Friday Roundup

Happy Friday! It feels like summer is officially here, can't wait to soak up some sun this weekend.

Here are some links to get us started:

This made me tear up a little. Love that Mylo will get to watch Reading Rainbow.

This looks delicious and healthy.

Interesting stuff. 

Are these really back in style? I'm tempted, would you wear them? MK and Ashley did with socks!

Cute kid and great cause.

Hilarious speech, watch now.

Super cute idea for scattering during the exit at a wedding.

This movie looks funny, love Tina Fey.

Bold and bright London townhouse.

Yummy for summer.

30 day-trips from Seattle!


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Project Pinterest: Ginger Ale

I decided to start of my summer of crafts, creating and DIY with something super simple- a simple syrup. 

Jason and I drink a TON of ginger beer/ginger ale. I tell myself it's "healthy" since it has real ginger in it. 

When you buy the good stuff, made real ginger, it isn't cheap.  So it's something I've been wanting to try making for awhile.

I'd been eying a couple of fairly intimidating recipes- involving food processing and straining and things. A lot of steps and a lot of dishes to clean in the end.

Then I discovered this recipe from David Lebovitz, which is SUPER simple. You don't even have to peel the ginger!  

Once you make the simple syrup it'll keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks. Just mix it in a glass with some ice and sparkling water. Adjust the amounts based on how gingery you like it. I like it with a bit of lemon or lime squeezed in. 

It's perfect to turn into a mixed drink as well, just add your favorite liquor. 

Getting a Summer Glow

I am extremely pale...like, VERY, very pale. And as hard as I may have tried in the past, I don't get tan from the sun. So in order to get a "summer glow" I need to resort to self tanners and bronzers without turning the dreaded orange. This summer I'm going to try out Dr. Dennis Gross' self tanning "Glow Pads." My sister is obsessed with them because they give an even, natural looking tan and the alpha and beta hydroxy mean that you don't have to exfoliate first -- plus they help with aging and provide a smoother skin. I'm sold! I'll let you know how it goes...

Any other sunless tanning products that you love out there? I've been using the Jergens Natural Glow after I shave which makes me ever so slightly less pale. :)

Wedding Wednesday: A Moment

The best wedding photos capture the moments in which you see love.

We're working on our new website, and I LOVE this moment captured from Christian & Jaclyn's ceremony. Much more to come soon, when the new site is live! 

Photo: Studio JKoe

Interactive Cocktail Menu

Between pregnancy and having a newborn, last summer was kind of a wash for me in the cocktail department. This summer I'd love to mix up some fancy drinks to enjoy the warm Seattle summer. I love these glasses from Anthropologie but they are a bit pricey, any tips out there on where to find great cocktail glasses at a reasonable price?

Have you seen this awesome interactive cocktail menu that Rosie Schaap put out through the NY Times? I got margarita, surprise, surprise.

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Nashville & a Photo Trick

Jason and I spent the weekend in Nashville shooting a friend's wedding.  

It was a quick trip, but we did get a couple of hours to hang around one night and be tourists. We headed downtown, got some ice cream, meandered past the bright lights and bars blasting country music and walked across the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge to snap some night shots of the skyline. I decided I wanted a photo of us, and we took the shot above. Immediately after Jason posted it on Instagram, he got a couple texts from friends asking how he did it. 

I tried to get him to tell people we were actually ghosts...no one bought that. 

The real answer is super simple. You too can be a ghost! It's just a long exposure done with an app called Slow Shutter Cam. Because the camera shutter stays open much longer than a normal shot, it lets in more light, which is how you capture night shots, but it also blurs any movement- hence ghost Jason and Jenny. To get the shot right, take a couple shots, changing settings to get to the correct exposure for the background. This exposure was 15 seconds. Then just as if you're using a self timer setting,  set it on something get the angle right, hit the button and awkwardly run into the photo and FREEZE! It's important to hold as still as you can while the shutter is open, then run back out and see if it worked. 

Now go make some ghost photos yourself! 

Would You Hire a Birth Photographer?

The idea of someone photographing the birth of my baby always seemed a bit odd to me before Mylo was born. I wanted the experience of giving birth to be intimate and really only include Patrick, myself, our doula, and minimal assistance from medical professionals along the way. If you've read his birth story you know I didn't really get my wish. Now that I can reflect on the experience it might be nice to have some classy, professional, birth photos to look back on now. Especially because the natural part of my labor was so overshadowed by the needed interventions that took place in the end. I'm so grateful for the photos that Jason was able to snap just after I met Myles for the first time. I was so drugged I barely even remember him taking them but they are very special to us now. I recently read an article on Babble about how in a C-section delivery, birth photography can be even more important since the photos will serve as the eyes of the mother since she can't see what is happening.

I tried to take photos when my sister gave birth to Rory but I did NOT do the moment justice. It was one of the most beautiful and magical moments I have ever experienced and I just wasn't able to capture that with my camera. Although it may be weird to have a stranger or acquaintance in the room during this intimate moment it would also be nice to have those private photos for years to come.

These are lovely photos of a birth and here is an interesting interview with a birth photographer. Did you hire a birth photographer? Would you?

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