i ♥ faces {dramatic b&w}

This week, the i ♥ faces theme is "Dramatic Black & White." I love, LOVE, LOVE black & white photos!! Emotion and lighting become so much more prominent when you aren't distracted by color, and that is one of the reasons why I love this photo of my sister-in-law so much!

She is completely in her element and stunningly gorgeous!

Overcoming Adversity

The last 8 months, I totally feel like this little flower trying to make it's way through all those rocks towards the sun.

Roasted Chick Peas

If you read my blog or follow me on Twitter, you probably know how much I LOVE chick peas. I'll eat a whole can in a sitting, straight out of the can, with a little Italian dressing on them or blended up into some yummy hummus.

I recently came across a recipe for roasted chick peas and I am absolutely ADDICTED! They are my new favorite snack, so I had to share with all of you!

Roasted Chick Peas

1 can chick peas
olive oil
salt
garlic powder
your choice of seasoning
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Drain chick peas and dry on paper towels.
In a bowl, toss with a little bit of olive oil, garlic powder and salt to taste,
and your choice of seasoning. The recipe I found called for cayenne, but I'm not
a big fan of spicy, so I used rosemary instead. Spread them evenly on a cookie
sheet (I line mine with foil for easier cleanup.) Bake for 30-40 minutes, watching them
carefully at the end to make sure they don't burn, until golden and crispy. I also
noticed that mine popped quite a bit so I put a loose piece of foil over the top
just to keep them from popping off the cookie sheet.
You can eat them warm or room temperature, but I guarantee they'll
be gone before they cool! Enjoy!

Photo Adventures

It rained yesterday and it's pouring again this morning (figures on my 2 days off!), but despite that, we've actually had some really beautiful weather here lately! So of course, the hubby and I are taking advantage of it, getting outside and walking. I just love our walks! We always have the best conversations when we're walking together, and we're getting fresh air and exercise on top of that!

Sunday, we decided to take my camera with us on our walk. I think one of our problems as a society (myself included), is that we live life on fast forward. If you slow down, and take the time to look around you, you can find some pretty interesting things!

And boy did we find some interesting things on our walk turned photo adventure on Sunday!

We decided to walk in a different direction than we usually do and came across this fabulous couch out on the curb! Yes, it was filthy and quite warn, but come on, look at that color and pattern! It is so old and interesting! You could tell that the side was up against a wall or something because the color was much less faded and the fabric much less warn. I love the shape of the couch too - so classic!

Excited by our first find, we kept walking towards a more industrial area. This lone tree popped out at me against the brick building. I just love brick, especially when it's warn and weathered - it is so interesting and has so much character! Something about the fact that this tree didn't have any buds on it yet struck me too. So I snapped this shot and we kept walking.

I love the repetition of these two doors, and the shadow of the ladder in this shot. I hate how there's a large shadow from the truck that was parked next to it, but I couldn't go asking someone to move the truck so I could take a photo! lol

This was the next building past those two doors. I love the splashes of red in the painted windows, and I love the barbed wire protecting this old building.

As we moved from the industrial area into a more residential area, we even saw signs that spring has sprung!

I had fun on our little photo adventure and my hubby was really getting into it too! We saw a lot more fun, interesting things, but I think this post is getting long enough for today. I'm hoping to make this a more frequent adventure, but the hubby starts back to work next week, so we'll see if we actually make the time for it. You can certainly be sure that I'll share our cool finds when we do though!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

May you always find blue skies above your head,
shamrocks beneath your feet,
laughter and joy aplenty,
kindness from all you meet,
good friends and kin to miss you
if ever you choose to roam,
and a path that's been cleared by angels themselves
to carry you safely home.
~Irish Blessing

Fresh Baked Bread

Yesterday, I made my first loaf of homemade bread in my new breadmaker. I'm telling you, that little window on top...

...it's such a tease. And when you finally open it up...

...it smells just like Heaven. Waiting for it to cool enough to take it out of the pan...

...is simply torture, but man oh man, is it worth the wait!

Photography

Did I tell you all that I started a photography blog?? I think I did, but I can't really remember and I don't feel like searching through my archives. So, if you don't already visit it, come check out the view through my viewfinder, my Blue Eyed Perspective!

A lot of the photos I post there are repeats of photos I post here, but I do post them larger there and the blog has a totally different feel. I hope you all enjoy it!

family time

So...you saw the winter wonderland that is my hometown right now, and you saw the new haircut I got while I was there, but you haven't seen our whole trip home yet! Monday was the 30th birthday of one of my hubby's brothers, so we went to visit him, his wife and our 2 adorable nieces! If you know anything about me, you know how much I love those little girls and that I, of course, brought my camera with me!

Athena, happy as always!

Aura, smiling at me!

So incredibly precious!

Sisters

Uncle M reading Athena a story...she loves books!

She has also discovered her belly button and had to keep checking
that it was still there.

Too many cute faces from Aura!

I told you they're adorable! We also saw my cousin and her daughter while we were home...and Natalie is just as cute!

Something New

I've been talking about cutting my hair short since I got married almost 3 years ago, but I always chickened out. If you read my blog regularly, you probably know that change isn't easy for me. But while I was in my hometown Monday, I finally took the plunge and had at least 6 or 7 inches cut off!

And I LOVE it! I straightened it here, but my hair is naturally curly and it looks really cute that way too. Now that it's done, I wish I did it sooner, and next time I think I'll even have her go about an inch shorter than this!

So...what do you think??

Winter Wonderland

My hubby and I spent the last few days in my hometown. I'm telling you, being home just calms my soul. They have so much snow and it's still clinging to the tree branches. As we drove to my parents' house, it was incredibly beautiful and simply magical. So of course, I was snapping pictures out the windshield.

Stunning, isn't it?!