Walker: Lifestyle Session 6.0

Yesterday I was delighted to spend the afternoon documenting the 1st birthday of G. You've seen her before here (in her mom's tummy),on her REAL birthday here, and here when she was 6 months old. You've also met her mom here, and watched her mom and dad get hitched here.

Casey, G's mom, has been one of my very best clients and has sent loads of other clients my way, so of course I am thrilled each time she calls me up with another photography opportunity for her family!

An hour before the party, and the decorations are in place, welcoming everyone in:

Here is the birthday girl, having a quick snack before the guests arrive:

Casey's niece made G's adorable tutu, I had to get a special shot of it:

Tell me, have you ever seen more faublous birthday hats? Yes, Casey made these herself, together with her sister Donna and niece Brittany:

There was a puppet-making center for the kiddos:


And of course, a puppet show!

G got her own tiny cake, as simple as it was beautiful-until she demolished it, that is:

See what I mean? That cake is toast:

There were stacks of cupcakes for the guests:

And I could tell that everyone was having a wonderful time:

Just before the party ended, we got a group shot:

G got lots of hugs and kisses:

It was a fabulous day:

Bye G! See you next time!

Facebook Profile Pics

Just a quick post today! I did a FaceBook Profile Pic session for a few friends last week, and I think it was a hit! They have each gotten several compliments on their new images, and that makes me feel so warm and sun-shiney. I have to say that I think they look just smashin'.








I'll be scheduling another Facebook session soon, stay tuned!

Another Winner

Beef Stroganoff is one of my favorite meals. I attempted to make it from scratch a few years ago, and it was OK but nothing to blog about. As I recall, the meat was tough and it took all afternoon to prepare, involving flour and a huge mess in the kitchen.

Since then I've been simply making Stove Top Beef Stroganoff, its fast, easy and tastes good enough. I'm not crazy about any Stove Top meals, but for a quick dinner it'll do.

Well, you know that HEB Mealtime website that I use? There is an incredible, amazing, super-easy, delicious recipe for Beef Stroganoff. I made it tonight for Sunday dinner. I don't know if it is so amazing because its so easy or because its sooo good. I think its my new all time favorite thing to cook.

Sadly I didn't take pictures, but you don't need them. I prepared it exactly as the recipe states, and even made steamed carrots as it suggests.

Do yourself and your family a favor and make this for dinner TONIGHT.

Weeknight Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients:
1 pound HEB Fully-Cooked Beef Pot Roast with Gravy
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon course ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Heat oil in a large skillet over Medium-High heat. Saute chopped onion 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and saute 3 minutes more. Add pot roast and gravy to skillet. Scrape gravy from roast. Remove roast to a cutting board, leaving gravy in skillet. Stir gravy to blend with onion and mushrooms. Reduce heat to Medium-Low. Cut 1 pound of pot roast into 1/4 inch slices; cut slices into thin strips. (Reserve remaining roast for sandwiches or another meal.) Heat strips in gravy 5 minutes or until heated through with skillet covered. Stir sour cream, pepper and salt into gravy. Remove from heat.

Serve over egg noodles. Enjoy!

Shopping List

This is so cool: I've created an aisle-by-aisle shopping list for the HEB on 3009 in Schertz. I've used the one that HEB provides on their website for several years, but its just a generic list that isn't in the order of the store. I usually end up backtracking quite a bit when I get to the bottom of the list and realize that there are still items not crossed off.

So now I've got everything in perfect order, starting with produce and ending with the pharmacy. Shopping will be a BREEZE. My husband used the list for the first time last night, and he said...well, he didn't say anything because he isn't as impressed with my genious as I am, but I'm thinking that there are some other people in the area who would really like it.

I've been trying all morning to get the list onto a file sharing site, but Google won't allow me to publish a PDF document and it messes up the Word doc (the page gets scrambled), and Scribd keeps saying that I don't have any documents even after I've uploaded something.

I'll keep trying to use Scribed, but for now I guess I can simply email the list to anyone who wants this most fabulous list. You can leave a comment with your email address, or email me at Leah@EverAfterbyLeah.com.

Happy shopping!

My turn!

There are scores of photographers who frequently take amazing photographs of their own kids, perfectly lit and posed, then enlarge, frame and hang them on the wall with creativity and flair. Oh, how I wish that was me.

I have more pictures of clients hanging in my home than I do of my own kids. I've never ordered a canvas wall hanging of any of them, or even made an album. Its just a little bit sad.

There are a few different things working against me here, the greatest is that my kids(mostly the boys)run when I point the camera toward them. You'd think I had a pistol in my hand.

