jordyn kerr photography

i have some really nice friends. the kind of friends that are willing to let me use them as guinea pigs to practice my photography skills. they even modeled some etsy products for me, too {more about that later}. 

after my last session this weekend with the hamiltons & the wilhelms, i'm excited to say that i am officially ready to launch jordyn kerr photography!

so of course i want you to book a session with me {if you live in the atlanta area} or at least tell your friends. for a short time, i'm offering portfolio-building-pricing -- meaning 50% off. good for me -- more awesome images to convince everyone that i'm their girl for pictures. good for you -- the 50% off part, what could be better than that? whats the fine print? you have to book a session before march 25 {the session can take place after march 25 but it must be booked before then, got it? good.}

so for all of you that don't live even close to here but still want some entertainment from this post, i'm going to share some shots from this weekend just for fun. 

i have to just brag on my husband a little bit. ben has been so encouraging through this whole process. he makes me feel like the most talented girl on the planet. i'm not of course, but it sure is nice to know someone believes in you and supports you. he's also nice enough to carry blankets and whatnot props for me all over the park while i take pictures. husband of the year award, right here.

an etsy update.

incase you haven't noticed, and i'm sure you haven't, my etsy shop has pretty much been a ghost town lately. my fault of course. i abandoned it some time before the holidays because i didn't want to fool with making things to sell & ship. i wanted to focus on my own holiday crafts. it was a good thing. i needed the break.

however, the break is almost over!

i just got a pretty massive order of felt in the mail & i'm taking the shop in a new direction! you know i've always had a thing for felt - did you see my wedding pictures? i love how it's got this heather-ed look and the colors are always soft but bright. seriously, i love it.

so in the new few weeks {don't rush me!} i'll be adding some of these to my shop:

i'm going to call them felt mumsies {because they look like mums and adding the 'sies' to the end makes it more fun to say} 

 i'm thinking i'll make the mumsies on alligator clips that could be attached to metal or elastic headbands. that way, they can be worn on grown ups {because you know i'll be wearing some of these} or on babies. thoughts? imput?

i'll let you know when the shop is up and running. until then.. feedback, please!

weekend update.

weekend updates are the best.

one, because it's the weekend so it's already better than the other days and two, because weekdays are pretty much the same old, same old around here. wake up. work. come home. cook dinner. crash. a little flair here and there but not much. other than all the crazy things that happen in pre-k {that really can't be shared in blogworld because of confidentiality reasons... but, oh how i wish i could share sometimes..} weekdays can be pretty boring.

ben's parents decided to visit us city folks on saturday. ben's mom is always picking up thrifty goodies here and there {seriously, you've never seen someone tackle a flea market like judy kerr}. no complaints here because we seem to collect plenty of goodies from her adventures -- like this little table that was brought to us on saturday. cute and functional -- a win win in our house.

i couldn't leave the table bare so i whipped up some yarn flowers & stuck them in a jar.  easy enough since day twenty i was to "create something with yarn." that's right i'm still keeping up with those goals. if you want to make your own {and don't already know how} check out this easy tutorial for yarn poofs.

i think they sure are cute. 

anyways, back to what i was saying, ben's parents came to town saturday. ben and his dad did that man thing: loafed around the apartment, got some oil changed, ate some tacos. judy and i, on the other hand, decided to drive all over atlanta to visit a few estate sales and do a little shopping. if you live in this area, you already know that saturday wasn't the 'best drive around and shop' day. it rained. it stormed. it puddled. we were tornado watched. we got drippy everywhere we stopped.

but we had a blast! 

estate sales are the best because you get to plunder through someone's old house. we gawked at tacky, but so appropriate, old vintage wall paper, old furniture, architecture that was once so popular but completely impractical. we loved the backyards, we loved this one tiny, but perfectly designed kitchen and we loved the goodies we bought.

i loved these teeny, tiny birdcage-looking salt and pepper shakers. 

i bought this super cool old pocketwatch that may or may not work. we haven't figured it out yet.

and for a whopping fifty cents a piece i got a frothing jug {for making lattes, of course!} and this tiny little pot for, well, i'm not quite sure what. maybe melting butter? nonetheless, i like it. 

i got all of these for a total of {drumroll please...} $7.50. 

