i am in love

I have to be honest. I bought a new point and shoot camera after my old one started falling apart, but I really had a hard time adjusting to the new one. I am in love with my Canon Digital Rebel SLR. LOVE IT. But it is really inconvenient to carry it with me everywhere I go, which is why I wanted a little point and shoot to carry in my purse. Enter the Canon PowerShot SD1300 IS Digital Elph. After two months of owning it I can officially say that I am in love with it. In the past week I (and my husband) have taken more photos of the two of us together in the same shot than we have in the past year. Hello? There is nothing better than having lots of cute photos of us together in my opinion. I went back and looked through a bunch of our photos from last year, and my only regret is that we don't have more of us together in the same shot. I love this camera. Love, love, love. And you will too. I promise.


Cue the oohs and aahs. Aren't we adorable?


I am shameless I tell you. Even with my arm protruding from my neck. It escapes me somehow. Did I mention our cuteness?


I will stop now. And now you can thank me for your having to go out and buy a cute little camera so you can have your own cute pictures of your own cute self. You're welcome. Any time.

what's in my purse

I have seen several blog posts or videos of what other girls have in their purse, and I thought it would be fun to do one too. I will include brand names and models or colors of items as much as possible.

This is my purse. It's a leather Fossil, and I LOVE it. It has so many pockets, and it's plain and simple which I really like. My husband insisted that I needed a good leather purse that wouldn't fall apart within a few months so I bought this one. What? You don't believe that he was insistent? You think I begged? I have a really sweet husband - he even waterproofed my purse for me.


On either end of the zipper are two pockets. One holds my cell phone and my husband's spare Oakley sunglasses cloth. I have my own, but I usually end up using his. The other pocket holds my sunglasses from Banana Republic.


There are three large compartments in my purse. The first outside one holds two travel-size tissues, hand sanitizer, money for tolls, and a list for the craft store. Inside that compartment there is a small pocket that holds Dramamine, Revlon lipgloss in Foiled, Mary Kay lipstick in Tanned, Mary Kay lipgloss in Fancy Nancy, and Revlon lipgloss in Foiled.



In the other outside compartment I have 2 lists, a dentist receipt, pepper spray (my husband makes me carry it), a Surefire flashlight (he makes me carry this too), and more tissues. For some reason I feel the need to carry three travel-size amount of tissues with me everywhere I go. What's that? You don't? Sigh. I am slightly OCD... In this compartment there is a little zippered pocket where I have 10 Halls cough drops, 7 Hello Kitty bandaids, and 8 Claritin plus a little plastic bag (I have no idea why that is in there). Are you seeing my need to be prepared?



Moving onward. In the middle and biggest zippered compartment I have my wallet, my Canon Powershot SD 1300 IS camera in my polka dot case (from Amazon), a toothbrush and floss from my dentist appointment two weeks ago, a receipt and a little zippered pouch from Kukubee on Etsy that holds my fabric swatches and home decor notes for when I shop for our home.


So there you have it. A smallish world in a purse.

apple salad

I used to hate salad growing up, but I learned to like it after I married my husband. This is my favorite salad. Ever. If I had to eat one salad for the rest of my life, it would be this one. The End.


Apple Salad

{Dressing}
1 1/2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon orange juice
1 teaspoon honey
salt and pepper

{Salad}
2 cups salad greens
1/2 apple, chopped
1 Tablespoon dried cranberries
1 Tablespoon feta cheese
1 Tablespoon pecans (I prefer glazed)

In a small cup or bowl combine the dressing ingredients and stir well. On a plate layer the greens, apple, cranberries, feta cheese, and pecans. Pour the dressing over the top.

chicken curry with rice

We made Chicken Curry with Rice for the first time a year ago and it was DELISH. If you have never tried Chicken Curry you should. It is so good. We have tried this recipe with both broccoli and zucchini, and it's super yummy with both. Enjoy.


Chicken Curry with Rice

2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 Tablespoons curry powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups milk
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Cooked white rice
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, torn (optional)
1/4 cup almonds, roughly chopped (optional)

Place the chicken pieces in a bowl. Sprinkle with the curry and cinnamon; toss and set aside. Heat 1 Tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and zucchini and cook until softened, about 3-5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Heat the remaining oil in the skillet. Add the chicken and cook until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Add the broth, salt and pepper. In a small bowl combine the milk and cornstarch, stir until combined. Add the milk to the chicken mixture. Bring to a gentle simmer. Return the onion and zucchini to the skillet and heat until the chicken is cooked through, about 5-7 minutes. For a little stronger curry flavor you can add more of the curry powder to the chicken mixture. I do.

Serve the curry over the rice. Sprinkle with the basil and almonds.

sneak peek

I am working on a project. It's a secret but here is a little sneak peek.

color pop tutorial

I am going to show you how to brighten up the colors in your photos using Photoshop Elements. I have version 6 but the steps I use should be the same or very similar in other versions. This is something I do to all of the photos I post on my blog or print or email. Basically, any photo that I think deserves a second look is going to go through this process. It is much easier than it seems although I know this will be a lengthy post. I have gone into as much detail as possible so that hopefully you will not wonder how in the world did I do such and such.

Open your photo. Save it with a new file name so that you will always have the original untouched just in case you need to start over or perhaps you will want to make other changes for another project.


Under the Elements tab select Adjust Lighting and then Shadows/Highlights. If the automatic adjustments look good to you click OK. Otherwise you can adjust the sliders according to your preference.


Under the Layer tab select Duplicate Layer. A box will pop up asking you to name this layer. I usually don't name any of my layers for this process. Click OK. You will now have 2 layers (or copies) of your photo shown in the lower right hand corner of your screen.


Under the Enhance tab select Adjust Color and then Adjust Hue/Saturation.


A box will appear. Adjust only the Saturation slider. I have adjusted mine to +8. I rarely adjust more than +10 for any of my photos. Be extra careful in adjusting the saturation for photos of people because it is very easy to overdo it.


Make another duplicate layer by going to the Layer tab and selecting Duplicate Layer. Click OK. You should now have 3 layers of your photo shown in the bottom right hand corner of your screen.


In the right hand corner of your screen you will see a box that says Normal with a downward pointing arrow. Click on this box. A selection menu will appear. Select Soft Light.


Your photo should suddenly appear much brighter. To the right of the Normal box you will see a box labeled Opacity with a downward pointing arrow. Click on the downward arrow. A slider will appear so you can adjust the brightness. I have set mine at 85 percent.


Under the Layer tab select Flatten Image. This will make all three of your photo layers into one layer.


Under the Enhance tab select Unsharp Mask. Despite what it seems this will actually sharpen up your photo.


The Unsharp Mask box appears. You can adjust the sliders to your preference. Here I have set the Amount to 80, the Radius to 8.2, and the Threshold to 1.


If you would like to crop your photo, go to the Image tab and select Crop.


A dashed box will appear over your photo. You can click in the center to move it wherever you like. Click and drag the arrows on the sides to change the size of the box. I want my photo to be exactly 4 inches by 6 inches so I entered those dimensions in the Width and Height boxes above the photo. When you are happy with the size and selected portion of your photo, click on the green checkmark in the right hand corner of the dashed box or press the enter key on your keyboard.


Save the photo once more.

Here is the Before and After of my photo. Have fun!

Boston

We took all of our siblings to Boston yesterday. There were eleven of us total, and we had an awesome time. Taking the train to and from Boston and spending the day walking around in 87 degrees makes for an exhausting day. We come back nearly every year, and every time I forget how much I've missed the Freedom Trail and visiting all of the historic sites. I love Boston.