October

Black & White Photos

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times… there’s something so classic and beautiful about a black and white photo. I recently watched The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Spoiler (but it’s an old movie so…)… at the end of the movie he photographs his brother’s wedding. All the photos they show were in black and white. I’ve always wanted to photograph a black and white wedding. Now, would I only want black and white wedding photos, probably not… BUT!!!!

October 10th, I got to photograph my husband’s friend since junior high’s wedding. It was pretty exciting. And while I edited all photos in color… I turned them all black and white too.

Oh… and if you notice below I have 3 cameras… I’m NOT a professional videographer, but I got to play and make them a video too. It was a lot of fun!

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The Northern Lights Quilt

Finally, the little’s quilt is done. While we were in Alaska, she was infatuated with the Northern Lights. Unfortunately, we weren’t there at the right time to see them. The ideal is mid-August through April. We were there at the end of July… so bummer. I told her we’d have to go back sometime in winter. I want to see a REAL snow! Although… recently I heard about looking at it in an icehouse in Finland. Maybe that’s where/how we should see the Northern Lights.

We immediately started working on the quilts when we got home because the little was so excited. We only bought a panel and one piece of material for her quilt while we were there. The rest was either bought locally or was stuff my grandma had stashed in her sewing room. (more…)

Book Review: Blue Bayou by Jiffy Kate

I had a hard time with this book. It was an easy read but the writing was a little lackluster after reading everything else I have this year. I wasn’t impressed with the writing. Then I realized that this was two writers. I could see a difference. I hate to say that it was easy, but it kind of was. The writing just didn’t seem to flow as easily. I will give this story props too, it gave both characters side of the book. I really like that.

Blue Bayou by Jiffy Kate

The road to self-discovery leads Maverick Kensington deep into the heart of New Orleans. The colorful characters, beautiful scenery and the hot mess of a woman he finds along the way offer him the perfect place to reinvent himself. (more…)

Book Review: I Dare You – Ilsa Madden-Mills

Once I realized I read these in the wrong order, I had to continue :). This was an interesting book to me. All the main characters of the Ilsa Madden-Mills books have been interesting. I’m glad this turned out the way it did. While you can kind of bet it will… you never know. Sometimes stories surprise you.

I liked the character of Maverick. I really did. And while Samantha Christy bounces back and forth or stays on one character for multiple chapters, Ilsa Madden-Mills makes the chapters as they’re needed in each voice. It’s quite an interesting way to read. I like it. I really do.

I Dare You – Ilsa Madden-Mills

Wall Street Journal bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills returns with an all-new swoon-fest of a novel about what happens when you look beyond labels and take a chance on love. 

Badass Athlete: I dare you to…
Delaney Shaw: Who is this?

The late-night text is random, but “Badass Athlete” sure seems to know who she is… (more…)

Book Review: I Bet You – Ilsa Madden-Mills

 

While these are stand-alone books, I really wish I’d have read them in the correct order. I didn’t so oh well. It was interesting to see the ending of the third book in the series and then see what kind of lead up to the beginning of the book. haha.

I Bet You – Ilsa Madden-Mills

New Standalone Sports Romance

Sexy Athlete: I bet you . . .
Penelope Graham: Burn in hell, quarterback.

The text is random but Penelope figures out exactly who “Sexy Athlete” is. And why she shouldn’t take his wager. (more…)

Pumpkin Spice Latte Layer Cake

That cake up there is a Pumpkin Spice Latte Layer Cake with a Mascarpone Whipped Cream icing, cinnamon caramel glaze, and homemade chocolate truffles. Wow, that’s a mouth full!

One of my mom’s co-workers turned 30 this year. Ah, to turn 30 again. ha! A lot has happened since I turned 30… A LOT! I sold a house, had a snake in my car, had a kid, graduated from grad school, 2 trips to Cozumel Mexico, and soooo much more that might not always be sooooooo good. Oy! Ah, to be 30 again. Truthfully, I’m not sure I’d be willing to do it again. A lot of good happened but a lot of not so good happened. I think I’ll just keep plugging away and see what is just around the corner.

But this isn’t about me, this is about a cake. So… Johanna turned 30 this year. Mom hit me up and asked if I’d be willing to do a birthday cake for her. I guess that Johanna likes people to make a fuss about her birthday and being as though this was a big one, she wanted a big hoopla. haha. I don’t know, I don’t know her :). But mom wanted a big, fancy cake. Mom asked in September. That meant that I had plenty of time to start thinking about what I wanted to do exactly.

So many choices, so many options, all I knew was that she liked Pumpkin. Okay, that was at least a start.

The Pumpkin Spice Latte Layer Cake with Mascarpone Whipped Cream Icing, Cinnamon Caramel Glaze, and Homemade Chocolate Truffles

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Wonder Woman Sugar Cookies

Seems like here lately all I’ve been doing is cakes… and I won’t lie… I kind of like doing those these days. There was a while that I hated decorating cakes but sometime last year I found that love and this year I’ve honed in on that love. In fact, right now as I type this I have cakes in the oven baking. Ooooo are you excited to find out what is in the oven? Don’t worry, I’ll share… eventually.

Heck, these cookies are from a couple weekends ago. LIfe has been crazy lately. A lot of ups and downs and more downs but there are ups too. It’s that roller coaster ride thing. It would be easy some days to throw your hands up in the air and say, I’m done… But… I’m not done. Not yet. I’m just holding on and screaming my head off. Think roller coaster rides of course. I always compare life to a roller coaster ride. I love roller coasters but the older I get the more they scare the crap out of me for some reason.

More on that thought real quick… I guess when I was just barely tall enough to ride the roller coasters at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, I used to cry because they wouldn’t let me ride while other people used to cry that they didn’t want to ride them. Now I get to call this thing called the roller coaster of life. haha.

Okay, back to the cookies… (more…)

Sesame Street Sugar Cookies

One day last month I got a PM from a friend asking if I could do Sesame Street Sugar Cookies for her friend’s little girl’s birthday. Can I? That’s a good question… but I believe the answer is, YES, Yes I can. That is after she said they could be any of the characters. Also… I went to my friend Google. Google gave me some confidence.

I decided I needed a frog cookie cutter. Frog head for clarification. (more…)

Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies

Let’s dust off the cobwebs around here with a nice little fall/pumpkiny/Halloweenie type post. haha. Like that do ya? Have you noticed that this time of year you can walk outside and there are spider webs it seems like everywhere? It’s like doing kungfu ninja type stuff. I’m not afraid of spiders. I can’t just say I like them, but I’m not afraid of them. Now, we all know that is a different story with snakes. I saw a couple of those here lately too. It’s getting too cold. Go into the hibernation. Ugh!

By the way, I got a new laptop and we’re arguing. I say one thing and then it does something completely opposite. Ugh! I might be able to type better if I’d cut my pesky nails. That’s how I always know my nails are getting too long… it interferes with my typing. But I guess that’s another story for another day. Just know, it types differently. It smells different (haha!). And well… it is different. Even Photoshop and I are arguing because I have a different version. sigh!

But let’s not focus on all of that. Instead… look at these gorgeous cookies!!!

Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies

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Post Halloween Party

I’m a member of a women’s club and we were supposed to have a “Halloween” party and camp fire cookout the Thursday night before Halloween. Well circumstances came up and we were unable to have it then, so it got postponed to last night. We met at Mary’s house and were supposed to come in costume. After the Month of October we were all afraid that it would be frighteningly cold but last night was awesome weather. Although we were supposed to dress up, not everyone did 🙁 but we had some great costumes from those who did!!!