Merry Christmas and  happy New year to everyone.

It’s been a super busy time at the end of this year.  In addition to “regular work” and the house “renovation work”, I found some time to open my own photography business.  I know! Exciting, nerve-wracking all at the same time!  It’s been a steep learning curve as I navigate my way through starting a fledgling business and the photo shoots/editing have been keeping me busy.  So, I’m sure you can understand dear readers (are you still out there??), with 90+ hour work weeks for the past couple of months, the renovations (and specifically posting about them!) have gone on the back burner a little bit.  We have completed a few projects around the house in the past month or so – the sheetrocking in the foyer is progressing, the stairs have been getting a makeover and a few other small developments have been made.  We have (sparsely) decorated the house for our first Christmas in the new house (last year we were in the UK): we’ve put up the free tree and some lighted garland on the stairs; on the outside we’ve re-installed the lighted trees I made last year, plus added some of those candle lights to our 14 windows on the front of the house.  If I get my act in gear, I might actually take a photo or two of the house from the outside to show our new candle lights.  Until then, check out my first attempt at Christmas bokeh above by photographing our yearly ornament on a backdrop of the Christmas tree lights.

So, in the eponymous words of Arnie, “I’ll be back” in the New Year to update everyone on our progress at the end of this year, evaluate how well we did on our 2010 renovation goals and plan some new projects for 2011.  Until then, enjoy the holidays.  Eat, drink and be merry.  See you on the flip side.

The DIY projects around the house have taken a back seat lately. Let’s just say, life has got in the way. In approximately 4 weeks, my mum and her husband will be coming over from the UK and visiting the new house for the first time. It’s giving us the push we need to get back on with a few “really-need-to-do” projects, and if we have time a few other “I’d-really-like-to-get-this-done-too” projects. I’m calling our new found DIY fervor …

It will be nice to have my family visiting – a few more English people round here is always a good thing! For the week they will be here, home will become a little more like home. I’ll post about the projects we are currently doing and are planning on tackling in a later post. But for now, while we’re on the subject of home, check out the shoes I made for my Halloween costume this weekend (it’s amazing what a little mod podge and some glitter can do):

They probably need a second coat of glue and glitter to fill in some of the small gaps, followed by a final coat of mod podge to seal everything. 

Cute, huh? Despite having my own set of ruby red slippers, I’m not going as Dorothy, even though I have a Toto stand in:

I’m going as a bedevilled witch, and as most of my costume is black, I wanted some red shoes to match my devil horns. Witches can be cute too, y’all! What Halloween costumes have you got planned for the weekend? Do tell.

Ok, this is not strictly to do with DIY stuff, but it looks so gorgeous I just had to share…

Yummy. During my stay in the UK, I’ve been buying a popular DIY magazine to get some British-based decor inspiration (in fact, one of the magazine issues has given me an idea for the spare bedroom – more on that later). Whilst perusing their website, I came across this recipe.  And started drooling.  This looks L.U.S.H.  And so easy to do. 

How great would this be for dessert on a summer’s eve, sitting out on your dream deck?  I think I’m gonna have to make these soon!  Here’s the recipe…

You will need (serves 4):

For the towers
150ml whipping cream
8 shortbread biscuits (cookies in the US)
350g hulled and halved strawberries
4 tsp strawberry jam (not jelly)

For the raspberry sauce
350g raspberries
25g icing sugar (powdered sugar in the US)
1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions

First make the raspberry sauce, sprinkle the sugar over the raspberries and lemon juice and leave for 20 minutes. Then force the mix through a fine sieve to remove the seeds. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

When ready to serve, whip the cream to a soft peak stage. Place a biscuit on each plate and spoon a heaped tablespoon of cream onto the centre of each. Take 4-6 strawberry halves of roughly the same size and arrange in a circle, cut side out, around the rim of each biscuit, pressing into the cream to hold them in place.

Add a teaspoon of strawberry jam in the centre of the strawberries, spoon a little more whipped cream on top, and crown with another biscuit, pressing down gently to make sure the cream and strawberries merge together – but not so hard that the cream comes out the sides. 

Top with a little dollop of cream, and a half strawberry, arrange more strawberry halves around the outside of the plate, and drizzle with raspberry sauce.

Linking this post up to Show and Tell Saturday:

For those of us living in the Northern hemisphere, today marks the summer solstice; the beginning of summer and the longest day of the year.  The weather in Chepstow this week is uncharacteristically good:

Maybe the UK might actually get a little summer weather this year?  Wonders will never cease.  Of course, it’s nowhere near the temperatures Rick is having in North Carolina…

You’ll notice that the current temerature in Bahama (22 degrees Celsius – about 72 degrees Fahrenheit) at 8am is about the same at 1pm in the UK. In other words, it’s gonna be a scorcher in North Carolina today.

Wherever you are in the world, I hope you’re having a fabulous sun-filled day. Well, unless you are in the Southern hemisphere and today is your Winter solstice.  Or, if you’re in Eastern Asia and it’s currently night time. But hey, you get the idea.

