Picking Grapes at the Vineyard

Bright & early Sunday morning we headed out to Jalama Canon Ranch, where we took part in the first harvest of their pinot noir grape vineyards. It was backbreaking work, but actually going through some of the first steps of wine-making was really eye-opening. There is so much to it, and most people don't realize that it is still a very manual process, there were some machines for the de-stemming process once the grapes were picked, but we had to help it along quite a bit. We were exhausted by the end of the day, but had a really great time of it, working & laughing alongside friends. We were asked to take photos of the day, and we said sure, it's good PR for S+R photograhy!

S+R Teaser | Kyle, Devany & Kayanne

We had such a fun time photographing Kyle & Devany and their 4 month old baby Kayanne, who was the cutest!! Thank you guys so much for spending time with us to do that!

Jack the Puppy & Roman

Here's Roman's new cousin, little Jack the Australian Shepherd puppy, only 9 weeks old. He's the cutest thing, but boy those puppy teeth are sharp! He's so full of energy, it was hard to get him to stay still long enough for a photo, but we got a few...

Blue-eyed Jack with one of his many new toys

Jack kept following around Roman and trying to bite his tail, then Roman would snap at him and Jack would run away. Then after a few seconds, like an annoying little brother, he'd be at it again, he'd scoot his way towards Roman inch by inch. Later that night Roman squeezed himself into Jack's puppy-sized bed. And Roman is no puppy, even though he acts like a puppy with his new summer haircut...he's actually a 75 pound Golden Retriever/Husky/Labrador mix! Roman really thought it was his new bed and tried to make himself at home.

Jack didn't know what to do...Roman wouldn't get out of his bed!

Jack wanted to play but Roman just wanted to lay in the grass, so Jack decided to lay in the grass too

Moo Cards!

So excited, I just ordered my first batch of new Moo.com business cards.  They are high quality double-sided business cards that look great! And the best part is that you can order in 'printfinity'...basically a different photo on every card. It's a great way to show off my handmade designs. And when I create new products, it will be so easy to order additional cards that will blend right into the mix. I'm so excited to start passing my cards around!
 

       

Emmy Awards...

Jimmy Fallon and the cast of Glee did an awesome opening musical extravaganza, I loved it!

Monday Morning Meanderings - Puppy

In honor of the new Australian Shepherd puppy my parents just got this week, I searched for all things puppy and found some really cute things...

 

1. TeeTugs

2. sjengravings

3. paper cuts by joe
3. 77LionHeart77

5. golden rococo

6. noted simply

Monday Morning Meanderings - Sarah

Just for fun, I thought I'd do a search for my name on Etsy.com, so here are all things Sarah...

1. Blue Hour Design

2. Cozy Little Cave

3. Oatmeal Lace

4. Amy Creates

5. Sunshine and Carousel 

6. Trillium

Monday Morning Meanderings - France

I got this great idea from Funky Diva Designs to post some of my favorite etsy items as sort of a weekly roundup. So here is my first attempt...

Today's theme is France

1. Corrabelle - Mayberry Sparrow
2. Urbanwall
3. Doodledose
4. Word Garden
5. Piddix
6. French Flea Market

S + R Photography Team!!

The S + R photography team, which consists of my wonderful and creative hubby Ryan, and myself, recently had our first official wedding gig. It was the first test of our ability to work as a team and rise to the challenges of wedding photography...and there were definitely a few challenges for us. But thankfully Holly & Eric will be happy to know that we got some great shots on their special day and the team thing worked out really well for us!

And Ryan just updated our website with all the new photos...check it out.

S + R Photography

HobNobbing it with the Last Airbender

Ryan & I finally had a chance to go out to dinner and enjoy a nice movie. We've been trying not to spend too much on stuff like that, since Ryan's not teaching over the summer.

We were thrilled to get to see The Last Airbender in 3D at the Arlington. It's based on this anime series on Nickelodeon, about a boy who is supposed to bring balance back to the world after it's been taken over by the fire nation. He is the spiritual healer known as the Avatar and he has to learn to manipulate the 4 elements of earth, wind, fire and water. There's funny & mythical characters, a lot of tai chi inspired fight scenes, and it's directed by M. Night Shyamalan, his first epic movie. It was quite entertaining, and I always love seeing movies at the Arlington Theatre.

