leslie

Leslie’s like my Number One model. She’s the first person I every did a shoot with and since then I think we’ve done another five shoots. She’s a perfect model for me, she’s fun, she’s a good friend, and she’s gorgeous. We laugh together, and she’s been patient as my skills have grown.

Right now Leslie’s studying abroad in Ireland, but before she left we got together and took some pictures at her house. Some headshots because she’s going to be in an opera at school next year, and some fun stuff. This was the result.

looking

I spend a lot of time looking at blogs. A LOT. They’re this constant source of inspiration. I have hundreds of ideas for my future home and future wedding – not to mention the photo ideas that I get every day.

Today I’m going a shoot inspired by something I first saw in a magazine. Since then it’s been added to with what I’ve seen on blogs, and then my vision’s been poured all over it. Tweaking the things I really love, changing what I don’t, and adding what I think fits. The inspiration I get form magazines and blogs makes me better – and makes the final product I create better. I love it.

This isn’t what I’m doing today – but it’s something that interests me and that I’m starting to develop a vision for. It’s this relaxed, casual, un-done comfortable summer look. Not necessarily what you'd leave the house wearing, but what you wear around the house to stay cool.

highwaisted skirt and a cute bra. thumbs up.

scarf! ring! sweater! shorts!

kind of in love with the patchwork quilt.

love her braid! loose and flowy.

cigarettes are gross. but that ring? that headband? that hair?! love.

jayden

You've seen baby Jayden before as a daily images, but here's more from that time. My aunt has this big beautiful bed next to huge windows. It was a perfect setting for little Jayden to stretch and hold his head up and make faces at my camera. His daddy is a big Packer fan despite being from Illinois, so we took a few pictures with a Packer blanket. He's such a cute little kid.

beverage

Yesterday I was cutting up my watermelon for the salsa I made today, and my roommate asked me if we could make the watermelon-strawberry drink I had mentioned a week or two ago when she went strawberry picking and came back with more strawberries than she knew what to do with. I had extra watermelon, she bought some strawberries, I bike to the grocery store and got some fresh ginger -- and tonight we had yummy drinks.

They go like this:

Simmer 1/2 cup water with 1/4 cup sugar until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add six or so thin slices of fresh ginger and two mint sprigs. Let sit for 10 minutes, then strain into a blender. Add 2 cups watermelon, 2 cups strawberries, and puree. Then pour over ice, toss in a pretty straw, and drink up! It only makes enough for two though -- if you want more, double up!

daily

This is my bed. I liked how the shadows from my blinds fell on the crinkles in my quilt. That's pretty much always crinkled, because I'm not the greatest at making my bed perfectly.

chops

I made pork chops for lunch today. Another Cooking Light magazine recipe. My dad really likes pork chops but I've never been much of a pork chop person. They're fine, but I'd rather have chicken. However, the monotony of chicken has been getting to me a little bit lately. So when I saw this recipe for Grilled Pork Chops with Two Melon Salsa, I thought, ooo. Pork Chops. And melon. Summery. Yummy. Let's try it.

One of the things they suggest in the recipe is switching up the fruits and using any, instead of just watermelon and honeydew. I don't really care for honeydew, so I used pineapple instead. It turned out really good. It's spicy though, decently hot, so if you don't like hot you might want to forgo the jalapeno and lessen the chili powder.

Salsa:
1 cup chopped seedless watermelon
1 cup chopped pineapple
3 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon finely chopped jalapeno pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/8 teaspoon salt

Pork chops:
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 ½ teaspoons chili powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 (4 ounce) boneless center-cut pork chops, trimmed

1- To prepare salsa, combine salsa ingredients, set aside.
2- To prepare pork chops, heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Combine oil, chili powder, garlic powder, salt, and ground pepper in a small bowl. Rub oil mixture over both sides of port chops. Coat a pan with cooking spray. Add pork to pan; cook four minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness.
3- Serve with salsa.

daily

This screams happiness to me.

daily

Everything is blooming at my parent's house right now. Everything. When I sit at my computer upstairs I face so I'm looking out the windows. And I get distracted and go take pictures of the pretty flowers.

daily

Sun and trees and love. I just love the sun coming through the trees at night. Every night.

smoothie

One of my favorite things to do is read magazines. I get excited when one comes in the mail, I get distracted when one's on my desk, they pass by the elliptical time like none other. I read them cover to cover and love every bit of them.

