Christmas Music Mayhem!

"Guess what?" I asked my husband while simultaneously pushing the radio button on.

"...come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you" sang loudly through the speakers.

"Christmas music on Halloween?" my husband asked, looking puzzled and slightly disturbed.

"I love it!" I rang out with excitement.

"I thought Christmas music started around Thanksgiving."

"Guess they're starting even earlier! I just love it!"

"I'll be sick of this in about three days."

I laughed diabolically.

"Christmas music shouldn't be allowed in Florida. There is no 'dreaming of a white christmas', no 'sleighs' because there is no snow, no 'chestnuts roasting on an open fire' because it's too hot to have a fire in Florida,' he reasoned, as if Christmas music required logic to be enjoyed. Silly New Englander!

I scoffed as if I cared, but I didn't. I don't. I've grown up in Florida, and Christmas is my favorite time of year, and Christmas music is my favorite part of the holiday season.

Logic won't melt my Frosty the Snowman, regardless of the 80 degree weather!

A day went by, and we were in the car again.

"I do like the way palm trees look with the lights wrapped around their trunks," he said.

So he's been converted to the Florida Christmas way of life, after all. ;-)


Here's a peak at a recent Christmas shoot....love the green!

Besides red, the only other signs of Christmas are the hats!

Happy Holidays!

xo

jbnewcomb<3

Fall in Florida

Because there are no big piles of red and orange leaves to jump into, there aren't many signs that it's Fall in Florida. It's still between 80 and 90 degrees most days, with just a tease of cooler daytime 70s weather here and there. But it's pretty much still green and hot.

Florida is one of the few states in the US that stays green. There are a few trees that drop their leaves, but I dream of the gorgeous golds and reds that so many states enjoy.

We have pumpkins! hahaha That's pretty much the only blankets of orange a Floridian sees in the Fall, and even those are only around for about a month. For Thanksgiving, homes are adorned with faux Fall foliage and warm-toned table runners. We light pumpkin-scented candles to complete the mood, but it still falls short of the traditional Fall that most in N. America enjoy.

Nevertheless, I'm determined to faux-Fall it up with hay, pumpkins and faux "turned" leaves!

Here is one of my latest shoots. Notice all the green! lol

But I must say Fall, like all of the non-seasons in Florida is simply beautiful. And this warm and beautiful family was such a pleasure to photograph with the faux-Fall scene. :-)

Happy Fall, all!

xo
jbnewcomb<3

Showcasing Sarasota's Beauties

Everyone deserves to feel beautiful.

When I was a teenager, I wanted so badly to feel beautiful. This desire, mixed with the desire for a boy to notice me, was a driving force in practicing self-portraits. I became a master at posing. I'm what I like to refer to as, "The Perpetual Smiler". My poses are flawless. hahaha What I mean is that I have practiced posing so much that my body naturally moves into the perfect position and I look almost exactly the same in every photograph someone shoots of me. And I feel beautiful.

Not every woman grew up obsessing quite as much as I did, and yet they want to feel beautiful. They deserve to feel beautiful. And I adore capturing their best angles, showcasing their beauty like never before. And I'm pretty darn good at it. *toot toot*

That is why I gravitate toward headshot photography. It's so rewarding to know how happy I make my clients when they see their shots for the first time.

Here is one of my latest beauties I was honored to photograph.

Simply gorgeous!

xo
jbnewcomb<3

Love is Intoxicating!

I just love love. My friends laugh and occasionally tease me for being such a romantic. But is there any other reason for living than love?! Of course, I don't think so!

Here is one of my favorite couples. They're so adorable together!

Jack and Kassandra, your love is palpable. I adore you both, and I'm so happy you reunited after all these years.

xo
jbnewcomb<3

The Happiness Diet

Warning: contains some crazilicious theories on dieting. :-P

Baking is dangerous! Or so you'd think! Honestly, I swear I've lost weight since I've been eating a pound of butter a week. Unbelievable, I know. But hear me out. I've got a theory. And maybe a revolutionary diet bubbling to the surface! lol

I love to cook meals, but the love I have for the baking process makes my love for cooking seem like a tolerance! I've never felt as good cooking an entree for my family as I do baking a decadent layered chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting or delightfully scrumptious sour cream scones. The cake and scones take twice as long as most dinners, but somehow I enjoy it more. I know there's something so satisfying and delicious at the end of that long process. And the smiles and the "oooh...mmmmm...uhhh this is the best!" is the inevitable reaction from my family, and of course Moi!

So here's my theory as to why I feel less puffy after eating such forbidden foods!

* I'm not buying these naughty treats from a store, so it's all 100% pure food! My body recognizes it as food instead of half chemicals and industrial products, and it says, "yeah, I know exactly what to do with this," and that "something" is not to add it to my thighs!