Then we took a quick jaunt across the street to enjoy some splendid food and service at the HobNob restaurant. I came across it when I was searching for restaurants in the area at http://www.urbanspoon.com.
We happened to be the first ones there on a Thursday night, and I was looking forward to having some appetizers and then going straight to dessert...with our favorite, Creme brulee.

But to my surprise, they didn't serve creme brulee that night. The server went straight to the chef with our request though & the chef decided to make it for us from scratch! We were the only ones that night that got to enjoy the delicious creme brulee. Our appetizers were fish tacos, chicken satay, and delicious truffle mac & cheese. And they gave us some mango sorbet while we were waiting for dessert. The food was affordable, tasted good, service was great, and the ambience was wonderful. We sat in the restaurant as opposed to the bar side & it was perfect for us, tucked back in the corner window seat & listening to the sounds of Frank Sinatra waft through the air. Based on our experience that night, I give it 5 stars! Go enjoy it for yourselves!

Ryan's Picasa Albums

Some of the latest photos from our family adventures...
http://picasaweb.google.com/redethics

Joined the Paper Back Book Swap

Several people have told me about this website www.paperbackswap.com, and I finally caved in and started an account. It's such an ingenious way to get rid of books you don't read, and you get to swap them with a choice of over 3 million books you've never read before, including hardcover & audio books. Every time you send a book to someone, you get a book credit. And when you join and post 10 of your books you get 1 free book credit. And there's also a CD and DVD swap site you can join too.

This is the first book I've sent away for:

Size 12 is Not Fat, by Meg Cabot, author of the Princess Diaries series

In the first title in her Heather Wells series, Cabot combines a fairly straightforward mystery with a single-girl-in-the-city plot in which Heather triumphs over cheating guys, bad luck, and a fattist society. Most of the characters are two-dimensional, but Heather's strong, amusing voice, the plot twists, and the possibility of romance will draw mystery and chick-lit readers alike.

It sounded like a fun mystery romance for the summer, and I figured I better get more in touch with the book choices for young adults, since I'll be volunteering with the Central Library's teen summer reading program. I'm looking forward to it!

To all the graduates out there

And especially to my sister Mariah, a highschool graduate as of tomorrow...Congrats Mariah! You've made it through highschool, and now there's only bigger & better things ahead of you! Looking forward to being here for the journey ahead, Love you,

Craft Inc

Yes! I'm so excited, the book I put on hold finally came in at the library. It's called Craft Inc: Turn Your Creative Hobby Into a Business, and it was a recommended resource on the handmade selling website Etsy.com. I have so many hobbies I love to do, everything from cards/scrapbooking to sewing & crocheting, and I would love to be able to sell my stuff and earn a little extra income. It's just hard starting up, and hopefully this book will inspire me to create more and go further with my hobbies. Right now I have an Etsy shop up and running, but I'm still working on filling it with all my handmade projects. http://www.etsy.com/shop/sarahee

Super Hero Magnets

This would be an awesome gift for my nephew some year...maybe magnetic cars for him though...
Tangarang: Super Hero Craft

Blog Switch!

I decided to switch our family blog over from Wordpress to Blogspot. You can still check out some of the posts from the last few years at

http://ethingtons.wordpress.com/


Follow us now on this blog:

http://saraheryan.blogspot.com/

Cupcake Camp!

By now you can tell that I've got quite a sweet tooth. I was perusing some of the cooking blogs I follow and I discovered this amazing idea...Cupcake Camp! A cupcake camp can really be put on by any group, but the idea is that it's basically an "ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and eat cupcakes in an open environment."

And the beautiful thing about it is that people are using this idea for charity fundraising. Cupcakes for Cancer is putting one on in Santa Barbara on July 25th @ the Fess Parker. Check it out and by all means, eat some cupcakes!

Oh hello blog...

Oh my, I just discovered this blog I started last year, but forgot about! I guess that's the problem you run into when you sign up for so many blog and social networking sites. Part of it was for research, I swear! As a librarian, it is my job to stay current on the latest social networking tools that patrons are using, and to find new and exciting tools that enhance a patron's access to the resources and information they need. It's amazing how many free online programs are available to the world, and I've come across some really good ones too.
I have a Wordpress blog for our family right now, but I'm thinking of switching over to Blogger or some other one. Wordpress almost has too many capabilities, and picture formatting hasn't been working like I'd hoped. So I'm looking for something that has some advanced options but that is more user friendly in the layout. Anyone have any ideas?