Home made pizza and babies!

Last night we made homemade pizza… crust and all.

It was pretty tasty. Mine had all kinds of things on it, like mushrooms and fresh mozzarella cheese. Hubby’s was a boring cheese and pepperoni.

 

Lilly helped make the pizza by laying right in front of the ovens and guarding the food while it baked. Unfortunately, she did not get to have a slice as she get’s too many treats as is, and is starting to put on a bit of extra wait. Dog parent FAIL

After dinner, I met a little cutie.

He’s name is Ian and his has some bright blue eyes!

He wants to be just like dad when he grows up.

And this may be my favorite picture by far from the whole shoot. The face says it all!

Hope you all have a great Tuesday!!!!

Z

Ramblings on Monday

I don’t know where time goes. Really, it seems like you wake up on a Monday and before you know it it’s Monday morning again. This weekend was very low key for us, we worked on our backyard, cleaned the kitchen, cooked A LOT, drank wine and played with our pup. I worked a little for my 9 to 5 job, and did a few shoots on Friday and one on Sunday. Overall, it was a good weekend.

Here we are again on Monday morning though. Lilly’s been really good at getting me up at the crack of dawn, and it’s actually been nice. While I grumbled a little about it initially, now my body and mind are use to waking up early and it’s nice. I get lots more done, and have time to workout again.

I’ve been going a little crazy between two jobs and school, so I decided to drop my class for this 8 weeks. I’ve got one bitch of a teacher anyways, she constantly takes points off of assignments without explanation. I hate professors like that. For some reason they think they are above everyone else and no one can get a good grade in their class, I’ve seen at least 10 of my classmates already drop the class.

On a brighter note, I got a bright orange kitchen aid mixer. We picked the most obnoxious color in the world… just because we could. It’s awesome!

I’ve already made a big load of twice backed potatoes, deviled eggs, funfetti cupcakes and nutella cupcakes (which turned out more like muffins).

I’ve also been able to take photos of some beautiful people… and when my camera decided to quit on me, husband decided that I should get the camera I’ve been drooling over for a year or so. SOO, now I’m the proud owner of a Mark II. <3 It’s love!

I’ll leave you with a few of my favorites shots from my recent shoots:

My beautiful friend Irina posed for the camera when I was back in Denver at the end of April/beginning of May. She’s one of the most beautiful people I know, and there are so many more shots that I’m drooling over.

I’ve known Navodita (Dita) since we were in the 4th grade. She was one of my first true friends here in the States and we have stayed friends over the years. It’s scary to think we’ve known each other for 15 years!!!

 

When we moved to Arizona, I was afraid we’d never meet anyone or have any friends, as the places we’ve lived before, most of the neighbors have been closed off an unfriendly. Well, we lucked out this time! Our backyard backs up to an amazing family, who has this little boy! They’ve become our close, and this little babe brightens up our day, everyday!!!

Amy found me through Facebook and we clicked right away. She’s such  a sweet and beautiful gal, a true Southern Belle (she’s from Georgia)! Such a beautiful family! Can’t wait for the arrival of little Mr. Logan!!

Kristin is the local power yoga instructor. She is amazing, and so are her classes!

This beautiful baby girl is Jenny, Val (the mama) is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. We were doing a Father’s day mini session for Jenny, when Val got the news that her grandma (Jenny’s great grandma) wasn’t doing so great and most likely wouldn’t make it through the weekend. So we got a few pictures of Jenny holding her great grandma’s picture. Such a sweet moment.

Individual posts with more photos from each session will be posted on my photography blog later on this week. I’ll link it on this one if you all are interested!!!

 

Have a great Monday!!!

Let’s Save Some Money

Today is the day for our Budget Challenge!!!

When I first met Janna in person, in early May, I was amazed at her take on money. We must have spent a good hour talking about my lack of budget skills and her AWESOME budget skills. She revealed that a Challenge is what really got her into budgeting … she went a whole YEAR without buying clothing!

With a new house, a new businesses, and lots of furniture and equipment to buy I think this is a good time to get this thing going. So I coxed Janna into doing another challenge but this time with a twist.

 

 

For the next 30 days you will give up a vice (or vices) that are not necessities, and then add up what you save and place it towards something big.

For example, I’ll be cutting out buying clothing, shoes and accessories as well as Starbucks, Eating Out at Fast Food places, as well as buying things for the house. My goal is to ONLY spend money on buying groceries and filling up my tank (which I don’t need to do often as I work from home).

