much adoo

I didn't get either of my dogs when they were brand new puppies, so I don't have any images of either Raynor or Teemo prior to around 8 months old. I'm glad we scooped these two up - and I had to share what I consider to be their 'puppy pictures' since I haven't before!

Raynor :: Adopted August 2009

Teemo :: Adopted February 2011

Our last morning in New York was a bit rushed - needing to get back home to get our dogs from the kennel by a certain time is always a difficult time trial. But we did get to enjoy brunch at a cute little music themed restaurant called Vynl, and it was delicious. I thoroughly enjoyed our meal - but I was wiped! The photos don't show much of our trek around the city, but we really did enjoy running around and finding new places. New York is so full of food it's pretty hard to make decision!

sweater :: j crew factory // dress :: urban outfitters // tights & belt :: target

keds :: keds // coat :: modcloth

New York is an interesting place for sure - incredibly intriguing, especially in photograph. Our hotel had beautiful views of New York, which is the reason Jason chose it for us in the first place. This bar, perched atop the hotel Ink48, had the most beautiful views and most 'New York' cocktails (delicious, but expensive). We were happy to be able to watch the sunset over New York on a Feburary weekend where it wasn't too incredibly cold (think like 40-50 degrees maybe, so chilly, but not awful). After this bar, we ventured further into the city for a delicious dinner at a cheese place, more cocktails, and eventually, the quintessential tourist pretzel from a street cart. It was a terrible pretzel - oh how the Pennsylvania Dutch have spoiled me with their amazing pretzel making ways.

coat :: modcloth // dress :: hi there by karen walker (anthropologie) // flats :: jessica simpson via dsw

tights :: target // bag :: my own design // ring :: kate spade

I love mojitos! They are absolutely, hands down, one of the most refreshing, delicious drinks ever. They are pretty simple to make - minus the muddling (that's the only hard part). I got some Mint Herb Crystals from Fresh Origins and knew they would be perfect for adding an extra mint kick to a mojito. Here's what to do.

mint leaves // lime // light rum // sugar // mint rimming crystals

For each drink, rim a high ball glass with the mint herb crystals by using the juice from the lime to get the crystals to stick.

Add 1 Tablespoon of sugar, 1.5 ounces rum, a handful of mint leaves, and 1/2 a lime to each glass. Muddle well until the sugar dissolves a bit and the mint leaves are well bruised.

Add 3-4 large ice cubes, then fill with club soda.

Look around my blog - type in beer. You'll find me with a pint in my hand quite often, or visiting a brewery to try a local beer. But, believe it or not, there was a time when I didn't like beer. Yes, I didn't LOVE beer. I didn't even LIKE it. And then, then I went to the Kona Brewing Company.

While on a vacation in Hawaii and searching for a ukelele, we came across the Kona Brewing Company. Nowadays, I find their beer on tap even in Pennsylvania, but back in 2011, I had not heard of them or even seen them in stores. We were anxious to try a local brewery, and I was determined to hopefully try a beer I liked. And did I! The Hula Hefeweizen (unfortunately, only available on site at the brewery there in Kona) was the best beer I have ever had and I loved it. It opened me up to really enjoying wheat beers, and even more since then. The atmosphere is amazing - incredibly open - I couldn't tell if we were inside or outside because the line is so blurred, as it is with so many restaurants in Hawaii. The food was amazing -it was one of the first places we got roasted garlic as an appetizer, a recipe I have featured on the blog, and I owe it to Kona to opening my eyes to it.

I can't tell you how sad I am that during this part of the trip I decided to keep the DSLR in the room and only take our point and shoot. But at least I got some photos of some of the best food I have ever had. You can read my full review from back then on Yelp, here.

I mentioned that Jason had planned a trip to New York City for us for my Christmas gift. The date to see Book of Mormon and stay in a boutique hotel finally came - and I am so excited to share these! We had a matinee performance - which was actually much nicer as we had no rush for dinner or drinks. The show was amazing - I was pretty excited to see the guy from Pitch Perfect do such a great job as Elder Cunningham. It has been so long since I have been to a show on Broadway! I'm already ready to go back and see more.

coat :: modcloth // dress :: modcloth

tights :: target // flats :: jessica simpson via zappos

belt :: vintage // bag :: my own design

necklace :: asos

I was sitting around staring at a blank page, wondering, what haven't I written about? Then it hit me. Camera RAW. Why should you shoot in it? Better yet - WHEN should you shoot in it.

Camera RAW is an amazing thing, and I highly recommend you shoot in RAW format. The image sizes will be larger and less compressed because what camera RAW does is saves all the information the sensor (the thing that 'sees' your image) has, not just a fraction of the information which is what happens when you shoot in JPG. The best analogy I can give is let's say you are making a dress for your best friend. You can either get a pattern that allows you to use multiple sizes and adjust well, or you can guess a size and try to adjust later. The pattern is going to work much better, but take a little more time and care. This would be shooting in camera RAW. Buying a dress and hoping it fits or that you can make minor, tiny adjustments later is much easier, but can have bad results. This would be shooting in JPG. The other way to think of Camera RAW is like a digital negative. Back in the day, you would manually expose the negatives in machines. The negative captured all the information, and you could do a lot with that.

If you are starting out, try mastering some of the other techniques first. Editing your photos should come after you start understanding some basic terms and ideas. Once you have some things down, and you want to be able to have control over your images while sitting at home, switch over to RAW.

Even on the warmer days, which is anything above 32 right now, the snow is still prevailing. I recently took a few of my dresses into the tailor for some fixing - and this being one of them, I was so excited to get it back! This is one of my favorite dresses, but after about 2 years of wear, the hem broke in our washer (which spins really, really, probably way too fast). Most cleaners have a tailor that can make these fixes for you for only about 8 dollars, which makes the life of clothing even longer!