Monday, February 28, 2011

Colorado in Pictures: Air Force Academy

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I planned on blogging about Colorado last night while watching the Oscars, but I got wrapped up in Florida apartment searching & all of the sudden it was bedtime! Oops! I'm headed down to Gainesville later this week, & at the rate I'm going I may or may not actually finish telling you about this trip before I leave for my next trip! Oh well!

Where were we? After driving back to Colorado Springs from Cripple Creek, I was dying to check out the Air Force Academy (particularly the famous chapel) so the ladies obliged & we stopped there next. The chapel was gorgeous & we got some great shots! We also squeezed in a couple more portraits against a pretty red tile wall at the Academy. You already saw my favorite shot of Liz, but Tara & I also got in on the action. Scroll to the end for those!

After grabbing a quick bite to eat, freshening up, we went to downtown Colorado Springs for a little pub crawl. My favorite spot? a bar called Cowboy. I loved watching some real-deal cowboys & gals line dance, two step & three step. My girlfriends even convinced two very old fogies to try to teach met the two-step.They were funny & very patient with my two left feet. Sorry, friends... I left the camera at home for our night on the town!

Be back later to continue this mini-series....

Outside the chapel...
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Well hello gorgeous...
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I was enamored with the stain glass...
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And this simple, beautiful cross...
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Another angle... 
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I'm a sucker for pretty backdrops...
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Sure you can take my picture...
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Another? Okay!
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The Academy, right before the rain rolled in...
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Thanks for agreeing to this pitstop, ladies! I loved it!

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Colorado in Pictures: Cripple Creek

Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMugI always struggle with picking my very favorite photos from our adventures to share on the blog, & my recent trip to Colorado Springs to visit my hometown friend, Liz, with my other hometown bff, Tara, was no exception.

Part of the reason blogging about this trip was so difficult is because we packed so much into our few short days out West. In an effort not to inundate y'all with 500 photos, I'll break up this little photo-journal into at least three posts to spare you from the longest-blog-post-in-history. Can't wait that long? (Although I highly doubt anyone out there except maybe Tara & Liz care all that much). Click here to see my entire Smugmug album.

After arriving late Friday night, we woke up early Saturday & headed west to a cute old mountain town called Cripple Creek. They were having a little winter festival, complete with a couple blocks of ice sculptures. We meandered around, checked out the sculptures, ate some homemade fudge & then did a little photoshoot (aren't girlfriends fun?) before heading back to the Springs.

Stop by in the next few days to catch a photo recap of the rest of the weekend including stops at the Air Force Academy, Garden of the Gods, Manitou Springs & Denver! All of our adventures are proof that Liz is a fantastic hostess! We couldn't have packed more into our short weekend trip!

Wondering where Matt was this weekend? He was also in Colorado for his brother's bachelor party. The wedding party (groomsmen/bridesmaids) spent the weekend skiing in Winter Park! So we both had pretty great weekends!


In the air...
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Almost there...
Off to Cripple Creek...
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The ladies (Suz, Liz & Tara)...
Cripple Creek, CO...
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This local cracked me up...
The ice festival...
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They even let us sit on the sculptures...
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Our little chocolate break...
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My girls were kind enough to let me practice my portrait skills on them!
First up, Tara...
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Tara was fixing her hair as I clicked away. I think she looks so dang beautiful in this shot.
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And Liz...
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I even let them take my picture...
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See y'all later for the rest of the photo-recap!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Photo of the Week: Liz

Guess where I just got home from? Visiting this lady in Colorado....
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My friend Tara & I headed west this past weekend to visit Liz in Colorado Springs (or as the locals-- a.k.a. Liz--call it... "the Springs"). I have tons of fun photos from our adventures, but this was my favorite of our fabulous hostess. I will share some others later this week after I catch up on life. Stay tuned!

[In case you're interested: unedited/SOOC photo shot at the Airforce Academy in Colorado Springs, CO. 66mm, 1/30, f9, ISO 250]

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Liam is ONE!

