The Ellis Estate

Last month marked two years since my divorce was finalized.  In reality, the marriage was over long before then.  No matter how much I wanted my marriage to work at the time, the divorce was the best thing for both of us.  I’m happier now than I ever was when we were together.  And, as far as I can tell, he’s happier, too. Getting here wasn’t always easy.  Even though my husband wasn’t a great partner, I have always valued marriage and felt like I had to put in the work to make it successful.  I always believed that I would never get married, unless I was willing to make a lifetime commitment, for better or worse.  We had both good and bad times and I was more than willing to put in the work to get through the bad times, so we could enjoy the good. My ex-husband cheated on me for most of our marriage.  I don't say that to make him out to be a bad person, or to make myself out to be a victim, but just to state the facts.  When he told me that ...

We eat a lot of eggs in our house.  Poached, scrambled, or baked in a quiche or casserole? Yes, please!  There are so many way to enjoy them!  For years I struggled with making perfect, easy to peel hard boiled eggs. Sometimes they were cooked perfectly, but impossible to peel.  Other times they were easy to peel, but over or under cooked.   I've tried so many different methods (pressure cooker, oven, cold water to start, etc.) and finally discovered a way to get perfect eggs every time. While starting the eggs in cold water gets perfectly cooked eggs, I can almost never peel them without making a mess of them.  That's fine for making egg salad, when they don't need to look pretty, but not when I'm making deviled eggs. Making them in my pressure cooker is great, but sometimes I don't want to drag out another appliance when using a pot is just as easy.  This is the method that my grandmother used when I was growing up and I am honestly not sure why...

Easter was this past Sunday and, if you're anything like us, that means a fair amount of leftover hard boiled eggs.  As much as I love having hard boiled eggs on hand for a quick snack or breakfast, there are only so many plain hard boiled eggs I can eat before getting bored with them.  Most years I use them up in egg salad, deviled eggs, or chopped on a green salad (usually Caesar or Cobb), but this year I decided to do something different.  A while back I discovered a recipe for a Jacques Pepin's Eggs Jeanette.  I've only made them once before and it is the perfect way to use up those leftover eggs in a new and delicious way.  One thing I love about this recipe is that it takes simple, inexpensive ingredients and turns them into a beautiful meal that anyone can make.  In his book,  The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen,   Jacques Pepin shares memories of growing up in wartime France.  Though meat was scarce, his mother found creative ways ...

 A few months back I had the opportunity to have a mother/daughter portrait session with  Kelli Wilke .  I just received the pictures and to say that I absolutely love them would be an understatement!  I may be slightly obsessed!  She is so, so talented and was really great to work with. As a mom, I am almost always the one behind the camera.  And, as much as I love taking pictures and capturing those memories, I also think that it is important to have pictures together.  My own mother passed away when I was 16 years old.  I don't have a ton of pictures of us together, but I truly treasure those snapshots that I do have.  There is nothing that can replace them. Some people find it silly or frivolous to spend money on professional portraits, and that's OK.  But, I think that it is so important that we get in the pictures with our families.  Even if it's just a quick selfie, get in the picture!  Even if you are insecure about the...