Amie - Class of 2011 :)

Yesterday I had the opportunity to take senior pictures for a friend. We had fun looking for fall colors and unique locations. I had a great time. This was my first senior session, and it was such a great experience. Hopefully I get the opportunity to take pictures for more people, soon!

Here's a sneak peek at just a few of the 486 pictures we took yesterday. :)

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Stay tuned! There's more to come! :) And thank you, Amie, for letting me take your senior pictures!

I'm not begging for compliments...but I would love our thoughts and feedback on the pictures/editing. Feedback is what will help me improve with editing and photography! :)

How Great Is Our God!

I absolutely love this song by Chris Tomlin. . .and the video images of the mountains, etc. are pretty magnificent. :)

I have had this song stuck in my head for awhile now and thought I would share it with you all. Good news is, it is not a bad song to have stuck in one's head!

I'm Still Alive!

Never fear, I'm still alive. . .I just took what was supposed to be a 3 day trip to our state's capitol city, and ended up being there for a week. I just arrived home today and hope to have something interesting to blog about here in the next few days. I did not take too many pictures while I was gone, but I did take a few - perhaps I will share them with you shortly. :)

Take care!

More Adventures in the Honey Pot

 Bees swarming onto a spoonful of honey.

 The spoon of honey covered in bees, and another spoon waiting for more bees to arrive.

Honey!

12 in 12 Challenge: Recipe 8 - Butternut Squash Soup

My mom attended a cooking class at a local kitchen supply store recently, and the class was all about soups. She brought home the recipe and I was immediately attracted to the recipe for Butternut Squash Soup. See, I don't really care for squash (I know it's good for me. . .I just don't like the texture/flavor that much) but a couple years ago I tried a Butternut Squash Soup that was absolutely to die for. The person who made it was unable to give me the recipe, so when I saw this recipe I knew we had to try it to see if I liked it, also.

See the end for my comments. I would love to hear your thoughts.

Butternut Squash Soup


2 Tbl. Butter
1 Onion, chopped
1 Carrot, chopped
2 stalks Celery, chopped
2 Russet Potatoes, chopped
1 Butternut Squash, peeled, cored and chopped
1 quart Chicken Stock
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
Fresh Sage (to taste) (I used dried, as we did not have any fresh sage on hand)
Salt (to taste)
1/2 cup Heavy Cream or Sour Cream (optional)

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a large stock pot.

2. Add chopped vegetables (including potatoes and squash) and cook for 5 minutes on medium-high heat, until slightly browned (I cooked them for about 8 minutes).

3. Add stock and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until all of the vegetables are tender.

4. Using a stick blender, blend the soup until smooth.
5. Finish with fresh sage, brown sugar, salt and cream.

6. Enjoy (I also topped each bowl with additional sour cream and sage)!

My Thoughts:
- Super easy to make! The most time consuming part is chopping the veggies. And waiting for it to cook, of course. :)
- Our whole family enjoyed this soup. I think that means the recipe is a "keeper." Let me know how your family likes it, if you try it!

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For previous 12 in 12 recipes, check out the following:

1. Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
2. Chewy Toffee Bits Cookies
3. Deviled Chicken
4. Cinnamon Rolls
5. Strawberry Trifle
6. Easy Chicken Alfredo
7. Pumpkin Spice Muffins

New Logo!

So. . .the other day I designed myself a logo. It is nothing fancy, and if/once I come up with a different name for my photography business, I will change at least that part, but for now I have this simple logo to stamp on my pictures and include on the back of cards.

The butterfly is part of a picture I took. The original picture looks like this:

I deleted the background, and then made the butterfly black & white.

What do you think?

More Pictures!

I learned some Photoshop tips today! Michelle from Meshelle Photography was nice enough to spend a couple hours with me this afternoon showing me how to improve my editing techniques and giving me some tips about how to better use my camera. I decided to play around with some pictures tonight to practice what I learned.

Question: What should I call my photography adventures? I need a name for my "business" that I can stamp on each picture to personalize it when I put it on the internet. Any ideas? Please comment with some ideas. Eventually I want a logo with a butterfly in it somehow, somewhere, if that helps with name ideas. Maybe I should run a contest. :)

Anyway, here's a few pictures. What do you think? As usual, I welcome your comments!

 Photo taken by my friend M.