2. Anyone’s else allergies going crazy? As much as I hate having to take medicine, a few months ago I started back up on Zyrtec. It was around the time when I couldn’t get rid of the sniffles (it was about 3 months of constant dripping for me to realize it was probably allergies). I think this year is going to a tough one for all of us suffers.

3. Please keep a fellow photographer, Kristen, in your thoughts and prayers. She suddenly lost her husband on Easter Sunday. Hug your spouse, kids, and loved ones extra tight.

4. My mom is coming into town this coming Wednesday!!!! I am so excited as it’s been a year since she last visited us up here. We have nothing planned so far and I sorta like it that way!

5. Last night, I hosted a surprise bridal shower, along with the women in my bible study group, for our fellow member and friend Callie. A few photos I snapped on my phone before everyone arrived.

Downtown Asheville is heaven on earth for this earthy/crunchy heart of mine. I spent time wondering around while Anthony was conferencing it up, finding some incredible cafes (The Green Sage and Over Easy Cafe in particular) that offer local, organic items. I knew that I’d be visiting them when meal time came around. We also discovered that Asheville is famous for their microbreweries. Yes and yes!! Thursday night we had pizza and beer at Asheville Brewing Co. and then walked to Lexington Ave Brewery for another round. Incredible night life was to be found, no matter what block or area of town!

Friday afternoon we went to the famous 8,000 acre 250 room Biltmore Estate. Talk about extravagance to the 10th degree – they have one of the first private two-lane bowling alleys + an indoor heated pool. And seriously what home needs 250 rooms?!?!?! The estate is really astonishing and breathtaking!

One of the many spectacular views!

This is one massive tree trunk – wrapped around a pole actually!

While I was taking photos of all the beautiful flowers, Anthony found a bench to rest his legs.

I am so glad I remembered to bring my macro lens – the flowers were stunning!

I will leave you with this photo of the pond. It took us about 20 minutes (or more really) to drive from the parking lot at the house to the exit gate. Luckily the property allows for stop-offs. This is one of those instances I knew I had to stop. Although looking at the colors you may think it was fall!

Now that my nephew Randon is in pre-kindergarten, he has gotten into art. Santa brought him an IKEA easel with all amazing supplies. As our Christmas present to both Randon + Rylan, I made these art smocks. I didn’t want cotton fabric, but vinyl of some sort. Easy to wipe off without having to throw in the washing machine often. I ordered fabric online but some reason they canceled the order. Most fabric stores are now carrying the stuff I got – you can make cloth diapers covers, bags and more for babies! They turned out pretty cute, but I don’t think I made them big enough. Oops!

I’m not sure how often they use the smocks but it was a big hit from Christmas morning until we left a week later!!

My incredible friend and fellow photographer Kelly asked me to make her some pillows for her living room. She found inspiration on pinterest, bought the fabric and sent it over to me! They really change the entire feel of her room – don’t you think?

I’m currently working on my first true garment making project as we speak – it’s a little girls dress that will be very soon featured on the blog! Cannot wait for everyone to see.

Some of my favorite clients, the Harris family, have ordered several large gallery wrapped canvases for their walls. Though both have been delivered for awhile, it’s taken me this long to get the sample photos ready for the blog! Oops!

First up is a 24×24 canvas of the three boys. Ellie’s vision is to rotate the canvas when she wants a bit of a variety. Genius!!

This beauty is 48×28 (our dining room table is 52×52) and again the perfect image for a canvas.

If you’ve ever wondered about ordering a gallery wrapped canvas but haven’t ever, NOW is the TIME!!! In honor of the days getting longer, all gallery wrapped canvases are 25% off*. This is for past and current clients. Let me know if you’d like to reactive your gallery, I will do it at no charge for this one time deal!!

The fine details: order must be placed and paid by March 15th, 2012. Cannot be combined with any other offer or special.

I love that this little seminary community brings people into our lives from all over and that they appreciate photography. This family hasn’t had a non-screaming family photo ever (there’s a classic one on Ebb’s facebook that cracks me up every time I think of it!) – I made it painless for them. Maybe a little bribery went into this but all three kids totally rocked it out on this blistery February afternoon.

Proportions don’t need to be exact! I use a small glass bowl with approx. 1/4 cup hydrogen peroxide + less than a 1/4 teaspoon dishwashing liquid. Stir to combine. I use a toothbrush since we have plenty on hand (we use an electric toothbrush but the dental hygienists continue to insist on giving us the regular ones!) but you can use any kind of brush. Work the concoction into the garment and allow to sit for however long it needs. For this example, the stains were gone within 5 minutes on this shirt. I washed normally with my whites and then air-dried it in our bedroom. For Anthony’s shirt I mentioned above, it needed to sit much longer. I believe it was closer to 30 minutes.

This recipe can be used for all sorts of stains, not just armpit stains. It will remove grease, hot sauce, dirt, chocolate, etc. You really must try it out!

See, IT WORKED!!!

It is simple simple simple and doesn’t take any more time than it would to throw Shout + Wash or ghastly bleach on your clothes. The best part is that it hydrogen peroxide does not break down the fibers on your clothes like bleach does. In other words, your clothes will last longer and you are saving yourself so much money with these cheap ingredients!

2. Do you take tons of photos with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod and never know what to do with them? Simply Postcards is filling that gap! The app has been on my phone for ages and I finally printed my first postcard from a photo from New Orleans. It arrived and I LOVE it. It’s a full 5×7 print – you write a message for the back, and they mail it for you! For all my readers who may want to try it out, use the code KS23B to get 2 free postcards!!

3. I cannot wait to share the photo wall from our session with Bernadette when we move into the new place. Currently they are spread throughout, because I didn’t really want to rearrange too many things on the wall. For now it’s a combination of canvases, art mounts, and prints but I’m sure I’ll continue to add with other items too.

4. I have put out a challenge on goodreads that I will read 75 books in 2012. I’m not sure I’ll reach it, considering the pace I’ve been going as of late! I was between books (just finished reading 1Q84 which is over 900 pages and wasn’t sure what to read next), so I got out my HUGE stack of magazines to finish them. I had a few from 2010 in there -oops! I read them all and they are now safely in the recycling bin! I’m not sure why I don’t just read them when they arrive but I’m caught up for a short amount of time!

5. This past week, I’ve been working on getting passport information gathered, photos taken, copies of marriage certificate, etc. to send our stuff in. I have a passport, it expires next year + it still has my maiden name. I thought I’d get a little break, but truthfully I am saving myself $20ish verse getting a brand new one for Anthony. This summer we will be heading up to Niagara on the Lake, since Anthony’s dissertation topic centered around that little town in the late 1800s. And maybe one day we will be able to add all sorts of countries to our passports!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Christine + Dan are expecting their first child and it’s a surprise! Christine is absolutely glowing, and you wouldn’t even guess that she had a cold! I am looking forward to meeting their little bambino/bambina in April

Simply beautiful!