now that's my kind of antique-ing!

we finished our shopping adventures with a stop at trader joes, paper source, and a few other cutesy shops in virginia highlands. we had some delicious tacos and guacamole at el taco {highly recommend it to you atlanta folks}. we came back to our men and impressed them with all our goodies and stories. i will say, i like having a man that gets all excited about an old broken pocket watch and thinks i'm awesome for buying it for him. ben's pretty much the best.

that's a pretty darn good saturday if i do say so myself.

the go-to meal.

we all have that one recipe. the one we make when we don't feel like cooking but we're starving. the one that has to be quick. the one that has to be tasty enough to keep you from making another run to chipotle for dinner. and, oh yeah, you definitely have to have all the ingredients on hand.

friends, meet the turkey burg. the official go-to, "prepare in seven-minutes-or-less, delicious enough to stand its ground against quick-y-mexican food" recipe.

i say recipe but it's such a throw together meal that a recipe isn't even necessary. it would just waste your time.

basically, have your frozen jeannie-o's on hand & a bag of buns. okay, sometimes we're really ghetto and eat it on regular bread so i won't judge you if you forget the buns. fry the burger up in a pan & top with cheese.

whip up a quick garlic, cumin, chili powder, & hot sauce spread using greek yogurt for a base -- or use whatever spices you like, this burgers not picky. slice a tomato. toss on some lettuce. if you have them, throw on some avocado slices, we weren't that lucky tonight.

try to throw one of those steamable frozen veggie bags in the microwave too {again we weren't that lucky}. i'd hate for you to go without some greens.

i think ben's exact quote was "i want it to squish all over the place"

you know what, i like my burger like that, too. we were made for each other.

baking bread.

day 15 day 16, i baked bread.

that's right, i baked a loaf of bread! a fresh, hot, crispy-on-the-outside, loaf of bread. 

for a while now, ben's brother, alex, has been baking bread. he's like the bread king in this family. i've been so jealous. being able to bake good bread is like crown worthy, in my opinion. 

seriously, who doesn't love fresh bread? with butter? that's right.

anyone can bake brownies or cookies {well, sometimes i suck at baking those, but that is beside the point} but it takes skill to bake bread. atleast, that's what i thought, until i baked my own loaf. {no offense, alex, you still have mad skills}

if you're imagining me in the kitchen kneading and punching puffy balls of dough, just stop. i did none of that. you shouldn't either. not when you can make some delicious artisan bread just by mixing (with a spoon and muscle strength, not even a mixer is needed) flour & water, letting it sit for a while, then molding it. yes, it is that easy. 

 there's a few more steps a long the way and you'll need some exact measurements. so check out the recipe that i used for the all the details: no knead artisan bread.

and what did i have for breakfast this morning? fresh buttered bread & chocolate milk. the breakfast of champions.

"engagement" session.

yesterday, i did my first, of what will hopefully be many, couples sessions. i asked josh & kayla to do some "engagement" pictures for me. i say "engagement" because they're actually married and have been for almost two years {woot woot! almost two years!}

it was definitely a learning experience for me. i learned that a step stool is an essential for me on a photo shoot. i bought one just incase i'd need it before the shoot, and oh boy did it come in handy. perfect for getting good angles that i couldn't get from my own shortness. i learned quite a few other things, too, but i don't feel like writing an eight page essay for you and, be honest, you'd skip over it to get to the pictures wouldn't you? i knew it.

you know, we give winter a lot grief for being cold and lack-ing in color but i have to give winter it's credit for making these pictures look great. i love the muted background and the grey-ish, brownish leaves and trees. also, props to josh and kayla for picking out outfits that pop with their blue eyes and the muted backdrop. 

of course, this is one of my favorites. it might be my logo when this business gets up and running.

