I've had an exceptionally good day, with some great news (hopefully I can share soon!) so I wanted to spread the goodness around.

A sale seemed appropriate.

From today til Friday, August 6th I will be having a BOGO sale at the shop.

Purchase any 8x8 (or 8x10) of your choice, type in the title of your second (free) print in "notes to seller" and zing! You're done!

Any questions, just let me know!

Thank you (times a million) to everyone who has kept this shop going with all your love, support, & inspiration. 

Feel like making Whoopie

...pies?

What? What did you think I meant?

Dirty, dirty minds.....

It has been a whirlwind of weather around here. Agonizing heat during the day, and horribly thrashy thunderstorms at night. I've been at the house alone all week dog-sitting, so of course it needs to be scary outside.

Holiday catalogs generally shoot during the summer, and one of the catalogs we shoot for started this past week. I'm absolutely exhausted, and can't seem to do anything that involves a computer after work.

My evenings have evolved into a lot of grilling with friends, tip toeing around the garden, and playing with food.

Which brings me to the whoopie pies :)

These are from our local shop, but I've been searching for a recipe to make my own.

The pies were piled and set on a light blue & white checkered pillowcase which sat on this adorable wheely table that I got from Goodwill for $3! I will eventually do a before and after of that (...when I decide how to finish it.) 

The light was super perfect because a storm was rolling in and the clouds were the diffusers (btw- this was shot in our garage, with the door half open).

They are  delicious little cake sandwiches filled with frosting, for those of you unfamiliar with the whoopie mania.

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Hope everything is well out in the blogosphere. 

I officially booked my tickets for Florida.

Vacation can't come soon enough!

Wix it

Happy Monday!

It's quite dreary outside, with all this rain and thunderstorming.

I pretend to mope around but secretly I enjoy it.

My website which I built using Wix was recently reviewed on their photo blog! 

Ron from Wix was so sweet in letting me know, and I read early Saturday morning.

Like... 5am early.

I think the reviewer nailed me on the head, and totally called me out on my bio (or the lack of one). I'm contemplating hiring someone to write it for me, all this nonsense about myself doesn't seem interesting to me.  Overall, I'm super excited about how it was received. It made me feel proud of my little space on the interweb :)

Anyway, please read it if you get the time!

Review Tina Crespo Photography

Ahh, the weekend.

Strawberries in my ginger aleeeeeeeeee.

Because I roll like that.

Dear Humidity/Heat,
I say this on behave of the easter coasters melting with just a step outside,
please cool it off! Stop forcing our electric companies to shut down, and making our poor, poor puppies not want to play outside with us.

Cheers,
Tina









(A totally immature comment about the second glass in this photo. Don't the strawberries kind of look like a bikini? It made me chuckle. Didn't notice that until after I was done shooting, of course.)

early girl bakes muffins

It's totally understandable to step into cranky pants at 6:30 in the morning when someone is making a considerable amount of noise in the kitchen. I swear, I'll try my best to be quiet and something (usually large, and heavy) goes flying out of my hands onto the floor. Whoops, my bust.

But when these babies start rising and the smell reaches every floor in the house, I was greeted with smiles and "Mmmm, smells good." instead of "What the hell are you doing baking this early?"

Sweet Banana Muffins

ingredients:

1 cup flour

1 T baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup mashed bananas (or more!)

1/4 cup sugar (or 2 T of Splenda/Sugar blend)

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup applesauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease muffin pan or line with paper muffin liners.

In medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.

In separate bowl, combine banana, sugar, egg and vanilla extract. Blend until well mixed. Add applesauce. Slowly combine dry mixture to banana mixture. Blend well.

Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool before serving.

Makes 12 perfect muffins.

*Incase you're curious about the stats*

Calories: 79

Fat: 0.6g

Carbs: 17g

Protein: 1.8g

Time to refill my coffee cup and enjoy one of these little guys out in the back yard.

I hope everyone has a safe and fun 4th of July!!!

xo -T

a photo you've never seen...

Mexico

I do believe this is my first time back to the computer since Friday, my birthday.

Oh, because I was running wild all over Philadelphia, losing shoes, and money and getting hastily drunk and eating until my heart's content?

I wish.

I'll keep it simple, and not crowd this space with too many details.
Friday (Birthday) emergency run to the vet for Piggy.
+ horrific sciatic nerve pain.
+ cancelled birthday plans
+stomach flu all weekend
+more back pain
+Piggy getting worse after Friday,
another run to the vet today.


