FALL WISH LIST

Yup, it's me again making a style post. I still find it rather humorous that I post about fashion at all. I love to shop and buy cute clothes/shoes/accessories, but fly out the door wearing jeans, a boyfriend T and my toms about 90% of the time. Oh, and add wet hair and no makeup to that hot look. I wish I was the girl who always leaves the house looking all put together, but I am not. Never haven been, never will be. So I guess this is my wish list for the 10% of my life I feel the need to look cute. :)

INSPIRATION:

BUY IT:

From top to bottom - left to right

cream sweater  |  tan cardigan  |  basic striped t

neon crossbody bag  |  initial necklace  |  basic t

white textured dress  |  jean jacket  |  green bag  |  olive dress

leopard belt  | mustard over-sized clutch  |   high ankle booties  |  sweater tights

pointy toed flats (animals print in my fav!)  |  low ankle booties  |  jack purcell tennies

CAMERA PRACTICE: GARCIA 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY PICS

As I am sure you all know at this point, Jodie is my Kirsten Dunst look-alike bestie. Jodie and Luis (usually referred to as J&L in my blog posts) got married a little over a year ago and Kate (my other bestie - now known as Ohio bestie... boo!) and I were her maid of honors. They got married in their backyard and planted a 'wedding tree' as part of the ceremony. The plan was to take a picture by their tree every year on their anniversary. Well, they got married in April, so we are a little late... but who cares. :)  Jodie has been asking me to snap their picture with their special tree for a few months now and I keep forgetting my camera when we go over for Monday night dinners. Anyways, I called Jodie last week and told her we are taking that darn pic and we are doing 'pretend' engagement pictures, too. Ok, let's just call them anniversary pics. It will probably just be a tradition now. We will call it the annual Garcia anniversary photo shoot. :)

These too are pretty much my favorite. I love them and I love how much they love each other. (that's a lot of loves) I will take pictures of these two anytime. I love Jodie's vintage style, red lips and adorable smile. Luis is pretty darn adorable as well. :)

'WHAT'S UP WITH THE BUELLS' HOMEMADE PIZZA

I am 1/4 Italian and 3/4 all kinds of other stuff. I may not look Italian, but it shows up in other places, like my fiery temper. ;) My Grandfather, on the other hand, is 100% Italian. He is from a small town in northern Italy called Bormio. Logan and I actually had a chance to travel to Bormio a few years ago and meet my family who still lives there. It was, without a doubt, an experience of a lifetime.

Having an Italian family, I grew up eating pizza. My family's favorite pizza joints were Paisans (before it moved locations), Gino's on State Street and the GreenBush Bar in the basement of the Italian Workman's Club. Greenbush was the name of the old Italian neighborhood in Madison before they knocked everything down to build Meriter Hospital. That is where my grandfather grew up.

So I guess that was my unnecessary history lesson/intro to try and make you understand how much I LOVE authentic Italian pizza. Nothing beats the real deal in Italy, but this recipe is the closest I have come to making it myself. I really must give credit to my sister in law, Ashley, for the crust. She makes the most amazing pizza. After I had her pizza crust, I did away with my old recipes and now only make hers. The rest of the recipe, much like the crust, is actually really simple. It doesn't have to be complex to be delicious.

CRUST INGREDIENTS:
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup cold water
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups bread flour

DIRECTIONS:
Sprinkle yeast over warm water in a large bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes to proof. Stir in salt and cold water, then stir in the flour about 1 cup at a time. When the dough is together enough to remove from the bowl, knead on a floured surface until smooth, about 10 minutes. Divide into four pieces, and form each one into a tight ball. Coat the dough balls with olive oil, and refrigerate in a sealed container for at least 16 hours. Be sure to use a big enough container to allow the dough to rise. 

At this point you can either freeze the balls of dough or use them right away. I always make a double batch (makes 8 balls) and I make two for dinner (one for Logan and one for Ellis and I) and freeze six so they are ready for quick week night dinners. If using right away, remove the dough from the refrigerator one hour prior to using. If frozen, take it out of the freezer and place it in the refrigerator the night before. Take it out an hour prior to using.

