fudge nut brownies

It is pretty much Valentine's Day - what a ridiculous holiday. Anyways, I made these for a really awesome friend (and I take excellent care of my friends obviously). My friend said they were good (not sure if they were lying or not). The recipe I used is below.

Recipe:

• 5/8 cup of butter, softened 
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup flour
• 5/8 cup baking cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Frosting

• 1/4 cup butter
• 6 tablespoons milk
• 3 tablespoons baking cocoa
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• additional chopped walnuts, optional

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. Combine the four, cocoa and salt in a separate bowl. Gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in walnuts.

• Spread into baking pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until done.

• Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Remove from the heat; stir in milk and cocoa until smooth. Return to heat and bring to a boil. Boil for four minutes stirring constantly. Remove from the heat; stir in confectioners' sugar and vanilla until smooth. Frost warm brownies. Sprinkle with walnuts. 

• Yield: about 20 servings

A Fool's Gold

        This past weekend, I was lucky enough to volunteer on a thesis production at the FSU Film School. Seth Epstein is the director and the title of the film is A Fool's Gold. I was also lucky enough to win over the heart of one of the actresses Devin Mills. She lives in LA, was on General Hospital, One Life to Live, and The O.C. (as well as many other titles). 

        Devin Mills also has a blog (we exchanged all kinds of information on this topic) and she is in the middle of producing/starring in a web series she wrote titled Dating in the Middle Ages. Check out her web series here, it is rather funny :)

Isn't Devin Mills gorgeous? I love the last picture because you can see the photographer :)

More photos coming soon of my weekend! Hope everyone is having a fantastic week! xoxo

Meet Sunny

I absolutely loved this girl's outfit last night. She is super cute.

Jacket: Forever 21 / Dress: Tobi / Shoes: Guess / Purse: Tory Burch

birthday celebrations

Want to give a shout out to Amanda on her 20th - happy birthday Amanda! She is stunning!

Lauren, Sunny, Amanda, Courtney & Kara

I love shoes. I figure if I can't buy them at least I have a picture!

Favorite photo of the night

Sunny (isn't that such a cool name?) & Amanda

Lauren with the birthday girl!

Courtney & Amanda

Amanda & Kara

We went to dinner at 101 Restaurant in downtown Tallahassee. It was delicious (seriously good). If you go, try the grilled veggie wrap. 2. DIE. 4.

mint brownies

          Hope everyone had an amazing MLK day! It was such a nice relaxing day to get caught up on everything and try new things.
          Lauren and I made mint fudge brownies today. (Check out her blog here.) They were extremely good, but we both decided that if we were to make them again, we could live without the marshmallow fluff and melted white chocolate chips. It was just a little too much chocolate. The recipe we used is below.

Triple Layer Fudgy Mint Oreo Brownies

Recipe:

• 7 ounce jar of marshmallow fluff
• 1/8 teaspoon of mint extract
• 8 drops of green food coloring
• 1 batch of brownies
• 12 mint oreos + 18 mint oreos
• 3/4 cup of white chocolate chips melted
• 1 cup vanilla frosting

1. Preheat oven to 350. In medium bowl stir marshmallow fluff, mint extract, and 4 drops of food coloring. Be stingy with the mint extract unless you are big fans of mint.

2. Mix the brownie mix and fold in 12 hand-crumbled oreos. Pour into brownie pan. Take 1/2 of the mixture from step one and pour on top of brownie mix. Swirl with butter knife for marbled design. Bake until brownies are set. Cool for 1 hour.

3. While brownies are cooling combine the vanilla frosting and the melted white chocolate chips with the mixture from step 1. Add 4 more drops of food coloring or until the color light green is reached. Spread over cooled brownies, and crumble 18 more oreos on top. 

4. This can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.

I also took some of the leftovers to my boy. He absolutely loved them, so I will probably end up giving him some more. (He also ran out of milk, so I brought him milk too.) 

simple Sundays

Went for the high-fashion photography look. I think she could be on America's Next Top Model - whaddayathink? 

Shirt: JCPenny / Lipstick: 514A by Wet'n'Wild / Mascara: Buxom by Bare Escentuals / Bracelet: Pac Sun / Nails: Covergirl Red Revolution 

it's all in the details

My date night outfit (from last night) - we went to see Zero Dark Thirty. It was amazingly awesome. I can't wait to read the book now! (I know I did it backwards, but Kathryn Bigelow directed the movie - I just couldn't put off seeing it any longer!)

Love this scarf (from Old Navy - last seasons). Shirt is from Target. Super cheap and super comfortable! Also this is my new favorite Mac Lipstick (got it for Christmas from my amazing-trying-to-get-me-addicted-to-Mac-cousin Jennifer!) called Cream Cup. Perfectly subtle pink.

