in my bag.

I should compare this image with the one I took a few years ago. Gone are the days of carrying my beloved Coach satchel. Now it's this SkipHop diaper bag I purchased from Target. I received a really pretty Putina Picklebottom bag for my shower but it's a little too big for everyday errands.

Looking at this, I wonder how many types of wipes I really need. I can probably get rid of the paci ones and the paci as he never really takes it. Wet ones and baby wipes are a  must. I fell in love with the Johnson & Johnson facial wipes for their pretty sent and it's gentle on Tyler's skin unlike normal baby wipes that have made him break out. I like to use them to freshen him up before we visit friends or family. Everyone always comments on how good he smells. I've use the Mustela ones but I like the scent on these better. (and the price)

I've found that keeping a separate smaller pouch with a few diapers, cream and wipes comes in handy. I grab this when I need to do a quick diaper change at a friend's house or if I need to send Jeff off to give him a change.

I'm a huge fan of MumMums and the Happytots food bags and never leave the house without one or the other, especially when we go shopping/errand running. I love that the Happytots is all organic and little if no sodium. Because of Tyler's dilated kidney, we do keep a close eye on his sodium intake. Either way, I think it's a good idea to not feed him foods that have unnecessary sodium amounts. I've never paid so much attention to the food labels until now. I make the majority of his food but I do like to have some prepared foods on hand. I highly recommend the Sprout line of baby foods. Tyler can attest to that. He loves the beef lasagna and the ginger chicken.

I'd love to see what you all are carrying in your bags/purse right now! What do you find essential to carry with you on a daily basis?

xot.

 

girl loves friday.

photog style fall 2012

 

I've learned a few things here and there on what to wear for a photoshoot. I think we all focus so much on what a client should wear that we don't consider the importance of the photographer's attire. I found that although I love wearing scarves, it would constantly get intertwined with my camera strap. Plus I tend to overheat midway through the session so I ended up tossing my scarf in my bag. Who says photographing doesn't burn calories? I always wear layers in the fall/winter because of this. I also don't own an actual camera bag. It's on my want/need list but for now, I use a cross-body bag. I only use 2 lenses so it works out for me. I wear boots because I tend to not watch wear I step and because I'm normally outdoors, I've been known to step right into dog bombs as well as goose droppings. Easy to wash off when I get home. I just slip my boots off and into my Toms when I get in my car. I wear jeans that I don't mind getting dirty because half the time I'm on my knees.
There have been times I've just thought I could get away with wearing yoga pants and a sweatshirt as I book shoots first thing on Saturday mornings but what kind of message would I put across to the client? In a creative profession, I think it's important to dress in a manner that fits your image and your photography style.
Happy Friday everyone! I'll be enjoying my holiday weekend with multiple sessions, laundry + this little goober.
xot.

life right now.

I'm not even going to lie...I am the exact opposite of healthy living right now. Ice cream + coffee for dinner, tv watching, staying up way past my bed time. Instead of doing 6+ things during Tyler's nap, I crash on the couch for a siesta. Funny thing is I feel guilty for doing so. My body is telling me to slow down. I'm running in so many different directions at 100 miles an hour most days. I shouldn't feel guilty for closing my eyes and resting for an hour, right? But I do. I'm sure all my unhealthy choices may be contributing to my tiredness lately. That and the onset of winter. And can I just say that with all the books I've read on babies, not one hinted on how busy I would be chasing and taking things away. My goodness, that kid runs me ragged. He is such a busy body, moving every which way. It's craziness I tell you and I was not prepared. Not in the way I like to be. The craziest part is that he's now entered into temper-tantrum territory. If you pull him away from something he's trying to get into, watch out. I couldn't help but sit back and laugh when I witnessed this for the first time. Ah..good times.

xot. ps. I forgot to add that the concoction above is my husband's creation. I've always been a plain vanilla girl but he proclaimed this to be the best thing since white bread. I fought it for awhile until I thought, what the hell. OMG. Deliciousness at it's finest people. If you're into the salty/sweet combo, I would highly recommend this.

