I also have pair of these in blue/yellow for running:

I will have to take some shots of me wearing them, but they are currently in the wash! I love being able to just toss them in the washer!

Boudoir Tip: Fake Eyelashes!

2011-09-15T11:28:00.000-05:00

Something that really adds some fun to any shoot is fake eyelashes. They fill up and lengthen your eyelashes to give a more dramatic eye, and they look amazing in close ups!

Buy some before your session and play around with them to get the look you want. You can even trim them or only use a partial set to fill in areas where you need it most.

Commissioned Artwork

2011-09-09T18:14:00.000-05:00

So almost a year ago my mother mentioned the desire to have me create a photo for her to put on her wall. We discussed the concept and even tweaked it with our collectively creative minds. Then we attempted it on one blazing hot summer day and failed miserably! Yes, that's right, it was a disaster. The photos didn't give off the feel we were going for and were way too flat, but it helped us to further evaluate what we wanted and what we needed to pull it off.

My mother then decided that I could go off on my own and try to accomplish it here in Florida, but I was at a loss. I really wanted a overgrown, wispy field...and that is mighty hard to find in Florida! Now that I am back in KC I am determined to actually do this project. I have sent out minions to scout locations, and I am in search of the perfect subjects for the project. I am also in detailed discussions with my mom about what exactly we want in this photo.

I have high hopes that I hope my final product can live up to...and a lot of work ahead of me!

I hope to shoot after the leaves have changed to get a more dramatic and colorful background.

Wish me luck!

- Holly

Labor Day Weekend Fun!

2011-09-07T12:38:00.000-05:00

I hope everything had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend and is enjoying this great weather! I don't mind a nice, cool day. I love hoodie weather!

Did anyone do anything fun for the holiday weekend? I didn't really have anything planned for the weekend other than enjoying some alone time with my husband and relaxing at home. We were thrilled!

Saturday we did just that, we stayed home, watched some movies, relaxed, and just enjoyed some time together. I made dinner and we ate it out on the balcony together. It was perfect.

Sunday, we got up, got ready, and headed out for church. Our church, Westside Family Church in Lenexa, does church in the park on Labor Day weekend, so service was in Theater in the Park in Shawnee. It was a beautiful day, warm sun and a nice cool breeze. Service had a great worship service, then a wonderful message by pastor Dan about going out into the world and sharing the love of Jesus, and then it ended with over 40 baptisms. It was a perfect start to the day. After service they had hamburgers, hotdogs, cookies, chips, and water for everyone. It was great. The hamburgers had this great smoky, woody flavor. The chocolate chip cookies were just warm enough from the sun that they held together, but the chips were melty. Yum! I wish I had taken photos, but I was too bus enjoying everything!

Afterwards we enjoyed driving around looking at stuff. Joey had never been around Shawnee Mission Park much, so I drove him around showing him what there was, then we drove through some neighborhoods for fun. We eventually ended up at Smiley's Golf Course and went putt putt golfing! We weren't very good, but we had a blast!

We headed home, watched a bit of TV, and then headed back out to Cheesecake Factory for some yummy appetizers. Their Ahi Tartare was SUPER delicious! The crab cake bites and the Sausage and Ricotta flatbread was yummy also! The chicken dumplings weren't so hot. It was mainly the sauce being way too salty, and since they were sitting in the sauce, you couldn't do anything about it.

Monday we were going to just stay at home so that Joey could study, study, study for his GMAT test this Friday. So I got up, made a big breakfast, and we ate it out on the balcony in our bathrobes :) We were relaxing into our lazy day...but then my sister called. We headed out to her farm in Missouri to have lunch with her, her husband, my dad, and his girlfriend. We had delicious ribeye steaks, roasted sweet potatoes, green beans and roasted peppers from the garden, and this delicious homemade parmesan jalapeno focaccia bread! It was so yummy.

They took us on an updated tour of the property. They had gotten a new (old) tractor and finally gotten to clear out their back 5 acres. It was great. Joey and I both got to drive Betty the tractor...I was terrified of bashing into something! (I didn't!) Then they discovered that I had never shot a gun before and we headed off to do some target shooting. I was told I was pretty good for a beginner. I actually had a lot of fun. Now my mother wants to get me on the range. Ha. It's like I have graduated within my family. I think I was the only one not interested in guns.

We went back to the house, watched some youtube, ate some random snacks for dinner, and had a blast. We finally forced ourselves to leave because it was late and we had a long drive ahead of us.

Overall it was a great weekend and ended up being even better than we ever expected.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend as well!

A Fall Makeover

2011-09-06T10:05:00.002-05:00

So after a lovely Labor Day weekend, it is time to revamp the blog a bit. So I apologize if anyone tries to get on here and it is going crazy. I tend to have a little too much fun designing the blog and I can mess things up pretty well before getting the lovely end product that I am going for!

I am also going to try to be better about posting. I have a horrible consistency problem that has only been magnified due to my iPad. I don't like posting on it because typing a lot and then trying to add photos on it is a nightmare! So let's see if I can make a Fall resolution to post more consistently!

Thanks for your patience!

Lovin' My New Cookbooks

2011-05-23T09:00:00.002-05:00

So a couple of months back I purchased some new cookbooks and I have slowly been going through them. Sometimes this has been a good thing according to my husband, and other times not so much...but you never know until you try!

The one that has seemed to go over best with the hubby is Cooking for Isaiah, a gluten and dairy free cookbook (though the recipes can use regular milk and flour as well) with amazing color photos. I think I personally gravitate to it because of the drool worthy photos, but I think it is also the fun spins on regular food...as well as my theory that a woman who once owned an Italian bakery is going to do her best to make good gluten free baked goods. So far I have been right about that. Dang, right now I desperately want a pizza from her cookbook!

I am dying to share this cookbook with my mother and aunt who are both celiacs. We have loved most of the recipes we have created form the book, and the ones that didn't go over well are ones where we decided to tweak something the next time around. I think it's a great first book for gluten free cooking.

Another thing I am dying to do is make this recipe from the book...this is her photo, not mine, i doubt my version will look so photo-worthy! It's a S'mores pancake recipe. Yum!

Another one that I bought is Make it Fast, Cook it Slow. It is a crockpot book written by Stephanie O'Dea, a woman who devoted an entire year to cooking in a crockpot. I love how her dedication in her book is to her husband for putting up with all the crockpot food! Too funny.

Her recipes have been hit and miss, but that is understandable since we aren't going to like everything, and her cookbook is MASSIVE! There are so many recipes, I have barely even touched the surface. I made some Mac and cheese the other day that tasted great to me, but my pasta disintegrated, so it was a bit of a fail boat. I am also not allowed to cook anything with bones in it in the crockpot according to my husband, because he hates the way it turns out. I have found a few so far that he enjoys, but ultimately he loathes crockpot cooking I guess!

The last one is called Simply Sugar and Gluten Free by Amy Green. I haven't done many of the recipes in it yet, though I have tons bookmarked. I made granola bars this last weekend, but I need to tweak those a bit. My first batch came out a bit boring. I also made granola and it was YUMMY! At first I didn't think I was going to like it, but I taste tested it before it cooled enough. It wasn't quite crispy enough yet. Once it crisped up, it was delicious and Joey gobbled it up for breakfast all week. I added some dried cranberries, but I didn't really think it needed them, though I think dried apples would have been delicious!

Sadly I haven't taken photos of any of the recipes I have made from these books yet. I will do better in the future so that I can best share the deliciousness! I am having so much fun creating and learning things in the kitchen! I hope to share more in the future, you know, once we are no longer living out of suitcases and have our own pots and pans and such here with us!

New Furniture Just In Time To Move!

2011-05-19T14:00:00.002-05:00

So a few months ago we picked out new livingroom furniture and then it was delivered in the beginning of April. Now we are moving and hoping that the move doesn't rough up our pristine furniture! We have never had new or matching livingroom furniture. I think we might be a little too excited about it! We love the reclining loveseat. We love being able to sit next to each other while both being able to recline. And it is so fluffy and comfy!

And now that I have gushed about it, I find myself missing it dearly...as well as my own comfy bed...and the rest of my wardrobe...and my kitchen supplies. But on the bright side, at least we don't have to stay in a hotel while we wait to move into our own place!

Shipping Out || Home Sweet Home

2011-05-16T12:49:00.000-05:00

So I guess we have served our time in Jacksonville and God is ready for us to move on elsewhere. A few weeks ago we received an offer to head back to Kansas for Joey's work and we took it. That means the past two weeks have been full of in home moving estimate appointments, house searching, driving across the country in one day, exhaustion, time zone re-adjusting, and general stress :D We are definitely thrilled to be back in Kansas since we both consider it home, but I could do without the insane moving schedule! Oh well, such is life!

I had been recently feeling like our time in Jacksonville was coming to an end. It was this feeling that God had placed in my heart and I was simply waiting for Him to say where. I knew that Joey and I definitely wanted to move back to Kansas if possible, but I also knew we could have easily landed anywhere else. I prayed for guidance and for peace for wherever He placed us. I was thoroughly excited when God decided Kansas was our next stop!

So now after a little over a year and a half, we are headed back home. Who knows for how long, but I will take the opportunity to spend time with friends and family that we left behind, as well as do my best to help the family we are leaving in Florida deal with our separation :D We wish we could take them with us, but we can't, so we will simply have to do our best to email, text, call, and visit as much as possible!

Home Sweet Home

Emotional Attachments || Week 20

2011-03-18T16:09:00.000-05:00

I don't have a lot of objects that I have an emotional attachment to. I've gotten rid of a lot of things that I have held on to over the years unless they were practical or I used them frequently. I don't like having a lot of stuff just sitting around and I thoroughly enjoy getting rid of and condensing things! I try not to get too attached to things, since they are, well, things, but here and there I love things for specific reasons.

This first thing I really thought about was our wedding topper. I really love it because I think it's adorable and creative. It will probably be the one thing from our wedding that I don't ever plan to give up (besides the photos of course!).

Another thing that I thought of is Barbara. It's one of the first things that Joey bought me, and the only stuffed animal I have (all the others didn't make it through a spring cleaning). Her name is Barbara because she is Barbara Manatee. Joey and I were singing the VeggieTales Barbara Manatee song a lot and we happened upon a manatee stuffed animal while at Sea World. He immediately bought it and we sang Barbara Manatee together!

Another one that came to mind is all my darkroom work. The last week of my senior year of high school my entire portfolio of negatives (two years of work) has lost. I was devastated. It still hurts if I think about it too much! I still have a select amount of prints from that group of work, but otherwise it's all gone. After college I scanned all my negatives from my classes and now have digital copies as well.

Weather Photographs || Week 19

2011-03-11T20:33:00.000-06:00

Week 19: Weather! Well down here in Florida it's a nice day for a swim, eh? Or maybe just a dunk?

Heh, no, not really. It's a bit breezy and on the cool side. I had to break out a hoodie! I mean it's definitely warmer than other areas of the country, but compared to the rest of this week, it was a bit chilly. These guys didn't care though! They are so fun to watch. I watch them all the time. I know, my life is SUPER exciting!

It was pretty dang windy at times today. The sun would beat down and warm you up a bit, but those gusts of wind could really cut you to the bone sometimes!

I don't think he liked seeing the other guy's bottom dollar from that last photo...

This group came to join and they were not happy that I was there. But they still kept swimming along and diving. Notice how the water is super ripply. Wind, wind, and more wind!

Next Week: Emotional Attachments!

What I Do Outside of Photography || Week 18

2011-03-09T07:04:00.000-06:00

Outside of photography I take care of the house...cooking, cleaning, errand running, whatever needs to be done. This past week was a really bad week for this assignment since I wasn't really home to be doing my regular stuff, but I did do some cooking in Tampa. I think I always end up cooking or helping to cook something while there. Fine with me!

This last week I tried a new recipe for breakfast. It's kind of odd because of the brown rice ingredient, but it was still pretty delicious! I love sweet potatoes!

Next week: Weather

Cooking and Being Sick || Behind the Camera

2011-02-28T08:43:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend! Here are a few things that I've been up to lately...

I have been cooking up a storm trying to find new recipes for making things from scratch. I made chocolate chips, hamburger buns, hot cocoa mix, and some various seasonings. It was fun, though not fully successful. The hamburger buns didn't rise properly, but they were still yummy rolls! I'll have to attempt that again. The chocolate chips were yummy but didn't hold up well in our chocolate chip cookies. I will have to work on the chocolate chip cookie recipe as well. I enjoy experimenting in the kitchen. It has meant that my kitchen has been a disaster most of the week...and I've gotten frustrated multiple times when it came time to clean it!

Joey and I have both been sick this week. As soon as we came back from Tampa and his had the sniffles, I knew things would be bad. I tried to ~~keep him away from me~~ not to get sick, but unsuccessfully. I woke up Tuesday with a stuffy nose and Wednesday and Thursday I was thoroughly down for the count. I haven't felt that exhausted in a long time. Wednesday I had a fun conversation with Joey about being sick when he came home for lunch...

Joey: "How are you feeling?"

Holly: "Pretty crappy."

Joey: "Have you taken anything?"

Holly: "No."

Joey: "Why not? You should."

Holly: "You took it all to work."

Joey: *guilty face* "Oh, whoops. Sorry. I took some at 11."

Holly: "Good for you honey."

Ha, good times.

We head to Tampa for the week tomorrow, so today I'm doing laundry, packing, cleaning, and prepping before we head out. Terribly exciting, I know.

Photographs of Something Old || Week 17

2011-02-26T07:49:00.000-06:00

This week's 52 Weeks of Photos assignment was "Something Old." Here are a few things that caught my eye...

This is a decorative, hanging, wind...thingy. Ha, I'm not really sure what to call it, but when my mother-in-law bought it it was brightly colored in all the colors of the rainbow. Now it's sun bleached and has water damage. I think it's kind of fun now. I love how the red is the last to be bleached out.

This is a clothespin holder. My mother-in-law has had it for years and it's too cute in my opinion. I like to stare at it sometimes. I know, I'm weird.