The weather was gorgeous today. Cold but not miserable cold. Perfect legging weather!

Leggings are from Target, the boots are Steve Madden and the leg warmers are hand knitted by my lovely Aunt Sharyl. I always get so many compliments when I wear them - I keep telling her she should start an Etsy shop!

I wonder how many of my readers could be her potential customers.....

These are pictures for my 365 project. Follow it daily on Pinterest. 

feeling blue?

My boyfriend brought me flowers yesterday. Aren't they so cute? They brightened up my day and my room! 

weekend recap

Had a pretty relaxing weekend getting things done. I finally got all my school work in order. What a relief! Also just enjoying my four day weekends and being able to partake in the simple things in life. So here is a summary (in pictures of course) of what I did this weekend. Hope everyone else had a fabulous weekend as well! xx

Lauren being the lovely model as always. Sock buns are all the rage these days. Wish I could get all of my layers to cooperate with the trend.

I made an apple peanut butter banana sandwich this weekend. Healthy right? The chocolate chips just gave some extra crunch :)

Felt super hipster / creative this weekend. I love how this photo is off kilter, out of focus, and no face. Plus the lines of light just add extra dimension. 

Also love the idea of a homemade polaroid without it actually being a polaroid at all. This would be a cool photo booth at a wedding (anyone seen those on Pinterest?)

These are my latest photos from my 365 project. You can keep up with me day by day here.

Lucy & Leo's

Lauren and I went to Lucy and Leo's Cupcakery for the first time ever in our year and a half of living in Tallahassee. Man, it was extremely delicious. Plus they have such a quaint space (and location).

Red Velvet is on the left and Chocolate Cream Cheese is on the right. Each day they offer different flavors so be sure to check out their website beforehand if you want to try something specific. I strongly recommend stopping by!

Lauren went for Red Velvet!

Resolution: clear skin

Tried another face mask the other day that I saw on Pinterest. You just mix one egg white and lemon juice. There was no measurement on the lemon juice so I just squeezed half of a lemon with the egg white. Personally, I think this was a bit much and next time I will add considerably less. After it dries, you simply wash off with warm water. When it dries, your face literally can't make a single expression. It's uncomfortable. Let's hope I see some results! I'll let you know how it goes. It can be used once a week.

fun facts

I never wear matching socks. Lame, I know. This is a photo in my 365 project. Check it on Pinterest.

change is in the air

As many of you have probably noticed my blog has a new look! I have wanted to do this for awhile now and decided to do this on my last day before spring semester classes begin (can you say hello Tuesday Thursday classes only!?). In the next couple of days I will have links to other pages for contacting me, hiring me, and information to get to know me better. Also, things may continue to be tweaked a little as I find the perfect webpage layout for me.

I am super excited about the new year and the new me. I am hoping to expand myself a little to increase my knowledge about all things. I want to not only grow as a person but as a photographer as well and I hope to vastly expand my portfolio. This may or may not include a side business. Hey, a poor college student has to make money somehow. So if you are interested in hiring me to photograph you or a family member please stay tuned!

Thanks to all those who read my blog. Love you to pieces. Hope everyone had a fantastic monday  and a fantastic rest of the week! 

DIY: Accessory Display

So for Christmas I made my friend Lauren this necklace holder for her wall. She pinned it awhile ago on Pinterest, the original can be found here. I tried to recreate it for her with some luck. I found the piece of wood at a local Cypress place for $10. But anything will work including pieces of molding, excess wood, etc. Click here for ideas.

I searched and searched for vintage knobs to no avail, so I ended up at Lowes and picked these somewhat classic pieces out.

First pick where you want your knobs and mark with a pencil. Then simply drill the holes.

Push your screw (mine came with the knobs) through the back side and attach your knob.

Easy peesy. I attached screws on the top of the wood and used ribbon to hang on the wall. Here it is shown in her bedroom.

The bow I made out of a separate piece of ribbon and it is just attached to the nail.

Depending on how much you hang on the knobs it may need something stronger than ribbon.

Looking on Etsy for an item like this, they are selling for more than $30. Depending on how much you spend on the decorative knobs, it is way cheaper to make your own (especially if you have your own random piece of wood lying around)!

scarf: belks dress: forever 21 necklaces: pac sun

a 365 project

Some of you know that I am doing a 365 project meaning that I am taking one photo each day for a year. I am posting these photos on Pinterest - click to see my board with all the previous photos. Here is today's photo:

Straight ahead is the Doak Campbell Stadium. I am taking this photo from the top of a parking garage on campus. I love how you can see how lit up the campus is. Tomorrow I want to go back in the daylight when the sun is setting (maybe) to see how the light looks. We will see! I took John with me because I am a scaredy cat and didn't want anything to happen if I was by myself. So I snapped this shot. And now you see no makeup me!