 

 

Finding Peace

My grandma Ruby passed away last Saturday, September 24th. She was ill and no longer her vibrant self when I saw her earlier this year. I spoke to her over the phone the day she passed. She could no longer speak but my grandfather told me she nodded her head knowingly. I hated myself for not being there that day. I hated that I forgot to tell her thank you for everything she's ever done for me. For shaping the person I am today. My creative drive is all from her. My love for baking comes from her. My ability to find a good sale and make a mean chicken fried steak is from her. My strong will and stubbornness comes from her. I miss her so much. But I know that she's back to being her vibrant self. She's at peace, no longer suffering. She's in Gods hands now and I pray that she's looking over all of us, especially my papa. The woman he's loved for almost 60 years is no longer here. My heart aches for him so badly. I do hope that with time he finds peace.

(One of my favorite photos of us. We spent a lot of time in the kitchen baking. She was a master at cakes and pies. She probably wouldn't like that I'm showing a photo of her in her curlers but this is how I remember her. She must have just taken her apron off because she always wore one in the kitchen.) Miss you Grandma. xot

girl loves friday cont.

Reasons why I love today. I took a personal day. My little buddy/Ty's cousin stayed over last night. We made cookies and stayed up late watching Megamind. I got to wake up to my baby and my girl both in their snuggy flannel pjs. I soaked in some awesome fall "golden hour" photos. in the process of editing those now. I scouted locations for tomorrow's senior session. I purged even more scrapbook supplies. I'm talking Basic Grey circa 2005. Felt really good. I made a pot of my favorite sausage corn chowder. Jeff and I have an exciting Friday night planned. Couch+snuggly new throw blanket+Boardwalk+Bridesmaids+sleeping boy=good times. Happy Friday. Tina

girl loves friday

As promised, finally after weeks and weeks of procrastination...here's how I add the faux stitching or dotted lines on my layouts:

Simple, right? I love it. Especially because my sewing machine is placed on the dining room table surround by fabric. I guess I'm too lazy to walk downstairs and sew on my layouts now.  That and I scrap when Tyler naps so I'm usually tip-toeing around the house during that time. The sound of a sewing machine would surely rouse my sleeping boy.

This technique was something I picked up from a rubber stamp artist many years ago who created her own beautifully hand stamped faux postage. She used the tracing wheel to add the look of perforated holes. I did recently come upon this technique on Pinterest...I think another scrapbook site had a tutorial on it, can't remember. Not at all claiming this to be my technique but I'm owning it, that's for sure. Perfect way to add lines for journaling and faux stitching of course. I like adding random lines of dots to create another element of design on paper like the photo above.

So that's it. Sorry to keep you suspense! I promise it wasn't on purpose. I have a goal of one day doing an actual video tutorial but it's a little hard to maneuver my camera and show said technique and explain what I'm doing eloquently. Plus I sound all nasaly and I immediately get in my sweats, messy bun, and glasses when I get home. Not a pretty sight

Happy Friday, xot.

layouts/project/digi

Did you snag the add ons you wanted? I heard through the grapevine that #4 sold out in a blink of an eye. I didn't get a chance to complete my mini...sometimes I think being overwhelmed with inspiration sort of kills it for me. But my creativity revamps after the reveal. I love seeing what the other ladies did with their kits. We also had a special assignment of pulling an idea from the Studio Calico Pinterest board which was really fun. Another form of pin to action. :) Here are my layouts:

Love the scripty font of the AC thickers in the Greenhouse add on. My "main kit" only layout. It was a refreshing change to use only the main. This Sass/SC exclusive paper is so pretty. And the arrow stamp is by far my favorite. Of course I say that now. :)I adore this photo of Tyler and I'm glad I finally scrapped it.

Another paper love.

And then there was my Pinterest inspo project. Did you catch that when checking out the dt gallery? Here is my original Pinterest inspiration pin from the SC inspo board.

I wanted to do something other than a layout + I needed some artwork for my work/play room. Here's my interpretation:

And then there was a digi. Here's my layout for Photobooth.

Bedtime for this tired mama. xot.

girl loves friday

It's been a wonky week. Uneven. Unbalanced. Just wasn't right and I'm so happy it's over. I cannot wait to wake up to silence on tomorrow. No alarm clock. No make up. Just me and my guys, hangin in our jammies and straight up chilling. I have made it a priority to get all grocery shopping and misc errands done during the week so the weekend can be dedicated to real family time. Thinking of hitting up the zoo, it's so pretty this time of year. Tyler's first time at the zoo! :) This is my current life cycle: Autumn edition. Traded my ice coffee for hot cup a joe. Perfectly placed mini pumpkins. Cozy new scarf. Turning leaves in the most beautiful shades of yellow.