This last one was just for fun really...I couldn't really get a shot I liked. They all ended up a little too snapshot-like. Oh well, the thing is huge. It's my husband's bassinet from when he was a baby! I like how it's not a stuffed animal holder by the front door of my in-laws' house. While I was photographing it Kailey kept coming up to me and asking me what I was doing...while often getting right in front of my camera :P I told her I was photographing the basinet and she kept insisting that it was hers. I told her that she didn't sleep in this basinet. I remember exactly where it was in the house she was in when she was a baby, and it was still full of stuffed animals. She really didn't want to believe that she never slept in it. It was cute. She doesn't like her bubba to get things that she doesn't. Oh sibling rivalry.

Next week's assignment: What I do outside of photography.

Note: I may not post next week. I will be out of town helping out my mother-in-law. It all depends on if I get much computer access, though I may have to wait until I get back to upload photos.

Photos of Emotions || Week 16

2011-02-23T10:49:00.001-06:00

I had fun with this assignment. I had one subject/emotion I really wanted to shoot, and then I had fun playing with various other images. These are al pretty straight forward. I will say right now that I am on the worst day of a cold or sinus infection...so forgive me if I start getting kooky or anything!

Emotion: Love

This image captures my heart! :D My new Kelly Moore bag...how I love thee. Let's start by saying that I've never been huge on purses. I need them to carry stuff like my wallet and phone, and since I'm not a fan of putting things in my pockets (they always end up in the washer), I need a purse. Purses are always too big, too small, I lose my stuff inside them, etc, etc. This bag...I take it everywhere and I LOVE it! I have my camera with me at all times...and I don't even have to think about it. I don't have to lug around my old ugly backpack camera bag with me, which is lovely, and I can easily get in and out of it. It's perfect, and I don't even mind that it's HUGE! So this image may only mean "love" to me...but I'm fine with that!

Emotion: Desire!

Ha, this one was just for fun. I made Joey some chocolate chip cookies...though he prefers to eat them raw, and thought it'd be a fun one to snap some photos of. They are pretty tasty, but I've since given up refined sugars, so I'm working on finding new baked goods recipes that I enjoy.

Emotion: Pride

This one is all for my husband. He is a Jayhawk all the way! He graduated from KU and is a huge KU basketball fan. He's going to a game soon and he's thrilled. This is one of his golf club covers...and he has two more made by his mom that are KU themed. This little guys was staring at me while I was doing things around the house. I couldn't ignore his obvious pride during a photo assignment about emotions!

Emotion: Devastation, Depression, Laziness, Overwhelmed, Embarrassed

Why in the world am I showing this to you? I should have just deleted it. Oh well. This is what my sink looked like at one time...though me being sick right now means it doesn't look that much better. Ew, even the counters look awful in this photo and I'm pretty much OCD about shining those counters! Anyway, in my cooking madness or when I decide to do a whole bunch of prep work at once...or on weekends when I make pizza and don't clean right away...my kitchen is destroyed. Then I have to find it again. It's not fun, but someone has to do it!

So those are my emotional photos. I think I may need to go pass out on the couch now...how can a stuffy nose wipe so much out of you?!?!?

Have a lovely day!

Assignment for week 17: Something old

Random Week Happenings || Behind the Camera

2011-02-21T06:46:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone! I hope you had a great weekend! Here are a few things that have been keeping me busy...

1. Last week I burnt myself cooking, AGAIN! This time it was a steam burn on my right wrist. There wasn't much to it, just two dots, but it's amazing how much those two dots could keep me from being able to do things well!

2. I've really have been getting into making things from scratch lately and last week I made homemade stock. It was a lot of fun actually. Now I have a bunch of yummy stock in the fridge and freezer to make delicious meals!

3. We went down to Tampa for the weekend to see Joey's Grandparents before they headed home to Illinois this week. We had fun hanging out with his family and even got to go out to eat with just his mom and dad. The four of us don't get to go out alone much, so we took advantage of having a baby sitter in house!

4. In the rush to get multiple things done before we left on Friday for Tampa, I COMPLETELY forgot to post for 52 weeks of photos. I had even actually gotten the assignment done! Go figure. I'll post it today or tomorrow. I think I even have this week's done as well, but I might still play around with some ideas.

A Surprise at our Front Door! || Behind the Camera

2011-02-14T13:09:00.004-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day! And for those of you who hate Valentine's Day...Happy Monday! :D

I'm not really that big on Valentine's day, never have been. I think my husband finds that weird. The only thing I really like about it is it gives me an excuse to send love to friends and family through cards, emails, etc. I enjoy doing that!

Anyway, as I'm sure you're all DYING to know what's been going on in my SUPER exciting life the past week...here is another installment of Behind the Camera...

1. I took a bubble bath for the first time in YEARS! Too much info? Oh well, too bad! It was wonderful! I'm not a huge bath person, because bathing is for getting clean and to me sitting in standing water isn't really clean...moving on. It was cold in our house and I realized I had bubble bath that I had never used, so I went for it. I even used it as a chance to get some reading in. Delightful!

2. I made pinto and black beans from dry beans, in the crock pot. Crazy, I know! It was super easy, and I love that I know what's in my food. I am moving away from canned goods, and the dry beans are cheaper as well. I'm sure Joey thought I was crazy...he's not a big fan of beans in the first place, but oh well! I've got some of them in the fridge and the rest in the freezer. I love homemade stuff!

3. My lovely mother sent Joey and I GIANT chocolate covered strawberries. I was confused when the UPS man pounded on my door, but delightfully so. I had happened to call my mother that morning to chit-chat, and thought it was funny to find myself calling again to thank her. We had a couple tonight and now I'm craving plain strawberries!

4. I went grocery shopping on Friday as usual. I shop at Wally World. As I was walking up to the front door a limo pulled up. I kind of smiled to myself at the idea of a limo at Wally World of all places, then thought maybe it was the driver grabbing something? Well they pulled through the front and kind of hesitated in front of the Wal-Mart liquor store. That got another chuckle out of me. They only hesitated though, and drove off.

Sunlight Photos || Week 15

2011-02-11T17:33:00.000-06:00

I have yet to capture the shot I really wanted, but by chance snapped one today that I really liked. It's very simplistic, but lovely at the same time. Well, to me at least! I hope to still capture the other shot I have in mind eventually and share with you!

Luck was not on my side, or at least nature wasn't. It's been rainy, foggy, gloomy, etc. for most of the past two weeks. When the sun would come out I'd be busy doing something else and completely forget. It was awful!

So here it is, week 15's photo of "sun."

As I said, simple. I was staring at the light that the window was casting and decided to snap some shots. I wasn't even really thinking of the assignment, I just like playing with various subjects some times. This shot shows off how dark it can get in our apartment! The only windows are along one wall and with black out curtains (to prevent glare on our comps) the place can end up pretty dark without lights on.

I also love that the brightest spot on this photo it actually UNDER the table.

Flatwoodsey has Joined the Family || Behind the Camera

2011-02-07T16:15:00.001-06:00

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Superbowl!

1. So I was "punished" for being late on my 52 weeks of photos from the previous week but having a rainy, cloudy, foggy week when I needed a photo of sun, sunlight, etc. Lovely. It was a bit depressing, but I am determined to capture something share worthy this week!

2. I've been in a dinner rut. For the past 3-4 weeks I have forgotten at least ONE thing from the store, or when cooking dinner at night each week. It's been frustrating. I normally make a menu for the following week on Thursdays, write out everything I need, and then go shopping for the week on Friday. Last week I forgot to buy mozzarella cheese for pizza night, the week before a meatloaf when a-rye (I had to throw a pizza in the oven and ended up burning my hand), and this morning I realized I completely forgot to buy the ingredients for a side that I was going to make. REALLY?!?! I'm hoping I can get through ONE week some time soon where it doesn't happen.

3. This weekend my in-laws came into town. They've been trying to visit for a few weeks, but Tim got sick, then Kailey, then Nova. Kailey is just getting over pneumonia, poor thing. They came in Saturday and we celebrated both mine and Kailey's birthday.

4. Kailey girl FINALLY got to open her present from us. We got her these little straws filled with chocolate flavoring to drink white milk through (she loved them!) and an Flatwoodsey Uglydoll. Ever since Joey saw the Ugly Dolls in the airport he was determined to buy one for his sister. she loved it as well. She was playing with it all weekend and she slept with it too. Glad to see it's getting some good use!

5. Saturday night we all squeezed onto our couch and watched Date Night together. It's been quite a while since the four of us got to watch a movie together that wasn't a children's movie! Kailey was upstairs watching her DVDs. It was a cute movie, though I'll be honest, Joey and I might have been a bit distracted by playing with Tim's color Nook. It was a cute movie.

6. Sunday Tim and Nova took us out to lunch for my birthday. We went to Ted's Montana Grill since I recently discovered there was one here and it had been FOREVER since I'd had it. I love their bison pot roast! It was also great to eat some steamed green beans. Joey hates green beans, so I never get them. Then afterwards we walked over to The Cheesecake Factory and got some cheesecake. Ugh, we were all disturbingly full.

7. Sunday night we played from Phase 10 until the game started, which was nice. It had been a long time since we had done that as well. It was great.

8. During the game we had pizza, cheese dip, bean dip, brownies, whoopie pies, cupcakes, and ice cream. it was deliciously awful! I had far too much food yesterday! I woke up this morning still full.

So overall I had a great weekend with great people. I was sad to see them leave this morning though.

Kailey's new doll Flatwoodsey...

A Return to Old Times || Tampa Children's Photographer

2011-02-05T12:11:00.000-06:00

So I couldn't post for my 52 weeks assignment this week because the sun has been hiding being hind clouds and fog all week. Boo!

So instead of a 52 weeks assignment, I will share some photos I took of Kailey a few weeks ago. I had meant to share sooner, but I completely forgot. Her grandma had gotten this great wedding dress (flower girl dress) and brought it for Kailey to get some photos in. Kailey, Nova, and I ran over to a local historic train depot and her Preschool to take some photos. She was surprisingly cooperative for the most part. She seems to have partially gotten over her dread of cameras. She's even starting to pose herself...though we need to work on the fact that she wants to roll her eyes and look "put-upon." Has she been secretly watching models or something?!?!

Enjoy!

How cute is she in this! I told her to look at mommy, who was conveniently off to the side.

In both this photo and the one below, she looks older than 4 (well, a few weeks from 5). It's crazy!

This one kills me because she looks so much older. Joey instantly disliked this photo because she looked "disturbingly" older. He doesn't want his little sis to grow up. I love this photo because it makes me think of an old western and she's walking through town.

This one is outside her Preschool which is also a church. She did pretty well considering there were three or four strangers standing about 3 feet to her left.

This is what Kailey does when she's done with photos. She'll do odd facial expressions...then you ask her to smile and she plasters on a cheesy grin with her eyes closed. Then you ask her to open her eyes and she goes bug-eyed!

These were just a couple of the fun shots I got of her playing around while walking back to the car. She was having fun with her train and her reflection in the side of the car.

MyHusband's New Addiction || Behind the Camera

2011-02-02T20:41:00.000-06:00

Whoops! This didn't get posted like I had planned...I even wrote it on time this week. Ha, oh well...

Whew! What a weekend! A few things that have been going on in the past week...

1. Joey has become attached to ESPNU College Town on Facebook. Correction, on MY Facebook, ha! Since he doesn't have one he signs on to mine to take care of his university. It's pretty funny.

2. Last Friday was my birthday. Joey surprised me by taking the day off. We hung out Thursday night watching shows and then got to sleep in Friday morning. It was great.

3. Since Joey was home on Friday, which is grocery day, he went with me. That meant that instead of having to carry 60 lbs of groceries up to our 3rd story apartment, I had help! It was AMAZING!

4. After catching up on some TV we decided to go to the movies. A while back we started seeing trailers for The Mechanic coming out the week of my birthday. Joey would smile at me and say, "Don't you want to see that for your birthday?!?!" Of course he was kidding around (kind of) but I mean come on, Jason Statham along with Ben Foster...in a Movie about hit men! I am SO there! It was a fun movie. Exactly what I expected it to be. Ben is so good at being a punk.

5. We also went out to dinner that night. We decided to try Roy's, a hawaiian fusion restaurant that was said to have an amazing chocolate souffle. We had an interesting time service wise, and weren't horribly impressed with the food for the price, but the souffle was AMAZING! It was worth the wait and hassle of the evening. It was also fun that the restaurant put a print out that said happy birthday especially to me in our menus and then wrote "Happy Birthday Holly" in Hawaiian, in chocolate, in my dessert plate. Too fun. Over all we had a great time hanging out and trying a new place, though we both agreed that we'd much rather go to The Melting Pot or Flemings Steakhouse for the price and experience.

6. We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out, watching movies, and just enjoying each other's company. It was a great weekend and we were both sad to see it end. I love nothing more than hanging out at home with my husband. We enjoyed homemade cookies, popcorn, coddle, and homemade stuffed crust pizza (not all in one day of course). It was perfect.

Photos of Something Slimy || Week 14

2011-01-27T12:00:00.003-06:00

Something slimy. interesting assignment for the week. As I said in this week's Behind the Camera, I had some difficulty deciding what to capture. The things I kept thinking of were more sticky, like syrup and chopping garlic (my fingers always stick together, annoying!).

Then I came across my downy ball that dispenses fabric softener in our washer...and realized that it seriously needed some cleaning. When I cleaned it all this goop came off. It was gross. I snapped some photos of that, but didn't really like them.

So then I was experimenting with pizza this weekend. When I make homemade pizza I usually make homemade dough. The recipe I use is from one of my favorite families, the Rohn family. (Love you Andrea and Margaret!) ANYWAY, when the dough is left to rise, it's sitting in yummy oil, and when it's time to fix the pizza it's all slimy. I thought, "Perfect!"

So here are a few pictures of the slimy dough. It may not look that slimy in the photos, but it was. It's also a huge batch because I made some bread sticks with it as well.

Next Assignment: Sun (sunlight, sunrise, sunset, etc.)

Homemade Pizza, Yum! || Behind the Camera

2011-01-25T15:43:00.001-06:00

1. I had a difficult time with last week's 52 weeks assignment...which is why it isn't up yet. The assignment is something slimy. I couldn't find a slimy subject that I liked. Everything I thought of or found was more of a sticky than a slimy, but randomly while cooking dinner this weekend I think I found a solution to the assignment.

2. Speaking of cooking dinner, this last weekend I made my first and second attempt at making homemade stuffed crust pizza. It was super delicious, though there are some kinks to work out! The first one busted open, but was still yummy. The second didn't bust, but the dough recipe I use rises SO much that even when I made the crust super thin it ballooned up like crazy. I might try to fix that, but otherwise it was yummy! Now I am craving pizza.

3. Yesterday I learned an important lesson: you aren't suppose to touch the oven door when it's on. I know, I was shocked to learn that as well! I accidentally moved my hand just the wrong way at the right time and the back of my hand hit the door of a 400ºF oven door. Fun! I held in the tears, and threw it under some cold water. Then it was throbbing. I kept it cold for the rest of the night. Today it doesn't hurt too bad at all and it's not blistering, so that's good.

4. I went for a run last night around the pond by our house and saw some great photographs waiting to be taken. I'll have to bring out my camera one night and play with night photography.

5. Kailey was suppose to come up last weekend, but her dad got sick, so it was a no go. Last Monday she turned 5 and Joey and I were excited to give her her present. Hopefully we will get a chance to all meet up so we can give her her gift some time soon. It's sitting on a shelf in our dinning room all cute like because it's a pink bag with Disney princesses all over it. Too cute.

Joey enjoying some of the yummy stuffed crust pizza.

Cleaning up the Computer and More || Behind the Camera

2011-01-18T09:35:00.000-06:00

A day late, whoops! I got a little distracted. I'm having one of those weeks where I forget which day of the week it is.

1. I have been on a designing binge. This may be why my computer gets filled up so fast. I love to just turn on a movie or TV series for background noise and whip out a ton of backgrounds, layouts, and vectors. The background noise helps me focus and zone out. That's always seemed odd to me, but it works!

2. Joey and I went over to a friend's house last saturday to watch the KU game. We had a blast hanging out talking, and eating far too much. Later we went out to each at the sports bar, Sneakers. That place is LOUD! But it's definitely fun. It was a great day.

3. We have a community mailbox area thing. I completely walked all the way there yesterday before it hit me that it was Martin Luther King Day...NO MAIL! Ha. I laughed at myself and enjoyed the walk :P

4. I created a new smoothie the other day for my breakfast and it's SUPER delicious. Ugh, love it!

5. I've been going through my giant database of photos and cleaning out ones I really don't need, but for some reason or another held on to. I gained back over 60GB in just a few hours. It's crazy! Joey always thinks it's insane how much space I've used on my comp, but giant thousands of giant photos take up a lot of space.

That's all for today. Sorry, no photo this time!

-Holly

Photographs of Food || Week 13

2011-01-14T11:00:00.002-06:00

Let me tell you something about myself: I love (almost) all things pumpkin! I love pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin bread, pumpkin smoothies, pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin!

Now let me tell you something about my husband: He hates pumpkin. I give him credit for even trying pumpkin flavored things here and there. It's not like he's not giving it a chance.

Because Joey doesn't like pumpkin things, I stay away from them. I mean it's not use making or buying a pumpkin pie if you're the only one eating it. I seriously don't need that all to myself! But when I am with my mother-in-law we join together and celebrate our pumpkin desires! She loves pumpkin and her husband hates it...so I think it makes her a bit happy to have a daughter-in-law that shares her love for pumpkin.

So, when I was grocery shopping the week before Christmas and I passed the pumpkin pies, I immediately asked my mother-in-law if there was going to be pumpkin pie at her house for Christmas. She thankfully responded by telling me that we were not only having TWO pumpkin pies, but also pumpkin roll. I had never had any type of "roll" before meeting Joey's family, and pumpkin roll is delicious! I was super excited. So for this week's assignment of "food" I chose a photograph of that delicious pumpkin roll! I had to hold myself back from eating it all!

Household Items || Week 12

2011-01-07T12:12:00.003-06:00

This week's assignment is household items. I decided to capture two at once simply because I smile or giggle a little to myself each time I see this at my In-law's house. It's very effective and creative, I just find it amusing.

This plunger/toilet paper holder is in Kailey's bathroom. She has a cute ocean/tropical theme in there and a decorative tree kind of hides the built in toilet paper dispenser. I guess this was Nova's solution to that.

Happy New Year Y'all!

2011-01-01T12:00:00.004-06:00

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a very happy new year and is starting 2011 in good spirits! 2011, that seems so weird! I'm down in Tampa, again, hanging out with in wonderful in-laws as my husband spends some much needed father-son time! That means I get to go shopping with the girls! Wahoo! I'll share more of what has and will happen this weekend when I get back to Jacksonville and type up my "behind the camera" for this coming week!

Again, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and that no one is too exhausted or hurting from celebrations! Here are some Christmas photos of the lovely Miss Kailey to stare at...

Kailey: "Mom, can I have some broccoli? And celery...and carrots...and peppers? But not the red peppers, just the green peppers...?"
Mom (a.k.a. Nova): "When dinner is ready, yes."

This girl is obsessed with veggies. She has to be told to stop eating them to eat protein!

Kailey: "Holly, what's that white stuff in the turkey?"
Me: "Those are bones."
Kailey: "What's the red stuff inside of them?"
Me: "That's bone marrow. It's good stuff inside your bones."
Kailey: "Ew."

Doesn't she look thrilled?

"Mom, is it time to eat yet?"

"Look Holly, don't I look funny with a fork in my mouth?!?!?"

She really enjoyed cracking nuts. I told her she should wear her new safety goggles that she got for Christmas (in a cool kid's tool kit). The nut shells had a tendency to go flying! She was too cute in them!

My Favorite Color || Week 11

2010-12-31T12:00:00.010-06:00

I discovered with this assignment that I don't really have a lot of my favorite color in my own house. I was somewhat saddened by that. I had originally thought I'd shoot something in Tampa while visiting family. Having an almost 5 year old sister-in-law boosts the possibility of having a lot of colorful objects around. I didn't end up getting what I wanted there. I don't think I explored enough, and besides, most everything was covered in red and green at the time!

I have also discovered over time that my favorite color changes over time. As I grew up it was blue, then in college some time I fell in love with green. I still love green, but my current color obsession is definitely purple. I can't really remember how it started, but it's definitely blossomed in the past year. It also helped that my sister's wedding color was purple and I had to go out and buy a purple dress. That dress is now my favorite dress that I've EVER owned and I love wearing it. I bet not many can say that about a bridesmaid dress!

So I came home this week and searched for purple in my life. I found a few random things...

^ this is my lovely body pouf in the shower. I was in the shower trying to think of purple things to photograph when I looked over and just about smacked myself about not thinking of it before. Seriously, I can be completely oblivious sometimes!

^this is the edge of the lovely bridesmaid dress from my sister's wedding. I love it. Have I mentioned that already? Oh, sorry. It's actually not that cute on the hanger. I'm kind of shocked that I ever tried it on, because even my sister thought it looked funny on the hanger. It is ruched and so it hangs funny.

^this is my handy dandy notebook :D I am a note taker and list maker. I have them everywhere. It's a bit ridiculous. I love making lists of things to do and then crossing things off as I go. I can get distracted by random things and a list keeps me focused. I also feel more productive when I can "see" things getting done.

So there it is, week 11, my favorite color: Purple!

Stay tuned for next week. The assignment is household items. I know, it's thrilling, isn't it?

Raphael Hotel in Kansas City Missouri

2010-12-29T13:30:00.002-06:00

As some of you might have seen in a previous post of a boudoir session, I recently discovered the Raphael Hotel on the Plaza in Kansas City, MO. Now I'm going to share some more about it and it's amazingness.

Like I said, it's located on the Plaza in KCMO. It's across brush creek from the shops and restaurants, and next door to the Interconntental Hotel (the hotel with the big curved waterfall fountain).

Here is the view of the front of the hotel. When I went, the front had lights all over it for the evening.

The lobby is beautiful and had a wonderful vintage feel. I wish I could have shot down there, but I'm not sure the hotel, the other guests, or the girls would have liked that too much!

The room we had had a lovely living room area with chairs, a tv, and a desk.

It's a lovely hotel and I fully enjoyed shooting some beautiful boudoir photos there. If you get a chance, you should definitely check it out!

There are tons of things to do in and around the area as well. The plaza has all sorts of shops (Apple, Barnes and Noble, Pottery Barn, J Crew, Anthropology, Ann Taylor, Tiffany and Co., and MANY more) as well as some great restaurants (Cheesecake Factory, McCormick and Schmick's, P.F. Changs, Ruth's Chris, Brio, and more). It's a great place to hang out, shop, eat, and play with friends.

Loose Park is also right down the street from the hotel. It's a beautiful park with a pond and a rose garden that you can even rent out for weddings! I love shooting there as well.

Kailey's New Golf Bag || Behind the Camera

2010-12-27T15:00:00.003-06:00

Hello all! Happy week after Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

It's time for another "Behind the Camera." Aren't you excited? I bet! Here we go...

1. Last Monday my In-laws flew into town and we were able to go have lunch with them. It was a nice treat to see them during the week. They were bringing back my mother-in-law's mom for Christmas. I hadn't seen her since June I think, so it was definitely good to see her!

2. Tuesday evening Joey's dad came into town for work and stayed over at our house. I was a HORRIBLE hostess. I cringe at the memory. I had gone to the store to grab something and had fully intended to buy some Diet Dr. Pepper for him (his fav), and I completely spaced it. Then I realized there was nothing in the house for him to eat for breakfast because he doesn't eat what we eat, and I realized that I should have picked up bananas as well. *smacks head* THEN the next morning, AFTER he had showered, I realized that we never told him where washcloths are (we use those pouf thingies, so our washcloths are kind of hidden). *double smack* He then asked me this weekend where he would find a washcloth in our house. I told him how it had plagued me! Fail boat. *toot toot!*

3. We drove to Tampa Thursday evening to spend Christmas with Joey's family. After a long day at work, Joey was tired, and then he drove the 3-4 hours to Tampa. Not a big deal, but the route we went this time was 301, which basically is a continuous up and down speed wise. You go from 65 to 55, then down to 45, then sometimes down to 35, then back up to 55, and then back up to 60 or 65, and then repeat. He was going bonkers. I was as well from all the huffing and puffing coming from the driver's seat. I tried to drive, but he has this thing, if he can drive the entire way there, then that means I have to drive the entire way back. He knows I'd drive both ways, but I'll leave him be about it!

4. Friday I helped cook in preparation for Saturday's Christmas dinner. And by "helped cook" I mean I had rice krispie treats :P Nova and her mom had everything else covered really. I also FAILED at said rice krispies. Seriously, how do you fail rice krispies? Nova usually dyes them green and/or red at Christmas. I was standing there making them and talking to Nova and I completely spaced and forgot to dye them. Fail boat, again. But they were still delicious! I hadn't had a rice krispie in ages!

5. For Christmas I received a beautiful Kelly Moore camera bag and it makes me smile when I look at it. It currently smells like yucky plastic, but it's beautiful!

6. Joey and I bought his little sis a pink golf bag for Christmas. She has her own little clubs that were made from old clubs adjusted to her size. She really seemed to love the bag. She even walked around with it on her back and modeled it a bit. Too cute! Joey was very proud of getting her something she really seemed to enjoy! She picked up golfing watching her bubba (Joey) practice. They are so cute together.

7. I now have a fancy new spot cleaner for the floor. I really want to spill something so that I can use it! :P

8. Someone gave me a loaf of Amish friendship bread and a starter. The bread was yummy and I'm taking good care of the starter. I already burped and massaged it today. I fed it yesterday. I plan to bake it Thursday and give my mother-in-law a starter. She asked for one specifically.

9. I am working on last week's 52 weeks of photos. I decided to wait to do it in Tampa because I knew I'd have more things to choose from there that were my favorite color. I hop to get that up today or tomorrow and start on this week's assignment.

That's all for this week!

-Holly

M's Sexy Boudoir Session :: Kansas City Boudoir Photography

2010-12-22T19:30:00.001-06:00

Since I haven't mentioned WHERE these wonderful boudoir photos were taken, I'll share now: The Raphael Hotel on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri. It's a beautiful hotel! I had a blast shooting there and getting to use some of the great room features for the photos, such as the frosted bathroom door as seen below.

This special lady was doing the shoot for her special man as a wedding gift. Her session was the one that was finished first, but I had to wait before sharing until I knew that he had already been giving his surprise gift! When I asked him how he liked his gift, he smiled widely. I think he liked it :D

M was a blast to shoot with, as were all of the girls. It's simply a fun type of shoot in general! The energy is great and the girls get to let loose and goof around. M's clothing and accessories were very fun. I loved the various necklaces and jewelry that she brought, especially the amazing dangly earrings! They made me want to go earring shopping!

We started out simple with some jeans and a t-shirt. It's her new hubby's fav.

Look at those gorgeous eyes and those fabulous earrings!

This outfit was very fun in my opinion!

I was very thrilled to find this door when I walked into the hotel room with all my gear. I love how the images turned out too.

Smoking up the House || Behind the Camera

2010-12-20T10:00:00.033-06:00

So I've decided to start something new in hopes of getting blogging into more of a consistent habit. I'm so bad about it. I mean to do it, but then end up getting distracted by other things and then I don't have time to upload photos and type and such. I have to have time to sit down and devote myself to a post or I can really lose my whole train of thought and the post goes crazy! I've had it happen many times!

So my new thing...we'll call it an early New Year's resolution, is to not only try to actually post a 52 Weeks of Photos post each week (you know, like I'm suppose to), but to also start something I am calling "Behind the Camera."

A fellow photog, Linnie Arnesen, has been doing something called "Word on Wednesdays" based on a another photog that she follows. It's where she just lists some things going on behind the scenes in her life each week. I am going to try to do that same thing. A simple post listing some things happening, and hopefully a pretty picture to round it all out!

My other goal in all of this is to try to post it each Monday. Monday's can be rather bland and depressing, so I hope to give people a little something to pass the time. So here goes the first "Behind the Camera."

1. Last week I tried to burn down our home, lovely, I know. Well, I guess I really only tried to smoke us out, but it still wasn't fun. I was cooking dinner and my husband asked me to come over to the computer for a sec. I thought it would only be a quick minute, but it turned into longer and I ended up burning what was on the stove...and filling the place with smoke. Of course it had to happen on a rather cold evening. Opening windows and turning on fans throughout the place didn't make Joey and I very comfortable! We got it all figured out and there was no damage.

2. Corn Tortillas are nasty. That's really all that needs to be said, but I suppose I"ll elaborate. I made Fajitas last Tuesday evening for dinner. No biggie. I decided to use corn tortillas, don't ask why, I just did. I tried one earlier in the day because I had never had then and was curious what is tasted like. It was gross. I think I spit it out! Thankfully the delicious filling, which was delightfully spicy, masked the flavor of the tortilla pretty well. I will not be buying those again!

3. This is a little over a week ago, but oh well. On the way back from Kansas one of the wheels on my luggage gat smashed in transit. Joey was not happy. I was sad that my luggage wasn't working very well when I was super duper cold! Oh well, poor thing. The zippers on it are going as well, I suppose it's time for me to get new luggage, or steal my husband's. We shall see.

4. Because of the cold weather last week, and yes, it was actually cold, it was in the 20's and 30's which is plenty cold for me, Joey and I put a heated blanket on our bed. Man, those things heat! We had it set to "2" one night and the heat off. It was freezing in our house, but our bed was roasting. I woke up at one point and my back was burning! (we put it under the sheets instead of on us.) So be careful with those things!

5. Last Wednesday I cooked Deer Tenderloin for only the second time in my life (the first was about two weeks ago). I marinated it in red wine, garlic, and Rosemary. It didn't come out quite as well as the first time in my opinion, but the hubby loved it. I made the mistake of putting the mashed potatoes in the VitaMix and ended up with what my sister-in-law calls "melted potatoes." I ended up spooning that onto the plate, arranging deer tenderloin slices on top of the potatoes, and then gravy on top. we also have some peas and they were VERY tasty when eaten with some of the potatoes.

6. I think I might have found my go-to Molten Lava Cake recipe! It turned out really well. I might have to tweak it a little here and there, but I will succeed! I will probably also make it on Christmas to share with my lovely Mother-in-law who has been trying to succeed in the Molten Lava Cake department as well!

7. This weekend I made Indian Tacos. This is something that my Dad's girlfriend, Connie, makes every year for Christmas Eve. I'm bummed that I can't share in that this year, but I might ask if I can make it for my husband's side of the family for Christmas Eve, who knows. It's a homemade piece of fry bread that you place in a bowl. Then you top it with various taco toppings of your choosing: lettuce, beef, beans, cheese, salsa, sour cream, etc. Then you eat it with a fork. The first time I joined in on this tradition, I thought it was somewhat odd, but I tried it anyway. Then I discovered that it was delicious! I thought Joey wouldn't be a fan...he's not big on tacos or mexican (though he likes my homemade tacos), but when he tried it himself, he loved it! I was thrilled! Of course he loves everything Connie cooks. She is pretty amazing. They turned out pretty good, though they weren't as easy to eat as I remember!

8. I am currently revamping the website and blog, as well as pricing and packaging for the new year. I hope to give everything a clean, cohesive look. I have a lot of work ahead of me! Wish me luck!

H's Sassy Boudoir Session :: Kansas City Boudoir Photographer

2010-12-18T17:00:00.001-06:00

This girl was amazing. She just seemed to have so much fun and was so easy to work with. The session just seemed to flow so nicely and I almost didn't want to stop shooting!

I will tell you one thing though, photography can really take it out of you, and boudoir photography definitely does. I warn clients that a boudoir session can cause you to be sore later or the day after, but it's the same for the photog. I did three sessions back to back and by the end of the night my body was screaming for me to sit, lay down, stop moving, etc. I also had one client say she was definitely sore the next day, so women, take it seriously when I say it's possible!

Anyway, H's photos were a blast. I absolutely LOVED the clothing she brought. Maybe it was because the black and nude color palette gave off this gorgeous vintage feel, or it was possibly just because of her personality and how she worked it! Either way I am still thrilled that she decided to join in on the fun of boudoir. She did whatever I told her (so fun!) and she even had a few ideas of her own (always welcome). I hope the experience was as fun for her as it was for me. Her husband already informed me that he really liked the photos. That's always a fun fact as well!

Photos of Things That Make Life Easier || Week 10

2010-12-17T17:30:00.002-06:00

I had fun this past week thinking of the various things that make my life easier. Should I be worried that I picked all kitchen appliances? Ha!

There are so many things in the world created to make something or other easier and there are TONS for the kitchen and home in general. Some of the ones below are my personal favs, and some are currently frustrating!

First we have the lovely rice maker. Yes, I COULD just make it the normal way on the stove, but I love how I can measure things out, press the button, and then go about my business without having to worry about my rice. I can even prepare it early and this thing will keep it warm (I've discovered that the rice is better if it switches to warm for a bit before serving). Joey and I go through so much rice, we love the stuff. I don't think we would use as much if we didn't have this thing! I will admit that the lid can be a pain to clean though. The starch from the rice often cakes onto it and you have to scrub into the little nooks and crannies.

Now THIS thing is my baby! If you don't already know, I am ADDICTED to smoothies. It all started when I was young and my mom would make me breakfast smoothies. It helps that I'm addicted to fruit as well. Then in high school I discovered Smoothie King (which seems to be everywhere down here in Florida). I recently discovered that Smoothie King uses canned fruit (yuck!) so I have given up on my love for them. I'm kind of a smoothie purist, and syrup coated fruit is a waste of smoothie time for me! But they are tasty smoothies!

I make a smoothie at least once a day for myself if not twice (breakfast and lunch). Joey also drinks a smoothie for breakfast. In the past year I have discovered green smoothies (smoothies with veggies in them) and I am in love! I love playing around with new combinations. I've discovered Kale is WAY too strong of a taste for me. I usually stick to Spinach! I've also been taking advantage of the supply of cranberries lately. My freezer is full of them. I wish my freezer was bigger!

So anyway...I was using my previous blender that Joey and I got for free at Bed, Bath, and Beyond during the bridal registry event after our wedding (it's so cool!). It was a pretty great blender actually. I loved all the fun settings, but when I was loading it up with spinach, frozen fruit, and various other things, it could get a bit angry from time to time...and it didn't always end up so smooth. I started dreaming about a super fancy blender. The two main ones are VitaMix and Blendtec. I wavered back and forth on which I wanted to put on my dream wish list, but I think the warranty on the VitaMix won out in the end.

Joey ended up surprising me with one for our anniversary this year. I'm pretty sure it was part that he loves surprising me with things I really want but won't buy for myself, and part that he wanted to start drinking smoothies, but they needed to be smoother than what our blender was giving us! And this thing rocks at smooth! I do so much with it! You can even make soups and sauces, desserts, etc. It comes with a handy recipe book and it generally makes me super duper happy. It is kind of loud though!

This is a photo of it being cleaned (soap and hot water, blend, rinse!). Looks like I need to clean the base a bit. The hard water here is making all my dishes look quite dingy! (sorry about the gushing, I'm a bit obsessed/ridiculous about this baby!)

I love, love, LOVE crockpots. I have two. The other one is a deep purple :D thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law. I have this round one and the purple one is the larger oval type. Sometimes you need a tall one and sometimes you need a larger surface area at the base. I love how I can cook chicken in this baby and it's so juicy and tender when it's done. I make this ranch chicken for my husband's lunch and it shreds so effortlessly once it's done cooking. I've tried cooking the ranch chicken various ways and this has been the best. I also love that I can throw everything in and go! One day I might have to get all fancy and buy one of the programmable ones!

Now this...arg. This thing is SUPPOSE to make my life easier, but it doesn't. Our dishwasher in our new place is useless. No matter how many dishes I add, soap I use, type of soap I use, or how well I rinse dishes before placing them in here, I ALWAYS have to clean several again once it's done cleaning.

I even make sure the food trap thing is cleared out, as well has running the garbage disposal (which is also not the best) before running it. It always ends up that the "inside" of the dishes are cleaned, but a film of food particles is laying on top of bowls and cups. So annoying. So yesterday I officially made our dishwasher an oversized drying rack. Now I have to find a sink stopper to be able to fill the sink with water. It'll be rough since our sink is only about 6 inches deep, but I shall prevail!

Next week: My favorite color...hmm, I'm not even sure what that is anymore! Better get to work!

S's Boudoir Session || Kansas City Boudoir Photography

2010-12-15T17:30:00.001-06:00

I have been DYING to share these photos with you, but with the crazy schedule and such, I haven't had time to put them up. Now it's time to reveal some fun photos that I took a while ago.

I've always loved boudoir photography and I really enjoyed getting to dive head first into it during the past few months. I truly enjoy getting to show women how gorgeous they all are. Women are often so hard on themselves. You don't have to have a perfect body to do boudoir photos, and you don't have to get naked either! You can be sexy in whatever clothing (or lack of) that you want! You also don't have to be a blushing bride, a married woman, or a certain age to take these kinds of photos. I promise. God made us all just the way we are and we all have beauty to show off!

Okay, I'm done with the ranting now! These photos make me so happy. Even more so since this lovely lady freaked out (in a good way) when she saw them. Nothing makes me more happy than finishing a session of photos and having the client absolutely love them! We had so much fun shooting and she was a trooper, putting up with the various poses and directions.

Back from Kansas...What's with the Weather?

2010-12-13T17:25:00.001-06:00

Well folks, Joey and I made it back from Kansas! Wahoo! Now my house is a disaster. It's lovely.

So I have several things I'd like to share with you all this week, so look forward to those. Feel free to contact me and complain if I drop the ball! I'm currently trying to dig myself out from under all the laundry!

I have three sessions I'm VERY excited to share with you all, I'm thinking of starting a new blog "project" to motivate my blogging (aka, to get me to blog more regularly), and of course I need to do the next project on 52 weeks of photos. This week is "things that make my life easier" and I'm deciding on what exactly to capture. There are definitely multiple things that make my life easier.

Today I mainly focused on laundry, groceries, and burrowing for warmth. We left Kansas yesterday, leaving behind a dusting of snow, only to arrive in Florida where the temp was actually LOWER than Kansas. What?! Everyone back in Kansas was giving me a hard time about the Kansas cold (which I didn't think was that bad until Saturday night) and then I get back to "warm" Florida and I'm freezing! Oh well. I won't complain much, the forecast says it will be in the 60's and 70's later this week!

So since I was told that my blog helps brighten a certain someone's day (love you Janice!) and at least two other people actually read it regularly, I will leave you with a fun image to tide you over until my next entry. I promise it will be soon! Maybe even tomorrow! I even have a few posts to make on my personal blog, so I will be blogging it up. Again, lovely.

This image is actually an old one. It's from the first time that I came to Florida with Joey and his family for vacation. I received a flower made from a palm leaf at some restaurant and then had some photo fun with it and the lamp back in my room.

Sneak Peek, Updates, and Such...

2010-12-06T16:35:00.001-06:00

Whew, I just finished three boudoir session photos. I was working on them here and there for the past month while I moved and ran around like a chicken with its head cut off. I'm finally done, I absolutely love them, and it's just in time for me to leave town! YAY!

So I head out tomorrow for Kansas to attend the wedding of two close friends, as well as squeeze in some family time. It's going to be a busy week! We have plans for each day! I'm even hoping to fit in a photo shoot, but we shall see how much time I have, how I handle the Kansas weather, and what Kansas weather has in store for us! You never know!

I can't wait to share the boudoir photos with you all...some of you have probably seen the ones I've posted to Facebook lately (I couldn't wait to share!). I do have permission to share them, and I think they ladies should be proud. I had a blast and I can't wait for them to see their photos!

Okay, my excitement about the photos is getting out of hand. I think I'm a bit loopy from staring at the computer too much.

So I am off tomorrow and won't be back until late Sunday. Then I will treat you all to some fun boudoir photos, hopefully the next week's installment of 52 weeks of photos, and maybe even some photos from a brewery tour! FUN! Ha!

So until then, have a lovely week and weekend. Congrats to my dear friends Mandy and Elijah on their upcoming marriage...I am ready to dance the night away!

Here is a lovely photo from the many that I have been staring at to tide you over while I travel!

Objects that Tell Something About Me || Week 9

2010-12-02T14:57:00.001-06:00

So I was trying to decide what to capture for the week 9 project. I wanted something simple, but I didn't want to take a photo of my camera gear or something...I mean that's kind of obvious that I like photography!

Anyway, I was laying in bed thinking about what to capture, and it hit me: cleaning solution. Yep, that's right, cleaning solution. I'm not really a neat freak or germaphobe or anything, but I can safely say that not a day goes buy that I don't wipe down my counters AT LEAST once with cleaner, if not 2-3 times.

I absolutely love cleaning my counters to a beautiful shine. I think I'm even more strict about it here in our new place because we have black countertops and I always feel like there's some kind of dirt there that I can't see. I have always wanted black countertops, but I think this new place has made me realize that I'm not a fan. I want to be able to se the dirt and grime so that I can clean it up!

So here you go folks, a photo that tells something about me...look at that shine and reflection! LOVE IT!

Photos on the Road || Week 8

2010-11-22T20:33:00.000-06:00

So I have been stuck on this one for WAY too long. I have not found any motivation for it what so ever. I suppose that means I probably need to explore it more often, but oh well!

I "cheated" and I'm using an image I already have. In my defense, I may never move on on this project if I don't do this! A lot of the shots that I find interesting around me road wise, I've already done, so I suppose it just seems bland, boring, and lacking.

So for Week 7, which is a tribute to all things "roads," I give you this gravel road in France (which happens to have a castle next to it, you know, nothing special!).

Jacksonville, Florida: My New Home

2010-11-20T23:22:00.000-06:00

Whew, so Thanksgiving is almost here! The past two months have been like a whirlwind for Joey and I.

In the beginning of October I was prepping for my trip back to Kansas to help my sister in her last couple of weeks before her wedding...a.k.a. going to the bachelorette party and the bridal shower, and writing a speech to give at the awesome wedding. Then a bomb landed. My Joey was offered a position within his company in Jacksonville, Florida and they wanted us there in three weeks. YIKES! Turn on the stress!

We headed to Jacksonville for a week. He trained with the person he was taking over for, and I desperately searched for housing. We ended up heading back to Tampa at the end of the week exhausted in more ways than one. Then it was our wedding anniversary, which basically got overlooked, then Joey's birthday, which had some drama of it's own, but was still a nice day, and then I headed off to Kansas on my own...my first time traveling alone, scary!

The traveling worked out fine, I was a big girl about it...though my allergies started destroying me on the second flight and I felt like crap. I got in to KC at about 11pm, was picked up by dad, and then promptly crashed when I got to his house. I was exhausted.

As I visited with family and such in Kansas, Joey flew to Arizona to help train new employees in a new branch. He flew back on Thursday evening, and then got up Friday and drove up to Jacksonville with his rents and little sis for the weekend to search for housing. I attended Chrissy's Bridal shower (yummy gluten free cake!) and then had a boudoir shoot marathon on Sunday. Mom and Janice came to the shoot and we all had a blast hanging out and discussing Sister Wives! Ha! I was exhausted and actually quite sore the next day from maneuvering for photos. I'm still editing like a fiend on those and it's taking a while to get through them all. The experience was great and I learned a lot about the art of boudoir photography, which was my intention.

Joey found us a condo that same weekend and was very excited. It was one stress we could mark off of our lists!

Joey flew in Friday for the wedding, and we were able to hang out at Beer thirty for a while and even see our buddy Elijah. It was very nice. Then we headed off to the rehearsal dinner. Nothing like rain messing up wedding plans! But it all worked out and the actually wedding day was a great success in my opinion. I had a blast and I hope the bride and groom did as well.

Joey and I didn't get nearly enough sleep that night, especially with the alcohol we had both had, so the next day of travel was a bit of a nightmare, but we made it. We settled into our hotel and tried to get use to Jacksonville.

We stayed at the hotel for a week. Joey ended up catching the flu and was seriously down for the count for most of the week. His parents brought up our stuff that weekend and we moved in. It was great to be out of a hotel, but the massive amount of ~~crap~~ stuff that we had was mind boggling, and intimidating! We got a lot done on Saturday, and even more done on Sunday. The rest of the week I sorted, trashed, gave away, and overloaded. We are basically moved in now, though there are those little things here and there that have yet to find homes. Once they do I will definitely share photos!

That's all for now!

-Holly

My Husband Made Me Do It //Labor Day Baking Part 3

2010-09-11T21:27:00.002-05:00

Yes, there's more..

...I know...too much already...anyway, I saw that the same lady had XXL M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies. Chocolate Chip cookies with M&M's are Joey's favorite...and he also loves GIANT cookies. That meant I HAD to make these, right? Right. So I did! And they are GIANT. I didn't have a muffin top pan like the recipe called for, but I wanted the cookies to sit up (I always have issues with chocolate chip cookies "deflating.") so I put them in ramekins. Joey was pretty pleased, and he took one to work today for snack.

Aren't the fall colored M&M's cute?!?! I love it! For me they look better then they are because I'm not a big fan of chocolate chip/M&M cookies (unless it's just the dough, minus the chocolate chips and M&M's, yum!), but they made Joey happy and that's what matters most!

And then I cleaned up the kitchen and went to bed...No? oh, right...

I was putting together my master list of ingredients for the various things I planned on baking. As I did that I was checking the latest happenings on Facebook as well. Then it happened...I saw a photo and description of a Guinness cupcake posted by a bakery that I am a fan of on Facebook. I was thrilled by such an idea! I knew I needed to know more! I ran over to my trusty friend Google and found a recipe online. I KNEW this was going to absolutely thrill Joey. He loves Guinness...and all things Irish...and Jameson whiskey...

So I used Joey as an excuse that I HAD to bake these cupcakes (sound familiar? oh well!). I also knew that we were getting some Guinness for Joey to put in the Shepherd's Pie that he cooked last Saturday.

These are chocolate cupcakes with Guinness in them, filled with chocolate ganache that has Jameson Irish Whiskey in it, and topped with buttercream frosting that has Bailey's Irish Cream. Though the recipe said the Irish Whiskey and Bailey's were optional, I knew that for us they were not.

Again, not the best icing application in the world, but it works!

Oh look at that ganache goodness in there! Did I mention that when Joey and I went on our Honeymoon to Ireland I fell in love with Irish Whiskey Truffles? Yum. I even took a photograph of it while eating it.

So the Guinness Cupcakes won hands down for the best thing baked this past weekend. No, it's not because of all of the alcohol. No seriously, it's not. They are just so moist and creamy and awesome.

Chocolate, More Chocolate, and Cinnamon Goodness // Labor Day Baking Part 2

2010-09-11T10:45:00.001-05:00

Since I decided to only make a half batch of the Oreo cupcakes...that meant I had half of a yellow cake mix to use...oh darn, what to do! Um, well, Make these of course! :D

I mean how can you go wrong with a chocolate cupcake with a scoop of cookie dough in the center? Seriously. I knew we had some frozen cookie dough in the freezer from a large batch of chocolate chip cookies from a few weeks ago...perfect!

They were pretty delicious, but the oreo cupcakes were still the winners!

Then I decided that wasn't enough sugar in the house and I made cinnamon roll sugar cookies. I love cinnamon rolls, I love sugar cookies...what would happen if the two got married? Um, the answer is an amazing explosion of happiness. It's a sugar cookie dough that you roll out, cover in butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, roll up like a cinnamon roll, cut into slices, and bake...then you eat them until you are sick!

My mother-in-law and I are a little smitten on these things. Because of that...I don't have any photos because they were all gone before I even thought to take photos. Oh, and before you freak out that the recipe makes 6 dozen and we ate them all...I cut the recipe down and only made 2 dozen...and then screwed up half of them and threw them away in frustration :P So, we only had about 12. I think it would be way too dangerous to make 6 dozen in my household...maybe for the holidays.

Oh wait...there's more...but give me a break to run off some of this sugar first...

Fluffy Oreo Stuffed Cupcakes :: Labor Day Baking Part 1

2010-09-10T14:29:00.001-05:00

So this past weekend I decided to bake up a storm. I had found this AWESOME website and HAD to try some of the recipes, most specifically this one.

I had all these recipes that I wanted to try, but I seriously didn't need 50-100 cupcakes and cookies all over the place. That would NOT be a good thing. So I halved all the recipes...which really only made me bake more recipes, but still. So I'm going to share what I baked with you a little at a time. I enjoyed taking photos of them all as well...because then I had touched them all, so I HAD to eat them, right? Ha, well, at least taste them!

I knew how everyone in my family LOVED Oreos and seeing as we deep fried some the weekend prior, I thought Oreo cupcakes were found at the perfect time!

Isn't it delicious looking? (I am definitely not trying to win any icing competitions, or bake-offs either!)

This is what it looks like before getting frosted. See that yummy marshmallow cream trying to escape? Mmmm...

And of course I had to show you the inside! Next time I'm going to make sure that the oreo stays down farther in the batter. Or maybe stick in two...Whoa!

I'm suddenly very hungry...hmm

Stay tuned for more baking updates...

One Object Photographed 5 Ways || Week 7

2010-09-08T14:31:00.001-05:00

Okay, so maybe it's technically like week 20 or 30...but hey! I WILL finish this project! Even if "52 weeks of Photos" ends up being a few years of photos!

So I have successfully accomplished week 7 of the 52 weeks of photos project, and by "successfully" I simply mean it's done. You can judge how successful the photos are. Be gentle...

I have had an obsession with celosia (aka: wool flower, cockscomb, coxcomb), since I was a young girl. My neighbor had a section right in front of her front porch filled with them for a summer or two and I loved to touch and stare at them when I was over there playing with her little girls. I always referred to them as "the brain flower." I never actually knew what they were called until a year or so ago. Even my neighbor couldn't remember what they were called when I asked her a few years ago.

I finally figured out what they were about a year or so ago when I saw them popping up in wedding flower photos while trying to pick out my own wedding flowers. I did end up using them within my bouquet and in some of my boutonnieres (though they were not the color I asked for, whoops!).

My lovely sister, who I adore, came across some celosia seeds when she was at a festival, or a farmer's market or something, and gave them to me for my birthday. Well, I've never been known to keep plants alive very well...and I've definitely never started one from seed! I decided to give it a go anyway. I did pretty well and they started thriving...and then my mother-in-law killed them while I was out of town! Ha! Maybe she doesn't like me so well? Kidding. I love that woman and I am pretty sure she feels the same for me...though she could be very good at faking it! (Love you Nova!) Besides, we decided it was the fault of the little kids splashing in the pool and getting the water in my flower pots. Poor flowers!

I originally had about 8-10 flowers. We were able to save a few, and then eventually I was left with only two. One red one and one yellow. The yellow one doesn't like me and is very blobular. It's sad, but such is life! The red one however is beautiful and becoming more and more brain like every day. I worry that the humid torture that is Florida will eventually destroy them (mold seems to be growing on the sides of the flower), I am enjoying them while I have them. I will attempt to plant more next year, and I am bound and determined to find and grow orange ones!

Now that my long winded story is finished, here is one of my celosia plants as seen by 5 different view points!

DIY Button Boutonniere Tutorial

2010-08-24T15:42:00.001-05:00

For those of you interested, here is how I made the boutonnieres for my sister's upcoming wedding. Please excuse the awful point and shoot photos!

Supplies:

You'll need some pins for the backing. I used these 1-1/2 inch pins that I purchased from Jo-Ann Fabrics. I actually wish that I had longer ones, but these were all that I could find at the time. If they don't work, then I guess I'll make sure to bring some straight pins with me!

I also purchased floral wire, one package wrapped in brown and one package wrapped in green. I thought the wrapped wire would look better than plain, shiny wire. The green is obviously for the flower stems. I had originally envisioned twigs behind the button flowers, but decided while I was at Jo-Ann Fabrics that I would go for the spiraled twig things (technical term!) that I've seen in floral arrangements before.

Then you will of course need an assortment of buttons. You can pick various shades of one color like I did, or try two or three colors that go with your color palette. This is actually the "expensive" part. It made me wish I had been collecting buttons all my life and could just yoink some from my stash.

Note: Purple seems to be the least wanted color in terms of buttons (and beads) from my experience. I was in an aisle of nothing but buttons...all shapes and sizes. Of course white and black were the largest to choose from, but there was a pretty decent sized section of each color of the rainbow EXCEPT for purple. Okay, who has something against purple!?!?! It's a very popular wedding color. Moving on...

You'll also need:

a nice, open space to work on and spread out your supplies
some wire cutters
Floral tape
various objects to twist your brown wire around for twirls (like a pencil and/or a cuticle stick)
some patience!

The first thing that I did was play around with the buttons. I stacked them on top of each other and tried to create "flowers" that I liked. I wanted somewhat of a variety.

Once I had my flowers picked out, I started creating their stems. I would take one full floral wire piece and thread it through the stacked buttons. I would then bend it and thread it back through the stack of buttons. I pulled the wire flush against the front of the stack of buttons. I then twisted the floral wire together.

At first I had created leaves for each of the flowers (inspired by another version of the pin that I had seen), but I quickly discovered this was not appealing when placing the flowers close together for the boutonniere. That means that I got to go back, in twist them all, flatten out the leaf part, and twist them back again. It wasn't fun, and they didn't twist quite as nicely the second time.

I decided to make the boutonnieres the same, so I made two of each flower.

Then for the twirls. I used a pencil at first to twist the wire around, but decided it was too big. I then used a cuticle stick. I still thought it was a little too big and I used this tiny metal rod thing that I had. Use whatever object you'd like to achieve the desired spiral. I ended up using all three sizes.

After I wrapped it, I held it between my fingers, slightly twisted in the opposite direction, and pulled it off of the stick. Then I carefully pulled the spiral apart some so that there was space between the curls.

Voila! Curly-Q thingamajigs!

Sadly, I did not snap a shot of this next part, and I should have. I played around with the arrangement of the flowers. I figured out what I liked and then lightly taped the pieces together with floral tape. I did the flower first, and taped them as I added each flower. Then I arranged the spirals behind the flowers and taped them as well. I made sure to tape far enough down that the floral tape would be covered by the wire that held on the pin (the next step).

I then positioned my pin on the back of the bundle of stems. I grabbed a green covered length of floral wire, slide it in between the the stems of the flowers a bit, and then started tightly winding it around the bundle of stems. I gave myself a couple looped just around the stems, and then started winding around the pin base as well to secure it. This actually took two full pieces of floral wire per boutonniere. When I finished one piece of wire, I would tuck the end into the stems, tuck the beginning of the new piece into the stems and continue twisting. When I finished that piece I tucked the end into the stems so that it wouldn't poke anyone.

I then made sure the bottoms of the stems were twisted nicely, cut each about half an inch from the end of the spiraled green wire, and pressed them together.

And here is what I got!

Abby's Health and Nutrition

2010-08-16T12:14:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I am somewhat in love with this store here in Tampa called Abby's Health and Nutrition. I love it so much...and I only just today got to really venture around the place. I was still in a bit of a time crunch, but I was able to walk around the entire store and fall in love over and over.

Back when Joey and I were living in Lawrence, Joey spent a summer working in the bakery of The Merc, aka the community mercantile. I loved that place as well. Great produce, amazing local meets (that included info on how far away the meat was from, some was only 9 miles away!), awesome supplies of al natural just about everything. I loved perusing the aisles there. I could spend a fortune at a place like that.

Having my then fiance' work at the bakery was pretty nice as well. He'd often bring me home samples of what he had been working on, and once he even created something new for the bakery which ended up selling really well. They were delicious chocolate almond macaroons. Mmm, yummy!

We also knew someone working the cheese department. He always had great advice when looking at cheese. He helped me to discover my favorite cheese, Kerrygold Irish Vintage Cheddar. Some of that on some crackers...I was in heaven!

So when we moved to Florida we were sad to leave The Merc, but soon discovered Abby's. I still find it interesting that we found Abby's because they supply our local Tilted Kilt with their carrot cake. We all fell in love with it and had to buy a whole one...which we did.

Today I went on a mission. I had a list of various supplies that I wanted and knew I couldn't find just anywhere. I really wanted to price things out, but I ended up buying a few things as well. Here's what I got:

Some wonderful rosewater. I love rosewater. It smells so nice and feels so good on your skin. I like to use it as a toner at night. The bottle says to use it as a perfume, body splash, add to hair or bath water, or try as a gourmet flavoring. Then of course it says you can mix in your own therapeutic oils to make your own complexion formula.

Then there are these...dulse flakes. It's dried seaweed and I am going to incorporate it into my smoothies. I've found tons of fun smoothie concoctions online and many of them include dulse. I thought I would give it a go! It's high in B6 and B12, as well as iron, potassium, fluoride, and iodine.

I also bought a small jar of coconut oil. It's great for hair and skin, as well as cooking. It's great as a body moisturizer, or hair and scalp conditioner. It's also great in homemade body scrubs!

So I had some fun at Abby's, and could have definitely went a bit more crazy, but I restrained myself! I saw some awesome water bottles there, a great assortment of teas (I LOVE herbal tea), and found almost everything on my list there. There will most definitely be many future visits!

Button boutonnieres

2010-08-13T08:24:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I said the number 1 priority right now was redesigning the blog. Well I got stuck on getting one particular component to work how I wanted so I decided it was time to get out of the house. I went to JoAnn Fabrics and bought all the supplies to make the button boutonnieres for my sister's wedding.

It all started one night when my sister Chrissy and I got together to discuss wedding ideas. I had my comp loaded with fun inspirational photos, and she had torn out pages from magazines. It was really fund to discover the things that we both had found and put aside to share with one another. Her and I had both found a photo of button boutonnieres...

We both thought they were so cool...and they wouldn't die or wilt, or get smooshed when anyone hugs the groom or best man. Perfect!

So I set out to prove we could make one ourselves. I knew that between my mother and I (the creative girls) one of us could make it happen. I went to JoAnn Fabrics and discovered two things...buttons are pricey and it can be difficult to find purple ones. So I grabbed a bag of assorted plastic buttons that was in the clearance aisle to play with for cheap. I ended up with this....

I know, not the greatest...but I made it in about 5 minutes. I just wanted to see if I could get the general look. I knew I could tidy it up when I did the real thing. I sent the photo to my sister and she loved the idea. She said scratch the yellow and go with shades of purple. She gave me the task of making them and sent me on my way :P

I went to JoAnn Fabrics, rounded up the material I needed (again, purple buttons were scarce, it was annoying). I looked in a few craft books and found a button bouquet pin and decided to use it as a guide as well. It had spirals on the bottom, which I started out with, but both my sister and I agreed that we didn't like. So I cut them off and flattened out the bottoms. And here is my final product...

I am pretty happy with them. Though I will move the spirals a bit once they get to Kansas! They are not safely tucked away in a box ready for when I fly to Kansas. Let's hope I don't forget them!

I'll write up another post later showing how I did it and such.

Updates Galore

2010-08-07T21:57:00.000-05:00

I'm currently in the process of revamping the blog, starting a crafting blog, finishing my DIY camera bag (I've had some setbacks :-/ ), and finishing the next 52 weeks of photos project. I've been trying to do way too many things at once lately and have ended up really not getting anything actually done! It's time to focus on one task at a time!

Task One: Blog redesign! - mainly because I just need a little change!

And here's a photo to enjoy...

Botanical Photos || Week 6

2010-07-07T12:39:00.001-05:00

So we made it back to Florida...a 19 hour drive all in one day...and then it rained all day for the 4th of July! Ha, oh well.

I took this photo for the botanical week while I was still in Kansas. Near my dad's house their was this pasture with cows. I was dead set on getting some fun shots of the adorable cows...be every time I went over there they were way off or hiding. Silly cows. Every time I'd drive by on my way somewhere they were sitting at the fence staring at me...and most likely secretly laughing at me! Oh well. I'll be back eventually and I will try again!

While I was roaming the fence line I found this "weed" and fell in love with it. I've always been weird and enjoyed weeds. When I was young I loved looking out my bedroom window in the summer and seeing the sea of yellow (dandelions) that was my 1.5 acre back yard. It was SO cool, and pretty! Again, I know, I'm weird. I am a gardener's nightmare!

I had fun capturing it with the sun as it started disappearing behind the trees.

Enjoy!

A beautiful moonlit dinner...followed by death by bug bites!

2010-06-28T19:42:00.001-05:00

So this last Saturday my husband and I went out to celebrate a friend's birthday. We did this by getting to enjoy an amazing dinner at Prairie Star Farm in DeSoto, KS.

My husband went to college at the University of Kansas and we are big Lawrence, KS fans. There's so much culture and so many fun places and people! One of the places that we enjoy eating at in Lawrence is the Free State Brewing Company. They have seasonal beers, seasonal meals, and just plain yummy things.

When we found out that the chef from Free State was joining up with a local farmer to have a 5 course meal outdoors with beer pairings for each course, we were SO there! The farm was beautiful, the lovely couple that owns the place were as kind as can be, and full of historical information.

I immediately fell in love with the multitude of plants, flowers, and color everywhere. There were also adorable dogs! (Too fun!) The table placing was gorgeous and they started us off with two different types of beer, one of which I really enjoyed. It was called Coeur de Saison and it had this great sour taste to it. Odd, but yummy, and I don't really like beer!

Sadly I was too busy enjoying the great company and eating the great food to remember to capture any shots of the first three courses. I know, I'm awful, but I was fully distracted by amazingness! We met some great people, shared some wonderful stories, and stuffed ourselves with delicious food, all for about 6 hours. We arrived at 6:30 and didn't leave until 11:30. I was sad to leave in the end and truly wanted to repeat it again and again.

A majority of the veggies and fruit were all from Prairie Star and the lamb that we had for our main course was from a nearby farmer who was there eating with us that night. Okay, I'm about to start drooling just thinking about all the great food. Some of that stuff I would have never touched with a ten foot pole, but I was fully willing to give everything a chance and I was so glad that I did! It was all delicious. I don't think anyone ever left anything on their plate. The entire night was full of people moaning and groaning about how delicious it all was. I promise that I am NOT lying or exaggerating.

I will admit that in the excitement of it all I left my camera at home, well my good one at least. If I can help it I never leave home without having a point and shoot camera in my purse incase I come upon something I want to capture or remember. So the images aren't the best in the world, but I did the best I could with what I had. I couldn't pass up some shots of this place, and the place settings made me so happy! Bright colors on a bright white background?!?! LOVE IT!

Here are some shots of the surroundings and the table before we ate.

The table settings up close.

The menu...though again, not a great camera!

Oh look! The Chef!

We even had music!

I loved this sign! They had port-a-potties but they put fresh flowers, hand sanitizer and hand lotion and such in them to make them more "pretty."

These two guys were just too cute! I had to get a picture.

Bah! And this is my all-time favorite flower! It's called Celosia, or woolflower, or coxcomb. It' so weird and cool and I love them! I was so happy to see them. There were ever orange ones, which I don't see much, but this one was way bigger so I like the photo better.

Our main course was braised lamb. It was delicious and I don't usually even like lamb! It was already dark by now, so I was flashing everyone with my camera! Everyone was using their cell phones to look at their food because the full moon hadn't quite come up, but it was still beautiful.

So there was the amazing dessert. It was a raspberry chocolate trifle. Again, forgive the awful and blurry photo. I though it showed enough of it....and man, all I wanted to do was dig in! So I apologize for the poor photography, but these things didn't last long on anyone's plate...you're lucky I stopped to take photos! They were so tasty and delicious. Oh man, I want another one.

Whew! Okay, so I had a wonderful evening with friends, met great people, ate amazing food, learned lots, and went home and passed out! The next day I headed out to hang out with family and slowly through the day I started noticing a few bug bites here and there. Nothing huge. I could tell the worst was on my feet (from being in the grass) but they were in socks and shoes so they weren't bugging me too much (basically because I couldn't get to them to scratch!)

Later that day I looked at the bug bites on the back of my upper arm that I had scratched a few times and realized they were HUGE! Holy cow. By now my husband was talking about being uncomfortable and I found 16 bug bites on his back alone.

I went home and jumped into a bath of water and vinegar...I was told it'd help...it didn't. Then I decided to count the bug bites because it was starting to get crazy. I counted all the way up to 70...and a majority of those are ALL on my feet. My poor feet. This morning, after having not scratched for a while I suddenly realized that a lot of those bites that I had previously counted as one, were more like three or four all bunched together.

So I'm currently suffering with horrible bug bites that won't let me sleep or relax. I'm smothering them in anti-itch lotion and hope they go away soon!

I would absolutely LOVE to get to share in this great experience again, but next time I'll think before I go and bring my good camera and lots of bug spray!

Sports Themed Photo || Week 5

2010-06-23T12:20:00.000-05:00

Wow, have I been behind on this project! I got super stuck on the Sports one because I couldn't find anything I really found fun and there weren't any games in my future...though my husband got to go a Cardinals game on Memorial day in great seats! Oh well...

While hanging out in Illinois I took this photo at our grandparents' house. I thought it was fun with all the colors and I enjoyed how a toy for their grandkids turned into a holder for non-toy things such as the hose and a piece of wood.

So this is my Week 5: Sports shot...and now maybe I will move on and continue this project!

Kailey's New Ring

2010-06-20T18:42:00.001-05:00

So a few weeks ago I was in Illinois with my husband and in-laws visiting family and something funny happened.

Kailey, my sister-in-law that is only 4, was the flower girl at my wedding. She did a great job by the way! My new cousin, Dillon, who is 10, was the ring bearer and walked Kailey down the aisle so that she would be more comfortable. He was a great help!

Ever since that day, Kailey has been telling everyone that she married her cousin. She walked down the aisle with him at a wedding and no amount of explaining will convince her that they did not get married on that day.

So while we were visiting family in illinois we were sitting down to dinner one night. Dillon was sitting across from Kailey and he started getting teased because he was suppose to hang out with a girl that night. It was just some fun between family...but then it happened. Kailey looked over at Dillon and said:

"Dillon, you're suppose to love only me!"

It was so funny! Someone asked if he ever gave her a ring and she said no. We all agreed that he should definitely work on getting that ring soon.

Later that night her grandmother walked in with a spare tiny ring and gave it to Kailey as her "wedding ring." She would hardly take it off and was showing it to everyone.

Here she is just casually hanging out...trying to get away from my camera...and there's here little ring. (I know, wrong finger, but that's the one it fits!)

Brrr, It's Cold in Here...

2010-06-15T16:24:00.001-05:00

My goodness! I moved to Florida after getting married and have "gotten use to" the Florida heat. It's just something you deal with...though I don't ever remember "dealing" well with Kansas heat and Florida is worse! I guess maybe now I'm "older" and "wiser"? Or perhaps simply less of a whiney baby? Ha!

Anyway, I have ventured back to Kansas for the month so that my lovely husband can take a summer course at his beloved Alma Mater - KU. We have been blessed with the ability to crash at my father's house...which allows us to have a very nice bedroom AND connected bathroom (wahoo!) for the month of June...and no rent! It has also allowed us to see more of my father which i have greatly enjoyed...I hope my cooking hasn't made him ready to see us leave! :P

Anyway, we have it so great here. Close to lots of loved ones that we have't seen for some time, getting to hang out in places we have missed, etc. There is only one problem...my father's house is freezing! I swear the man must be a human furnace because he says he even gets hot sometimes even though he has the house set to 65 and I'm constantly covered in goosebumps!

I mean again...I have moved to Florida and settled into the Florida heat...well, I have yet to see the worst, but it's already been much hotter there than here. This means that I wear lots of shorts, t-shirts, tanks, and thin clothing...it's how you cope. I thought such attire would be perfect for Kansas. I grew up here, I know the weather! But I did not prepare for the freezer that is my father's house. I go outside during the day and love the heat...how it warms my frost-bitten fingers and toes.

Seriously...my fingernails turn purple in the mornings! My hands and feet are on fire when I step into a hot shower...it's wearing me down!

I could never live in some place like Alaska. Being cold makes me want to do nothing but snuggle up under tons of blankets and sleep all day long. I am having a horrible time motivating myself and I do not like sitting around doing nothing.

I think it's time to head over to my mothers house and wrangle me a space heater!!!

Hmm, more hot tea is in my future...and maybe a run to walmart for some cheap sweatpants! Oh how I dislike sweatpants...

That's all for now,

HNH

Long Time No Blog

2010-05-07T07:21:00.001-05:00

Well hello there! I promise I'm still alive and well, just not quite so blog-productive. I can go so long and be blogging up a storm and then hit a big blogging slump!

I have decided to skip Week 5: Sports in the 52 weeks project for now. I'm moving on to Week 6: Botanical and I will just plug in the sports one when i find something worth shooting. I don't want to shoot something boring just to get a photo!

So for now I will leave you with a cute photo of baby Henry. He's getting SO big!

Water Photos || Week 4

2010-04-22T17:17:00.003-05:00

So here is my photos for week 4. I've actually never taken photos of water drops or ripples on purpose before. It was very fun. I had intended to shoot something else, but then it started sprinkling one day and I had some fun with it!

Enjoy!

Hometown Photos || Week 3

2010-04-11T13:08:00.000-05:00

I'm getting behind on my 52 weeks of photos and it's only week 3! Whoops!

So I consider the town I grew up in (Lenexa, KS) to be my real hometown, but I couldn't just head out to Kansas for the week to take photos! So instead I did the city I currently live in - Lutz, Florida.

I started doing some research on Lutz and ended up finding tons more than expected. It started out basically as a Train depot called "Lutz Junction." The depot has since been torn down, but new one was eventually built close to where the original was located in memory of it. I took some pictures of it...but of course the week I need to photograph it they decide to redo it! Oh well, I still got some fun shots...

