A last minute, but still lovely Valentine's Day!

Hey guys!!! What is up? Obviously, today is Valentine's day - I know there are lovers and haters of this holiday, but I am definitely on the love side. Of any holiday actually. Why not celebrate? I'll take any holiday as an excuse to make a cake! Valentine's day, 4th of July, World Nutella Day, Pi day, you know, the usual holidays.

Anyway, I thought I would pop in today with some super last minute gifts that are awesome. All are homemade or semi-homemade and really easy. Here we go!
(counter clock-wise)

1) Marshmallow pops. Ridiculously easy. Here are the instructions: Get marshmallows. Put a stick in them. Dip in some melted chocolate. Add accoutrements. Let dry and package cute. Sophie made 3/4 of ours herself!  They taste so, so good too.

2) Make a sandwich heart. Does this need any more directions? (heart pancakes are a good idea too!)

3) Brownie bites. Again, totally easy. Either make brownies from-scratch, or from a box. Let them cool. Roll into balls. See #1. Super easy.

4) homemade valentines! I fell in love with these (you can get the template here!) b/c Sophie loves bugs and she is in preschool, so it was perfect for us. Again, totally easy.

5) Red velvet cake batter cookies. Recipe here - easy and quick and an awesome end to dinner!

6) the DIY bouquet. Get flowers from the grocery store (double points if you are near a trader joe's or whole foods) - ok, not the ugly ones, but some nice ones - two bunches. Take them home, open them, ditch the plastic, put the flowers together, cut the bottoms the same length. Now, this is key - wrap them in paper. Not PLASTIC. Either wax paper, or parchment paper, or kraft paper, or even solid wrapping paper if you must, but not PLASTIC. Tie somewhere with a twine (think the twine from the bakery box, or some rustic cord from the garage, or ribbon - not the curling kind). This bouquet will get you way farther than that original one in plastic (hopefully the price was not still attached!).

And, just in case those gifts don't work...

Monday Updates!

It is Monday, but doesn't really feel like it, does it? Almost everyone I know (and seemingly, everyone on Facebook) is on vacation!

With the photography business, we usually have an opposite work-vacation type schedule to most. We do sneak away a few weekends in the summer because we have to get our New England summer fix, but we tend to slow down (or at least have less actual shoots) in the winter - think December, January. I can't believe that the summer is almost over and we are headed into the super busy fall season. This has been a great summer - with awesome weddings, and fun weekends off too - and I'm gearing up for what is going to be a busy and exciting fall. I'm already dreaming of pumpkins, and apples, and sweaters, but I am going to try to drag myself and all of our toddler gear to the beach at least one more time (you'll see - insane amounts of sand toys and towels and wipes and drinks are necessary for a successful toddler beach day, and also the copious amounts of sand on the way back, don't forget that).

Here is a glimpse into our wedding-less weekend - we decided to spend it at home... (diner time, tim's new obsession, one of my favorite soups, hanging out on the deck, tried this new cookie recipe [they were awesome, didn't do slice and bake, just baked them as if they were regular cookies).

I shot an engagement session at 8am yesterday - pretty refreshing to shoot that early. I usually schedule sessions for the later afternoon because I'm addicted to the golden light that time of day, but the morning was pretty nice!  A sunrise shoot should be next!  Who's up for that?

Amanda and Jon were total troopers - getting so close together so early in the morning :). ha.  Loving this hammock shot.

And, today just happens to be the first wedding anniversary of one of my awesome couples from last year - Yay Mike and Marcy! Happy Anniversary guys!

Oops! I meant to finish this post before I left for a shoot today, but I just couldn't squeeze it in (over-estimating how much I can do in a day?  that never happens :).   I met up with Alyssa and Rich this afternoon at a really cool park (entrance is hard to find and it seems sort of like a hidden treaure) - look for them on the blog in a few days :).  Alyssa is one of the cute bridesmaids in this photo (top right!) at Michelle & Jay's wedding a few weeks ago.  Their wedding will be a lot of fun since we'll already know people :)!

Ok, I'm done now!  Goodnight!

Monday Updates!

What's up everybody?  Good weekend?  Average weekend?  Hopefully better than average :).  This past week was my crazy week of engagement sessions!  I had another scheduled for today as well, but it got rained out. 

The other day I met up with Nadia and Tom down in the city....really early.  Well, pretty early.  We toughed it out :) and had the best light and minimal crowds - score!  Aren't they so cute?

I got there a bit early and shot some instagram photos that I love -- so neat to see Meatpacking with no people! (the one with the people was taken out my car window on my way home, while I was turning...probably not the safest idea). 

Remember last week when I was asking for some gardening tips? Well, I didn't realize that Megan is super knowledgeable in this area (she runs a farm!!), so she helped me out while I was shooting their session..and she gave me some awesome tomato plants (heirlooms, don't be jealous people) too! Love this photo of them.

This photo was from another session that I shot at West Point.  It's fun for me to find new spots to shoot within places I've been many times before. Lots of fun getting new ideas. These guys are graduating and getting married in the same week!!

We ate on our deck for the first time this summer this weekend - some friends came over and it was so nice to be outside! I made these for dessert and they were ridiculously easy and so good. (if you are going to make these, I made a few changes - swapped 1/4 cup butter for an egg, and added fresh blackberries to the top of the jam before adding the crumbs).

Tonight I'm making this broccoli soup - the name doesn't sound super appetizing or exciting, and its from a crazy cleanse diet, but is really good for you and we like it! I add a bit of cheese to it to pump it up a tiny bit, but otherwise, its great. The salad dressing recipe is awesome too.

Ok, that's all for now! Oh, except this new favorite photo of sophie and I that I took with my iphone :)

Have a great week!