My hope is that the money I end up saving (or as my hubs put it NOT spending) will go towards paying off our smallest credit card. From my calculations it should end up actually paying it off.

So are you up for it????

You’ve got till next Friday to figure out what you’d like to save on, and what you’d like to apply it to.

If so, we’ll be linking up weekly. Get a list of the things you wanted to buy and what they cost together. Every Friday we’ll link up and see how much is in our virtual piggy banks!!!

Ready?! Set! GOO!!!!!

Are you up for it?

So we’re all moved into our house. We have blinds… so we’re no longer living in a fish bowl. Our backyard is slowly but surely turning into a yard. Some of the walls have paint on them. We’re still lacking living room furniture, dining room furniture, bedroom furniture and overall any kind of furniture. We do have a sleeper sofa in the guest bedroom and some barstools around the kitchen island. OH and a mattress on the floor that we sleep on.

Currently Lilly has more “furniture” then we do, as she’s got two dog beds and has claimed the sleeper sofa as hers.

Last Wednesday, my camera decided to quit on me. It was a sad day in this household, as I had just come back from a photoshoot… and half the pictures were fuzzy due to some kind of a loose connection. Long story short, I am now the proud owner of a 5D Mark II. The camera I have been drooling over for over a year. My husband dearest decided that I deserved it since I’m actually making money with it.

ALLL of this being said… we are no on a very tight budget. AND by tight budget I mean tiny because we need to pay things off and get our finances back in order.

We ignored the memo that home ownership comes with lots of expenses… like $2000 for window covers and $2500 for landscape supplies (or 10K if you want someone to actually do the heavy lifting for you). OHHH and the fact that hubs and I cannot settle for anything less then perfect (which usually correlates with super expensive) does not help matters. AT ALL.

SOOO… I am teaming up with one of my best blog gals to bring around a little challenge!

 

<a href="http://eatshopandbemarried.blogspot.com/"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh51dTYx985zSncos2xijc_Ffxnfx3ocfsMAZ-h1gLHC6dbhSDVf9E44tgN7Sn2q_PHFGX11-7iQ7IJ3I7dHj-2up_zsw2KAOB6klGrFLT0LAinmpf9e4LcG_5SyySI8CbQp-ag6C03ekH0/s1600/piggy+bank+2.jpg" alt="BWS tips button" width="200" height="175" /></a>

Here’s the idea:

• There is a ton of stuff we buy every month that we can live without.
• Things like Starbucks, a new skirt, eating out, fast food, and so on can all be cut out.
• For 30 days, instead of buying things you can live without (yes you can live without that maxi dress)… you put that money aside towards a goal.
• The goals can be anything from paying off a credit card, going on a nice shopping trip, savings for a vacation, whatever

Tomorrow Janna and I will both post a more detailed account as well as the link up information.

Hope you all are having a great Thursday!!!!

The last week and a half

I had to keep a little secret from you all… but I had good reason.

My parents are born 12 hours apart… same year and all, and their birthdays happen to be on the 27th and 28th of April. So, I decided to surprise them and drive home to see them, without telling them.

It’s a pretty long story, but I ended up making it without them having a clue … this is why I couldn’t post on here as my mother reads this little blog of mine. Thanks to my beautiful friend Kristin for chatting it up with me on my long drive, Tina Fey for keeping me entertained on my drive home and of course my Lilly bug for keeping me company. I have a post dedicated to the trip coming to you over this week.

I also had the opportunity to take some photos of two of my beautiful friends while in Denver. Here is a sneak peek.

I’ll have more of each of these through the week. I’m pretty impressed with myself, and love these two for letting me practice on them. I’ve learned so much, and yet there is always more to learn.

While in Denver I also got to meet one of my most favorite bloggers! I’ve met Janna over a year ago through blogging and sort of hated her at first, because she is so dang beautiful. BUT then I got to know her better and fell in love!  She is one of the sweetest, nicest and incredible ladies I’ve met and I’m so glad to call her a real friend!

I made it home on Friday, after driving for two days to my incredible husband who had cleaned the floors and done all the dishes!

Also, a beautiful little bracelet was waiting for me when I got home from my bestie Kristin.

I finished off the week by spending some quality time with the Hubs, celebrating the 5th of May with tacos, margaritas and good company, buying a new patio set, doing homework and some awesome power yoga!