* Baking is just plain enjoyable! For me, it's one of the top 5 favorite activities of all time. So, the happier I am, the less stress I have. The less stress, the less cortisol released, and the less my body holds onto and creates fat.

* I'm more satisfied with food in general and eat less because of it! My sweet tooth, or more appropriately called my "butter tooth" is satisfied on a daily basis, so overeating is less of a temptation.

You may not buy it, but the fact is, I have been eating foods no diet would condone, and my jeans fit better!

That doesn't mean you could eat what I eat and not gain weight. It's not because I have a high metabolism. I don't. The diet is a diet that prohibits unhappiness. The diet consists of finding what truly makes you happy and doing it on a daily basis. Lucky me, that happens to be baking! For you, it may be realizing you love to glue gum wrappers to cereal boxes! lol

Find what feeds your soul, and your body and mind will be harmonious, and you will lose that extra pudge. Or as I like to say, you'll "de-puff". In my case, it wasn't simply eating peanut butter brownies, it was baking them!

xo
jbnewcomb<3

Zone of Fantabulousness!

I blogged earlier about a topic related to one's "Zone of Genius" here. It's basically the area in what you do that you not only excel, but you enjoy the most. Photography is my zone of genius. But because I love to change everything to fit me, I call it my Zone of Fantabulousness. I love made-up words, just like my photography idol Jasmine Star. It's like language is a puddle. Some walk through it, others splash! She and I like to splash. Fantabulously making messes of our language.

Back to my point....

When I am photographing someone, I am calm and having the best time of my life. And I had no idea it would be like that! I was soooo nervous to start my photography career. I've always loved snapping pics of beautiful things and people I love, but that was so casual. No pressure there. So the idea of photographing people I didn't know as well was sort of a bitter sweet fantasy. My soul urged me on to do it, speaking to me in supportive non-splashy language, like, "you have to do it, you won't regret it". But then the insecure side of me screamed, "what if I am so nervous that I can't get the shots I want?"

Yes. I have some issues with being nervous. Ok, crazy whacked issues. Sometimes. So of course, I thought I'd choke and bomb and sputter around like a cheap dying firecracker. Bbbbzzzzeeeee! Pop pop. Smoke. Then nothing. That's the image in my head of what my potential failure could have looked like when beginning my photography career.

But wait! Something brilliantly, oh-so-fantabulous happened! My natural talent soared through the air like one of those giant commercial, totally illegal fireworks that your rebel neighbors shoot off at the 4th of July. I rocked it! I freaking blew my mind!

And so it began...my journey to greatness. Or at least just totally diggin' what I do. And in the dream-crushing world of choosing a career, there's nothing to hope for more than that.

Here's a shot from one of my latest sessions...the beautiful Jenny. And she said she didn't take good pics because of some crazy silly reason...proved her wrong....huh, Jenny? ;-) Nothing short of photogenic!

Love her amberlicious eyes! A gorgeous mom to be x3!

xo
jbnewcomb<3

18K Gold Granola Bars

First time I created a recipe completely on my own, and boom! Fabu! *toot toot!* < that's me tooting my own horn. :-p

My daughter needed more variety for breakfast and more nuts and seeds (gotta have those omegas!) in her diet. So Mommy came up with an unbeatable recipe for getting her to eat....(drum roll, please!).....

* Pumpkin seeds
* Flax seeds
* Sunflower seeds

Those foods can be rough to eat, especially for a 5 year old. Personally, I can eat them all individually. Well, flax seeds on their own are a bit slippery and odd in texture. But I needed to dress up those power foods with something that would make her beg for more. And that, she did!

Here's my 18K Gold Granola Bar Recipe. I named it this because it has 18 ingredients. You can substitute certain ingredients for others, eliminate a few all together and up another ingredient. There are endless combos for granola bars, but this one is utterly magical!

18K Gold Granola Bars

Ingredients:

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup wheat flour (or all-purpose)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup soft butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup canola oil (or vegetable)
1/2 cup honey (tip: if you measure the honey with the cup you measured the oil with, the honey will easily slide out.)
1/2 cup sugar (or skip this and just use a full cup honey)
1 tbsp molasses (or just use brown sugar instead of sugar or none at all! lol)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs

1/2 cup cashew pieces (or chopped cashews)
3 tbsp flax seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

2/3 cup raisins
2/3 cup sweetened cranberries
2/3 cup chocolate chips

Directions

Mix first 4 ingredients into the large main bowl.

Mix next 7 ingredients in medium to large bowl. Add this mixture to the the large main bowl.

Mix next 4 ingredients in small bowl (or just throw these ingredients into the main bowl and stir).

Mix last 3 ingredients in small bowl (or again, just throw these ingredients into the main bowl and stir thoroughly).

Pour into greased pan and bake at 325F for 25-30 minutes or until desired consistency.

