Mini Cinnamon Rolls

Nate and I normally like to eat a nice and healthy breakfast on Sundays.  And by nice and healthy, I mean horribly bad for us.  We try to eat healthy-ish during the week but splurge on the week-ends….especially Sunday morning.

We’ve been skipping our normal unhealthy breakfast for the past few Sundays to recover from the holidays.  This past Sunday we hopped back on the bad-for-us bandwagon.

I saw a recipe over at Iowa Girl Eats for 8 Minute Mini Cinnamon Rolls.  Sign me up!

Look at that concentration.  And the designer outfit.

This recipe is so easy that I made it 100% by myself without annoying Nate once.  Impressive. 

I used the The Pioneer Woman's maple frosting recipe (minus the coffee) to top them off.  Delicious.

Crescent rolls.  Butter. Sugar.  Can you wrong?  Of course not!

Nate and I both thought these were a great substitute for homemade rolls.  Are they as good as homemade rolls?  No.  Were they just as good because they took 30 minutes instead of hours to make?  Yes!!  I think these would be great to serve at a brunch or shower beings that they are bite size and super easy to make.

Iowa Girl Eats recommends eating 2 or 3. 

We may or may not have devoured the plateful.  Oops.

What’s your favorite breakfast dish?  AKA, what should I cook this week-end?  Do share!  Anyone else dumb enough to post pictures of themselves with bedhead on their blog? :)

DSLR For Dummies- Aperture

We’re going to do today’s DSLR post a little different.  I’m going to share with you what I learned this week about aperture.  (There is an Ike photo at the end for those of you who aren't interested in this DSLR business!)  I’m glad to have this all written down because I will probably forget before next week’s lesson.

What does aperture mean to me?  How wide the shutter opens = how much light gets in

What is f-stop?  The f-stop controls how wide the shutter opens.

• The smaller the f-stop = the more the shutter opens = more light in = faster shutter speed. 
• The larger the f-stop = the less the shutter opens = less light in = slower shutter speed
• Wow, that was intense.  This is the part I had to keep being reminded of.  It takes awhile to sink in.  You’ll get there.  Hopefully you learn faster than I do.
• I got a notebook out after Nate repeated this to me about 212 times.  I'm studious.

What advantage is there to moving the camera from “auto” to “A”? Or I like “auto”.  Why should I rack my brain this hard? 

• You get more control over the depth of field (blurriness of background).
• In auto, the camera picks everything based on meter in the camera.
• In A you can pick the f-stop and ISO.  The camera selects the shutter speed.
  • Side note on shutter speed: The faster the shutter speed, the less motion shown.  1/50 is faster than 1/20. (Ex. photographing sports you would use 1/1000.)

How do you know what f-stop to use?

• low light (our house): smaller f-stop
• blurry background (portrait): smaller f-stop
• bigger depth of field (ex. landscape): larger f-stop

What should this f-stop business look like on the camera?



In the following photos I will share with you what f-stop I used.  Notice as the f-stop gets larger, the background (ex. the deck rails) will become more in focus.  Fancy.  And I got to touch the camera.  Super fancy.

f/3.5 (f-stop), 1/60s (shutter speed), ISO 800

f/8.0, 1/13s, ISO 800

f/22.0, 1/2s, ISO 800

Get your cameras out!  When you increased the f-stop, did you notice how long it took to take the picture?  Weird.  And it makes sense.  The larger the f-stop, the less light that gets in.  The less light that gets in, the longer it takes to take the picture (slower shutter speed).

And now, a cute picture of the Ike-man with my newly learned f-stop skills….

f/3.5, 1/30s, ISO 800

Any questions on aperture?  Nate will answer them because this is all I know.  Did you learn anything?  Who wants to snuggle with Ike?

Blogging Basics- Finding Your Niche

Let’s continue the Blogging Basics series!

If I was an organized blogger, a blogging series would go in order.  Since I am not, you get whatever I feel like writing about this week.  It’s fun being in charge. 

Today I would like to discuss finding your niche.

I feel like this important topic gets missed when the big bloggers discuss blogging and how to grow your blog.  As a baby blogger, other baby bloggers are going to be the key to you enjoying blogging. (I don’t believe anyone that says they don’t care if anyone reads their blog.)  Other bloggers of small blogs will be the ones that comment on your site.  They will be the ones that encourage you to keep going with your projects.  They will be the ones you go to when you have a question regarding blogging. 

How do you find your niche? 

I had trouble finding the answer to this question.  I started by visiting some of the larger blogs that I read.  I then clicked on their comments and visited the blogs of their commenters.  Slowly but surely I started finding blogs that I related to….DIY, late 20/early 30 somethings, design focused, dog lovers, witty, crafty.  I also looked through the blog rolls (list of blogs on the side bar) of the new blogs that I found…and the commenters on these smaller blogs.

Once you locate these small blogs that you enjoy reading, comment away!  Comment nicel and be genuine.  You can skim the posts of the big guys but be sure to read the posts of your new found niche friends.  They will know if you actually read the post.  (I can totally tell.)

Over time, you will start to see who your niche is.  This can take months.  It takes time to establish relationships in real life.  It takes time in blogland also.  Be patient.  Your niche will make blogging a ton of fun.

Who’s in my niche?

I was going to list out my niche but I don’t want to forget anyone.  I’d feel bad. Basically my niche is located in my blog roll (on the right side under “Must Read List”).  Look, I did your homework for you.  Happy clicking!

Any other questions about finding your niche?  I’m sure I am forgetting something important because my brain is cloudy from dealing with way too many drug interactions. 

I also encourage you to leave a comment today with a brief description of your blog.  This will make it easy for everyone to help locate a new niche friend or two!  I like the word “niche”…can you tell?