Engagement pictures and a piece of cake!

Anyone who knows me, knows I love to be crafty and creative. Maybe that's why I am a cosmetologist, scrapbooker and crafter. I just love it all and want to try it all. So I decided "why not add a few more things to that list" and I started taking an interest in cake decortating and photography. I have always been interested in photography (ever since I started scrapbooking 10 years ago) but I have always only had point and shoot cameras. Until a few weeks ago when my amazing husband got me a Nikon D5000 SLR. I LOVE IT!!!!!! I'm still getting use to it (there is a lot to learn) but I have really enjoyed taking pictures and trying out all the cool features. My sister-in-law (Andy's sister) is getting married in August and I thought what better way to get in some practice then take their engagement photos. So we went out a few weeks ago to down town and here are a few of my favorite shots. (keep in mind, I'm still learning).

















I have also been busy making cakes. I have made cakes in the past but never for other people... other then family. A few of the girls that I work with asked me if I would make cakes for them for graduations and birthdays. Here are a few pictures of the ISU graduation cake that I made for my co-worker Diane. Her daughter Jana is graduating and I think that the cake turned out pretty good!

Pella Tulip Festival

Andy and I went to the Tulip Festival in Pella yesterday. I had never been and Andy had not been since he was little. It was SO cold (it felt more like October then May) but we went anyway and I am glad we did because it was a lot of fun.

There were so many people there and most of them were wearing wooden shoes. Andy and I went into a lot of the little shops around the square and almost all of them had wooden shoes for sale. (no, I didn't buy any) They were VERY heavy..... I don't see how anyone could walk in them. Not only were they wearing wooden shoes, they were all wearing Dutch outfits. I snapped a picture of a women in her Dutch attire :) (she was also walking around with a broom sweeping the streets, a lot of people were. It must be a dutch thing).

Pella had a ton of Junk stores (woo hoo for me, not so much for Andy) we just had to check out. Andy doesn't really enjoy looking through old junk like I do and he usually just follows me around. But occasionally I will spot him checking something out :) He always tells me that we should just live in a barn (I would LOVE that) and I always tell him the old saying "One man's junk is another man's treasure". Our house is FULL of treasures :)


You can not go to Pella and not get Dutch letters. They are SO yummy. People were standing in line at the bakery for hours to get them and they were buying them by the bag full.
I wanted to go up into the windmill but the line was way too long so I just settled for taking pictures. Because of the weather being unseasonably cold the tulips were not the best. A lot of them were welting but they were still pretty.



What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon with my hubby!