Jazz singer Sue Bell performs at the Tula’s.

Sue has a crazy amazing voice and gives a wonderful performance.  If you have the chance go see her!

I first meet this family about 13 years ago when I was commissioned to shoot one of the kid’s wedding…in this very spot in fact.  Ever since then we have all been orbiting around each other.  I’ve seen the kids have kids, enjoyed them as neighbors and fellow Seattle Sounders fans.  My husband learned about it while walking our dog past Liane & John’s place.  This was the same day our dog was attacked-in fact minutes before.  When he get’s home he breaks the news too me.  At this point in the day I had spent half the day cleaning up the crap some a-holes had dumped in our alley, then our dog is attacked and then THIS.  I had an incredible amount of anger.  I’ve not experienced that since I was a teenager.  Back then I would have hoped on my horse and rode it out.  Didn’t really have that option now.  So I did the next best thing.  Hoped in the car, turned the music to butt rock-LOUD butt rock and drove really really fast.  That didn’t help.  So I tried the opposite.  I went to the Chinese Gardens at South Seattle Community College and tried to meditate.  That didn’t really help either.  So I just came home and stayed in a pisser of a mood.

It was a very bitter sweet shoot.  An honor, no doubt.  But dammit all to hell…………….

It works.

And it’s better for the environment.

What’s not to love.

DIY Dishwasher Detergent
Ingredients:
1 box Borax (4lbs 12 oz or 76 oz)-found in the detergent isle-$3.38
1 box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (55oz or 3 lbs 7oz) found in the detergent isle.-$3.24
Citric Acid-usually found in the canning isle.  I used Fruit Fresh which is mostly citric acid-$3.58
(the recipe I found online said to use 24 packages of unsweetened lemonade drink mix-like Kool aid, but that just seemed silly to me).
3 cups Epson Salt-~$3
Vinegar as a rinse aid.  (the recipe I found on line suggested using Lemi Shine as a rinse aid, also found in the detergent isle.  But if Vinegar works why not use it)

Grand total ~$13 for a year supply of detergent.  Come on!-what’s not to love about that.

Mix all together.  Store in an air tight container.  Scoup in as needed per your machine.  Fill rinse aid with vinegar.  If your dishes are coming out with spots on them that means you do need a rinse aid and might want to try the Lemi Shine.  To date vinegar works just fine for us.

Mix well

Store in an air tight container.  We reused a container that dog treats came in.

Enjoy

It’s been a while.  I almost forgot how to access my dashboard.  You know your a bad blogger when………

Anyhow, meet Kaija.  You’ve seen her before I just love working with her so here she is again.  Kaija needed some new head shots.  That’s it-just head shots.  It’s amazing just how far off course you can get when there are 2 creative people in the room.  Kaija is also my make up artist and she’s a dancer……yeah, she a hot tamale she is.

It’s just that I very sensitive skin and this is one of the few detergents that work for me.  And it’s CHEAP!  And I like making stuff.

You will need:

4 cups of hot tap water

1 Fels Naptha Soap Bar, ~$3.99 a bar

1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda, ~$2.99 a box

1/2 cup Borax, ~$4.29 a box

Approximate cost to make 5 gallons of laundry soap $4, and 30 minutes of your life.  How hard is that folks.

I hate Walmart, but sadly that is the only storefront place I could find the Naptha bar and the washing soda.  Easy to find online but I’m big on buying local.  So save yourself some time and just go to Walmart already.

You will also need:

1 5 gallon bucket

1 4-6 quart stainless steel sauce pan

1 stainless steal mixing spoon

1 stainless steel cheese grater

I bought all these items at Goodwill.  When picking out plastics please keep in mind that plastic will absorb chemistry….so give some thought to what was in it before and think twice about using it again.  All of these items are dedicated to making lotions, soaps and detergents.  Never used again with food.  But that’s just me.

