Into the Wild Blue Yonder

My Dad had a birthday at the end of August. For his gift my mom, sister, and I all got him a remote control plane. If you have never seen one of these, it is very cool! There have been times when I've seen one flying and for a moment have mistaken it for an actual plane in the distance...that is until it does multiple loops without stopping and I realize what I'm actually looking at. Here is Dad's "Super Cub N3419P."

I think that Landon was more excited than anybody about it. He was bursting to tell but we made him promise to keep it a secret which he did. He practically unwrapped it for Dad, and he couldn't wait to take it up. (As a matter of fact he cried with the news that we couldn't fly it immediately because the battery had to charge.) Dad had his pilot's license and has flown many times, but a remote control plane is quite different, of course. There is a little bit of a learning curve so he has been doing test runs, practicing take-offs and flying. This past weekend he took it up for us!

I kept hearing the Air Force song in my head..."Off we go into the wild blue yonder..." It can climb really high (really quickly!) Landon and Savannah were mesmerized. I would be scared to death to try flying it. Landon, on the other hand would love to fly it himself but it may be a while before he's ready for something like that!

In the meantime we will continue to enjoy watching this little plane take flight and have fun making memories with "Papa" and his new Super Cub as it soars into the blue.

My Morning Cup

The first thing I think of when I wake up in the morning (right after thinking about what I have to do and about the child that is already sitting on my head) is my morning cup of coffee. I used to be a social coffee drinker. Craig doesn't drink coffee and it was always just too much trouble to make a pot just for me (and lets face it - if you try to make just a couple of cups it never tastes right.) So I drank coffee when we had company or when I went out. That was until this little beauty came into my life.

Meet my Keurig. About 3 years ago Craig told me that he wanted to get this for our combined Christmas gift to each other, which was ironic since he doesn't drink coffee. However, there was one in the school office where he taught and he liked the hot chocolate cups. I protested. It was expensive. I liked my coffee pot (not really.) What if we had company? He finally convinced me and it was one of the best purchases we have ever made. I love it. I often have people ask me about it so I thought I'd blog about it a bit in case you may have considered one.

For me it is absolutely perfect because I am the only coffee drinker in the house and I am usually a one-cup-a-day kind of girl. Occasionally I have coffee in the afternoon or evening but that isn't typical. The K-cups are so convenient and make one, perfect, piping hot cup of coffee in less than a minute with no pot to clean or filter to deal with. They come in such a variety of fun flavors of coffee, tea, and other hot drinks (I just saw cider cups at Kroger yesterday!) Some people are concerned that they are expensive. If you drink multiple cups a day it could get a little pricey. Think coupons though! It is rare to see any coupons for the cups themselves but you can get them at Kohl's or Bed Bath and Beyond, even JCPenney...think of those 20% or 30% off coupons you get in the mail. I love the occasional $10 off any $10 purchase. I know that's free coffee! Also, coffee companies like Folders have started making the cups and they are somewhat cheaper than the designer brands and can be found at Walmart. In addition, Keurig made this great little alternative:

It is a filter cup that you can buy and with this you use regular coffee grounds and pay exactly what you're paying now...but less because you can make one good cup instead of making half a pot and dumping most of it down the drain! This costs $14.99 at most any store that sells Keurigs. I got it last Christmas and have uesd it quite often.

As you can tell, I love this coffee-maker. The sound of my coffee being brewed in the morning is music to my ears. When its done, I toss the k-cup and I'm finished with cleanup! Pair it with your favorite creamer (this is how I take my coffee) and you have an excellent cup of coffee!

My current favorite is Pumpkin Spice, of course. I will use this through the holidays. Other favorites of mine are Caramel flavors, and the Breve' Creams. I also like to use half and half sometimes to make a latte. Mmm...I think today will be an afternoon cup of coffee kind of day... What are your favorites? How do you take your morning cup?

Neveah is Two!

Neveah Leigh is two years old (today!) She is my salon director's daugther and she's my little buddy at work when I'm there and she comes in. I was happy to get to take pictures of her second birthday and you can click here to see more. I'm looking forward to pictures at another birthday party this weekend as well! I've kept busy with parties the past few weekends but I'm having so much fun...going to have to learn how to turn down birthday cake though if I keep this up! I'm looking forward to some portrait shoots in the coming weeks as well. I am keeping my fingers crossed for some beautiful fall weather for these.

Hello, Gorgeous

I am finally posting the pictures of Amy that we took downtown last weekend. She is such a beauty (inside and out) that she makes these pictures amazing. There are a lot of places downtown with great texture and I loved shooting there. Hope to do it again soon and find even more great spots. Click here to more from this session!

