I have decided to take the February Photo a Day challenge. I’m not intending to post on this blog every day, but I’ll try to update my Flickr daily.

Today’s challenge prompt: “Your view today.” I hosted my very first tea party in our new home.

Last Friday, I had my mom cut my hair to a bit longer than shoulder length and slightly layered. I’ve been having fun playing with new styles. Now I get to show ya’ll some short hairstyles!

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

What’s your favorite way to wear your hair? What styles make you feel pretty?

Here’s a quick, glamorous hairstyle that looks like you spent loads of time curling your hair. However, you only need to curl a small section of hair, which only takes a few minutes!

What you’ll need:

Watch the video for directions:

Janna hosted an epic bridal shower for Beth.

We spent a few fun weekends at the cabin.

…

Uncle Tom had to show up the youngsters by skiing on a canoe paddle.

August:

Watched Reuben & the guys play golf. You can watch the video here: {link}

September:

We managed to squeeze some veggies out of our garden, despite my broken wrist and voracious rabbits.

We spent a week camped at a jobsite – the boys worked from sunup til sundown, and we women cooked.

Experimenting with the “Macro” setting on the “little” (non-DSLR) Sony camera.

October

I got my new camera. LOVE it so much. But not as much as I love this handsome dude.

Little Ellie. She’s getting so big and learning to talk so well.

I baked some awesome, no-knead bread. I’ll be sharing the recipe sometime on my cooking blog.

November

I tagged along and watched Reuben hunt this year.

We got our first Christmas tree.

Decorated.

Went skating. See the video here: {link}

December

More skating. The guy in this photo recently served in Afghanistan, the girl is his wife. They had never had a chance to skate with each other before.

Hockey! See the video here: {link}

Melanie visited from Ireland.

Christmas at the B. Family’s!

I’ll never forget Elinor’s reaction to opening “Hair CLIPS!” See the video here: {link}

I hope you all have a wonderful year!

Love,

Erica Lea

By January 1st, we had quite a bit of snow – a far cry from this year!

We went skiing many times last year. My favorite place to ski: Giants Ridge. Photo credit: Albert Berge.

I experimented with artificial portraiture lighting for the first time. Katelyn makes such a lovely subject.

February:

Grandma taught us how to make Spaetzle. So good. Photo credit: Katelyn B.

On Saturday, February 12, Reuben and I started our romantic relationship.

I went on my first date ever on February 14. Photo credit: Katelyn B.

March

More skiing at Giants Ridge. This is my brother-in-law, Justin, with his wicked beard hat.

Reuben sent me these gorgeous roses.

We gathered and boiled down sap for maple syrup.

April

April 2, we got engaged! Photo credit: Janna B.

My beautiful ring.

Watched Reuben play golf with friends.

May

Much of May was spent preparing for our wedding.

June

On June 11 we were married. Photo credit: Anders Keller

We went on a 2-week long honeymoon out west.

More photos to come later!

]]> http://www.ericalea.com/2011/12/30/my-year-in-photos-2011-part-1/feed/ 0 http://www.ericalea.com/2011/11/30/a-lovely-surprise/ http://www.ericalea.com/2011/11/30/a-lovely-surprise/#comments Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:27:51 +0000 Erica Lea http://www.ericalea.com/?p=1923

Last night, Reuben surprised me with these lovely flowers. I love the way the roses are varicolored, and the purple flowers add a lovely accent. Even the greenery is beautiful! My man has such good taste.

After supper, he put away the food, washed the dishes, and cleaned the kitchen.

Every day I am reminded why I fell in love with this amazing guy. He always finds a way to make me feel loved.

What’s something special someone did for you lately?

On Saturday we acquired our first Christmas Tree!

The woods were gorgeous that day. It had rained the night before, and there were little droplets frozen onto the branches of the trees.

Into the truck.

~

We had so much fun decorating the tree together. I still need to get a skirt and a topper for it, but we’re pretty happy with how it looks.

When are you getting your tree?

Camera: Nikon D7000

Lens: Nikkor 50mm 1.8

This is my entry for this week’s I Heart Faces photo challenge.

Sitting around the campfire at night is one of the highlights of camping for me, especially in the chilly months. It’s so cozy to warm yourself by the fire and listen to stories.

Make sure to check out the other “black” entries {link}

Inspired by my sister-in-law and friend, Breanna, who has an awesome hairstyle/fashion/personal blog, I’ve decided to share a tutorial for a quick, easy, and elegant updo that will transform your messy hair into a neat, beautiful, romantic hairstyle.

You’ll need:

• About a million hairpins
• Hair flowers or other hair accessories (optional)

Note: my hair had a bit of texture in it from the previous day, so if your hair is very flat you may want to add some product. I love TRESemmé 24 Hour Body Spray Gel.

And here’s the tutorial: