Friday Favorites- Get your fork ready!

We hope you are reading this on a full stomach! Rare Love has joined together to get your taste buds moving for the cold weather. We have collected our most favorite fall comfort foods and decided to share. These are perfect for a family gathering or a typical sit by the fire, read a good book, snuggle under covers, eat a bowl of chili with a side of corn bread kind of day(You know, the kind of day we mom's at RLP have all the time... or at least we dream of it!) So, get your Wusthof knife, Cuisinart crockpot, and your Williams-Sonoma cutting board and be prepared for some yummy goodness!

Quick, easy, delicious! 

2-4 chicken breast

1-2 peppers - diced

1 can black beans 

1 can corn 

1 can tomatoes

1/2 diced onion 

1 jar salsa

taco seasoning 

8 oz cream cheese 

Quinoa 

Salt 

Pepper 

Season chicken with salt, pepper and taco seasoning. Put chicken, peppers, black beans, corn, tomatoes and onion in the crock pot. Mix together. Add Salsa. Cook on low for 3-4 hours. Prepare quinoa according to the package. When crock pot is finished, add cream cheese and quinoa and mix. Serve and enjoy!

Corn bread goes along with just about any of your favorite fall comfort foods :) 

A Jaime-Favorite: Carrot-Coconut soup.. "It sounds gross! 

But its phenomenal! Best odd-soup ever!"

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1 pound carrots, peeled, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 13.5-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk

2 tablespoons Thai-style chili sauce, plus more for serving

Fresh cilantro leaves (for serving)

Preparation

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add carrots and onion, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring often, until carrots are softened, 15–20 minutes. Stir in broth, coconut milk, and 2 tablespoons chili sauce. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are very soft and liquid is slightly reduced, 40–45 minutes.

Let soup cool slightly, then purée in a blender until smooth. Reheat in a clean saucepan, thinning with water to desired consistency; season with salt and pepper.

Divide soup among bowls, drizzle with chili sauce, and top with cilantro.

DO AHEAD: Soup can be made 3 days ahead. Let cool; cover and chill.

                    MUST TRY DESSERT

Caramel Apple Crisp Bars

2

cups  old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats

1-1/4

cups  flour, divided

1

tsp.  baking soda

1

tsp.  ground cinnamon

1/8

tsp.  ground nutmeg

1

cup  butter, softened

3/4

cup  packed brown sugar

1

pkg.  (11 oz.) KRAFT Caramels

2

Tbsp.  milk

2

large  apples, chopped (about 2 cups)

make it

HEAT oven to 350ºF.

LINE 13x9-inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides; spray with cooking spray. Mix oats, 1 cup flour, baking soda and spices until blended.

BEAT butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in flour mixture until blended. Reserve 1 cup oat mixture; press remaining onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake 15 min.

MEANWHILE, microwave caramels and milk in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until caramels are completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring every 30 sec. Stir in remaining flour.

SPRINKLE apples over crust; drizzle with caramel sauce. Crumble remaining oat mixture over caramel sauce.

BAKE 20 to 25 min. or until golden brown. Cool completely. Use foil handles to lift dessert from pan before cutting into bars.

Senior Session with R!

This beautiful senior is fun, theatrical, and going to change the world! This session was a blast from beginning to end and we can not wait to see where she goes in life. Her joy shines through her smile and personality and we are so excited to be sharing her stunning pictures!

Getting Real with Jaime

Real Talk….friends and business can make for a good combo!

Friends – they, not cotton, are the fabric of our lives. It’s no coincidence that one of the best sitcoms ever (at least to our generation) bares the same name. Friends. You remember – they laugh together, the laugh at each other, they cry together, live together, work together, eat together, share life together. Friends.

Think about it we choose our friends, we rejoice with friends, we cry with friends, we laugh and giggle, we let our guard down, we open our hearts and pour out our dreams to our friends. And that becomes the basis for this post! I am who I am today because of the friends that I have in my life. Some allow me to be runner Jaime, some allow me to be mommy Jaime, some allow me to be I’m-not-so-fashionable-and-need-some-help Jaime! And I love each and every one of my friends for who they are and the role they play in my life. Some have multiple roles! Some of have a season of intense friendship, some have a season of being an acquaintance.  The best and most real friendships are the ones that we can be honest with who we are and what we believe in. I remember reading in Jen Hatmaker’s book 7 Experiment that her real friends come into her home and eat with her family, they see dirty shoes at the door, dirty dishes in the sink because this is real life and we are real people. That sentence always stuck with me. So if you enter my house and it is a “hot mess” then consider yourself a real friend!  No, but in all honesty, it is true. When we can put down the pretend perfect and be real we then invite people into our hearts and to share in our lives. Some of it is fun and quirky, some of it is messy and yucky, the best parts of it are real and genuine.

So, I often have people ask me about our business. It goes something like this:

How long have I been doing it?    This is our second full calendar year.

Did I get a degree in photography?   No, self taught and we attended some workshops with some of the top photographer’s in the industry.

Do I have a studio?  Yes.

Do I work with anyone?   Oh yes, I work with some of my best friends.

LONG PAUSE.

Oh, really? How is that working out for you?   Great, couldn’t be better!

