It all started when my best friend Jill and I went to Sinful Things Desserts in downtown Sioux Falls just after Christmas. We shared a slice of their Red Velvet Ultimate Sin cake. Two layers of red velvet cake with a layer of cheesecake in between, covered in cream cheese frosting.

I fell in love. It was all I could talk about for the rest of the day. I had dreams about it that night. I woke up the next morning determined to find a recipe so I could make an entire layered red velvet cheesecake cake and have it ALL to myself.

I found one. But I didn’t have 9″ round pans, a spring-form pan, a roasting pan, a cake stand OR the willpower to not eat the entire cake by myself. So I decided to make them as cupcakes. Because I couldn’t just NOT make them!!

I followed the recipe as closely as possible – making the cheesecake layers one day and the red velvet cupcakes the next. Then sandwiching and frosting.

This is where my dream turned into a disaster.

Have you ever been so excited to do something that you just go ahead and do it without really thinking “is this the best way to do this?” I realized this happened when it came to frosting these little buggers. My fingers were covered in frosting for the entire assembly of these. So I used cupcake liners to cover up the ‘un-pretty’ sides and made some pink sprinkles to prettify the tops. Because something SO delicious has to look somewhat appetizing, right??

And they were so so SO delicious. And now I have two dozen of these teeny-tiny cakes to take out of the freezer whenever I want! All that work of layering and frosting was SO worth it.

Let me know if you’ll be making these for Valentine’s day! Or if you find an easier recipe! Or want to come over and take some off my hands! :-)

My favorite part about having a cold is drinking lots of Sprite + orange juice. And taking lots of naps. And eventually getting better.

After having a stuffy nose for a while, all I can think about is of how great it would be to just breathe normally. That’s all I want.

Life is so simple in those few, cold-medicine-induced days.

The day finally comes when I’m feeling better. I’m so excited to breathe through my nose again! And instead of taking a morning nap (yes, moving from the bed to the couch makes it a nap, not ‘extended sleep’) I take time to enjoy the few of inches of snow before it melts away. Because snow here has a shorter life-span than my cold. :-)

Welcome to the thirteenth edition of ‘laura loves!!!’ Now that I’ve been posting these for over a year, it’s fun to look back and see what I was enjoying this time last year. And apparently I am a new year’s workout resolution junkie… but this year I have real motivation – looking great in a wedding dress!

1. The one thing I am most loving this month is Ryan + Terra’s wedding featured in the Black Hills Bride magazine!!! I had no idea their wedding was going to be featured until I attended the BHB launch party earlier this month and saw it IN PERSON!! It was such an exciting experience to see the wedding featured AND to see several other images I had taken throughout the year scattered in the magazine. It was like a scavenger hunt – sitting there, going through the magazine page by page, recognizing images even before reading the photo credits. :-)

2. Sarah Fit videos – mmhmm I started working out. again. But this time I’m actually enjoying it! Maybe it’s because I have all those cute workout clothes from last year. Or maybe because I’m on day thirty-something and I can actually SEE that I have muscles!! Or maybe because ‘sarah fit’ is super nice in her videos, and most are workouts I can do in my apartment without bothering my neighbors by jumping around.

3. Canon Professional Services – I take every precaution I can to not get dust inside my camera, but after changing lenses so often, it’s only a matter of time before the insides need a little t.l.c. And the eyeshadow buildup on the back of my camera? It’s almost unsightly after a year!! So now that I have a bit of time between weddings, I just sent one of my two main camera bodies in to get cleaned and serviced. The exciting part? I had it back within ONE WEEK!!! I love quick turnaround – especially with my beloved camera bodies! Now, to send my other baby in to get cleaned before my next wedding!

4. Almond Milk – tastes way better than soy milk. And it makes awesome coffee drinks. :-)

It happened. I finally started playing the Christmas station on my Pandora radio. It MUST be December!!

Here are the things I’ve been enjoying this month so far!

1. Christmas lights!! We spent Saturday night driving around looking at decorations, picking favorites and least favorites, and sipping hot cocoa in the comfort of our warm car. This was my favorite house!

2. We were photographed!!! Our friend and photographer Jessica took our engagement photos as soon as I was back from weddings in eastern South Dakota and Minnesota last month. We had SO much fun and I am glad to now be able to share this experience with my couples. It is so different being on the other side of the camera!!

3. The ring. I still.can’t.stop LOOKING at it!!!

4. Lance and I have three Christmases. One with my family, one with just us, and one with his family. The one with just us is the one we decided to exchange gifts at this year and I got a Magic Bullet Blender! I’ve already made a homemade caramel frappucino, a frozen peach bellini, and a triple berry smoothie. Next: chocolate mousse.

5. Updated 8×10 prints on my desk. I just love every photo of my nephews, it’s hard to cover up old cute pictures with new cute pictures. PLUS switching out their photos means they’re growing up. Which they are SO not allowed to do.

Hello everybody!

It has been such a wonderful/crazy/amazing past couple of months and I am excited for the last couple weeks of 2011! Remember when I photographed a proposal at Sylvan Lake? And later their engagement session? Brent + Kelcey are having an almost-new-years-eve wedding and I am SO excited to finish 2011 with such a fun and photogenic couple!

In between photographing beautiful people, editing, and running to the post office, I’ve been having so much fun wedding planning!!! No one told me how much fun this was going to be! But then again, I really enjoy keeping things organized, paying attention to detail and being in love, so how could I NOT be enjoying this?? :-)

I know I’m a little behind the ‘being thankful’ train, but seriously, I feel SO BLESSED for so many things that have happened this year. Being asked to spend the rest of my life with Lance. Spending lots of time with friends and photographer friends over coffee. Meeting and photographing such awesome couples. And watching my nephews continue to grow into such smart, handsome boys!