cupcakes, celebrations, and more cupcakes

so this week was filled with lots of cupcakes and celebrations. definitely two of my favorite things. i made cupcakes for my friend jenny's shower. 120 cupcakes to be exact! that would be 5 boxes of mix and 15 eggs :) it really didn't take as long as you would think {especially when your sweet husband and friends help you!}

ta-da

so excited to meet baby darby!

momma opening all of her awesome gifts! i can't believe baby girl will be here so soon!!

on saturday we went to the auburn celebration to be a part of history. it was a beautiful, freezing, windy day.

i guess i love you a whole lot!

reverse tiger walk.

the heisman winner. cam newton.

guess what he was saying? i'll give you a hint: starts with a 'w'

after defrosting from the celebration, i headed to atlanta for a friend's wedding shower. more celebrating, which means of course more cupcakes! it was such a fun night filled with lots of laughter with amazing friends. gosh, talk about a wonderful week!

farfalle with roasted garlic and tomatoes

oh my gosh, yum-o! at the cheesecake factory, there is this delicious pasta dish that i have always wanted to know how to make. it's called "farfalle with chicken and roasted garlic" in case your ever there. so, this summer, i googled it, desperately trying to find some kind of recipe. i found this blog that mentioned this dish and included a recipe that the blogger had tried. so excited about this find, i decided to try it out myself! i have made a few adjustments and after making it for the second time tonight, i am ready to share it with you!

what you will need:

• farfalle pasta {aka bowtie}
• 1 pound of chicken
• 5 pieces of bacon
• 1 onion
• 1/2 bulb of garlic
• 4 tomatoes
• 2 C of frozen green peas
• olive oil
• 1/2 C milk
• 1/2 C cream {or 1 C half&half}
• 1/2 C parmesan cheese {more if you are feeling cheesy}
• salt and pepper to taste

what you do:

1. preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. on a long piece of tinfoil, place sliced tomatoes and half of bulb of garlic
3. cover tomatoes and garlic with a generous amount of olive oil {about 5 TB}
4. roast tomatoes and garlic for 45 minutes
5. cook pasta
6. cook bacon {you could also buy pre-made bacon bits}
7. cook chicken {we grilled ours}
8. in a large skillet, saute onion in a little olive oil
9. after the 45 min is up on the tomatoes and garlic, smash up the garlic cloves and add them and the tomatoes to the skillet
10. add the cooked bacon and chicken
11. add the milk and cream
12. add the frozen peas
13. drain the pasta and add it to the pan
14. bring to a boil and then let simmer for about 5-10 minutes
15. salt and pepper to taste
16. add the parmesan cheese
17. enjoy!

okay, so there are a lot of steps, but it is really easy, i promise! next time i am going to add a little bit of red pepper flakes to give it a little kick.

ready to roast!

oh how yummy

like me! and my new website

well, i have to say, i am very proud of my productivity level. this three day weekend has been such a good one!

saturday i spent all day working on my photography business and had a blast! i successful made a facebook page solely for my photography, edited pictures, and worked on my *NEW* website.

click here for my facebook page and click here to view my new photography website!

i have to run, though. dinner is in the making! i will blog about it later, but here is a picture to wet your appetite!

jenny & her girls, continued

jenny and her girls.

as in plural. my dear friend jenny is expecting her second baby girl to arrive in about two weeks! blog fans, you will recognize her first little darling from a previous shoot i did. yes, this is the adorable ryan lily - soon to be big sister to darby. this was my first experience with capturing pregnancy, and jenny was the best girl for me to practice on. she is so natural and beautiful and i believe we were able to capture this stage of her life pretty well {despite the freezing temperatures and horrible weather!} below are my favorites. i hope you enjoy!

