In college, I worked at the student newspaper. Kory was the photo editor and the best sports photographer I knew. Early in my photo career, Kory sent me out to shoot a basketball game. I came back with photos of players and fans and things, but none of my photos had a basketball in them. Apparently, it is important to include the basketball when photographing basketball. Who knew?  
 
These days, Kory is still a kick-ass sports photographer. He always includes the basketball in his photos. Me? Well, sometimes I tag along to games to capture all those photos that don't include the sporty object :) Here are a few of my hockey photos (try to find the puck!).

Over the weekend, a dense fog stuck around town, coating every tree limb and sidewalk in a thick layer of ice. We haven't had much snow this winter compared to most years, so it was nice to see things looking all winter-wonderland-like again!

I've always been excellent at eating cookies. Don't be jealous. I just have a natural talent for it. But learning to bake cookies took a bit more effort.  
 
I started baking chocolate chip cookies when I was a sophomore in high school. It wasn't any sort of fancy recipe; I think it was the recipe on the back of the bag of chocolate chips. I do remember rushing home during my lunch hour to bake a quick batch of cookies to bring back to school (after all, cookies made my afternoon classes way more fun). Or sometimes, I would bake cookies for dinner. Yep, a totally healthy and complete meal :) 
 
I went through a health food phase in college, but I still wanted my cookies, so I tried making them with every type of low-fat, no-fat, no-sugar, wheat-flour combo ever. That experiment didn't yield any lasting results. Moderation, perhaps, was better than eating 20 low-fat cookies at one time. 
 
As I grew up, I tweaked the recipe and started using better ingredients. No more Blue Bonnet margarine. No more Nestle chocolate chips. I learned that refrigerating the dough overnight produces more caramel-y, delicious cookies. A cookie dough scoop means each cookie bakes evenly.  
 
Now, about 15 years after I started making these cookies, I'm ready to share my super secret cookie recipe! I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. Heck, you could even make them for dinner tonight!  

Shawna's Chocolate Chip Cookies 
 
This recipe yields a chewy, chocolatey cookie. 
 
2 cups all purpose flour (I use King Arthur Flour)  
1 tsp baking soda 
1 tsp salt (I use Morton's Kosher)  
3/4 cup brown sugar 
3/4 cup sugar 
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup), softened (I use unsalted organic butter)  
2 eggs 
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract (I love vanilla, so I use a full tablespoon. Call me crazy. Nielsen-Massey is the best!)  
1 package (12oz) chocolate chips (I use Guittard)  
 
First, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. 
 
Then, in a medium-sized mixing bowl, stir the flour, baking soda and salt together. Set aside. 
 
In a separate mixing bowl, cream together the sugars and butter until smooth. Add in the eggs one at a time and mix well. Stir in the vanilla.  
 
Add the flour mixture into the sugar/butter mixture in small batches. Mix in those tasty chocolate chips.* 
 
Drop batter in spoonfuls (I use an Oxo small cookie scoop so they are all about the same size) onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes or until edges are nicely browned. Do no overbake (or do, if you like crunchy, sorta-burned cookies!). 
 
*At this point, I cover the top of the bowl with some cling wrap and refrigerate the dough overnight. If you are feeling impatient, then you can certainly omit this step and still have tasty cookies. But chilling the dough overnight will give you extra-delicious cookies. I swear.

Matt, my wonderful boyfriend of almost eight years, dreamed of going on a road trip. He talked about driving west from our land-locked state of North Dakota all the way to the Pacific coast. Then, he might drive south along highway 1 to Los Angeles. He would have no itinerary. No real destination. Just a chance to drive and listen to about 4,509 podcasts. I dubbed this his "man trip." 
 
Well, this summer he finally got the chance to make his road trip dream a reality! He drove from North Dakota to Seattle, then from Seattle to LA. For the final leg of his trip, he drove from LA to Las Vegas, where I met up with him and his shaggy beard. (Yay for cheap flights from Grand Forks to Vegas!). We then spent some time in Vegas, Zion National Park, and Denver before heading home. 
 
We stayed at the Cosmopolitan our first night in Vegas and had an awesome view!

After two fun days of relaxing (and shopping!) in Vegas, we hit the road to Zion National Park.

I snapped this photo for my mom. She adores cows. (Hi mom!)

Zion was breathtaking.

We hiked "the Narrows," which involves dunking yourself into cold river water repeatedly.

This is my "thanks for taking a photo of me, boyfriend" face.

After our fun adventure in Utah, we drove to Denver (to go to the My Morning Jacket concert in Red Rocks) then raced home so we could both get back to work :)

Ah, 2012. It is time to shake off the dust that's been gathering on this blog. I've discovered over the last 12 months that once you are out of the habit of blogging, it is very hard to get back into it. :) 
 
When I first started blogging back in 2005, it was a way for me to share what was happening in my life with my friends and family. As my photography business took off, my blog became more business-like and less personal. I'd like to return this site to a place where I can share what I'm photographing, yes, but also what I'm cooking, decorating, listening to, feeling inspired by, etc. My interests certainly extend beyond photography and I would like to share more with you than simply photos from our commissioned photo sessions. 
 
To start off this new year I'll be reviewing all things 2011 (mostly because you've barely seen a thing I photographed in 2011!), including lots of weddings, and family sessions, of course.  
 
I hope you'll stick around with me to see what's to come :) 
 
First up in the my year-end review is music! We listen to a lot of music around the office while we are editing and working (in addition to all of the TV we watch, too, but that's another blog post!). Here are a few of my favorite songs of 2011 :: 
 
 
 
Love the Way You Walk Away by Blitzen Trapper 
Whole Love by Wilco 
Gold On the Ceiling by The Black Keys 
Lost In My Mind by The Head and the Heart 
Holdin On to Black Metal by My Morning Jacket 
January Hymn by The Decemberists 
How Come You Never Go There by Feist 
Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes 
Wonderful (The Way I Feel) by My Morning Jacket 
 
 
 
Here's a terrible cell phone photo from the My Morning Jacket concert we attend at Red Rocks near Denver. After this concert, I could never get "Holdin on to Black Metal" out of my head! 

And another terrible cell phone photo from the best Wilco concert in Minneapolis in December. It was beautiful in sound, sight, and company :)