Resolution time!

2013 is going to rock in so many ways. I can't even explain how much. I know that this blog will open so many doors for me, it gets me all giddy just thinking about the possibilities! I wanted to share my hopes and dreams for the new year.

1.) Learn to not take rude comments so personally // Try to be less emotional about things.

2.) Spend less time on facebook and more time being creative like - making time for craft & home projects for my blog. :)

3.) Keep my house clean. I'll accomplish that by tidying up every day so, that it won't be so overwhelming by the end of the week.

4.) Work out more.

5.) Work on my photography business. So many ideas and haven't had any time to do them. I'll keep that resolution private for now. Keep following and I'll post more when I do more! :)

6.) Travel more // Get my license and drive.

7.) Take more photos. As a photographer you'd think I'd be taking tons of photos all the time... well, since my day job is being a product photographer for Tactics.com/Womens.. I shoot photos all day long. That's my job, and I love it! But those photos aren't for personal use. I'm talking about photos I take that I can be proud of. Experiment more. Enjoy more. Love more. :)

For now, that's it! If I think of more, I'll come back and add them. Thank you for reading! What are your resolutions for this coming up year?

xo, Sierra

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to pop in and wish you all a merry christmas! 

here's a few photos from my family christmas last night:

Above: This is Ember, my favorite small person. She's six years old, and she owns most of my heart. Her mother is one of my best friends, I consider her family to be my family. So, they came over for christmas dinner! We had the best time! Oh, and in this photo she was found hiding under my down comforter.. under a pile of clean clothes :P 

Left to Right: My beautiful mother, My grandma and my boyfriend, Josiawa. They were prepping dinner :)

Yams!!!!!!! More like, YUMmmmms.

Josiawa holding my Violet Creams that my mom gave me. Soooo delicious!! Have you ever seen the movie Chocolat? It's one of my all time favorites, well.. the main character makes rose creams.. and that's basically what these are except made with violet instead of rose :) YUM!

And last but not least, our dinner table.  Two tables put together to fit all 9 guests. <3

Hope you are having the most lovely Holiday! I look forward to the new year! I plan on using this week to plan my January posts and I'm excited to share my projects & recipes with you all! I hope to gain more followers and readers soon. I look forward to meeting you all! xo

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

XOXO

Gluten Schmuten: Gluten Free Turkey & Dumplings Soup

So, my boyfriend and I had quite a few thanksgiving celebrations this year. The first was with my family on thanksgiving and those leftovers lasted us a few days after that. And then, Josiawa's family came to town the weekend before last and we had another thanksgiving celebration! And those leftovers lasted a week! So, we cooked it down and made turkey stock and many other delicious things from it! It's been a blast making different things with the leftovers. Last but not least, I made Turkey & Dumplings. I've made this recipe once before (except it was made the traditional way, with chicken) but with a different gluten free dumpling mix. This time around I used Bob Red Mill's. It came out delish! I don't ever write down my soup recipes, only because I'm quite seasoned in making soups. So, feel free to use any soup recipe you'd like.

Here's a Basic Soup recipe: Put olive oil in soup pot, saute your veggies until they're half way cooked. Put in your cooked meat and stock. And turn up the heat (I like to keep it on Medium heat.). Add spices to taste. Once the soup is heating up, start making your dumplings! Dumpling recipe below.

What I used:
Organic Veggies: Celery, Carrots, Yellow Onion, diced fresh garlic and Red Potatoes.
Organic Meat: Turkey
Stock: Turkey Stock
Spices: Dried Oregano + Thyme, Salt & Pepper.

~ Recipe for GF Dumplings: ~

2 Tb of Vegetable Oil or Butter
1/2 cup Milk
1 cup Bob Red Mill's Biscuit and Baking Mix

Directions
In a measuring cup mix milk and oil together. In a bowl place 1 cup of Bob's Red Mill Wheat Free Biscuit Mix and add the milk mixture; stir just until moistened.

Drop by tablespoon full into slowly boiling liquid. Return to a gentle boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook 12-15 minutes. Do not remove lid during cooking period.

Makes 15 small dumplings, about 9 good sized dumplings.

Enjoy! xo, Sierra

Happy Holidays!

Our first tree!! 