auburn's snow day

so school was closed monday and tuesday due to all the ice that we received from the recent winter storm. this winter storm really came at a perfect time for us folks here in auburn. why? because, monday just so happened to be this little thing called the bcs national championship game! i have to tell you that on two separate occasions over christmas break, i had people ask me if auburn was playing in a bowl game. seriously, people? maybe it's just because i live in auburn, that i grew up in the sec {what-what}, that most of my family are auburn fans {putting it lightly} or that i honestly enjoy football, that makes it hard for me to imagine ever not knowing who is going to the national championship. with all that said, i don't think there was anyone in auburn town who wasn't glued to their tv monday night. the week leading up to the game was awesome. spirit was high and there was a definite buzz that filled the air. the k-roger even busted out their traditional game day tunes the weekend before the game. businesses closed and all over town the marquees {yes, i had to look up how to spell that} had funny sayings on them relating to the game. because i had the day off, i was able to prepare for our auburn party all day! i had a blast decorating and baking.

the game watching was awesome. lots of great commentary and of course some yelling and cheering. it was so surreal when the fourth quarter started. this entire season had led up to this point. and we were holding our breath that auburn wouldn't blow it in the last few minutes.

after auburn kicked the winning field goal and we listened to the extremely well spoken football players accept the trophy {wink}, we grabbed all the toilet paper we could carry and headed downtown to roll toomer's corner!

a little crowded

what a beautiful snow day!

sneak peak: jenny & her girls

on sunday i had the privilege of capturing my friend jenny and her soon-to-be TWO girls! aren't they just sweet? more to come!

a new year, a new beginning.

well, we are one week into the new year, and it has been a good one! school started back up, which was exciting and hectic. i bought my new calendar, which i have already been filling up. it took me many years to find the perfect calendar, but i am happy to say i have consistently used the same type for the past three years. i love the jumbo ones that can lay flat with the month at a glance and the large spaces for each day. i write down everything it. everything from what's for dinner to what i am teaching. i love having everything in one place. i know myself too well that if i had more than one thing to keep up with, i would lose something - if not my mind.

currently, we are in the lovely process of moving, so tyler spends most of his days making package material out of shredded papers. pretty creative and "green", i think.

with packing comes pruning. i already have three boxes filled with stuff to sell at our next yard sale or give to goodwill. it amazes me how much stuff two people can accumulate in such little time. during this process, i found some old jeans that i decided to make into shorts! here are the before and after:

it was really easy. all i did was try on the jeans and mark with a sharpie where i wanted to cut them. now i wanted to cut them a little long so that i could cuff them. after marking the jeans, i folded the jeans and began to cut. fabric scissors work the best, because jeans are so thick. now, i just need to sew the cuff in place, and ta-da! i've gained new shorts.

now with the gaining of new shorts came a loss. this week i also washed my gloves because they were disgusting and had been all over the place lately. i set them out on our balcony to dry and the next day this is all that was left:

one lonely glove. i searched below, but nothing. i am hoping that a little birdie snatched it up to keep their nest warm. sad day, because this was my only pair. sorry left hand, but you are just going to be cold this week.

in other craft news, chane' and i made these cute little photo frames on saturday. chane' got the idea from this blog. luckily my friend is a power tool woman and know how to use a saw. it was a really fun and easy project. i will post pictures of the final project another day. i still have to find the perfect picture for it :)

two words: wood. glue.

i will back soon with more thoughts on the near year. dinner beckons.

more of graham's graduation

here are some more pics from graham's graduation shoot...just a little late!

new years at the cabin

okay, so after driving back to auburn and unloading christmas, we headed to the hart family farm to celebrate new years! definitely my favorite new years ever. we spent new years eve day riding around in old jeeps watching the dogs and boys hunt for quail while snacking on our picnic. it was so much fun!

after hunting, we got a tour of the land. we visited the old cabin, picked up cousin hayley's prized dear, and hung out at the gorgeous new cabin!

old cabin charm

at dusk, we rode out to "proposal point" to see where tom asked chane' to marry him. we also played with agnes and all of her many relatives!

playing with the puppies

bare branches against blue skies

last sunset of the year

after dinner, it was time for wii and fireworks!

sparklers and lots of fireworks!

hope you had a happy new years!!! i'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for us in 2011!