Jessica McDougall » Blog
Monthly Archives: June 2010My big brother and his sweet family are in town for a visit and we're celebrating the first days of summer at Lake Norman. Swimming. (Love you John!) Smores! (Love you Henry!) Scratch tickets. (Love a winner!) Silly straws. (Love you Lucy!) And snapshots. (Love you Liz!) incredible shots… you make me realize I need to be blogging again Great photos Jess! How fun! Great photos! I thought about you and Jeffrey going to the Carol King/James Taylor concert. Can you post photos? I am jealous! They are two of my favorite entertainers. Thanks. Fun. Fun. Fun. Love you Three! Hope you enjoyed your family time… wanted to thank you for the BHG crock pot cookbook recommendation, it’s a new favorite go-to. Five wonderful pictures, Jessica! fantastic Browsing in Jeffrey's library and came across this How Never to Be Tired book. Written in 1938, I'm definitely interested to read more and see what tips I can find! Please share! Those old books are a mix of hilarity and wisdom. Enjoy it. Please share the best tips! I’m sure everyone could benefit. Ha! Just what I need. Please enlighten us when you are done i concur; please do share. I could use a book like that tonight. Along with a massage. i agree with cheryl. do share whatever gems you find, whether helpful or hilarious. That is so cool. I love books! How funny is that. Please share the tips. We will either be educated or entertained. I'm daydreaming of dressing up fancy – having big fun hair – wearing crazy jewelry – and walking in tall, tall shoes. (Love this inspiration from ELLE.) And I can never get enough of yellow. Jess! Dress up like this and blog the pictures, you can pull it off in an effortless manner for sure! I too am loving those white shoes!…so pretty and lately when Bill and I have gone out I’ve teased my hair quite a bit to get that big and sexy look…he loves it! stam! she’s my fav. LOVING the white dresses… and both pairs of white shoes are fantastic. I’m always a fan of pops of yellow (especially in my accessories) in the spring & summer. Love it! Jeffrey brought these precious little paper-mache people home from his recent trip to Bulgaria. And I'm so in love with them (and him). We are always on the lookout for art that symbolizes "us." And now we have the added little addition of the book reader, Gabrielle! OMG…SO SWEET!!! ♥ love this… ♥ I agree, these are absolutely fantastic! When we travel, we’re also on the look out for art pieces that say “us” as well. It’s those little memories of when you look at something you bought together, or that symbolizes your unity that all those love feelings are utterly renewed. Those are just fabulous. Love it! Thanks for sharing. i must admit that i’m a bit jealous … they are so cute! i love the little couple. We are always on the lookout for interesting art on our travels, too. I think it makes our house feel more like home with these treasures! Those are absolutely adorable. Never seen anything like that! Jeffrey and I loved the Hall & Oates concert this past week. They totally rocked it. And Bruna, Gabrielle, and I enjoyed a late lunch at Nolen Kitchen where they have a delightful patio, prompt service, and wonderful food. My mom and dad will be happy to know we're getting FULL use out of Gabrielle's… Really wishing Jeffrey would share his brisket recipe… Looks divine. I just received my first lens in the mail from B&H photo for child and food photography shots- it is a 50 mm f/1.4 mm fixed lens (canon- but there is a nikon version if you shoot with that). I made chocolate whoopie pies yesterday and I took some pictures but still in learning mode as well. We all have to start somewhere- that’s what I keep telling myself after my 50th picture of whoopie pies Nolen Kitchen is my FAVORITE restaurant here in Charlotte. Love it! Love the vintage tin and flowers. The “secret” to my Guacamole is that I add two tsp. of Lemon pepper for every two Avocado’s that I am using. It adds a little bite to my mixture, and no one can ever figure out why it tastes so good. my photography is totally amateur as well, but i’ve been doing a lot of food shots lately, like here: http://jessicafulkerson.blogspot.com/2010/05/daily-haiku-on-love.html and here: http://jessicafulkerson.blogspot.com/2010/05/new-additions-to-girl-crush-list.html Do you read the Pioneer Woman’s blog? Check out Ree’s photography (and recipes!) on that site and you will gain a wealth of information! Yes…they definitely rocked it! Hi Jessica, What kind of camera do you have? If you have a SLR get a 50mm 1.8 lens. It is the best $100 you will ever spend. It has no zoom but picks up lots of light so you never have to use a flash and gets a focus on your subject with a blurred background. Perfect for food, Gabrielle… everything. could Gabriell’s sunglasses be any more amazing?! I am also working on the picture o’ food shot, never looks as appetizing as it actually is, hrmph. I wanted to share my favorite guacamole recipe with you . . . Hall & Oates brings back such fond memories of the 80s. Glad to know they are still sharing their wonderful music today. would love that brisket recipe!! I am an amateur