Category Archives: personal

The Races and a Sneak Peek

It’s off to the races today! Jeff and I are taking a much needed break from the office today to do two things: (1) hang out with our most favorite hair stylist in the world, Miss Gretchen, to tame the crazy poofs that are currently ruling our heads and (2) try out our luck at...

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When I Laugh…

When I laugh, I feel beautiful. I feel like I’ve been given permission to be that free little girl I was meant to be. Or that classy, elegant woman that I want to be. Or that nerdy, neurotic person that I am. When I laugh, I feel like life will be ok. That it is...

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Sweet and Sour | Edition III

I feel disappointed dear bloggy blog. It’s been one of those weeks… There really isn’t a big reason for it. People close to us have made comments – nothing terrible, but enough for my mind to shift into overdrive with overanalyzing. We received some news that made us feel discouraged. It should have felt like...

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Just Like I Had Planned

Does anyone remember when Jeff and I were late to our very own dinner party? That was at our house? With guests we invited? Well folks, I think I’ve officially topped that one. I was actually late to my husband’s birthday party a few weeks ago and I was the one throwing it. Here’s the...

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Limelight: Jamie

Happy Friday everybody! Yesterday we introduced our first intern of the summer, the lovely Heather. Thanks for giving her such a big welcome everyone! Today we have our second intern of the summer, the spunky and fabulous Jamie. Jamie has always been up for a good time ever since we first met her a few...

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Limelight: Heather

There’s been a TON of activity around Casa de Youngren lately – heaps of engagement shoots, tons of amazing couples, and plenty of fabulously delicious details to keep our cameras satisfied for a long while.  And the best part? Our little office got a whole lot more awesome in the process… Why you ask? Well,...

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Recipe Sunday | Fresh Squeezed Lemonade

It’s summertime. Go ahead, you know you want to start singing… “summertiiiiiiime and the livin’s easy…” So Jeff and I have friends. I know. The rumor is true. There are people out there that are actually willing to hang out with us other than our moms and our cat. And those friends are pretty stinkin’...

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Going Postal

She hasn’t made an appearance on the bloggy blog in quite some time. In fact, she would rather hide under the bed and quiver all day than show her face to strangers. She is completely normal around Jeff and me, but is afraid of anybody else. Only a lucky few have actually ever spotted her....

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Recipe Sunday | Summer Vegetable Potato Salad

If this recipe ain’t fancy schmancy, I don’t know what is. I mean, it’s potato salad for Pete’s sake. Potato salad! How in the world does a bunch of potatoes, mustard, and mayonnaise get fancy? Well, just nix the good ‘ol mustard and mayo and add balsamic and feta. That’s how. Plus a bunch of...

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Just the Five of Us

I’ve been loving these warm summer mornings lately when Jeff and I can make a way-too-big breakfast filled with waffles, eggs, hash browns, fruit, coffee and fresh-from-the-freezer orange juice. And I love the dance that the two of us have created in our morning rituals: bumping around the kitchen in our PJs, pouring each other’s...

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Recipe Sunday | Tomato Bread Salad

As I mentioned last week with my Cheese Flautas recipe, I summed up the courage to make two Recipe Sunday dishes for the same meal, and much to my relief, it actually worked! Yay! So take a stab at the Cheese Flautas and throw together this yummy salad for the perfect summer dinner! Yum! This...

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My Mother Was Always Right

I think I’ve mentioned my horrible adult acne drama here on the blog before. It’s not a pretty sight my friends -  a girl in her mid-twenties still dealing with teenage facial blemishes. In short, it’s been about 7 years of struggle with acne for me. It was like an internal alarm went off on...

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Recipe Sunday | Cheese Flautas with Cilantro Pesto

So I’m a big fat liar. These are not Cheese Flautas with Cilantro Pesto. When I went out to my little glorified herb garden to make this recipe the other day, I noticed that Mr. Cilantro had outgrown itself. The poor little over-achiever had grown so big that he had big dead brown chunks all...

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Happy (Belated) Birthday America

I realize I’m a day late, but just ask my friends – I’m the master of belated birthday wishes. And I’m also the master at Friends marathons, as my dear hubby found out yesterday. You see, we just had our very first real weekend to ourselves. You know, the kind of weekend that normal people...