I used a pizza cutter to cut these into bars while still hot.

Voila!

You're welcome. ;-)

xo
jbnewcomb<3

Children & Families Session with Wings!

"Red Bull gives you wings!" but children certainly don't need Red Bull!

Last week, I had a high-energy photography session with the ever-beautiful Jenny and her gorgeous children. My kids look like veals next to these adorable little firecrackers! Their energy is boundless! They sure kept me on my toes in order to get great shots that really showcase their personalities.

Here's a preview of the shoot:

I just adore this family! And I feel honored to have immortalized their adorable lil personalities in photographs. :-)

xo
jbnewcomb<3

Buttercream Butter Dream

Creamy dreamy buttercream. Oh, my lovely butter dream. Everything tastes better with butter. Everything tastes better with cream. And if you disagree, you're probably just trying to convince yourself because of the guilt-potential. :-P

I made buttercream frosting for the first time today. It's 228 calories per serving, but they're super dee duper delicious calories! Is it totally crazy to eat veggies for every meal just so I can eat buttercream frosting? Umm yeah.

The buttercream adventure began with my disatisfaction with Oatmeal Cream Pies. Plastic comes to mind when eating them. Plastic and sugar.  so when the whole box was gone, I decided to invent my own non-industrial version.

First, I made oatmeal chocolate raisen cookies. They didn't come out as flat as I wanted, so a little more experimenting is needed. Oh darn. ;-)

Next came the buttercream frosting to be sandwhiched between two cookies.

I found an amazingly simple and noisy recipe. One stick of butter {mmmmmmmm}, 2 cups powdered sugar {10X sugar is what the hardcore buttercreamists call it}, a bit of vanilla, 2 tbsp. of milk. Using a noisy mixer, cream {fancy word for mix} the butter, then slowly add the sugar, next the vanilla and milk, and voila! Buttercream that will make you use the word "buttercream" in every song....if you're lyricists like my crazy family pretend to be.

My hubby is playing the guitar and singing these lyrics with Aurora as I type. Here are a few gems:

"I like it....on my cake
  I like it....on my steak

  I will eat it....with a carrot
  I might even....share it

  Ohhhhh I like buttercream,
  I like buttercream."

And the lyrics go on and on and on in Dr. Seuss style.

Needless to say, buttercream frosting will be made on a semi-regular basis in this house...

{I secretly saved a cookie sandwich to take a picture of, which is coming soon!}

Big Girl Blues

Why does anything good have to end? There's less than two weeks left until she goes to a new school, and she has no idea how much she's going to miss her first school, her first best friend, and the amazing teachers she grew so close to.

My baby--no, my "big girl"--is graduated from preschool. Yes, there was a graduation commemorating her completion of k-4. She even wore a cap and gown...no joke. :-)

It's wonderful and dreadful at the same time. She's thriving and moving on to more advanced work, but with that comes more stress and less fun. There is so much expected of kids in kindergarten. Kindergarten is the new first grade, and that means more responsibility. It's funny how kids want to grow up so badly. They admire teenagers, pretend to be adults, and yet they have no idea, NO IDEA how much work it is being "mature".

Aurora's first school, Stage Door Preschool of the Arts, is the creme de la creme of preschools as far as I'm concerned. I feel silly even saying such a thing :-P But they are impressive!

They provide such a rich environment for students to express themselves in many ways: dancing, drawing, painting, coloring, music, and they even have a special Spanish class. And to top it off, they're rated 198 out of 200 in preparing children for Kindergarten. Go Stage Door!

From the first day, Aurora had a best friend. Lilia. What a cutie. And they're so much alike. After one conversation, Lilia's mom and I discovered they even sass in the same way. They love each other so much. It's hard for me to think of them not going to the same school this fall. Look at these adorable partners in crime....



It's hard to let go of my little girl and let her grow up, but I'm proud of the changes she makes ever day. I'm so blessed to watch this amazing little human being evolve into a strong and self-sufficient young lady. This year is sure to be full of major changes! Most of all, I am looking forward to the advancement in her reading skills. Because once one can read anything, the possibilities are limitless!

xo

jbnewcomb<3

My Leo Lover

She spent weeks crafting him present after present. The moment she awoke on the big day, she went to work on wrapping up her works of art. Finished, she helped me make him breakfast, complete with his favorite flaky rolls.

"Happy Birthday, Daddy! Time to get up! Breakfast is ready!" Aurora announced as she jumped on top of her sleeping Daddy. He wrapped his arms around her, and I fell into their love pile to take part in the birthday wake-up call. Jason was simply happy. The love was palpable. And there's nothing that means more to me than seeing my loved ones happy. Especially on their birthday! :-)

Birthday celebrations are one of my favorite events. Of course nothing can take the place of weddings in my heart, but birthdays are a close second. Love! Cake! Presents! Birthdays and weddings have it all. But one thing birthdays have over weddings is that we get one every year! {I'd love to be able to afford a full-on wedding every year!} Jason's birthday this year was made oh so special.

