Photo of the Week: Sara

We are in the throws of moving so I won't be blogging much the next couple of weeks, but I absolutely could not resist sharing a couple photos of my gorgeous cousin, Sara, who tied the knot with Andrew this weekend in NJ.

We were fortunate enough to be able to steal away some time to make the trip north, & had a great time with our big extended family. I'll share some more photos later... probably in mid-June when I get around to blogging about a host of other things... including Lori's maternity shoot... hopefully I'll beat the baby on that one! Congrats Sara & Andrew!

Wedding season is certainly upon us! In just a few days, Matt's brother Tommy will be marrying the love-of-his-life, Caroline! Congratulations also to Caitlin & Mike (Cait is a Vero friend) and Katie & Matt (Katie is Matt's cousin) who also got hitched this past weekend. Wish we could of been at all of those weddings (Florida, Minnesota & New Jersey).... but alas, we haven't figured out how to be in 3 places at once! Darn!

Photo of the Week: US!

I love taking photos, which means that I am usually behind the camera instead of in front of it. That was the case for most of Saturday evening when I did a (not-so-mini) photo shoot for my preggo friend, Lori, and her hubby, Dave. I had a BLAST shooting Lori & was really pleased with the results (don't worry.... I'll blog all about our maternity shoot later... I have whittled 500+ photos down to my favorite 163, but I still need to get down to a manageable number to share here on the old blogsky!), however, what I was most surprised by were the a few photos that Lori snapped of us at the end of our evening - including the winner above. Maybe I'm biased but....isn't it cute?!?!? Isn't my hubby handsome?!? It's probably one of my favorite photos of us since our wedding! Thanks for letting us step in front of the camera for a few shots, Lori!

Photo of the Week: Fireworks

So.... I wrote this post last week prior to a big-time blogger crash. My draft post disappeared for a few days & then magically reappeared (making this lady very happy). Sorry this is a tad bit outdated, but I hope y'all enjoy the photos!

We went to a Durham Bulls game last Friday night two weeks ago to see my little bro's friend (Alex Cobb) pitch & enjoy what turned out to be a beautiful spring night (after a brief rain delay). Alex pitched a great game (the kid has come a long way since his little league days with brother Mark) & we had a blast, thanks in part to great seats, courtesy of Alex, & wonderful company, courtesy of our friends, Lori & Dave! The Bulls put on a fireworks display after every Friday night game, & I tried my best to take a few fun shots (hello slow shutter speed). I think the photo above was a success! Here are a other few favorites from our fun night with friends....

After a rain delay (our seats were sheltered)...it turned out to be a beautiful night at the ballpark!

I love a night at a baseball park.

The girls.

The guys.

Thanks for the tickets, Alex!

Alex made this Vero Beach native proud!

Bulls homer!

Friends.

I love me some fireworks.

What a great night.

Photo of the Week: Sneak Peek

We went to a super-fun wedding last weekend in the NC mountains. I'm about 2 weeks behind on blogging, so hopefully I'll be able to share some more photos later this week. In the meantime, here's one of my faves:

 

John & Cara (a.k.a. Groom & Bride) had a photo booth for their guests to snap shots to put in their guest book (we also got a copy to take home - please 'scuse the poor scan job). If you are planning a wedding.... I'd highly recommend a photo booth. Super fun & I'm sure a blast to look over all of the photos later. I visited the booth a lot with my girlfriends & Matt, & on one of those visits, we were able to snag the groom for a little "photo shoot." Court, Liz & John.... this one is going on the fridge! More to come! Congrats, Mr. & Mrs. Creger!!!!! Such a joy to celebrate with you!

Photo of the Week: Liz

Guess where I just got home from? Visiting this lady in Colorado....

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]

Photo of the Week: From the Fall Archives

I found this winner while I was transferring photos from my hard drive to Smugmug. I was on a cupcake kick for awhile & Matt snapped a series of photos one fall afternoon while I made yummy caramel apple cupcakes (which actually tasted more like muffins...but they were still delicious).

Look at that yummy caramel. Please. Take me back to fall.

This is proof that I'm not always the one behind the camera! And proof that Matt knows what he's doing!

We actually made way too much caramel, but we managed to find another use for it.

Want the recipe for caramel apple cupcakes? You can find it here, although I'd strongly recommend trying the sour cream raspberry cupcakes first. Divine.

Photo of the Week: What happens in Vegas...

