Creole Wisdom

a little thursday fun

My cute blog friend (and creole press customer) Becca answered some fun questions on her blog Monday and I thought I'd play along. I've tagged a few of you at the bottom. These questions originally came from Becca's sister-in-law (and my first blog friend, ever) Shannon.

1. Do you plan, or are you flying by the seat of your pants?

Haha! I am so obsessed with plans. In order to basically function I need to have everything planned out. I remember writing my "life plan" in xcel when I was 13 complete with ages that I would graduated high school, college, marry and have children. Maybe this is why I cannot handle the element of surprise. I know God is in charge, but can we please do things my way!?

2. Today was amusing because_______ (I wrote this monday)

I stupidly took 62 east instead of 62 west into Edina. I realized my mistake and had to turn around, following the frontage road all the way back several miles. Let's just say it's a good thing I left five minutes early. A family from newborn photography gave me a truffle! There is nothing like a little chocolate to start your day right. I think that makes up for the detour!

3. How hungry are you right now?

Not much. I'm trying to decide if I should eat lunch in the hospital cafeteria (it's actually pretty good) or go to Panera. I usually eat out when I shoot newborn sessions, but I can't really decide what I want. I could go for anything!

4. Bad news: sugarcoated or straight-up?

Straight up. I want it right away, too. Sugarcoating is how I deliver bad news to others, but I only want the straight stuff.

5. How do you get out of a rut?

I go and do work at my dad's house, call Ashley and convince her to meet me at Tiger Sushi for lunch, call Kate and have her talk some sense into me and clean or rearrange my apartment. There is something so very therapeutic about a clean space!

6. What are you a geek about?

A lot of things. I am a freak about this blog appearing how I want it. I'll go through old, old posts and if I see a grammar/spelling mistake I try to fix them. I cannot stand conflict. I will apologize, make ammends, back down whatever just to keep the peace. Having my homework for Bible Study done, it's the only "class" I take and I take it seriously. My skin. It needs to be healthy and it needs to look good.

7. What do you crave?

Sushi, Frye boots, lots of fall foliage, walks around my neighborhood, great dates, a glass of red wine, laughs with friends and Sunday nights that are quiet and peaceful.

8. What was the last bad movie you watched?

Zane and I went to a pre-screening of a movie I am blanking on. It had to do with a teacher deciding to be a professional fighter so he could save the music program. I had a nice time because it was fun, but I would probably say it was a bad movie.

9. Do you have any new friends?

Yes. Two come to mind: my friend Emily who I met at Bible Study last spring and my friend Louisa who is a fellow photographer. To be fair Louisa's family and my family have known each other and I spent time at their house growing up, but we've recently reconnected because of our professions.

10. You want a new____

Pair of Frye boots! (sensing a theme here?)

11. What makes you feel wonderful?

A full-night's sleep, that moment in church when you know the speaker is telling you something you need to hear, a sunny day, my schedule laid out all organized, a non-crazy amount of photography assignments, non-work time with my co-workers, when all the AOPis are together and cute, well-behaved children.

Alright, I tag: Meg, Fringe Girl, Keya, Janssen and Josie.

my (second) five seconds of fame

I endured the silliness and sometimes embarrassment of being on the side of a bus last year and this fall marks another funny fame moment for me! What can I say? I always wanted to be a model growing up and in a weird, strange way I've got to experience that a few times.

My friend Julie, who I met through church, works for a local advertising company. Did you now that Minneapolis' nickname is sometimes MinneADpolis? We have quite a few agencies in town. Anyway, her agency has Heinz as a client and they needed models.

I spent the majority of an afternoon in late May at a small cafe in NE. The photographer who captured everyone, Tasha, from Red Bird Hills is spectacular. She can run circles around me. I spent most of the shoot in awe of her talent and really cool camera harness that hooks onto her pants.

Everything took a while from wardrobe selection (I wore things I'd never pick in real life) to vignette composition. Apparently I look like I could be a mother to an eight-year-old boy. You better believe I made them give me a wedding ring to put on for that shot!

Here are a few of my favorites, I wish I had higher resolution shots, but this is what I've got.

These won't appear in regular grocery stores but in restaurant supply chains, so you probably won't see them. Anyway, my five seconds of fame take two, and don't fret, I am still humble.

Hobby Lobby Exodus

For reasons beyond my understanding there is no Hobby Lobby here, or nearby. I think they should come to Minneapolis, or at least Maple Grove. City girls like to do crafts, too. I love Hobby Lobby, and you know if I'm going to go on a road trip to get to one they need to have some special stuff, and they do. It's Hobby Lobby.

Finally, after weeks of planning and excitement, Jessi, Ashley, Meg and I headed down to Mankato on Saturday. I am so grateful to Jessi and her giant Tahoe with plenty of trunk room! Our drive was wonderful. Ashley, who is from southern MN led us towards Mankato via the scenic route. Here we are driving into Le Seur, home of the Jolly Green Giant.

What seemed like minutes later we arrived at our destination after lunch (with special birthday celebration for Jessi.) I could hardly contain my excitement! We had finally arrived!

The plan was to go down each aisle, to savor every square foot of Hobby Lobby. We were prepared and ready to go, each of us having a specific items in mind. Meg came for scrapbook supplies, Jessi for furniture, Ashley for Easter craft stuff and me for home items and frames. Do you think it was coincidence that most home stuff, furniture and frames were 50% that weekend!? I think not!

We all found success, and a little over an hour later headed outside with happy purchases in tow. I love my new frame and this ampersand. I have big plans for both. I am also slightly concerned that I may have od on craft projects for my place :/ Afterwards we stopped at a frozen yogurt place. You betcha they have frozen yogurt in Mankato!

After our treat it was back to the grind... er, shopping! We stopped in stunning St. Peter for antiques. I love this town, isn't it beautiful in such a nice old fashioned way?

Meg helped me find an incredible mirror to replace the gross medicine cabinet in my bathroom. I can't wait to show you it, newly spray painted and all. I love that it was a whopping $9.65, too. What can I say, I am high roller.

It was the perfect way to spend a Saturday. What more could I ask for than my fellow AOPis plus Hobby Lobby? I just hope they open one in the metro area soon, we sure need it!

my oven and the &%#$ its put me through

I learn new things all the time. I think I've got domesticity mastered and then smack, in the face I deal with something awful and learn a really good lesson.

So, I have an electric stove. I'm not crazy about it, but life goes on. For Valentine's Day I decided I wanted to cook dinner for Becky. I carefully stuffed chicken and placed it on a baking sheet to broil. The directions said to use a rimmed baking sheet but I don't have one so I used a cookie sheet. Huge mistake!

The chicken turned out great, but my oven was a mess. Not that big of a deal, ovens get dirty. But- it smelled awful. I tried opening the windows and turning on the fan and thought it would be out of the way by the end of the night. I made my second dumb decision, leave the pan in the oven so it didn't stink up my apartment.

The next morning I woke up with a terrible headache from all the smoke. Just thinking about inhaling all of that made me nervous. Then I tried to air my house out again. It worked, kinda, but I knew what I needed to do.

So I rolled up my sleeves and cleaned the pan and oven very well. I used easy-off, which is very tough but smells like death in a can. You know I usually just clean with vinegar and essential oils so this just knocked me down. I hated that I had to use it, but I felt like I had no other choice.

Next day, my apartment smells halfway burned halfway like toxic cleaning supplies. Oy! Off to Target to buy candles and I'm freezing my booty off with all the windows open and fans going. Domesticity fail maximus.

Saturday I had a brunch. I was so worried my guests would notice the smell, but thankfully it was 50% better at that point.

Anyway, I'm hoping by the time this posts (I'm writing this on Sunday) that the smell will be all gone. Any tips for next time? I know a dirty oven and smelly apartment isn't the largest trial in life but I feel like I've really walked through it!

me + 13

How perfect that today's challenge is: yourself and 13 things. We know it's Friday 1/13! Wow, stuff like that amazes me. There are no coincidences you know, this is just God offering me a little fun on this freezing Friday. And before you say, "I'm sure the challenge is designed this way," to that I say "not necessarily it's not month specific!"

So, without much more speak I give you me and my 13 things. I shall explain their significance below.

1-One of grandpa's photo albums. I love that font!

2-The best, musky scented candle

3-My little bathroom clock

4-A red recipe box

5-Hair product

6-My plant, it's not doing well :/

7-Fancy plastic goblet

8-I found this carefully carved magazine holder in my ally on garbage day. No ideas for it yet.

9-Uncle Ben's rice. Yum!

10-Miss Cleo

11-Miss Creole

12-A storage box

13-The vintage fan I'm giving to a friend

and me... in the red hunters.

SURPRISE!

I thought I had celebrated my birthday: dinner with family, shopping and a sushi dinner planned for January 5th. I had no idea that friends and family were scheming and dreaming a way to make turing a quarter century huge fun.

A few weeks into December mom asked if I would go bowling with the family. I agreed, we picked a date and then I went and did a photo shoot for work at Pinstripes. I told mom we should rearrange our bowling date from the kinda skeezy Park Tavern to the gorgeous Pinstripes because I also had a $10 coupon to use there. She said "no" because my stepdad really wanted Park Tavern, haha!

Thursday dawned and dad insisted on going to see War Horse. I didn't feel like spending 2.5 hours watching a film about a horse but agreed out of love for my dad. Dad told me several times that mom just wanted to be picked up, don't go into the house just honk the horn. As we pulled into her driveway he said, "don't get out, mom is coming out." I looked at him like he was crazy because he had already asked me to and I was fine waiting in the car. I just assumed my family was being slightly irritating, haha!

As we pulled into the parking lot at the alley mom said, "can you drop me off? My legs hurt." I thought that was ridiculous and seriously is she high maintenance! After my dad, stepdad and I parked the car we headed up to the door. There is mom waiting outside, I assumed she had forgotten to reserve a lane and we'd need to go home, the parking lot was full of cars!

As we walked inside mom said, "walk over there, our lanes our there." I look to my left and see that the lanes are full and I turn to her and said, "don't we need to get our shoes over here?" She basically pointed me back over to the right and all of a sudden a huge crowd jumped out and yelled: SURPRISE!

Becky, Chelle, Brittany and Kate all looking gorgeous

I was amazed! I was awestruck! I was so incredibly surprised and had no idea! I was shaking and slightly crying and still overcome with exciting emotion. There was a birthday sash, crown and glasses for me to wear. Birthday decorations were spread all over along with a big "25" balloon! On rolls of pink paper Ashley printed all sorts of facts on what happened in 1986 (my birth year.) Mom made a giant, double sided photo board of embarrassing photos of me growing up.

Ashley and Mom, the masterminds behind the surprise!

Turns out Ashley was the planner behind all of this. She coordinated, created a secret facebook event, hid wall posts, added frineds of mine she didn't know slowly so not to draw attention, planned everything and kept it all hidden from me! She worked with 25 people to write me 25 letters of their favorite memories of me from my Aunt Mary in New York to Anne all the way in Nebraska, I will cherish those letters forever! After bowling (at which I am horrible at, haha!) we headed back to my mom and stepdad's home for snacks and dessert.

All of the guests minus Brian and Donovan. We've mastered the "sorority squat!"

My mother, who is such a great host baked up polka dot cheese cake, Mexican chocolate cake and some fantastic appetizers. Ashley knows my love for sour candies and had a basket full of them! We toasted (sprite for me) and talked for hours. Then Emma put on her 1990s play list and we all reminisced about our childhoods :) We ended the evening watching Bring it On and eating an outrageous amount of candy.

Gorgeous (and newly engaged!) Marie and I :)

I am so grateful to the many wonderful people who came, the letters from family and friends near and far (even high school buddy Annalise who lives in France got to play, hi burberry bear!) and the love that they all showed me. I can't even begin to thank everyone. They made my birthday unforgettable!

I think 25 is off to a good start :)

I want a bulldog

Every home needs a living thing (besides me), well, at least Ashley told me that.

So in mid October I purchased three indoor bulbs that have been thriving beautifully I'll have you know ––despite my black thumb tendencies. But, a plant can't really give you affection, neither can hermit crabs or a goldfish. Cats are not my thing anymore, so I decided I would be a great mom: to a puppy.

I work from home, I have the open schedule to take s/he for walks and to obedience school. I am OCD to the days end so they would impeccably be cared for. I've always loved a good dog show, maybe I could participate in one.

I used to believe I didn't like dogs. I just don't like big dogs.

All of a sudden, it just came to me, I should adopt a bulldog or teacup bulldog. Can you blame me?

Source: google.com via Katie on Pinterest

 

Okay so that's a puppy and what puppy isn't cute? But even as adults they are just so lovable: those folds, those teefers, that smile! What is not to love?!

So, I called my landlord. We had a little chat, and I got him to go from "no dogs" to "dogs with a deposit."

Then, I read this article and learned more about breeding, bulldogs and how challenging their health issues can be. I felt discouraged, but I still am holding out hope that someday I will have a cute bulldog to call my own.

 

christmas cards 2011

I had no idea when I started designing my cards a few days before Thanksgiving what an ordeal this would be. I've made cards for a few years now, taking a break last year being my only hiatus. I've had my Epson printer for a couple of Christmas seasons and have expected it to work properly for all the projects I dream up. Is that too much to ask?

Well, apparently it is. Warning, beginning of a rant:

First: was the ink dilemma. Usually ink lasts quite long, but recently I've noticed it seems to be sucking more and more ink. So, enter three separate trips to Office Depot to pay $$$ for more cartridges.

Then: was the paper issue. The printer and my macbook were having communication issues and my colors were coming out all wrong. I'm not sending out cards with orange text and a photo that looks too dark. So I threw out about 7-8 full pages of printed cards that were all printed on expensive paper. I had to use trial and error to find a weird setting that would result in correct color, and I've never had to do this before.

The last straw: I wanted to print an extra two cards. After I had purchased more ink, figured out the settings trick I got all set up and low and behold... my paper comes out blank and then the printer insists that one of my cartridges is "foreign." So, sorry Patsy cousins and Aunt Trudy, no cards for you :(

I'm so disappointed in Epson that I tweeted a complaint, which I've never done before. I think it's a shame to sell a product that doesn't stand up// rant over.

Despite the set backs I am happy with my cards. Life and Christmas, will go on! I sent out thirty total to everywhere from Alabama to Utah. If you get one, I hope you enjoy it :) If you didn't, I'm sorry and blame Epson. For the rest of you dear, lovely readers Merry Christmas from my humble city apartment to yours.

Does anyone have a fantastic printer/scanner that they could recommend? One that isn't too huge and whose ink doesn't make you want to consider selling your eggs? Fill me in :)

Also, how am I supposed to survive to Christmas with these kind of problems in my life?! I'm kinda ready for 2012 to start so my life can get back to "perfect!"

(Yes, I am being totally dramatic and realize a trifling printer is totally a first world problem. I know, things could be so much worse.)

+/- the holiday edition

You know, like so many good things, this tradition started at AOPi. Monday night dinner at President's table, don't lie.

+ chocolate covered jojos from Trader Joe's

- iphone 3G network is trifling

+ tickets to Nutcracker and Nat King Cole-esque Christmas concert

- I still haven't mastered my clip on flash

+ enjoying sushi twice last week

- some scented candles now give me headaches and I think body wash does, too

+ spending time with zane and seeing his place

- red pants from target are not gonna work. I look like a prostitute, does this mean I get to buy hudsons?

+ planned a "ladies who lunch" party with Jana and Kristy

- my tree doesn't have a topper :(

+ discovering GOMI

- my printer is driving me insane, can't stand it

+ discovering hash tag on instagram

- staying up waayy too late

+ cookie party is 12/10

- I'm almost 25 :( :( :(

+ since this birthday will be hard I'm going to buy myself something really expensive and I'm going to eat cheese all day!

 

favorite places to shoot

So, I thought I had all my favorite places picked out, but... I was just blown away by The Depot this weekend. It's my new favorite! Quick someone put a ring on their love's finger then e-mail me so I can shoot some engagements here! These two (my mom + stepdad) crack me up.

A few of my other favorite places are:

The sculpture gardens

Ingebretsen's mural wall

St. Anthony Main (mostly the Aster Cafe exterior)

I cannot wait to discover more favorites and I've got a few I've been eyeing that are kind of strange but perfect for photos. Sometimes I just drive around and look for spaces, I'm so weird.