Steph Lloyd » Blogs & Web

Come Alive

Steph — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 04:34:31 +0000

I’m Pinterested

Steph — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 02:11:54 +0000

My latest obsession is Pinterest. I can’t stop pinning things I love, places I dream of seeing, inspiring quotes, etc. My bookmarks have gotten out of control over the years and I’m pretty sure I couldn’t find anything I’ve saved even if I tried. Pinterest is cool because you can scroll through all the photos you’ve saved, in the categories you’ve set up and never lose them! Yeah! Definitely join–just make sure to allot enough time to spend looking at pretty things online. Also, look for me: pinterest.com/stephlloyd

Meal Planning

Steph — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 05:07:23 +0000

The only kind of meal planning that I’m marginally good at is picking which restaurant I want to eat at on any particular day. I love eating out but we’ve been trying to eat healthier lately and it’s pretty close to impossible to do that at restaurants. We changed our buying habits at the grocery store and have started to really enjoy eating at home. I’m going to print and laminate this meal planner for our new place. I’m not sure if it’ll be a long term solution but I’m willing to try it because I don’t want meals to get boring or too redundant. Click over to Ollibird to download the full size image.

Matt has always been an excellent cook but he’s expanded his culinary horizons lately. We love barbeque and have only found one place that we really like here in California. Even so, it is not Oklahoma barbeque! Yesterday Matt bought a Boston butt (ha!) and roasted it for 12 hours at 210 degrees. Let me tell you, it literally fell apart and was so moist. We dug in last night and it was delicious! His next step is to learn to make barbeque sauce that we like. I can’t wait until he gets his recipe right.

We are also planning to find a Tikka Masala recipe we love. Anytime we crave Indian food, we head over to All India Cafe in Pasadena. We probably won’t be back in Pasadena all that often once we move so we’re hoping to recreate our favorite food from there.

OH YEAH! I made a delicious mango salsa the other day and a couple of people have asked for the recipe. Here it is:

1 mango, diced
1 avocado, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1/4 c. red bell pepper, diced
1/4 c. orange bell pepper, diced
1/4 c. red onion, chopped
1/2 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
3 tbsp. fresh lime juice
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix together and let sit in fridge for 30 minutes before serving.

A couple of days later I made it again but used about a 1/2 c. diced cucumber instead of the avocado and it was really, really good. I’m not sure which I prefer, so we just go back and forth between the two. So good!

[Meal Planner via: decor8 : birch & lily : How about orange]

Baby Animals

Steph — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 06:47:18 +0000

Is this baby Asian elephant not the cutest thing you’ve ever seen? I love him! Or her. Check out more cute baby animals at National Geographic.

[via: unruly things]

I Promise

Steph — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 06:51:39 +0000

…I’m still here and well. If you are a sports fan, you know that baseball season has started and hockey and basketball are in playoffs. As a result of these three sports going on at the same time, my work life has been busy. Everyone said it was going to be crazy but I’m pretty sure I didn’t brace myself quite enough. Holy Lord, it’s been intense! I’ve got three teams in playoffs, the Lakers, Kings and Coyotes. This means lots of last minute work that has to be done quickly… and as much as the clients would prefer them to go all the way, I can’t wait until they lose! Haha. Everyone who said it was going to get crazy have also told me that our quiet time is right around the corner. I’m definitely looking forward to that!
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A website that I check daily, no matter how busy I am, is the notebook doodles. The author of this blog is the cutest thing ever. I love her doodles, her nail polish, her food, her shoes… pretty much everything. I love quotes and think it’s really neat how she puts them on pictures. I love that she shares glimpses of her life with the blogosphere.

Learning to Shoot

Steph — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:03:18 +0000

The other day I noticed that Christine Meintjes (my favorite wedding photographer) had re-tweeted Henry Chen’s request for an assistant at an engagement session in LA. I totally freaked out because not two months ago I told Matt that I really wanted to start shadowing/assisting some professional photographers but I really didn’t know how to go about doing it. Rather than just reading about the photography biz, I wanted to experience it and learn from someone. I quickly sent a reply and was pumped when I heard back. We were to meet at Union Station in LA and then come back out to Pasadena (where I live). Sa-weet!

