Prom Queen

Sadly, I am not the prom queen. I know y'all must be shocked! I keed, I keed.

 

Two weekends ago my cousin and her boyfriend had his high school's prom to attend (he's a seen-ya and she's a june-ya) and they needed a few snapshots taken. She failed to inform me that he doesn't dig taking pictures. However, she is a ham and has been since she exited the womb.

When I got to her house she had, had a nail crisis and had to get it fixed. Understandable.

Then there were the eyelashes.

Maybe I'm old fashioned. Maybe I'm not on the up and up with what's cool now. I don't know, but what I do know is that I have NEVER touched a fake eyelash in my life, and now I may possibly be the Mia Hamm or Victoria Beckham or the Bill Gates of eyelash application. Pro I tell you. They are still weird to me in theory though (I'd neva' wear 'em).

With all that being said, these pictures were taken in poor crummy lighting thanks to weatha' and impending thunderstorms, bad attitudes ("I hate taking pictures"), and the whirlwind associated with "prom."

Sidenote - you could not PAY me to go back to high school and do prom all over again. Too much hype surrounding it. Seriously.

Ok. Where was I?

So yea. These were taken. They're not great, but they're not turrrrible either. Definitely shows where my confidence is lacking - meaning I have to speak up to get better shots for the future (if I want them).

The focus here isn't her necklace or his tie per se. These pictures are meant to hang one above the other or side by side in a frame. Looks quite nice. I feel like I have seen other photographers take similar shots, but I was surprised how many people didn't get what I was trying to achieve until after explaining it to them (meaning how they hang). No biggie though.

-Suze

Orange Ya' Glad?

I know, I know. Orange ya' glad? Super fifth grade but you will be glad that I posted these gems.

Back in March during Spring Break (for me), my momma officially became addicted . . . to Pinterest. So hard out in the streets these days! I could hear her pin something in the other room and then say mmmmm. Then pin something again, and then say MMMMM even louder.

I decided on my off day (should have been studying Cardio) to stalk her Pinterest boards and make her a little something. She pinned these Orange Muffins and I thought why not? As you can see from the post here and the one I am currently sharing, Annie's Eats is spot on with her recipes. It's also one of my Daily Fuel vices. What can I say? These are good things people!

So after enjoying sushi with a good friend, I went to the store for the few things I needed and got down to making these beauties.

See? Orange ya' glad?

-Suze

Want Some Jimmies On That?

My birthday was back in February and I had quite a lot going on during that time: DDM Block II, two roommates' birthdays, etc. It was just mentally taxing. With that being said, I partied it up in Virginia Beach for my birthday, rather than make the trek to Richmond.

I made a smart choice. I basically got two celebrations. I must remember this for future birthdays!

The weekend after my birthday I went to the 804 for some lovin' and boy did I get it! My momma used to make cakes (birthday, wedding, anniversary, etc.) when I was younger, therefore I always had the creme de la creme birthday cakes growing up. This year she decided to go a different route and I didn't hate it!

Forever it seems, I have enjoyed those pasty, white, simple carb, high calorie, high fat, high sugar, DELICIOUS cookies (that I refer to as crack cookies) that Walmart sells year round with different frostings and decor. Know what I'm talking 'bout? I thought so. They are so awful and wonderful at the same time.

In fact, I have received them in place of Valentine's Day candy from boyfriends and I usually consume them in one sitting with milk. Lots of milk. Hey, no judging! I know you've done it too. Part of the process is overcoming the denial of it all.

They are actually called Lofthouse cookies, and my momma being the saint that she is made 'em for me. She used this recipe for Lofthouse cookies but tweaked it a little bit and of course added lots of love. I am convinced they got me through the following week of studying. Otherwise, I might not be sharing this with you now!

Now for the jimmies. While at WVU I had to take a speech class. Not because I have an issue with talking in front of people, but as a requirement. We allllll know that speaking isn't something I fear.

My professor would always bring up different words and ask the students in her class to say what they learned that it was called/named growing up. Examples would be shopping cart/buggy, toboggan/beanie, remote/clicker, vacuum/sweeper, and in another case sprinkles or jimmies?! I refuse to call them jimmies, but apparently they are not to be confused with sprinkles that adorn sundaes, cookies, brownies and more. I think it's a northern thang. Won't hold it against ya' though.

With that being said, my momma topped these cookies off with jimmies sprinkles and they were just divine.

Enjoy!

-Suze

You Wanna' Black Eye?

Like I said, I have a lot of pictures that have been piling up over the past few months year. Last fall I went with a friend and his son to the zoo at Maymont and happened to snag a few pictures of these lovely flowers . . . Black-Eyed Susans. Fitting no?

Don't worry. I don't take pictures of just flowers.

-Suze

Quit Horsin' Around

Mother's Day was a few days ago and rather than purchase the ingredients to make my momma, nannie, and aunt a Hummingbird Cake days before, I decided to go to the store at 6:30am on Sunday to get what I needed.

 

No, I had not had my perfected cup of coffee yet.

 

Our neighbors have a few horses and the sun in the morning always looks superb in that direction. I took the picture of the little gem below on my way back in (however this was shot under the overhang of the barn). They also have a ton of alpacas. I'm not brave enough to face those little things. Yet. They're odd to me. Momma thinks they're cute.

I am here to report that, that cake is . . . gone. Definitely try it out. However, I would recommend adding the 1/3 c of walnuts to the batter and baking them in, rather than just on top. Soak and toss them in flour before adding to the batter so that they don't sink to the top (because it's a bunt cake pan) of the cake.

While my cake was baking, my parents went to church and my dad advised insisted that I go take pictures of the random patches of Mountain Laurel that we have growing along our wood line at the back of our property. I have a couple of those for ya' too.

All in all it was a great day with the prettiest women I know!

-Suze

Cutting The Bull

I have said that I would start a blog time and time again and I never have. I have either had too much going on, not enough energy, or lacking willpower in general. This is my attempt to finally cut the bull and make it work.

I invested in a pretty decent camera a little over a year ago (Nikon D3100) and haven't taken it off the auto setting. For what reason? I don't entirely know. I do know that I enjoy photography in it's entirety, and that I did NOT pay what I paid for my camera to shoot in auto. I can do that with the camera my ex-bf bought me!

In addition to forming an electronic journal of photog learning, I will post things pertaining to recipes (savory and sweet) that are successes and failures, as well as various craft/home reno projects that I take on.

Many of my friends say, "O you should pin things that you've made" or this or that, so this will be my version of doing so. In addition to this blog I am on Pinterest and Instagram, so feel free to follow me if ya like what ya see.

The first few posts will be posts of things that I've had stacking up over the past few months. Enjoy!

-Suze