lynn in love with the labor day and birthdays

Happy Labor Day! Hope you guys are having a relaxing day off :)

I'm just happy my husband is back from a long week away on interviews... today we are just going to be relaxing and chilling the way we do best.

Just a couple pictures, as I am behind on my birthday posts from this week: Love these girls!

lynn in love with a day at the zoo, part II

Our next favorite part was the bird sanctuary. We got to purchase seeds on a stick. Inside the sanctuary, the birds will come and land on you and eat off your stick. So fun!

that's for the birds, silly!

the nice bird keeper took a few group shots of us

how insane are these colors... click on the picture to check out the brilliant details of this bird, this is not photoshopped guys, it's the real deal!



nephew did not like this one bit, not at all

how beautiful is this dove!

i was a leedle bitty scared of this bird

lynn in love with a day at the zoo, part 1

We had a great day yesterday at the Dallas zoo. I got spend an afternoon with my sister and nephew and test some real subjects with my lens. We had an absolute blast in the children's area. I took so many pictures, I'll have to post the zoo in two parts.

My nephew LOVES the zoo... but when we got there I was surprised to find that his favorite part was not the animals, but the "watering hole" they have in the middle. Splish splash, he jumped into the stream, collecting leaves and having the best time.

lynn in love with shoes

i really hope my husband doesn't read this post. Because I was a bad girl yesterday... and bought... not 1 or 2 or 3.... but four pairs of shoes yesterday! Well really 5, but that's bordering on ridiculous and I'm making myself return a pair.

nothing is sweeter to my ears than my mom telling me that there is a 70% shoe sale! So yesterday when I heard the news, my mom and I hightailed it to Dillards! Anybody who knows me knows I have an unhealthy obsession with shoes. I love them all, but honestly my usual fare is a strappy sweet pairs of heels and I was looking to broaden my collection. So, I was delighted to find an assortment of bright, vintagey shoes severely marked off. Heaven!

I mean, look at these beauties... how could I resist?




The yellow flats are just so yummy, they don't need any explanation.
The white pair have the perfect throwback feel, are super comfy, and I like the idea of wearing a pair of vintage pair of shoes that are not actually vintage (I don't like the idea of thrifting shoes, it's a little ew for me).
I've been looking for a pair of chunky 'gladiator' sandals to take me into fall, but didn't want them to be too clunky. These pair of Laurens were perfect, and the price couldn't be beat!

Y'all run to Dillards now... but probably not at Northpark as I've probably cleaned out size 6 and 6.5 :) Happy shopping!

lynn in love with tart bakery

oh me, oh my...how in the world did I miss this darling bakery? I have heard of Tart bakery in passing from one of my friends, but for some reason never visited this sweet gem, despite it being only two blocks from where I live.

Well, I was driving by yesterday and thought I'd treat myself to a cupcake for completing the massive paperwork that I've been doing the last couple of days (more on that later). I walked into a vintage inspired bakery, selling not only their pastries, but also homemade jewelry, gifts, stationary, and even cute cupcake liners and stands.

I snapped a few pictures with my iphone before deciding on what dessert to get.

After I had made my choices, I whisked them home for a little photoshoot and a taste test.

Mmm...doesn't it look delicious??
which one first? strawberry cupcake, coconut cream tart, or lemon cookie??
strawberry cupcake was just calling out to me!
and then I took a bite...

and then out of the mouth of Rachel Zoe... I died. I literally died, this cupcake was so so good. The cake was moist, the icing perfect amount of sweetness, and the clincher was that suprise lemon curd filling. Oh My Word... that stuff was amazing.

It was so good, I had to stop...I'm gonna save the other two for dinner tonight.

You guys, if you are ever on Lover's Lane, you have to visit Tart Bakery. Seriously, you will not regret it. http://tartbakerydallas.com/

lynn in love with 50mm f1.4 lens

holy moly! it's here, it's here!
I finally broke down, and decided to invest in a better lens then the dinky kit lens that came with my old nikon d70.

For my first lens I got the: Nikkor 50mm f1.4 prime lens purchased at Amazon.

Why this bad boy? I've never really invested much in my camara equipment, always believing that my eye and technique mattered much more than how expensive my equipment was. I've always learned on middle range equipment. However, now that I've picked my camara back up, I found I'm severely limited in the quality of my pictures with my kit lens.

As I want to do mostly portrait photography, I think this lens will give me the biggest bang for my buck. Being able to stop down to 1.2, will give me those creamy bokeh images I long for. At it's price, it's a good deal for a great lens. Most of my favorite portrait/wedding photographers started with this lens and for a lot of them, it's their go-to lens! Sold! I just have to get used to moving around more for my shots since it is a prime lens.

I waited patiently for the UPS man to come to the door this morning. However, now that I have it, I don't have any subject to photograph! So my hand, and my measuring cups will just have to do...




Yummy! Can't wait to see what else I can do with this lens!

lynn in love with sunnys

good morning friends!....*yawn*
I'm a little sleepy and wearied. I can't seem to shake off the insomnia.
I sleep late and wake up early, my little head just brimming with ideas and plans,
but little energy to execute them.

hopefully a little protein will help get me jump started. There are few things I like more than a couple of sunny side up eggs for breakfast. Something about that glistening creamy yolk perfect for dipping into with a piece of toast. I had some extra turkey breast and mushroom to toss into the skillet this morning to make things extra hearty. I am a little obsessed with a good tasting egg. My absolute favorite right now are the HEB eggs from central market. Seriously the best tasting egg. When I can't get to central market, I get eggland's best. They taste clean and are marked individually with a cute little red stamp.

What's YOUR favorite breakfast?