I was super excited to get a F1.8 50mm lens for Christmas this year (so excited that I broke it out a little early to try it out).  However, much to my disapointment, I haven’t had much time to try the sucker out.  What can I say, I’m a busy girl. 

Rick did manage to snap a couple of adorable photos of my niece, Grace, when we were in the UK.  My favorite pic is this candid shot of her pulling a funny face:

Rick also took a pretty cool picture of my brother’s fiber optic Christmas tree.

I could really see this sparkly and abstract photo being printed out and hung as art in our home.  One of these days, anyway. You know, when we actually have walls to hang art on.

Wow.  Where did the time go?  The two weeks we were in England absolutely flew by.  And now we are back in the US and back to work already.  Boo. Although I didn’t get a a chance to post on the blog when I was across the pond, I wanted to share some of the amazing photos I took of the English countryside in all its Winter glory.  Although technically it didn’t snow on Christmas day, it did snow in the days running up to Christmas.  And on Christmas morn, the part of the world we were currently inhabiting looked like this…

and this…

and this…

 

and this…

Gorgeous, huh? Of course, all the snow and ice played havoc with the traffic.  At one point, it was touch-and-go whether my grandparents would be able to make the 2 hour journey to Wales to celebrate with the family (on the account of them living on a 45 degree angle death-hill). But Christmas eve, we braved the slushy death trap and brought my grandparents safely to Chepstow where we all spent a lovely Christmas in each other’s company.

Happy New Year everyone!

There’s all sorts of regular candy floating around at this time of the year.  So how about some eye candy – at least its fat- and sugar- free!

I took this picture of Arriba when she was sitting in the sun on our couch in the front room.   I was trying out my new  F1.8 50mm lens (which is a Christmas present from my family – ssshhh, don’ t tell them I’ve opened it already). Isn’t she adorable? The innocence in her eyes totally belies her devilish nature!

Anyone who knows me can tell you that I find innuendo in everything.  Anything.  Even in the most innocuous subject I can find a sexual reference.  Imagine my delight when I stumbled upon this sign driving home from work:

I first saw the sign as I was pulling to a stop at a traffic light.  It was obscured by a large truck in the next lane and so I only saw part of the words. Inevitably, the first thing that came to mind was the obvious sexual reference.  I chuckled to myself thinking how typical of me to automatically perceive something rude in an innocent sign, and thinking of course there wouldn’t be a such a suggestive moniker at a shopping mall. 

I literally did the classic double take when the truck moved away and I saw the sign in full.  Does it really say that?  So, what did I do? Naturally, I pulled over and snapped a few photos to document this oddly evocative sign.

Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised, especially as the sign is in a “strip” mall, which is also advertizing items that are “hot-n-ready” from a “rent-a-center”. Let’s not imagine what the “1st taste” would be of.  Oops.  Too late.

Rick is usually the teccie geek in our family. Any kind of new gadget (especially computer related) piques his interest. He was the one who wanted to upgrade our camera from a little point-and-shoot to a DSLR.  At the time I wasn’t convinced – especially as DSLR’s tend to be more expensive than their little cousins. But once we got the camera, I was hooked. So much so that photography is now considered my domain in our household.  I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised then that lately I have started thinking about moving photography.

I’ve seen a couple of fab videos taken with the pocket-sized Flip video camera on one of the Home Design blogs I read (check out YHL). The reviews for this camera are nearly all fantastic.  People report that it is easy-to-use, with its one touch recording system, built in 8GB memory and flip-out USB drive.  Plus, the FlipShare software lets you easily email videos, edit individual clips, make custom movies, capture still photos from video, and upload video to YouTube. You can learn more about the Flip features on this video.

Currently, Amazon is offering three (yes 3!) special promotions if you buy this baby by October 10th.  When you purchase the video camera, you get 1) a free accessory, such as a carrying case or rechargeable battery pack and 2) 55 free prints (including 50 4 x 6-inch, four 5 x 7-inch, and one 8 x 10-inch, valued at $15.45) from Shutterfly. In addition to these freebies, the best deal is being offered in conjunction with Audible - an online marketplace for digital audiobooks. If you sign up for their AudibleListener® Gold program for 12 months ($14.95 per month), then you get $100.00 off the camera.  100 notes!  So, you’re getting the video camera for around 60 bucks – that is an amazing deal!  Rick listens to audiobooks all the time on his 90 minute commute to and from work everyday, so this might be a very good deal for us.  In fact, I might have just talked myself into getting one!

I’m loving this photo frame that wraps around the corner of any wall. In the age of the  digital picture frame, this is a unique take on the traditional way to display photos of your loved ones and things (not saying that your beloved is a thing …)

It can hold anywhere betwen 7 – 12 photos in its espresso stained and lacquered frame. You may notice that some of the photos are split down the middle for a “folding” effect.

At 80 bucks, it’s a little on the pricey side (for that money, you might expect the frames to be digital). But I can’t help but admire the multidimensional angles and sophisticated elegance that frame this brings to any home.  It’s on my Amazon wish list, for sure…