georgetown stylized photoshoot

A few weeks ago I was asked by one of my good friends, a photographer, to help style a photoshoot. Of course I said yes! Ashley and her husband Ross are a cute little team that specialize in wedding photography. They wanted to do something a little more fun and on the creative side, which I'm all about! They chose the location and the models and I came along to style the model's hair and do her makeup plus tag along to get some photography pointers. We went down to Georgetown, a neighborhood in Seattle. I had never been so I was excited to have a look around. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised to realize that Georgetown is actually a really interesting place full of really unique things to see.

The models were an adorable young couple who were really open to having fun. We started shooting at the Georgetown Trailer Park Mall. If you've never been, you must! It's full of colorful trailers transformed into vintaged boutiques. The displays are thought out and breathtaking. It's so easy for a photographer to get really great shots with all the unique props and vivid backdrops. Not to mention, the owners of the these little vintage trailers were just awesome people who let us use some of what they had in their displays as props! So fun!

All photos taken by 2Twelve Design & Photo

How cute did these turn out! Love it. Ashley & Ross were nice enough to take a few of me while we were walking around. Of course I had a bit of fun with some hula hoops towards the end of our time. What?! I couldn't help myself.

Portland

It's a been a whirlwind of a week for me and I am just now sitting down to share some photos of our trip to Portland. We went earlier this week and stayed two days one night. We left bright an early on Monday and got to Portland around 10am. Our first stop was Voodoo Doughnuts. It's morning and donuts were calling our names. We loved the big pink building and Sebastian got a kick out of watching the donut display going around in a circle. Sebastian picked a simple powdered donut, Bobby picked a donut coated with M&M's and I a maple bar. The boys devoured their donuts and I ate about 1/2 and then passed the rest to Bobby to finished. Mine was much too sweet for me. Over all though it was a fun experience and we can now say we've been to the famous Voodoo!

Our next stop was Powell's City of Books. What a glorious world of books! We got lost in them all. Sebastian was in heaven and so was I. Even Bobby found a whole section dedicated to cars which usually doesn't happen. I loved seeing Sebastian surrounded by books! We ended up running out of time in the car meter with not even realizing and Bobby and to quickly run to add more. Good thing we were parked close! If you haven't been to this book store well, you must go next time your in Portland. The building is huge and honestly I lost count with how many floors there were. Each floor/room was color coded for each theme. My favorite was all the fun cookbooks! So many beautiful looking covers and potentials foods to cook and bake!

Part one of our trip was so much fun. We love adventuring around, discovering new places and things. I'll share some more photos soon!

xoxo!

Hoppy Easter

 Hoppy Easter everyone! Today is all about family and spending time with our loved ones. Our Easter will be very relaxing in the home setting and I'm totally okay with that! The morning of Easter is always exciting around the house, with the bunny coming by dropping off gifts and way too much candy for us ever consume. I'll be taking some excess into the salon next week, surely my clients will be thrilled for some treats as well as my coworkers!

Our egg hunt was a blast and Sebastian always has fun trying to find all those eggs the tricky bunny scatters around the yard. I had to snap a few photos to remember this day. Lately, I can't help but take photos of such things because I know we do not have too many Easters left that will be filled with things like egg hunts and the magic of the Easter bunny. Kids grow up and you can't help it. 

The Easter bunny brought lots of eggs filled to the brim with more candy. Save me! It's funny because we hardy ever eat even half the amount of candy we end up with and we really do tend to give it away. But that's part of it all! Sebastian was a lucky boy and found a few fun things waiting for him when he won't up. Things like a new Jenga Boom game that we are all excited to play, a package from East coast family, gifts from my parents and a boomerang that dad will have to teach him how to use (count me out with that one!). 

Sebastian also found a folded up map in his basket. He asked why it was in his basket and that's when we told him about our little two day trip to Portland, Oregon tomorrow! He was excited that we are going on an adventure to another state. We leave early in the morning tomorrow so that we can have a full day of shenanigans in Oregon! I ended up finding a room to stay in via Airbnb for one night. Super easy and we're renting a room from a family who live relatively close to downtown and have children close to Sebastian's age! Excited for him to have some friends to interact with. It will be a much needed little family get-a-way for us and can't wait to document it.

Happy Easter! Be happy, or be hoppy. Just do both!

Baked Bloomin' Onion

When I think of a Bloomin' Onion I think about deep fried and smothered in calories. I don't even know what chain restaurants have these on their menu anymore but I know they do. I'm all too familiar with onion rings myself. When I was a kid it was one of my favorite things to order off the menu and it was the best dipping them in thick sauce. Oh the glory days! I saw a bloomin' onion on my Pinterest feed and thought I'd give a go yet make it in a "healthier" way. It's easy to see things and think we can't make them because they are unhealthy but there are always ways to alter recipes to make them suit our lifestyle. I love making lighter versions because it shows my family that things can still taste good without having to deep fry and smother things with salt!

Ingredients:

1 large Vidalia onions or 2 medium Vidalia onions
1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1/2 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 eggs

Directions:
pre-heat oven 400 degrees

1. Start off with cutting the top of the onion off, just about 1/4 inch off the top so that the layers of the onion are showing. Do not cut the "root" of the onion! Peel the onion and take of the outermost layer of the onion as well. Clean it well.

2. Cut onion like you would a pie, cutting deep enough to not cut through the root but deep enough so that the pieces fold outwards. If you find that you didn't cut deep enough you can use a smaller knife to help you. Place cut onions in a bowl full off cold water. Make sure they are immersed, not sure why but this tip helps with allowing the onion to "bloom" or open up. I let mine sit in the water for about half an hour.

3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine the panko, flour, garlic salt and paprika. In another bowl whisk together the eggs. Take the onions out of the water and let them air dry on a paper towel. Next, dip onion into egg. Utilize a brush to help coat the onion with egg! Then dip onion in the flour mixture. Coat it as well as you can.

4. Place onion on to a baking sheet and drizzle olive oil over top of the onion. Baked for 30 minutes. Or until the onion is golden brown.

Of course it's going to have a different look and effect to these onions since they aren't truly breaded or batter and deep fried but that doesn't mean they don't taste phenomenal! If not better! Although you can enjoy them on their own you can surly whip together a quick dipping sauce to go along with it. I make a simple Creamy Hickory Sauce. Just mix together some mayo and hickory BBQ sauce. Easy! Or if you're like me and want it to be a bit lighter use plain greek yogurt instead of mayo. Here you have it. Make a Baked Bloomin' Onion for dinner and surprise the family. They will be impressed. Mine were!