Fall Photo Shoot Ideas!

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Jamie

Fall.

That one favorite season of mine that I miss dearly since moving out to LA.  Although, even here, there are signs of fall around here (a little hard with this 90 degree weather we’ve been having) but I thought I’d share a list with you about fun photo shoot ideas to try out:

1) Raking the Leaves

One of my favorite past times was getting out into the lawn and raking those leaves into piles.  Once the leaves were in piles, there were 2 options: either jump in them, or to bag them up.  One of my favorite kind of bags were the pumpkin looking bags.  Granted, a lot of cities were starting to come out with rules where you could only utilize paper lawn bags so those pumpkin shape bags became harder and harder.

Miss Vivi Gold

So spend a day in the yard raking up those leaves, jumping in them, and capturing every moment along the way.

2) Apple Orchards

In Minnesota, my favorite September activity was heading to the Apple Orchard.  I could either pick out my own apples, or browse along the shop and pick my apples out from there.  And those honeycrisp apples, created at the University of Minnesota, were my all time favorite apples.  The day included apple brats, cinnamon ice cream atop my apple crisp.

Well, I also found out, there are apple orchards outside of LA, and in a week or two I’ll be headed out to Riley’s Apple Farm to experience it for my first time.  These kind of days make for some great pictures.  Your children picking their first apples, trying out the apple crisp, or spending the day at the petting zoo.

Milwaukee Jewish Day School

3) Pumpkin Patch

Spending the day at the pumpkin patch is one of my favorite fall activities.  Whether it’s going around picking out your favorite pumpkin, or back in Minnesota, walking through the giant corn mazes, there was something for everyone.  Even out in LA, there are lots everywhere with pumpkin patches for you to have fun at.  These little sights make for some great fall photo shoots.  A baby standing next to a pumpkin, hugging a scarecrow, or riding their first pony.

4) Fall Baking

After you get home from the apple orchard, let the fall baking begin!  One of my all time favorite things to do.  However, getting down and dirty in the kitchen, and creating those amazing treats and meals needs to be captured.  And not only that, the decorating that can go with creating that meal makes it all the more fun.  Leaf decor, pumpkins, fun baskets, or even indian corn make for some festive decorations.

sewnotcrazy Creative Commons Photo

 

5) Those Costumes!

And of course, the end of fall marks one of our favorite holidays: Halloween.  And capturing those costumes is one of the best photo shoots you can have.  Just remember, the shoot is dependent on the costume:

Go out, have fun, and happy shooting =)

Disclosure: The top two photos were through the use of Creative Commons Photos. 

 

 


Categories: Life, Photography | Tags: , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Arbor Mist Frozen Wine Cocktails! #sscheers

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Jamie

SheSpeaks has teamed up with Arbor Mist, and in the process I was asked to try them out.  All summer long my SO and I have been trying to make our patio area a place of serenity.  We found furniture that wasn’t being utilized any longer, and continued to add more and more to it to make it our place to go and relax.

We added plants, fun lights, and shelving to make it feel more and more homey, and more like a place of serenity, and it’s become one of our favorite places to hang out especially during those summer, now almost fall nights.

When our frozen wine cocktails arrived, we decided to make a night of it by cooking a nice meal, eating outside, and finishing with a few rounds of cocktails.

What’s really nice about the Arbor Mist Frozen Wine Cocktails is how easy they are.  You buy them at the store and you just throw them in the freezer.  When they come out, you just squeeze them into your glass:

They come in 3 varieties: Pinot Grigio White Pear, Strawberry White Zinfindel, and Blackberry Merlot.  I, myself, started out with the Strawberry White Zin, and I loved it.  The first pouch didn’t really freeze all that much, but I honestly didn’t mind it.

I gave the drink over to my SO for him to try and his first words were, “wow, that’s thick, and syrupy.”