The morning went swimmingly! Jason was so impressed with Aurora's homemade presents. Among them was an incredibly detailed Chinese Dragon. I've seen our daughter produce amazing works of art, but this was in a whole other league! She'd perfectly cut out an orange dragon, bejeweled it with glass stones, and drew a beautiful, realistic face. It was superb! Besides being an exquisite piece, Jason looooves Asian art!

Jason also loves attention. Of course he would. He's a Leo! AND his birthday is the 1st of the month. I love attention, too, but I also love to make my loved ones feel like the center of my world. And my world is blessed with a man with many wonderful qualities. He's strong-willed, ambitious, and outgoing. All of those intense qualities are balanced out by his extraordinary, intuitive sensitivity and his humble {sometimes too humble ;-)} nature. All that is topped off by a controversial sense of humor. His fresh perspective is always entertaining! Politics. Religion. Society. Pop culture. All taboo subjects, he lightens, hence lifting my spirits with his open-minded humor. He's my favorite comedian. My favorite lover. My favorite friend. And he can cook, too!

Happy Birthday, baby! May we get to spend dozens more together. :-x

xo
jbnewcomb<3

Boobies!

Boobies are fabulous! At least that's what my infant daughter thinks. ;-) Yesterday, we went to a nation-wide event called The Big Latch On by Le Leche. The goal was to have as many women as possible to breastfeed in public for one minute at 10:30am. We had about 70 momma and baby pairs. Woohoo! Go boobies! Here's an article by the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

There were tiny, practically newborn babies, and babies that were not-so-little babies. And then there was my fat little piglet Elena. I just loooove to breastfeed her! {Obviously! She's 18 and a half pounds and only 4 and a half months old!} It's relaxing for us both {and we sleep well together because of it}. This momma isn't losin' sleep, and all because of these glorious lady lumps on my chest!

How cool is it that we are built for this? Ready-made food for our little ones....no bottles, no sanitization, no expensive formula, no gross poopy diapers! That last one makes it totally worth it. And you might think I'm nuts {I do}, but I actually enjoy changing Elena's poopy diapers. lol Ok, I'm not some poopy sicko, I just really like mothering. I enjoy all aspects of taking care of my baby. Oh wait...there's one thing I haven't appreciated this time around...vommit all over my bed! lol But let's not delve too far into that subject!

Watching all of these beautiful mothers breastfeeding inspired me to want to photograph mommies feeding their babies. I am SO in love with breastfeeding, that I want to celebrate it with my art. So, my next goal is to take a ton of pictures of breastfeeding mommas. Maybe I'll even create an art book. Maybe I'll title it Celebrate the Beauty of Breastfeeding. ;-)

A very cool thing is that I saw several women from my midwifery birth center Birthways. AND I got to chat with Risa Segal, a gal as beautiful as ever that I went to high school with! Her baby boy is GORGEOUS and only a half month younger than Elena! Too cool!

Alright, it's settled...I'm shootin' boobies! lol

And here's a pic of my 100% breastfed piglet...look at those arms! I just want to eat her up!

xo

jbnewcomb<3

Super Deliciousnous!

He just could stop himself. The moment the sweet deliciousness touched his tongue, he was addicted! No one thought they looked like anything special, including me. It was a simple, mostly pre-packaged recipe, but oh so freaking fabulous!

For the 4th of July, my fam went to our daughter Aurora's best friend's house. Aurora and Lilia were smitten with each other since day one of preschool, and they had a BLAST watching fireworks and playing with glow necklaces! It was Lilia's brother Ren who was smitten with the dessert we brought.

The cookies we brought were Aurora's creation. She drew a picture of what she wanted them to look like:

What a creative mind! She's simply amazing!

Here's Aurora's recipe, which is not from scratch (my favorable method, but we were limited on time)...

Ingredients

Sugar Cookie Mix (plus all the necessary additions)

Pre-made CREAM CHEESE frosting (again, I would have preferred making my own, chemistry set-free :-P )

Blueberries

Strawberries

Powdered Sugar (granulated would work too)

Directions

Follow Sugar Cookie Mix Directions

If you wish, roll out dough and cut into fun shapes. We did stars for the 4th of July!

Bake, then let cool

Place Strawberries and Blueberries in a bowl and coat lightly with sugar

Spread a thin layer (or thick, as my hubby prefers) on each cookie

Top cookies with blueberries and strawberries, and voila!

Now try this and tell me you could resist it...I think it's pretty impossible!

xo
jbnewcomb<3

What a Beaut!

Gosh, she's a beauty...