We rearranged our living room today so that we could make the focus on our  Christmas tree and fireplace mantle. I am so happy to be living in this beautiful house with my handsome boyfriend/partner. Once we de-clutter our living room, I want to start having once a week updates on each room :) On one of my favorite blogs called Maiedae, Savannah calls it "Project Condo". Look forward to more house decorating posts. <3

xo, Sierra

Why do Dogs leave the earth first?

This is beautiful.

I found this on my friend's blog who found it on pinterest via aplacetolovedogs.com and thought it was one of the greatest perspectives I have ever seen. If you are a dog person, you will love it.

Curious.

Sol Botanicals: Places I Love

Sol Botanicals is a small local apothecary & coffee shop at 383 W. 3rd Ave. in Eugene, OR. In the neighborhood of Tactics Boardshop, Ron's Island Grill, REI + Bounce Gymnastics. Owned by my dear friend Felicia and her partner Ryan. What's great about this little place is that they're original. They blend their own tea & make their own honey. They make organic smoothies and are now serving espressos, steamers and hot chocolate. Today I went in and tried their Vanilla Bliss Steamer with their house made Aphrodite Honey. The honey had [rose hips, cacao nibs and cardamom] in it. It was the most delicious and creamy thing I've ever had! Dairy Free options! It's a great place to shop for Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers! If you're in the area, check them out! SHOP LOCAL.

~~~

Follow me on IG: @sierragrosss

Excitement.

I'm looking forward to the opportunity to put ads on my page. I just placed my first ad and got my first follower, all in one go! Please visit Marissa Moondaughter's page :) It's quite lovely.

xo, Sierra

Throwback Thursday

That little munchkin in the photo above is me when I was just under a year old. Precious, no? That lovely woman laughing her butt off is my gorgeous mama. It's crazy to think that I am roughly the same age as my mother in this photograph. She was twenty-five when she had me, and I'm twenty five now. When I was younger, my dream was to have a baby when I was 25, just like my mom. And now that I'm 25, I understand the want.. because I definitely feel it, but I'm not ready to give in to my feelings. My hormones have been all over the place though, it's been a pretty crazy year! Baby fever, man! Can't live with it, can't live without it.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

xo, Sierra

P.S. If you want to read more about my baby fever, feel free to read my post about it from earlier this month, called Critter Love.

Today's favorite.

I thought I'd tell you about one of my favorite online shops. My friend Kacie is the owner of an adorable little online shop called Blissful Bird Studio. If you like really cute handmade earrings, you should plan on shopping on her etsy site. Her earrings are presh! I'm actually hoping to get some custom earrings made for a christmas gift, that's why she's coming over! Well, that and to have tea and hang out with me! :) Hopefully my house will be warm by the time she arrives! Look around her website, check out her blog. 

Treat yo' self! :)

Gettin' schooled.

  photo via Red Velvet

 

I made an investment towards two e-courses through my favorite blog, A Beautiful Mess called Blog Love and Blog (Design) Love. ABM had a Cyber Monday sale, they were 25% off, so I couldn't pass up that amazing deal! Blog Love has all Elsie's tricks of the trade, blog wise. She shows you how she started one of the most successful lifestyle blogs online today! Blog (Design) Love is about how to design your blog and branding, etc.. I'm really excited to start doing the homework for that one too :)

I honestly cannot tell you how excited I am to start improving my blogging. I used to love to write, and I wanted to be a writer until I learned photography and realized that was my dream. I am extremely passionate about art and I'm excited to share my passion with you all! 

xo, Sierra

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Goodbye, November..

November is disappearing fast, the weather is changing drastically here. For the past few days, it's been extra cold and foggy, typical almost December weather. Yuck! My bike ride to work this morning was FREEZING - even with the gloves, winter coat, scarf and winter boots. I guess, that it's time to start carpooling with a friend from work. The rain starts tomorrow. Living in the Pacific Northwest, there is more rain than sunny days. Our winters are cold, and rainy.. it's so moist that it barely ever snows in the winter but when it does, it's gorgeous... but destroys almost every thing it touches. So, the locals don't exactly enjoy snow so much.. but the kids love it. ;) On the more positive side of winter, it's a time for getting cozy with your loved ones and staying inside and making crafts, watching movies, over dosing on tea and hot chocolate and staying warm! I have a few highlights of my favorite autumn month that I'd like to share with you.


Highlights of November:

1.) My 25th Birthday. BOOM! That was fun. We partied, ate a delicious homemade Autumn Meringue cake, my brand new birthday bike, flower bouquets and lots of love.
 2.) Holiday Market. Making extra money on the weekend while working for my mom at her Holy Donuts! booth. Visiting with my market friends. Eating Tamales for breakfast. Yum. Burrito bowls for lunch. Trading donuts for food and gifts :)
3.) Invested in two E-Courses to help me improve my blog, and business. I'm really excited to start doing my homework. So, lots of exciting new things coming up in the next month. I'm excited to start having actual readers who follow this blog! :)

I'm looking forward to meeting you all! xo, Sierra

Wannabe

(I'm the one on the left)

The beginning: I'm a practical gal. I tend to wear clothing that's comfortable. I don't normally wear make up of any kind on my face. I don't wear perfume. I'm just not materialistic. My signature outfit is t-shirt, hoodie and jeans. Yup, I'm just plain ol' Jane. I don't like spending a lot of money on clothing either.

The Transformation: Over the past few months, I've been slowly reinventing myself. I got my hair cut and dyed recently, I have dark brown hair (again) and bangs (again). Instead of the simple blue jeans, I purchased some colorful Se7en jeans at TJ Maxx for only $30 (whatta deal!). On my birthday, my mother took me on a very rare & special shopping spree to Target. I bought my first lipstick (Revlon Raspberry Pie), some liquid eye liner (not sure how that works quite yet though), two different eye shadows (day & night) and some concealer that actually is the same color as my skin! I never realized how white I was until I bought this concealer. Ha! I just love the way I look in this make up! :) I'm slowly updating my wardrobe. I'm in the process of a personal weight loss challenge, so I'm trying not to do lots of shopping right now but when I get to my goal weight I plan on taking myself out on a shopping spree and buying lots of cute & stylish clothing :)

Anyone else a make up virgin? ;)

Easy as Pie.

Good morning, 6 A.M.! My boyfriend and I made a pumpkin pie to bring to our thanksgiving day feast today at my mom's house. It looks great!

You're probably wondering why I woke up so darn early! Well, I'm walking in the Turkey Stuffer this morning, the Turkey Stuffer is a 5K for charity. I've never done anything like this before. I'm really excited! Of course, I have no idea what I need to wear or what I'm doing it for. Except maybe for health reasons and the fact that I have some friends doing it with me, so I have some support. Ha! Wish me luck! I'll take some photos while I'm out there. 

Here's a couple snap shots of the cool vintage inspired book that we used...

10 things I'm thankful for.

Hey guys, it's almost Thanksgiving. Here are the first 10 things that popped into my head that I am so thankful for this year (no particular order, my brain doesn't work that way):

1. My parents. They are the most loving and caring people I've ever known.

2. My boyfriend, Josiawa. He's the most amazing person. He loves me unconditionally. I've never had that with anyone else. He's been great. The past two years, have been amazing.. I look forward to the years to come. More milestones, more adventures.

3. For my sister, Jennie. Even though we're not that close, it's nice to know that I have found my half sister, and I look forward to the day we can reconnect and become better friends/family. Always searched for her when I was a child, because in my immediate family I am still an only child.

4. My best friend, Kelsey. Seven years of friendship, gets you a million memories and laughs that will fill your world a thousand times over. We're definitely perfect together, we're practically sisters. We fight like we're sisters ;) Even though we fight, we always make up and hug it out. :) True Wuv.

5. My cousin, Jessie. She's one of my best friends. Since I'm an only child, she was the sister I never had growing up. She fills my life with smiles and laughter. I just wish we lived closer to each other! I will always remember when we were at a bar last winter and while we were drunk, she said to me.. "Out of all my family, I can picture living next to you. I would love to be your neighbor someday, and have our kids grow up together." Yes, I would LOVE that.

6. All the little kiddos in my life that make my life worth living. Iris, Logan & Liam. Noah & Logan. Roland. Trillion. Ember.

7. My job. I'm thankful I have a job. I'm thankful I love my job. I'm thankful I know what I want to do with my life, career wise. And I am thankful that all signs are pointing to.. CREATIVE. And in this case, right now.. they're pointing to: PHOTOGRAPHER.

8. Amy Silverman. For introducing me to BEACHBODY. I've lost weight from working out with ChaLean EXtreme and changing my diet, and it's taken me forever to lost even a pound from just going to the gym. I love being a beachbody coach! See "what's beachbody?" above for more details.

9. The Hubbards. I am thankful for Josiawa's family because they treat me like family! A moment with Josiawa's sister was when she introduced me as her "brother's partner", I was ecstatic after that! All smiles :)

10. My house. We definitely found the perfect house for us this new chapter in our lives together. I'm so thankful for Kim Still, our land lady and friend, because she told me about this house in June and I fell so hard for this little house. Obviously, I named a freaking blog after it! ;) It's presh.


What are you thankful for?  
*please a comment! I'd love to know!

Puddy Tat.

some days it seems like she's forgiven me for leaving her behind. others she makes it obvious that she still holds a grudge. i miss the affection between us. i miss the connection, the love. but most of all, i miss my naive believe that i wasn't allergic to her.

Red.

Photos of the Morning...

 Leaves.

~

 The sky.

~

 Self-Portrait.

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Skinner's Butte.

~

Birthday weekend.

I am officially half a century old. I spent the weekend with my loved ones. My boyfriend took me out to a really nice dinner at Rye and we came home to a small gathering of my friends and family in our home. We had a lovely evening.

Here's a few photos from my perfect birthday weekend.

 My best friend, Kelsey and me.

~

 My boyfriend, me and my dad :)
~

 Three generations. My grandma, mom and me.

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 Another one of us.. we're pretty awesome, we know ;)

~

My new hair cut and color, and necklace from Kelsey.

~

 

 Gift from my boyfriend, a brand new bike!!! I was so surprised!
oh and that rug is new too

~

 Birthday bouquets:

left: from my boyfriend, Josiawa.

right: from my mom <3

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 One of the birthday desserts that evening. Chocolate from Rye.
make a wish

~

This is how I started my birthday morning.. with sun! after a whole night time of down pour!
~

I had a great birthday, I do feel older. Thank you for all the birthday wishes <3

Tenderness.

photo credit: unknown

"Being tender and open is beautiful. As a woman, I feel continually shhh’ed. Too sensitive. Too mushy. Too wishy washy. Blah blah. Don’t let someone steal your tenderness. Don’t allow the coldness and fear of others to tarnish your perfectly vulnerable beating heart. Nothing is more powerful than allowing yourself to truly be affected by things. Whether it’s a song, a stranger, a mountain, a rain drop, a tea kettle, an article, a sentence, a footstep, feel it all – look around you. All of this is for you. Take it and have gratitude. Give it and feel love." - Zooey Deschanel

Edit.

photo credit: sierra gross photography

I'm aching to edit some photos. 

I can't wait to buy my new computer so I can finally upgrade my software 

and 

buy CS6 and install Lightroom! 

<3

Patience.

"Patience is a good starting point to demonstrate true love. 

It may be more of a process, but it's a resolution worth adopting. 

Think of it as a marathon, not just a sprint. 

You can set a new tone in your communication by committing to patiently listen." 

- The Love Dare

Pick me up.

photo credit: unknown

Sigh.

 photo credit: sierra gross photography

Do you ever feel like you're always searching?
I'm almost there.. I've just hit a few pot holes. I know I just need to breathe, and keep on.. keepin' on..

Green.

photo credit: unknown

I feel extremely behind. I can't help but feel envious when I see women the same age or younger with successful photography businesses but I know I can't compare my life to anyone else's. It's just hard to be patient for something you've been excited about your entire life.

What do you do to stay calm?

Stop.

Everyday.

Birthday Wish List, Nov. 17th

My birthday wish list.

 

Bag from JoTotes

 Blog E-Courses from A Beautiful Mess
((PURCHASED))

 Blog E-Courses from A Beautiful Mess
((PURCHASED))


Dream Wish List

 

My dream camera, Nikon D7000

My dream computer, 21.5" iMac Desktop computer

My dream lens, 50mm 1.4

My dream software, Photoshop CS6