So, I am excited to share with you that I am actually in Las Vegas! I am at WPPI, which is one of the most awesome conferences/tradeshows in my industry. So…. I am here literally basking in awesome information… and will be back on Friday!

I am especially excited for a couple of things…

1. To room with one of my favorite people ever, Jan Schill. And, I get to see friends from the industry from across the country!

2. To do a fun photoshoot in the dessert with Thirst Relief. An organization that I love. And if you didn’t know… in 2012, we decided that 10% of what you spend here at m.e. photography goes to Thirst Relief. So you are saving lives by providing clean water!

3. Airplanes and Blazers. Can’t wait! My dancing shoes were the first thing in my suitcase.

4. New products and seeing my vendors in person. So fun to meet the people who take care of albums, prints, etc. WPPI has an awesome tradeshow.

5. Lots of learning. I am a nerd like that. I LOVE listening to speakers… Can’t wait to learn some new things!

So.. here’s Vegas 2 years ago… Think this was from Casey’s point and shoot. This year I go sans Josh. Sorry Josh…

Jan, myself, and Casey…

Be Back Friday…. but keep checking the blog! I have posts scheduled to keep you reading while I am away, and maybe, just maybe, I will post some fun from afar!

.e.

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Apple Shallot Pork Chops

I have made these a few times. Josh and I think they are pretty good… and Ainsley likes them also. I give it to her minus the almonds (choking hazard)

You need:

1 Apple

2 Shallots

5 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil

Cinnamon and Sea Salt

4 Pork Chops(thick)

1/4 cup white wine

Slivered toasted almonds

Ok, and now for the recipe!

Slice the shallots and apples thinly. Add them to the large skillet, with 4 tablespoons of coconut oil. Saute for 5 minutes or until the apples are tender but still a touch crisp. Remove them  from the pan and then add the last tablespoon of coconut oil. Generously sprinkle cinnamon on both sides of the pork chops and lightly sprinkle sea salt if desired. Put pork chops in the pan and sear for 2 minutes each side. Add the wine and bring to a boil to cook off the alcohol. Add the apples and shallots back into the pan, cover and cook on medium hear for another 6-8 minutes (depends on the thickness of your pork chops). Serve with slivered almonds sprinkled on top.

Good stuff and super easy!

This recipe was taken from Everyday Paleo.

Happy Cooking!

m.e.

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So, moving along on our tour… I am going to share my office with you today. Last week, you caught a little glimpse of it, so I might as well share it!

The office is right off of our living room/client meeting space…..Perfect! Love my built in’s.. I think I rearrange them at least once a week. It’s hard to find a balance of making them pretty to look at but also functional….. but not too busy, etc. So, I am never satisfied… and if you stopped by next week… they would probably look different!

Ps…. I had some folks email and ask about my curtain fabric… it is from Crate and Barrel, and I got it about 2 years ago… I do not believe that they carry it anymore.

View from the folding doors…

And from the other side of the room…

So this space over here is where I plan to have a mini newborn studio… Just waiting until my web guy gets my site launched…. It is driving me crazy.

It’s the perfect little space… and there is a great closet holding all of my newborn props… Just on the lookout for a nice chair for nursing mothers and we will be all set!

Some close ups of the built ins… The people who lived in this house before us used this room as their bedroom…

Love my camera collection. My dad just recently sent me some new cameras…. He loves antiques and was out at some antique shops… and sent me 2 awesome care packages of some new cameras!

Thanks for stopping by….

m.e.

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In honor of Valentine’s Day, Ainsley and I decided that we would pull a bunch of pink and purple clothes from her closet and “play” today… and by play, I mean I chased her around with my camera.

So Happy Valentine’s Day! Hope you do something to celebrate…or not (for those who just don’t like the holiday)…

m.e.

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So on the lines of my recent marriage/relationship posts… I just wanted to share another little something, something with you.

Josh and I really love the ministry FamilyLife, and some friends that we know who serve on their staff, had sent us some really awesome materials to check out, listen to, pass on, etc. And one of our very favorites (I can speak for Josh here…know he agrees) is a DVD called Love and Respect. We would put the DVD in sometimes when we were taking a road trip somewhere… and we would find ourselves… laughing and saying…. that is totally us. Itt is real life, real people, real circumstances. Real Marriages.

You might be reading this and thinking how silly it is that we sometimes listen to stuff like that… but if you are married… or getting married….or have been in a relationship for a long time, you know that relationships are hard work. Marriages are crazy hard work.  People are messy…. and so without working at our relationships…. we can find ourselves in pretty crummy places.

I  don’t think any of us ever get married with the intention of letting our marriages go… I think that often times it gradually just happens… Bit by bit the distractions of everyday life and our selfishness build  barriers… and sometimes the road to get back on track seems too long, too hard……and you know the ending of so many stories.

So here are a few links that I wanted to share with you on some things that have really helped us… and just an fyi, our marriage isn’t awesome… I mean, it’s awesome, but it’s not awesome… ha ha.. You know what I mean? It’s really hard a lot of times, but we love each other and we are always working at it.  :) So, I am just sharing resources that we have loved or have found helpful along the way.

So, one of the big things in the Love and Respect series is that we end up in the Crazy Cycle…. oh, how much time Josh and I spend in the crazy cycle…

Here is a little explanation taken straight from here:

Research reveals that during marital conflict a husband most often reacts when feeling disrespected and a wife reacts when feeling unloved.  We asked 7,000 people this question:  When you are in conflict with your spouse or significant other, do you feel unloved or disrespected?  83% of the men said “disrespected.”  72% of the women said “unloved.”

Though we all need love and respect equally, the felt need differs during conflict.  For example, when a woman feels unloved during conflict, her natural reaction is to respond disrespectfully.  And when a husband feels disrespected during conflict, his reaction is to respond unlovingly.  We call this the Crazy Cycle:  “Without love a wife reacts without respect, and without respect a husband reacts without love.”

The message the wife is trying to send in her negative reaction (criticism/contempt) is, “I don’t feel loved by you right now.” The message the husband hears is, “I don’t respect you, buster, unless you change immediately.” When he reacts either in anger or by stonewalling, the message the wife hears again is, “I don’t love you.”

Things get crazy because this feeds itself. Her disrespect feeds his lack of love. His unloving reactions feed her disrespect. Round and round it goes.

So, here is a link for you. If you click here, you can actually listen to this series… I tried to embed them, but they are too large to do so. Sorry! I wanted to be able to make it easy for you, but looks like this is the best I can do.

So when you click on the link, you are taken to a search page. From there, choose Love and Respect from the series list, and you will be taken to the series of interviews with Dr. Emerson Eggrich… We have listened to the series that say 2008. I am sure that the others are amazing as well though.. And an awesome thing is that you can download them, so you can listen to them on your computer, your ipod, in your car, etc.

So happy listening!

And because every post is better with a photo… Here is a recent from a foggy am sunrise while on the road…..

m.e.

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