We then decided to try out the Pinot Grigio White Pear.  This one was definitely slushie, and I was really hesitant because as of late, I haven’t been a fan of slushies.  However, the pinot grigio white pear worked really well as a slushie.  I let it melt to liquid form, and I actually preferred it as a slushie.

And then later in the evening we brought out the Blackberry Merlot.  Now, I am not much of a merlot fan, most likely the reason why I was putting this off, but the Arbor Mist Frozen Wine brought out the sweetness of it.  I’m still not a fan, but it was something I could still down easily.

And the verdicts:

Me: I’m a huge fan of these frozen wine cocktails, and will definitely make use of them for some fun cooler evenings ahead.  They would have been GREAT for a lot of late night summer evenings.

My SO: I’m not a fan of these.  They’re just too thick and too syrupy for me, and much too sweet.

And well, you can decide your own opinions from our cats:

Disclosure: SheSpeaks and Arbor Mist teamed up and provided me with samples of the Arbor Mist Frozen Wine Cocktails.  All opinions stated above are my own.


Categories: Fun Stuff, Wine | Tags: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Spending a Day at the LA Zoo with Tillamook Cheese!

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Jamie

Tillamook Cheese invited me and my SO out to the Los Angeles Zoo this past weekend for an afternoon in the hot sun.  They treated us to an entire day at the zoo including a luncheon for us.  They were at the Los Angeles Zoo as part of their #loaflove tour.  The next several weeks they will be hitting hot spots around LA with their Tillamook Cheese vehicles, and letting people try out their cheeses and yogurts (Oregon Strawberry and MerrianBerry varieties!)

At the luncheon we were greeted with an entire buffet of food, in which, we would be creating our own grilled cheese that would be judged with the chance to win some spectacular prizes.  There were 3 different kinds of cheese from Tillamook there: medium cheddar, extra sharp cheddar, and a white cheddar cheese to choose from.  They also had a variety of meats from turkey to salami to canadian bacon to roast beef to tomatoes, asparagus, bacon, and all the greens to garnish and mix your sandwich with.  You think of it, I bet they had it.

I created my “Happy Face Sandwich” which included a plethora of meats with all 3 varieties of cheese, and then decorated the front in a happy face.  Unfortunately, my sandwich did not win, but I was happy I got creative with mine.  Perhaps there’s a little bit of a foodie in me somewhere, deep down 😉

Prior to this event I had no idea that Tillamook had yogurt or ice cream.  At this event I was lucky enough to try 2 varieties of their yogurt.  Their Oregon Strawberry and the MerrianBerry.  The first question I had was, “what is a merrianberry?”  A merrianberry is an Oregon specific berry.  Tillamook is based right out of Oregon, and they bring their Oregon pride with them wherever they go.  If you’re ever there to visit, stop by the Tillamook Cheese Factory for a tour, I’ve heard GREAT things about the tour.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to try out their ice cream, but it’s on my shopping list the next time I head out to the store.  I feel as if I can taste it from here.

After the luncheon my SO and I walked around the zoo to explore a bit.  Look at what we found:

Because it was such a hot day a lot of the animals were hiding on us, or they were showing us their butts, however, we did get lucky with a few.  I really enjoyed the goats, and the giraffes.  As we rode along on the tram we got a glimpse of one of the elephants, but my oh my, those are tricky animals to spot at the zoo.

But, before we headed home, there was just one more thing I had to do:

I just had to ride the carousel, and for only 3 dollars, how could I really pass that up?

A big thank you goes out to Tillamook Cheese for the fun filled day despite the heat. And make sure you find them the next few weeks as they tour all around Los Angeles with their Loaf Love Tour.  To find their next stop, find them here.

Disclosure: Tillamook Cheese provided me with free tickets to the LA Zoo, a luncheon, and samples of cheese and yogurt to take home.  Of course, I love their yogurt and cheese, so all opinions are my own.

PS: My SO very much wanted to be apart of this blog post, so let me leave you with my favorite picture of him that day:


Categories: Cooking, Fun Stuff, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments