Week 15 update!

Hello there! Been pre-occupied with taking weekly photos and surviving all day nausea for the last couple of weeks. Hope you're all doing well. Haven't been able to put together the latest photos we've done recently but I hope to do that in the next few weeks as well as add a few newer photos on our website. Through all these, we managed to sneak a short trip to NYC which was a fun food-filled trip for me and baby (and Mr. Pearls!) If you're not following me on instagram, here are my delayed weekly updates =)

Week 14 was in NYC. Which explains why I look bigger in Week 14 than Week 15 hahaha! I ate too much obviously hahaha =)

Food Posts on Instagram

Hello there! It's been a busy month or so with our Euro trip which I haven't updated you about. Anyway, I've been posting plenty of food posts on Instagram. One of them was even posted on Gastropost. Check it out here!

Follow me on Instagram for more daily posts =) @janapearls

hello, birthday month!

 Wow! No entry since June 1st! We had such a busy month. From photo shoots to celebrating our 4th year anniversary...to our momentous return to the beautiful city of Chicago.

[a] My ceremonial anniversary card for Mr. Pearls [b] our wedding picture 4 years go last june 8 [c] our very first picture together. we still look the same, don't we? hehe [d] found a love quote i really loved :)

"the bean" at the Millenium Park in Chicago

...and this, my friends is how you take a self-portrait. hahaha!

Beautiful Chicago landmarks!

We celebrated one of our closest friends engagement! Love these two!!

Congratulations, Meng and K!

We've been having so much fun doing family shoots over the last few weeks. Here are some of our favourites. 

Love this picture of Alex and Benjamin!

Tamara and her beautiful kids. Love it!

 And of course, finishing up engagement shoots with fun light tricks like this one. I looked like a crazy person running around with a flashlight, but what the heck. hehe.

or still water pictures with a lovely couple like these two...

So, how's your summer so far?? I hope you're all enjoying the super hot weather and drinking lots! Updates soon.

Sneak Peek!

A wedding done, and a baby shoot! I've been off for almost 11 days, but they were busy nevertheless. We had a wedding shoot last week and managed to go away for a short holiday/camping with friends and a really cute baby shoot I can't wait to share with all of you. For now, here's a sneak peek of Krystal and Cliff's wedding last Friday =)

and here's some instagramized photos from our super fun camping weekend in Tobermory =)

 

Day 4: fun!

I'm doing this Photo-A-Day Challenge on Instagram and I'm having so much fun so far in doing some of the daily photo projects. For Day 4, I did some baking for a friends' daughter's 2nd birthday. Her party was pink lemonade themed. Here are some of our photos on Instagram. Love, love, love! Beautiful pink lemonade cake by The Caketress.

random stuff

Hello! I wanted to write a post about pinwheels, but this computer at work is ancient and would not let me save, let alone upload pictures on to the blog because of some browser incompatibility problems. Oh well. It just feels weird letting a few days pass without some sort of post or update, so here I am =)

We've been busy with our regular day jobs (yes, we are still working like normal people, in case some are wondering), and a few interesting shoots that we can't wait to share with you soon. We did some fun newborn shoot over the weekend, as well as a cute engagement shoot we just started editing. Hopefully, I'll be able to upload some teasers soon. The weekends are really starting to look busy with engagement appointments, so we're somehow trying to sneak in a few side trips here and there so here's a peek of our trip planning the next few months. We're hoping there'll be bride and grooms who may be interested in booking us while we're visiting the following cities, because we'd love to meet and chat with all of you =)

May 19-21: Tobermory, Ontario

May 31-June 3: Chicago, Illinois

June 4 - 8: Orlando, Florida

July 6-9: TBA

Anyway, are you guys following us on Instagram yet?? If not, please do so, we'd love to see your pictures as well. Our usernames: janapearls and adrianp81 respectively (How obvious is it that Mr. Pearls was born 1981?? haha). I love meeting interesting people from different places and it's such an amazing way to meet fellow photographers/photography enthusiasts as well. Also, it's a great avenue for promoting our business although, I'm a bit wary when it comes to file sharing that sometimes happen either accidentally or intentionally. Just recently one of our photos ended up on a Tumblr blog without any sort of watermark and/or credit info and it's upsetting because, just because we are not the type of photographers who bathe their photos in watermark labels doesn't mean we don't expect our work to be recognized or associated with us. So a simple advice to everyone. Be careful with what you're posting online. If it's not your picture, please give credit to the people who actually worked hard to take them. You never know what sort of copyright lawsuit you can run into if you're not careful. On a lighter note, warmer days are upon us and we can't wait to start wedding season the next few weeks =)

Happy Wednesday!

eggplant omelette (tortang talong)

Eggplant omelette or Tortang talong in Filipino is a popular Filipino dish. It's my first time making it so I had to google a recipe and found this really interesting food blog. Thanks tinybites.ca for the step-by-step and pictures =) Click here if you're interested! Eggplants are rich in folic acid and potassium and helps block free radicals. Delicious and healthy!