I get it. Business and friendships aren’t meant to last together. Well, newsflash we plan on breaking that trend! We have a very good understanding of when to talk business, when to shelve business and deal with life and our NUMBER 1 rule of thumb with our friendship and the business….DO NOT GET OFFENDED. This is a hard one because so many people (myself included) can be easily offended. Life happens, things get said and done and most of the time it is harmless and unintentional. We put our friendship before ourselves, we put our friendship before the business and we have come to an agreement that we brainstorm all of our ideas. We throw them out on the table and discuss them…sometimes for months, sometimes for days and some just a few hours or minutes! This works for us and I can honestly say that I am beyond encouraged daily and blessed daily to be working with Jenny and Kate.

So this little business that started as a dream between 2 friends is growing. We invited a 3^rd friend to work for us and she accepted. We pray together, cry together, share together, laugh together, work together, and best of all we dream together about more than just our business. 

Monday Inspiration

... COFFEE! Friends.. Family.. Anything that pushes you to get out of those warm sheets in your bed to start off your week.  Waking up on a monday morning is not easy and one place that we love to go and relax for a cup of coffee is Tomato Pie Cafe. It is a stylistic, cozy cafe that has amazing food for any meal. TPC also has an updated seasonal coffee bar with delicious coffees and treats! 

Thanks for reading our inspirational Monday! 

Friday Favorites- Boots!

Boots are in season and they seem to just complete any fall outfit! Tall boots, short boots, fur boots, leather boots. They are great for any outdoor or indoor occasion and go with just about anything! This friday favorite goes to uoionline.com  They're style includes clothing, accessories, and footwear. Their prices are affordable but their style is priceless. We love fashion!

Two going on Three with the D family!

These two beautiful kids are a joy to be around and we had so much fun with them. You can just tell by the pictures! We can not wait for Dalton #3!

Creative Consultant... Mom... Client... It can get messy!!

If they say doctors are the worst patients, then it should hold true that photographers (in training) are the worst clients.  

We just hit a milestone in our family, our daughter Molly who is our third born (and last) turned 6 months old.  When these milestones hit and you are a part of the Rare Love family, the first thing you do is schedule a session to have this important event captured through pictures.  

Now as a Creative Consultant when I'm preparing for an upcoming shoot I will do a "background" check, if you will, on the family.  I will find out about what they like or dislike.  If it's a newborn, I will find out what the nursery looks like.  Do they have siblings?  Will Mom and Dad be involved in the shoot?  And the list goes on.  I will plan the sets in my head, and go over and over them until they are near perfect.  Next, I will head over and clean the studio.  I will set up the backgrounds, pull out the wraps, lay out the beanbags, and get the heaters ready.  I will prep the studio to be absolutely perfect for Jaime, Kate, and the family we are expecting.

Now that's where Miss Molly comes in.  For Molly's 6 month shoot I did nothing!  When I say nothing, I mean nothing!  I just couldn't wrap my head around what I wanted for her.  I wanted everything and nothing.  I wanted her to look fancy yet simple.  I wanted her to be laughing and smiling the entire time like she is at home.  I wanted it all yet I planned nothing.  

I showed up at the studio with a huge bag of clothes that I threw together five minutes before walking out the door, handed over the car seat to our Intern/Baby whisperer Avery who immediately took care of Molly and just stood there.  Jaime and Kate asked what I wanted and I still just stood there.  I had no clue when it came right down to it, and that's when I realized this was so hard because today I was the Mom, not the Creative Consultant.  I was the one that was nervous about her daughter cooperating.  I didn't want to waste Jaime and Kate's time and I also wanted some great shots.  They saw my deer in the head lights look and just stepped in.  They took over, worked the magic that they always do and made the session perfect.  Molly didn't smile her ear to ear smile that we are used to, but it didn't matter.  I stressed and was sweating the entire time. I apologized to these girls and they told me I was being silly. I saw things from the other side of the camera that day.  I wasn't shooting, or designing the sets, or comforting the parents that day.  I was the Mommy on the other side of the camera.

I am thankful that I had this experience with Jaime and Kate.  It not only makes me love and appreciate them so much more, but it gives me the chance to relate to the clients.  To be able to read our client's faces and feelings when they come to a session.  To see that they are nervous and hopeful. Stressed and excited all in the same moment. To reassure them and let them know that Jaime and Kate always work their magic, and things are simply perfect because of these two amazing women. 

Thank you ladies for once again blowing us away with your talent.  We just love these pictures!! 

Who inspires you...

     As I am sitting here thinking who/what inspires me, I think about something that I love to do... and one of those things is taking pictures. This leads me to my inspiration; Kate, Jaime, and Jenny, my "bosses." They inspire me each day that I am with them. They teach me how to be a better photographer and business owner just by watching how they run this business. Just in the past few days, I have gone out on my own and done some pictures of my close friends and would think "How do they do it?" and "How can I do it just like they do but in my own style?" You could say that I want to be just like them when I grow up :) They inspire me to be a better photographer. That means practice... These are a few of the pictures I took a few days ago, inspired by my passion and by my "teachers"

Intern Avery 

Mr. H turns 1!

   Mr. Henry has returned for his 1 year session! We had the joy of shooting this handsome boy's 6 month AND newborn sessions! We adore this sweet family. Henry is always smiling and stealing the show. He and his older brother, Jackson, are surrounded by love and we know that they will grow up to be fine gentlemen. 


Newborn

 6 Month

 1 Year