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What We loved About Lucca

Sweet, wonderful, picture-perfect Lucca. If it’s even possible – if I could drum up the energy to calculate everywhere that we have been in our lifetimes, all of the breathtaking corners of the world that we have seen even in just the last six months – I just may have a new favorite place in...

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Limelight: Travel Apps

With all of the traveling that Erin and I have been doing lately, we’ve definitely got our routines down – we can pack in our sleep and going through the security line is an exercise in muscle memory that makes makes me feel like George Clooney in “Up in the Air.” So today I thought I...

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Recipe Sunday | Pulled Pork Tacos

Alrighty folks, nothing gets more simple or more tasty than this little gem of a recipe here. Even with taking pictures, this only took me a grand total of fifteen minutes to prepare. That, my folks, is well worth the kitchen hall of fame status you’ll get when you put this on the table for...

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We're Off to Italy – Again!

It’s way too early for me to up and writing, but Jeff and I have our bags packed and our passports ready for another trip to our favorite place in the entire world – Tuscany! The first thing I’m gonna do when I arrive is plop myself down in the nearest restaurant, order a glass...

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Recipe Sunday | BBQ White Beans with Peppers

Welp, for most people in this country it’s summer time. The weather is hot, the skies are blue, and the days are long. But for those of us stuck in the middle of a bad year of San Diego’s June Gloom, the weather is still cold, the skies are yucky gray, and the sun sets...

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More From New York

I’m guilty of being a photographer by trade. You know how they say a plumber always has leaky faucets in their own home? Well, neither do I, because I just made that up, but as a photographer I tend to not take that many photos when I’m on vacation. Not because I don’t enjoy photography,...

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Sweet and Sour | Edition II

I need to be alone sometimes. That’s simply the truth of it. A vacation to me can be a romantic resort on a faraway beach with my hubby, hanging out with a friend for an afternoon, or a week by myself cleaning our wreck of a household. Option three was last week. The first six...

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We're making room…

Something is taking over the garage here at Casa de Youngren…. They’re shiny. They’re sleek. And they’re twins. Only one has arrived. The other is on it’s way. Stay tuned… Hugs, Erin

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Recipe Sunday | Salmon Tacos with Spicy, Citrus Toppings

Eh-Hem. Before we get started I would like to make a very important announcement: Jeff is coming home today!!! Woohoo!!! Before my dear sweet hubby makes his way back to Casa de Youngren, however, I have a very special Recipe Sunday for everyone today. While hangin’ out with the adorable Shannon at her place in...

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The things we do for each other…

Because when you love someone, the barriers between what you would do and wouldn’t do come crashing down. When all you want is to help their dreams come true – to be a source of joy, encouragement, strength, and love in their lives – their insane requests become a little less, well, insane. We all...

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Recipe Sunday: A New York Hot Dog

This, my friends, is me. Yup, I’m double-fisting a spicy hot dog and a cheese pretzel. Hey, I’m on vacation people. I can hear you judging. Or is that drooling? So what is this week’s Recipe Sunday all about? Well, it’s about eating. Which just so happens to be what I’M all about. Eating yummy,...

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Flyin' Solo

Well, I wasn’t technically flyin’ solo. I was with my best girlfriend, Shannon, who lives outside of D.C., and we conquered Manhattan (and the shopping) like only two twenty-somethings on a girl’s trip can. It was hot, humid, noisy, bustling, and absolutely fabulous. And it was the first time in a very long time that...

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My First Time

Do you remember your first time? When you first strolled through Central Park? Or climbed to the top of the Empire State Building? Or gazed over Ground Zero? Or felt the buzz in Times Square? Well I don’t, because it hasn’t happened yet. After years of watching the New Years Eve ball drop and Carrie...

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Recipe Sunday | Jeff's Famous Chili

Today’s fantastic Recipe Sunday feature just so happens to be my dear hubby’s famous chili recipe. And when I say “famous,” I mean this chili is so famous it can wear sunglasses inside and have it’s assistant sign it’s autograph for you. It’s fame-OUS. In fact, when we started dating, Jeff made two recipes for...

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Welcome Home Youngrens!

As most of you know, Jeff’s parents, Ron and Gina, have been living in Singapore for the past year and a half, but their permanent days overseas have come to an end as of yesterday. In other words, they’re moving back to San Diego! Because Jeff and I are such good kids, we had a...

