outfit post: bows and a backpack

I've decided that when I grow up I must live within reasonable driving distance of the beach.  Preferably walking distance if I get my way.  I don't know what it is, but I just always feel better when I'm beside a gigantic body of water, and I miss it dearly whenever I'm away from it for too long.

This lovely lake is located in Kelowna, and had such pretty mountains surrounding it.  Let's just say that between the lake and all the pretty orchards and wineries...I'm kind of convinced that I could move to the Okanagan.  Just sayin'.

Now, onto why we're really here!!  This outfit is basically a collage of all my favorite things.  Lace, a backpack, bows, a dress, and a pair of oxfords.  I'm really not ready to let Summer go quite yet.  As much as I do love fall, and all the coziness it brings, I really love the whole "no coat" thing.

dress: Charlotte Russe // lace vest: the garage // backpack: claire's // shoes: shine

Oh yeah, and if you love me....please pretend like you didn't notice my disgustingly white feet.  No, I'm not wearing socks.  Yes, that's the kind of weirdo tan you get when you're a farmer.

Also, if you think you see a faint boot tan, glove tan, or farmer tan....please don't mention it.

p.s.  ♥ kelsey

tasty tuesday: lemon blueberry pancakes

As some of you may be aware of, I'm totally a salt & caramel kind of a girl.  Totally obsessed.  Perhaps even bordering on an unhealthy obsession.  But whatevs.  Although that remains my all-time favorite combo of flavors (for the moment), I do have to say that blueberry and lemon are right up there.  They complement each other so well, and I definitely tend to go a little blueberry/lemon crazy in the summers since we're lucky enough to grow blueberries on our farm.  Soooo....that means an endless supply of free blueberries!  

Please don't hate me.

I made these on a quiet Sunday afternoon after drooling over photos of them over at one of my very favorite food blogs: Pastry Affair!  I tweaked them a little, and am so pleased with how they turned out.

Blueberry Lemon Pancakes
Yield: ~4 servings

adapted from: Pastry Affair

1 1/2 cup Flour
1 tablespoon Baking Powder
2 tablespoons Sugar
Zest of 1 Lemon
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 large Egg
2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 cup Milk
1 1/2 tablespoon freshly squeezed Lemon juice
1 1/3 cup Blueberries

1)  In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, sugar, lemon zest and salt.

2)  In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, milk, oil and lemon juice.

3)  Make a well in the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients, and whisk together.

4)  Stir together until just combined (lumps are totally cool here!).

5)  Finally, fold in blueberries.

6)  Pour 1/4 cup or so of batter onto a heated pan or griddle and cook each side until lightly browned.

7)  Serve with lemon glaze, maple syrup, or a blueberry sauce!

[Optional: Lemon glaze]:
1 tablespoon Lemon juice

1 cup Icing Sugar

2 tsp of Lemon zest

Stir together lemon juice and zest, and slowly add icing sugar until desired consistency is reached.
Drizzle over pancakes, and serve!

Also, I've always been curious about those tall, gorgeous pancake stack you see everywhere.  They look awesome, but really, who can eat that many pancakes?  Seriously!  But...I caved, and made mini pancakes, and stacked them all up.  Peer pressure I guess.  I do have to say that it was worth it. Haha.

When eating them, I toned the stack down to three....limits people, limits.

Oh ya, and I added a lemon glaze to drizzle over top. So delish.

p.s.  ♥ kelsey

weekly wrap-up: music + found things

I had a lot more photos to share about my week than what's on this post, and sadly the reason I'm not sharing them is because I made the silly mistake of DELETING them ALL! :( :( :(  *palm to face*  I had a wedding to photograph yesterday, so of course I'm cleaning out my memory cards, and of course, I deleted all my photos of hitting up some local food trucks, going to Edmonton's wonderful Fringe Festival and watching amazing street performers as well as stage performances, andddd yeah. They're gone. The only thing I can be thankful for is that I didn't delete any clients' photoshoots.

That being said. I did have a lovely week. I didn't delete these photos of the lovely and wonderfully talented Daniela Andrade (check out her youtube channel -> here!), and I finished editing my first ever Canadian Rockies wedding! So enjoy the little snippets of my week while I mourn the photos that I lost... Speaking of lost things... there's also some photos of lost then found things that I took while visiting Kelsey in BC  :)

I love quotes. Words are so powerful and beautiful and I am totally a quote-hoarder/seeker/lover. If you look back on my journals, from childhood to now, there are quotes everywhere! From books I love, people in my life who inspire me, song lyrics, poems, my favourite movies... seriously, I even have a notebook that's just dedicated to quotes. & Yes, I was an English minor. So this little obsession of mine makes total sense. 

Anyways, this quote from Helen Keller has always inspired me, so I just had to put it to a photo I took while shooting my first Canadian Rockies wedding at Lake Louise! :) Hope you enjoy. And please, please, pleaseeeee go check out my photography blog, like my facebook page, and leave me some love!

p.s.  ♥ clara

outfit post: high-low at the beach

This week our family was able to escape from the farm for a few days and enjoy a mini vacation in the Okanogan. (as you probably noticed in Kelsey's Weekly Wrap Up!)  When Kelsey and I were younger, we would come to Kelowna every August with our cousins.  It was always so much fun!  We would hang out at the pool, go to Toy's R Us, see movies, shop, and other awesome things.  I was lucky, because our holiday would often fall on my birthday!  It was always extra special to spend it on vacation with my family!

When Kelsey and I got a bit older, and our cousins could no longer come visit us in summer, we stopped going to Kelowna with our parents, but this year we decided that it would be fun to go again.  And we were not disappointed! It was absolutely gorgeous, and we were about 5 minutes away from this beautiful lake.  One night we went out for a lovely family dinner, (Greek - our fave!) and then came here for a walk.

 high-low dress: forever21 // purse: aeo // shoes: the garage

This trip brought back so many awesome memories and we had a blast!  We did everything from chilling at the pool, to playing Settlers of Catan with the folks, to checking out the local Farmer's Market!  This time we were really able to appreciate the beauty the Okanagan has - as well as make use of it!

p.s.  ♥ jordyn

diy: anthropologie-inspired cups

Now I've had the idea for these glasses, as well as all the materials for them, for an embarrassingly long time.  As in, months and months.  I have no clue what took me so long to get my act together, but I'm so glad I FINALLY did.  These babies are so easy, and I love how they turned out!

I'm totally in love with basically everything from Anthropolgie....especially their kitchen stuff.  The only thing that keeps me from going on a crazy shopping spree every time I enter their store is the prices.
Yeahh....their prices are not always pretty, as was the case with these cups.  I saw a couple of other diys kicking around pinterest, and decided that I would give it a go as well!

All you need are cups and paint!  I used paint that was specifically made for glass, as I've heard from several different people that this works better than using any old paint with a sealant, and it worked like a dream!

Materials:

-glass cups

-glass paint

Directions: 

First I cleaned my cups with rubbing alcohol to ensure I had a good surface for the paint to grab onto.

I used Martha Stewart glass paints, and the applicator made it so easy to just go crazy on the cups. (You can always pour a bit of the paint out, and use a brush instead if you'd rather a slightly more "messy" look).

I painted one colour at a time, and let it completely dry before doing a second, and third coat.  Each time layering the dots over each other!

Then, you can either let your cups "air cure" for 21 days, or follow the instructions on the paint bottles to bake them in the oven!  

There you have it!  Super cute cups that you can make without breaking the bank.  

I have dubbed these my party cups, and can't wait to break them out during my next get-together!

p.s.  ♥ kelsey