{Snapshots of the Week}
For my snapshots this week I thought I’d go back to the pictures I took in the mountains. We were only there for one night but we had so much fun. These pictures will show you some of the fun we had and I’ll kind of explain it as we go…
Charlotte loves Baby Layla and holds her every chance she gets. 
Layla feeding her great-granddaddy.
Remember how I said there are huge boulders around the house? Here’s Sarah and Suzannah standing on top of one. I told them to “wave their hands in the air like they just don’t care”. Aren’t they cute?
Chelsea climbing up to help Suzannah get down, see how the trees just grow down the sides of the rocks?
Abigail and Charlotte sharing a hug. Actually I’m not sure if they are hugging or if one of them is about to fall.
We thought we’d hike up to the top of the road to see what we’d see. (Kind of like the bear that went over the mountain.) Suzannah thought she wanted to go with Erin and then changed her mind. Being the thoughtful aunt that I am, I documented the moment for her.
Going up…
When we got to the top this is what we found, kind of unexpected I thought. So of course I said, “Kids! Go stand beside the Key West sign!” You’ve got to take advantage of every photo opportunity, haha.
And then we hiked back down.
I know I’ve talked and talked about the boulders around the house, but I was so impressed by them. Almost as much as the kids were. This one is right outside the back door. Doesn’t it look like something out of a fairy tale?
We went to The Mast General Store in downtown Boone. Here’s Layla trying out the merchandise. 
They had a cooler full of soft drinks in glass bottles. I think it was the first time my girls had had one. Something about a glass bottle makes it taste so much better. (And you know that since I love bottles so much I had to save them for my collection.)
My poor children had never had Pop Rocks either, they didn’t even know what they were! Here’s Samantha’s reaction when she tried them…
and Charlotte’s…
…and yes, we pretty much just sat on the sidewalk in front of the store and ate our candy and drank our soft drinks out of glass bottles. We’re touristy like that.
Before you start thinking that I’m a crazy mom, let me explain this last picture. We were packing up to leave, the kids were climbing on the rocks one last time, and I was taking a few more pictures, when Samantha stood up on top of the rock and said, “Hey Mom, take a picture of this!” I thought she just wanted to me to get a picture of her standing on the rock so I raised my camera…and she jumped. Well, it was too late to stop her, so I clicked the shutter a couple of times. She landed fine, no injuries. What can I say? She’s my daughter.
I want to go back so bad, and so do the kids. I’d love to spend a week in that house, just hanging out. It’s so relaxing up there.
Have a great weekend, see you Monday!
{Commercial} Daphne’s Simply Southern Bakery
When Daphne’s Simply Southern Bakery in Mint Hill, NC decided they needed some new pictures to update their website, their owner, Janice Efird, called me. She asked if I was up for taking pictures of still lifes. Well, I thought that sounded like lots of fun. After all, it would be kind of like taking detail shots at weddings, and that’s always fun. And they make some scrumptious desserts and breads so I thought there might be some fringe benefits included, you know, like maybe I’d get to sample some of the things I was photographing 
.
Janice mentioned that she’d like some staged shots using props so I took some dishes with me and she brought some with her and we spent a couple of hours in the bakery one afternoon photographing. There wasn’t a lot of room to maneuver, and after I finished I kept thinking of some fun things I could do prop-wise if I’d had more room so they let me take some things home with me to keep working. And I had so much fun! My neighbors probably thought I was a little crazy the way I kept setting things up in my yard to photograph, I’m hoping if they see the pictures they’ll understand .
First up is their lemon meringue cupcake…
Cookies ‘n creme cupcake…this first shot was taken in the bakery.
This one was taken at my house, outdoors. I think the lighting is better, more interesting. And I didn’t think to take these props with me so I had to do it at home. I love collecting glass bottles; some I get from flea markets and junk shops, some are new bottles that I save. After all, that’s where the old ones come from, someone thought to save them. I love the Starbucks Frappucino bottles, they look like old-fashioned milk bottles. So I removed the label from this one, poured some milk, broke out the Oreos, and viola! (And the platter is one I picked up a while back from Marshalls, I love shopping in their home department.)
I don’t remember what they call this one, but I took one picture of it in the bakery and this one at home, again outdoors. The lighting is so much better on this one, the chocolate is just glistening.
Their pink velvet cupcake…again, I took one at the bakery and one at home. I liked the lighting better on the one taken at home. Lighting really is everything. I picked up a set of these plates a few months ago at an antique store in Matthews. I’ve got white, blue, pink, and yellow. I bought them because they reminded me of some my Mama Fowler used to have. I like the way the blue sets off the pink of the cupcake and the circle shape gives the eye more to look at than if I’d just set it on the white tablecloth.
This one was fun, it’s just pure staging. I have no idea why someone would want to put a cupcake on their dressing table, maybe they get hungry while they are getting ready to go out? Anyway, when I saw this cupcake I obviously thought pearls, lace, and romance. Mama let me borrow her stand mirror, necklaces, little music box, and my grandmother’s handkerchief.