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Pokey the Lobster

We’re really not shellfish kind of people. But when the father of your bride that was born and bred in the heart of Maine takes you to a lobster pound on the New England coast, you better cozy up to the idea of a big fat poky lobster for dinner. I was a little nervous,...

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The Feeling of Home

Its just not home until we have Gracie snuggled between us. Until the layers of life come peeling off – the shoes and socks, the jewelry and makeup, our laptops and iPhones, our stresses and cares. Until we’ve slipped on our pajamas and crawled under the covers of our bed to feel the warmth of...

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Recipe Sunday | Frittatas

What’s the best thing to have around when you yourself are a klutz in the kitchen and can’t cook anything worth beans? Friends that can cook! This week’s Recipe Sunday is coming all the way from Chicago, IL, where the master of breakfast dishes is returning with yet another recipe for us. Ryan (of Ryan...

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Sweet & Sour | Edition I

I’m not gonna lie. Being a wedding photographer when I’m a naturally shy introvert can be pretty tough. I feel, probably like many of you that are reading this right now, that this job is much easier for outgoing extroverts. As if I’m at a disadvantage because of my personality.  As if there is an...

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Recipe Sunday | Roasted Tomatoes on Rustic Bread

Roasted Tomatoes on Rustic Bread… that’s what this recipe is SUPPOSED to be. But let’s be honest – this recipe is really more along the lines of “Tomatoes I had in the fridge on leftover Rosemary Potato Bread.” But that’s the beauty of cooking in your own kitchen. Only you know the secrets behind your...

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Limelight: The [Un]Experts

They’re cute, they’re fun, they’re fabulous. And they’re for reals. When it comes to blogging about style and fashion, a writer could easily hide behind the internet’s wonderful and scandalous veil of anonymity. What do I mean by that? Basically, we could all be taking fashion advice from a nun and never know it. But...

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Recipe Sunday | Orange and Honey Glazed Chicken

Happy Sunday morning everyone! As you read this post, Jeff and I are taking off with suitcases in tow once more. We’ll be in the Cayman Islands this entire week, but this will be a very different job than our weddings and couples. Jeff and I are long time members of our church, The Rock,...

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Recipe Sunday | Rosemary Lemon Roasted Potatoes

The next few weeks on Recipe Sunday are going to be all about simplicity. We’re in full swing with our weddings this year, so the Casa de Youngren machine is running at full speed ahead, and everything we do around here has to be simple. No bottlenecks or complicated maneuvers around these parts. Just plain,...

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Sweet and Sour | The Beginning

My hubby is a genius. And no he didn’t just tap into my WordPress account and write that statement. I totally did it myself – no prompting, no promise of bubble baths and cupcakes, no Anthro shopping allowances. Nada. Because he totally is a certifiable genius. He has finally figured out a way to get...

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Limelight: Operation NICE

I absolutely love the blog world. If there was such a thing as “time” in my life, I think I would spend most of it reading all of the crazy cool creative blogging that is going on out there – but unfortunately I’ve barely scratched the surface with my Google Reader! So in order to...

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Recipe Sunday | Summer Vegetable and Chicken Hash

I’m finally going for it… I’m gonna try to be like Martha. I’ll admit that even though I love my Martha Stewart Living magazines like they are little messages sent from the everything-cute-and-stylish-and-yummy-gods, sometimes the folks behind the recipe section forget that its people like me that are reading their magazine. I mean, why would...

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Winner winner, chicken dinner!

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We've Reached 3,000 Comments!

We’ve been feeling a ton of aftershocks around San Diego lately. A quick time out: We’ll announce the comment winner in a second – this is just too hilarious not to tell the world about! Jeff is going to kill me for writing about this… Ok, game on: About two, maybe three, times a day...

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Recipe Sunday | Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

In my heart of hearts, I wish I was a chef. Not professionally, but I wish I was one of those people that could whip up a masterpiece dinner with nothing but a chicken breast, some olive oil, and a rusty stove. But I’m not. I’m not one of those people that have gone to...

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Recipe Sunday | Pad Thai

I had never eaten Thai food before I went to Thailand, and I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t know if the flavors were spicy or cheesy or if they used noodles or rice or pasta or tortillas. Really, its completely sad how little I knew. I had heard about this thing called...

