J Miller Photography [image heavy]

Hello friends!

I am taking the moment real fast to plug a good friend of mine, Jonny Miller. He is an awesome, hilarious and an all around nice dude.

And he takes some pretty amazing photographs.

We were lucky enough to get his photo-takin' services for our wedding in February of 2010. We were ecstatic given the fact that most of our wedding was handmade, so having talented friends just made the occasion so much more special. Jonny was no exception!

Of course, him being our friend made it incredibly easy for me to feel comfortable with him being in all of my more intimate moments. You know, in my dressing room, in front of me as I walked down the aisle and in my face for the first kiss. But he also just has this naturalness about him, and is so at ease with what he does, I really didn't even notice him!

Jonny has been there for a lot of my moments in the last 2 years. He did our wedding, like I said, but he also took our engagement pictures and most recently a family shoot for my father's Christmas present.

If you have anything coming up in the future, I honestly recommend giving him a call or shooting him an email. He has a Twitter, a Facebook, a blog and of course, a website. I am going to list them below, so please, take a look around at his portfolio and resume. 

He's the bees knees!

Twitter; click
Facebook; click
Blog; click
Website; click

Below are some of my favorite memories from my personal collection that Jonny has been gracious enough to preserve forever. Enjoy!


Engagement 





Wedding 





Family 

Chili

One of the things that I regularly make for dinner that I am most proud of is my crockpot chili. It's basic in terms of ingredients, but I really don't like any other chili as much as I like my own. That sounds selfish... but it's true!

I don't have much more to say other than make it for yourself. You won't be disappointed. Or, come over and I'll cook it for you! ;)

CHILI

2 pounds ground beef
2 (16 ounce) cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained [I actually use 1 can of kidney and 1 can of pinto beans]
2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 medium onions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Transfer to a slow cooker. Add the rest of the ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.

I typically garnish with a sprinkle of shredded cheddar cheese while it's hot. De-lish! :)

New Car

Well, this weekend sure has been interesting.... not to mention stressful!

Joey and I had to buy a car to replace my broken down, really REALLY old Pontiac Grand Am. I'm talking really broken down.. and really old. Like crank windows old.

We shopped around online a bit before actually going to the dealerships, which I am glad we did. I was leaning heavily towards a Ford Focus, because we drove a newer one in Orlando on our honeymoon and it was gorgeous. I know Ford doesn't have a great reputation, but I really liked the feel of that car.

I found a really pretty slate grey 2011 Focus that had some bells and whistles that I liked. A sunroof, for one. Man, I really wanted a sunroof. But then, Joey pointed out that it only had 1 cupholder. That sounds like a terrible reason to not want to buy a car, and of course it is a terrible reason, but coming from a car with only one cupholder, believe me it was a PAIN. So goodbye Ford Focus and your one cupholder. Get with the times.

But besides, it wasn't the worst reason I could find for not buying a car. I'm sure I passed over some great deals just because I didn't want a red car. Or white. Or beige. Ha!

We ended up test driving, and ultimately buying, a 2010 Nissan Sentra. It drives beautifully, the interior is amazing and the mileage was surprisingly low.

Now I have power locks, power windows, keyless entry and an iPod adapter built in my car! Perfect for my brand new iPhone 4s baby. I already have my apple sticker on the rear window. Beautiful.

We are super happy with our big adult purchase and even though our wallet is not as happy, we know it was totally worth it. I went outside this morning and saw it sitting in the parking lot and seriously was shocked that it was our car.. I can finally feel proud of the car I drive.

Happy Birthday McKenna

I have the best niece in the world. She makes me so happy and I am so fortunate to be in her life, getting to watch her grow. She is turning into such a young lady; it blows my mind daily.

Today is her 7th birthday, so the family gathered for cake, presents and reminiscing over the DVD they have of the news coverage from her birthday back in 2005.

This year, for some reason, I teared up something fierce at the image of her as a newborn baby in my sister-in-law's arms. It's probably because she was sitting in my lap, being 7 years old and playing Pinkalicious on her hot pink 3DS and telling me to stop crying because "that's lame, Kerry."

 

I absolutely love her!

New Years Eve

I hope everyone had an amazing new years eve. Mine was filled with crying (tears of happiness, more on that later), laughter, food, wine, family and amazing friends.

Joey's mom cooked Thanksgiving for dinner, so we were treated to turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. It was beyond delicious.

Then we went to our friends' apartment and had leftover Christmas cookies, drank wine out of coffee cups and watched the ball drop on TV. Perfect ending to a perfect night.

 

Other things transpired tonight, that I will have to wait to share. But I am super super super excited and cannot wait to tell you! <3

I also got an iPhone 4S for an after-Christmas present, so I should be able to post more of my day-to-day doings. I am pumped!

Today I am off to my niece's 7th birthday party.... she was the first baby born in 2005 in our area! 

She is my favorite (okay, only, but still favorite) niece and I love her to death.

Yay!!