If you were wondering why it was a little quiet here on Simply Suz the past week.... here's why:

Unedited photo of the Las Vegas Strip & Bellagio Fountains (View from my Bellagio hotel room)

That's right, folks! I visited Vegas for the very first time. Although LV has never been on my "must-see" list, (I generally drool over trips to national parks, not casinos) I had a great week (that's right, week) in Sin City. I behaved myself, as I was in town for work meetings & a conference, but I also managed to sneak away to snap some sweet photos. I will put a few up on the blog sometime this week, but I decided to give you a quick look with the winner above. My hotel room at the Bellagio looked over their famous fountains. I could even tune my TV to a station playing the music that the fountains were "dancing" to. I'm not gonna lie, part of me felt like I'd walked onto the set of Ocean's Eleven during my stay in Las Vegas (minus George Clooney & Matt Damon). After a fun but exhausting week, I'm happy to be home.

Photos of the Week: Acrobatics

After yesterday's marathon post, you & I deserve something happy & light. Thanks for coming to the rescue, Carson.

Scenes from pre-Thanksgiving in Winston. Maybe one day I'll blog about that trip. I have lots of fun photos in addition to these winners (which I snapped away while we were jumping on their trampoline).

For the record, I did jump, but I am not that brave. nor that crazy. nor that acrobatic. Guess you gotta live on the edge a little when your a brand-new doctor, dad, husband & first time homeowner. Kudos, friend. You're ca-razy.

PhotoBOOK of the Week!

Sorry for the lack of blogging over here on Simply Suz. I've been busy creating a photo book (using Blurb's Booksmart, my fave) of our summer vacation to Alaska. About 2 weeks ago, I received an email from Blurb offering 20% off my next book.* Here's the catch, I had less than a month to finish it. I'm a frugal lady & will do almost anything to take advantage of a sale. I've also found that I need motivation to start & finish a Blurb book & a sale is just the ticket to kick me into high gear.

This was my 6th Blurb book (have I mentioned I'm a very happy customer? I've written about blurb once, twice, three times already!) & probably took the most time & effort. I've become more comfortable using their software, which meant that I created custom layouts for almost every page. For the control freak like me, that's a huge selling point. If you don't like Blurb's preset layouts, or want to tweak the size of a photo or text box, you can edit the layouts.

Once I painstakingly went through hundreds of photos & picked out my favorites, tweaked or created new layouts, & wrote a little travelogue, I finally gave my book a good once-over... Overall, I was pleased. Thankfully, my little blog series gave me a head start. A lot of my favorite photos were already picked out & I'd already written about our whirlwind vacation in detail right here on the blog. (I'd already done the hard part).

When I previewed the book, I did notice that some of the photos looked a little fuzzy, which puzzled me. We'd just bought a fancy-schmancy new camera & the photos were super big with amazing resolution (in fact, I plan on blowing up this one in canvas & putting on our mantel). After searching Blurb FAQs & finally emailing customer support, I discovered that my photos were just too-dang-big. Jamming all of those megapixels into teeny image boxes distorted the photo. And here I thought low-resolution would be my only problem! I had to go through each & every photo in the book (319 to be exact), determine the "optimal resolution" in Blurb, open in Picasa, export a lower-resolution copy of the original photo, import that copy into Blurb & replace the original file. It. took. forever.

In the end, I'm glad I took the extra time. I would have been super bummed had the book come in the mail & all of the photos were fuzzy! I thought y'all might want to take a looksie (note that the blurry photos exist in this little preview, the photos you see are a lower resolution "placeholder" if you will, of the actual files). If you read my Alaska series, a lot of the photos will look familiar, but feel free to flip through if you're at all curious! Consider putting together a Blurb book of your own. You won't be disappointed!

*Psst....Want to make your own book & get a 20% discount? Finish & upload your book by November 26th & enter "PROMO" at checkout.

PhotoSHOOT of the Week: Mel Headshots

My beautiful friend, Melanie, needed headshots taken to use when she auditions for plays & she asked me if I'd be willing to take them for her. Yes, CPA-Suz has dramatic, creative friends who live in an entirely different world than her. Of course I said "yes." One, because I love taking pictures. Two, because I love Mel.

