Brooklyns Photography

We've Moved!

2012-04-16T22:22:00.000-05:00

This is officially our last post here at blogspot! We have moved on over to Brooklynsphotography.com! Go check us out and make sure to follow us there and let us know what you think :)

Hey you, April Birchbox!

2012-04-16T11:54:00.002-05:00

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend! Ours was well, rainy! To be honest, didn't really do much! We tried out the new Varsity sports bar down in Dundee last night and probably had the worst taco pizza ever. Then again, is taco pizza ever really that good?!

I received my April Birchbox last week and it always makes my day! Who doesn't like to receive pretty packages in the mail once a month? If you don't know what Birchbox is, it's basically a subscription of sample beauty supplies that you receive once a month. It usually contains 5 samples of anything beauty related! Take a look below at what I got this month:

It comes in these cute little boxes which I totally can't wait to reuse for Christmas!

First up: Willa lavender face wipes. Haven't tried these yet because I feel face wipes just don't do the trick! Perhaps I'll just keep these in the car or pack them for Mexico.

Zoya mint green nail polish: I'm pretty excited to use this for our engagement photos in a few weeks! It'll go perfect with my new maxi skirt!

I forget the brand but this is hand salve. It smells delicious and it's not super heavy or greasy.

Ok. Taylor Swift Wonderstruck perfume. Not a fan of celebrity fragrances at all. However, it smells descent. Perhaps I'll pack this for Mexico as well since it's tiny!

Dropps laundry detergent pacs: I'm a laundry freak. These will not suffie in our household! All of my laundry supplies much match in not only brand, but as well as scent! So once again, this is a Mexico product!

Ok so it wasn't my all time favorite Birchbox but it's still fun and I'll definitely use all of these products! I just don't know if I like them enough to buy them. My last Birchbox I ended up buying 3 of the products and I'm actually still using the samples!

I would definitely recommend this if you love makeup and other girl things as much as I do! It's the perfect way to test out the product before buying them.

Have a great Monday! Tomorrow, I will be posting about my coffee mug that I received from our Coffee Mug Swap! I'm super excited to show you all!

High Five For Friday!

2012-04-13T10:49:00.002-05:00

I'm linking up with Lauren today for High Five For Friday! I'm beyond excited it's Friday. For real. Can't you tell? Seriously, am I in Mexico yet? I feel like it's dragging on and on! Any who, here are my favorites for the week! Happy Weekend!

My beyond adorable puppy! (she's actually 4 but still looks like a pup to me)

My April Birchbox came in the mail! (I will post about this later)

Brian and I had pretty much a 12 hour date on Wednesday! Breakfast at Wheatfields, engagement photos, dinner on the deck and then dessert at Cheesecake Factory!

He doesn't quite know it yet, but this is Brian's next DYI project!

And lastly, perhaps a new Ipad case is in my future?! (Brian doesn't know about this yet either)

Have a great weekend! Check us out on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter!

Beach Engagement Shoot!

2012-04-10T12:09:00.000-05:00

We will be basking under the Mexican sun in just a few weeks! And we are so not prepared at all! We still have those last pesky pounds to lose, outfits for our engagement pictures, and swimsuits that aren't from high school! However, before out Mexico trip, we must get past our first round of engagement pictures tomorrow! Yes, I am a picture snob, I realize this! We actually decided to pretty much spend most of our budget on photos since that's the only thing we will take away from that day. This is all besides the point! We need major help on outfits for our Mexico engagement pictures!

We are starting on the beach at sunset and then moving into town once the sun has set for some nighttime pictures. Here is what I am thinking for the beach pictures:

I want to keep it semi casual and very flowy. And lets be honest, no way am I bringing a handbag on the beach! It was just too cute to pass up!

And that's all I have! Still need one more outfit for the nighttime pictures!

Have a good Tuesday! Perhaps I'll post a snip it or two of our photo session tomorrow!

Coffee Mug Swap!

2012-04-09T11:39:00.001-05:00

I stumbled upon an adorable, cute blog called Suzels Says and was just browsing when I noticed something. This is huge people. She was hosting a Coffee Mug Swap! Let me explain. You basically just have to be an active blogger, send her an email with your contact information and she then gets back to you with another blogger's information! Voila! It's basically a pen pal but for bloggers but instead of just receiving a stupid letter in the mail, you get a coffee cup!! Woohoo! I'm pumped.

So I am currently browsing my new blogger buddies site and I have the perfect mug for her! I will blog about it as soon as I send it out and whenever I receive mine :) Can't wait!