Welcome Fall. xot.

a baby food tidbit + a new dare.

I'm always searching for food tips and ideas for Tyler. I came upon this tip on helping little hands grip cubes of bananas easier. It basically involves coating cut up bananas in Cheerio crumbs. He immediately grabbed and pinched bits of banana much much easier than before.  

cool, huh?

And now for the dare. Dare 183:Angles. This dare through me for a loop but I loved reaching way beyond my comfort zone.

Later this week, I'm going to wrap up the Q+A I've been procrastinating on. I'll also have some Studio Calico sneaks to share as well. :) xot.

Resouces: Pugly Pixel blog template. Hambly

a photoless moment.

Saturday: September 17, 2011: 9:15 am Tyler awakens cooing and talking and making funny throat sounds. I open the door to his room and he sits up and bounces in delight. He reaches for me and I pick him up. He embraces me tightly, arms clinging around my shoulders like static. He places his fat cheek in the nook of my neck. My heart beats faster. I feel his heart against my chest, beating with mine. For a brief moment, I thought the image of us together would make a beautiful photograph. I quickly erased that thought and just held onto him tightly. Completely being in that moment and no where else. This was a moment that did not need a photograph. It would be ingrained in my heart and my mind.

I never imagined this kind of love all those years waiting and trying. It is more than anything I've ever felt. Maybe that's why my heart was beating so fast. I was overcome with his love and my love.

Just another Saturday morning.

xot.

 

#girllovesfall

Fall is such a short season here. Maybe that's why I appreciate every cool, crisp day and why I find it so inspiring. The changing leaves initiates change in myself and my home. I especially want to redecorate with rich tones. I had my heart set on this Missoni blanket that sold out in a millisecond. I'll just have to find those colors elsewhere because I am not crazy enough to bid on it via Ebay. I'm astonished that there is an influx of Missoni on Ebay. Is that where all the merchandise went? Pisses me off. I want to bake everything pumpkin. I found my next pin to action recipe that I had planned on making tonight but found I was out of butter. Travesty I tell you...that I'm out of butter. I'm never out of butter. I want to craft pretty things. Things I've never desired to craft before. I actually made somewhat of a banner. I plan on making a few more of these and clustering them together to make a chandelier. I can't promise that will actually happen but my intentions are good. I used these notions and the perfect paper to accompany a fall project...Studio Calico's Autumn Press. Add a couple of punches, some thread and a needle and voila. Fall banner. I want to tuck in and watch movie after movie. Jeff and I use to do this pre-Tyler. We're lucky to get 1 movie in and I'm ok with that. I want to wear sweaters and boots. Wait...I want to wear those all year round. It's just more acceptable now. I want to photograph every client in the woods. Aahhh...the amazing fall bokeh is to die for.

So yeah..I'm really into fall right now. Happy Friday!!! xot.

*blog template by the fabulous Pugly Pixel. *digital elements by the equally fabulous Paislee Press.

Pin to action

It's been awhile since we've had chinese food. Honestly I have yet to find really..I mean really good chinese food in Anchorage. The last time I had mongolian beef was from New Sagaya. I would only describe it as more mongolian onions than beef. So when I came across this recipe and read the ingredients, I thought "cool, doesn't need 15 items that I need to purchase and have sit in my fridge/cabinet for a year."  The only thing I didn't have was a wok but my large skillet worked fine. It was really delicious and easy and the best thing....quick. Oh how I love a quick meal. And if you have a rice cooker that keeps rice warm, extra bonus. I was able to get the rice done when I got home and it stayed warm by the time dinner rolled around. The only thing was that my sauce/meat wasn't the rich brown color in the original photo. I'm pretty sure this was because 1. I didn't brown my meat enough and 2. I didn't follow her detailed instructions on shaking off excess cornstarch. This in turn made my sauce thick. Too thick...like paste. I had to add additional water to thin it out and I still didn't like the consistency but it didn't effect the taste. The chili flakes added just enough spice for our taste. We're not heat seekers.

Notes for next time: easy on the cornstarch add a few more onions. (I felt the onion to meat ratio was a little off)

Another recipe added to the bo

MONGOLIAN BEEF

we're off!