How lucky I am to have a gorgeous muse for my photographic journey! I'm so enjoying learning my camera settings, lighting, and composition with Aurora. Her energy is intense, which also helps me to practice getting the shot! lol

More kids coming soon!

xo

jbnewcomb<3

LOVIN' it!

This is IT! The moment I feel truly confident about calling myself a photographer....

It feels so good to finally declare my passion to the world! It takes a lot of courage for me to put myself out there, but I'm all out there, baby!

Have you taken a risk today?

xo

jbnewcomb<3

Life-changer

Cough, cough, sneeze, sneeze, it's gotta stop sometime, PLEASE!

Ok, I'm pretty playful at this moment, but for seven whole weeks, I'd been an utter biatch. And all because of a life-sucking cold or flu. The diagnosis doesn't matter. It freaking sucked out of me all the life and motivation to do anything productive.

I got so mad at myself. The business-savvy part of me had formed an extremely detailed goal spreadsheet, complete with mini-goals for each of my major goals with dates and details. The moment I proclaimed to the world that I wanted to learn photography, I poured much of my energy into it, gung-ho, like I always do when the flame of passion ignites. But then WHAM, my passion fizzled out, and all because of the sniffles.

But it wasn't just the sniffles. I'll spare you of the play-by-play of every ache and pain. What I really want to talk about is the life-changing realization I had, facilitated by Gay Hendricks, a self-help-type of guru.

In his book, The Big Leap, he explains that when we get really excited about something, when we feel elated, we tend to quickly squash that feeling with any number of downers. He calls this "upper-limiting". It's an awkward term, but he explains that we a have a limit on the amount of good feelings we can tolerate. Pretty bizarre sounding at first, right? But the more he explains it, the more it makes sense.

This brings me to the realization I had.

I have this pattern of feeling good and then feeling bummed. It's not manic-depressive disorder. My swings aren't dramatic, but they're noticeable. By the way, Gay Hendricks is a psychologist, and I just love his way of looking at these swings. His insight is refreshing and empowering!

Basically, if you want to stop the pattern of feeling great and then sabotaging yourself subconsciously, you have to first recognize the thing you've done to bring yourself down. For me, this was getting sick. Really sick. As soon as I recognized this, the sickness began to subside. And I couldn't be more thankful.

I feel like I am in control of my future. Really, for the first time, I am clearly aware of my self-sabotage. I don't feel like a slave to what-ifs anymore. I'm determined to stay focused and happy, and I'm going to blog about my experiences.

It feels good to be honest because I know everyone has this issue. Some more than others, and I'm definitely one of the "some". It's cliche, but I'm my own worst enemy. But I can also be my biggest ally. Here's another cliche, but it's so true....

This journey we call life is truly what we make it. :-)

i <3 

xo
jbnewcomb<3

Summer of Love

He was finishing his second contracted book, staying in a city he wasn't from and knew no one.

She was home from college for the summer.

Both were lonely and curious to see what would happen if they looked for love on Yahoo! Personals.

He wrote her. She liked what she saw. Artistic. Gorgeous, friendly eyes. A cool air to him. So, she gave him her phone number, and no one else.

She liked to sleep in, so when he called at noon, he woke her. They talked for a long time. Laughed. Hit it off. They were anxious to meet right away.

They went to the beach to walk and talk. Both didn't wear sunglasses, but somehow that made it more magical. Being bathed in light, their instant attraction grew as intense as the sun that blinded them.

She went to his vacation home where he had been writing and painting. A gorgeous painting he'd started looked eerily like her. She loved it and he promised she could have it. And he painted many more paintings of her that summer, their Summer of Love.

He captured her eyes best in this one.

Painting by Jason Augustus Newcomb

{How could I resist a man that worshipped me with his paintbrush?!}

xo

jbnewcomb<3

Porkin' Out!

I'm a major carnivore. I'm not proud of it, but it's a fact. I just loooove me some meat!

I tried going vegetarian after my friend enlightened me to the horrors of slaughterhouses. Just the word slaughterhouse invokes guilt in me.

After a couple days of eating soy-based foods, I got really sick. I had no energy and I felt like I was dying. It was the weirdest feeling, so I said flip-it, I'm a carnivore.

I'll blame my cravings, my NEED for meat, on my type-O blood. Ever read that book Eat Right for Your Type? Well, type-O is supposedly the oldest in the evolution of humans. Basically, cave men were type-O.

The newest type is AB, and they function well on a vegetarian diet. My friend who sent me the terrifying animal-killing videos is an AB. See where I'm going with this? ;-)

When I was growing up, I ate beef almost every day. Mmmm rib eyes are my absolute favorite! (I kinda loathe myself for loving it so much.)

Now that I'm head chef in my household ;-) I am cooking lots of interesting dishes, and lately, I've been really into pork tenderloin.

Pork is great with mustard. I never thought I'd like it on anything, but mustard in cooking is so different than on a hot dog or burger.

