‘Embrace the Camera’ Articles at Sweetnicks

Seattle Fashion, Embrace Your Camera and Soccer Feet

May 19, 2011 · Narrative

One of the things I noticed about the fashion in Seattle is that the lower half of everyone’s bodies is definitely not ignored. It made it so fun to see the tights, stockings and boots that everyone paired with their other clothing items, and I snapped quite a few pictures of Seattle legs. Somewhere I have about six or seven more pictures … it’s either on a camera card I have not yet unpacked or in the section on my card that got corrupted. Sincerely hoping it’s the former and not the latter. Because if it’s the latter, I will seriously cry.

This is June, one of 12 Starbucks’ tasters in the world (10 of which are in the Seattle office where we were). She is exactly who you want to befriend if you move to Seattle, and we were lucky enough to hang out with her for two days.

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Recipe: Sweet Potato Fries

December 9, 2010 · Narrative

All day long I thought today was the 10th. I feel like I lost a whole day and need a do-over.

I am a very late adopter to the sweet potato fry craze. Sarah has been raving about them for years, after all, but apparently I’ve been turning a deaf ear. For some reason, they just never intrigued me. Until now. I made a batch of them last week, and then last night. When I made them last week, I served them alongside burgers. Nick mentioned something about them not being “regular” fries and pushed them to the side. The Ex happened to be here and said something about me trying to be sneaky and fool them into thinking they were regular fries. If I was, I was clearly unsuccessful, because none of them ate them. (Editing to add: Nick ate ONE of the sweet potato fries last night – hurrah!) No matter. I polished them off myself over the next few days because I happen to love them. And better still, my old personal trainer would wholeheartedly endorse them, which is a good thing. I’d much rather eat without the guilt.

So it’s Thursday night, which means I’m outta here until Sunday. This weekend brings a date with one of my favorite peeps Saturday night, and a day trip with the kids and friends on Sunday. ‘Tis another weekend full of friends, family and fun – hope yours is just as fabulous!

Project 365
December 9, 2010, Photo #261-267
Two new additions to my Christmas kitchen tree, courtesy of my Mom and her “advent calendar” – love these!

She never wants to leave school when I pick her up. I’m pretty sure that’s a good thing and I shouldn’t take it personally.

H is for Hedgehog. I don’t think an H week is complete without a hedgehog crown, do you?

So this time, I remembered to take a picture of my Creme Brulee Frappuccino before I drank it … sooo good. New seasonal flavor brought to you by the fine folks at Starbucks; get it before it’s gone!

To keep her away from my Frappuccino, I always ask for a little taster cup of whipped cream (free!).

And since it’s Thursday, time for Embrace the Camera. Only took six attempts to get us both in the shot. Have YOU embraced YOUR camera (with your kid) today?

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Embrace the Camera

October 28, 2010 · Narrative

Project 365
October 28, 2010, Photo #199 and 200

In the past year, as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve tried to make a larger effort to be in more pictures with the kids. It’s hard when I’m the one with the camera all the time! But when they’re grown, I don’t want them to look back on the masses of pictures I’ve amassed and wonder “where’s Mom?” I strive to be present in their lives in so many different ways, and this is just one of them.

I discovered the weekly Embrace the Camera event recently, so it seems only natural that I participate, since it’s all about getting Moms (and Dads) into more pictures with their kids. Today before naptime, I propped Madeline up on the bathroom counter and we took ~~twenty~~ a few shots in the mirror. And after I downloaded the pictures, I went straight back to the bathroom to clean the mirror. I actually like the blurry one better myself, but we’re going to need to practice on mirror shots … and this challenge is a great motivator to finally figure out how to use the self-timer on my camera, mostly because I think after nearly three years of using the camera, it’s a tool I should know how to use.

And speaking of photos, I’ve loved the Project 365 challenge that I’ve been doing this year, but it’s killing me that I’m just reaching shot #200 now, when we only have some 60 days to go for me to be at #365. In my defense, I don’t count any of the pictures that are included in the post (because I don’t think that’s part of the challenge’s premise), nor the countless weekend pictures, but I’m going to catch up and finish at 365 if it kills me.

One last thing before I go… I’m working on a redesign on Sweetnicks. I love this design, but I’ve had it for nearly three (!!!) years already, and it was time for a change. Sarah says I have to warn you because it’s going to be a big one. A big change, that is. But I hope you like it as much as I do. My friend Chris (you better be coming down to see us for the holidays!) hates when I change the site, and quite frankly, I’m not usually a big fan of change myself either. I get it. I swear I do. But as my voice has evolved over the nearly six years I’ve been writing here (!!), this past year particularly has been a bit of a journey and evolution too, and three years with this design is good. We’re just going to change the scenery a bit. It should be happening in the next couple weeks or so.

And that brings me to my very last point … with the redesign, I’m going to open up a section for sponsors (advertisers). If you have an Etsy shop or site that you’d like to have shown on my site, drop me a line and I’ll fill you in on the details. They are going to be small button ads (similar to some of what you see on the sidebar now), so they won’t be obtrusive, but they just might have something you’re looking for too.

We have plans this weekend for a Halloween dinner party before trick-or-treating (can I say how much I love when Halloween falls on the weekend?!) with ghost pizza and spider cupcakes and Halloween candy bark, and SOME OF US still need to decide on a costume, not that I’m going to be naming any names, of course. And then Sunday night, when the kids are calling it quits on trick-or-treating and cannot possibly ring another doorbell, before bed, they will go through their candy and decide what they don’t want, and keep only their very favorites. The rest of the stash will be left out for the Halloween Fairy. She’ll swoop in in the middle of the night, when the littles are fast asleep with their heads swirling with candy-filled dreams. She’ll take the candy and leave them something even better. A toy perhaps. Or maybe a new book. You never know that joy she has up her little orange sequined sleeve. Man, I do love her, and I’m betting our dentist does too.

On that note, I hope you have an absolutely awesome weekend, filled with all the very best candy you manage to pilfer from your own in-house trick-or-treaters. I won’t tell a soul.