I took the afternoon off work (if you know me, you’ll understand how badly I wanted to do this!) and met Henry downtown. He is such a cool guy… very laid back and encouraging! My task for the afternoon was simple, carry his bag ‘o lenses and help swap them out when he needed a different one. He said I could take as many pictures as I wanted as long as I stayed in the background. I’m so glad I grabbed my camera at the last second!

Here’s Henry working his magic. I’ve got to say, the couple was a good looking couple! They are getting married in a couple of months and it was fun watching them giggle with each other in front of the camera.

I love this shot… sexy, sexy!

This shot was off to the side but it works for me. I never think to get silhouette’s (that’s Matt’s department) but thought it fun trying it out.

The couple teased each other a lot…

This one was taken on Suicide Bridge in Pasadena… I’m enamored with sunsets. I can’t get enough of them… it’s kind of ridiculous really.

Another favorite of mine… I love couples who love each other. It makes me all warm and fuzzy!

Working with Henry was great. It gave me a lot to think about and also highlighted areas where I’m lacking (um, hello, I still don’t shoot manually). I can’t wait to work on a few things, assist again, work on a few more things and keep on assisting.

Let me know which photographs you like… and why… and, please, I welcome constructive criticism!

Mast Brothers Chocolate

Steph — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 07:15:49 +0000

Chocolate makes me happy. Learning how things are made makes me happy. Seeing the process of making chocolate from bean to bar at Mast Brothers Chocolate in Brooklyn made me ecstatic! Aren’t they the cutest? And their shop the coolest? I can’t wait to try their chocolate sometime!

[via: unruly things, via: the selby]

Spam

Steph — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 05:26:29 +0000

Ooh, I don’t like spam. I’m having a few problems with it. As in there-are-292-trashy-comments-I-need-to-delete problems. I activated a spam plugin but I couldn’t leave a comment. Could you guys do me a favor and let me know if you can leave a comment (this is only on my blog, not on the import to Facebook). Thanks!

Lillian’s Home in Vienna

Steph — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:57:40 +0000

decor8 is a design blog that I read religiously. My jaw dropped when I saw the home featured today. It’s a really cute apartment in Vienna that is decorated in much the same way I’ve been working on ours. It’s like I’ve had her apartment in my mind’s eye and now it’s on my screen. Very strange but so cool.

Decorating does not come naturally to me, my first roommate can attest to that! I have learned a lot on the internet though, mostly what I do and don’t like, and came up with a game plan for our place. Matt and I both want things to be simple, clean and practical. We don’t have a lot of freedom to customize our current rental but I’ve been working on ideas for superficial upgrades.

If I could have one house-related wish granted, I’d wish our carpet be gone. I don’t get carpet. Rugs are good but carpet? Ew. I pulled up a corner of the carpet in our livingroom the other day to see what I’d find. Grody carpet pad, nasty linoleum and gross nail strips. Yuck. I didn’t pull up any of that to see if there are hardwood floors underneath (it sounds like there are) because I wasn’t sure I could cover cover my tracks. Our landlady took pictures before we moved in and is very thorough. The last thing I want is for her to keep part of our deposit because the carpet in the corner looks rumply. There is one section in the bedroom that is loose, maybe I’ll take a peek under there some night when I’m brooding about the carpet. Haha!

Where do you find inspiration for your home? And what would you change in your current pad? I love seeing what people do with their homes!

[photos via decor8]

Danggit!

Steph — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:35:13 +0000

I hit the publish button instead of the save button yesterday… oops!

Decided I was going to have a garage sale this weekend… then remembered I work 10-8 both Saturday and Sunday. Oh well. It’s been triple digits hot here so sitting outside hoping that people will buy my stuff isn’t extremely enticing anyway.

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How to Build a Better Blog is a neat video on blogging. Another good find via Bakery.