Mel was so patient with me while I fiddled around with my camera, dragged her all around the grounds of Rashkis Elementary (Matt & I run on a path by the school & I am in love with the bamboo on the trails), & asked her to smile...now be serious...now smile...now look pensive. What can I say? I'm new to this, & haven't really mastered taking care of my job behind the camera & instructing the subject what to do (Not that Mel needed much if any coaching. She is the pro. I am the amateur). Plus, I usually photograph flowers & trees & mountains. They don't need both of their eyes to be in focus.

Mel has gorgeous green eyes, which really worked well with the bamboo/pinetree backdrops. All of the photos on this page are "SOOC" (straight out of the camera), with the exception of the B&W, which I made monotone in desktop Picasa (the color file was a little too warm for my liking). Of course, Photoshop would be helpful to do a little touch up, but sadly, Matt's computer which actually has Photoshop is dead as a doornail. Luckily, Mel's a natural beauty & doesn't need any editing!

Here's my favorite, which actually happened to be one of the first photos I took! Mel's favorite was the bottom row, second from the left in the collage above. Which one do you like best? You should be able to click to enlarge...

Psst... I decided to use my free flickr account for now for photos. I'm still contemplating which "pay for storage" site I want to use to house my photos. Hopefully I don't run out of free flickr space before I make up my mind!

Photos of the Week: Favorites!

In case you felt overwhelmed by the crazy number of photos I posted on Wednesday 

(I know I was when I went back & looked at my post), here are my favorites from this week....

Cupcakes (to eat & drink) for Girls Night!

Love the light in this photo from Occoneechee.

Nice skillz on this one, Matt!

Baked with love by Matt Mac.

Cheers!

I'm a sucker for an unexpected perspective.

Hope you had a great week, too!

Photos of the Week: Liam...Is he not the cutest?!

I've been waiting for quite some time to share these ones. This is Nicole's little man about a month ago at our house.

Okay! That's all for now folks. I'm through day 1 & a half of our 14 day trip in our Alaska book. I need motivation!

Photos of the Week: Fall Faves From the Archives

These are 3 of my all-time favorite fall photos. They make me nostalgic & wish that I was in Illinois this fall (although North Carolina is not too shabby). All 3 were shot 3 years ago with my old digital Minolta point & shoot. Proof that you don't need a fancy-schmancy camera to take pictures that you'll love!

1. I took the first one at the park across the street from our building in Oak Park. I'm thinking of transforming it into my new blog header. Thoughts?
2. Matt took the second on another autumn day. We went to a Corn Maze in northern Illinois with friends from our church (Holler 2x2!).
3. #3 is not that photographically exciting but it brings warm memories of our old home. We lived in a charming, ivy covered courtyard building (complete with a fountain stocked with fish). I loved living in Fountainhead, especially in the fall when the ivy on our windows changed colors.

Have I mentioned I love fall?

Oak Park, IL. Fall 2007.

Corn Maze with 2x2. Somewhere in Northern IL. Fall 2007.

Fountainhead in the Fall. Oak Park, IL. Fall 2007.

Photo of the Week: Happy Couples

My father-in-law is a closet romantic. He planned & successfully executed a vow renewal ceremony & after-party (at their house) as a surprise to my mother-in-law for their 30th Anniversary. Fifty of their closest family & friends joined them at the church they married at thirty years ago, with the pastor (now retired) who married them, & their closest friends - several from out of town - who stood up with them on their wedding day. Momma Mac didn't know what hit her.

Matt happened to be in town for a dental school interview, so he got to be in on the secret & help his dad pull off the big day. What Dad Mac didn't know was that Matt & his brother, Tommy, were also pulling a fast one on him. Tommy & his girlfriend  fiance, Caroline, flew in to surprise Mom & Dad and to announce their engagement! Tom proposed the Thursday before & managed to keep it a secret from his folks until he walked out of the church to greet them as they arrived. Matt & Tommy walked their teary-eyed momma down the aisle. Is that not the sweetest?

Congratulations, Mom & Dad, on 30 years of marriage! 

and...   

Congratulations, Tommy & Caroline, on the beginning of a wonderful journey ahead!

P.S.

I should really just cut to the chase & call my weekly post PhotoS of the Week. Because let's be honest, I can never just pick one. Still trying to master "less is more."

