Creole Wisdom

resonating with me today

I love this quote. My mom has it on her desk at home and when I read it for the first time I had to pause and take it in. I think we can all attest to being in situations where we've made the mistake of making a person a priority when to us they aren't. Thank you Maya Angelou.

my faith journey

This is long friends, I'm sorry. But I promise that it's good :)

One of my goals for this year was to write openly and honestly about my faith journey. I was afraid to for several reasons. I worried people might judge me. I worried that if I had a change of heart I’d appear to be a crazy person who can’t make a decision. I felt like so many of the spiritual experiences I’d had over the past months were so sacred to me that I didn’t want to air them. I have said so many things, many online, and I knew having a change of heart on a public forum might get sticky. I worried I wouldn’t be able to explain myself. Then, while in Texas I spoke to Jen and she encouraged me to blog about my experience. She reminded me that many people read my blog because of my faith story and that it would be a good thing to do. I felt courageous and so here we go.

In September of 2008 after I stopped attending the LDS church I went on with my life and never looked back. Things were fine for the most part and life was good. I had a hard first year out of college, which I think is pretty normal and found a good spiritual home back in the Catholic faith. If you’d asked me one thing I regretted I would tell you joining the Mormon faith, if you’d asked me one place you’d never find me ever again I would answer confidently, the Mormon church.

I was very angry for a long period of time. I commented on blogs, wrote entries, emailed way too much, commented on newspaper articles and so on and so on about my experiences. I was completely embittered and while my reactions weren’t appropriate I still believe after what I experienced mostly in Utah entitled me to being upset. The funny thing about anger though is that it is always a secondary emotion. Anger for me is usually the result of sadness. Instead of allowing myself to just be sad, which I feel is perfectly fine to be, I got angry and lashed out at perfectly nice people who genuinely loved their faith. I’ve made peace with many of the people who I got personal with and I’m grateful for the ability to apologize, forgive and move forward. I’m glad for the people who had the guts to call me out and remind me when I was crossing a line. At the same time I learned to forgive the people who had wronged me.

About a year ago I was speaking on the phone to my friend Lindsay. Until then we basically edited faith out of our conversations because we just had to agree to disagree. Lindsay is a strong, LDS woman who served a mission. One afternoon while talking I said to her, “you know, I’m not happy about it, but I’m not angry anymore.” I don’t know exactly what happened, but over time I stopped being angry and I just let it be. I made a sort of peace with it and moved on. It was nothing short of a miracle.

In April I had a very spiritual dream. I’m not going into details but it woke me suddenly and surprised me. The first thing I do when I wake up is check my phone. A friend who I wasn’t particularly close to but was still facebook friends with had e-mailed me an invitation to attend a LDS Easter concert. Still shaken from the dream but letting everything just be I accepted the invitation. The concert was lovely. I hadn’t stepped foot in a Church building in three years. People who I knew didn’t glare or whisper, they came up with smiles on their faces and asked me genuine questions and complemented me.

texas part two

Sunday started out with an incredible crepe breakfast. Aren't Lindsay's Anthropologie bowls great? I'm so glad she got them :)

Then we went to church where it was a challenge for me to stay away after such a filling breakfast and then spent the night playing games with some of Lindsay and Jay's friends and laying around talking.

Monday morning Lindsay and I headed up to Austin while Jay went to work (he's a dentist.) The drive was great and the weather perfect: sunny and high 60s. We shopped a little bit on South Congress and then met Jen and her daughter J for lunch at Freddie's, the craziest restaurant (watch this youbute video) in Austin.

I love, love, love Austin. I felt like it was the Texas version of Minneapolis if that makes any sense. Obviously very crunchy, liberal and full of incredible places to eat and shop. I also heard more southern accents in Austin than in San Antonio.

I think what I loved the most about Austin the fantastic signage everywhere. I loved the airstream trailer food trucks and all the bright colors. So cool.