This was a teapot that Janice brought with her, we thought it coordinated nicely with the rose cupcake. Kind of like an English Rose type thing.
I love the attention to detail on this cupcake. Connie, their cake designer, is so talented.
Some fun party cupcakes, reminds me of a pinwheel…
I loved the colors, so I stopped by Party City to get some complimentary napkins and forks.
I think these are called Boston Creme cupcakes. They’d go great with some hot tea or coffee, so we used the “English Rose” teapot again, with a damask tablecloth for some texture and elegance.
Red velvet cupcakes, with gold sparkles, pretty fancy!
And they do adorable cupcakes for baby showers, here I got to use my above-mentioned pink and blue plates again.
They also make delicious pies, like Coconut Cream…
Key Lime…
and Old Fashioned Chocolate Cream Pie.
Did I mention that the owner of Daphne’s is my cousin? Well, she is, and the recipe that they use for their teacakes came from their grandmother who also happens to be my Great-Aunt Addie Mae. She was famous for her teacakes, they are delicious! Here’s a nice close-up of them…
…but I was also thinking about how something like a teacake is comfort food. The kind you want to curl up with on a porch swing with a good book and an afghan.
Daphne’s has also added a twist to the teacakes and offers them with a hint of lime. And boy, are they good!
Now I know when the name “teacakes” was coined someone was probably referring to hot tea in a delicate little teacup that you drink with your pinkys up. But here in the South when someone says “tea” we think of sweet tea, maybe with a slice of lemon. So I was thinking, “Hmmm, teacakes with a twist of lime? How about sweet tea with a twist of lime?” And that is where this picture comes in..
Chocolate chip cookies. Milk. Need I say more?
And now for the piece de resistance…this thing is awesome! It’s called an Ugly Betty and it is soooooooo good! It’s a dark chocolate cake with a hint of coffee, topped with caramel icing and chocolate drizzle. Try it. You will love it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Is your mouth-watering? Then go to Daphne’s and try some of these delicious desserts!
{Charlotte’s Monthly Portraits} August 2010
As you know from my last post we spent a night in the mountains last week. While there I was determined to get Charlotte’s August portrait, especially since the month was almost over and I hadn’t done it yet. I always put it off because she hates doing it so much. But I keep telling her that one day she will appreciate me doing this; so far she doesn’t believe me. Then I realized that I forgot my favorite lens which is the 50mm, 1.4 Nikkor. I didn’t realize how much I love that lens until I started trying to take her portrait without it. Anyway, in the 5 minutes or so that she cooperated I got one that I like.
I’m taking these so that I can look back and see how they’ve changed and grown over the months and years. I really, really wish I had started this earlier, but I didn’t officially start it until I got my digital camera. I’m sure I do have monthly pictures of them taken from birth, maybe one day I’ll compile all of them together. I’d like to make a huge book with all their monthly portraits to give to each of my girls and they will be so happy to have them. At least I hope they will happy, I keep telling them they will be…
{Snapshots of the Week}
As I type this (on Thursday night) I am sitting in a house up on the mountain in Boone, NC. I love it here, there is no hot, humid air outside, just cool mountain breezes. I love it here! Did I already say that? The light is also gorgeous here, I took a few snapshots in the little amount of time we’ve been here.
First thing after we arrived the kids started exploring…they were muddy in a very short amount of time.
Mike and his dad cooked us grilled chicken for supper…
The house is built right in amongst some huge boulders that are covered in moss and have trees and ferns growing out of them. The roots of the trees are growing down the sides of the boulders and into the earth. It’s amazing to me how they even manage to survive, but they obviously adapt quite well. I admire them for that, I must admit.
There is actually a stream that goes right under the house! Here’s the kids playing in it…apparently it was cold though, they didn’t stay in long. But look at Joshua, he even put on his bathing suit to get in! Ain’t he the man?
And we hung out on the deck for a while, it was sooooo nice. After the extremely hot weather in Monroe this was a welcome change!
Then we played Scrabble after supper, I was winning this game, not to brag or anything 
Have a great weekend, see you Monday!
{Families} The Allens
I haven’t done a family post in several days, so today I thought I’d post a bunch of this family. I have so many favorites, I think because they included some of my favorite things in their shoot: pets (their horse Smoothie and dog Cookie) and dragging indoor furniture outside. Plus Gwen did such good job coordinating their outfits, some all black and white, and some very colorful. So here goes…
Jason, Gwen, Memory, Rome, Dara, and Maddox
I loved all of these of Dara, I couldn’t pick just one so you get to see three.
Maddox snuck this handful of candy out without Gwen knowing…
We got a few of Memory riding Smoothie, I love the bareback, summertime look of this.
Then it was Dara’s turn on Smoothie. I love this one, I think because Dara looks so small on Smoothie’s back and even though she is a very gentle horse, in this shot she looks a little wild.
