new year, new look

Well... things have changed a bit around here haven't they. What do you think? I was going for a fresh, new, simpler look. And I think I have achieved just that, if I may say so myself. :)

I still have a lot of catching up to do in the world of editing photos and writing blog posts. But tonight I decided to focus on the blog itself.

I also wanted to share with you my most favoritest Christmas gifts this year. And yes, I know, favoritest is not a word. It is in my world.

First, the favoritest gift that I recieved. Well, it's a tie.

For the most thoughtful, the award goes to the husband...

who gave me this gorgeous necklace from Helzberg's I am Loved collection

For most useful, the award goes to my parents...

who gave me this new lens!!!!! it's a Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8

I seriously about peed my pants when I saw this lens for the first time, and realized it was MINE, ALL MINE!!  I am so excited to get some good use out of this bad boy.  EEEK!


Now on to the more important...the most favoritest gift that I gave!

I made a photo book for the little munchkin, full of all the photos I've taken of her in her first year.

(to see the whole book, click here ~ Shutterfly rocks!)

I'm not gonna lie, it was a LOT of work to put together...but it was so worth it.  I love how it came out, and I really can't wait until she is older and I can sit down and look through it with her.  

Now don't get me wrong... I received TONS of WONDERFUL gifts this year from my amazing family and friends.  And I'd like to think that all of the gifts I gave were equally as wonderful.  I just had to highlight a couple of the really super awesome ones. :)

So enjoy the new look of the blog, tell me if you like it (or if you hate it), and start thinking about what you're getting me for Christmas next year so that you too can make my most favoritest list (hehe. I kid, I kid).  And stay tuned for (hopefully) several catch up posts coming soon!!

Ho Ho Ho!

Merry Christmas (Eve)!!

First of all:  yes, I know, I am terribly behind in blogging.  I have several posts in the works, and lucky for you I am off work next week so I should be able to play a lovely game of catch-up.  I’ve also been toying around with the idea of re-designing this bad boy (again), so look out for that next week as well. :)

But for today, I wanted to share with you what I was busy doing last weekend in preparation for the holidays!

 

Just call me Suzie Homemaker…I was a baking fool y’all!

I spent the entire day last Sunday in the kitchen, baking away.  It was so much fun!  Of course I’m not so sure how much my waistline has appreciated the constant sugar overload, but hey, its the holidays right!

So here is what I made (click on the picture for a link to the recipe):

Chocolate Peanut Butter Popcorn 

Peppermint Bark

Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

this was my first attempt at decorating with Royal Icing, and for that matter my first time baking sugar cookies using any recipe other than my mom’s!  I went all out for these, buying pastry bags, decorating tips, gel coloring…all the stuff on that cake decorating supply aisle at Michael’s that I’m usually too afraid to go near. It was worth it though, because in the end I was SO happy with how they came out.  Now, of course they aren’t perfect…I am still a beginner here.  But for my first try, I think they came out great!  Of course, I spent longer-than-I-care-to-admit making them, but hopefully that is something that gets better with practice.  And the husband gave the final seal of approval, saying they tasted great!  So I’m happy to say my first attempt was a definite success. :)

I also made Chocolate Covered Pretzels.  I don’t have a recipe for these because, well, they’re pretty basic.  One of my favorite holiday goodies though!  I may or may not have eaten them for breakfast the other day at work. :)

Well, I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas Eve, and that the rest of the holiday weekend is full of fun, family and lots of goodies!  I will be back next week with all of my catch-up posts :)

Ho Ho Ho!

Cake, anyone??

Over the weekend, someone I know had a first birthday party…

And someone dug right into some delicious cake…

More to come soon :)

Hooray for Holiday Cards!

Yep, it’s that time again! Can you believe it? The holidays are just around the corner! I swear, just yesterday I was complaining about how hot and muggy it was outside. Now, its FREEZING!