See what I mean? We stopped at the most incredible shop, Uncommon Goods, which is Austin's sister store of Hunt and Gather here in Minneapolis. It was uncanny, really. I walked in and kind of felt like I was home. Then Jen took us to the most darling, old fashioned candy shop!

We ended our day with a trip to Amy's ice cream. It was so delicious. I had the coconut tres leches with real cake chunks in it. Perfect flavor if you ask me. Then we spent some time with Jen at her place and headed out on 35 south to go home- yes, the same 35 that runs up here to MN :)

If you recall, I took a very similar photo when visiting Lindsay in Utah the fall of 2007. I love doing stuff like this. Same subject, different location and different time.

The next morning Lindsay and Jay woke up at the crack of dawn with me and drove me to the airport. It was hard to say good bye. I am really hoping to plan another visit in the future after Lindsay has her baby. Life just goes so fast, and I'm not going to wait four years to see her again! Thank you Texas for a great trip!

texas part one

For several months my dear friend Lindsay and I had been talking about a little visit. I'm all about taking a break from the tundra winter and couldn't wait to see her and her wonderful husband Jay. The last time I saw Lindsay was in the summer of 2008, when she and Jay got married in St. George, Utah. Time flies and I'm grateful for modern technology like iphones, gchat and blogs that have kept our friendship up to date. At the end of the day Lindsay is more like a big sister to me than a good friend. I have been so blessed with good people and she's been a constant force for good in my life since I was 17. I'm grateful for her.

We started the trip with a vitamin D sun bath outside of Hobby Lobby (double win) and then lunch at the wonderful Panera. I just cannot get over Lindsay's adorable baby belly, there's a little girl cooking in there and I cannot wait to meet her!

From there we spent the afternoon catching up and talking. Lindsay and Jay just purchased a 5D and I am so excited for them... and I cannot wait to get one of my own. We were such bloggers and photography nerds carting around our huge DSLRs and chatting lenses :)

Driving around San Antonio blew my mind- those overpasses! The big stars! We just don't build highways that tall in Minnesota. Jay and Lindsay were nice enough to take me to a Spurs game. Everything is certainly bigger in Texas, the auditorium is just gigantic and has a parking lot to match.

Jay is a wonderful guy. I have few friends who are married but I can safely say that "your'e the company you keep" is a true virtue. Jay is as wonderful as Lindsay and they compliment each other perfectly. And he smiles all the time. While waiting to eat at the elusive and delectable Magnolia Pancake Haus I treated Lindsay and Jay to some Starbucks... would you believe Jay has never been there!?!

This is what I devoured for breakfast on Saturday... this amazing German apple pancake with a side of bacon (naturally.) Good times, good times.

To burn the above off we visited the famous River Walk, Alamo and Mission San Jose. I love the Missions, what incredible works of art and pieces of history they are. I am so glad I also got to see where Davey Crockett died, haha. The world is small and I ran into a few people from my mom's small hometown in Pennsylvania and of course they knew my family. I love when that happens.

At the Mission San Jose I took some great shots of Lindsay and Jay. I love how these contrast with some of the wedding photos I took of them four years ago- so much has changed and there is so much excitement on the horizon. Isn't Lindsay adorable?

I couldn't of asked for a betting setting that this Mission. I love the look of the church, that perfect "tree of life" tree and the grounds. It's places like this that I find completely rejuvenating to my eyes. I love to see different stuff and this was a complete creative feast.

Stay tuned for the rest of my San Antonio adventures, and our little Austin day-trip...

winter in minneapolis

Winter in Minneapolis is usually bitter cold and bright sunny. I think it's my favorite combination only for the sake of photography. January light, I love it! I snapped these last week while in between shoots for work. I love this city, I love my home.

style defined

I used to lean heavily towards shabby chic in high school and early college, I was unnaturally obsessed with toile, but these days I would define my style as modern vintage. Okay, modern vintage with a little bit of prairie and romantic (which is basically shabby chic) thrown in. Where does that leave me? These are a few ideas that are very inspirational to me:

 

 

How would you define your style? Has it evolved? Are there any styles you hate? I for one cannot stand too many antiques or knick knacks!

this week

I love this old picture, from this summer. I miss that fun Linden Hills duplex.

