Play Time

I got my hands on Nick's camera yesterday and I snapped some photos of Claudia and Claudia Mia. We just sat and played in the front yard. It was such a nice way to spend the afternoon.

I spent most of the time learning how to adjust the shutter speed. Lol... I actually thought I was adjusting the ISO but Nick corrected me this morning and told me I was actually adjusting the shutter speed. My bad!

Despite my confusion, I learned a lot about what adjustments to make according to what kind of light I am shooting in. An important lesson when shooting in manual mode. Hehehe.. I actually sound like I know what I am talking about.

This last shot, I took when we were goofing off and I was pretending to be that stereotypical fashion photographer. You know the one that doesn't look through the lens but just snaps shots and says "perfect, yes, love it!" I think it turned out cute and funny at the same time.

Blueberry Lemon Muffins for Tami Sue

 

Yesterday was my dear friends birthday and her one request from me was to make her homemade muffins.   I just cant say no to such a request.   So these muffins are for you Tami Sue - Happy Birthday!

This is the first time I have ever made Blueberry Lemon Muffins and I am SUPER glad I did.  They are delicious.  A wonderful combination of sweet and tart.  Can I say "yummy!"

What I choose to bake is normally dictated by what I have in the fridge and in the pantry.  Yesterday my neighbors gave me a bunch of lemons off their tree and I had blueberries in the fridge, so Blueberry Lemon Muffins was what I created. 

Also, when ever I bake I always make two batches because I tend to give half away.  My neighbors always get a couple of whatever I bake because they give us their coupons out of the Sunday newspaper and well they lent us the toilet plunger - thanks guys!  (If you haven't read my post The Toilet Master..check the archives...pretty funny story)

I adapted the recipe from the blog The Sisters Cafe.   The only thing I changed from the recipe below was the sugar - I used half brown sugar because I love the taste brown sugar gives to baked good.  Enjoy!

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

zest of one lemon

1 egg

1 cup milk

1/2 cup shortening (or butter*)

1 cup blueberries

Topping (this makes extra – you can try cutting it down if you want):

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 Tb lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

Mix dry ingredients and set aside. Beat egg, milk and shortening. Stir in blueberries. Add dry ingredients and lemon zest. Stir gently to combine. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Combine butter and lemon juice. While the muffins are still warm, dip the tops in the butter and lemon juice, then dip in sugar. Makes 12 muffins.

A Great Day

Yesterday I had one of those rare moments in life where you realize that in ten years from now you'll want to look back and remember everything about the day.  It wasn't an exceptionally amazing day and nothing immensly extraordinary happened either.  In fact, most of us spent the day in pjs and the only person that left the house was my husband because he had to go to Home Depot to buy sprinkler parts.  Heehehe...and then he had to go back because the hose he bought splintered.  Who knows how that happened.  The rest of us spent the day working on Mia Hope Photography.  We purchased a domain name, responded to craigslist ad's looking for photographers, and even defined roles within the company.  Yes...we defined roles.  All my Macy's friends can stop laughing now.  I may not be employed as a manager anymore but you cant take the manager out of me I guess. 

If I was to say what made yesterday such an amazing day it was the realization that we were in the process of doing something great.  We were in the process of actually starting a business.  A business that could fail or could be great.  My bet is on great but whenever you start a new adventure the reality that you could fail is always in the back of your head.  I don't like failure.  I don't like the feeling of failure.  So sometimes, I find that I wont try something unless I know for sure that I am going to be successful.  Starting our Photography business for me is a huge lesson in life about taking a leap of faith.  About believing in something and someone.  I believe that my husband is extremely talented.  I believe that we can do this.  I believe in my family's strength to make this happen.  And if  we fail I am going to be proud of us for at least trying.  And trying is half the battle right? 

So yesterday was a great day!  A really great day.  Thank you to my wonderful family who supports me and loves me.  Who stands by me.  Who believes in the same dream that I do.  I am very lucky to be surrounded by such loving wonderful people everyday.  I love you guys.  Awe, huh?

Froggy Crawling

My daughter is officially a froggy crawler.  I dont think I have ever seen something so cute in my life.  We have seen signs for some time now that she was going to start being mobile and then today while doing her tummy time she maneuvered herself across the living room floor.  She literally moves her feet like a froggy and propels herself forward.  She also found a new trick while doing it - licking the floor.  Totally disgusting I know, especially if you know that I have 3 puppies.  With 3 dogs you never know what is on that floor.  And yes... I wash it.  Geesh, I am not that untidy. 