But she calmed right down.
And I’ll finish up with what might be my favorites from the day. Maddox is just so cute!
Thanks Gwen, for asking me to take these for you. I had a great time and your children are wonderful!
{Home} Samantha’s Room Makeover
I promised my girls when we moved into our house that their walls would not stay beige for long, that I would paint them a fun color to match the bedspreads they picked out. I promised them I would paint them over the summer and then I realized suddenly that the summer was almost over! So last week I made a plan to repaint Samantha’s room and furniture and I got it all done by Thursday. I love way it turned out and she does too. Now I’m going to try to get Charlotte’s done this week.
Here’s a before shot:
And here’s the after:
It has a little more personality now, don’t ya think?
The chest got a makeover too.
Here’s the window seat area before and after:
And a close-up of some canvas prints I found at Marshall’s after I painted the room and they coordinated perfectly. And Samantha loves dogs of all kinds so she loved these prints.
It was a lot of fun doing this, I like painting if I can just set aside the time to get it done. I’m kind of a detail person and spending time doing something like this is almost meditative to me. I’m looking forward to starting on Charlotte’s, hers is going to be completely different from Samantha’s. I hope it turns out cute, we shall see…
{Snapshots of the Week}
This week we celebrated my sister Gina’s birthday, here’s a shot of her singing “Happy Birthday” to herself just because she’s cool like that . She’s a great sister and I love her!
And we celebrated Aunt Chris’ birthday, doesn’t she look pretty in her blue shirt? (She reads my blog sometimes so I hope she gets a kick out of seeing herself on it!)
This is when we were singing “Happy Birthday” to her. That’s Gina’s dog Scottie in the background, and yes, he is singing too. Can you tell that Aunt Chris almost looks like she in pain? That’s what having Gina and Scottie sing to you will do.
On class days Charlotte and Samantha get dressed in their overalls, pack their coolers, and wait on the porch swing for carpool to pick them up. Buttons always likes to wait with them. They are growing up so fast and I feel like every time I blink I miss something. I want to have pictures of the simple, little, everyday things that too often I take for granted until it’s gone.
Thanks for stopping by today, see you on Monday!
Coming soon…
When I do a “coming soon” post it generally means I don’t have time to do a whole post, and that is what it means today. But I have a good excuse; I’m working on a project here at my house that I am trying to get finished by Friday. Hopefully I’ll have some pictures of it to share with you next week. Until then here are a couple of sneak peeks from some shoots I haven’t posted yet…
{Families} {Events} Kubach 45th Anniversary
Aunt Wanda and Uncle John celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary on August 8th, and their daughter Carol asked me to come take some pictures of their celebration. They had a fun party with sisters, brothers, cousins, friends, children, and grandchildren. I’m sharing just a few of the pictures with you here.
On their wedding day…
The cake, made by Carol, was a replica of their wedding day cake…
…with the original cake topper.
They look pretty happy, don’t they?
Their oldest grandson, Scottie, had to work, so he couldn’t be there. But I did get pictures of the all the other grandchildren.
Ethan
Brady
Shea
Jeffrey
Jason
The three youngest are at my favorite ages for pictures, they make the cutest faces, so I had to share two of each of them.
Claire
Jake
and Piper
And before I left I got some shots of the happy couple…
I hope you had a happy anniversary and I wish the two of you many more years of happiness!
{Snapshots of the Week}
I have been neglectful this week and not taken a single snapshot…there, I admit it. I did not realize it until I looked for some snapshots to post and realized there aren’t any! This week has gone by in a blur…
But, never fear, I have some pictures to share anyway. This week I was looking at our beach trip pictures from last year, remembering all the fun we had with 26 people in a 4-bedroom, 2-bath rental house at Oak Island, haha. I’d love to do it again, but so far this year it hasn’t worked out. So it’s a good thing I have pictures from last year, right?
Most of these are not actually taken on the beach, we had some of the best times just hanging out around the house. I think this one was taken during an episode of Wizards of Waverly Place, the kids are certainly glued to the TV aren’t they? Well, except for Hope.
Now that I’ve said most of these are not taken on the beach, I realize the next three are. But I love this one, the seagull is in perfect position, if I say so myself.
I love this capture of Charlotte wiping out!
And doesn’t Sarah look like a little swimsuit model? She’s got her pose perfected.
We spent one afternoon at the NC Aquarium at Ft Fisher which was a lot of fun. Hot, but fun. 
I know this picture is far from perfect, but it’s one of my favorites nonetheless. It’s just my kids being silly with cool blue lighting…
Holly took this one of me while we were waiting on the kids to eat their ice cream, yes I was that tired!
Taken from the ferry back to the mainland.
This is almost everyone that was there.
We had this cool boardwalk behind our house that went out over the marsh…
…see how pretty this is?
Our front porch without quite as many people on it.
This was the last day, one more picture before loading up. I’m ready to go back!