Recently, I've started getting cooking magazines. Food and Wine and Cooking Light. They're so fun because they have ideas for seasonal recipes. They're what got me hooked on sorbet for summer, and they open up a lot of easy possibilities for food. Which brings me to my latest trend.

Smoothies. Yummy, fruity healthy smoothies. They've also proven to be quite helpful for my summer class -- it runs from nine to noon and if I don't grab myself a snack all I can think about is the fact that I am SO HUNGRY. But for the last class period I brought along a banana smoothie, and wasn't hungry until after class was done.

What's also good about smoothies is how easily they can be mixed up. Just throw a different kind of fruit in and you've got a different smoothie!

Crucial thing about smoothies though :: a blender. Until this week I didn't own one. But on Monday I was at Younkers(getting those great shoes super cheap!) and finding this blender. $40 on sale for $13. It was a happy day!

Below is a recipe from Cooking Light for the banana smoothie I had this week.

Ingredients:
1 cup sliced ripe banana (about 1 large)
1 cup vanilla low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup 1% low-fat milk
2 tablespoons whole wheat graham cracker crumbs (about 1/2 cookie sheet)
1 tablespoon nonfat dry milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ice cubes (about 1/4 cup)
Graham cracker crumbs

Preparation:
Arrange banana slices in a single layer on a baking sheet, and freeze until firm (about 1 hour).

Place frozen banana and remaining ingredients in a blender. Process until smooth. Sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Information
Calories:216 (12% from fat)
Fat:2.8g (sat 1.5g,mono 0.8g,poly 0.3g)
Protein:9.8g
Carbohydrate:39.3g
Fiber:1.9g
Cholesterol:9mg
Iron:0.4mg
Sodium:145mg
Calcium:315mg

daily

So, one of my magazines did a shoot on summery makeup. One of the pictures included a model wearing this red. And I looooved how it looked on her. It's Revlon Ruby, I got it and love it!

drops

Tuesday started my summer class. Last year I did two summer classes. They were both online. Required me to be no where at a specific time. It was wonderful. This year, my class is on campus. From 9-12 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Which isn't horrible. But Tuesday was bright and sunny and gorgeous. And people in shorts and tshirts and skirts kept walking by our window, consequently making me feel slightly depressed.

Wednesday though, it was pouring. Bring and umbrella to get to class pouring. Pouring so loudly the teacher stopped to comment on how loud it was hitting the ceiling. And apparently pouring so much that our ceiling couldn't handle it. A drop fell from the ceiling and hit the table about six inches from my notebook. And then a few more drops fell. And I moved the cup that had contained a banana smoothee in it to where the drops were coming from.

An hour later, when I left, there was about an inch of water in the cup. Our class is in the newest building on campus. Crazy.

daily

Today included laughter. Laughter with some of the best girls in the whole world. We had a date, and afterwards we took a few pictures in the parking lot. To continue the laughter.

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We've been having some pretty crazy storms lately. Pretty crazy storms lead to pretty crazy clouds.

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Whenever I'm in Younkers or Macy's I stop by the shoe section. Especially this time of year, because they have awesome sale racks. And I can practically always get really great shoes for a really great price. Recently at Younkers I found a pair of shoes I had seen a month ago at Macy's and loved. And they were on sale. For $35. In my size. And I had a $10 off coupon. I was sold. Then I got up to the counter, and they weren't $35. They were $25. So in the end, I got them for $15. And I did a happy dance as I walked out the door.

bubba

When I was little, I somehow started calling my stepdad "Bud". Not really sure how that happened, or who came up with it, but pretty much all the while I've known him I've called him Bud. Or Bubba. Or Bubsypoo. Though I'm not sure I'm supposed to disclose that piece of information to the internet...

Father's Day cards are always so hard to find for him, because they practically all say "dad" on them. He's not my Dad, but he's my Bubba. And my definition of the name "Bubba" is the same as most people's definition of the name "Dad".

On Father's Day we went to watch his brother play baseball, but before we left, I made my mom take a picture of the two of us together. We don't have very many together, and I like pictures. Especially ones with the people I love. And I love him.

daily

It looks like a film strip! I was seriously excited by this discovery.

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At our new apartment we have a back patio. And a patch of lawn. Right beyond the patch of lawn there's a huge drop off to the edge of the highway. So there's a fence. And a sign. That I for some reason find quite amusing.

neon

I love this dress. Summery, breezy, lace-involved fabulousness. I saw it when we were in NYC and it was $60. Now at Macy's it's $30. Hmmm...must try it on and see if on a person with short legs it would be wedding-able. Also, not going to lie, those shoes are also quite fabulous.