I'm also not a huge fan of rosemary, so I am hyper-conscious of not using too much, and my hubby thinks I'm a master spicer now...is that a word? It is now!

Here's one of my latest pork faves...my mostly vegetarian friend tried it (she's a funny bunny like that)...and she absolutely LOVED it...

This recipe is from All Recipes but I always change it because I'm cool like that. hahaha

Apple Rosemary Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients



Pork Tenderloin (Any size, really)

1-2 tbsp mustard (depending on size)

1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce

6-8 minced garlic cloves (depending on size)

about 1/2 tbsp dried rosemary

salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 325F.

Place pork tenderloin in pan, sprinkle salt and pepper on it, and cook in over for an hour to lock in juices.

Mix mustard, apple sauce, garlic, and rosemary together in a bowl.

Thoroughly spread sauce mixture over pork.

Put back into oven until meat thermometer reads proper temp.

(I cook a 3-4lb tenderloin for about 40 minutes to an hour with the sauce on it.)

If you like pork, this is sure to become a favorite! SOOOooooo yummy! Makes my mouth water just typing the recipe out. :-)

Enjoy....

And because I have yet to take photos of my dishes before the fam (or I) devour them instantly, here's another one of the latest Newcomb carnivore (or maybe not, who knows?) ;-) Thanks for taking this, Grandma Leila!

These dimples make me melt!

xo

jbnewcomb<3

Learning to Shoot Manually

I dreaded learning it. I've always photographed in auto mode, and I knew if I wanted to learn photography, I had to go manual, baby! Guess what? It's not that difficult (adjusting the settings, that is). Phew! Of course I have a lot to learn about photography in general, but at least I'm not whining about my pictures being crappy. I like them anyway. :-) That's saying a lot, for me. GO ME! :-))

I've been shooting in manual mode for only a few days now (only shot in manual focus toward the end, though). It's actually a lot of fun! It's hard to believe anyone with a nice camera wouldn't shoot this way because you get such great photos in manual. I love the control. I love to play. I actually LOVE learning how to shoot manually. Who would've thought? Not I!

Here's a few of my first photos in manual mode...of course they're of my favorite models, Aurora and Elena...

Aurora and her favorite buddy, Juliet. <3

Juliet doesn't mind...she's a glutton for attention ;-)

I just L<3VE Aurora's Eyes in this one!!

My Sweet Girl :-)



Elena's eyes look just like Aurora's did at this age...so precious...



Look at that mouth! (Background's not so cute lol)

My smiley baby :-))

xo

jbnewcomb<3

My Humble Poetry, I

My Babies

Innocent, Curious Eyes

A Lovely, Sleepy Smile

Tiny, Strong Hands

Endless Possibilities

And Limitless Love

These are My Precious Gifts

The Luck I’ve Been Given

Twice.

xo

jbnewcomb<3

Thanks, Old Hollwood

There are not many movies for adults that children can enjoy too. Luckily, many movies from Old Hollywood are perfectly fine for me to watch with my five year old. Musicals are especially fun. She loves music and singing and dancing.

Compare adult themes in old movies to adult themes in modern movies, and it's like night and day. Kissing is so syrupy sweet in old movies and sex is rarely even mentioned. Of course not all movies from Hollywood's Golden Age are appropriate, but modern movies are pretty much completely inapropriate.

I love my DVR. I watch 75% of TV on my DVR for a half dozen reasons. And TCM is one of my favorite channels to record.

Recently, I recorded a bunch of Esther Williams films. If you don't know the name, she's the actress who played in all of those swimming and mermaid-type movies. What a beauty!

Because she prefers musicals, I was surprised that my daughter was hooked from the time I selected play for the first film. She let out a titter of excitment when I told her I'd recorded several Esther Williams films. "I really like this movie. I want to watch it everyday," she said with excitement for the 1945 movie Thrill of Romance with Van Johnson.

From the moment Esther Williams dove off of a high-dive board, Aurora was captivated. She'd obviously never seen that before, and technicolor movies are just so saturated with vibrant color.

Thanks, Old Hollywood, for producing films my daughter and I can enjoy together. :-)






My Tiny Dancer, Aurora :-)

xo

jbnewcomb<3

Get over it ALREADY!

I love photographs. There are thousands of pictures of my babies and they're only five years old and two months old. It's mind-boggling to think about how many billions, no trillions, no gazillions (lol) of photographs there probably are out in the world, all because of the digital revolution.

My first digital camera opened up a whole new world for me. I LOVED seeing the pictures I took in real-time without them being polaroids (another camera I was gaga for). I took thousands of pictures....a huge majority being of myself :P I was a teenager refining my look, and my digital camera was my mentor. Its biggest lesson: my ridiculously thin eyebrows didn't suit my face.

