I am very excited to announce that you can now purchase Fine Art photography from my business, Vignette Photography. I am currently offering 3 sizes of prints, all on metallic paper and mounted – ready to frame.
I am offering a variety of prints- botanical, architectural and unique. I’ll be updating the selection on a regular basis so order while you can!
Just click here to access my store. Please feel free to email me as well, with any questions: elizabeth at vignettephoto dot com
I had another quick recipe I wanted to share with you. This one I sort of created with what I had on hand at home.
I sauteed some chicken and added honey near the end for a little sweetness. The pecans I roasted quickly in a pan, took off the heat and tossed with some maple syrup. Placed all that on a bed of lettuce and topped with a quick dressing of olive oil, pear vinaigrette, orange juice and honey. Quick, easy and very summer!
Is anyone still here? Goodness, it’s been way too long! I’ve missed my fun, creative blog and have so many things to share with you all. I hope you’ll give me a second chance.
I thought I’d do a come back post with some yummy food shots. Back in March my mom retired, for a second time so we had a mini-celebration brunch for her.
My contribution was a Spinach and Cheese Strata. I found the recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen. This was seriously divine. Bread, cheese, eggs and perfect for brunch. You make this the night before and all you do is bake the morning of your brunch. Don’t forget the mimosa!
My sister made a rhubarb coffee cake that was scrumptious. Sides were bacon, sausage and fruit salad.
My hubby contributed his skills and made us all wonderful lattes.
Can you tell I enjoyed my food? Makes me want to host another brunch very soon!
I feel bad for not blogging lately on here. I have been busy with posts over at VP. Lots of fun wedding details this week. Also, life in general keeps me hopping. I still have my sewing machine and supplies strewn about the dining room from our sewing day a few weeks back. I am pretty sure James wishes I’d clean it up. Sad thing is, I haven’t touched any of it since that Saturday. I keep thinking I’ll have some free time.
I have a few recipes and projects to share with you all but haven’t had the chance to sit down and put those posts together with images and all that good stuff so in the meantime, here are some iPhone pictures of random things in my life.
One of the skirts I grabbed at the Rock n’ Swap. I thought long and hard about the hem on this skirt since it’s polyester. Very hard to work with and I was concerned it wouldn’t lay right with some of the typical hems. If you remember, the previous owner had made an attempt at shortening it and left it a jagged, uneven edge. I measured and marked out a new hem and instead of hemming it decided to do a decorative top stitch. It’s now a shorter skirt, ready for summer wearing.
Last night after a photo session at Auditorium Shores, we picked up my sister and headed over to 24 Diner on Lamar. Yum! Really good food. The atmosphere, decor and service were lovely. I am definitely looking forward to another trip in the near future. Here we are about to dive into the Waffle Sandwich and Chopped Salad.
I am loving spring right now and really enjoying my new yard and garden. Everything is blooming including the first rose of the year. I am so happy they are doing well, I’ve never had a rose bush before and now I have like 10! Sorry it’s a bit blurry. Not sure how to focus my iPhone ‘camera’.
Well, there you have it. A little bit of random for your Tuesday.
Nothing sinister I promise just our ‘busy season’ as wedding photographers. This past weekend was our final ‘free’ weekend for a while. This coming weekend kicks off engagement sessions, bridals, weddings and lots of traveling until the end of June. I am looking forward to all of it. I love weddings and I love to travel.
I wanted to have a post of pictures from Saturday when I had a few ladies over for a ’sewing day’. I completely forgot to take any pictures though! I was busy helping two of them with their pillow creations which turned out great. It was a first for either of them to get on the sewing machine and make something. I was proud! While that was going on I worked on a wrap shirt off and on. I need to finish the hems and the tie before it’s complete. I also bought 5 pillow forms from JoAnn’s because they were half off. I have plans for 4 of them right now for the living room. I hope I’ll have a few free evenings to work on them even if we are busy.
Last night we were at Target and I spotted this pillow from Liberty of London and knew I wanted it or something similar for our bedroom.
I loved the mustard trim and the back is also mustard. For $19.99 though I think I’ll be on the look out for some peacock material to make my own for half the price.
Sorry I don’t have any other images. I’ll be sure to post though as soon as the top and pillows are complete!
A day of sewing, beautiful weather, time with friends all made for a perfect weekend.
What a weekend! It literally flew by and ended too soon.
We started it off on Friday by skipping out of work early to check out a car we found on Craigs List and were interested in. Fighting traffic to get to it was insane but well worth the effort. Fingers crossed we’ll be closing the deal this afternoon!
We started watching Australia that night too and still need to finish it. We got to ending #1 and have been told there are at least 3 more…..wow. I am enjoying it though since it feels like reading a big ole novel and is such a pretty movie to watch as well.
Saturday was the ‘day’. I was up and at ‘em early for my hair appointment at 10am. Cut and highlights in preparation for new head shots for my business. As you know, the salon is my happy place so I was able to relax and just enjoy being pampered for a bit. The cut is a bit shorter than I anticipated it being but I really do like it. Very easy to fix and go in the morning. I also went with the bangs! I can easily push them to the side though so it wasn’t a full bang commitment.