Start by grating the Fels Naptha Soap bar into the sauce pan.

Add water.  Stir over medium low heat until soap is melted and dissolved.

Then pour into the 5 gallon bucket.

Fill bucket 1/2 full of hot tap water.  Add 1 cup Arm & Hammer washing soda.

Stir

Add 1/cup of Borax.

Stir

Fill the bucket the rest of the way with hot tap water and let sit over night.

Now personally we like to just let it sit in the 5 gallon bucket and fill up a quart jar as needed (it’s easier to handle/pour into the machine).

Now my friend Pebbles who gave me this recipe likes to fill up old soap containers.  So figure out what works for you.

Either way, fill containers half full of soap (soap will be like a gel now) and half with water, shake each time before using.

Top load machines take 5/8 cup per load.  On our front loader we use 1/3 to 1/2 cup per load.

fyi-a 5 gallon bucket lasted my husband and I 9 months…..for $4.  It’s easy math folks.

Allie and Kyle.  August 28th.  Twin Willow Gardens in Samammish Washington.

Classic!

One of the best things about my job is making friends for life.  It’s time for beer guys!

All you need is:

Citrus-I used Satsumas

Olive Oil

Sharp paring knife

Matches

Optional: tooth picks, hole punch, crafting scissors

Start by carefully cutting the peel horizontally around the citrus.  You need to be able to separate the fruit from the peel so don’t cut too deep.  The ‘top’ or where the steam is actually becomes the bottom.  You can experiment with cutting in half or thirds to create different looks and heights.

Cut all the way around.

Carefully separate the peel from the fruit.

Try to keep as much of the ‘wick’ (the part that runs down the center of the fruit)-if you look closely you can see it in the peel to the left.

Cut a ‘chimney’ in the top so the heat and smoke have a place to escape-like you would a jack o’lantern.

Pour some oil in the bottom peel.

This is what it should look like with the oil.

Feel free to get creative at this stage.  You could use a tooth pick to poke decorative holes int he rind.  Or a paper punch.  Or maybe even decorative scissors if your brave.

Light.  I found it helped to rub oil on the ‘wick’ and give it some time to absorb before lighting it.

Turns out I’ll never be a hand model…..or can I now write off a manicure?……..

Meet the Stanley’s.  I first meet the girls while covering Honored Elder’s Day at the Seattle Girls School last spring.  It was one of those moments when everything just clicked.  You know how that feels?-everything just lined up right so to speak.  Then this past fall we got together for a family session at Seward Park in south Seattle.  The timing couldn’t have been better.  It was warm (not like today), slightly over caste creating a soft gentle light and just the right amount of fall color.

Grandma made this cake.  I was a truck made of chocolate cake with butter cream frosting and candy accents.  Nothing says birthday like homemade cake and ice-cream.

Ah, baby bowling.  How can you not love it.  It’s a right of passage isn’t it.  Even when Raymond get’s bossy and tells me to stop taking his picture and get in the darn pool.

After all the festivities we went to the Boise Zoo.  First stop the carousel.  Madison was a seasoned pro and totally knew what to do.  Raymond took a while to figure it all out but I’m guessing it won’t be his last carousel ride.

After the carousel ride he’s off and running.  Herding the geese and ducks with Madison in tow.  Towering over everyone on a bolder and then trying to find the owner of a lost feather.

One of my favorite things about the Boise zoo is the ground squirrels exhibit.  It’s awesome.  People get to walk in these tunnels the pop their heads up like the squirrels.  At which point you are on eye level with the busy busy squirrels.

Madison gazing into an exhibit.

O.k.-at the risk of sounding like a bad adult, this was totally worth the price of admission.  Madison ran up to check out the big brass sculpture of an elephant.  Little did she know that it had a motion sensor and sprayed water when triggered.  It was frigging awesome!

And these are the money shot.  Exactly what we came for.  Who knew he’d be such a little flirt.  Look out ladies