My husband still makes fun of me to this day when he finds on my camera phone pictures I took of myself after taking some of our children. But the truth is, if I didn't take pictures of myself, there wouldn't be very many of me at all because I am usually behind the camera. If I'm not behind the camera, then my children are still the main focus because they're so darn CUTE, so there really aren't many pictures of me besides the ones I take.

The first photograph I was truly proud of was that of a pelican on the jetty in Venice, FL. The composition was breathtaking. A large brown pelican peacefully sitting on these gigantic rocks, the beautiful Gulf of Mexico in the background. Ok, so the Gulf isn't the most beautiful body of water, but I'm a fan. And I still have that photo.

Until now, I've refused to tell people I was interested in photography as a career. Despite what people think when they meet me, I am pretty shy. I fake it well because I am friendly and like to make people laugh, but I protect my vulnerable side like a momma bird sits on her eggs.

Before I voice my passions, I like them to be mature so I can be confident enough. But confident enough for what? Even if all of the sudden I wanted to be a cheerleading instructor, my close friends and family wouldn't kill my dream with negativity despite me never being a cheerleader. But I still can't bare to let anyone know what I want or what I am capable of until I feel proud of it.

I loved art classes in high school, yet I couldn't STAND...I mean COULD NOT STAND drawing or painting or sculpting anything in a room full of my peers. There was no rational reason. It's not like people were staring at me (though I was paranoid they were).

I would barely get a thing done in class, so when I brought my finished works to class, people must have thought I was getting my big brother to do them or something. People were always impressed, and I won awards for every piece I produced.

I'm so mad at myself for not being more of a risk taker. I never get shot down, so why do I wait and wait and wait? Why do I torture myself?

It's time to be a risk taker and shout out to the world what I want.

I want to be a professional photographer! Most of all, A WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER!

There. I said it. I'm soooo tempted to delete this, so before I do. PUBLISH.

I took this of myself....duh :-P

xo
jbnewcomb<3

I'd get Married 7 Times, but to the Same Guy

I've always been in love with L<3VE and all that hallmark gushiness celebrating it: love poems, romantic movies, gifts of chocolate, cards, and, of course, weddings.

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been obsessed with the idea of one-in-a-million romantic love, the Cinderella fantasy of meeting one’s true love and being betrothed from that very moment on.

My first crush was in pre-school, and though it changed every year, I loved with a passion so great that I convinced myself I would marry each one.

This went waaay beyond writing “Mrs. [crush’s last name]” like most girls. My mind was so preoccupied with my infatuations that in third grade, I secretly wrote “I love Scott” on the bottom of my friend’s shoe when we were all sitting on the floor watching something (of course I can’t remember what because my mind was only focused on love), and my friend later discovered it and told the teacher. Our teacher asked the mysterious vandal to confess, but I didn’t.

Ok, so you could call my obsession borderline crazy….90% of my thoughts were devoted to love. “I love so and so” or “does he love me?” were buzzing through my mind all day long. The only games I played with my Barbies were about getting married or having a family.

I can distinctly remember being six years old and receiving the most beautiful wedding-themed Barbie and Ken. Looking back, their attire was clearly expensive and they were most likely collectible; Barbie had an intricately laced ball gown complete with lingerie and white thigh high pantyhose.

Because I was an only child and didn’t have any siblings to whine at me about playing the same thing over and over, I played “wedding” for hours upon hours, particularly enacting the ceremony, the kiss, and the first dance. If I’d had more friends to play with on my street, maybe I would have given other games a chance, but probably not! hahaha

As I got a bit older, I obsessively fantasized about what my wedding would look like. I’m sure no one would be surprised when I say my Mom was concerned when I asked her to buy me wedding magazines in the checkout lane at the grocery store. Because I was eleven when inspired to begin this hobby, I did my best to convince her that I just loved weddings and wasn’t thinking of getting married anytime soon. (Though I sooo would have run away with any one of my crushes if they’d asked.) She gave in, and I couldn’t tell you how many dresses, bouquets and cakes I cut out and paste into an idea book.

This continued until I got married, and a couple years into my marriage, my husband caught me looking at wedding gowns on the internet. He kidded when he asked if I was going to marry someone else. To rationalize my hobby, I have since then decided we will have a recommitment ceremony on 7/7/2014, exactly seven years after our wedding on 7/7/2007 (seven corresponds with Venus and Venus is the planet that rules love). Yes, I am that crazy about love and crazy in love with my husband.

I’m very lucky in love, and I think it’s because I have given it a lot of thought! I found my perfect Ken and he thinks I look like Barbie. What a doll he is! Pun intended. :-P For our next wedding, I make collages on the computer. Thanks internet and Publisher…you’re a crazy-passionate girl’s best friend! :-)

The Dream Come True!

xo

jbnewcomb<3

If I were a...