So my avid readers are probably saying, you have been silent on your blog for some time now except the recipe post over the weekend, so what have you been up to?  I have fully plunged into the world of photography.  At least, the back end stuff of running a photography business.  I am quickly learning how to edit pictures and impose them with a watermark.  Interestingly, I love the work.  I honestly love it.  There is something magical about watching a great image come to life.  Now this isnt the first time I have made that statement, if you are a fan of our facebook page Mia Hope Photography, you have seen it before.  And if you are not a fan...shame, shame, shame on you.  My husband takes beautiful pictures and by looking at one of them your life becomes instantly better.  Okay...that was a little over the top but you get the point. Now go and fan our facebook page! Now! You can always come back and finish reading my post at a later time (you well find at the end that this post really has no point anyways!).

I have a great yearning to pick up the camera and start shooting along side my husband.  In fact, we are looking into investing into a second body so I can have his old one.  This idea was originally presented to me as a mothers day present.  I know doesn't sound like a very good mothers day present, I get the old body and Nick gets the new upgraded version, but it really is.  I have this intense phobia of messing up something mechanical that belongs to my husband.  For example, I have never driven his car.  Nor did I ever drive his last car.  Now... stop frowning at my husband for this phobia because as much as I like to tease him that it's his fault it's not, it's mine.  I'm scared of messing up something that he loves.  Hence, me getting the old body and having the freedom to really learn on it is a great present.  Anyone interested in being a model for me?  Seriously, if you feel like letting me experiment and take pictures let me know.  Of course we have to invest in a new body first!

Hehehe.. today's blog appears to have no point but I warned you of that already, didn't I?

Sausage and Cheese Muffins

I have baked these "muffins" a few times now and my family loves them. I put "muffins" into quotations because they are more like biscuits. They are doughy but delicious. What I like best about the recipe is that most of the ingredients are interchangeable. I have baked them with bacon instead of sausage and they were great. You can take out the green chile's and use chopped onions instead. It really is a recipe that you can play with. I hope you enjoy them as much as my family does...they beg for me to make them!

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
• 7 Turkey Sausage links, cooked and chopped
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 4 oz can Green Chile's

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the first eight ingredients. In a another bowl, beat the egg, milk and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill greased muffin cups two-thirds full. Sprinkle more cheese on top. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm. Refrigerate leftovers.

Yummy!!!

Practice run

Test run! Yep... Testing to see if I like a iPad!

A Step by Step Guide on how to NOT visit the Peruvian Consulate:

1. Leave your house at 12:00
2. Pick up passport picture from Walgreen's, which was taken earlier that day. Then head out of town.
3. At 1:10 call consulate to find out what time they close. Perfect, they close at at 2:00 and you are only 40 minutes away.  That gives you a leeway of 10 minutes, cakewalk!
4. Drive like the wind
5. Get stuck behind every idiot driver
6. Don't eat before you leave the house. It makes the drive down that much more exciting.
7. Ensure you hit a ton of bumper to bumper traffic.
8. Wave "hi" to the cops on the side of the road giving someone else a traffic ticket. Deep sigh of relief it wasn't you.
9. Hit road construction but quickly move to the left and get out of the cluster fuck that is developing where the lanes are all merging.
10. Flip off every fast food joint you pass because at the moment they are just not fast enough and you are starving.
11. Once you get to the toll bridge celebrate your ingenious self for buying the Fastpass on your last SF visit. Saved a lot of time here!
12. Enter into the city with only 12 minutes to spare before 2:00
13.  Drive faster
14.  Quickly at a stop light switch drivers
15.  Drop off Peruvian 3 blocks away
16.  Now run Peruvian run... 8 minutes and counting
17.  Find the building with the consulate in it
18. Not there yet... the office is on the 10th floor.
19. Now which office is the Peruvian consulate in? Ahh... maybe the office with the group of Peruvian speaking individuals outfront.
20. Read note taped to the door: Were only going to be open from 9:00-1:00 until June 3rd
21. Success!!! No visit to the consulate today. Round 2 tomorrow.

Am I a Flatlander?

This picture was taken over 12 years ago in one of my family's favorite places, Sliding Rock. It's a locals hot spot because it is a natural water slide on the American river.

Over the weekend my husband and I traveled back to our hometown where this picture was taken and it got me thinking about the term "flatlander" versus "local." What is a flatlander you ask? Urban Dictionary defines it as a "a term that all mountain people use to describe tourists that don't have the skills/knowledge to recreate in the mountains."