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What We Loved About Costa Rica

Almost four months of travel, and we’re finished. We made it home. I’ve already unpacked and worked through the mountain of smelly laundry we came back with. Well, this “laundry” was more like a pile of sweat and dirt that smelled like our hike through the cloud forest and the horses we rode to get...

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Nineteen Frames and a Challenge

I’d been walking for a while – and I didn’t plan on turning around anytime soon because I was content. It felt incredible to feel the waves crashing against the beach, running up along the shore to lap across my feet. I’d set out from our island resort nearly an hour prior, grabbing a camera...

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Recipe Sunday | Mango Salad

Welcome back to the kitchen and the second installment of Khmer cooking with The Youngrens. I hope you enjoyed the trip to the Cambodian market yesterday, smells and everything! Last week, we featured Jeff’s appetizer of Khmer Spring Rolls, so this week its my turn to show off my crazy appetizer-making-skilz with a little something...

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The Market

Last week, I featured the spring rolls that Jeff and I made at our cooking class in Cambodia for Recipe Sunday, but that was only one of five dishes that we made during the whole afternoon class, and that doesn’t include the best part of the whole experience – a trip to the local market!...

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More from Tioman Island, Malaysia

A few weeks ago we posted some images from one of the most relaxing spots we visited in Asia – Japamala Resort on Tioman Island in Malaysia. Well, in case you didn’t get enough goodness the first time around, and in honor of the fact that we’re lazing on another beach in Costa Rica as...

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The Life Tornado

I’m in the middle of one of those life tornadoes. I feel like everything is swirling around me, uncontrollably, but in an organized cyclone shaped fashion. With the business, emails, phone calls, shoots, laundry, packing and unpacking, petting Gracie, cleaning the house, and eating and sleeping, it feels a little crazy at Casa de Youngren....

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Images from Siem Reap, Cambodia

It’s the first question that everyone asks, and rightly so. What was our favorite place on our trip to Southeast Asia? It’s also a tough question to answer, and rightly so. We pet tigers, we rode elephants, we jumped through waterfalls, and we hiked through forests. We walked through killing fields and crawled through war...

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Recipe Sunday | Khmer Spring Rolls

Its BAAAAA-AAAACK! After a *brief* hiatus, Recipe Sunday is back in full swing here on the bloggy blog, and I’ve got such a crazy assortment of recipes in the bag. You may have heard through Twitter and Facebook that Jeff and I took cooking classes on our trips to Cambodia and Thailand, and the rumor...

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Traveling = Hard

Ok, I’m about to say it, and I pray for a little grace on this one from my dear bloggy blog readers: traveling sucks sometimes. And… well… traveling can be HARD. Really hard. Oh yes, bloggy blog, traveling is still fun. A whole lotta crazy stinkin’, boot shakin’, slap stickin’ FUN, and I wouldn’t trade...

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Lovers of Fried Chicken

We’re back. If you follow us on Twitter or Facebook, you already know it – The Youngrens are stateside once again. Jeff and I landed in LAX on Wednesday, which means we’ve been home for a couple of days now. This is the point in our trip where we do two things: (1) analyze just...

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Jumping In

Right now I’m sitting at the little desk in our hotel room in Kuala Lumpur. Jeff is catnapping in the other room. I’m wrapped up in a robe, with my feet tucked inside those cushy white hotel sandals that you find in the closets wrapped in plastic. Its twilight outside. I am writing because I...

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Our Last "Hurrah"

Jeff and I only have a week left in Asia, so what are we doing? We’re sleeping. And eating. And then napping. You know, before we go to bed again. Don’t judge. We’re on vacation people. In the middle of all of this extreme laziness, though, we have built up enough gumption to pull ourselves...

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It's been two weeks

It’s been exactly two weeks since my last blog post. When I read that out loud, I feel a mixture of gentle relief and slight nausea. This is the longest gap of time with no posts on this blog since I can remember (which really isn’t that far back – I blame the humidity). Two...

