NightPolaroiding

It's Polaroid Week and it's Thursday and I'm just now getting my head in the game. Monday would have been my day to get out and shoot, but I was on a Forest Service field trip all day and the light was just not conducive to Polaroid-making, and yesterday I planned to get out on my lunch break and then ended up getting stuck at work, and the one Polaroid I did shoot in the morning ended up getting lost between my desk at work and my house, so after visiting my mom and having dinner with my dad last night, I decided I needed to make something happen. (Was that just the longest sentence ever?) I took my SLR 680 out at night and made some dark Polaroids filled with light which I am quite thrilled with, except the one obvious piece of film that would have been awesome but I jammed my camera on the piece of the bridge that I was using as a tripod of sorts and the goo squished out the back. It's still an ok shot as far as a funky finished product goes, but not at all what I had imagined. I'll have to go back. Anyway, Happy 'Roid Week to you all. I hope it's been great!

And today is my dad's birthday! Happy Birthday Dad!

So Much Love and Kindness

My mom's dearest friend very unexpectedly passed away last week. She was only 52, healthy and hilarious. She had three kids, five grandbabies, and a wonderful husband. I feel so sad for her family and for my mom, who received heaps and heaps of love and kindness from this lovely lady. She will be sorely missed, especially by my family. Rest in peace dear friend, and thank you for everything you did for my mom.

Fall is always a beautiful and much-anticipated time of year for me, but this one was a little tough. The tragic news of last week, and before that, heavy work schedules, hectic weekends, and the like, but it all was mixed with good things here and there. Things are easing now and hopefully looking up. I hope you all are doing well, enjoying your fall, and lovin' on your family and friends.

Evening

I spent a few hours at the cabin with my dad last Sunday and yesterday, but I was sad to see that in a week, autumn was all but done. Last Sunday is when I made these Polaroids and a bunch of little Instax images, but as we were driving past the lake, up into the mountains toward the cabin, we could see that the golden yellow aspens were reduced mostly to bare white branches and the oaks had dropped all their reds and oranges too. It was still beautiful of course, but just a little naked. The nice thing about it all is that now the ground has a thick carpet of crunchy colorful leaves, perfect for taking nerdy shoe self-portraits. I couldn't resist. I got new Keens. I just chalked it up to learning how my Instax camera reacts on its different settings when I've ghetto-taped over the flash.

Anyway, these three golden yellow Polaroids are my offerings for this week's post over at Words to Shoot By. I do hope you'll check it out. Our second guest contributor joined us today. It's Tracy of Prickly Pear Bloom!

Stadium Pal

Just wanted to pop in and say hello before we head to the Capitol Theater to see David Sedaris!

Americana II

Today marks the end of my week of guest blogging at Americana. Thank you Jen!

Sundance

A couple of Mondays ago, I drove to Sundance for my favorite turkey sandwich, oh and to take in the beautiful scenery. It was a nice, long afternoon out. I played with my new Fuji Instax Mini, and shot a bunch of Polaroids and another roll and a half in my K1000. I just love that little camera. I found it about a year ago at the thrift store down the road, and what it a find it was! Anyway, these four Polaroids I made at Sundance while wandering the snow and autumn leaf-covered paths. I just love it there.

Oh! I'm still guest-blogging at the Americana Film Project this week. Check it out. What a great project!

Americana

Jennifer Way asked me to participate in her lovely Americana project, and this week, starting today, I am guest blogging about my home state of Utah. Please check it out now, throughout the week, and the coming months. Jen hopes to get representation from all 50 states! Thanks for inviting me to contribute, Jen!

Hot for Teacher

Two nights ago when I was scanning in the teeny tiny images from my new Fuji Instax Mini, somehow I got "Hot for Teacher" stuck in my head and there it's been ever since. I'm really not sure why I'm sharing that. Maybe if I watch it on Youtube, I'll get it out of my head. Let's see...

