"L" is for LOVE (and LUCKY)! ~ Tucson Family Photographer

Happy Valentines Day! I love this day - it's my favorite holiday of the year, and it has been ever since I was a little girl. I love making Valentines, I love all of the Valentines themed goodies, and I love making people smile.

{insert biiiig puffy heart here}

What better way for this photographer to celebrate than with a LOVE themed, photo session giveaway? Submit your love story and a picture, and tell me why you should win. Easy peasy. Or so I thought until I started reading them. I was overwhelmed by each story, whether it was simple and sweet, non-traditional, or stuff movies are made of. Mostly, I was touched by the people who took the time to WRITE IT DOWN.

And as I sat on my couch with my box of tissue, glass of wine and a handful of candy hearts, I realized there was NO WAY I could pick. So, I made a list of all the entries and numbered them in the order I received them.

1	Jester
2	Herrington
3	Engler
4	Bidiman
5	Downes
6	Phillips
7	Sleighter
8	Etchevarria
9	Araujo

 And then I used a random number generated from Random.org to randomly select a winner. It was only fair, because I wanted each one to win.

 It's going to be a really happy day for...

******* RACHEL ENGLER *******

Congratulations, Rachel! I'm so excited for you!

Thank you to every who took the time to write your love story - I hope it made you realize even more why you love the one you do!

xoxo,
Stephanie

Tasty Tuesday! {Tucson Photographer}

I have a confession. I am a cookbook reader. You know - one of those people who pour over cookbooks, creating elaborate meal plans, making ingredient lists...and then never making the dish :) If you're like me, or even if you're one of THOSE people, who actually follow through with cooking such deliciousness, you'll enjoy this Tasty Tuesday! blog feature.

Tasty Tuesday! is a blog hop - where one blog links to another, and another, and so on. Each blog features a food related post: a photo, a recipe, etc.

Here's my Tasty Today! contribution - my favorite Black n White cupcakes. The kids and I made these for my Grandpa's birthday last week. They were gone in seconds!

Here's the recipe - but trust me, you'll want to make these, and not just look at the yummy picture!








Black 'n White Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
*******
1 box pudding in the mix Devil's Food cake mix (hey, I didn't say it was from scratch!)
1 1/2 c water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cupcake pan.
Blend cake mix, water, oil, eggs,  and sour cream in large bowl until moistened. Beat with mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in coconut flakes.

Pour into prepared cupcake pan. Bake 18-22 mins. Remove from pan and cool completely on baking rack. Frost with (lots of) cream cheese buttercream frosting. Top with mini chocolate chips.

Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting (courtesy of Goodies Bake Shop)
Frosting:
1 lb cream cheese - room temp.
1 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar

Cream the butter and cream cheese together until no lumps remain.  Add vanilla and powdered sugar while mixer is off.  Thin frosting with a bit of milk if needed.

Beat for about 7 mins on a high setting.

PS - I bake these in the ginormous cupcake pans, so they actually turn out like mini cakes. YUM!

Please be sure to visit one of the blogs below for some more culinary inspiration :)