Too Legit

The wait is over. Photography Hill has been officially launched! Check out the website at photography-hill.com.

And! Check out the giveaway over at the Photography Hill blog.

A big thank you to everyone that has been so supportive of my photography. It means the world to me.

Pleasant Distraction

Friends, it has been too long. To say that I have been distracted would be a understatement. For those of you who don't know, I am getter super serious about my photography and have formed my own company. Photography Hill is soon to be launched in all it's glory this week. I'll post here, Facebook, and Instagram (@photographyhill) about that - complete with a giveaway. Stay tuned! I am so excited to share my work with you (and the world?). Taking pictures of people makes me happy and I want to share that happiness.

Check out my business cards! I'm to legit to quit. Moo provides amazing options for business cards. Without them, it would have taken me a long time to produce my polaroid inspired cards. I thought of the idea about a year ago, so when I saw their template just like I had envisioned on Moo, it was a dream come true.

And again, stay tuned. A giveaway is on the way.

Guest Posting

I'm guest posting over at Jen's blog today. Please send some happy birthing vibes her way, as her baby is 5 days overdue. Let us all collectively will Cletus the Fetus to be born in the next 24 hours.

And here is a random photo for you, since I take pictures and a post is never fully dressed without one. This one is of the Boy at 3 days old.

Lettuce, Turnip, and Pea

Recently, Husband and I decided to get strict with our monthly budget. We are not extravagant with our expenditures, but since student loans are in our lives, we decided that we should tighten up our budget where possible. The grocery budget is ALWAYS where I look first. We decided to go cash only on our groceries, and that the budget would be $200/month or $50/week.

This week marks the end of our first month of cash only. It also marks the end of our first month of regularly buying meat again. I am amazed and excited about how far I have stretched that money (FYI: I stopped couponing over a year ago because it just took too much energy). I was actually $7.18 under budget. A big portion of this success is thanks to Fresh & Easy for their excellent prices, weekly coupons, and reward points system. And thanks to Superstition Ranch Market for excellent prices on produce.

I'm, also, pretty happy to report that we have actually eaten better than usual. This can be attributed to reading It Starts With Food that changed my views of our meal plan (read: put more emphasis on protein, veggies, and fruit, and less on fillers like rice and bread).

Here are pictures of some of my favorite meals from this month so far:

 Salmon Cakes with Asparagus and Bell Peppers

 Banana Pancakes (packed with protein) and Strawberries

 Pork Chops with Onion Orange Marmalade and Asparagus

 Pork Chops with Apple Cranberry Maple Glaze and Salad

  Cranberry BBQ Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potato and Spinach and Cornbread

Egg Drop Soup with Whole Wheat Potstickers*

Another really great thing about this week is that the Boy helped cook a few meals, which resulted in pride in his accomplishment and more enjoyment eating his meals. Every night he asks what dinner will be and when told, he exclaims "Yes!!! I love (insert food name)!!!"

He sauteed those bell peppers and asparagus amazingly well.

The pride in his efforts for this omelet can be seen in his Awkward Family Photos smile/pose.

He was super excited about the corn bread he helped make, so much so that he inhaled 3 slices in a blink of an eye. 

*I realize this meal was lacking in the veggie department. Can't be winning all the time.

AZ Blogger Meetup Recap

A few weeks ago, I attended a blogger meetup. The idea was to get to know other bloggers through bringing some our favorite things to share. This aspect was what sold me on going. I love putting together gift bags. Receiving bags was fun, too, especially when one included a succulent to add to the succulent garden on my fireplace.

The bags I put together contained:

-80s glasses
-print of one of my Polaroids
-Strawberry Lime Jones soda
-half pint of home canned Sweet and Sour Pickled Red Onions
-notebook
-Cd of 5 favorite Zumba songs

Lets talk a moment about the shirt I wore to this event. I've noticed that blogger meet-ups are pretty fashionable affairs, but as we seen before, I crack under the pressure. This time around my choice of attire was purely emotional.

Here is a little story:

Once upon a time, in August of 2006, I invited Husband (ex-boyfriend at the time) to attend a Death Cab for Cutie concert with me and some friends. It was an incredible concert, especially since it introduced us to Mates of State (opening band). Both Husband and I bought shirts. Shortly after the concert, I went home for a visit and took my shirt with me. Somewhere during that visit the shirt was misplaced and I thought I had lost it forever. Husband wore his shirt lots and lots in the years that followed. Every time he wore his, I felt a deep longing for my lost shirt. Fast forward to a few months ago when my parents were moving. As they were moving their washing and dryer, they found my t-shirt huddled in a corner covered in dust bunnies. I may have shrieked with joy.

It needed a good wash, but basically it is as pristine as the day I bought it (stark contrast to Husband's shirt which is now sporting a few holes). The day of the blogger meet-up was the first day I wore it. And I could not change out of it into something more trendy for the meet-up. And perhaps I wore it for 5 days straight before I washed it again. And wore it as many days as I could since. We had been apart for 6.5 years, and by the record of days warn in the past month, I have developed separation anxiety. But enough about my weird tendencies...

The meet-up was a lot of fun. I loved hearing from all the ladies about their blogs and eating the delicious food provided by Sweet Cakes. I cannot wait for another opportunity to hang out with these ladies and form lovely local blogger friendships. A big thank you to Camille and Katie for hosting, Sweet Cakes* for providing an after-hours location, Bonnie for taking photos (since I failed to take my camera out during the event), Megan for the succulent and over stuffed oreos, and most importantly, Jen and Brooke for coming with me to ease my awkwardness.

*Anyone else out there want to call that place Sweet Cupin' Cakes?

Hot Diggity Dog

I love hot dogs. Maybe too much. My friends tease about it. Whatever. Hot dogs get a bad rep as being cheap and gross. With the right toppings, an ordinary hot dog can go from white trashy to super classy.

My top favorite hot dog is the Sonoran Dog. It is basically a hot dog wrapped in bacon covered with taco filling. My first exposure was at El Guero Canelo down in Tucson. On a scale from garbage to awesome, it was a party in my mouth. Since that time I've sampled other locations and tried to recreate one myself.

I made this one.

My other top favorite is the Chicago Dog. Picture all the best hamburger fixings on a hot dog. I first tried it at Chompies. Just about every time I have gone back to that delicatessen, which is alot, I have order their Chicago Dog. Sonic and Freddy's offer decent ones. This one is easy to recreate, and I have on many occasions.

From the Chompie's in Tempe

I have a dream to have a gourmet hot dog party. Or start a club, kind of like the Finer Things Club, to talk about and taste different topping combos. There is even a pin board I've dedicated to other hot dogs to try.

Who else loves hot dogs? Would you come to a hot dog party? Or join a gourmet hot dog club?

Lovely Letters

Speaking of origami, I made something else. This time it was something for the Boy.

The Boy loves letters. Every time we go anywhere, since he was a year old, he has pointed out letters and gravitated toward any toys/games with letters. I saw some origami number art on Pinterest and immediately thought of the Boy.

Source: bkids.typepad.com via Lydia on Pinterest

Upon further investigation, I found some instructions for letters, so I had to make them. This was a pretty great project to do with the Boy's help. He picked out the colors while I did the folding.

Basically the Boy was really excited. It paired pretty well with the framed number chart I found at Goodwill.