Anyway, it's important to know that "I got it bad, got it bad, got it bad" for this little camera. Those of you who frequent my blog know that I am a Polaroid girl, and I honestly thought I would never try Fuji's line of instant film, but whenever I've got money sitting in my Paypal account, it burns a hole right through my virtual pocket, and long story short, I ended up buying the Instax Mini and 10 mini packs of films off Ebay. I took it up to beautiful Sundance on Monday to play around. Really, I just wanted a good excuse to go have lunch there. The deli makes the world's best turkey sandwich! I burned through a pack and a half pretty quickly, and found it to have a slightly soft focus, which I appreciate, and aside from having to tape over the flash so it wouldn't affect my shots, I had a great time with it and can't wait to use it more! The rectangular format is going to take some getting used to, but I'm loving it so far. Don't think I'm trading in my beloved Polaroid though, and I'm certainly not selling my stash on ebay! No way.

Granola Girl

There is nothing that I love more than peanut butter (well, there are a few things) so when I saw Matt's peanut butter granola on his blog, I just had to make it. As with most recipes, I didn't quite follow it. I improvised and changed things up quite a bit, and made it into more of a snack rather than a cereal. Here's what I did, and if I might say so, it's amazing. My husband agrees. I thought it would be a perfect car snack for an autumn leaf-finding excursion this weekend.

I don't believe I've ever posted a recipe before, so here's my first. Maybe I'll have to make it a semi-regular thing.

Peanut Butter Granola

2/3 c peanut butter (half creamy, half crunchy)
2/3 c honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
4 c old-fashioned oats
1 c roasted unsalted peanuts
2 c natural almonds
1 small bag craisins (will probably go with the bigger bag next time)
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine peanut butter, honey, and cinnamon in a saucepan and heat through. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Put the oats, peanuts, and 1 cup almonds in a large bowl and pour the peanut butter mixture over the top. Stir till everything is coated. Spread mixture onto a 15" x 10" x 1" baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Stir, and turn the oven up to 375 and bake for another 10 minutes. Stir. Bake for another 5 minutes (or 10 depending on how crunchy you like). Remove from the oven and let it sit in the pan for about an hour to cool. Pour into a big bowl and add the other cup of almonds, craisins, chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Store in airtight container, and not that this is scientific, but it fills a 1-gallon ziploc bag. YUM.

PS: It gets crispier/crunchier as it dries, so don't bake the hell out of it thinking that's exactly how it'll be when it's dry.

Edited to add: As I'm sitting here snacking on this deliciousness, I think it's the perfect crispness, but if you are going for a crunchier granola that will hold up well to milk or yogurt, you'll probably want to bake it another 5-10 minutes.

8

Eight years ago today, I married a man who:
*makes me laugh every day
*makes me feel like I can do anything and succeed
*makes me feel alive
*makes me feel beautiful
*works his ass off to make sure I'm happy
*loves good music
*loves his family and his momma especially
*does not believe in giving up
*would run off with Eddie Vedder if given the chance (man crush!)
*loves lazy weekend nights at home
*makes a mean burger on the grill
*has the funniest laugh
*is filled with integrity and honesty
*doesn't watch/participate in organized sports
*thinks Frisbee in a parking lot at a concert is the best sport
*has the best childhood stories about neighborhood kids
*hates the word "nougat" and thinks "loaf" is the funniest word in the dictionary
*hates having his picture taken and won't smile if there's a camera on him
*whips up a tasty fuzzy navel
*loves to dance with me in a clockwise motion
*prefers homemade dinners over going out
*is never afraid to try anything new
*is an endless romantic
*puts up with my camera/photography obsessions
*is a human blast furnace
*had Jewel's "My hands are small I know..." stuck in his head for over a year
*wants to learn to play the banjo
*loves Taylor Swift for some reason and justifies it with "She sings from the heart."
*I love more and more every passing day

Happy Anniversary dude.