'H' family sneak peek!

I love using the vintage feel on beach photos...there will be several color options to choose from, but I had to debut these this way!

lotsa limes

We have a bag fulla limes from a local tree...first, I photographed them. Then I made a key lime pie. Now I still have at least 30 limes. Call me if you want some!

The Furious Five

Okay, so I have Kung-Fu Panda on the brain. The following five are not furious. More like fabulous:


Or should we just call this AWESOMENESS? (there is no charge!)


Okay, okay...no more Kung Fu.

Let's get serious. Haagen Dazs, you rock my world with your new branding, your lack of preservatives & high fructose corn syrup. This whole "five" thing really caught my eye in frozen foods. Look at the simplicity. The two precious little coffee beans, and the list of ingredients. I love everything about this:

There is no better ice cream than this. None! I have tested the waters, and this is the. best. ever. Best texture, flavor, consistency, best ingredients, best everything. Unless you are pregnant and all your diet consists of is Cherry Garcia flavor from Ben & Jerry's. (sorry, Haagen Dazs...but it was only nine months, and then I came crawling back.) Call me crazy, but I feel so much better about ridiculous amounts of ice cream when I can pronounce everything on the ingredient list!

Smiley Sydnie

{the family that plays together, stays together}

Meet the 'M' family!


...they had me laughing! Here we have Dawn and Tim:

I can hear your request to see their facial expressions a little closer. This is the best:

Next up, their sweet kiddos:

Mr. Handsome:


The comedian:

The super-star:


You guys were awesome...thank you for one fun session! I had a blast!

sweet baby Roman

Handsome, charming and eyelashes that made me swoon...introducing baby Roman. Congrats, Joel, Joanne and Sloane!

is it raining?

Is it raining, little flower?
Be glad of rain;
Too much sun would wither one;
It will shine again.
The clouds are very dark, it's true;
But just behind them shines the blue.

Are you weary, tender heart?
Be glad of pain;
In sorrow, sweetest virtues grow,
As flowers in rain.
God watches, and you will have sun,
When clouds their perfect work have done.
-Lucy Larcom

Graduation Pops!

To celebrate my son's pre-school graduation, we made cake pops featuring his school colors (red, white & blue), in these combinations:


We used strawberry cake just to shake things up...it's my new favorite. As I write this, I am closing my eyes and saying "yummm."

What's that you say? You need a closer look at the texture and yumminess? Here you go:



Of course, my daughter wanted to bring some cake pops to her class, so she made some heart decorations and we made pops in the only colors I had left: yellow, red and of course brown from the milk chocolate.


Ten points if you can recognize the stamp set that the cap & heart are from! (Sorry, Val...you can't play...too easy for you!)


And for those of you that are going to attempt these delicious desserts, I have found some very helpful and cute "pinch bowls" that make dipping a delight!


Did you notice the pour spouts?! Yes, I am one pampered chef. ha-ha! These bowls even come with lids, so if you don't want to waste any left over candy coating, you can just stick the bowls in the fridge for future use! I did...but only for one day because I couldn't stand for those bowls to be out of circulation in my kitchen. Here is the lid:

Next up, lemon cake pops!

Knitting 101

I thought I would be done knitting after my computer was fixed. Then I made this:


I call this the learning scarf. Because about half way through knitting it, I decided to just try out the stockinette stitch. In no particular order, I made several rows of the stockinette stitch, then went back to the knit stitch, and just pretty much did whatever I felt like. I am not very systematic.

Here is a closer look at each stitch:

The stockinette stitch is achieved by knitting one row, and then "purling" the next. The purl stitch is basically a knit stitch facing backward--both stitches are just loops, only when you purl, you push the loop through, rather than pulling it through (knit). The back of the stockinette stich reveals all of the bumpy "purls."

Mostly, I like to fold it up and look at my achievement, like so:

Then I thought I would give the "rib stitch" a whirl. This is knit with one skein of cotton yarn, dyed a buncha colors (so it looks like I am using more than one color of yarn. It's basically cheating):

I wanted to try it out on a solid, bright color. I chose orange...because it was on clearance. This yarn is polyester. The nice thing about the rib stitch is that it is s-t-r-e-t-c-h-y and therefore great for hats and things that might need a little room to stretch.
Aren't those hands the cutest hands ever?

This orange one is a work in progres, as I rarely have enough time on my hands to complete five rows in a single sitting. But, it is a nice way to relax by the pool and then laugh at the irony of knitting a scarf in 85 degree weather with 100% humidity. Knitting relaxes me, besides, I can plenty of family members up north that will receive scarves this year for Christmas. I think this is a great head start!

ps. if you are reading this and you are a family member that lives up north, just forget that last part.

beauty at every turn

from a beautiful wedding in Sarasota, at the Ringling Brother's Museum...this wedding day was like a dream come true!







Thank you, Tibor for such a fantastic opportunity!