In other news, I hope everyone had a splendid Easter! I know I did! Partly due to the fact that my awesome ~~boyfriend~~ fiance got me a new Coach purse! Here's a pic of me doing my I'mtocoolforschool pose..

My new website/blog is soo close to being done, I can taste it!

Have a good Monday!

Good Friday!

2012-04-06T10:53:00.000-05:00

Happy Good Friday y'all! Of course, I am linking up with Lauren today!

Here is a little recap of my week in Iphone pictures! I am making a promise right now to start using my real camera instead of this crappy one on my phone! I promise! These following pictures will be the last you will see that are full of grain, terrible white balance and just overall terrible pictures! Starting now!

1. I went shopping for our engagement pictures this week! Here is my casual outfit that I'm super excited about! And yes, I am that short that I have to stand on our tub just to be eye level with Brian!

2. I LOVE this! Reminds me of my sisters and I! This will totally be us :)

3. This is the look I'm going for when redoing our kitchen cabinets. No if I could only convince the boss!

Pinned here

4. And last but not least, so pumped for EASTER! Spending the morning with my Dad and Grandparents and the afternoon with my Mom and Gary!

Hope everyone has a splendid Easter weekend with their families!

Run the NYC Marathon with me!

2012-04-05T12:48:00.000-05:00

Ok, not quite. However, about 6 or 7 years ago, right after I ran Chicago, I had signed up for the NYC Marathon. To be able to run it though, you must enter a lottery and every year on April 25th, they announce if you're in for the race in November! If after 3 years you don't get in, you're automatically in on your 4th year. Well, years went by and a few weeks ago I remembered that I was never selected! (bummer!) So I logged into my account and there it was, a big red exclamation point saying "before we confirm your entry, we must need 2 emergency contacts." SERIOUSLY?? This was 6 years ago people!! I could've ran it twice by then! So I threw a fit for about .2 seconds and filled out my emergency contacts and VOILA! I am now officially in the lottery for the 2012, 2013 and 2014 NYC Marathon!

I'm secretly hoping it won't be this year as we will be getting married just a few weeks beforehand! So wish me luck that I won't be selected this year, otherwise I'll have to transfer it to 2013!

Have any of you ever ran the NYC Marathon before or any Marathons? I became addicted after running my first one at tender age of 18! Every time I complete one, I promise it's my last one!

I'm pretty sure all of us runners out there feel like this..

New Website Coming Soon!

2012-04-03T11:35:00.003-05:00

We are finally coming close to taking our new website live!! This is something that has literally taken me 2 years to complete! At first, I didn't know what kind of look I was going after and as soon as I would pick something, I would change my mind! I even went as far as completely changing the business name! Scratched that real quick! I also didn't want to pay an arm and a leg just for website! Seriously, some quotes I got were for over $5,000! Come on! So I was determined to learn how to design this bad boy by myself! After countless hours upon hours of researching and playing with this thing, I have figured out how to design a website!

I can't wait to show you guys the new design and look Brooklyns is going for! Along with the new website came a new logo as well as colors! Can't wait to show you guys! This is will be the new site for our blog as well as our website! Wait, one place for everything?! YES! Be on the lookout as it goes live within the next week or so! Here is a little sneak peak at what's to come..

Let me know what you guys think or if you have any ideas/suggestions!

Painting, Planting and Playing!

2012-04-02T12:54:00.001-05:00

What a weekend! We spent most of the weekend working on the house and the yard and had enough time to school Brian in a little pick up of game of basketball :) Seriously, we have to lower the hoop to 7 feet so he can pretend to be some hotshot. This girl doesn't fall for it. Either do our neighbors! Once I made him realize we were nobody's and just wanted to shoot around, we raised the hoop so I could sink all of my three's on him :) bahahaha..I loved it!

Did you all check out the KU game on Saturday night? Gee whiz..what a nail bighter! (If I had nails, pretty sure I would've bitten them off) My sister and Collin were of course down in Lawrence for the game and this was Mass St. shortly afterwards:

Mass St. is basically downtown where all the bars and restaurants are. Pretty much looks the same as when they won it back in '08.

Sunday we started a project that I'm super excited about! We painted our black door red! I forgot to take before pictures though so you'll have to picture a black, dusty door before the nice, shiny, red one! We still have 1 more coat to go and I'll post it about it later.

Not too shabby for half way done huh? I also picked up new hardware so we can get rid of that hideous gold! It hasn't quite made it out of the package yet, but it will tonight!