That's ah...that was my Birthday weekend.

I did shoot a cake, though?
It's the prissy little White Cake from Wegman's.
And it's delicious.

Mike and I ate it for breakfast on my birthday.

Ya know, before all  hell decided to break loose.

This weekend was so bad, it just has to be comical.

....I'm not exactly laughing yet, but maybe in a few days.

favorite picture you've never seen

Every photographer has one (or 100). Photographs that have never made it to the surface, for whatever reason. It may be lit incorrectly, blurry, or it doesn't go with the style you're trying to create for yourself. 

I have so many of those! It doesn't feel right to keep them hidden on my external hard drive. I'd love to start a weekly post featuring photographs that aren't perfect, but favorites none the less.

I absolutely love this photograph of Cayla.

Who would have all this grace at the age of 5? No one. 

Ok, maybe I'm giving her too much credit. She is the goofiest little kid I know, and I've been told she's just like me when I was that age. I give my brother credit for having to go through it all again with his daughter this time. 

 But boy she knows when that camera is pointed her way.

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So..Friday is my birthday.

25.

Old.

Quarter Century.

Oldddddddd.

To celebrate, I wanted to do everything that makes me happy.

So that means, lots of mexican food.

Going here because I'm strange and love abandoned shiz.

Also going here because I've been dying for some pistachio ice cream!

Spending the rest of the weekend with family, and perhaps more apartment hunting.

Have a great week everyone!

P.S Thank you so much for the comments on the previous post. I'm really glad to know people have my back, and like the direction(s) this blog is going. It means so much to me!

Minty, baby

I am totally looking forward to the long weekend ahead of me. Sometimes, you just need a break from everything, kick your shoes (flip flops) off and do what makes you feel good.
I plan on attempting some sewing (yes, sewing) projects with some really great linens I found at Liberty Thrift Store, maybe try a new recipe or two.
The Weight of Water has been in my tote for a week now, I fully plan on reading the whole thing this weekend as well.

Oh! Have you tried this deliciously refreshing drink? All you need is some fresh mint and lime (optional, of course). It's perfect, and cools you down.

An interesting note: I got a kind of strange email from someone who follows the blog. It seems she is becoming disappointed with my "transition" to more food related posts, rather than fine art.

To say the least, I was a little hurt but felt I had to justify myself.

In reality, I don't. This blog is about what I love, and that is (all kinds of) photography. Period.

Yes, I started this with only sharing fine art and shop news, but to be completely honest that isn't who I am all the time, every day. I've said before, photographing food is a love that has recently been renewed (outside of studio clients), and it's evident that I am enjoying myself.

So, without trying to sound like a pucker-face, this is my blog. I'll post what I want.

:)

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I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Do something fun, new, and what makes you happy.

Summer Apricot Tart

So, it's obvious I have a thing for tarts.

Recipe (taken from Better Homes & Gardens: Diabetic Meals):

1 recipe cornmeal crust       

 1/3 cup sugar

3 tablespoons flour      

1/4 tsp nutmeg or cinnamon 

3 cups sliced, pitted fresh apricots      

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tsp fat free milk

cornmeal crust:

In a medium bowl, stir together 3/4 cup flour, 1/3 cup cornmeal, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Cut in 3 tablespoons butter until the size of small peas. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon cold fat free milk over mixture; gently toss with a fork. Add an additional 3-4 tablespoons fat free milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough is moistened (dough will be crumbly). Lay onto a lightly floured surface and kneed 7-8 times. Form into a ball.

1. Grease and lightly flour a large baking sheet. Prepare cornmeal crust. On the baking sheet, flatten dough. Roll into a circle 12 inches in diameter. Set aside **I actually did mine about 12 inches long, and 8 or so inches across.**

2. For filling, stir together sugar, flour, nutmeg or cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in apricots and lemon juice. Mound the filling in the center of crust, leaving a 2 inch border. Fold border up over filling. Brush top and side of crust with the milk.

3. Bake in 375˚ oven about 40 minutes or until crust is golden and bubbly.

Cool tart on a baking sheet or wire rack for 30 minutes before serving.

                                                                                                             

I found this recipe to be very simple, and super tasty. I added a little more lemon juice because I love extra tartness. The crust was great, and I'm thinking of other recipes I can use it in. Of course, you can change up the fruit , too!

_____

It's Monday night, and I'm off to bed early. 

Ok...I'm probably watching Family Guy on Hulu..