Weight Watchers Chocolate Muffins!

A girl at my office made these delicious muffins..... and I couldn't believe they were only 2ish WW points! These yummy things only require purchasing two ingredients!! A devil's food cake mix and a 15 ounce can of pumpkin... and getting generic brands, it was under $2! I had an almost empty bag of chocolate chips laying around, so I threw them in too. Add 1/2 cup of water and you are good to go! Bake them on 350 for 35 minutes and they come out perfectly moist!!!

11.11.11 @ 11:11

Just had to do it.... a post on November 11, 2011 at 11:11. Of course I had to set the entry to post at that time since I am working, but it's my blog so I can set the rules! :) Ha! And because I miss her and love her sweet little dirty face, you get a picture of my niece, Alivia (taken last Memorial weekend)!

Kippen & Bennett Family (Grand Rapids Family Photographer)

I was so excited when Kari asked me to photograph her family! Kari is the very first person Jeff and I met in Michigan!  She was our real estate agent who helped us find our home!  Then for a couple years, I babysat her youngest children (now 15 and 12).  So it was a special experience for me to do their session!  Kari's two precious grandson's were so cute!!!!  They are typical busy little boys who had me chasing them around the park!  It was a blast!!!

I think one of my favorite images is of the entire family sitting on the bank of the creek!  My friend Amy told me about a great free action on The CoffeeShop Blog that worked absolutely perfectly for it.  The action is called "Denim" and changes the image to all black & white except for anything blue (such as blue jeans).  In the case of this image, the family all wore some form of a blue shirt!  I adore how it turned out and Kari is actually contemplating getting this made into a large canvas print.  I think it would look fabulous on the wall!  Very decorative and artsy!



And a slide show of all their images. Enjoy!

Insta-Friday - 11/4

I can't believe it's already Friday again! Makes me happy!  And I am so addicted to Hipstamatic.... what a fun little app!  Here's to another week of Insta-Friday!

So Grace and I were sitting in the church lobby last Sunday and there was a kids wooden block sitting there - one side had an S and one side had a G - so we had to take pics with it!


LOL.... Grace posing with a ginormous gourd at Walmart the day before Halloween.


She's cute.


My shadow.... I look like a major bag lady!


View from the parking ramp at work...


Still some beautiful colors in Heritage Hill


Her favorite place to lay in the fall.... the front porch!


Get that thing out of my face!


It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.... Starbucks and Walmart style!

 

Insta-Friday - 10/28

The last couple of week have been..... well..... "crazy" is putting it mildly.  So I didn't have a chance to do anything for last week's InstaFriday, but I have been having a ton of fun playing with Hipstamatic this week!!  It's probably the best app ever!!!!  I've had it on my iPhone for a long time but finally just started playing with it.... and oh how fun all the little add-on packs are!!  Make sure you stop by Angela's blog... she has a TON of fabulous photos this week!

First, you get sweet Max! This is my friend Katy's son and the poor little puddin' fell asleep on this chair and slept just like this!!!! Can you imagine?  I don't know that I could EVER sleep like this, even when I was that young!

View out my back patio door! This tree is gorgeous every fall!

My beautiful baby girl, Lady Isabelle! (Using the VERY cool Cadet Blue Gel flash)

And here are a bunch from Grace's appointment today with the dermatologist. Grace has been suffering from a rash since mid-July. After months of treatments and appointments, she had patch testing done this week. On Monday, she had 70ish different patches put on her back, went back on Wednesday to have them taken off and a preliminary reading done and then today she saw the doctor who went through everything with us. Apparently she is allergic to 8-10 different things - most of which are chemicals or preservatives in personal care products and clothing. The allergy that came back the most severe was an allergy to formaldehyde. At first I was like "Where the heck is she getting formaldehyde from???????" Did you know that formaldehyde in so many things... a big one is cotton-blended clothing!!!! And Aspartame (dang it.... that diet coke is so good! So are all those sugar-free mints and gum!)

I love this aquarium in the lobby of the dermatologist's office. Some day I will have one like this!

My pretty girl waiting for the appointment...

You can totally see her gum in her mouth....

Silly girl with her gown on....

 

And here, Angela, this one is for you.... I didn't even know I took this image until I got home and downloaded photos!! Shoe shot!  Love my fake plaid Toms.



We got lots of handouts... one on each item she has an allergy to.  These handouts share info on what she should avoid.... and then this week, will get huge stacks of papers that outline things she CAN use! the nurse assured me this will be a ginormous manilla envelope.... fun.  I'll have to photograph that for next week's installment of Insta-Friday.



And our drive home.... still some color here in west Michigan!




And here's my sweet sister, Shantel, pouting because she was trying to tell me a story and I was trying to take her picture! :)