FREE Newborn Photos

Those that know me well know that I love sales! Since I'm having a big one myself this month I wanted to make sure and let you all know about it. Mandy Leonards Photography is offering complimentary newborn sessions if they are booked in the month of February. Newborns must be 14 days old or younger to be eligible. So... if you know someone that is currently pregnant or has a new baby-- send them my way! If you are the one who refers them and they book, you will also receive a $50 credit at your next session! :)

View details HERE!

Recipe Share: Hot Tamale Pie

Recipe Share: Easy Tamale Pie

I made this last night for the first time and it was a hit in our house! Super easy too :)

1 box of corn muffin mix (like Jiffy)
1 large onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, seesd removed and minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp cumin
1 15oz can black beans
1 14oz can fire roasted tomatoes
4 oz pepper jack cheese shredded (I used low fat)
3 cups of shredded chicken from rotisserie (saves time!!-- I only use white meat)
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped


Preheat oven to 450. In a skillet, spray with nonstick olive oil spray. Add onion, jalapeno, garlic, cumin and cook about 5 minutes. Then add tomatoes, beans, chicken and simmer about 5 more minutes.

In seperate dish, mix corn muffin mix with 1 egg and 1/3c skim milk. Spray a baking dish and pour in chicken mixture. Top with corn muffin mix. Bake in oven until knife comes out clean, about 10-15 minutes.

Serves 4-6

The Great Nap Transition

Those of you with children will understand this post. The nap transition. Its tough, unpredictable and a pain the rear end. We are there. We've been there for like 2 months now... and its still a day by day thing.

Bella just turned 16 months a few days ago. She started her babyhood as a terrible sleeper. I hardly slept at all for the first 3 months of her life. I was convinced that I would never sleep again and it really held a toll on me. However, thankfully, Bella became a wonderful sleeper as she grew older. I will never claim any one thing did it because I truely believe that different things work for different families and that really in the end, the kid is the one that decides when he/she will sleep. I was consistent with nap times, wake up times and routine and maybe it helped, but who will really know?

So as we approached the 6 month mark Bella was on a wonderful 2 nap schedule. 2 naps a day, 2 hours each like clockwork plus 12-13 hours of nighttime sleep. Fabulous! She continued to do this every day until about 13 months or so. It has been since then that we have entered this transition time. Most people have told me that she is ready to go down to one nap. Well, I tell those people, yo utry keeping up a cranky 16 month old at 10:30 in the morning and tell me how much you enjoy it, haha! So we definitely play it by ear each day. Some days still she wants one nap. Some days she was two. Somedays the 2 naps are 2 hours. Somedays they are 45 minutes. I wish I knew when it would transition to one solid nap, but I don't. Eh, the life of a mother!

Anyway, just a little post to let all the mommas out there know that whatever they are going through in terms of sleep or routine issues with their little ones, they are normal. They are not bad parents. And somehow, someway we will all make it through and have happy healthy children. And when they are teenagers we will look back and laugh at the fact that they didn't want to nap now!

Making the time

One thing that I have realized since having a baby 16 months ago is how much harder it is to have a consistent workout schedule. Now you are talking to someone who has always been very good with routine and consistency. The one thing that I always have been good at is keeping a schedule. Call it the type A personality if you want, but whatever it is -- it works for me! However, Isabella has changed that mindset a bit. She has her OWN schedule and she doesn't care if I want to workout, sleep till 9 or have some quiet time. It isn't about *me* anymore. We don't have a gym membership with a daycare (not in the budget) so its an ever evolving process for me to find the time to workout.

However, not exercising is NOT an option for me. As I have said in previous posts, its a part of my lifestyle, and its a stress relief for me. Its only an hour most days of the week. In reality, thats not that much time. You just have to make it. Its not the best time of the day ever, but since the holidays the time I do this to make sure it gets done is 6am. This is before Bella wakes up. I get it done before anyone else is awake and then I have my whole day ahead of me! It is hard to get out of bed most days-- but once I do and get it done , I feel GREAT. There are no excuses in terms of needing to run errands or being too hungry for dinner.

