raspberry heaven

Okay.... first off I would just like to warn you that this may be the most glorious thing you've ever tasted. for reals.

----RASPBERRY GLAZED CUPCAKES -----

I found something similar on pinterest - and if you're following me, you have probably already seen it, but it looked too complicated for my liking (and my time constraints) so I fiddled with my own version. Wha-la!

First - get a cake mix and make some devil's food cupcakes. just cuz it's easy.

The glaze:
-1 cup frozen raspberries (thaw those suckers out, just not all the way)
-8 ounces of cream cheese.
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract (the real stuff, people...because momma kreikemeier says so. no imitation. k, thanks mom)
-1/2 cup of butter - yikes, wait, don't care.
-4-5 cups powdered sugar - sifted.

1. mix your butter and cream cheese until it looks about like this:

2. blend those raspberries up! (and I added a splash of milk) blend until it looks like this:

3. sift the powdered sugar and add into your cream cheese/butter mixture.
4. add in your raspberry puree and vanilla and mixy-mix-mix.
5. pop that all in the fridge and use as needed on your cupcakes.

wait, what? you think that looks like an awful lot of glaze? well that's only because you'll also want to get a spoon out at gulp it up plain because it's  t h a t  g o o d.

Oh, and you can garnish your yummies with some fresh raspberries, too!

stop drooling and make some! you won't be disappointed!

psssss.... i'm currently taking february free sponsor swaps! email if interested!

totes

1.  you can sort of find it HERE

2.  find HERE

3.  find HERE

4.  find HERE

5.  find HERE

I'm such a sucker for all of these.  Anything that can hold all of my stuff - makes. me. happy. 

winter blues

i know, i know... you're all thinking

this girl must really hate winter because she blogs about it every other minute. 

well, friends, i have some news for you:

i really hate winter.

i've got summer fever. it's a horrible, horrible, fever. some of the symptoms include:

*the longing of shorts and t-shirts

*thinking about the lake/boating

*waiting for the point in time when you do not have to haul around a winter coat wherever you go

*wishing you could sleep in ten more minutes... but you can't, because you have to scrape your car off

*burning candles for warmth. (okay, that one was a tad dramatic)

the good news: nebraska's winter hasn't been *that* bad (yet).  

the bad news: it's still january.  

the other bad news: it snowed last night. 

wonderful.

i'll take you back to summer 2011 now. well, a girl can dream, right?

(again, these were all taken with my iPhone 4s lame phone, so i'm sorry about the bad quality)

and now, my friends, i am going to go write a paper.

say cheese.

me & roomie 1 of 2... holla jamie! who knows when i'll get roomie 2 on here... holla BROOKE! :)

lately...

a post about a bunch of nothing:

i'm swamped with school. it's a ton of fun.

 i'm learning to build a website, people! baby steps... baby steps...

 my to-do list keeps getting longer - and the days keep getting shorter.

 i got a space heater in what was once my arctic room. it is marvelous. except it's not so marvelous when i need to get out of bed in the morning and my room is just too. darn. cozy.

 i'm not diggin' this weather. 12 degrees this morning. *brrrrrrrrrrrr*

 i'm also not diggin' this season of the bachelor - which is probably a good thing (i no longer commit two full hours to my "homework break" on mondays) i realize how incredibly stupid the show is - however, every single season i get all sucked into it and the boyfriend says "stop wasting your life away on this showwww.... <insert basically every other show i watch here, too, minus modern family>"  thanks, danny. :)

 on another note, i'm obsessed with the show REVENGE. anyone else? like, HOLY COW that's a good show.

i'm already missing football season. gimmie my 'skerrs back! (and the nice fall weather!)

my favorite pandora stations are:

    1. Free Fallin' (Acoustic) (Live)

    2. Britt Nicole

i recently bought some new things for my photog world. *excited* :) no, no new camera... other fun stuff!

annnnnnnd um'hem - have you seen my new blog header? what do you think? - that camera? i made it! adobe illustrator, you're awesome. i'm slowly learning :)

i've been tagged!

I was tagged by Digger of Digging Deeping into Design

The Rules

1. You must post the rules. (and link up who tagged you)

2. Post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post.

3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you've tagged.

4. Tag eleven people and link them on your post

5. Let them know you've tagged them!

I've been tagged!

11 facts about myself:

1. I have about a kagillion things to do... while i'm sitting here blogging :)

2. I have been to 5 different countries (including the U.S.)

(here's me in Mexico)

(this is Barcelona, Spain)

(at a rocky beach in Nice, France)

(my cousin and I in Nice, France again...)

(this is me at the Roman remains in Rome, Italy)

3. I bought my first DSLR when I was 16 (note: still am using that darn thing - much needed update)

4. I am a apple-enthusiast (although I do not have an iPhone, sadly).  I will never go back to PC. never.

5. I went to a very small high school -graduated with 26 people. yep, twenty-six.

6. I love me some Mexican food!

7. I am a night owl and am NOT a morning person...

8. I basically grew up on a lake... have water-skied and all that jazz for all of my life! Just learned to wakeboard this summer!

9. I love lyrics from songs. Seriously, obsession.

10.  My favorite show is Modern Family.

11. annnnd I love puppies! including my pup back home... she likes the lake, too.

-----------------------------------------

1. What's your favorite food?

Pizza! YUM.