Photo of the Week: Duet

Hannah will be one on Sunday. My goodness. Our little pumpkin is growing up. Because - after my hubs - she is the second love of my life, you will have to bear through more chunky, happy baby photos until I get all of my faves up. These photos of my Grandma Shirlee (now "G.G." to her great granddaughter) & Hannah are no exception.
Grandma is a wonderful musician & an amazing pianist. She's one of those folks who can hear a tune & play it by ear. Hannah loves G.G. & likes to bang on things, so Grandma decided to give her a little piano lesson. The result... a happy baby & some sweet photos of 2 of my favorite ladies.

Photo(shoot) of the Week

While in Florida, I did a mini photo shoot in my parents front yard with Katie, Matt & Hannah. It was getting late & hence darker outside, so some of the photos are a bit grainier than I would have liked. That's what you get for refusing to use a flash (I'm stubborn!). I'm going to have to do a Take 2 with them at Thanksgiving. Hopefully, I'll be commissioned for the Christmas card photo! You've already seen my favorite shot of Hannah last week. Here's my favorite "posed' family photo:

What a happy little family!

And here are some other faves:

Hannah loves to blow kisses (bottom left) & she loves her Uncle Matt (top right).

It wouldn't be a photo shoot without some outtakes. By the time I got around to asking someone to snap a photo with me & Hannah, she was finished. I swear she loves her Aunt Suz, but after 100 photos she did not have patience to snap one with the photographer. I really love the "Senior Pose" she whipped out for us in the top middle. Classic.

Tell me how you really feel, Hannah Banana.

{Click any of the photos to enlarge}

Photo of the Week: Surprise!

Matt & I snuck off to Vero Beach this Labor Day weekend & managed to surprise Katie & Hannah. Mom & Dad were in on the last-minute secret since we needed a place to stay. We also told Matt S. so that he could make sure his bride (& daughter) didn't make any weekend plans!

Hannah is going to be ONE at the end of the month & I have to say this has to be my favorite stage so far. Even though she's incredibly independent & mobile (almost walking!), she also still has a cuddly side. Her personality has certainly come out & she's both funny & oh-so-adorable.

Last night I did a mini-photo shoot with Katie, Matt & Hannah & this was my favorite shot. I'll post more this week from our fun weekend (including a trip to the beach & a dip in the pool with Miss Hannah Grace), but I just wanted to give you a preview!

She wouldn't quite give us a full on toothy-grin, but (thanks to Grandpa & Uncle Matt grabbing her attention as I snapped away), she did manage to look at the camera. Gone are the days of "one, two, three...smile!" It's okay, she's still pretty photogenic & has a whole new slew of party tricks to keep us entertained.

Check back later this week for more cutie-pie photos!

Photo of the Week: McKinley

Mt. McKinley at Reflection Pond - Monday, August 2nd, Approximately 11pm

I know that I promised an Alaska recap this past weekend, but approximately 20 loads of laundry stood between me & blogging (okay, I exaggerate - it was more like 10). Friends, the laundry won.

This afternoon I leave for Boston for the rest of the work week, but before I disappear from my blog, yet again... I figured I'd share a quick snapshot from our adventures in Alaska.

Our first night in Denali National park (Monday, August 2nd), after a 6 hour bus trip to the Wonder Lake campground, Mount McKinley decided to peak through the clouds. And then the peak became a full blown clear night at about 10pm & the campers went wild! 

According to the ranger at Wonder Lake, this was the clearest & best night of the summer (it rained nearly every day in July). Matt & I made friends with a few Swiss hikers and they lead us to the Reflection Pond, about 3 miles from our campsite, and we got THIS view of the mountain. Thank you, friends!

Mt. McKinley at Sunset a.k.a. McAndrew Christmas Card 2010

The photo above was taken somewhere between 11-11:30pm. The sun was setting and the faint pink band that you see is the alpenglow. Short of the northern lights, seeing the mountain like this is about the most amazing sight in Alaska (in my humble opinion). Our first day in Alaska was a success... 

After taking a ton of photos, we hiked  back to our tent and went to bed. It was still light. At midnight. Welcome to Alaska!

More to come after I get back from Boston.... stay tuned!

Photo of the Week: Happy lady

I know I said earlier not to expect a blog post from me until at least the weekend, but I couldn't resist. All day long, my darling niece has been staring at me from my computer screen. I've been stressed with all of the back-to-work-after-two-weeks-away mumbo jumbo, and Hannah has been the key to my workday sanity. When feeling stressed - I just minimize my email & look at this little beauty. Our precious baby niece is growing up! Wanted to share the love in case you needed a reason to smile....