photographer for sure, but the best tip I have for food photography is to use non-direct, natural light, right by the window is great (which is hard when you’re photographing after dark!) I think one of the big reasons I so LOVE being a mama is that I'm such a kid at heart. I realized this yesterday when I was more excited to drink milk out of this fun swirly straw cup than Gabrielle was! I'm proud to say that I get giddy and overjoyed at ALL… I love this post because I turned into a kid while raising my own! I love putting puzzles together so if one of the kids leaves one undone on the floor, I say, “darn it, who left the puzzle like this?” I get down on the floor and start putting it together but secretly enjoying every second of it. I just bought my kids the DK Ultimate Sticker Books and had to help my daughter with hers and the whole time thinking, ‘I want one for myself’ because she just HAD to put the stickers on herself (I’m joking). My all time favorites are reading them books I loved as a child, perler beads and puzzles. fun! I’ll freely admit that one of the reason’s I enjoy going to Friendly’s restaurant is the color-changing straws that come with the milkshakes! i would drink out of a silly straw or pastel colored ones if i didn’t have 2 girls fighting me for them. cute! Me too, love stuff like that!! I just can't get enough of this incredible print that sits on my desk. I love how this fresh pesto chicken roll turned out. Served it to Jeffrey on his favorite challah bread. I'm trying to find more of these Haddon House California green olives (that taste like black olives). Love the unexpected flavor and… Erin – Picked up the green olives (that taste like black ones) at Reid’s Fine Foods on 7th. I heard a rumor that they are going to be closing that store – So I’m going to go buy out all the olives! Love the print too! that sandwich looks delish! I will add you on Words with Friends I would have to agree with Kath…that dress looks AMAZING on you! Mmmmm…I’m not a huge fan of green olives, but I LOVE black olives. I’ve never seen those before. Where’d you get ‘em? Hi Jessica – Yes, I make pesto! This is the recipe I use http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/fresh_basil_pesto/ The white t-shirt is just plain great. that pesto roll looks divine! do you make your own pesto? Love the 6/8 “Today’s Style” dress! It’s a great picture of you! Where did you find it? that patio dress would look fantastic on you..some super ideas and loves here ..and I can’t believe miss cutie pie enjoys guacamole!..yeah for gabrielle! As Gabrielle approaches the milestone of walking, I've tried to embrace every moment of her on-the-floor time. I have no shame in crawling all around with her. And in anticipation of her soon being up on her feet, I wanted to try to get some footprints of the assisted walking pattern she's now stepping in… Love this! Something that Gabrielle will treasure some day. Love that idea! I just love this so much I can hardly stand it! What a treasure. Beautiful story. Amazing! Cute toes girl! brilliant idea. Beautiful and I second Ali in thinking you need to frame this. I’m in tears. A wonderful memory caught on paper! Beautiful Jess. Oh my goodness…she will love reading that when she is older! this is just the coolest thing ever! such a story of triumph jessica. Hi Jessica, I came over by way of Ali. This is absolutely beautiful; brought goosebumps and tears. what a wonderful idea! i just gave my mother-in-law a canvas for mother’s day…and we put all 10 grandchildren’s handprints on it in different colors. ages ranging from 6 months to 16. it turned out great! Wow Jessica! This brought tears (of inspiration) to my eyes! And I totally think you should frame that. I LOVE this Jess. I loved your idea of a letter when Alex was a baby I use to get big rolls of construction paper and walk her all over it and use it as Christmas wrapping paper. what a cool idea. i loved your story – comparing her experience now to yours at 16. what a special documentation + memory. you never seize to amaze me with your creativity. When I first started reading your blog I thought it was fun fashion insight. Slowly I’ve realized it’s so much more with out saying much you continue to inspire me to be my best! Congratulations to the randomly chosen giveaway winner, Kristine – comment number 36! Hi Leni – Memory Music is music that brings back great memories! There are certain songs that remind of summers of the past and I love hearing them this time of year! Wow! I won a giveaway!! So exciting! memory music? what is that? |
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) I also leave the large pits in the bowl (once it’s mixed all up) for a more interesting look. Makes for good conversation. Good Luck!
© 2012 Jessica Ann McDougall - Thanks for stopping by!
Rebecca - adorable!
Tracey Chalk - Lush!
Jenny - Love, love, love this!
Gramma Pati - Yes, I did “melt on the other line.” It was so fun to hear Gabrielle starting to talk. What a special phone call. Thank you Jessica
Susan - SO cute…she must have melted on the other line!
leni - too cute!
Erin Huber - aDORable!!!
Laura - So cute…