I am can't really decide how this week has been for me. I've had good moments:

Dinner with Katie at Rojo

Lots of fun work assignments and shoots

Getting a ton of chores done

Launching my shop

Perfectly falling snowflakes that are so mesmerizing

... But as with everything you must take the good with the bad:

Freezing cold weather and winds that whip around snow on the roads

The granola I purchased isn't nearly as delicious as I was hoping it would be

Realizing I never finished my address book project and I have to search gmail and facebook again!

Dryers that take forever and a day to dry my clothes and bedding. Ugh! Don't have the time.

Watching all the Once Upon A Time episodes so I've not none left until Sunday when a new episode airs :(

 

It's just how life goes.

welcome to my shop

I'm very excited, I've been keeping a secret from all of you for a while. About a year ago my mom started encouraging me to sell prints of my photography, people will like them she told me, they'll want to hang them in their kitchen. It's taken me quite a while to decide how I want to start this and I'm going to begin small. I'm hoping to add flat cards and journals in the near future though, and I do take custom orders. I am 100% still new at all of this, but I'm excited to offer prints of my work! Right now the majority of it will be food or domestic related but that could change. If you're wanting to add something bright to your kitchen, home or even office come and visit my shop. 

my weekend part 2

I love my friends. I am so grateful for them. I love AOII. You are probably sick of hearing that; I wish I was sorry. Saturday night Shannon hosted the greatest pizza making night. This was ideal timing because for Christmas I received a pizza making kit complete with recipe book. I made up some dough and brought over the rest of ingredients to make margarita pizza. I love these ladies (and the one gentleman in attendance!)

aren't they so cute?!

Chelle pulls out the first pizza: spinach alfredo

I didn't get a photo of the pizza I made but here is the dough recipe and sauce recipe I used. Both are from Gourmet Pizza Made Easy.

Cornmeal whole wheat pizza dough:

Ingredients:

1 package active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons sugar

1 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2/3 cup yellow cornmeal

2 tablespoons olive oil

Method:

Stir the yeast into the water until dissolved in a mixer

Mix the flour, salt and sugar in a separate large bowl

Gradually add flour mixture to the water and yeast

Blend about 10 minutes until dough is firm and smooth

Divide the dough into 4 balls, and allow to rise for about 2 hours or until double in size

Use to make four 8" round pizzas, and the dough can be frozen.

Right before baking, brush the crusts with olive oil

Basic Margarita Sauce:

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup chopped yellow onion

28 ounce can chopped or pureed tomatoes

1 cup of chicken broth

2 teaspoons dried oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Heat olive oil in a large pot on medium-high heat

Add garlic and onion and sautee until soft (about 1 minute)

Add tomatoes, broth and oregano. Cook for about 20 minutes or until reduced by half.

Add salt and pepper to taste

Refrigerate unused sauce for up to 4 weeks.

what hallways at a party during a Minnesota winter look like :)

my weekend part 1

I'm sorry but I am going to continue to mention how cold it is until the temperatures return to the high 30s. It's freezing, my friend Lindsay told me it was 65 degrees in Texas. Well, it's not 65 degrees here. In the meantime I'm going to have a good time, nothing stands in my way when it comes to that. I will not allow the weather to sabotage a thing.

That was my philosophy this weekend: cold be damned!

Up first: a fantastic double-date dinner party at Kristy's. She cooked a five start restaurant style meal for us. She garnishes dishes... at home! She's a bonafide chef. I could take a few notes from her.
I was in charge of bringing a salad and dessert. I found a fabulous looking salad recipe here and went simple for dessert: haagen-daz pineapple coconut ice cream and granola. It was delish, but next time I'll be sure to bring two pints, one was not enough!

I love how Kristy's main dish turned out. There was a copious amount of lemon involved, and what can I say? I am crazy about citrus. Please do notice her lovely garnish job:

Stay tuned! Up next, a pizza making party to wow the masses...