Once I do manage to get them relatively still and doing something cute, I find I can't concentrate on the intricacies of photography. My thoughts go something like this: "The background is brighter than my subject so I need to set the camera to manual and the flash exposure to...(yelling now)'Trevor, stop hitting your sister!'...where was I? Oh yeah, something about the flash exposure, lets see...(looking up) "Where did Morgan go? Garrett, run over there and bring your sister back.'...oh, the heck with it, set the camera to auto and take the damn shot.

Every once in a while I manage to create a keeper, one worthy of wall space even, but once again I'm more likely to hit the wall than get the flippin picture hung there. I simply can't hang a picture of one of the kids if I don't have a corresponding image of all the others, so I end up doing nothing, again.

Most of the pictures of my kids are snapshots. Still, I love them and feel the need to show them off, and that is the beauty of the SLIDESHOW. There is something special about viewing the pictures along with a touching song, and I never tire of creating or watching my shows.

The following show is a recap of 2008, probably more interesting to me than anyone else as evidenced by the number of times I've already viewed it, but like I said, I'm compelled to share it:



And as always, comments are always appreciated!

~L

Bow Tie Pasta with Asian Chicken-Four Thumbs UP!

My kids are picky eaters. Dinnertime has been evolving into a nightly struggle as I try to cook meals that they will eat. Compounding the problem is the usual reluctance they have about trying anything new. Its a catch 22, and the outcome for the last year or two has been that I have thrown up my hands and basically stopped cooking. Dinner has mainly been comprised of whatever simple, easy thing I pull out of the freezer at the last minute, and many nights I can be found preparing two or three different items-mac and cheese for the boys, grilled cheese for me and D, PB&J for Morgan and Chip fends for himself.

But that is changing. I enjoy cooking, and having everyone sit together at the table, and I REALLY enjoy getting compliments on my meals. I even like to do my menu planning for the week and I LOVE to grocery shop using coupons. It's satisfying because I get such a feeling of accomplishment, and well-being, and I really feel like a great mom when I have a well-rounded meal on the table each night. Maybe I'm channeling one of those 1950's TV moms, but I'm a dork like that.

So last night I made a new recipe. I was a bit hesitant because I got it from the Internet and didn't have a single recommendation, but it looked tasty and simple, and the ingredients were things I already had on hand.

So here we go:

1 lb. bow tie pasta
4 TBS. soy sauce
2 TBS honey
2 TBS. lime juice
3 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 small red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and thinly sliced
4 TBS chopped fresh parsley



I didn't have red bell peppers, so I substituted green. I think red would have been better, and I'm thinking that next time I'll add some frozen green baby peas. The red and green together would make a very Christmassy presentation!

To begin, stir the soy sauce, honey, lime juice and mustard in a bowl until the honey is dissolved. Add the chicken pieces and turn until coated with the marinade.


Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Transfer the chicken and marinade to a large, non-stick skillet. Cook over medium heat until chicken is cooked through, about 4 minutes.



Remove from heat and pour in the chicken broth.

Prepare the pasta according to package directions. Drain thoroughly in a colander. return the pasta to the pot, add contents of the skillet and the sliced peppers.



Heat to simmering over low heat. Toss the pasta once or twice, add table pepper to taste and divide among serving bowls. Sprinkle each serving with the chopped fresh parsley (which I forgot to add!).



Check out T, he loves it!


In fact ALL FOUR of my kids loved it. Yea me!


In case you are wondering where I got this FAB recipe and want to find more like it: go to HEB.com, click on the Mealtime tab at the top, and then on Meal Planner. I frequently use this to make my shopping list for the week.

And click here for the link straight to the recipe.

I'd love to hear from anyone else who makes it. Comments are always appreciated!

Corrie and Chris: Engagement Session

It's been an fantasitc day, my kids are still up, playing Rock Band and finding more toys for me to get out of all the flippin packaging. What is up with that? I know for sure that when I was a kid my parents didn't spend hours getting Barbie out of the box. I am so sick of little twisty things and tape thats stronger than steel and 10 pound of box for 10 ounces of toy. With the recent "green" movement, shouldn't there be LESS packaging instead of MORE? I think I'll write to my congressman-in fact I'll email, to keep things green.

The last few weeks have been a non-stop workfest with Christmas sessions, cards to create, wedding albums to finalize, shopping, eating, cleaning and cooking, and all this going on with the kids home for the last 7 days. I have a couple sessions still to post, but for now I'll stick up a few from a session last week:
I did a fun and quick family session for a family that is yet to be; one of my dearest past clients is engaged, and she and her fiance wanted pictures of themselves and their kids.
We had planned an outdoor shoot at one of my favorite spots, the Rockwall Ranch leasing office, but the cold and damp weather forced us to do most of the session in Corrie's home, with a few images at a pretty spot in her neighborhood.

Here are the girls. Beautiful.

The sky was gray, drizzly and cold, so we headed back to the house for some quick shots in front of the Christmas tree.

Thanks for a great session guys! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas today!