So…what comes along with the cold weather? The holidays! And what comes along with the holidays? Holiday cards! If you remember from last year, I was way ahead of the game and got them ordered super early. This year? Not so much. But that’s ok, I still have a solid month to get them picked out, ordered, envelopes stuffed, addressed, and in the mail. Easy, right?! Sure, no problem!

When I first started thinking about the ol’ holiday card for this year (which I’ll admit, was only about a week ago…) I thought “I’ll make my own!” I mean, I’m creative, I like designing stuff, so I could totally do it, right? Sure. If I didn’t have a job, and a house, and a life. So, that was a nice thought.

Now, the past couple years I have ordered my cards from various online retailers. This year, however, I think I will be making the switch. The switch to Shutterfly. I currently have aaaallllll of my photos from the past couple years uploaded to another site. But I think from now on, I will be uploading to Shutterfly. This place is great, people! Their website is easy to use, uploads your photos in a jiffy, and have I talked about their Holiday Card selection yet? No? Oh, let me tell you about it.

It rocks.

Like, really rocks.

There are TONS of designs to choose from, they come in all different shapes and sizes, and they are all so fun! (well, there are some traditional ones too, if you like that sort of thing)

I have spent the last hour perusing just a small selection of the bazillion possible designs, and I am in love. Let me show you some of my favorites so far…

Snowflake Ribbon Christmas Card

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

We Heart You Holiday Card

Christmas cards and holiday thank you cards by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Send Holiday Cheer Christmas Card

Shop Shutterfly.com for elegant Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Aren’t they fun!? I could have gone on and on…but I really need to start cooking dinner. :)

Shutterfly not only has holiday cards, but they have other fun personalized things like mugs andinvitations. How cool is that!?

So, watch your mailboxes folks, you might just see one of these cards! Or, maybe not – there are about a million other designs to choose from… ;) And I won’t lie, I purposely left my favorites out of this post so that I won’t spoil the big holiday card surprise. :P

Bloggers, want to get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly? Click here.

The Moss Family

As I mentioned before, I went and hung out with my favorite almost-one-year-old and her parents a couple weekends ago for some family portraits.  I am really happy with how they came out. :)

By the way, can you believe little Lexi is almost A YEAR OLD.  Holy cow where has the time gone!

Anyway, enjoy some of my favorites from our shoot…

 

 

 

 

Aren’t they just the cutest little family :)

Moss family ~ sneak peek

I hung out with Lexi and her parents last weekend to do some family portraits. I've been pretty busy so I haven't gotten all the images edited yet, but here is a little sneak peek...more to come!!

Colorado!

The hubs and I recently took a little road trip to Colorado, to visit our good friends Ryan & Elaine.

Despite a few "hiccups" with the *road trip* part of the trip (such as being pulled over for NO REASON AT ALL, getting a flat tire 10 hours away from home with a spare tire that was STUCK UNDER THE CAR and then FLAT, and a possible red-light ticket in the lovely city of Denver...) we had such a great time!

I took a ton of photos (surprise surprise) and just finally got around to editing them all. Enjoy a few of my favorites!

The scenery is to. die. for. We don't get these views in good ol Kansas.

This my darling friend Elaine, and her adorable little baby boy, James.

We went on a hike near their house, and were able to get some pictures with some amazing scenery for a backdrop!

We also hung out in the wonderful little town of Breckenridge for a day. Such a fun place!

Ryan & Elaine: Thank you so much for hosting us! We had SO much fun! Can't wait to come back and see you again! :)

A Little Ladybug

Last weekend I got to hang out with my favorite little munchkin, and get some photos of her in her Halloween costume. 

How *cute* is that costume!?  It’s not just any ol’ costume, that bad boy was homemade.  I love it. 

Enjoy some of my favorite images from our shoot.  And get ready, because there is a cuteness overload coming your way! :)

This is one of my absolute favorites.  Isn’t she just PRECIOUS.

Not only does this kid make an adorable ladybug, she makes a pretty stinkin’ cute witch too!

 

 

This last one just makes me giggle :)