Ingredients:
2 medium eggplants
2 eggs
salt and pepper
cooking oil

Directions:
1. Using your oven, set it to broil on high. Put the eggplants in a rack and make sure to turn them to broil all sides.
2. After all sides are broiled, remove the skin.
3. Using a knife, cut the eggplant in strips, leaving the top part and opening the eggplant like a fan
4. Scramble the eggs and add salt and pepper. Dip the eggplant into the egg mixture.
5. Fry on medium heat and turn until both sides are cooked.
6. Enjoy!

hoisin beef with vegetables

Hoisin Beef with Vegetables

It's been awhile since I posted a recipe, so here's a quick recipe for you :)

Ingredients:

beef tenderloin cut into strips

1 cup of snowpeas

1/2 of yellow bell pepper cut into strips

2 carrots cut into strips

1 medium tomato cut into cubes

1 medium onion 

3 cloves of garlic minced

2 tablespoons of hoisin sauce

1/4 cup of soy sauce

salt and pepper to taste

cooking oil

Directions:

1. Marinate the strips of beef in half of the soy sauce, salt and pepper. Set aside.

2. In a medium pan, add some cooking oil. Set on medium heat, saute garlic and onions. Add the tomatoes. Add the beef and cook until it's brown on all sides. 

3. Add the vegetables and stir fry. 

4. Add the remaining soy sauce and the hoisin sauce

5. Serve with rice. Enjoy!

time, i've been passing time...

Hey there. Still stuck in my picture-less paradise! Too bad I can't share new pictures with you because our first maternity set is beautiful. I love how this particular set is turning out to be. Hopefully in the next few weeks, I'll be able to share new pictures with you again =)

Here's a sneak peek... This is the instagram version so the bokeh filter is not really a part of the final edit. I was just having fun with it =)

By the way, we're visiting the beautiful city of Chicago next week and I'm so excited. I can't tell you yet why we're going but what's guaranteed is we're gonna have a great time. I just know it. I hope it's not such a short trip because we would have loved to offer photo sessions to interested Chicago residents particularly, a couple who's interested in having their photos taken by two out-of-town wedding photographers. Love if we can combine the two things we love to do (photography and travel) and make a living out of that. Anyway, I will update you as the date gets closer. 

Happy Thursday! 

how are you??

I wish blogging was as easy as instagramming. I'm a little (a lot) frustrated that mobile blogging won't let me add photos and some days, I don't really have much to say...just pictures to share :) Anyway, today was a running errands kind of day despite the fact that it's crazy -20C feeling outdoors today. Had an awesome time hanging out with my best friend's new baby and taking random outdoor shots with my iPod. If you want to see how my day went in pictures, follow me on Instagram. My handle: janapearls.

Follow at your own risk! I post 4-6 pictures a day which might be annoying haha (at least I recognize my Instagram addiction haha) especially on my days off. I love how it keeps me occupied and I get so amused wih new photo editing filters.

How's your Monday?

my week in instagram

Hi. 8 days no post, huh? Seems weird even for me.

How are you?

If you're not following my fangirl craziness on Twitter (follow at your own risk! don't say I didn't warn you :P), or my newfound Instagram addiction, it does feel like I have been out of the loop for awhile. One thing though, I've finished all the editing. Woohoo! Now off to bookmaking, and new appointments =) Love the fact that we've started offering beautifully crafted lay-flat books. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing our work in print. My secret wish is that I can keep a copy of it all because nothing makes me happier than seeing our hard work come out so nicely. Have you ordered yours yet??

Spent the weekend bonding with my bestfriend. We haven't done that for awhile and I had a great time bonding, baking and laughing over cake and tea. Here's a baby shower cake order I helped her decorate. It's so cool to find a friend who likes the same thing as you do. She inspires me to be better everyday. In between taking care of her new baby and attempting to watch a much loved soap opera, it was a girls' weekend we both needed. Speaking of need, need a custom cake for your next event? Visit www.cakerolls.ca =)

Spent Family Day driving around Toronto, eating Korean barbecue and watching a movie with Mr. Pearls. 

                            

....and mostly, busy with instagraming my favourite old photos =)

Hope your week is as interesting as mine! Happy (rainy) Friday!

Red velvet brownies = Love!

Why give in to commercializing this day when homemade baked goods mean so much more?? =) Here's a really simple and easy Red Velvet Brownie recipe for all of you!

Red Velvet Brownies

ingredients:

Brownies:
1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1-1/2 c. sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1 oz. liquid red food coloring
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
4 T. butter, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 c. sifted powdered sugar

directions:

Preheat oven to 325°. Line a 9x9 baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving an overhang so you can lift out the brownies when they're done. Spray foil with nonstick spray.

In a large saucepan over low heat, stir together butter and chocolate until chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and whisk in the sugar and eggs. Stir in the vanilla, salt, and food coloring. Sift flour and baking powder over mixture and stir to blend well. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top springs back when touched and a tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs. Cool completely in pan on rack.

For the frosting: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and powdered sugar. Remove the brownies from the pan using the foil and cover with the frosting. Cut into bite size squares to serve.

from A Farm Girl's Dabbles

 I used a heart-shaped cookie cutter  for the shape and cream cheese frosting on top 

My Instagram collage. Love, love, love!

i love instagram!

I have a new addiction and a brand new love! I'm sure I'm waaay behind since I am not exactly an iPhone user. I do love everything Apple (hence the MacBook Pro, iPad, iTouch, iPod) so I expect it's only a matter of time before I completely switch over. Patiently waiting for the iPhone 5 =) I am in love with this app because it's inspiring me to take a daily photos, and take pictures of interesting things. Of course, some of these are old photos instagramized haha. 

Thanks Mr. Pearls for the early love gift :-)))

Follow me on Instagram: janapearls