Summer hiatus...

I love this blog and devoted many hours to it during the winter months, but now that summer is here, and more importantly, our wedding season, I am rethinking my balancing act. I've recently decided that if I want to do my two most important passions, parenting and photography, to the best of my ability, I must cut back elsewhere! I am keeping this blog, however, and will be picking up right where I left off this fall.
See you then, and have a great summer!

Orange and fennel salad...

- two large navel oranges, peeled and sliced
- 1/2 bulb of fennel, sliced as thinly as possible, some fronds reserved and coarsely chopped
- olive oil
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper


Arrange oranges on a large plate. Top with sliced fennel and sprinkle fennel fronds over the top. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Linked to:

Menu Plan Monday...

Monday: Pork Chops and Potatoes in Mustard Sauce (made in the crock-pot) with green beans and fruit.

Tuesday: I'm hoping to try this new recipe for Chicken cooked in milk.

Wednesday: Leftovers from Tuesday.

Thursday: Late afternoon appointment, will be eating out.

Friday: Breakfast for dinner: eggs, toast, cheese, fruit.

Modern day mad hatter...

The theme at i ♥ faces this week is hats!

{kid entry} I'll try to make a long story short. This photo was taken on Friday while we were out riding around taking photos for the local Relay for Life's "May Day for Relay". We wanted to make the day fun for the kids as well, so we did a few fun things along the way. One of them was lunch at, you guessed it! Burger King. We ended up going to the BK at the mall, and while my husband was getting our lunch, Milo started to point at something near the cash register. I asked him what he saw and he said "Foo-foo-ful hat, mama" (foo-foo-ful = beautiful, btw), so I asked, "Do you see the crowns, baby?" and he said "Foo-foo-ful princess hat! Me?". So of course, my heart melted and I had to rush over to get my baby a crown so he could be prince for a day (or princess, if that be his desire, lol)! No joke, this crown stayed on his head for two days. And the glasses? Well, that was just a lil' purple bling to show his support of cancer awareness!

Lazy girl's pasta primavera...

1/2 pound of linguine
1 package frozen spinach and artichoke dip
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 bell pepper, any color, roasted and sliced (I used some from my freezer)
1/4 cup thinly sliced sun dried tomatoes
Salt & pepper to taste

Cook linguine to package directions. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup of pasta water. Return pasta and reserved water to pot, add remaining ingredients and season to taste with salt and pepper, heat on medium until hot. Serves 4.

Reflection...

The theme at i ♥ faces this week is refection!

{kid entry} To me, this is a double reflection. First it's the obvious reflection of Lola on the glass wall of our local bio-dome (she looks so darn surprised cause she's watching monkeys, by the way), and secondly, she looks so much like her big bro and is dressed to match him, so I see that metaphorical "reflection" as well. But I am their mama, and I'm crazy like that, so lets just stick to the reflecting glass...


{adult entry} This is from a wedding that my hubby and I shot this spring. That quiet moment of finishing touches before walking down the aisle...


Don't forget to check out all of this weeks entries, and while you're there leave them a comment! Enjoy!

Fix it Friday...

Time for another Fix-It Friday from i ♥ faces!

This is the original...


For my version I first brought the photo into Aperture and rotated it, cropped it and removed the blemishes. Then I reopened it in Photoshop where I dodged it a bit, and then, using Totally Rad Actions I applied Clare-ify, Grunge Rock at 30%, Bitchin' B&W and then Boring Old Sepia. The last step was adding a Fairy Tale overlay, changing it to blue and adjusting the opacity to 50%...


Have a great weekend all!