I knew from the get go that I wanted to photograph that building. I knew it was important to the community, but I didn't expect to find so much more history. The people around the train depot in the city then known at "North Tampa" wanted a post office. There was one about 3 miles south, but they wanted their own. They were denied a new post office, but eventually convinced officials to move the one from down south up into their town. The Post Office said they couldn't call it "North Tampa" because it would confuse people, so they named it after the train depot and that was the beginning of Lutz, Florida!

The Post office was only about 7 feet by 7 feet. It was moved into a realtor's office, and then eventually into the train depot. I kept reading that the second location of the post office still existed, but I couldn't find where.

Anyway, the Lutz Library is just behind the train depot and it has a nice piece of art to show off the city's history...

Across the street form the library and train depot is a building with a mural of Lutz painted on it from 1959. I love how this is now a Jazzercise building...

I also found the 3rd school house from the city of Lutz. I believe the other two burned down and this one is considered a historic building now...

It's actually right in front of a current elementary school. I bet they loved me prowling around taking photos!!

There is also this place called "Hot Rods BBQ." I guess it's pretty well known. I found tons of sites talking about the history of Lutz that included information on it. This place is literally right down the road from my house. Not far at all. It's next door and across the street from gas stations. We've tried it, but sadly weren't fans...The BBQ down here is all really sweet and our Kansas blood has kept us true Oklahoma Joe Fans!

The place definitely has character though!

I also found out that the neighborhood from Edward Scissorhands is located in Lutz...crazy stuff. It's about 5 minutes from our house too! I have yet to go over there though. I was going to go in and grab some shots of the houses, but didn't get around to it.

Tim Burton actually had the home owners paid so that he could have the houses redone for the movie and then fixed back to their original state after they were done. I read that they painted them the crazy pastels that Tim Burton wanted and then made the windows smaller to give a more paranoid feel. I definitely need to head over there some time. Maybe I'll still share some snap shots of it with you all!

Photos to Introduce Me || Week 2

2010-04-03T20:54:00.000-05:00

So I'll be honest, This week was difficult for me. I knew what I wanted to portray, but I was having a difficult time figuring out solid images to display the concepts. It definitely took me back to those college classes where we had to express difficult feelings and thoughts in a unique and individual way. It was often difficult when we were all stuck in the middle of Kansas :P

The things that I really wanted to capture that define me are: My faith, my family, and my creativity.

My faith in God pulls me through everything and has definitely shaped who I am today. My faith is what constantly convinces me that life is about love - receiving, giving, sharing, watching, remembering, and cherishing love.

My family is VERY important to me as well. They have also greatly shaped me in my life...through good times and bad. They shape you through words and example, and also through becoming great friends in life.

Something else that is very important to me in life is creativity. Since I was very young I have always been making crafts and art projects. I mean I painted rocks when I had nothing else to do! :P Art and general and photography in specific is my form of stress relief. When I'm worn out and stressed over anything, all I need to do is grab a camera and go out and shoot and I feel so much better. I think that's because it makes me stop, slow down, and really take things in.

So here are my shots for week 2...Enjoy!

FAITH! "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13

FAMILY!!! I know, I know, I know...enough of Henry and Henrietta, but they make such a cute example of family! She was finding food in the pond and feeding the little one.

ART! When I think of arts and crafts I inevitably think of lots of fun colors! I love how this wind thingy is bright and simple, but beautiful and fun. I also love sunlight and trees :P

Let's get artsy fartsy, art school student silly!

I was sitting at the computer playing with photos of Kailey...because of course if she's playing and I have a camera I always take photos...it's going to be insane if I ever have kids myself. ANYWAY! So I was editing this fun bubble photo and went into silly art student mode. I realized that I could easily use this one photo to encompass all three of the things that I wanted to share for this week.

Faith: The light is God's love and grace.
Family: Kailey represents the idea of family and growth.
Art: The image is "art" itself and creative in composition.

Then if you want to get really into it you can talk about how the bubbles represent the individual pieces that go into making a person who they are and different piece are more prominent than others...etc...etc....but we'll just say...

This photo is pretty and I wanted to share!

Kailey :: Kids

2010-03-31T11:00:00.004-05:00

So as I promised last week, here are some more shots of my little sister Kailey that I randomly took last week. She was outside washing her bike/playing in the soapy water :P Then she was following me around while I took photos for 52 Weeks of Photos.

I was so excited to get these. She usually doesn't like being photographed. Well, i think she just doesn't like looking at the camera. She'll either look at the camera with no expression, bug her eyes out, give a cheesy grin for about a second, or she will face you, but look in a different direction. I'm hoping she'll grow out of it!

I really enjoyed these fun angles and tight shots. I also fell in love with them in monotone, but decided to share some color versions as well.

Enjoy!

Kailey :: Tampa Children's Photographer

2010-03-31T11:00:00.003-05:00

Henry & Henrietta's Baby :: Newborn!

2010-03-27T13:48:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone! Henry and Henrietta from the previous post had a baby today! How exciting!

We came home from lunch and I went to check on them because I had just seen one of them fly away. That usually means there is another bird there and they are chasing him off. I noticed a little red bird sitting on the nest and thought one of the ducks had come over to say hi - it's been happening a lot. I then remembered that the baby would be a gingery color and realized there was only one egg left! IT HATCHED!!!! I was SUPER excited.

I ran and grabbed my camera, but the baby was very good at hiding itself. It burrowed under it's mother. I hope to get more, and better, shots later, but here are a few of the cutie with it's mom.

There's still one egg that she's sitting on. My research tells me that often times only one ends up hatching...but we shall see!

Free For All || Week 1

2010-03-25T15:52:00.008-05:00

Henry and Henrietta :: Maternity :P

So my week 1 for the 52 weeks of photos project was all about Henry and Henrietta...Florida Sandhill Cranes that live in the pond next to the house. For those of you not from Florida, these birds are everywhere and they are not people shy!

They are always found in pairs (they mate for life normally), and they make loud calls to each other every morning at 7ish - good thing I wake up at 6! Did I mention they are right next to each other when they make these calls usually? :P

Anyway, I've grown use to them. They even stand right next to the door at Texas Roadhouse waiting for peanuts and stop traffic by slowly crossing roads! They are a protected bird and therefore have a hefty fine if you kill one of them.

Lately we noticed them standing in one part of the pond over and over. It looked like it was a nest, but it seemed odd to me that it was ON the water. I guess they always do that. Now one of them is constantly on the nest and we have spotted two eggs! Yay! They are only suppose to incubate for 30ish days if the eggs are fertile, so we should be seeing an adorable little Henry or Henrietta soon!

I've been wanting to photograph them for a while so I thought this project was a perfect way to get me out there and finally do it!

Aren't they cute?

I love this shot through the tree!

A shot from the first day that I tried to capture them...

I wish I could have gotten closer, but sadly I couldn't. I enjoyed taking pictures of them and watching them watch me! They seemed me constantly looking at me and thinking, "What in the world are you doing!?!?"

FYI, we call them Henry and Henrietta because someone in the family named them that. I think it was my grandfather-in-law who did. No one knew what kind of bird they were, so it was easier to give them names!

Kailey Girl! :: Kids

2010-03-23T18:46:00.003-05:00

My little sister-in-law is my favorite little girl! I think she's adorable, but she doesn't really like photos yet...or rather she seems to refuse to look at a camera and smile. She gets tired with it all very quickly, and random, impromptu photos seem to work best. Nothing wrong with that! I'll take what I can get!

So yesterday I was out and about shooting for my new project 52 Weeks of Photos and she was outside playing. I decided to take some photos of her and I got some that I truly love (I think her mom will too!).

Here's a little sneak peek of Kailey's impromptu photo shoot...more to come.

Kailey :: Tampa Children's Photographer

2010-03-23T18:46:00.002-05:00

52 Weeks of Photos

2010-03-21T11:11:00.001-05:00

So I've decided to start a photography project. I found it from fellow photographer Linnie Arnesen of Linnie Arnesen Photos, who originally found it on Chris Hsieh of La Brisa Photography's site. I'm very excited to take this on and have already started on week 1.

The idea is pretty simple: 52 weeks of photos. There are 52 subjects listed below and I will take on one a week for the next year! I think it will be fun. It will sometimes get me outside of my comfort zone, which is always a good way to grow as a photographer, and it'll also be fun to watch what different photographers capture!

Here's the list and later this week I will have the photos from week 1: Free for all!

52 Weeks of Photos:

Week 1 Free for All

Week 2 Introduction of yourself
Week 3 Show us your Hometown
Week 4 Water
Week 5 Sports (anything related, teams, players, equipment, etc,)
Week 6 Botanical
Week 7 ONE object shot at 5 different angels/distances
Week 8 One for the road (signs, streets, traffic, etc.)
Week 9 Objects that tell something about you
Week 10 Things that make your life easier
Week 11 Your favorite color
Week 12 Household items
Week 13 Foods
Week 14 Something Slimy
Week 15 Sun (sunlight, sunset, sunrise, etc)
Week 16 Emotions
Week 17 Something old
Week 18 What you do outside the world of photography
Week 19 Weather
Week 20 Emotional attachment (heirloom/special gift, etc.)
Week 21 Pets
Week 22 Things you couldn't live without
Week 23 Habits
Week 24 Fire (candle, fireplace, etc.)
Week 25 Scrapbooking (stash, room, lo's, etc)
Week 26 Textures
Week 27 Hands
Week 28 Shoes
Week 29 Favorite Jewerly
Week 30 Generations
Week 31 Hot
Week 32 Fill the Frame (close ups)
Week 33 A week in our lives
Week 34 Faith (what you believe)
Week 35 Dance (body in motion)
Week 36 Family & Friends
Week 37 SOOC...from that to this...before & afters
Week 38 Patriotic
Week 39 Object: straight up shots and then straight down shots
Week 40 Nighttime
Week 41 Something that gives you the feeling of warmth or cold
Week 42 Pictures of words
Week 43 Chores I hate
Week 44 Animals
Week 45 Music
Week 46 Reflections/Shadows
Week 47 Flowers
Week 48 Sleep
Week 49 Action Shots
Week 50 Wheels
Week 51 Wrapping (gifts, baby, foods, etc.)
Week 52 Guilty pleasures

Newly Designed Site FINALLY Published!

2010-03-08T15:30:00.001-06:00

So I finally did it folks, the "new" site is done and published! I took WAY too long, but I wanted to make sure everything was how I wanted it before publishing. Who knows, it may still have flaws that I need to go fix. I stared at that site so much I wouldn't doubt that I missed a few mistakes!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the site! Now I can go through my wedding photos and make a post to share some with all of my lovely followers! I promised I would, and I will follow though with that promise!

Kids sure are funny!

2010-02-23T14:12:00.001-06:00

I swear, kids are the best comedians some times!

As many of you know, my sister-in-law is only 4 years old. It's odd, but very educational for me since I'm the baby of my family. I thought I'd share something that cracks me up about her!

Kailey, my sister-in-law, is a stubborn little girl, but we love her very much! She also loves to sing and dance. She will quickly pick up new songs that she hears and repeat two or three lines from that song over and over and over and over....and over. Anyway, she often mis-hears these songs and sings them incorrectly (much like those old commercial where the guy sings "Pour some shook up ramen"). If you try to tell her the correct lyrics she goes into stubborn mode and simply sings her chosen lyrics louder, and for a longer amount of time.

One of the first times that I experienced this was after we went and saw the Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakquel. She heard the chipettes singing Beyonce's "single ladies" and for days she would belt out, "All my cigarettes, All my cigarettes!" No matter who told her those weren't the words, she'd keep on singing them.

Well recently it has happened with a new song...Pants on the Floor. Go figure...

My husband and I would joke about the song, and her father often sang it when getting her dressed, (he'd throw her pjs on the floor and start singing). Soon she was humming the tune, and eventually singing part of the lyrics. Today I finally heard what she was singing...and again, even when told what the correct lyrics were, she would only sing her version louder and prouder!

So according to Kailey Girl (as I call her), the true Pants on the Ground lyrics are as follows....

"Pants on the Ground, Pants on the Ground, Chicken like a fool, Pants on the Ground."

Over...and over....and over....and over...

Website Overhaul!

2010-02-19T06:30:00.002-06:00

So I've been working away on updating the website. I just got sick of the small images and such and wanted a better lay out. It's been a long two weeks trying to get everything in the right place and all the kinks worked out. I'm really hoping to get to publish it by the beginning of next week. We'll see if it happens!

My old layout was causing some issues and now that I've redesigned it I have to fix the "tweaks" I had to make in order for the past images to display properly. That results in a LOT of work for me, but I'm slowly getting through it all and I think it's fully worth it.

There are a few things here on the blog that show some of the changes on my site. I started playing with the logo one day and ended up tweaking it as well.

Okay, back to working on the site!

Elijah and Mandy :: Kansas Portrait Photographer

2010-02-02T14:45:00.009-06:00

I had the pleasure of shooting engagement photos for two very good friends of mine a couple weeks back. They came down to Florida to spend some time with my husband and I (as well as escape the Kansas cold I'm sure,) and get some fun engagement photos!

While my husband was at work the three of us got to run around Tampa and the surrounding areas getting some fun photos. We hit up a few different locations and wasted some time searching for parking, then we got some frozen yogurt (yum) and some Thai food for lunch/dinner (more yum!)

I had a blast running around with them and hope that they did as well. They were a lot of fun to photograph with Elijah constantly "harassing" Mandy and Mandy making faces at him! There were lots of laughs and they made for some great photos. While I was working on them I just kept gushing over how I felt the photos really captured them and how they were. As usual I enjoyed the goofy, random shots the best! Below are some of my favorites!

Enjoy!

This is how the day started. Mandy could not get Elijah to "behave" in front of the camera.

I LOVED all of Elijah's expressions! They were both always up for something goofy and playful.

I think Mandy's been watching too much Twilight and Elijah is starting to get ideas!

Poor Mandy was "assaulted" all day long! At least it made for fun photos!

So I absolutely loved these doors and wanted to get some photos in front of them. Before I could even say anything this is how the two ended up. As a photographer I felt like a kid in a candy shop!

I love their eyes in this photo!