2. Would you rather not be able to taste anything or not be able to hear anything?

Taste! I'd rather have a conversation than eat something. (plus - i'd be a skinny mini ;)

3. What's your favorite song?

Oh, seriously? I have so many... let's see... probably anything by Matchbox Twenty or Hootie & the Blowfish

4. What did you want to be when you were little?

A teacher

5.  What's your favorite holiday and why?

I love Christmas... especially when there's no snow.

6. Something you are looking forward to?

i have a couple of trips planned for this semester! skiing for spring break and visiting the boy in cali!

7. How do you eat oreos?

soak them in milk and then scoop them up with a spoon, that's the only way.

8. How do most people spell your name?

Kiley 

9. What's one of your biggest pet peeves?

SLOW DRIVERS IN THE FAST LANE. seriously, get outa my way!

10. Besides a house or car, what's the most expensive thing you've bought?​

college (does that count?)/ my camera equipment

11. What's your dream car?

hmmm, anything Jeep!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TAG - YOU'RE IT. thanks for following :)

1.Makaila @ Distinctly M 

2. Abbie @ Eight Days A Week

3. Kerrie @ The William's Post

4. Kaity @ Adventures of an Americal Girl

5. Cristie @ The Life & Style of Cristie Young

6. Jennifer @ I Wanna Feel That Fire

7. Erin @ Living in Yellow

8. Jenny @ Jenny Meets Journal

9. Whit @ Little Black Button

10. Nicole @ Nicole's Little Space for all

11. Carly @ Bloom

My questions for you:

1. What are three things you excel at?

2. Why did you start blogging?

3. Would you rather go to the beach over Christmas or snow skiing over Spring Break?

4.  What's your favorite color?

5. What is something you are dreading?

6. What's one of your favorite memories from your childhood?

7. Favorite dessert?

8. What's your go-to restaurant? 

9.  What's your favorite song?

10. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

11. What's your dream car?

i'm learning...

the adobe creative suite. it is daunting. i've basically got the basics of photoshop down.

yep, i said it. - that's a bold statement. even the basics --it's a l o t of information.ever wonder how i do all the graphics on my page? photoshop. ever wonder how i edit my photographs? photoshop.  you see, the graphics could be so. much. better. with indesign, i promise you.

so i'm going to learn it them - indesign and illustrator. wish me luck!

i am enrolled in seven classes this semester - four of which are design-oriented. do you know what that means? it means that the creative juices in my body are going to be sucked out by the time May rolls around...yikes. so i'm sorry if i post more design work versus photographs this semester - its just what i'm creating at the moment.

hopefully i will know enough at the end of this to bring you lovely readers some tutorials! (although i am still a CS5 user... i heard adobe CS6 will be here before we know it and by golly i am not about to fork out $$$$ for the new features that i probably won't know how to use ;)

consider this photo my life right now ..... :)

-wanna button swap? email me! :)
-don't forget to follow me on twitter.

68 degrees on January 5th

SIXTY-EIGHT DEGREEEEEES PEOPLE! IN NEBRASKA. ON JANUARY 5th. 

(my dad actually went water skiing today, can you believe it?)

i am one happy camper! let me tell you... do you remember this POST when I whined about snow?  yeah, i don't dig it much.

back to the 68-degree weather... so most people would go outside and enjoy the nice weather, right? of course, i did as well... just in a different way - I WENT SNOW SKIING. Yep, some of us traveled all the way to Mt. Cresent, IA to ski :)

It was absolutely the best. weather. ever. No winter coats, no hats, no gloves... AND only a little over an hour to drive!

The lift took longer than the ski-ride down the hill mountain, but none the less!

NOTE: the guy behind us in shorts and a t-shirt building the melting snowman.

the view from the top of the hill mountain.

my apologies for the awful picture quality.  i do not have an iphone, so this is my junker phone cam in its full glory! 

 - are you a follower yet? - check out my sidebar to follow the blog and twitter!

- psssst, i'm now taking button swaps for free! email me at kyliekreikemeier@gmail.com if you'd like to swap some blog love!

the power of a photograph

hello my lovely readers!

I recently stumbled upon a foundation that I think you all need to know about/check out.  The Tiny Sparrow Foundation.  These photographers take photographs, free of charge, for families with children who are facing life-threatening illnesses. The director of this organization, Lidia Bright is the photographer of Oh So Posh Photography and truly has the sweetest soul known.  She is constantly giving, giving, giving, even after her battle with cancer.


This foundation truly makes my heart melt.  


Here is their bio taken straight from their facebook page:


"Photographers donate their time and talent by taking beautiful pictures of children who are facing a life threatening illness. The photographs are then put into a 10x10 coffee table album so they can share it with their friends and family. Tiny Sparrow creates the album soon after the session takes place as many of our participating families spend a lot of time in the hospital and they enjoy sharing the album. The photos become a little ray of sunshine in their darker days."

How sweet is this? I can only hope that one day I will be able to help with something like this.

Would you like to help now? They are always taking donations!

Check out their WEBSITE or their FACEBOOK.  Seriously, check them out.  You won't be disappointed. 

THANK YOU

I just wanted to send a big thank you to each of my 2011 clients! I love you all so much! Hope to see you sometime soon. Thanks so much for trusting me to take your photos :)

Happy 2011 and an even happier 2012!

**some of my 2011 faves...**