Pinterest Inspired Photo Frame

When Amy was visiting I introduced her to Pinterest. If you have never explored this website you are missing out on a lot of inspiration. For those who don't know, Pinterest is a website of "virtual pin-boards" which you create and add to. I have only joined recently and have already found so many great ideas! I like it too because it helps me to organize and remember things I want to try to make, or wear, or eat...you get the idea. (You can check out my pin-boards by selecting the Pinterest link on the right hand side of my blog.) So as Amy and I looked at the website she said "Let's do one of these crafts tomorrow!" A girl after my own heart. We selected something simple and I thought I would share the how-to with you. First of all, your supplies; you will need a frame (It can be any color as you will be painting it. I chose a cheap clearance frame that was a bit damaged because I knew I could cover it.) a can of spray paint in your choice of color, a sheet of scrap-booking paper, a bulldog clip, and a hot glue gun.

The first thing you will do is spray-paint your frame and clip. Amy and I chose a wine colored paint. It was the first time either one of us had used spray paint and although we were a bit intimidated reading the instructions on the back of the bottle it was much more simple than American Accents made it sound. Take the frame apart and set aside the glass and back. (You won't actually need to keep the glass.) Now you're ready to paint!

Lay your frame and bulldog clip out together and spray paint both. It will dry fairly quickly. It can be handled within an hour. Amy and I waited just a bit longer to be safe.

Once your paint is dry you're ready for the even easier part of this project.

Put your scrap-book paper in your frame and put the back on. Do not put the glass back in the frame. Add hot glue to the back of your bulldog clip and position it on the top and center of your paper like so:

Now you have a fun frame that you can use for whatever you like! Pictures, recipes, artwork...the best thing is that it can be so easily interchanged and it looks great.

I am ashamed to admit that with all of the pictures I have taken recently, I have printed very few. So that is definitely on my to-do list! In the meantime I stuck this picture in the clip and I can't wait to change it out with updated pictures on a regular basis. (I will do this...) Super easy project that I'm thinking would make great Christmas gifts! You could make it very personal with the wide selections of scrap-booking paper out there. I love mine. Thanks to Pinterest, my kitchen now looks more interesting...or should I say "pinteresting?"

The Better Part

It was Abraham Lincoln who said "The better part of one's life consists of his friendships." True friendships are not only rare, they are often fleeting. I have had many true friends in my life who were removed from my life by time or distance...but there are a precious few who remain life-long friends. You know the ones...those who you can sit down with after weeks, months, or even years, and it is as if no time has passed at all. One such friend of mine, Amy, came to visit this from North Carolina past week and we had such a great time together.

It happened to her birthday the weekend prior, so we crammed lots of celebrating in to just a few days. We did all of our favorite things...we baked, we crafted (next blog post for sure!), we shopped, we took pictures, we drank coffee and caught up! It was wonderful. Monday night was especially fun. I took Amy to Market Square which is one of my favorite places in Knoxville.

Market Square is a great little block downtown that has several unique shops and restaurants. There are regular farmer's markets, live music, movies on the square, and an ice skating rink in the winter. It just has a lot of character. We ate at Cafe Four. Amy had a club sandwich and I had the tomato avocado grilled cheese which was absolutely as delicious as it sounds.

After dinner we walked around downtown and took photos of Amy. She graciously agreed to model so that I could practice and we got some gorgeous photos of her which I will definitely be posting soon! Here is snapshot in front of the Tennessee Theater.

We had "dessert" that evening at Coffee and Chocolate. It is a great little coffee shop at Market Square that is one of they only places in Knoxville that I know of where you can get a bacon chocolate chip cookie! I passed on that this particular time after the avocado and cheese...but I did have a raspberry latte on ice and Amy had a hazelnut coffee. So good!

We finished up the evening in Bliss which is my favorite shop on the square. It is an adorable boutique with unique clothing, accessories, and gifts. Here I am striking a pose in the back of the shop. There was a huge mirror and I couldn't resist.

The entire visit was just refreshing and I was sad to see it end. One more snapshot before I go...Amy will probably kill me for posting this set because we were just being goofy but it is so descriptive of our friendship I couldn't help myself. We have such great conversations and she always make me laugh. I am extremely thankful to have her in my life.

Reese is one!

I had a great time taking pictures of Reese on her special day this past weekend. She was truly the princess of this party in her beautiful tu-tu surrounded by friends and family. First birthdays are especially fun and this one was no exception. I had never met this family before but it was clear much they adore their little girl and it was sweet to watch them celebrate her first year. Check out Stories From Behind My Lens for more pictures of this sweet girl!