I may be weird, but my eye is always drawn to Mandy's hand in this photo. It's so elegant and graceful, go Mandy!

Technical Difficulties

2010-01-26T12:41:00.003-06:00

So something on my computer hates me. Well, really Photoshop hates me. I've never done anything but love on it, I swear! *sigh*

Out of the blue my photoshop actions don't want to work and Photoshop won't save new ones. It's very frustrating. Thankfully I got my most recent session done Photoshop wise literally the day before this all happened *Thank you Lord!*

The current thoughts are either reinstalling CS3, or formatting my entire comp and reinstalling everything *Thankfully I'm a back up fiend!* I don't look forward to either since I have to go hunt for my CS3 install disk. I don't know how I ended up with every software disk EXCEPT CS3 here and that's the only one off in storage! Now I get to venture to the (climate controlled) storage unit and hunt for a box with my CS3 box within...WISH ME LUCK!

On better news...soon to come are awesome photos of my good friends Elijah and mandy who are FINALLY engaged :)

Snake Attack :: Dead snake in the bathroom!

2010-01-04T17:37:00.004-06:00

My mother-in-law found a dead baby snake in her bathroom cabinet tonight. She went to get a space heater from under the counter and found a dead baby snake curled up around the end of the cord. She freaked out...as would I...and then we realized it was dead. That gives me the chills. I only hope that it's the only one!

Neely's BBQ :: Nashville, TN

2010-01-03T15:45:00.007-06:00

As promised, here are the photos from our brief trip to Neely's BBQ in Nashville, TN. I had some people who wanted to see them and so I thought that I'd share. There's not much to show. I was more set on eating (I was starving by the time we got there) than shooting, and people were giving me weird looks!

Sadly I didn't take a photo of the Neely brother behind the bar. He was running around with a mic on and looking all professional. I'm sure my mother would have loved if I had gotten him to take a photo with me. She wishes she had the Neely's as neighbors!

Beef Brisket, Potato Salad, and Cole Slaw. The beef was yummy, the potato salad was good but strong, and the cole slaw was really mustard-y.

Fries, pulled pork, and beans. All yummy.

Bologna...it was gross looking. It was suppose to be for little Kailey, but she wouldn't have anything to do with it! It had an orange juice taste to it, so it was odd.

Ribs, fries, and spaghetti. Spaghetti with BBQ sauce is just odd to us, but to each his own. My husband said the ribs were good but his fav are still from Oklahoma Joes in KC.

Baking up a Storm :: Christmas Cookies

2009-12-30T21:08:00.003-06:00

So the weekend before Christmas was when my husband and I celebrated Christmas with his parents and sister. Nova, my mother-in-law, and I started baking Friday for our celebration, and continued for the next four days in preparation for our trips to see family for Christmas. It was one mess after another and lots of sore muscles from long days in the kitchen. Standing on a concrete slab all day cooking can really destroy your back!

We made Pecan tassies (mini pies), Sweet potato tassies, red velvet cake, and tennessee balls (also known by various other names), for our personal Christmas celebration. Nova then made rice crispies, puppy chow, sugar cookies, cranberry-nut oatmeal cookies, peanut butter blossoms, pecan graham cracker tassie things, and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for her family. I made tennesee balls (gluten free for my sweet mother), brownie-cookie bars, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon pecans, cinnamon vanilla almonds (wasn't a great recipe), and Irish potato candy.

That's a lot of food. Trust me! I made a majority of mine gluten free so that my mother could eat them. She was recently diagnosed with Celiacs which is an allergy to gluten (wheat, barley, and rye) and I knew it had to be difficult to go without tasty bread and baked goods. It was a surprise and boy was she surprised. She was so excited that she could eat them guilt free (other than all the tasty calories) and not have to worry about getting sick.

Random note on gluten free food. I found it very funny that rice crispies are NOT gluten free. They have malt flavoring in them! But chex are gluten free (except the wheat ones of course) and so I used the chex in my Tennessee balls instead of the rice crispies. It made them crunchier and we all really enjoyed that better!

Kailey girl really enjoyed making sugar cookies and putting tons of sprinkles on them. Can you tell she likes sprinkles? :P

In the end Nova and I made a tons of sugary goods, felt accomplished, supplied our loved ones with a multitude of delicious desserts (especially since other people brought some too), and inevitably caused everyone around us, including ourselves, to eat entirely too much. (Both Nova and I let our mothers keep basically all of the leftovers...ha!)

Enjoy the photos!

Driving Across the States :: Christmas 2009

2009-12-30T15:56:00.002-06:00

My husband an I went to Kansas last week to visit my family for the holidays. We drove 14 hours to southern Illinois last Tuesday, crashed at his grandmother's, and then drove 7 hours to Kansas City. Then we stayed four days there where it decided to ice and snow and do all that winter craziness that I hate. I wouldn't mind snow and ice if it stayed off of the streets and walkways so that I could still easily go see people I want to see. Ha, if only!

We were worried that Tampa had spoiled us and we would be freezing in Kansas. It wasn't too bad actually. I mean it felt cold because it was cold, but it wasn't a big deal. I'm sure it didn't hurt that we knew we could escape to warmer climates in a week!

Sunday we got up and headed off to Southern Illinois to visit with Joseph's family. Then we started the drive back to Florida yesterday, Tuesday, with his mother, father, and sister. Between an hour stop for lunch in Nashville, TN at Neely's BBQ (post to come), losing an hour in Atlanta traffic, various potty stops, and a 45 minute gas station stop due to a messed up credit card machine, we arrived home more than 16 hours later and at 1 am. We were beat.

I have several posts to come sharing about my holiday fun. I know the holiday is over, but I feel like sharing the joy!

Tampa Zoo :: Fun with the Family

2009-12-12T22:35:00.006-06:00

Joseph's grandparent's were down visiting the other week and I decided to head out to the Tampa Zoo with them for some fun. Kailey had been telling me that she wanted to take me to the zoo some time and I do have a bit of a soft spot for zoos. Okay, well, I really downright love them!

I once went on a road trip with two friends and we planned to go to a few different zoos along the way. Hanging out with friends and wandering around zoos with a camera is my kind of fun. Does that make me weird? HA!

I was a bit bummed with the lack of bears at the Tampa zoo. I really enjoy polar boars because they always seem to work the camera. I'll forgive the Tampa zoo for not having polar bears since, well, we ARE in Florida!

Enjoy some of the fun things we did and shots that I took!

Kailey's Christmas Dress :: Kids Session

2009-12-12T22:23:00.008-06:00

The other day I got to go out and take a bunch of photos of my adorable sister-in-law. She will be turning 4 in January and I love her very much. There are 20 years between her and her brother (AKA my husband). She can be a handful, but she is a sweetheart and very adorable.

The sad thing about her being so adorable - she hates photos. I think she really just hates not moving constantly and being told what to do. She also always plasters on this horrible fake smile - something that my husband does as well, which I do not enjoy!

At least Kailey has gotten better through the years. She use to cry horrifically when we tried to take photos. I was very excited about how many shots we got during this shoot! I made sure to just keep snapping away and it did the trick!

Enjoy!

Kailey's Christmas Dress :: Tampa Children's Photographer

2009-12-12T22:23:00.007-06:00

Enjoy!

Honeymoon :: Cork, Ireland

2009-11-29T13:45:00.004-06:00

When we got to Ireland, our port was Cork, Ireland. Well, actually the port was Cobh, Ireland, but the main port city was the city of Cork. After our tour of the distillery we drove around the city of cork getting to see various churches and buildings and such. We didn't really get out of the bus at all, it was kind of depressing.

Something that I was very thrilled about was that while in Ireland we saw TWO rainbows! How appropriate! Too bad we couldn't go after the pot of gold.

This was the port pilot that led our boat into the port.

Here is the first glimpse of the cathedral that I took way too many photos of on the way into port.

There was this small park right on the water. It was really cute and I would have loved to have been able to go over there and take some photos. Too bad we didn't have a very long port in Ireland.

THere were all sorts of fun houses tucked away. I liked how this looked like a traditional castle. When i was young I always dreamt of having a castle shaped home.

Notice the girls in what looks to be drill team or dance outfits. They must have been cold! I think they were there with the band that was playing for us. There were a lot of people there to greet our ship.

The class of boys that were there waving at us like crazy. I don't know if they were truly excited to see us, or just excited to be out of class!

See the band? They were playing all morning for us.

This is the ice cream cone that I had with lunch. I had discovered that the boat had twist ice cream the night before and was bound and determined to have one. No one ever seems to have twist anymore! Anyway, the guests sitting next to us at lunch demanded that I at least take a picture of my "wonderful" job before eating it. Of course then my husband holds it so that you see it's leaning, oh well!

An Irish castle that recently sold! It's now privately owned and the people are interested to see what happens to it. Sadly I didn't get a shot of the castle right next to it that is privately owned as well. A man turned it into a family home and was currently selling it.

Rainbow number 1. I loved how the rainbow looked like it originated from that house. The photo obviously doesn't do the rainbow justice, but it's still fun.

A bridge in Cork.

McDonalds.

I don't think these people wanted anyone climbing their wall!

The gorgeous church that I wanted to get out and take photos of, but couldn't.

My husband really liked this building. He wasn't sure if it was apartments or offices.

Rainbow number 2. I loved how it went over the cathedral. It was actually a double rainbow, but it didn't really show in any of my photos.

Honeymoon :: Midleton, Ireland

2009-11-28T17:08:00.004-06:00

JAMESON DISTILLERY!!!!!!

I mean...happy belated Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a great holiday and ate lots of great food! I know I did!

As promised, I am sharing more honeymoon photos. These are from Midleton, Ireland where the Jameson distillery is located. Our port was Cork, Ireland, and I'll show photos of that in another post, but I took so many in Ireland that I thought it best to split into at least two posts!

Jameson is the favorite whiskey of one of my husband and I's good friends. When we saw it on the tour list we immediately signed up for it. My husband is a fan of Jameson as well, it's just not his favorite. He prefers Johnny Walker Blue Label. Of course he has to love the pricey stuff!

The tour was very informative and the distillery was beautiful. I would love to live near that place and take all sorts of photos and portraits. It was my favorite thing/place to shoot on the entire trip!

The big thing about the tour is showing all the steps required to make their whiskey, but it also tells you about the differences between Irish, Scottish, and American whiskey. It was very informative. They even do a taste testing at the end to compare Irish, Scottish, and American whiskey flavors. Joey and I both jumped at the chance. He loves whiskey, and I promised to be open minded!

Enjoy!

I absolutely loved all the bright red doors and shutters.

The fall colors looked great everywhere and it had rained a bit right before the tour to saturate all the great colors.

I loved this little walkway. I have tons of pictures of it and the tour guide probably thought that I was crazy.

Look at these massive things! 45,000 gallons, can you believe it!? It was pretty difficult to get a good shot off in there too.

Ah, the whiskey tasting portion. They took 4 guys and 4 girls, though two extra guys snuck their way onto the table, oh well. We each had a watered down shot of Jameson (Irish, duh), Jack Daniels (American), and Johnny Walker Black (Scottish). They were watered down so that we could still taste the difference.

Scottish has an obvious smokey taste that the Irish does not (due to the types of kilns they use). The American version was a lot sweeter and the Irish was way more smooth than either of the other two.

I'm not a big fan of whiskey, so I didn't really "like" any of them, but if I were to choose one, it definitely would have been the Jameson. That's just me though, everyone has their own preferences.

Here I was having some fun on the bus while it was raining. We bought two bottles of alcohol and almost missed our bus because of the long lines. We dashed out into the rain to catch it only to discover there were more people inside still paying so we weren't going anywhere yet.

Since Joey got to buy himself two bottles of alcohol, I talked him into buying me a chocolate bar. I was curious since it said whiskey truffle filled. Let me tell you, this thing was so yummy! Joey and I both loved them! I'm glad I took a photos of it because it allowed me to look them up online. They are kind of pricey though...maybe a Christmas gift idea?

Mmm Mmm Good :: Food Poisoning

2009-11-22T14:02:00.002-06:00

So, I have been down for the count for the past 4 days. It has not been fun. I'm pretty sure I'm getting over food poisoning. I was feeling kind of queasy Wednesday night and then ended up becoming really acquainted with my toilet all night! So much fun! I got about an hour and a half of sleep that night and then was pitiful all the next day. Then I got about 14 hours of sleep and felt a lot better, only to wake up Saturday feeling awful again.

I'm feeling a lot better today. I actually ate real food. I had a dream about eating real food last night, so I take that as a positive thing that my body is wanting to eat normal food again. I'm still a bit puny feeling, but hopefully I can jump back on the working bandwagon now!

Coming up...photos from the Jameson Distillery in Midleton, Ireland! Get excited!

Honeymoon :: Liverpool, England

2009-11-08T21:01:00.005-06:00

Don't get your hopes up folks, these pictures aren't much of anything! We went to Glasgow, Scotland before Liverpool, but it was raining all day and we decided not to get out the cameras. I was a bit sad about it, because we went to this beautiful tiny town called Luss and walked out onto a pier on Loch Lomond. It was gorgeous! Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go back! :)

Anyway, when we got to Liverpool we didn't really have anything planned. The tour of Ansfield, the football (soccer) stadium, had been canceled because there was a game being played that day. it had been the only tour that Joey and I were interested in and we were very bummed when it was canceled!

We decided to just get off the boat by ourselves and wander around. It was windy and rainy again. We blindly walked around the streets. There were lots of high end stores everywhere and we eventually found ourselves in a pub. Joey was very happy to get to sit down and enjoy a Guinness. I was very happy to finally get some shortbread! I love that stuff so much!

Just a note that many of you may already know...Guinness is MUCH better in the UK. It's so much creamier!

Moving on...so we didn't really take photos, but we tried a bit from our balcony. Now I'm warning you guys, I didn't have a tripod and I do not claim to be a night landscape photographer...so forgive me for the poor quality images. There's not much to these other than the clock tower that I was obsessed with, and I was trying to capture the masses of people there to see our boat.

That was my horrible attempt to capture the people. The pier was packed all day long with people watching the boat. That night they had a fireworks show before we set sail again since it was the boat's first time in Liverpool.