So the moral of the story is ... make the time. Make the time for whatever is important to you. Exercise may not be everyone's priority in life, and thats okay -- but I challenge you to make *some* time for it in your week.

Happy moving!

Long time no talk...

Hellooo everyone. It has been a very long time since I updated the blog! I do apologize for being scarce. Life has gotten ahead of me and been very busy lately. My photography business has been growing and keeping me very busy, which I am loving. I also have had some new changes in my schedule in the past few months which have made it more difficult to keep up with everyone on both of my blogs!

Anyway, I have had some recent requests for updated posts and recipes/tips so I am going to be setting aside some time to keep you all in the loop.

You can also always visit my recent photography work at: MANDY LEONARDS PHOTOGRAPHY

Magical

So yesterday I had lunch with my Aunt Peri-- with Bella. We had a really nice afternoon and lots of time to talk. I was telling her all about my love for fitness--which she already knew-- as well as my love for the art of photography. We were talking about how different things can become as you grow and learn. Here is what I am talking about.

When I was in high school-- people would ask me what I wanted to do when I grew up, and I always thought I wanted to be a doctor or a vet. Mostly because I enjoy helping people, and because I thought it would be a smart career move. However, I ALWAYS really really wanted to be good at something creative. I yearned to be able to do something magical, something unique that only I could do. That would bring me joy. I enjoyed singing (and still do) but I had to work REALLY hard at it... and while I don't think I suck at it, I was never "magical" (unless you ask my mother, hahaha). So I went on to college and majored in pre-vet.

Fast forward. College. I struggled in organic chemistry SO MUCH. I had a tutor, spent HOURS and HOURS studying to barely pass a test. It was so frustrated, felt so defeated. However, I did manage to get throug hschool well and actually graduated with a decent GPA.

Then came grad school. What the heck do I want t do? I had no idea. Really, no clue. My mom, who has always been my hero of sorts-- my inspiration -- is an amazing social worker. I thought hey, I would be good at this. So off to get my MSW I went. Was I good at it? Yep. Did I enjoy it? Ehhhh... not really. I enjoyed getting to know my clients and having a helping hand. But I was bored. Did not get that excited feeling about my work. I dreaded going some days :(

Then came Bella. My favorite part of my life so far!!! During my social work career, I also started dabbling in personal training and nutrition, a long term hobby of mine. It came VERY naturally. I loved actually seeing the joy in people's faces after spending time with me and I enjoyed sharing my love for health and fitness with others. I still do.

I have been however, still be yearning for that "magical" piece. Its so hard to explain-- but thats the best way I can put it. Anyway, Bella -- herself -- is my magic in my life. No doubt about it. And having Bella re-sparked my interest in photography (something I was interested in high school/college as well-- took classes etc). I've became obsessed with it really! And as I have grown my photography business-- I have found that part that was missing. I feel creative for the first time in my life! WOWZERS! What an amazing feeling.

Anyway, this long winded post has a point, I think :) The point is that my aunt and I were talking about how no women in our family put all of their eggs in one basket. We have multiple paths we have walked down in our lives, and that is FINE! My mom for example-- is an amazing social worker, but she also has a natural talent in broadcasting (for real.. a total natural) and she also is amazing at knitting (i'm trying to get her to start selling it...). My aunt is high ranked in the air force, teaches sign language, works in marketing/management AND can DJ her butt off at a wedding or event.

Needless to say, we are multi-faceted :) And I looked at Bella at the lunch table and told her.. "Bella you can be just like us. It keeps life interesting. It keeps it magical."

My own family Pictures

I had the amazing opportunity to have some family portraits taken this weekend. You would think that being a photographer myself, that I would have tons of wonderful pictures of my own family. Not so much! Bella alone? Yup. But all of us together is hard when you are always the one taking the pictures!! So I took a little road trip this weekend and met my amazing friend and photography mentor, Christine. She took these pictures for me that I will cherish forever. I owe a lot to her as well. She has been my mentor along the way and is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G at what she does!