We also had time to play with Cali Mae except she tends to poop out a little too easily!

And lastly, grilled salmon and topped it off with avocado, cilantro, lime salsa! Yum! Have a good Monday!

Fab Friday!

2012-03-30T09:28:00.001-05:00

Hope you all are having a splendid week! With the amazing weather we've been having, we were able to plant our shrubs, bushes and flowers! My in-laws were also kind enough to buy us a grill! So we basically grilled and planted shrubs all week! Not too shabby for March :)

Here are a few of my favorites for the week..

Our new grill:

Anything Chevron; Especially this rug:

This cute little photo:

Cute Invites for maybe our Engagement Party:

Quick Home Workout:

And Lastly, Bacon Wrapped Asparagus:

Have a great weekend! It's supposed to be super nice here!

Check us out on Facebook and Pinterest!

Peanut Butter Mug Cake!

2012-03-29T23:02:00.000-05:00

We were getting ready to go to bed tonight and I just had to have dessert! I wasn't going to bed until I had something sweet. So I polished off the rest of the peanut butter ice cream we had and it still didn't curb it. So I did what anyone with a fierce, sweet craving would do; I made a peanut butter mug cake! Now, since we are on a pretty diet around here (Mexico is a staggering 4 weeks away..eek!) this was the healthiest option for us! It does the trick in a pinch :)

Ingredients

1 TBSP Heavy Whipping Cream
1 TBSP Sugar
1 Egg
2 TBSP Creamy Peanut Butter
1/2 tsp Baking Powder

In goes the egg..

Baking Powder and Cream..

Sugar..

And the Peanut Butter..

Mix all together..

Microwave on high for 45-60 seconds until it looks like this..

Enjoy!

Fab Friday!

2012-03-23T12:40:00.001-05:00

It's the weekend! Pretty exciting stuff, eh? We never have a slow weekend to just hangout around the house. We always have people in town or I always have shoots. This weekend, it's Brian's parents. Last weekend my sister and her plus 1. Weekend before it was friends from Des Moines. We love these people but man we are looking forward to our vacation in a few weeks :)

Here are a few of my favorites from the past week or so:

Favorite new girl:

New Favorite Breakfast:

Favorite Moment of the Week:

Fireplace Remodel Idea:

New Headboard:

Favorite Photo:

Favorite Trend: Ombre Nails

And Lastly, My Soon-To-Be Favorite Vacation Spot, Grand Cayman Islands:

Hope you all have a great weekend! I'll be spending my time coasting into first place in our family bracket :) I love how my brothers, fiance and brother in law spend months upon months researching and watching every game just to come in last to us girls! Sigh..feels real good.

Don't forget to check us out on Facebook at facebook.com/brooklyflint as well as Pinterest at pinterest.com/brooklynsphotog

Busy Bees!

2012-03-22T12:19:00.000-05:00

We have been crazy busy the past couple of weeks! My sister and Collin came up last weekend for the basketball tourney downtown since KU would be playing. Everyone went downtown Saturday to watch the games and we were kind enough to let their dog, Gracie (Marley's even more naughty long lost sister) to stay in our backyard. Now, little Gracie has a hard time staying out of trouble. This is, after all, the same dog that jumped through their screen on their back patio door and high centered herself on the actual frame of the door! So we put her in the backyard and off everyone went. My sister receives a call and says your dog is running loose in the neighborhood and is chasing a rabbit! She somehow busted through our wood fence and hunted down this poor rabbit and well, you probably know what happened next. So that was the start of our weekend!

Did you all catch the KU game last Sunday?! Whew, what a show! My sister and Collin are diehard fans! Like the real hardcore kind. With the game going as it was, my mom and Gary were going to have quite the awkward car ride home with them! Good thing they showed up the last minute and a half and won!

Here is a picture of us after the game. We thought it would be appropriate to buy a $10 T-shirt to remember the weekend. We of course, bought Creighton T-shirts :)

Excuse the iphone shot. It's grainy, I know! You can also get my awesome outfit by applying any t-shirt of your choice over the top of a really cute summer dress :)

Wasn't too shabby of a weekend! Now on to more cuter things! Here is a preview from last week. We had a lot of fun with this little girl! She was such an active 1 year old! She wasn't quite sure what to think of the grass at first, but she warmed up!

Have I mentioned how much I love my backyard?! I no longer have to travel for shoots! I still will though :) Isn't this little girl just a gem?!

Happy Thursday!

Decorating Time!

