teacups and cinnamon

Last Friday I took my good friend Kayla and her two younger sisters, Amy and Daley, on a fun photo shoot! I had been begging them to let me take photographs of them because 1, they are gorgeous, 2, I thought it'd be fun, and 3, I needed practice. This was my first ever "professional" photo shoot that I had done. I'm always taking candid pictures of my friends and boyfriend, as well as a bunch of nature shots. But I had never actually gone out for the sole purpose of photographing. Until now. And let me tell ya, I had SO much fun. It was fun playing with the camera settings (I shot all in manual) as well as the poses and scenery.  I shot about 430 pictures, which is wayyy too much, because narrowing them down was difficult. I narrowed them down as best as I could, but there are still lots of photos (you've been warned;))

Taking the pictures wasn't the only fun part--I also really enjoyed editing them. I have come to realize that each photographer (I'm not saying I'm a photographer by any means) has their own style, especially when it comes to editing. And I guess I fall into that category, I guess I have my own style. Woo!! 

Though I did mess up with some camera settings, especially towards the end of the photo shoot, I am still really pleased with and proud of the pictures. This was my first time, after all. I am still learning and trying to figure out both the camera as well as photoshop. I've got a few more photo shoots that i'll be doing in the upcoming weeks, so hopefully my photography gets even better :)

And finally, I'd like to thank Kayla, Amy and Daley for putting up with me for 2 hours :) love ya girls!

Oh and p.s., my dog Fedya and their dog Sam had a puppy date during our photoshoot, so you'll see some pictures of them too. They did get in the way a bit (especially my dog -.-) but photoshop does wonders ;)

Anyway, I hope you all like the pictures, let me know what you think <3

Hi there! So a couple of friends and I decided to throw our friend Julie (in the blue shirt), who had just come back from a month long yoga school in Costa Rica  (lucky!), a welcome-home surprise party. At first we were planning to do it at my house but then decided to do it at a small beach in Seattle, which was perfect! It was a bit crowded, but thankfully my friend Kayla (in the pink sunglasses) and her boyfriend Ryan went to the beach early in the noon time and reserved a fire pit. Julie's boyfriend told Julie that they were just going to a park to have a picnic and it worked! Julie was completely surprised, at least she says so. We all brought food, potluck style, and just enjoyed the afternoon and evening. We cooked hot dogs on the fire, which is something I had never done before. And I loved it! We also made smores and ate cupcakes (that had completely melted in the heat). 

I had a really good time at the beach even though I did get stung by a bee (ow!) and was freezing cold most of the time. But it was nice seeing all my friends, especially Julie! My boyfriend and I were able to take a few pictures, which I have posted below. So enjoy :)

Hi there! So yesterday my lovely boyfriend and my awesome dog went swimming!!! yeah!!! :D We were originally planning to just chill around the house, maybe try to do some garage saling or thrift shopping, but the weather was too nice to pass up! So we decided to go up to Lake Tapps (which has been our favorite lake this summer). 

Hi there! So yesterday my friends Kayla and Ryan and I went hiking at this incredibly gorgeous Snoqualmie/North Bend trail, Annette Trail. We were originally supposed to go to a different hike near by, but after some difficulty planning we decided to drop that place and go here. And I'm so glad we did! Washington is such a beautiful place and it has so many trails that still need to be discovered! I literally found this trail by going to Google-Maps and looking for little lakes. Annette Lake popped up and looked so beautiful. 

Michael Pollan, author of many food books, including the famous In Defense of Food (which I still need to read) asked people to send in their rules about eating, and I've posted a few of my favorite here. There rest you can find in this NY Times article. 

I think a few of these are really good! They are simple and easy to follow. Being healthy doesn't mean you can't eat this or that, or you must eliminate something all together. It doesn't mean counting calories or eating only "low fat" foods.  It just means eating in moderation, eating real foods, making your own food and not over eating (and of course more, but those are just the ones that pop into my head at the moment). 

Anyway, I'll keep this post short of my ramblings. Just read the "rules" below and really try to apply them to your life (I know I do). :)

Wow! I cannot believe that it's already August! :( I know, I know, it is so cliche to talk about how time passes so quickly and how we don't even realize it. But it's true! I've been on vacation for 2 months already, but it's really only felt like a few weeks. Life kinda sucks I guess. 

It's a bit bittersweet when the months roll by... Bitter because life is short (which sucks) and sweet because I get to make a cake to celebrate!!! hahah, jk. But no really, I really made a little cake to celebrate the beginning of a new month. I mean I didn't tell anyone why I made the cake. My excuse was because I was bored (which was also true)... But really it was a celebratory cake, even though it wasn't all fancy or celebratory-looking. Ah well. My cake decorating skills could use some work. 

It's a little Russian cake, with layers of white poppy seed cake and layers of chocolate cake. It's all layered with a my-own-recipe cream cheese frosting type frosting. It's kinda hard to explain. But hey, it's yummy and it suits the cake! This is the second time I've made the cake and it has finally turned out almost perfect. Almost, because I didn't make enough frosting (whoops!). But that ended up being perfect, because I got to save on calories (and sugar and fat) and it gave the cake a little bit of a rustic, vintage look. All I needed were some cool cake toppers or something! But the cake was delicious nonetheless:)