My hubby was me asking a bunch of questions on states of consciousness at 1am one evening that I actually had to think about. Because we have two children, one an infant, my mind was barely able to think at that hour.

To "get him back", I asked him a bunch of questions in return. Turns out mine were too easy. ;-)

I thought it would be fun to ask myself these questions and post the answers here. Do they say a lot about me? Maybe. :-) For each, I wrote the first thought that came to my mind. If you want to have some light-hearted fun, ask your sweetheart to fill in the blanks...better yet, I'd love to see your answers in the comments.

If I were a...

milkshake, I'd be cookies and cream.
car, I'd be an Astin Martin V-12 Vanquish...vroOOM.
flower, I'd be a gardenia.
song, I'd be Magic's in the Make-up by No Doubt.
element, I'd be earth, of course {I'm a Taurus ;-)}
color, I'd be periwinkle.
shape, I'd be a circle.
fabric, I'd be lace.
season, I'd be Spring.
animal, I'd be a white Tiger.
part of a house, I'd be the master bedroom.
chakra, I'd be the throat chakra.
body part, I'd be the eyes.
painting, I'd be Botticelli's Venus {same as hubby :-)}
statue, I'd be Venus (remember, I loooove love!)
goddess, I'd be Venus, the goddess of love, of course!
metal, yellow gold.
drink, I'd be iced tea.
flavor, I'd be chocolate.
scent, I'd be freshly baked apple pie.

He asked me if there was a purpose to these questions. I smiled and said, "No, you were just asking me a bunch of questions, so I thought I would too."

My Darling Hubby :-)   

xo

jbnewcomb<3

Mole! Chocolate in Mexican Food

Only because of a Dora the Explorer episode did I know that chocolate was used in Mexican cooking. I love the way chocolate sounds in spanish: chaw-co-la-tay! Mmmmm...sounds even yummier!

I have an enormous amount of cocoa powder leftover from a Sam's shopping trip I made when I'd had the intentions of baking cookies for my whole family and closest friends. This was around the time I started getting serious about cooking, but still hadn't realized how much work it is to make 15 dozen cookies (and not eat them all).

My favorite recipes site is All Recipes because, among many reasons, you can search by ingredient(s). I searched "cocoa powder" in the main dish section, and came up with Mole sauce. Now another great thing about this site is that people rate and review recipes and always have some tips to offer to make the recipe even better. I always read these because 99 times out of 100, people rate the recipe based on what they did, and not what the recipe called for.

Mole sauce sounded fabulous! Chocolate on meat! I've died and gone to heaven! I changed the recipe according to the comments and because I am starting to better understand cooking in general, I added my own twist. ;-)




Mole Sauce:
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
6 garlic cloves, minced
About 1 cup tomato sauce
1 10oz (maybe 10.75?) can of green chiles and diced tomatoes
2 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons cinnamon (sounds like a lot, but it's perfect!)
2 teaspoons cumin

Directions
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, and cook the onion until tender, add garlic and cook for a minute or two, but don't let it brown. Mix in cocoa powder, cinnamon, and cumin. Stir in the tomato sauce and green chiles and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 10 minutes. Transfer to a gravy boat or pour directly over food to serve.

I've been loving to cook chicken in a way I saw on the Barefoot Contessa, so I layered half the mole sauce on the bottom of a baking dish and placed boned chicken thighs (you can use boned breasts too) and cooked them at 400 degrees until the thermometer read the proper temperature. After the chicken was done, I served it with mole on top! BIG HIT in my house! Let me know if you tried it!

Cocoa pods...I wonder if these can grow in Florida!

xo
jbnewcomb<3

Chocolate is My Therapy of Choice

Ok, so I know it's not wise to use food as therapy, but it sure works wonders for me!

There's this precious lil angel in my house that just won't stop crying from 8pm 'til about 10:30pm (and sporadically throughout the day). She's my seven week old daughter, Elena. Most of the time, she makes me happier than chocolate. It's the side of her that screams out loud that makes me scream inside, and Chocolate helps to keep me from screaming (too much) on the outside.

So, tonight, the 53rd night of torture, was about to break me. Ok, it did break me, and I told my darling hubby that I needed "some chocolate therapy NOW". Knowing the Mommy Monster was rearing her ugly head, he promptly asked, "what kind?" to make sure he'd administer the right kind of therapy. ;-) "Chocolate on chocolate," I requested with a clearly desperate growl.

He bought me a box of Publix chocolate chip cookies and two bars of Ghirardelli chocolate, one this new flavor that is basically what heaven would taste like if it had a flavor....Sea Salt Soiree...the words melt off the tongue as well as the dark chocolate with sea salt and roasted almonds do...Mmmmm...Mommy is all better now.

When she's happy, she's better than chocolate. ;-)
xo
jbnewcomb<3