{ a big thanks josh & kayla! }

boring evenings get love too.

there is a reason i'm posting pictures of my feet and it's not because i have pretty feet, because, clearly, i don't. it's because i'm convinced that i can see into the future. either that or one of those coincidental things have happened {i prefer to think that i can see into the future}.

when i wrote my january creativity goals, i decided that on day 12 i would paint my toenails. 

tonight, painting my toenails was exactly what i needed. for one, my toes were looking pretty groudy today {if you think my feet are ugly here, be glad i saved you the before shot}. for two {or however you would put that}, it's been one of those well-deserved do-nothing-but-blah-around-the-house kind of night. so loaf, i did.

no, it's not really exciting, is it? sometimes, non-excitement is kind of nice. 

i did spend a good half an hour looking at pictures of dogs at atlanta shelters. i've got some serious puppy fever. wittle ears and wittle tails. wittle noses and wittle belly wubs. {you know you talk to puppies like that too!} unfortunately, dogs are needy. not just the 'clean up the poop' and 'take on a walk needy', but the expensive dog food and vet bills kind of needy. boo.

i also talked to my mom. filled up on dinner while making it {hate it when that happens}. painted my toes. took pictures of my feet. listened to bon iver songs over and over again. gave my husband big hugs when he finally got home. and wrote this blog.

yep, that kind of evening.

so incase you'd started thinking i was living the fabulous life, i wanted to write this and set you straight. 

but now that i think about it, life is pretty fabulous. even evenings like these.

new years goals: revisited.

last week, i wrote about one of my new years goals: to nourish my creativity. 

i wrote out a small goal for each day in january. you can check it out here {or just scroll down}.

it's been neat having a little project to do every day. creating is one of the best ways for me to recharge. each project has been like a little brain refresher. it's also made me rethink how i manage my time. it's funny how you're so sure you don't have time for this that and the other but, really, squeezing out ten or fifteen minutes a day isn't that hard. you just have to do it.

i remember when i was wedding planning and working on about a thousand crafty projects at any given time, people would make comments like "how did you have time to do all that?" well, where did the time come from? i'll tell you my secret. it came in little, tiny increments. ten minutes here. twenty minutes there. creating while riding in the car. while watching glee. while waiting on water to boil. 

all that to say, my little new years goals are making me happy.

i'm not going to share all of them, probably because that will bore you to tears, but here's a little bit of what i've been up to.

thursday, day five, i baked cookies. 

{it was supposed to be friday, but i did it early. i can do that because i make up the rules to this thing.}

i wanted to make classic chocolate chip cookies. so i scoured the internet pinterest for the best recipe, of course. i won't share the recipe with you because it was terrible. terrible. which is why i have to blog about it. look at those cookies, please, and laugh with me. they're hysterical. they're the ugliest, fattest things i've ever seen. oh and if you're wondering why they look like ice cream scoops, that's because i used an ice cream scoop. if a recipe says to make "golf ball sized balls of dough" my brain says "ice cream scoop" -- i thought they would melt down or something. no, they didn't.

in the recipe's defense, it wasn't american. meaning all the ingredients were listed in 'ml' -- i'm guessing i just screwed up a conversion somewhere. 

ben was very sweet and said they were delicious & pretended {or was he serious?} to be sad when i told him i threw them away. 0 points for cookies. 10 points for husband.

saturday, day 7, i learned a new embroidery stitch.

now that, my friends, is a therapeutic activity. music. thread. tea. it was lovely.

if you want to learn a new stitch {or about a gazillion new stitches} check this out: the floss box: summer stitch school. it has really easy to follow instructions with pictures. i don't know if you've ever tried to learn an embroidery stitch using the interwebs, but i have, and typically it makes you want to stab your eyes out {a bit over reaction but you get what i'm saying, now}. this tutorial will not do that to you. that makes it a winner in my book.

i already had this cute fabric on hand and had yet to use it. it was easy to add little details to the pattern without tacky-ing it up to much. i don't know, maybe i did tacky it up, but i like it. a little tacky makes me happy. remember, my christmas tree?

anyways, that's three new stitches. the heart-ish-one, the leaf-y one, and the owl-wing one {no, those aren't the official names}. 

 well, that's all i have for now. i hope you're not too disappointed in me for making those awful cookies.

adventures in antiquing.

somedays you need an adventure. 

actually, if you’re like me, everyday needs at least a little bit of an adventure. but saturdays, especially, are just made for adventuring. it’s like the golden day of the week just waiting to be filled with something happy.

ben and i bunked it up friday night at his grandparents with the fam. after a delicioso breakfast of quiche & orange rolls, the boys engrossed themselves in a game of settlers of catan. 

the girls, well, we split. 

and spent our morning ‘oo-ing’ and ‘aah-ing’ at every cute little antique-y, artsy, crafty thing we could get our hands on at a consignment-style antique store {queen of hearts antiques & interiors}.

i love this little mod-podged table. i could totally make that.