(well, he will be tomorrow, which is really just an hour & a half away!)
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Happy birthday, little dude!
We can't believe you made your entrance a whole year ago! Sorry we're missing your birthday bash on Saturday. Shame on us...we are double booked. Hope you know we love you tons & will be thinking of you today! Give your mommy, daddy & Wrigs a hug for us, k? Love, Aunt Suz & Uncle Matt (okay-okay, we're not technically related, but we claim you, you furry brother, & your folks as family!) P.S. I'm going to share some of the photos I snapped of you back in November with my blog friends cause you are so stinking cute, even when you're eating dirt! Happy birthday, buddy!
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This one deserves a caption.... I call it the "Praise Jesus!" pic!
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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Smoothie Queen

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I am on a serious smoothie kick right now. And I blame it on my Grandma. You see, my sweet Grandma Shirlee bought me an immersion (or hand) blender for Christmas. It was arguably one of my very favorite gifts (1) because it was unexpected & (2) because I'd secretly been wanting one for my kitchen. Grandma = generous mind-reader.

This hand blender is a game-changer. Besides being able to blend soups in a jiffy (& if you've ever tried to do that in batches in a regular blender you know how messy/time-consuming/annoying it can be), it also can be used as a mini-food processor, electric wisk, chopper, & most importantly ... single-serving smoothie/shake blender! I rarely made smoothies in our regular blender because there were too many parts to wash & often I couldn't get all the good stuff out of the bottom of the blender. With my new blender, I can make the smoothie in the same cup I drink it out of & I only have one part to wash.

While I'm gushing about my new favorite gadget & treat, I have to let you in on a new smoothie secret of mine: throw some vegetables in your otherwise fruity smoothie. I'm telling you, it's an amazing way to pump up the nutritional content, get some extra vitamins & supplement an otherwise fruity, sugary, blended drink.

My favorites? Carrots & spinach. If you're thinking, "YUCK, no way jose"... I'll challenge you to give this little recipe a try & tell me if you can taste the veggies. I'll bet you can't!

Suz's Go-To Smoothie
Mix the following in your blender. Note that I'm not specifying measurements because that's not how I roll. I just eye ball & adjust if it's to thick/thin for my taste. It's how I live on the wild side.
  • Vanilla or fruit-flavored low-fat yogurt (I'm not a fan of non-fat yogurt, but you could certainly use that)
  • Frozen berries (I stock up on the big bags at Target when they go on sale -- note that you can buy frozen fruit in a sugary syrup, but you definitely don't want this. Just the regular frozen whole fruit will do.)
  • 1/2 a banana
  • A couple handfuls of baby spinach (I'm getting more & more adventurous & adding a lot more every time I make a smoothie. So far, I can't taste it!)
  • Milk or Juice (I usually go with OJ)
Enjoy! I've also made this carrot smoothie a few times. I substitute frozen peaches or mango for the pineapple (it makes my tummy upset). Definitely has a bit of a carrot consistency so you know it's there, but it's still delish. Try it!

Matt used to have the reputation of smoothie king in our household. In fact, we've had overnight guests specially request a Matt-McA-smoothie. Move over, Matt...there's a new smoothie queen in the house.

[Photos from Real Simple (a.k.a. my favorite magazine). I can't be bothered to take a picture after I make myself a smoothie, I dig in too quickly! Also, I've gotta give credit where credit is due. The January issue of Real Simple prompted me to try throwing some veggies in my smoothies. You can check out all of their smoothie recipes here... just enter "smoothie" in the search box.]

Sunday, February 13, 2011

XOXO

Sending hugs & kisses to the ones I love this Valentine's Day! (Especially this one).
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DCF 1.0
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 ....and if you don't have someone to kiss tonight, remember you may have to kiss a few frogs before you meet your prince! (Not sure why my prince is kissing a frog...but that's a blog post for another time!)  Happy Valentine's Day!
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