2012-03-12T11:46:00.000-05:00

I finally got around to decorating the entry way last week! It's taking me forever to decorate because I tend to change my mind as soon as I buy something! I'm the return queen :) So here is the before:

Excuse Cali's little butt! I'm sure she's looking for a squirrel to chase :)

Pretty blah, right? Well here it is all spruced up:

Dining room is also completed :) Just need to figure out my centerpiece!

Happy 1st Birthday to Olivia!

2012-03-03T11:30:00.001-06:00

I had these adorable kids back in today! They are always so smiley and well behaved! Olivia turns 1 in a few days and I can't believe how much she has grown since last seeing her in December! She's crawling, lots of laughing and has such a big personality! Little Aiden was rockin quite the little Mohawk today so of course we had to take a few of him as well :)

Mmm Pasta!

2012-03-02T15:00:00.000-06:00

This is without a doubt, one of my favorite pasta recipes! I don't know what it is, but there is something about peas, bacon and cheese that you can't resist! This dish is no different. The combination of the creme fraiche (cream cheese people, I'm not fancy by any means! Heck, I can't even pronounce that word!) bacon and peas just go together! I could go on and on about this dish!

I know it's a sin that I am posting pictures from my very ancient Iphone camera when I'm a photographer myself, but hey, it's all I had at the moment! Please forgive me. It will never happen again.

This recipe came from Jamie Oliver's cookbook, Food Revolution. All of his recipes are simple, flavorful and healthy! Check out his cookbook here.

Recipe:

1 pound of small shaped pasta

1 to 2 TBSP olive oil

1 to 2 TBSP butter

10 slices of bacon or pancetta cut into small pieces

2 cups of frozen peas

2 heaping TBSP of creme fraiche (I used cream cheese)

small bunch of fresh mint (I was out so I didn't put it in)

salt and pepper

juices from 1 lemon

6 oz. parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and drop your pasta. Make sure to reserve a cup or so of pasta water for the sauce later. I started to make the sauce as soon as the water started to boil and the timing was perfect!

In a large deep pan, melt the butter and olive oil together over medium heat. Toss the bacon as well as the pepper in the pan and cook until crispy. Around 5 minutes or so. Add the peas to the pan stirring to combine. Give the peas a few minutes to defrost and then add the creme fraiche and mint. Stir until the creme has melted and coated everything nicely. Season with salt and pepper. I also tend to add garlic powder/salt to everything!

Drain the pasta and add it directly to the sauce pan. Pour the lemon juice over the pasta and stir everything to combine well, making sure the sauce coats each piece of pasta nicely. Finally, mix in the parmesan cheese and add some of the cooking water to thin out the sauce if needed.

Enjoy!

We also got to enjoy our nice weather by working out on the deck! We are soo ready for summer!

Green Diet Smoothie! So Yummy!

2012-02-28T18:37:00.000-06:00

I stumbled upon this great recipe here and decided to give it a try! We're headed to Mexico is a few months so decided to get my butt in shape! This doesn't look appetizing, but I promise you it is! It's packed with spinach, peanut butter, bananas and greek yogurt! It's one of my new favorite snacks!

I promise, you don't taste the spinach at all! Here is the recipe:

1 frozen banana

1 Tablespoon peanut butter

1/2 cup 0% Vanilla Chobani Greek Yogurt

4 cups of baby spinach (more or less)

Directions

Combine all ingredients into a blender into smooth and green.

Nutritional Stats

350 calories, 10g of fiber, 21g of protein

Time to Celebrate!

2012-02-26T19:19:00.000-06:00

We had Connor in the studio this morning and he's getting ready to turn the 1 in March! Last time I saw him, it was freezing cold in November and our session only lasted 10-15 minutes! However, this time it was a balmy 68 degrees inside :) Check out his preview below..

AND in other very exciting news, we got engaged a few weeks ago!

Newspaper and Mustaches

2012-02-12T20:11:00.000-06:00

I loved this shoot! It was so much fun and laughed the whole time! They all kept each other laughing, so all natural smiles here :) Check out their preview below..

It's Valentine's Day Here..

2012-02-05T20:59:00.000-06:00

Valentine's Day came a little early! I was able to use my new wood floors this morning and I love them! I can't wait to buy other colors and stains! Little M is always a little ham and today she did not disappoint! I love working with this family and I can't wait to see them again. Check out her preview below..

Happy Snowy Weekend!

2012-02-03T10:23:00.000-06:00

Hooray it's Friday! Another late night prepping for this Sunday's Valentine's Day shoot for this little missy..