 

there's something about unique, vintage salt and pepper shakers that get us every time. this bright blue one was just irresistible.

 giant mirror? group picture time.

 we just loved this display. anything looks cute in old jars, i'm pretty sure.

 old books. yes.

 we're pretty sure katie could make these and sell them. who doesn't love an adorable journal?

 quilts are eye-candy to me. these colors are just perfect.

 how cute are these? i love. 

 beth was smitten with these salt and pepper shakers. so smitten, in fact, that she bought them. she's all about the blue.

after "oo-ing" and "ah-ing" at all kinds of little cutesy things, i fell in love with this cross-stitch sampler. the bright colors and stitches just called my name. i had to have it! 

i can't wait to hang it in my kitchen! 

hope you're enjoying your own saturday adventures!

new years goals.

what's most popular blog topic right now? new years resolutions.

i've never really done the new years resolution thing. i sometimes feel like people set themselves up to fail. it's hard to make a life change and stick to it for a whole year. even something small, like giving up sodas, is hard if you have to do it for an entire year {or is that just me? i really love coke.}

this year i'm trying the resolution thing. call me crazy. i'm going to set goals for myself. which is weird because i'm not a goal setter. so, i think i'll start small. 

my main goal is to develop and nourish my creativity. 

sounds hokey, right?

but it's not!

i feel like all of my spare minutes, here and there, are wasted away on the internet looking at all the amazing projects that other people are doing. it used to be inspiring and it used to make me want to make things. now, i think it's my lazy go-to and i substitute it for exercising my own creativity. that's so sad, people! i love being creative. i think creativity is more valuable than gold. it gives your brain a workout and it makes your heart so happy. creativity is so important to my spirituality as well. God did not give me an artistic mind so i could sit and rot it away filtering through everyone else's pretty pictures. 

okay, the self-aimed-rant is over.

today i made a list of little things i can do every day in january {i gotta start small} to exercise my right brain. little things that i can do even if my day is super busy. little things so i don't overwhelm myself. little things because that's all you need to get that creativity flowing.

here goes january 

{starting on the third, of course, because being "ahead of the game" is not one of my goals}

2. make this list.

3. write a letter.

4. sketch a still life picture.

5. learn a new song on my ukulele.

6. bake cookies.

7. learn a new embroidery stitch.

8. doodle with bright colors

9. sketch my favorite man.

10. take 10 pictures outside.

11. make {a non-crockpot} soup.

12. paint my toenails.

13. organize a drawer, any messy drawer.

14. make a card for someone i love.

15. bake bread.

16. learn another uke song.

17. exercise outside.

18. dance with my husband.

19. create a pretty mini-collage.

20. create something with yarn.

21. bake a cake.

22. clean my computer keys.

23. leisurely read instead of facebook-ing.

24. make yo-yos.

25. try a new smoothie recipe.

26. make a list of 26 things i’m thankful for.

27. spray paint something.

28. thirty minutes of yoga.

29. go thrift store shopping.

30. buy flowers.

31. make a list for february. 

i'm all set for day three, ready to join me?

my blog is getting dressed.

you know how some mornings you wake up knowing exactly what you're going to wear that day.

in your head it looks great, you know it'll work, might as well sleep another five minutes since that decision is made.

then there's the moment of truth when you get dressed.

hm. different shirt.

hm. no still need a different shirt.

try a belt? a scarf?

no, it's the pants. the pants have got to go.

oh, not those pants either.

a skirt?

different shirt.

scarf.

shoes?

necklace.

#$*&@!

i usually get to the point where i don't care anymore and go eat breakfast all mad because my bedroom floor looks like it was hit by a clothing storm.

i say "you" up there just hoping that i'm not alone in this insanity. 

all this to say my blog is going through the morning wardrobe insanity, so just bear with me.

i don't even know how that blog header got those two dotted lines around it, but i like it.

feedback?