NOTE: This picture shows a double batch.

PIZZA INGREDIENTS:
Homemade crust (above)
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
Fresh mozzarella balls
Fresh basil
Olive oil
Dried oregano
Cracked black pepper

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven, with a pizza stone on the lowest rack, to 550 degrees F. Lightly dust a pizza peel with flour.

Using one ball of dough at a time, lightly dust the dough with flour, and flatten with your hands. Continue to flatten with a rolling pin until it is about 1/4 of an inch thick. Place the rolled out dough on the floured peel. 

Place thin slices of mozzarella over the crust, then grind a liberal amount of black pepper over it. Sprinkle with dried oregano. Randomly pour the crushed tomatoes over the pizza, leaving some empty areas. Drizzle olive oil over the top and sprinkle a few basil leaves on top.

With a quick back and forth jerk, make sure the dough will release from the peel easily. Place the tip of the peel at the back of the preheated pizza stone, and remove peel so that the pizza is left on the stone.

Bake for 10-15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the crust begins to brown. MAKE SURE that the edges are brown and crispy before removing the pizza from the oven. The slightly crispy crust is what makes it so yummy. Remove from the oven by sliding the peel beneath the pizza. Sprinkle a few more basil leaves randomly over the pizza. Cut into wedges and serve.

After writing this post, I went back and looked at some of our pictures from our Europe trip. We went to Switzerland with Jodie and Luis and then split off and traveled Italy ourselves - Bormio, Venice, Cinque Terre, and Rome.

I pulled a few pictures from Bormio, where Logan and I got to meet my Italian relatives and eat really, REALLY good Italian pizza. :)

Going through our pictures gave me a severe case of the the travel bug. 

Who am I kidding? All I ever want to do is travel. I have so many places to go...

AMEN!

CAMERA PRACTICE: SRNKA FAMILY PICS {CONTINUED}

Happy Monday morning! Here are a few more pictures from Friday night's little photo shoot. Like I said in my last post, I had so much fun taking these pictures. How can you beat cute floral dresses, big baby blues and beautiful lighting? Even though I am a complete amateur, I am in love with the way they turned out.

Amy is a girl after my own heart. She got that fabulous dress just hours before at Urban Outfitters for $10! :) Yes, we are both love a good sale! We were taking the girls to the Children's Museum and Amy just happened to do a little shopping before I got down there. Oops! ;)

CAMERA PRACTICE: SRNKA FAMILY PHOTOS

I know I don't typically post on a Saturday, but I was too excited to wait on this one.

I have set a goal to get better at using my camera, so I’m usin’ it! Our friends, Amy and Ryan, let me take their family pictures last night so I could get some good camera practice in. They have their pictures scheduled with a 'real' photographer next week, but agreed to be my models just for fun! I had never done this before, so I had no idea how it would go. Turns out, when you have a beautiful family to take pictures of, you get beautiful pictures! Thank you Amy, Ryan and Maylin! I had a ton of fun!

 I will have more pictures up later in the week. Here are just a few. :)

FREE PRINTABLE: LITTLE HOUSES

As you all know, I am a sucker for a good quote. If you have been to my house, you know I love to frame them and hang them on the wall. (see below)

I saw this adorable quote about small houses and thought it would be perfect to hang on the wall.

Here you go - a FREE 11x17" print!

 Print it at home, at a print shop, at kinkos, or wherever your little heart desires. 

Pop it in a frame and hang it on the wall. :)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FOR FREE.

CAMERA PRACTICE 2

Just a little playin' around with my camera. Like I said before, pretty much just pictures of flowers and E. I need to find some new subjects. Wait... pretty sure I will never get sick of photographing her. never ever. :)

WE HAVE OUR FAMILY PICTURES TONIGHT!!!! YIPPEEEE! And I think I actually know what we are going to wear. That is such a battle, anyone agree?! You not only have to figure out what you are wearing, but the whole family and try to make it mesh well, but not be too matchy matchy. I will post the pictures when we get them back! So excited! I love family pics!