For A Moment Photography

Decorating a Bedroom

I'm still working it out.  Some of the stuff will be cleared out, just trying to figure out what works.  The little froggy on the dresser is what she slept with for the first few years of her life.  

The painting that inspired me.

The difficult but loved curtain.  :/

I'm ignoring tons of other projects and things that I would be doing but I'm on a roll!  I am horrible at decorating my home!  I always have been and it's sort of funny because I wanted to go to school to be an interior designer.  Yes, I changed my mind a lot in college, like most people.  I convinced myself you didn't need a degree to be an interior designer, (technically true) but there's something to be said about a formal education...  Just like photography, no degree required but knows the rules is *huge*.

One thing I do know about design is to pick something (art or furniture) and build the room around that one piece.  I found the painting above at an antique store and fell in love with it for Presley's room.  I wanted to use the colors in the painting in Presley's room...  

I loved that the photo mixed blue and pink into the room.  Presley already had a pink chair and ottoman along wit a white dresser and dark brown night stand.  All of the colors would come together as the did in the photo.  Now my one big hang up, I bought pale blue and champagne striped curtains for her room.  I love them (and go well with the photo), but it's been so difficult to try to paint the room or add any other design.  This is a time when having a history or education in design would come in handy!

Anyway, so now that I have the gallery of photos up, in white.  The unfinished room is becoming more of a issue for me...  I'm hoping I'll have a big "Aha!" moment- soon...    For now I'll just sit in her room and stare at the walls, looking for inspiration.  If not I'll get rid of the curtains (sigh), that might be a start.  Ideas?

 

 

 

 

Cutting it Up: Pumpkin carving

We baked pumpkin seeds.

Updated:  Ok here's my pumpkin with Presley's cat...  Can you tell what it is?!...

A pair of pumps.  

 

We are enjoying our weekend and hope you are too!  Presley and I slept in, then we went on a bike ride with Daddy.  And for the past few hours we have been working on carving pumpkins.  Mark and Presley finished much quicker then I.  But I always have to ruin something fun with big crazy plans.  I'll post a picture of my pumpkin later tonight when it's dark out.  Unless you can already guess what it is (doubtful). 

 

 

Family Heirlooms Around the House

If you've followed my blog or personally know me you must know how sentimental I am.  This may be part of why I love photography and how it forever captures a moment in time.  Above is a photo of our staircase wall and the frames I recently hung.  The collection isn't finished but it's off to a good start!

The flower is a photo I took, the other is a family heirloom.  It's a framed card written to Presley on her first birthday from her Grandma Sue.  In the frame there are two coins that have been past on from Presley's great-great grandmother.  I was so touched by the gift and very concerned I would lose it before Presley was old enough to be given such a treasure.  Now, I know it's safe and can be enjoyed by all who come to our home.  

 

 

 

 

Paleo Kale Chips

 

Need an alternative to potato chips?  This might be the healthy alternative you've been looking for!  Kale chips are really good, it's hard to imagine baked cabbage being anything comparable to potato chips but it works for me.  If you doubt me, I get it.  Just give it a try, it's a small investment in time and money....  And it's a tons better then my attempt at tofu fries (Martha lied).

Ingredients:

1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic 
3 large handfuls of kale, torn into shreds
1 to 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:

In a bowl I mixed the salt, garlic and olive oil.  Then I added the kale and mixed with my hands.  Next, place the kale on a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Lastly, put it in a preheated oven (350) to bake for 10 minutes.  

 

*Warning* If you bake for too long ths kale will turn brown and taste bitter.  I took out at 5 minutes and tasted as well as moved it around.  When finished (should be dark green in color) let cool and enjoy!   

 

I had this tonight with a bowl of tomato soup (from Trader Joe's).  This meal took me 15 minutes to prepare. and I ate it so fast I burnt my tongue...    

 

 

 

Yummy Spaghetti Squash

After being baked.  I started scraping the one of top left.

 

One of the great things about my gym and the community I have there is all the information we share.  It sort of cracks me up when we are loading weights and you hear guys and girls talking about the healthy paleo recipes they use.  It was at the gym that I first learned about spaghetti squash.

When I first started eating paleo I didn't think I could survive without spaghetti (along with bread and everything else I give up Monday- Friday)...  Before I learned about spaghetti squash was eating my grass fed beef (yum) mixed with home made spaghetti sauce.  Spaghetti squash is used as an alternative to pasta.  It's been a perfect replacement, I don't miss pasta in the slightest!  I do still miss french bread if I am to be honest... 

To make spaghetti squash is just as simple as pasta noodles.  I usually bake two squashes and that will feed the three of us as well as leave us left overs...  

Directions:

Take the squash, cut in half (as in first photo above).  And take out seeds, similar to a pumpkin.

Bake in the oven at 350 for 35-40 minutes.  The squash will dry out a bit and will look like the first photo.

Then once it is cooled enough to handle take a fork and scrap the squash until it sheds.  It will come out very easily and look like short pasta strands.

It doesn't have a "taste" but it is a bit crunchier then pasta...  Let me know what you think!  

Happy Horse Girls

With Daddy & Me this weekend.

With Grandma Sue

I love that my little girl has such a love of horses.  Her Daddy grew up on a horse farm and she rides while visiting grandma Sue.  Mark speaks very fondly of the years he spent around the horses and how the relationship was very comforting for him growing up.  Not knowing much about horses, I've always enjoyed asking Mark about them...

I now day dream of winning the lottery and buying a horse farm (with hired help to help tend to them- of course)...  They are such beautiful mysterious creatures and I love that Presley's interest in them has brought the horse world into my life...  It maybe shouldn't be a surprise that horses are such a large part of her life.  Her Papa Joe had her betting on horses as soon as she could name colors.  And her grandma Sue has taken her riding as soon as she could hold on...

The future is unclear, in other words- no winning lottery ticket as of yet.  But I really hope that the horses are a constant in Presley's life and mine too...  I think that would make Daddy happy too.  

 

 

 

 

My Gallery in a Box

What I started with.

What I ended with.

 

I have so many bare walls in the house that I'm on a mission to order and hang photos before our guests arrive Halloween weekend.  I mean it's only been 3.75 years since we moved into this house.  Now that I've decided to take on this task the problem of what frames what photos is now lurking...

Wall one, heading upstairs...  There I decided to do three large black and white photos, sort of plain but very quick and easy to figure out.  Plus I plan to add and build to the display with time.  I went with black and white photos because I thought it would bring a cohesive feel to the collection (they are photos from a few different events).  Now for Presley's room...  This was a bit trickier, because I wanted color photos and I wanted a larger collection.  

Where to start?  This problem has kept me from making the plunge before...  So I looked online for some direction, and headed right for Pottery Barn.  They always have great photos of wall displays and a variety of sizes, shapes and colors.  This is when I discovered the, "gallery in a box" frame set.  All of the frames shown above come together for $129. This answered one question but then left me ith which photos and what is the arrangement.

To tackle this problem I took a photo of their photo showing the wall display and opened it in photoshop.  There I grabbed photos of mine (in photoshop), moved them into the photo frames on the Pottery Barn photo.  This gave me a visual of what the final outcome will be...  

I'm still not sure if I like the prints in color.  This is how I ordered them but I may go back and reorder them (or some of them) in black and white...  This project has already taken me about 2 hours.  But I'm hoping that the work I've done today will make hanging day a no brainer!

I still may fiddle with the arrangement of the photos, but at least I have a starting point...  On the photo above I have "Presley" written in photoshop.  When I really do this I will use the lettering we bought from Pottery Barn to rest on top of the frame.  I'm really excited about this project.  I think it will be fun for Presley to have photos of her with her family and cousins...  This also has me wanting to do a photo session with her and one of the horses she rides with Grandma Sue...

I like the idea of changing the photos with the season...  But first let me get these photos on the wall. 

Fall Photos

Falling Colors

Fall Swirl

This past weekend we were lucky enough to make a quick trip back to NY.  While there we went for a drive to check out the fall colors.  We had to drive an hour north to find leaves that were at their peak colors.  With it being a holiday weekend and such amazing weather (80 degrees) there were lots of people doing the same...  We didn't really have any places in mind for "great photo" opportunities.  

So after a few road side stops without any super dynamic scenes popping out at me I was a bit discouraged (and running out of time).  There were so many beautiful colors that I was not able to capture in my photos.  So that's when I decided to mix it up a bit.  That's when I came up with the two bottom abstract photos.  Those are photos of fall leaves resting on a birch branch.  I just dragged my shutter and moved my camera to get the desired effect.  

 

 

 

 

Bitter Sweet

 

I've been waiting to post an update, wasn't sure what to say.  The lil' guy is very happy in his new home, which is not here with us...  Dogs are pack animals and I really thought he needed a doggie brother/sister...  I miss him but he's very happy.  Presley didn't mind at all...