Taking a long weekend and heading out to Seward tomorrow. Sort of the last horay before winter. The air has gotten much cooler this past week. I keep saying in my best english accent "winter is coming". (Game of Thrones anyone?) Jeff no longer finds it amusing. I'm still taking my Mac though. Yes, camping rv'ing + Mac. Also made sure I packed  my instant Starbucks. And hershy kisses. And crap load of baby gear.

q+a part 1: Photo Editing

A question I seem to get quite often is how I edit my photos and if I use actions. I'm a bit torn on how I want to approach this. It's taken me quite some time to nail down the edits I like. As far as actions go, I have used Totally Rad Actions + Florabella Actions but as of now, I edit my photos using Camera Raw which means I do shoot raw instead of jpeg. I like the control I get from shooting in this format. After making my RAW edits, I play with curves and photo filters in CS5 to achieve the vintage tones I'm after. I also follow the best piece of advice I've ever gotten and that is...It's fun to play with actions but they can go horribly wrong. My advice is to use it sparingly and only to enhance an image artistically rather than masking something that is not so great. This is coming from someone who has spent a ton of money of actions. I'm not even going to lie. I was an action junkie. I could kick myself for spending money on said actions when I could of spent it on something more useful. I'm not saying that having an action set or 2 is not useful but don't get anymore than that. That's why I recommend TRL or Florabella. They have a wide range AND they're all tweak-able. Don't ever buy an action set that you cannot control. Again, something I'm admitting to doing. The actions where way to strong and just wonky, giving my images a very amateur "look who discovered actions" look.

So I'm sure those of you who asked are thinking this wasn't a very helpful answer. I'm sorry I couldn't produce a clean tutorial or a clear cut action on how I edit my own photos. One of these days I'll figure out how to 1. produce my own actions and/or 2. show screen shots of how I edit. But for now here are a few resources that you may find helpful.

Totally Rad Actions Florabella Actions I found this on Pinterest and it's very similar to how I edit my own photos. Pinterest is a great source on finding free actions.

More on photography including my favorite lenses and a few of my favorite scrapbooking techniques. xot.

 

Pin to action.

I vow to utilize Pinterest the way it was meant to be...pinned for future reference. Not the time sucker it's been. Oy. Today's Pin put into action is the Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes. It's really a simple recipe..the kind we like in our household. Jeff's also a sucker for anything in a sandwich form so this was right up his alley. I picked up some really nice french rolls but I forgot to get hamburger which was what the recipe called for. I was already in my comfy pants and did not want to get dressed again just pick up beef. I then remembered that there was cubed steak defrosted in the fridge. It was intended for country fried steak which is one of those dinners I can make blind folded but I really wasn't in the mood for it. I just took the steak and tore it with my fingers into bite sized bits. Yes, you can use a knife to cut the steak up but I like to get all "hands on" when I cook. Followed the recipe as stated. Served and devoured. Jeff says I took it up a notch with the Provolone cheese sauce. He just expected slices of Provolone which I did as well until I realized there was a recipe for cheese sauce. Taking that extra step made it that much more delicious and "phillyfied". A couple of notes... The cubed steak was really quite good. I'm not a fan of hamburger so I may just use this instead. Ground turkey or Chicken would be equally as good. Spooning in some of the juices when adding the meat mixture to the sandwich bread makes is extra tasty.

So there you have it. An easy dinner for that weeknight you don't feel like cooking but you also don't want to eat a bowl of cereal or spend the money on crappy fast food. xot.

PHILLY CHEESESTEAK SLOPPY JOE RECIPE

first friday life cycle.

goodbye August.hello September. I love the beginning of a new month. Especially in the fall. I'm way more into layers than skin. This fall will be a different though. Instead of being excited about purchasing a new fall outfit for myself, I'm already gearing up for Tyler's first Halloween costume. I'm leaning towards a mini Bruce Lee from the movie, Game of Death. But I wonder if anyone would get it. Should I care if anyone gets it? Because I think it's cool.

And I love kung fu movies so I may just go for it granted I don't find something else. I would need to sew this one myself and it may be a little too ambitious. We'll see.

this week's life cycle...

I digi scrapped: New Paislee Press release: Then and Now

We went to the fair...

Tyler not wanting to sit still for a moment. Too much stimulation for sure. He did however want to eat a handful of hay.

*We celebrated Jeff's birthday with homemade Italian beefs and PW's chocolate sheet cake. *I found out that Instagraming makes me carsick. *We baby-proofed.

How's your lifecycle looking? xot.