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Japamala Resort | Tioman Island, Malaysia

I can’t believe we’re here. Honestly. Its such a reality check every time I look outside and see high rise apartments all around us. I can’t believe we’re in Singapore. I can’t believe we’ve been to Malaysia, Cambodia, and Vietnam. I can’t believe we’re about to go to Thailand. And I really can’t believe that...

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Recipe Sunday | Potluck Chicken Tetrazzinni

It was one of those magical bathtub finds. I sat curled up in our tiny bathtub underneath a mountain of vanilla scented bubbles, my hair was pulled back, a glass of wine sat at my fingertips, and I ripped page after page out of my favorite magazines for design/makeup/fashion/life inspiration. And there it was –...

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Highlands Coffee Cafe | Saigon, Vietnam

While sitting on top of one of the Angkor temples in Cambodia watching the sunset last week, Jeff and I chatted with a group of travelers that had just arrived from bike riding through Vietnam. They said the city streets in Saigon are filled with more scooters than you imagine. There are no street lines,...

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Unexpected | Mersing, Malaysia

So this isn’t a typical post about kids in South East Asia. In a conversation I had with our guesthouse owner here in Cambodia yesterday, he mentioned that there are two “cliche traps” for traveling photographers: kids and monks. A monk in a temple is easy to find – especially in Siem Reap where Angkor...

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Malaysia: Mersing Boats

Its a little strange trying to tell a story when you don’t know what the story is. On our way to Tioman Island off of the coast of Malaysia just north of Singapore (more on that later – we can’t wait to share the images from this AMAZING place), we had to stop in a...

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Riding the MRT

I rode my first subway system in Washington DC when I was eight years old, and I can only imagine what my mother went through as she pulled this wide-eyed Idaho farm child through the underground tunnels of a big city. I remember clutching my disposal camera and pulling on my fanny pack to keep...

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Recipe Sunday | Rainbow Roasted Pepper Soup

Before we left for Singapore for two months, I spent three days cooking some of my favorite recipes for Recipe Sunday. The kitchen was a disaster, Jeff was delighted, and our dinner guests loved us. So over the next few weeks I’ll be featuring some recipes from my own cooking, but I’m hoping to somehow...

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TED Talk – David Griffin on photography

I found this TED Talk with David Griffin, photo director of National Geographic, on the Pictage blog the other day. I love it. I love the photography, the stories, the insight, and the leopard seals. I love that stories are what I do for a living. I love that photographs connect us to cultures, to...

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Chinatown

If you ever come to Singapore, you have to see Chinatown. Its like The Great Gatsby – you’re forced to read it in high school and groan when the teacher mentions it, but you secretly love it and spend weeks upon weeks preparing your final project on the significance of the green light even though...

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Singapore Skyline

On our first official day after arriving here in Singapore, Jeff and I took a boat tour along one of the bays with a magnificent view of the city skyline. I know, a boat tour. Yes, we were tourists. Yes, we had cameras. And yes, we were definitely the only white folk on board. But...

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Four things…

A few things you should know about Singapore: (1) Its shockingly modernized. And shockingly western. On the corner across from us, there is a Borders, Starbucks, McDonalds, Burger King, Dairy Queen, Marriott, and a full-on McCafe bistro, a separate outdoor coffee house that’s built on McDonald’s new line of coffee drinks, the McCafes. Its actually...

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Brandon and Courtney | San Diego, CA

It all began with K-C & Jo Jo. A car ride home, a dark evening outside, a warm conversation, and “All My Life” started playing over the radio. After a fit of giggles, they both admitted that they love the song. The same song that was a staple during junior high dances and high school...

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We're here…

We made it. We’re alive and kicking. We lost a day, but we’re ok with that. We survived jetlag. We survived customs.  And so far, we’ve survived the humidity. So far. The Youngrens are officially in Singapore. Jeff and I arrived at midnight on Monday night Singapore time to this new and strange Asian city....

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Recipe Sunday | Experimental Pizza

Today I am being a little lame. I’m going to admit it. Although I’m sure you already knew it. I’m lame. And this is what I do on nights when I’m too lame to make anything that requires effort. Effort is not my favorite thing in the whole world. In fact, effort and I have...

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Recipe Sunday | Refrigerator Roll Dough

Bread and pies. That’s my job. As you’ve heard, I am in charge of those two things at every holiday dinner with my family – baking the pies and making the rolls. While pies weren’t as tough to get the hang of, the bread part took a little bit more time to master. And by...

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Twelve Days of Christmas | Day Twelve

Well folks, its officially over. Both the holiday season as well as 2009. I’m sitting in our hotel room in Boise, Idaho, with a rainy view of the snow capped Idaho mountains in the distance making our final preparations for our wedding today. Last night, Jeff and I watched Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest bring...

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Twelve Days of Christmas | Day 11

It was 5 years ago that I spent my first New Years Eve in Idaho with Erin. She had just returned from studying abroad in Spain and I surprised her with a New Years visit. It was during that trip that Erin’s dad, Dennis, came waltzing into the kitchen as I was enjoying some kind...

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Twelve Days of Christmas | Day Ten

Family is an odd thing, as I’m sure most of you have realized now that the holidays are coming to a close. With New Year’s Day, most of us will return to our regularly scheduled programming – work, play, hobbies, and friends. The holiday season will be over and we’ll be looking forward to a...

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Twelve Days of Christmas | Day Nine

“Bread and pies.” Its two days before Christmas and my mom says these two words while we’re sitting on the couch watching football. We all know what it means. I can’t remember when it happened exactly, but I was probably eight or nine years old when mom let me make my first pie all by...

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My Idaho Girl

It’s Christmas Eve and I’m sitting in Erin’s parent’s living room. Erin’s in the kitchen baking pies, bread, and goodies. We’ve got Christmas music playing, delicious candles burning and the kitchen smells completely incredible. Life is good. Life feels good. Every time we get the chance to come out here for a visit it’s easy for me...

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Twelve Days of Christmas | Day Eight

Christmas changes when you get married. For me, Jeff and I woke up on our first Christmas morning together, threw on our robes, and sipped hot chocolate while we opened our small gifts to each other next to our crumbling Christmas tree. It was the first time I spent Christmas in San Diego. Instead of...

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Connecticut PUG & Shooting Workshop

Jeff and I are sitting inside of a toasty warm Starbucks in yet another city this month – this time its the gorgeous (and cold!) Park City, Utah. Seriously, if Starbucks didn’t have free wi-fi, what would we do?? We’re about to drive off into the wild wilderness, cross some state lines, run from the...

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On the road again…

Its about 6:07am here in our cozy little office in San Diego, our car is stuffed to the brim with suitcases, presents, and snow gear, and Gracie is ignoring us in protest (she always does when she sees our suitcases). Jeff has his new Starbucks mug that holds six of those instant coffee Via packets...

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Recipe Sunday | Chicken Veggie Stew

Jeff and I spent three days in Connecticut this past week and a miraculous thing happened – it was cold! I had to contain my excitement for the winter weather underneath my enormous scarf and brand new peacoat that shielded me from the 27 degrees of winter air, but I was doing backflips underneath my...

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Twelve Days of Christmas | Day Seven

I’m going to confess something that may be surprising – I’ve never liked the holiday drinks at Starbucks… Now before you sigh in disgusted disappointment and figuratively slam the door on our dear bloggy blog by switching over to Facebook, I can explain. I’m a fairly minimalist girl when it comes to my coffee drinks....

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Twelve Days of Christmas | Day Six

Every December, I used to run home from school and drag my father out into cold winter evenings to cut down a Christmas tree from our backyard. Yes, you read that right. In all of our Idaho country goodness, we could cut down Christmas trees from our very own property. When my parents moved into...

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Twelve Days of Christmas | Day Five

I have a December birthday, so I have always considered my special day to be a part of the Twelve Days of Christmas, and Jeff gave me the best present that I didn’t know I wanted. He gave me nothing. Now, before you send Jeff evil anonymous Facebook wall messages about neglecting the wifey, let...

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Recipe Sunday | Peppermint Brittle

This is the easiest thing I’ve ever made in my life. It has less ingredients than a PB&J (if you count milk and the sticky mouth syndrome as essential ingredients of a PB&J like I do). Its easier than Mac ‘n Cheese, they’re cuter than my kitty Gracie and sweeter than the sale rack at...

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Twelve Days of Christmas | Day Four

Alrighty folks, its finally here. The story behind my stocking. My wonderfully, girly mess of a hot pink stocking. This stocking was made by my mother’s own two hands sometime during my early childhood, and to fully appreciate what went into this lovely token of Christmas joy, you have to understand one thing: I was...

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Twelve Days of Christmas | Day Three

When times are wonderful, we celebrate together. When days are tough, we grab hands and push through it. When we travel, it becomes an adventure to share. And when we dream, we sit back to back in our office and work our fingers to the bone to make them come true. But the very best...

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The Youngrens are Goin' to Asia!

Erin and I are so excited about our upcoming trip to South East Asia – we’ll be traveling around the region for January and February. During our time in the region we’ll be calling Singapore home and making all kinds of trips/adventures from Singapore. So far on the list we’ve got Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, and...

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Twelve Days of Christmas | Day Two

As I’ve mentioned before, Jeff and I both have incredibly sentimental families when it comes to Christmas. This includes our Christmas stockings, which happen to be very old and very homemade. The best part about these stockings is the look on guests faces when they’re scanning our color-coordinated Christmas-tornado living room in fresh greens and...

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Recipe Sunday | Pumpkin Cookies

They’re fluffy, they’re Christmas-y, and they’re easy – which means they are right up my alley! As Jeff and I were walking out to the car after our family portrait session with the Eastmans, Lindsey Eastman came running out to us with a fresh plate of pumpkin cookies along with their family recipe – you...

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The Scarf Swap – Finally!

I am going to start this post with the humblest of all humble statements – I am soooooo late! And there is no flippin’ stinkin’ excuse! The story goes a little something like this: Erin (reading the cutest little bloggy blog by Kate): La, la, la. Mmm, my morning tea is so tasty… Kate’s blog:...

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Twelve Days of Christmas | Day One

There are exactly 21 days until December 25th. Which is why I’m starting a new series called, “Twelve Days of Christmas.” Makes sense right? When Jeff walked through the door after he came home from New Orleans the Monday after Thanksgiving, he saw the lights on the Christmas tree, the stockings over the barely used...

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We love…

We love your smiles and your excitement. We love your passion and your joy. We love your ideas, your eye for details, your love for color, your sense of style. We love the places you shop, the shoes you wear, the dress you picked out for your wedding day. We love your families. We love...

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Behind the Scenes

Every so often as I work my way through an event of images, a familiar face pops up and I realize with horror that its MINE. Jeff has this thing about snapping candid photos of me while I’m attempting to direct and make sense to our couples, so lovely little presents like these tend to...

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Recipe Sunday: Thanksgiving Leftovers

What always seems to be better than Thanksgiving dinner? Why the leftovers of course! Not only does turkey and gravy taste even yummier re-heated the next day, but my mom’s turkey stew always hit the spot on those cold post-Thanksgiving evenings. Growing up, I watched my mom put together the most creative concoctions with leftover...

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Heels vs. Black Friday

I thought it would a good idea to wear heels yesterday. Of all days. My alarm went off at 5:15am, I turned it off and slept until 7:00, and then did something that’s been hard to do lately. I took my time getting ready. Instead of rushing through a shower, roughly blow drying my hair...

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Fine Art | New Orleans, LA

Ok, so I’ve talked about the early mornings that Jeff and I endured during the week of PartnerCon at the beginning of November, but let me say it one more time just in case you didn’t hear (uh, read…). Five o’clock in the morning for four days straight – central time. Ok, I’m done now....

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Happy Thanksgiving from The Youngrens

I’m thankful for so much… For all of the tearful “I do’s” this past year; For emotional car rides home after a beautiful wedding; For laughter at midnight while finishing up one last project; For hot tea and a space heater; For long flights sleeping on Jeff’s shoulder; For good luggage that can fit my...

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The Holiday Line-up

Jeff and I have had a whirlwind of a weekend (yes, I realize its already Wednesday, but the days are starting to run together at this point…), but I’m about to enjoy some much needed TLC in the next few days. Jeff will be out of town over this next weekend, and yes, he will...

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Recipe Sunday: Rum French Toast

Yesterday, we featured the engagement session of Chelsea and Ryan, but not only did Chels and Ryan bring their beautiful selves from Chicago, but Ryan brought the mother of all french toast recipes with him. When he first described what goes into this I-think-I’m-gonna-die-from-flavor-explosion breakfast, I think I drooled a little. I’d like to say...

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