Up next was the Austin Women’s Swap that started at noon. I rushed right over once my cut was done and was really excited about the prospect of some ‘new’ things. Now, before I say more I want to recognize the women who organized this and volunteered their time that day. I am sure it was a lot of work and I appreciate their efforts. To be completely honest about the swap though, I’d have to say I was sorely disappointed. Even though efforts were made to pre-screen items and keep things organized, in my opinion it was a bit chaotic. I think everyone (including myself) brought their items the day of so sorting, hanging and getting things ready to be ’shopped’ was slow going. It also cut down any pre-screening of the items resulting in a lot of stained, ripped or just really old items being put out. I brought home 6 items, one of which was something I originally brought that I thought was too nice to leave there. Of the other 5 items, two are stained, one still had a tag on, one is for my mom and one I will most likely get rid of immediately. So yeah, needless to say I left there a bit put out as did a few of my friends that attended. A couple of them did find a few good things though and it was for a good cause so it wasn’t a total flop. All that being said, I think I’ll stick to smaller swaps in the future where things can be better controlled. If you attended, I’d love to hear your thoughts – leave a comment!
After that, I tried to have lunch with the girls but had to split early to meet a client and fight more traffic. I am very thankful I have a sister who lives downtown so I can crash at her apartment as needed. 
I hung out there until 4 when another group of us headed to Frank’s for hot dogs and to try out their table side coffee siphon. Amazing! If you enjoy coffee (and science) I highly recommend giving this a try. Take a few friends though!
We ended the night with a quick nap at home before heading out again to a friends birthday party at Dominican Joe’s. Friends, music and more coffee- good times.
Sunday after church my friend Sarah came over to get me all fixed up for my head shots. This girl knows make up and I do not so I was glad for her help. I really do not like being in front of the camera but since hubs was shooting I was a little ok. It’s awkward but a good lesson for me when dealing with clients- I know a bit more how you guys feel!
After some yummy shrimp tacos we settled in for some Oscar viewing. I think this was the first time in a long time I actually watched the whole thing. Sarah really got into it and that made it fun for me. I enjoyed seeing the dresses and hairstyles too. Favorites of the evening had to be Maggie Gyllenhaal, Sandra Bullock, Penelope Cruz and Rachel McAdams.
And here we are at Monday again.
This past weekend I got back to doing something I haven’t done in years and it felt good.
The original plan was to drive to San Antonio on Saturday for an engagement session with one of our clients but we rescheduled because of the weird weather that day. So without a shoot we had a free Saturday before us with not a single plan. Wow. Trying to remember the last time that happened.
We lazed around for most of the morning, watched Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (waste of time) and then at the encouragement of my hubby got to work on a pattern from Christine Haynes book. I have a few lined up to do from her book but I tackled this one first because the shape and style of the jacket intrigued me. I wanted one!
The material I used was some I have had laying around for a long while. I love the color of it. Once I got into working on the pattern I realized there was a bit of stretch in it that made making and applying the bias tape a bit difficult. The book says a light or medium weight fabric works best for this pattern which I can see. It needs a stiffer material for a crisper look.
I’ll definitely be making another of these and probably in a small instead of a medium. It’ll make a great shooting jacket. Comfortable, easy to move in and looks cute! Oh, excuse some of the bad photos in this post. I was too lazy to pull out the ‘big’ camera and get really good shots.
I was thinking about this over the weekend and thought I should check the date again so I don’t miss it…glad I did. It’s in less than 2 weeks! March 6th to be exact.
If you want to attend you need to act now because they are taking clothing donations prior to the event and you have to RSVP.
Here are some more details.
There will be food, drinks, live music, raffles, silent auctions and even seamstresses on site!
Proceeds from the event and any unclaimed items will go to: Safe Place, Women for Women International and The Feminist Action Project. You can have fun and be a part of something benefiting others!
Now, time to dig through my closets and see what I can find to swap!
Why do all the cool things happen at the end of the month when I am out of ‘fun’ money?
Even though it’s a free event, the temptations offered by the local artisans will be more than I can bear. Scoring a goodie bag and a few cupcakes would totally make the evening though.
I love to cook. I just don’t love to cook all the time. There are days when I get home from work and all I want to eat is popcorn. If I were single that wouldn’t be a big problem. James requires food though. Meals and snacks through out the day and he likes to eat dinner.
When we were first married (really not that long ago) I was really good about making a menu and grocery list and sticking to a budget and all that. This past year that hasn’t happened as frequently. I feel bad when I can’t come home and whip up a beautiful meal for us to enjoy. And it’s usually because we are too busy, I forgot to thaw something or the fridge is empty. Eggs or cereal anyone?
James is great though because he doesn’t ever expect anything super fancy or multiple courses (thank God!). As long as there is protein involved he’s good. He is also very understanding and can tell when I am having one of ‘those’ days. He’ll step in and whip up something “James style”.
Since I love to cook (on occasion), I love to save recipes. If I recorded every recipe I wanted to try on this blog it would be insane. The ’starred’ section of my Reader is insane. I have tried a few of them already, some I have shared here.
I guess all this rambling is to say that I’ve realized it doesn’t have to be a fancy recipe with fancy ingredients to be good. It doesn’t have to even be about the food but about the time spent preparing it, the thought that goes into it and the time spent enjoying it with someone special. It makes me realize that even if I do complain about the process I LOVE the time I get to spend with James at the dinner table. Sometimes we talk a lot, laugh a lot. Other times we are tired and just stare at each other (in a slightly romantic way). Either way, it’s all good.
On that slightly sappy note, I’ll leave you with one of MY recipes. I concocted it this week from stuff I had in the fridge when I forgot to thaw something for dinner. It’s not fancy but it’s simple, good and the dinner conversation was great.
“What I Found” Tortellini
There aren’t any measurements because I didn’t measure anything. I just threw stuff in. What I made served 2. It’s a recipe you can copy or tweak using what you have in your fridge.
Enjoy!