She's so much fun and our themed shoot will be adorable on Sunday! And just because it's Friday, here's a little video that I think is hysterical! Have a good weekend!

Handmade Headband Giveaway!

2012-02-02T13:00:00.002-06:00

I'm feeling quite generous today! I'm giving away a Handmade Dupioni Silk Headband! This headband can be used for newborns, toddlers, teens and adults! Check out her other headbands here!

Here's how to enter:

1.) Become a follower of this blog (upper left-hand corner) and click "follow". Then leave a comment here so I know you joined.

2.) Another way to win is to post a status about this blog on your Facebook page with a link included (you can even simply advertise that I'm hosting this giveaway and give your Facebook friends a chance-which then lowers your chances so we'll see how nice you all are) and then comment here letting me know you did that!

The winner will be chosen HERE Tuesday the 14th (Valentine's Day) at 6pm central time. Be sure to check back then to see if you won!

*Winners will be chosen at random through random.org.*

Best Bread Recipe Ever!

2012-02-01T21:15:00.007-06:00

I had the whole day off today so I decided to make some bread! I was starving and we didn't have anything in the fridge so making bread seemed wayyy easier than going to Hy-Vee :) Oddly enough, my sister just posted a recipe tonight as well. Check it out here.

After making bread, my mom, Brian and I went out shopping for our Super Bowl on Sunday! What a process! Next year, I think I'll leave it to mom and Brian! Not my cup of tea! Oh and why we were out, my mom bought me some hardwood floors for the studio for my birthday! That will be a whole other post! I'm sure it'll be quite the site putting that project together!

I have a TON of shoots this month so I'm excited to be posting some fun and crazy sets! Here is the bread recipe along with some pictures of the messy process..

Braided Bread

1/4 cup warm water
2 1/2 tsp yeast (one yeast packet)
1 TBSP sugar
1 cup hot water
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 TBSP butter
2 1/2 cups flour
1 egg
1 3/4-2 cups more flour

In a glass bowl, combine the warm water, yeast and sugar and set aside for 10 minutes.

In your mixer, combine the hot water, salt, sugar and butter and mix. Once the yeast has risen, add 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 egg and the yeast. Mix all together (using your mixing paddle arm.)

Add 1 1/4 cups more flour and mix until a ball forms. If the dough is still too soft, add more flour until the dough feels like squishy play-dough. Take the paddle arm off your mixer and put the hook are on. Turn mixer to the number "2" setting (if you have a Kitchen Aid Mixer) and let machine knead the dough for 7 minutes. OR knead the dough by hand for 5-7 minutes on a hard surface.

Spray a large clean bowl with cooking spray. Put the dough in the bowl and cover with a cloth to keep from drying out. Place the bowl in a warm place (like the oven with just the light turned on). A good trick my mom taught me is to turn on your oven for just 10 seconds to let it warm up. Then turn it off and put your dough in there to rise. Don’t let the oven heat for too long though, or it will bake your dough (rather than rising it). Just a few seconds is all you need to get it warm in there. Let the dough rise for a couple of hours

Using a knife, divide the dough into two parts. Divid those 2 parts until 6 balls and roll out to 10 inch long ropes. Take three ropes and braid them as usual and secure the ends.

Place each braided bread onto a cookie sheet.

My new favorite bread recipe!

Don't foreget! Only 4 more days to grab this deal! I can't wait to meet my new clients :) There is no money up front as you pay when you use the coupon!

Balloons Save The Day!

2012-01-26T23:17:00.002-06:00

I knew there was a reason why I randomly bought balloons the other night! Do you ever walk into Target with only 3 items on your list and you have to go back for a cart because you ended up "needing" way more than those 3 items? Yeah that happened to me Tuesday night. Again. However, they saved my life on Wednesday for both shoots! Who knew they could make kids soo happy!? These girls were some of the most behaved kids I've ever seen! They politely sat there and smiled! AND they are only 2 and 4! How did they get so lucky?!

So I have a few days off before my next shoot. This is what I plan on doing with some free time..

Not quite sure what I want it to say though. Happy Friday!

New daily deal site!

2012-01-25T22:27:00.000-06:00

Only 11 more days to purchase our Save Money Omaha deal! We are offering a 1 hour photo shoot that includes 1 8x10, 2 5x7's and 2 4x6's as well as 1 image on a disc with copyrights for only $59! Go check out their site as they are a newer company and looking to get the word out! Click here for details..